Comic Television Discussion – Week beginning 9nd December 2018

The big Elseworlds crossover event happens, but apparently is happening without the Legends this year as it’s just The Flash, then Arrow, then Supergirl, and some other DC big names.  Meanwhile, Legends try to keep secrets, and Black Lightning get into the holiday spirit.  Titans gets back to our core cast and examine some aliens.  Marvel takes the rest of the year off, but Archie does double duty as the Gryphons & Gargoyles affects more people.  Also, Sabrina returns for a holiday special, since 🎼🎵It’s beginning to look a lot like Sol-stice🎶!

[All synopses (and titles) from Trakt.tv below the cut, except where they sucked, and I used IMDB(If a show’s synopsis is a spoiler to you, do not click More…  Extra warning: some of them seem a bit revealing this time.)]

The Flash – S05E09 – Elseworlds (1) – Barry and Oliver wake up to find they’ve swapped bodies, but Team Flash doesn’t believe them, so the two heroes travel to Smallville on Earth-38 to get help from Supergirl.

Arrow – S07E09 – Elseworlds (2) – Still trapped in each other’s bodies, Oliver and Barry head to Gotham City with Supergirl to find out why their reality changed and cross paths with the mysterious Kate Kane.

Supergirl – S04E09 – Elseworlds (3) – Supergirl, The Flash, Green Arrow and Superman face the battle of their lives.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – S04E08 – Legends of To-Meow-Meow – After Constantine breaks the cardinal rule, he, Charlie and Zari try deal with the ramifications without telling anyone else.

Black Lightning – S02E09 – The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Two: Gift of the Magi – (No synopsis listed.)

Titans – S01E10 – Koriand’r – As Kory’s memories come flooding back, she discovers her true mission, regarding Rachel. While Dick and Donna discover Kory’s alien origins, Rachel uses her powers to save Gar.

The Gifted – S02E10 – enemy of My enemy – (Next year: January 1, 2019) – (No synopsis listed.)

Riverdale – S03E08 – Chapter Forty-Three: Outbreak – On the road and running out of places to stay, Jughead and Archie head to Toledo to visit Jughead’s mother Gladys and sister Jellybean. Back in Riverdale, Betty inches closer to uncovering the truth about Gryphons & Gargoyles, while Veronica and Cheryl take on Hiram, Hermoine and Penelope after more students fall victim to seizures.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina – S01E00 – A Midwinter’s Tale – The Church of Night, like all covens, celebrates the Winter Solstice — the longest night of the year — when families gather together around the Yule Fire to sing pagan carols, tell ghost stories and huddle against the supernatural creatures that come out to cause mischief. Since the Winter Solstice is when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest, it’s the perfect time to conduct a séance — which Sabrina convenes, to try and contact her mother. But the holidays are also a time for guests and visitors — both welcome and unwelcome — and you never know what might come down the chimney.

12 replies on “Comic Television Discussion – Week beginning 9nd December 2018”

  1. We have an Easter Egg hunt for nerds, an impressive Batwoman, and in interesting twist on a landmark comic-plot.

    I have a few questions, however:

    -Does the Scarecrow’s gas make it possible for Green Arrow to keep up with the Flash’s superspeed in a close-up fight?
    -Why does TV Kate Kane have to be Bruce Wayne’s cousin? Where were her parents, then, when he was orphaned?
    -Is /was there a Batman on Supergirl’s earth, too? That seems clearly indicated, and not for the first time.
    -Will the Monitor and Dr. Destiny’s shenanigans fuse Super-Earth with Arrow-Earth?
    -If the Flash of “Earth-90” can show up, could 70s Wonder Woman be far behind? The actress is already in play in this reality.

    And, most importantly….

    -Can the Monitor and Dr. Destiny fix the DC Cinematic U?

    • You know, “cousin” doesn’t have to mean they’re first cousins. The relationship could be more distant. (Unless there was something I missed in the episode that necessitates the relationship being first cousins.) Also, who says her parents were the altruistic type – they could have refused to take custody of Bruce even if the authorities did trace them.

      I wondered about the fight, too. Given that we know the Flash’s super speed works at the speed of plot (the handwave being that Flash uses only as much speed as he needs), and given that he was basically high at the time, one might be able to squint at things from just the right angle to make it almost make sense.

    • Linda Carter, in her revealing costume from 70s, would stick out as anachronistic a bit more than a John Wesley Shipp in a full body covered, padded and molded costume.

  2. Legends was absolutely hilarious. Custodians of the Chronology. Sirens of Spacetime. Puppets of Tommorow. (I’d so watch the first two. And maybe the third out of pure schadenfreude). And we even have a reason why they’re not in the crossover (well, aside from Gary, anyway): because they missed the call.

    • That throw away line was all we needed to justify their story’s lack of tie in to the crossover. It’s exactly the sort of little thing that a fan needs, and keeps everything feeling like a shared continuity, even when it isn’t that shared.

  3. Supergirl botched the landing. It was good, I enjoyed it, but the logic and story of of whatever was going on at the end seemed significantly below the standard set by The Flash’s opening.

    The unexplained hammer McGuffin, was that Mjolnir? The supporting case from Supergirl, this is the only time we’ve seen the Earth-1 versions of them, where are they normally? Are we ignoring the fallout of Arrow promising some sort of balance to The Monitor?

    The part I am annoyed by most is something I’ve seen them do ever since Supergirl moved networks: The producers do not seem to have enough faith in Supergirl on her own. Anytime something big and bad happens, we need to get Superman involved instead. Even her series opener on the new network brought in Clark, as if they didn’t think Supergirl was a big enough draw on her own. My wife pointed out that there was an in-show explanation given, but at the climax they literally said that Kara was not strong enough, so she literally hands it off to Clark.

    (I overused literally because we are talking about a book.)

    • The ending disappointed me, after a fun Easter-Egg-filled crossover. Sadly, I think, it was their desire to allude to everything in DC’s history that did them in.

      The way that slowed down time? Yeah, it’s a reference to the popular interpretation of Superman: The Movie‘s ending (supposedly, what the script intended they show was Supes flying so fast he goes back in time to save Lois, but that’s not what the effects look like), but it makes absolutely no sense at all, even in the context of a superhero-verse. Basically, it was Superman: The Movie meets the two most infamous deaths from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

      The hammer is the Solar Hammer from the Cosmic Anvil, a reference to All-Star Superman. However, it comes completely out of nowhere. When Easter Eggs become the plot, we have a problem.

      I did like the set up for some future version of Amalgamated Crises, with Psycho-Pirate. And I’m liking Batwoman thus far.

      • Solar Hammer: I was suspicious it was an out of control Egg. Thanks for the explanation.

        I didn’t address that “both run around the world” thing. It was just too stupid. It’d be like addressing flat earthers.

        • Ugh. Yes. That running thing. Even if you squint at it the right way and accept that the time effect could happen (we have the speed force involved, so why not?), how was that supposed to help anything? I mean, it would slow everything down, not just the bad guy, so why did they even need to do it? What were they trying to do? Out-Flash Flash in its own time slot?

  4. Just rewatched the crossover in one sitting.

    I’m going to ignore the horrible science (even for these shows) and point out the one big mistake that stood out to me.

    How does Clark know Bruce? Gotham is on Earth-1 Clark lives on earth-38.

    My main complaint about these crossovers is how the studio isn’t winning to go all in. especially when it comes to the cast of Supergirl. it’s almost like including that show in the crossovers is an afterthought.

    My hopes for the coming Crisis is that it isn’t going to be a miniseries but the whole year. Crisis on Infinite Earth deserves a proper treatment.

    I Also hope that by the time it’s done Supergirl is moved to Earth-1 so that she can show up more easily within the other shows

    • They’ve previously implied on Supergirl that there is / was a Batman on her earth (without actually naming him), so I assume she’s referring to that Bruce Wayne.

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