This week in the Arrowverse was pretty big, as 3 shows held midseason finales. On The Flash, Barry travels to Earth-3 to ask Jay Garrick how he can stop Savitar, meanwhile Cisco hits a rough patch when he has to celebrate Christmas without his brother, and Wally reveals that he has been training with H.R. On Arrow, an attack on Curtis leads Oliver to realize that Prometheus is planning on attacking the whole team, while Felicity and Malone find a clue that could connect Oliver’s past to Prometheus. The Legends of Tomorrow, meanwhile, track an aberration to 1927 Chicago. Once there, they realize they have been set up by Eobard Thawne, Damien Dahrk, and Malcolm Merlyn.

Important Things to Know This Week:

The battle with Savitar is going to be huge, now that he has been revealed as the main antagonist of the season, it’s likely that this episode will feature him heavily. We’re also likely going to see Julian as Dr. Alchemy for the majority of the episode. We should also keep an eye on the tender relationships between all of the team members as Wally and Caitlin struggle with their new powers (in completely different ways), and Barry tries to regain the trust he lost as a result of Flashpoint.

Oliver and his team are still trying to find both Vigilante and Prometheus. Only one of these two can be the main antagonist, so we should keep an eye on how those stories develop. Oliver is likely going to learn that Evelyn is working with Alchemy this week, so we should watch how he handles experiencing that betrayal. I’m also extremely interested in seeing how Prometheus is going to be tied to Oliver’s past in this episode.

I don’t think the recording from future Barry is resolved yet. We should also keep an eye on the revenge quests. Sara has shown restraint when encountering Darhk in previous episodes, but Amaya hasn’t seen Thawne yet. Sara is still human too, and anything can happen. I imagine the fact that Stein somehow created a new daughter in his life will come up.

The Biggest Moments This Week (Spoilers!):

Supergirl:

Supergirl is on Holiday break, the midseason finale was last week’s episode.

The Flash: (S3 E09: The Present)

I like the interaction between Barry and Jay Garrick whenever it happens. Partially because I know that Barry just sees his dad, but also because they have two different, but awesome styles. Mark Hamill coming back to play trickster was awesome too. I think the whole Savitar and Alchemy thing is really weird, but really cool. It’s very cult-like, and the idea that he’s so powerful just because he was the first speedster suggests that time is a major factor in getting faster and more powerful. I’m really interested in seeing how they flesh out that story line after the break.

The push back Wally keeps getting when he wants to help fight is immensely annoying. He has the speed, it only makes sense to help train him and get him out there helping Barry. He’s going to do it eventually, they might as well help him get there the right way. On another note of rough relationships, I’m really glad that Cisco didn’t turn back on Barry again after he started having visions of Dante. I wish we would have seen more of Caitlin’s powers, but there’s plenty of time for that after winter break.

I think it was really significant to have the vision of Dante trick Cisco into opening the box that summons Savitar. Cisco was in pain, and Savitar perfectly played on that. The ensuing fight was great, especially because Wally and Caitlin were able to play such significant roles in helping save Barry and get to Cisco. The fact that it helped them figure out the connection between Julian, the Philosopher’s Stone (which I thought was hilarious by the way), and Savitar made it even better.

Arrow: (S5 E09: What We Leave Behind)

It’s good to know that Prometheus doesn’t plan on killing Oliver. That helps explain a bit about who he is, and hopefully helps everyone take another step towards the team figuring things out. His attack on Curtis was brutal though. He could have killed him, so maybe he doesn’t have that much restraint. I thought it was interesting to tie the current attack back to a scenario that happened 4 years earlier when it was just Oliver and Diggle.

Felicity and Diggle showed traits this week that perfectly exemplify the things that make them so great. I love that, even with character development, Felicity is still perfectly quirky, and Diggle is still wary of extra-normal powers. Another returning theme, though, was the idea that these heroes (vigilantes?) can’t have normal romantic relationships. Felicity and Curtis both had massive road blocks in their relationships this week. Curtis’ marriage may be over, and Felicity’s fight with Billy led directly into his death trap. To top it all off, Oliver’s potential new relationship is now thrown into question.

The reveal of Evelyn working with Prometheus happened much earlier than I was expecting, but, then again, so did the early encounter with Prometheus in general. I wasn’t expecting to see that happen until the end of the episode. The kidnap of Billy, and the last-second message he got out, were interesting moments, especially because they helped to advance Prometheus’ character and bring Thea back to the team (temporarily). This guy, whoever he is, is Oliver’s worst nightmare, and now he’s caused Oliver to kill Felicity’s boyfriend.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: (S2 E08: The Chicago Way)

For somebody who was excited about having Malcolm Merlyn in this season, his inclusion, alongside Thawn and Darhk, was amazing! It appears that they are building a version of “The Legion of Doom” to fight against the Legends. Taking Sara and Stein was interesting, but it was only a part of their plan. I love how the logical approaches don’t seem to work, but when Rory takes over, things start to work. It was also hilarious to see Ray and Nate start fighting over their position among the team. These casual events were only minor occurrences, though, compared to the later parts of the episode.

I loved the scenes with Sara and Stein in captivity. It was interesting to see Sara, after fighting to avoid attacking, or killing, Darhk on multiple occasions, argue with Stein about why all time aberrations are bad. Unfortunately, though, Thawne impersonated Stein and let Capone’s crew onto the ship.

The battle on the ship was incredible. I loved how the Legends were able to come together in a way that allowed them to fight one of their best battles yet. The fact that they lost only made it better because it showed that they aren’t perfect.

Mick’s consistent hallucinations of of Snart were strange. The fact that is supposedly leading to the reintroduction of Snart as a member of the Legion of Doom definitely makes it an interesting plot point. I’m also super excited to see Rip Hunter reintroduced to the show. That will be awesome for sure!

Overall:

Three big events from Arrow have to be discussed, as they are all incredibly significant.

1. Diggle got trapped. He was afraid for Lyla and JJ, when he got a call about something being wrong at their safe-house. This led to him walking into a room where a dozen laser sights were pointed at him. Presumably this is the military, there to take him back to prison.
2. Susan Williams has Russian Vodka. I briefly mentioned that Oliver’s relationship might be in question in the “Arrow” section. This Vodka is the reason. It has been linked to Oliver’s time in Russia many times. It is actually linked closely to the leader of Bratva. Oliver said earlier in the episode that Prometheus used a move that he learned in Russia.
3. Laurel? Really? I understood putting her in the crossover episode as a weird, “what-could-have-been” thing, but having her show up here was strange. This show has found ways to bring plenty of people back from the dead, but her death seemed pretty certain, so it is more than a little odd to see her here. That was a hell of a way to take us to winter break.

Ryan’s Speculation of the week:

The prophecy given to Flash and his team by Savitar through Julian’s body was quite possibly the coolest thing all season. I’m sure that we will see more about this prophecy, and what is going on in that future Barry visited, later this season. I’m hoping that, after his role in this week’s episode, Julian will be a big part of that story.

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