In this week’s slate of episodes, winter breaks are done! When we last saw our heroes, they were all in interesting places. The back-halves of the seasons all seem interesting, and they all start off big. Kara and Mon-El travel to a different world in pursuit of a missing girl on Supergirl. On The Flash, Barry decides to travel to the future in hopes of keeping Savitar from killing Iris. On Legends of tomorrow, the team travels to 1967 to combat the Legion of Doom as they try to capture Rip Hunter. Meanwhile, Oliver tries to find a ray of hope when Laurel apparently returns from the dead, and Felicity declares revenge on Prometheus for causing Malone’s death on Arrow.

Important Things to Know This Week:

When we last saw Supergirl, Kara was running away to help the Earth-1 heroes stop their alien invasion. The episode title “Supergirl Lives” probably was meant to play up some idea of the world going crazy while she was gone. That seems less likely as the episode description has been released, so watch out for what it might actually mean.

Before the break, Barry somehow traveled to the future and saw Savitar killing Iris. This is undoubtedly going to be the lead story in the back half of the season. Barry has run into indescribable trouble all season due to messing with the past. Something tells me that the team will not be to keen on the idea of him changing the future.

The Legends just finished off their first big fight with the Legion of Doom. The second half of the season is bound to continue that extended fight. But also keep an eye on the quest to save Rip Hunter. The development of Wentworth Miller’s Leonard Snart as a member of the Legion of Doom is also bound to be hard for the team to accept.

On Arrow, we were left with 2 major plot points for the season, as well as a maddening cliffhanger. Felicity has seen a lot of people die, but Malone’s death is bound to be more personal for her. I expect the full range of her character to be devoted to getting revenge on Prometheus (I see some blame going to Oliver as well). Meanwhile, Diggle was seemingly recaptured after being called by Lyla with an emergency. But, I haven’t thought about those things at all these last few weeks, because I’m just confused about whether Laurel is actually alive… Let’s find out!

The Biggest Moments This Week (Spoilers!):

Supergirl: (S2 E09: Supergirl Lives)

The budding chemistry between Kara and Mon-El definitely helps to build on the possibility that they will end up having a romantic relationship. Add to that the fact that Alex is now happily in a relationship with Maggie, and it seems that the second half of the season will have a decent amount of focus on these relationships.

I also like the subtle rivalry between Kara and Jimmy as they both want the credit for the crime fighting being done by Supergirl and Guardian. Eventually, Kara will definitely end up finding out that Jimmy and Winn are Guardian. It will be very fun to watch that progress.

As for the primary story of the episode, it was actually incredibly entertaining. Forcing Kara and Mon-El to have to fight against these aliens without their powers was incredibly interesting. The fact that they were also able to tie in to Roulette’s character from earlier in the season (and the Dominators from the crossover), put the episode over the top in my opinion.

The Flash: (S3 E10: Borrowing Problems from the Future)

It’s hard to watch Barry trying to live his life with Iris knowing what her future holds. But, Barry and Wally working together is definitely what I have been waiting for since the previews for the season. Then we get to see the always entertaining balance of relationships between members of team Flash. The first section of the episode definitely reminded me why The Flash is my favorite of these shows. Plus Tom Felton is back, and that is awesome!

As the show starts to pick up, we see things start to progress as Barry encounters Plunder, a villain that he helped capture in the future where Savitar kills Iris. Barry then deals with the question of whether he should stop the new enemy or not. He asks H.R. for an opinion about whether the futures is predetermined in the most serious moment for this version of Wells so far. When Barry hesitates to stop Plunder, and Wally comes in to save the day, everything starts to unravel. Especially when Barry yells at Wally for his actions.

I didn’t expect Barry to tell Iris about his trip into the future. This shows growth from the beginning of the season when he tried to hide the reality of Flashpoint. With the team working to change the future, they might actually stand a chance to change the future. The Flash has struggled to balance an overarching story with individual, weekly storylines, but I think they might be able to do it here.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: (S2 E09: Raiders of the Lost Art)

The team doesn’t have to wait long to jump into a new journey, as they quickly learn more about the artifact the Legion of Doom was after. Once in 1967, they quickly stumble upon Rip Hunter, who is being hunted by the Legion of Doom. The problem is Rip doesn’t know who any of them are. Rip is in the middle of creating a film based around his story, so he definitely has some memory of his old life, at least subconsciously. However, with his brain being altered, he may never get back to normal. The team isn’t going to just give up on him though.

The B story about Dr. Stein helping Mick figure out why he is seeing Snart was incredibly interesting as well. It’s obvious foreshadowing to the return of Wentworth Miller’s character, but it is also cool to see the way these characters interact with each other. I also liked how Mick is convinced it is something complicated, while Stein thinks it is simple. Mick having a receiver in his head, and Snart being out in the universe passing messages to him. Naturally, they then start brain surgery to remove this transmitter.

I love that the story revolves around George Lucas getting too scared to continue his movie-making dream. The fact that this has huge, real-life implications on the lives of Nate and Ray, due to Star Wars and Indiana Jones never being created, makes for a very entertaining story. Although people may look down on pop culture, this episode shows how much things can change when those things go away. Naturally, Lucas is now in possession of the “Spear of Destiny”, causing the story to directly involve him as the Legends and the Legion of Doom fight to get of the artifact.

Arrow: (S5 E10: Who Are You?)

It’s very unclear whether Laurel is actually alive or not early in the episode. The “party” to welcome Laurel back was odd. It also reminded me of the significance of Evelyn betraying the team, and the fact that Curtis’ marriage may be in danger. Of course, it is revealed, very quickly, that this is Earth-2 Laurel (Black Siren) who was supposed to be locked up in Star Labs.

Diggle being back in prison sucks! I hate seeing that, but I like that his plan isn’t to break out or to sit still and ignore it. He wants to fight, and Oliver wants to help. Getting help from Adrian Chase is interesting to say the least. I really like his character, and I hope he plays a larger role in the back half of the season. If he is going to help Diggle in his case, he definitely should have a bigger role.

Felicity’s frustrations in this episode were a high point in my opinion. She isn’t blinded by the vision of Laurel like Oliver is. Additionally, she is frustrated beyond belief that Malone is gone. The episode proves (numerous times) that listening to Felicity is definitely the right thing to do. The recruits seem to be learning that, so hopefully Oliver does as well. As the episode develops, however, she begins to get way too focused on catching Prometheus. She clearly needs to learn to understand the whole picture, and not just her view of it. If she can do that though, having her be equal with Oliver in terms of strategy and decision-making will help the show tremendously.

Overall:

There wasn’t really any inclusion of an overall story point this week. The shows were instead focusing on getting the second halves of their seasons started. So, here were some of my favorite small things from this week’s episodes:

• Winn being terrified of going to space
• Winn bragging to Jimmy about going to space
• Snapper finally warming up to Kara
• Wally bragging when he caught Plunder
• H.R.’s Cisco hologram
• The Flash getting a pet turtle
• Nate’s music choice while studying
• Rip working with pre-Star Wars George Lucas.
  • The events of the episode mirroring major plot points from Star Wars is really awesome.

Ryan’s Speculation of the week:

I’m very convinced that Prometheus is Tommy Merlyn. I know everything is pointing towards a new character, and that we learned in the midseason finale that there is some connection between Prometheus and Claybourne. This show is far from afraid to create misdirection, though, and only somebody who was close to Oliver, and opposed to his actions as The Hood, would make sense to do everything Prometheus is doing.

Supergirl airs on Mondays, The Flash & Legends of Tomorrow air on Tuesdays, and Arrow airs on Wednesdays on the CW. Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about this week’s slate of episodes.