Scorpion 4x04 Review: "Nuke Kids on the Block" (Being Human Sucks) [Guest Contributor: Yasmine]

"Nuke Kids on the Block"

Original Airdate: October 16, 2017

Can I just start by saying how much I love the episode titles on this show? It must be the nerd in me but I just do.

I also love when the team has a seemingly normal, unassuming job but the day still manages to turn into an end of the world scenario because one of those geniuses does something unbelievably stupid. And this is exactly what happened in this week’s episode.

The team gets a job to update software and replace old parts to decommission an old nuclear missile. Sounds simple and straightforward enough. But while Walter, Paige and Happy are working on the missile, a little... accident takes place. Happy and Paige had been arguing and bickering all day — about something we will get to shortly — and that leads to Happy mishandling a tool and dropping it, causing it to puncture the missile and release a toxic vapor.

Of course, that is not enough, because once they manage to solve one problem, something else comes up, and the team has to constantly expose themselves to the vapor until the only choice is to detonate the missile and then drive after it to diffuse the nuclear head, which I still don’t think is the craziest thing this team has ever had to do.

What made this week’s case especially tricky was the misbalance in the team’s energy. Everyone was going through something, whether individually or among each other, and that was demonstrated in how they worked together in the field.

The episode started with Paige voicing her concern to Walter that Happy had been spending a lot of time with them recently — practically third wheeling — and it has put a damper on their young relationship. Against Walter’s advice, Paige confronts Happy about that and just like Walter predicted, Happy does not take well to Paige’s comments. All Paige wants is to get some alone time with Walter, which is completely fair especially with them trying to understand their new relationship. But Happy takes it badly. She takes it as though her friendship is not welcome. Or at least that is what it appears to be on the surface.

That charged situation carries with them throughout the day, and even though Walter tries repeatedly to diffuse the situation, it just gets worse and worse. That is until Happy’s husband interferes and, being the great psychiatrist and better husband, he can tell exactly what Happy is going through.

The Quintis scene at the end was absolutely precious and showed once again why these two are perfect together and perfect for each other. Toby manages to help Happy realize what is truly bothering her and helps her admit it. One of the greatest things about their relationship is how Toby can always make Happy come to terms with emotional situations that she would otherwise be terribly uncomfortable with and situations that, without him, she would not have known how to handle or would have just ignored.

Happy wants a family. She wants a baby and she wants that baby and that family with Toby. And if that is not an amazing moment for the two of them, then I don’t know what is.

And speaking of couples who bring out the best in each other, Walter and Paige are still trying to figure out their new relationship. Having Happy third wheel them for a while may have been annoying to Paige, but Walter later admits that he was glad she’d been there. He admits to Paige that he is scared she might get bored of him. He tells her that is how all his previous relationships had gone.

I’m honestly glad this is an issue they have brought up because Walter’s low EQ and his terrible past experiences should be one of the biggest obstacles for them to face and overcome. Walter confesses that he is scared of being alone with Paige and her realizing that she is not interested in the things he has to say. He’s scared that she would get bored and get up and leave in a few weeks.

But Paige reassures him by reminding him that their intimacy may be a few weeks old, but their relationship is three years. She has known him all these years and knows she would never be bored with him. I am really looking forward to watching Walter’s confidence grow and his trust in himself and in the strength of their relationship grow as well.

And moving on to another Scorpion genius who is just realizing their amazing potential and whose trust in himself is growing exponentially, Sylvester certainly made great strides in this episode. With Patty, his young intern, on his back, pushing him to be the best Alderman he can be, and with the team needing him to get over his fears out in the field, Sylvester came to a very important realization this week. After managing to find a solution and get funding for the science club, Sly goes back to the garage and informs everyone that he will be taking the Bar Exam and representing Cabe as his lawyer in his case.

Comparing this Sylvester to the one we met in the pilot, the growth is just amazing, and it’s amazing how much he has become his own person: someone who is strong and determined, who knows his potential and self-worth and is willing to do anything and everything for the team. The self-esteem this young man now has is just brilliant. I just feel so proud of him.

As does the whole team, including Cabe, whose future now lies in the hands of this young genius. And they both deserve this. Cabe, especially, considering the horrible time he’s having — he just spent the day as Scorpion’s junior intern and the butt of every joke Toby made this episode, and as funny as that was, he isn’t a man who would be able to handle the situation for too long. He has a legal battle to fight and he has a badge and gun to get back.

And with Team Scorpion behind him, he can definitely win this fight — but it won’t be without a few hitches, I’m sure.

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A Sincere Thank-You to Women Who Make Us Proud to be Women [Contributors: Jenn, Alisa Williams, Jen W., Ashvini, Erin, Rebecca, and Chelsea]

Well, it's been a week, hasn't it? The sad thing is that there are likely multiple things this could be in reference to. #metoo trended on Twitter as a way for women to acknowledged that they were sexually harassed or assaulted. (Something to note: The movement itself was actually started over ten years ago by a Black activist named Tarana Burke, even though many are crediting Alyssa Milano with it.)

As I watched tweet after tweet and post after post roll in, I felt a lot of things — anger, sadness, empathy, and ultimately an overwhelming sense to do something about what I was reading. But how do you combat misogyny and hate and assault? Well, I don't know the right answer to this. Or even if there is one specific right answer. But I can tell you what our next step as a team at Just About Write was: to elevate women and, in particular, women of color this week.

A woman of color began the #metoo movement, and her name isn't associated with it. That's intensely maddening. And unfortunately it is also all-too commonplace. So instead of erasing women of color from our world's narratives like so many do, we're elevating them. (There are a few white women in this article who have impacted and inspired us recently as well, but you'll mostly find women of color who are shining lights into their communities and using their talents to make the world a better place.)

Most of us here are white, and we recognize that we are privileged. And that means we can step aside and use our platform to make sure that others are elevated. That's what #LadiesSupportingLadies is all about: a way for us to give the mic we have been handed by society over to someone else who deserves to be heard. We are not perfect. I'm the first to admit that I am constantly trying to approach life from a posture that is willing to learn. And I'm thankful for women of color, queer women, trans women, disabled women, and more for continuing to tell their stories. We need them. We need you.

So join us as we discuss women who have changed our lives and are changing countless others' around the world.

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine 5x04 Recap: “HalloVeen” (The Best Day of the Year) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]

 “HalloVeen” 

Original Airdate: October 17, 2017

It’s the annual Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween Heist! Arguably the best episode each season, the Halloween Heist pits the squad members against each other in their quest to conquer Halloween. This year, the prize they’re competing for is a “championship cummerbund,” as Captain Holt has christened it, inscribed with the words, “Amazing Human/Genius.” Whoever has the cummerbund in their possession at midnight is the winner.

The great thing about the Halloween Heist is everyone plays dirty and the claws come out. Amy’s not afraid to use the knowledge she’s gleaned from living with Jake this past year to defeat him. Holt and Rosa make it clear they’d rather see Jake back in jail than win. Basically, everyone wants to win but more importantly, no one wants Jake to win.

The plan is to suspend the cummerbund from the ceiling, in the center of the bullpen. But as soon as Amy places it on the ceiling hook, the lights go out. When they come back on, the cummerbund is gone! Everyone on the team is still in the room, so who took it?

All of a sudden all of the computer monitors flicker on and a person wearing a wolf mask claiming to be Gina (who’s been out on maternity leave) tells the team that she stole the cummerbund. If they want to know where it’s stashed, they’ll have to assemble all of the baby stuff she didn’t want to put together, which she’s conveniently left for them under her desk. Each assembled item will gain the assembler one clue.

But! Just as with any heist, the twists and turns aren’t done. Jake and Boyle scamper off with a couple items to assemble but it’s just a ruse. They’re really meeting up with Bill, Boyle’s body double who’s helped them with past heists. It turns out Bill snuck through the vents and grabbed the cummerbund when Boyle used an app to turn off the bullpen lights. It was also Bill posing as Gina in the wolf’s mask.

Just when Jake thinks he’s won, Boyle turns on him! Jake thought they were working together, but Boyle, Bill, Rosa, and Terry all forged an alliance. Boyle has named their team the “Tramps.” Now, Jake finds himself handcuffed to a filing cabinet while the four of them make off with the cummerbund. Amy wanders by and Jake pleads with her to help him out, but she refuses. He thinks he can lure her in with his secret intel on the Rosa-Boyle-Terry-Bill alliance, but she already knows all about it. Meanwhile, the Tramps hide the cummerbund in the server room, under one of the giant servers that only Terry is strong enough to lift. For some added protection, Rosa’s outfitted the door with a laser sensor alarm.

The Tramps are no match for Captain Holt, though. Using an elaborate pulley system that runs through the precinct walls, Holt is able to lift the server off the ground a few inches by peddling on an under-the-desk cycle. His dog, Cheddar, races into the room without triggering the laser sensors, and retrieves the cummerbund. Holt then lowers the server back in place.

Unfortunately for Holt, when he goes to meet up with Cheddar outside, a different dog holding a regular cummerbund is there to greet him. Where’s Cheddar?! More importantly, where’s the championship cummerbund?!

The entire time these shenanigans have been going down, Jake’s been working hard to convince Bill to let him out of his cuffs so he can rejoin the heist. Finally, after agreeing to buy $8,000 worth of “NutriBoom” from Bill, Jake is free! Boyle walks in at just that moment and Jake quickly cuffs him. After telling Bill to keep watch, Jake heads out to check the security tapes and get caught up on what he’s missed so far.

He spies Amy sneeze, which is a clear indication that her dog allergies are flaring up and she must be the culprit who intercepted Cheddar. Sure enough, as he keeps watching, Holt storms into the bullpen with faux-Cheddar, demanding to know where his real dog is. While Holt yells, Amy uses the distraction to sneak the cummerbund into an under-the-desk safe via remote control car.

Suddenly, a group of handmaids enter the squad room, causing an epic distraction. Rosa thinks it must be Amy’s doing because she loves The Handmaid’s Tale, but Amy swears it’s not her. While the handmaids circle, Rosa whispers to Terry that they should check on Boyle because he hasn’t been around for a while. Holt overhears and tells them not to worry because he stole the cummerbund from under the server an hour ago. Amy tells them she has the cummerbund in her safe under the desk.

Finally, Amy yells for the handmaids to stop circling. She removes the headdress from the leader and it’s Jake! She says his distraction didn’t work. She knows he was trying to steal the key for her safe. He says he DID steal the key! Amy’s not convinced because she’s had the key in her shoe the whole time and pulls it out. Jake tells her to try using that key and see if it works. It doesn’t!

Amy’s key is a fake. Jake uses his to open the safe — but the cummerbund isn’t there! Suddenly, Terry’s phone starts beeping. He tells the team he put a GPS tracker on the belt and the signal is showing it’s moving fast. He and Rosa take off to catch it. After they’re gone Holt starts laughing and tells Amy and Jake that he put a GPS tracker inside of Terry by sneaking it into his yogurt. Amy and Jake admit they also put GPS trackers in cups of yogurt for Terry. After a quick discussion on whether all that radiation is bad for him, they take off to catch the cummerbund.

Holt races out of the precinct after Terry and Rosa, but Jake circles back to the evidence room where Amy is already waiting. She’s figured out that during the handmaid distraction, Jake and Bill must have swapped her safe for a different one. Then Bill broke into her safe while the rest of them were still in the bullpen, and hid the cummerbund in one of the evidence boxes.

After spying a box with a different dust pattern from its neighbors, and pulling the cummerbund out of it, she gloats to Jake that she’ll always be one step ahead. He tells her maybe she should read the inscription to make sure it’s the right cummerbund. It’s not, because this one reads: "Amy Santiago, will you marry me?"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After swearing this is not part of the heist, Jake launches into a very Jake-like and super adorable proposal. Amy, of course, says yes!

Later, as the team’s celebrating in the bar, Holt informs the team that technically, no one won the heist this year because Jake altered the wording on the cummerbund, so the original “Amazing Human/Genius” one was never claimed by midnight. No one else cares, but the lack of winner this year will undoubtedly play a part in next year’s competition.

And let’s be honest, Jake came out the real winner this year, because AMY SAID YES!

Bullets on the Bulletin Board:

• “Some of you have asked me what got me through prison. Was it my family? Don’t be stupid. Was it knowing my friends would eventually get me out? Of course not. I never believed in any of you. No, the only thing that kept me sane was planning for the Halloween Heist those many years doing hard time.” “It was eight weeks.”  
• “Letting me into your life was the worst mistake you ever made!”
• “Everyone stop undressing! We just had harassment training!”
• “This isn’t Bachelor in Paradise — it’s Survivor!”
• “Alright fine. It looks like I’m going to have to 127 Hours this sitch.” “You’re going to cut off your own arm?” “Is that how it ends?! Oh, man, I got busy and my rental period expired. I thought he just wiggled out.” 
• “I couldn’t bring myself to neuter Cheddar, but I will neuter you all.”
• “Romantic epiphanies are dope.” 

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A Woman’s Place: How Yvonne Strahovski Fleshed Out One of Literature’s Greatest Villains for the Digital Age’s Most Important Show [Contributor: Melanie Moyer]

(Photo by Dennis Leupold)

Since its initial publication in 1986, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood has been terrifying readers the same way Orwell’s 1984 did decades before. In a future of America where conservative ideology and religious extremism has given way to a theocracy now called Gilead, men alone control the government and women are forced into roles as barren wives, quiet housekeepers, and fertile handmaids destined to be vessels for children and nothing more. Offred, a handmaid owned by Commander Fred Waterford, is determined to survive her sexual servitude, reunite with her daughter, and find freedom from a life as property.

Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck, The Astronaut Wives Club, Killer Elite) plays Serena Joy Waterford, the commander’s strict and intimidating wife in Hulu’s Emmy-award winning adaptation of the novel. Thanks to an expert script and Strahovski's devotion to the depth of the character, Serena Joy is taken from her days in the novel as the evil-stepmother locking Offred away in closets (though she does do that once or twice in the show) to a woman of political intelligence and religious persuasion whose road to hell was paved with good intentions. As Commander Waterford says in the show: “Better doesn’t always mean better for everyone,” and there’s a real empathy in watching Serena Joy get what she wanted and lose everything she took for granted.

I got to chat with Yvonne about what goes into building humanity in a character everyone loves to hate and a small snippet of the darkness waiting in season two.

What is it like bringing to life this character who has such an expansion of depth and presence compared to her novel counterpart?

It was such a wonderful opportunity. I mean, obviously, the character, like you said, is not as fleshed out in the novel. So I had a really wonderful opportunity to humanize this person that hadn’t been humanized before. It was also a challenge too because one of the least relatable characters — not at all relatable in the book — definitely put me to work in trying to figure her out from day one.

For me, Serena has these three different narratives going: that of an enabler of the system, that of someone suffering from the system, and that of someone facing consequences of being on the wrong side of history. Did any one of this faces to her story stand out to you/resonate more with you while bringing her to life?

Yeah, definitely. I really quickly began to see those dualities like you said. She’s basically the architect of her own oppression in a way — in a big way — because she was definitely part of that conversation of how they created Gilead. And at some point, her voice was taken away from her in that conversation in how they were going to proceed with this new society. But she was definitely one of the people originally who focused on that kind of a change. It’s interesting because I do sort of see it as a very pure beginning for her — in the sense that I think there was a purity to the idea that she was for which was women to take back their power in their biological abilities and make babies, basically, and save the world. I think she wanted to inspire women to do that.

But obviously between that seed being planted and where we see everybody going, a lot obviously happened and things went horribly wrong. And now she finds herself in this situation that she wanted but there things about it that don’t suit her. And therein comes that humanity where I think anyone in any of those positions would struggle deeply as we watch them all be oppressed.

In a show filled with women, Serena has such a complicated and antagonistic relationship with her fellow women. Talk about what it’s like for you to play a character like this. What is it like portraying this character in a world that many see as an eerie reflection of Trump’s America?

It was really interesting because I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a fantastic role, but at the same time it was very much art reflecting life which became apparent toward the second half of shooting season one. After the election, that was sort of midway through our shoot. The women’s issues coming up in the headlines, and the Women’s March itself, happened while we were still shooting and bunch of us went to it while we were in Toronto. And we started seeing The Handmaid’s Tale signs start to creep up just even in that. The show hadn’t even come out yet and it really started hitting me how much [it] would be relevant.

It’s so amazing to play a character like [Serena Joy], but it’s so sickening in a way. I’m the person who has to sit with her and try to understand her and justify her actions when I don’t really want to. But I have to, because I’m playing her. It’s an interesting character to humanize because you do get to get a glimpse and understand how it came to be this way for her and perhaps what she could have done differently during that process and how she’s struggling with the reality of the situation now.

So rather than just being the mustache-twirling, creepy villain who was just evil all around, I think there is this side of her that is evil and this side of her that is not evil. So just sort of a very layered, complex, interesting process. Very rewarding to be a part of something so powerful.

If there is anything redemptive in the things Serena does, it’s her desire for motherhood that drives a lot of her actions. Do you see her as someone doing horrible things in the hope of a positive outcome? Or is even her hope for children a selfish action?

I really see her as someone who is in a society where there is no possible outlet for her rage and her emotions that are boiling inside her. She put herself in this kind of society and now doesn’t know how to deal with it. She doesn’t have any intellectual stimuli at all because her books and her writing have been taken away from her. And she doesn’t have a connection to her husband anymore physically because that was taken away from her when she couldn’t bear children anymore. Now there is another woman coming in and taking over that role. And stripping away all the authoritative stuff about Serena — all the political, all the religious, fundamental extremism... everything — you have a woman who is desperate for connection but is unable to connect and is constantly being rejected by her husband, by her handmaid, and by society by way of rejecting her intellect and her brains.

She’s probably rejecting herself because she resents the fact that she cannot be the one to have a baby. So I sort of peel away everything — anything you could label her with — and I see a human being who is desperate. And those rage outbursts come out of that exact thing I’ve just described. There’s nothing else for her. I think in nature people react differently when they’re put to the test, and Serena rages.

When we left Serena Joy, she was watching her best chance for a child be taken away. What can we hope to see for Serena in season two now that we’ve got this blank slate going forward into uncharted territory? 

I’m not allowed to reveal anything at all about season two, which I know is a real big bummer. But it will be darker and we don’t really lighten up in that department. Beware: it’s going to be just as painful to watch. And also wildly entertaining.

You can catch up on the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu and look for season two, which will be out in 2018!

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The Flash 4x02 Review: "Mixed Signals" (Listen and Learn) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

"Mixed Signals"

Original Airdate: October 17, 2017 

This is the version of The Flash I adore! “Mixed Signals” is a lighthearted, fun, funny episode that manages to be all that and also include some significant character development and a deft sprinkling of the season plot arc. Why can’t all the episodes be this good? The dialogue was snappy, the villain of the week was... okay, he was a bit one-note and clearly just a piece in a much larger puzzle involving The Thinker, but still. Everything else about this episode was marvelous. Whenever we have an episode this excellent, I’m reminded why I love this show. Before things got gloomy, The Flash was once a lovely hour of delight and whimsy — and we got a much-welcomed return to those halcyon days this week!

HAPPY BARRY! (FRUSTRATED IRIS)

A lot of this episode’s humor comes from Barry’s utter joy at being out of the Speed Force. Even though — or maybe because — he doesn’t remember being trapped for six months, Barry seems to be reveling in his return. He’s speed-watching all the television he missed on as special Cisco-invented DVR that plays at 1,000 times normal speed and enjoying massive breakfasts while re-enacting the famous “Old Time Rock and Roll” scene from Risky Business, not to mention clearing out the whole wedding to-do list on Iris’s behalf. The problem is, Iris never asked Barry to make those wedding plans without her, and it’s clear that she’s a little upset that he did it — and even more clear that Barry is too high on being home to realize he’s a little overzealous about... well, everything.

See, the problem with this peppy new-and-improved Barry is that he’s so enthusiastic about everything, he’s not bothering to listen to the people around him (especially Iris). It’s an annoyance when he’s planning a wedding without Iris’s input; it’s a danger when he makes assumptions during a rescue, fails to listen to his fiancée’s warnings, and ends up nearly killing the person he was trying to save by sending their speeding, out-of-control vehicle toward an active construction zone. In the end, Barry saves his target by speed-disassembling his car (does insurance cover that sort of thing in Central City?) but it was something he wouldn’t have had to do if he’d just listened to Iris’s instructions in the first place.

Caitlin senses the tension between Barry and Iris and advises that they see a couples therapist, since that’s what she and Ronnie did when they started dating as co-workers (remember: Caitlin and relationships don’t mix only because her significant others keep dying, not because she’s inherently bad at them). At first Iris is opposed to the idea — she and Barry are the “gold standard,” after all — but it starts seeming like a valid plan and, perhaps as a counter to Barry doing tons of stuff without her input, she makes an appointment to see the therapist without his.

Most of the scenes between Barry, Iris, and the therapist are wonderfully funny and, while Grant Gustin has frequently displayed his excellent comedic timing in episodes past, they provide a rare chance for Candice Patton to do the same. As could be expected, a lot of it is Iris and Barry trying to avoid actually saying what they do for a living and why their ability to communicate has such high stakes attached to them, plus a touch of Barry just flat-out not understanding why they’re in therapy... even as he and Iris start listing all the people close to them who have died. It’s quite a long list. Yeah, I can’t imagine why you two would need therapy, Barry.

But Westallen couples therapy exists for more than just my amusement. They have actual problems to work out. For Barry and Iris, their issues go back to the moment when Barry decided to enter the Speed Force and leave Iris behind. In their last therapy session of the episode, Iris comes right out and asks Barry why he left her alone to deal with life without him. Just like cancelling training to have a nice night at a Thai restaurant with Iris, or finalizing all the wedding plans to allow her to relax, Barry’s intentions regarding the Speed Force were genuinely good. He tries very hard to think about others before himself, but Barry is still stubborn and ignorant of the effect his actions might have on the people around him — especially Iris, who often gets left in the (literal and metaphorical) dust.

Barry and Iris are about to get married, which means that Barry can’t keep leaving Iris out of the decisions he makes. Granted, those decisions won’t all be as monumental as stepping into the Speed Force forever, but even the little things are important when you’re supposed to be in a partnership with another person. After Iris’s outburst, Barry realizes that he can’t keep on going with the weight of the city on his shoulders — and, more importantly, he doesn’t have to. Iris isn’t looking to step away from the leadership role she adopted during Barry’s six-month absence, so that means “The Flash” can’t be just Barry now. It has to be Barry and Iris, as partners.

ANGRY NERDS

And then there’s the metahuman of the week that Team Flash has to deal with while all this relationship drama is happening. A disgruntled Silicon Valley tech nerd with the power to psychically infect technology is trying to kill off former partners responsible for making billions off of an app he helped create. He successfully kills one target (“shaken to death” in an elevator does not seem like a nice way to go out) and his second was Tim Kwon, the man whose speeding car Barry dismantled. Each one of the victims got a message reading “Kilgore” as the technology around them flipped out, but then the metahuman responsible showed up anyway so I don’t really get why he bothered. Like, bro, you only do the creepy message if you want it to be a sinister mystery.

Our metahuman, Ramsey Deacon, targets the fourth member of the team by taking over her “smart” insulin pump, but Wally is thankfully there to save the day and administer glucose to keep her from dying. Meanwhile, Kwon is the person whose murder Team Flash interrupts over and over — first with the speeding car, then with a grenade in the CCPD building, and a third time in the climactic fight with Deacon.

In said climactic fight, Barry has the misfortune of facing a tech-controlling meta in the new, techy suit Cisco made for him, leading to even more amusing comedy hijinks as Barry’s suit flips out, Wally gets knocked out, and the team members have to figure out how to stop Deacon’s final attempt to kill Kwon. Essentially, Barry has two foes: Deacon, and his own clothing. Cisco even wired the suit with a self-destruct (in case of evil Barrys) in addition to a weapons system, a deadlock system (to prevent unmaskings), and an inflatable raft. Panicking and without very many options, Barry calls S.T.A.R Labs collect on a payphone, and Iris gives him the only viable idea: fry the suit by running up some electricity and throwing a lightning bolt at himself, then defeat Deacon the old-fashioned way.

That’s just what Barry does, coming to in time to stop Deacon from shooting Kwon and to hit Deacon with a serum designed to neutralize his powers. Later on, we see Deacon in his holding cell — where he admits that he was nowhere near the Particle Accelerator explosion when it happened, but he’s keeping quiet about how he actually got his powers.

Deacon is being watched by The Thinker, who... is still thinking about stuff, I guess?

Other Things:

• Apparently Barry’s go-to Thai meal is pad see ew. Samesies, Barry!
• Barry zipping around to collect shrapnel from an exploding grenade, then zipping out and coming back into the room all normal was such a prime The Flash scene. It felt very season one, in a good way.
• Iris pulling Cisco and Barry out of a pop culture nerd-spiral was great. Team Leader Iris!
• I want to quote all the funny lines from this episode but that would put me way past my usual word count.

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Legends of Tomorrow 3x02 Recap: "Freakshow" (Circus Fun!) [Contributor: Marilyn]

"Freakshow"

Original Airdate: October 17, 2017

This episode begins six months ago, showing Amaya and Nate enmeshed in domestic bliss. She’s trying to fix Nate a birthday treat — chocolate-covered donuts — and he’s charmed that she’s making them from scratch and not buying them. While he’s out to the store to purchase said donuts, she sees a news report about Vixen in Detroit and she knows that’s her granddaughter. When Nate returns, she’s gone. No note... nothing. That’s pretty harsh. And on his birthday, no less!

Fast forward to the present day, and Nate is angsting over memories of Amaya while Ray explains how they can now find anachronisms on their own. Plus, he made a shrink ray to shrink anachronisms that are too large (or dangerous) for their brig. The shrink ray wears off after 24 hours or they can use the device to make them bigger. The team looks at all the anachronisms they have to fix and... it’s a lot. Stein gets in a great crack about how he hates the Titanic and the jerk who built her, reminding me that one of the things I love most about this show is how self-aware it is.

The team ends up taking the Waverider to 1870 to visit PT Barnum’s circus where there’s an anachronism... they just need to find it. Enter Barnum (played by Billy Zane! The Titanic references don’t stop!) talking up an amazing creature he has: it’s a sabre-toothed tiger! Ray is going to use his shrink ray on it but he sneezes (because of course he’s allergic to cats) and enlarges it instead. How are they going to find and subdue this thing long enough to shrink it and return it to its own time now? Sara has an idea. She goes back to the 1940s to talk to Amaya. She proposes one more mission, for old time’s sake.

Amaya is reluctant to return to the Waverider but Sara pleads with her — she’s the best one to help them handle this situation. Amaya asks if Nate knows she’d be back. Sara lies and says yes and that he’s thrilled. Predictably when Amaya shows up on the Waverider, Nate is shook. And rather bitter. The rest of the team is happy to see her, however, and they make plans for solving their tiger problem.

Nate’s at the local bar, meanwhile, getting drunk... 1870s style! Jax tries to give him advice on talking to Amaya but he doesn’t want to do that. The boys are playing with Ray’s dating app and Nate gets into a bar brawl, and uses his power. Barnum is impressed and wants to bring him into his show. Meanwhile, Amaya is tracking the tiger with Sara. They find it and — working together — the girls are able to shrink the tiger. But now the guys are in trouble when Ray and Jax are abducted into the circus.

Nate wakes up to find Sara and the team gathered around him. He’s in the hanger, hungover, and barely remembers the night before. Where are Jax and Ray? Barnum has them locked in a cage and they try to explain to him that they don't have powers like Nate's. Barnum doesn’t buy it. The team comes to the circus looking for them and discovers that Ray and Jax will be headlining a freakshow as conjoined twins.

Mick tries to feed the shrunken tiger and accidentally lets it out its cage. Sara finds someone watching them at the circus and it ends up being Gary, who works as an agent for Rip’s Time Bureau and was sent to spy on them. Amaya and Nate find Ray and Jax but Nate can’t change into steel because he’s dehydrated. Barnum finds them and now he has two more for his freakshow. While they’re locked up together, Nate and Amaya finally have a chance to talk. She tells Nate what happened. She went to see Mari in Detroit, saw her save people. Rip told her that she needed to go back to 1942 or else Mari would eventually disappear. Amaya admits she needed Nate to hate her so she could leave him behind. She needed to protect her granddaughter and him.

While Sara holds a gun on him, Gary contacts the Time Bureau and tells them that the Legends have things under control and he’s the one who messed stuff up. Sara and Stein have to leave the ship to get the rest of the team, but Agent Sharp enters the Waverider through a portal (guess Gary’s message wasn’t so believable after all), so Sara sends Stein and Mick and intercepts Agent Sharp who wants to arrest her and the team. Sara refuses to be taken in and battles the Agent.

Mick and Stein arrive at the circus, where Mick reveals he’s afraid of the clowns. Ray and Jax are introduced by Barnum first and Stein realizes he needs a distraction so he can get to Jax and merge with him. Barnum is getting desperate since the crowd doesn’t love his conjoined twins so he chooses to motivate Nate by threatening to shoot him or Amaya to make him turn to steel.

Sharp and Sara end up being fairly evenly matched and get exhausted while fighting so they stop to have a drink of water. While they’re doing that, the tiger walks in but then enlarges to normal size and Sharp runs away from it, causing it to chase her. Sara saves her from the tiger. With that taken care of, it’s now up to the team to fix the anachronism. Nate turns to steel to save himself from the bullets and when he begs Barnum to stop, Amaya uses her powers to break out of the cage and stop Barnum and his goons herself. Stein dresses up as a clown to try to get to Jax. It works and they merge to make Firestorm, thrilling the crowd. But Amaya is on a rampage now, unable to control her animal totems. After knocking out Barnum, she fights Firestorm, and Nate has to plead with her to fight her power. He reminds her of who she is and asks her to come back to him. She does but is wracked with guilt. Barnum is just thrilled, since he had a great show after all.

The Legends take off with the re-shrunk tiger to bring him back to his own time. The anachronism is solved and Sharp isn’t pleased that they got out of being in trouble with the Time Bureau. Sara wants to know what Sharp knows... what is coming? What does Rip want to use the Legends to face? Amaya admits to the team that she’s losing control when she taps into her powers. She tells them about killing the soldiers back in Zambezi. She’s afraid of herself and she needs to find out what’s going wrong with her powers. Sara tells her that she’s one of them, she belongs there on the Waverider. Then, she tells the team that Rip is hiding something from them, except she doesn’t know exactly what it is. The Legends find that hilarious and they’re not scared at all.

But maybe they should be. We see a hooded figure, a follower of Mollus, approach a pond and recite an incantation. A figure rises from the water... They need the woman for something. It’s all very ominous.

All in all, I think this was a very fun episode of Legends of Tomorrow. They’re pretty much all fun these days. The humor is refreshing and light and the action is engaging. Plus, the plotlines are interesting. There’s more than enough to keep my attention, week after week, and I’m always happy to watch more of my favorite time traveling team. Yes, they mess up quite often but that’s part of the fun, right? The chemistry between the characters continue to be aces and this week; I especially enjoyed getting to see Nate be drunk and sloppy. More of that in the future, please! Anyhow, if you haven’t given Legends a shot yet, you should. There’s nothing but fun over here!

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Supergirl 3x02 Review: "Triggers" (Panic! At the Crime Scene) [Contributor: Deborah MacArthur]

“Triggers”

Original Airdate: October 16, 2017 

My feelings on this week’s episode of Supergirl are a bit all over the place. “Triggers” has some strong acting, an okay villain, and excellent Danvers Sisters moments, plus some character growth for Kara. Unfortunately, half the episode is taken up by a plot involving the mother and daughter from last week’s waterfront attack and the daughter might just be the most insufferably moronic child character I’ve seen in a long, long time. Also, Kara’s character growth is stamped with the words “MON-EL” because heaven forbid she make any significant strides as an individual — it’s all about the Mon-El now! Everything ties back to him. All her strong emotions revolve around him. His loss is the reason why she’s going off the rails.

What terrible luck I have that Mon-El is ostensibly gone from the show, yet I still have to write about how important he is to the show. I had no idea someone so bland could have such staying power. It’s like I’m being haunted by unseasoned mashed potatoes.

FEAR ITSELF

The episode opens with another song like last week, this time poppier and set to a montage of various characters waking up in the morning — Alex with Maggie, waterfront super-mom Samantha and her daughter Ruby, and Kara, alone. I’m not really sure why waking up alone is such a big deal when Kara and Mon-El were only dating for, what, a month before he was shoved into a spaceship? But I suppose it’s a reminder to Kara that Mon-El is gone, and that she was the one who sent him away. That last bit is significant for Kara’s emotional arc later on.

More than previous seasons, I think Kara is straining under the balance of her human life and her superhero alter-ego now. Even though last week’s episode ended on a positive note regarding Kara's outlook on life, it's clear that her heart just isn't in anything that's not being Supergirl and saving people. Which is why she skips out on work immediately, even though the alert she gets from the DEO is a general alert, not an emergency. Considering that Kara's new BFF Lena was starting her run as owner of CatCo, it's especially notable that Kara simply didn't want to stick around. What a shame, because she missed out on the weird tension between Lena and James. Is the show going to make them a thing? Like, a romantic thing? Because as much as I’d like to see more screen time for the both of them, I don’t really want that.

Kara shows up just in time for an actual emergency alarm to trigger: a bank robbery in progress, being performed by a metahuman named Psi who has the ability to cause fear and panic in the people around her. Pretty easy to rob banks when all the people in your way have assumed the fetal position. Kara initially assumes that she’ll be unaffected by whatever powers Psi has, but alas! Supergirl is just a susceptible to fear as regular humans, and she finds herself panicking in a bank vault until Maggie comes in to talk her down and haul her back to DEO headquarters.

A medical evaluation tells us that Kara is mostly fine, but that she just suffered through what sounds like a claustrophobia-induced panic. Significantly, Kara dismisses the idea of claustrophobia as a “human problem” and brushes aside the fact that she used to have claustrophobia as a child. This, coupled with a panic attack she has in an elevator later (which she dismisses as something she’s too “strong” to succumb to) clues me in on the social subject clumsily stitched into the plot of this episode: stigma against panic attacks and anxiety.

Another Psi robbery pulls Kara away from her job again, and it’s revealed that even J’onn can’t psychically match this new opponent. Psi toes the line between threatening and slightly mad and it’s a pretty good mix, to the point where I wish the episode had taken a bit more time to explore her and her backstory. All we know about her is that she loves money.

I know I’d be a heck of a lot more interested in seeing more Psi than I was in seeing more of Samantha and her daughter Ruby, whose personality is more in the “too dumb to live” vein than the “narratively interesting” one. Unfortunately, half the episode’s screen time is split between Kara’s story and Samantha’s story — and half of Samantha’s story is used up by her daughter, whose obsession with her mother having superpowers leads her into all the danger.

Example danger: Ruby wanders off to a pizza place that just so happens to be in the vicinity of another one of Psi’s robberies. Rather than running away when she notices a wrecking ball randomly slamming down on buildings (the driver of the machine thinks it’s full of snakes, by the way), she texts her mom to come save her and then walks directly into the worst part of the chaos. Seriously the dumbest kid, I swear.

Throughout the episode, Kara has been dealing with the fears triggered by Psi during every attack. It started with the claustrophobia, then turned to Kara’s last memories of Krypton and her mother saying goodbye to her, and then flying through silent space toward Earth. It’s a perfect build-up of Kara’s fears — her fear of abandonment, the deep-set loss she feels over her family and her planet and everything she’s ever known, and the horrifying experience she must have endured at just thirteen years old, floating through space and not knowing if she would make it to her destination but knowing with utter certainty that she could never go home... and then in the final fight against Psi, it’s revealed that Kara’s previous fears were just a mask over her true deep, all-consuming fear of having killed Mon-El when she sent him away on that ship.

And, okay — thinking to might have killed someone you love? Totally terrifying, I get it. But does that really eclipse Kara’s personal experiences with genuine, horrifying events? Like, say... the loss of an entire planet?

Furthermore, the way they finally deal with the panic/anxiety Psi causes is “mind over matter” which — hey, Supergirl? My anxiety medication begs to differ on that front. But I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your underlying message here wasn’t that mental health issues can be solved by pep talks and positive thinking, even if your fear-based psychic villain gets defeated that way. Considering the earlier conversation between Kara and Alex, in which Alex explains that panic doesn’t have to define the people who experience it, I think the show is coming from a genuine place. That makes up for a lot.

Anyway, it turns out that Samantha is taking over for Lena at L-Corp while Lena’s working at CatCo. So that’s her role in the show answered for. Also, Samantha didn’t get to show off her superpowers while saving her daughter this week because Kara swooped in to stop a wrecking ball from crushing the little girl just before confronting Psi for the last time, but she finds a crowbar in her garage (because everyone has a crowbar, right?) and attempts to bend it. It doesn’t bend. I kinda wish the show wouldn’t release so much info in promotional materials, because this scene would’ve been intriguing if I didn’t already know Samantha is an alien.

Next week: J’onn has to go to Mars!

Other Things:

• Mon-El chose the oddest section of Romeo and Juliet to underline for Kara: “The Brightness of her cheek would shame those stars—” he didn’t even finish it! The sentence continues on the next line! He found her cheeks to be the most notable and beautiful thing about Kara? You could’ve compared her eyes to heaven but you chose her cheeks, you weirdo.
• “Winn, I saved your life!” “Yeah but like, so has everybody else here.” I can’t believe how much I’m starting to really like Winn.
• Definitely do a DJ over a live band for your wedding, by the way. J’onn is 100% correct in his reasoning.
• Yeah, I know that Mon-El is alive and stuck somewhere, but I really wouldn’t put it past him to not contact Kara simply because he found an entertaining vacation planet and is too busy sipping space margaritas.

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