We’re recapping this week’s Arrowverse episodes: Supergirl 3×16 “Of Two Minds,” The Flash 4×20 “Therefore She Is” and Arrow 6×21 “Docket No. 11-19-41-73.”
This week in the Arrowverse, Kara and Imra butt heads over how to defeat Pestilence, relationship problems vex both the DeVoes and Cisco and Gypsy, and Oliver is on trial for being the Green Arrow.
‘Supergirl’ 3×16 ‘Of Two Minds’
Honestly, I’m getting tired of this “feminist” show pitting Kara and Imra, the two love interests of Mon-El, against one another. But yet again, Kara and Imra don’t see eye to eye on something, leaving Mon-El in the middle. Heavy sigh. To be fair, though, both women make fair points.
After realizing that Julia was an innocent victim of Purity, Kara’s first instinct is to attempt to help the Worldkillers, who she assumes are like Julia. And though she doesn’t know it yet, Sam is the same way with Reign. A superhero’s job is to protect the defenseless, so if the final Worldkiller is also a victim, Kara should try to help her before anything else. Of course, it turns out Pestilence’s host has embraced her Worldkiller side.
At this point, Imra has the right idea. She also has a personal stake in this mission to stop Pestilence before she becomes Blight in the future: her own sister died as a result of the disease. By stopping Blight while she is Pestilence, Imra will have her sister — as well as millions of other lives. Imra’s approach is practical; she has seen the havoc that Supergirl’s failure will wreak, and she is there to prevent it.
Meanwhile, Lena is getting closer to discovering the trigger for Reign taking over Sam, but the more experiments she does, the closer Reign gets to completely taking over Sam’s body. By the end of the episode, the three Worldkillers have reunited and Supergirl is shocked to see what Lena has been up to.
On the one hand, Lena’s background as a Luthor makes her wariness of telling Supergirl about Sam/Reign understandable, but on the other hand, you’d think Supergirl would have earned some trust.
Either way, the world is in trouble now that Reign, Purity and Pestilence are all together. (Why does no one think to call Clark?)
‘The Flash’ 4×20 ‘Therefore She Is’
In the bookend to 3×07 “Therefore I Am,” in which Clifford DeVoe’s origin as the Thinker is revealed, “Therefore She Is” explores the beginning of Marlize and Clifford’s relationship through flashbacks while Marlize finally leaves Clifford in the present.
Critic Nicholas Carr wrote a famous essay in 2007 titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” about the ill-effects of technology on our brains. Clifford DeVoe seems to fall strictly in line with this camp, as he has long espoused the negative effects of technology on humanity. In fact, the first time he meets Marlize, he is shooting down her professional opinion about the positive aspects of technology. For some reason, she’s into this and the two start dating.
Through flashbacks, we see the two fall in love, but when Marlize discovers Clifford’s journal, which shares his ideas about the Enlightenment, she leaves him because he’s a psychopath. Girl should have stayed gone, but when her philanthropic work in Kenya — creating water purification systems for the local population — is attacked and stolen by bandits, Marlize decides her ex is onto something about technology’s corrupting influence.
However, it becomes increasingly clear to Marlize — who, let’s not forget, has been repeatedly drugged — that the man she married is dead; Clifford was the first casualty of The Thinker, she eloquently says. Clifford’s decreasing humanity has shaken her, and his recent violent tendencies are the final straw. There is nothing enlightening about what The Thinker is doing.
So she leaves with his chair, telling him, “You’re nothing without me.” It’s a major mic drop moment for her and makes it pretty clear that she will play a major role in defeating The Thinker.
Meanwhile, Cisco and Cynthia are having relationship problems. Cisco doesn’t want Breacher’s job because he wants more out of his relationship. Cynthia, on the other hand, declares that their long-distance relationship is enough for her. They love each other but are at an impasse, so they break up. This breaks my heart because they were good together. She’s also a strong female presence on the show, so I hope we’re not losing her for good.
Finally, the team realizes that DeVoe’s Enlightenment is a plan to use satellites to hit everyone with dark matter to overload their brains and lose their intellect, like what is happening with Harry. This would allow DeVoe to rebuild civilization in his own image, as he would be the most intelligent person alive and could educate everyone as he sees fit.
Oh, and mystery girl is revealed to be a speedster with yellow and purple lightning — like Barry and Iris. She’s definitely their child from the future.
‘Arrow’ 6×21 ‘Docket No. 11-19-41-73’
This is the second superhero trial of this season, but Oliver’s is definitely better written than Barry’s — though would it kill either of them to mention the fact that their superhero bestie has been on trial? Oliver’s trial, at least, should have made national news.
Anyway, the judge and jury are already in Diaz’s pocket, so Team Arrow has to start thinking outside of the box to help Oliver. Things look increasingly bad when Diaz shows up in the courtroom with Zoe, forcing Rene to admit that Oliver is the Green Arrow. But Diggle is smart and recruits Christopher Chance, aka the Human Target, for help once more. He dramatically arrives in the courtroom dressed as the Green Arrow — and wearing Tommy Merlyn’s face.
Oliver, though he knows what’s going on, is shaken to see his late best friend and hear his voice. Meanwhile, I’m delighted to see Colin Donnell again, even if just for a short time. This should be enough to create reasonable doubt among the jury — as should Black Siren, pretending to be Laurel, claiming that Tommy is the Green Arrow.
Of course, the jury still comes back with a guilty plea. But Chance impersonates the judge to overturn the ruling, stating no reasonable jury could have come to that conclusion with this evidence. Oliver is legally freed.
Bringing in Chance was a smart move — and echoes what The Flash did in having Ralph take DeVoe’s form to clear Barry’s murder charge. Chance also (in a meta line) tells the team not to need him for at least a year; look out for him in season 7?
As Oliver is freed, we explore some interesting dynamics. Oliver goes to Rene’s place to thank him for standing up for him and the two mend fences after everything between them. And Siren confronts Diaz, knowing she can’t run from him. However, he has a sonic dampener, so her powers don’t work on him. He holds her captive as he declares he’s going to kill Oliver and everyone he loves.
Oh, and he killed the judge that Chance impersonated. There’s your lesson, kids: Don’t get into bed with criminals.
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