Monday, February 19, 2018

Stepping Out Of Retirement

This is mostly a superhero CW DC thread with one exception but two of the show I'm talking about do tie in with the title of this blog piece though.


Arrow: This season since it's return has been treading water a little bit. After a promising start, Michael Emerson's Cayden James has been something of a disappointing villain and the last episode just killed him off randomly to elevate Dragon guy as the Big Bad for the remainder of the season. Along with the newbies being on the outs with the original gang, not much has really stood these last few episodes. Black Siren's redemptive path on the other hand has been a bit of a highlight, even if it's largely wound up the obsessive Olicity fans but mainly it's been the only storyline that's really generated any good feeling for this season so far.


Black Lightning: The first five episodes of the CW's latest DC superhero drama series and while it's been doing it's best to distance itself from the Arrow universe (despite being as grounded as Arrow), it's still a worthy addition to this universe. Freeland feels every bit as alive a city as Star City, Central City or National City and Jefferson's journey to step out of retirement and resume his role as Black Lightning has been as compelling as Anissa's tentative journey towards becoming Thunder. Even Jennifer's own storylines have been worth watching while Gambi has made for an interesting if ambiguous ally for Jefferson. The weaker elements include Lynn, who needs better writing and Tobias, whom I don't find really that intimidating but at least characters like Tori and Lady Eve (who I do find genuinely menacing) add to his scenes.


Supergirl: Eh, the four episodes we've had before it's break to make way for the second half of Legends Of Tomorrow's third season have been a mixed bag in a way. Reign is still a decent villain with sympathy being shown for Samantha (unaware of her true identity) but the Worldkillers plot hasn't moved too much ahead even with the arrival of another in the shape of Purity/Julia. On top of that we've had more on the Kara/Mon El/Imra triangle, Alex brooding over Maggie while Wynn, Lena and Jimmy have been a little underused. Plus side, at least Brainiac has been fun to watch so far.


The Flash: Credit to the show where it's due. They did not drag out the trial of the Flash storyline too long and they certainly didn't go overboard with the angst either. They even found a clever way (via Ralph) to exonerate Barry while at the same time, maintaining that DeVoe is still around to hijack more meta bodies for his endgame plan. I did like all the sideplots with the Axel and his mother working together, Iris leading the team as best she could and Barry working with other rogues to escape getting auctioned to Amunet. Just a shame poor Becky came a cropper as she was getting a redemptive storyline though.


Will & Grace: I can't believe it's actually been eleven years since this show first ended and now it's back. I was a fan of the series back in the day but it also wasn't one of those shows I was clamouring to see return as I felt it had ended well enough and had ran long enough with eight seasons under it's belt. This first episode was a good return with the previous finale retconned as the title characters had a pillow fight in the White House along with Karen and Jack providing their own witty comments on things. Overall, a fun first episode for a series that didn't need reviving but at the same time, I'm kind of glad it's back nonetheless.


- Ben Platt will star in a musical series called The Politician for Netflix along with Barbara Streisland. The series is one of two created by Ryan Murphy, the other being Ratched, starring Sarah Paulson.
- Once Upon A Time will end after seven seasons. The remaining episodes will air from next month onwards.
- David W. Thompson will play Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in another episode arc of Gotham. The show is certainly on a recast spree.
- DC's digital streaming service will be doing another prequel series - this time it's Metropolis which will focus on Lois Lane and Lex Luthor.
- Titans meanwhile will introduce the Doom Patrol in the fifth episode with Bruno Bicher playing the role of The Chief.
- Matt Ryan will reprise his role as John Constantine for the Legends Of Tomorrow third season finale if recent set pics are anything to go by.
- Jeanine Mason will star in the CW reboot pilot for Roswell.
- Keeping with reboots, the CW's reboot for Charmed will have the Pruitt sisters called Madison, Mel and Macy. Ser'Darius will play Galvin, the ideal boyfriend to one of the sisters in the pilot.
- Michelle Gomez, Lucy Davis and Chance Perdomo will play Mary Wardell/Madam Satan, Aunt Hilda and Ambrose Spellman in The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Kiernan Shipka will play the title role.
- Alfre Woodard has been cast as Cookie for Empire's fourth season.

No comments: