Batwoman Season 1, Episode 6 - I'll Be Judge, I'll Be Jury

In Episode 6 of Season 1, a new villain known as The Executioner is wanted for the murder of Gotham's Assistant District Attorney, and the city calls on Batwoman, to the dismay of Jacob and the Crows. Kate and Luke begin working on tracking Executioner down but, in the process, Sophie is shot while trying to deduce Batwoman's identity. Leaving Sophie with Mary to heal, Kate must contend with the recent string of murders, as well as her own father's crusade against anything Batman and his allies have stood for.

Meanwhile, Alice and Mouse (played by Sam Littlefield) surgically disguise the latter to infiltrate Hamilton Dynamics to steal a weapon that can pierce the Batwoman suit. Mouse begins to suspect Alice is more focused on Kate than their eventual goals, and accuses her of being a traitor.

In my opinion, 'Batwoman' has been on a bit of a roll in the last few weeks. However, this week feels the most like filler that we've gotten this season, with some interesting ideas brought in, but by the end of the episode, I just walked away thinking "well, next week should be interesting" rather than this week.

As for those interesting ideas, Kate gets another "villain-of-the-week" story, but with an interesting angle to her character. Kate has always been emboldened by social justice for the undervalued and giving her a villain in Executioner whose gimmick is around getting vengeance for those disenfranchised through the prison system is a cool test to her character. Tommy Elliot and Magpie are neat and all, but this is the first time we see Kate taking on a villain - not including Alice - that she may not be the most one-sided against from a moral perspective.

That ties into Luke's storyline as well, which also may or may not be revealing that Lucias Fox is dead at this point, and talk about a storyline I really wanted to like. Imagine if in the climax of the episode, Luke would have had to come face to face with his father's apparent murderer, what does that do to him? But we don't get any of that, instead once again relegating Luke to the background, even though he clearly has a part to play, and we've been building him up for six episodes now.

In addition, the Alice/Mouse plot is a bit hit and miss. I'm fine with the writers toying with us in showing Alice's conflicts, but compared to last week, this feels remarkably melodramatic (at that's saying something for the Arrowverse). Alice's seemingly sincere turn at the end promising Mouse to bring Kate to their side feels unearned because the rest pf the episode has her pretty clearly caring about Kate, something the show has been trying to get us to think is an enigma when really it's been there the whole time.

The one cool thing we get out of it is seeing how much of a threat Mouse's mimic abilities can be and, considering the character isn't all that interesting at the moment, gave me something to look into (hell, he knows that Kate is Batwoman, that's an advantage Alice doesn't have anymore and could prove very interesting later on).

One of the big aspects of the episode is that we know that Sophie knows Kate is...and didn't we get that in the pilot already? Outside of her connections to the Kane family, Sophie hasn't been my favorite character thus far. If anything, I cared more about Mary this week because her not wanting to know who Batwoman is so much more interesting. Mary cares more about helping people then trying to stop a vigilante giving the city hope, and it just makes Sophie feel like another Crows enforcer than actually diving into some of her own storylines.

Again, that goes to my point about next week's episode; if Jacob finds out about Kate that becomes a huge paradigm shift for the show and Kate's relationship with her own father. But as is, even with the things I liked, this week is the episode that grinds this season to a halt for me, and I just hope next week is better.

Overall, I give 'Batwoman' Season 1, Episode 6 a score of 5.5/10.

Supergirl Season 5, Episode 6 - Confidence Women

In Episode 6 of Season 5, an unknown assailant with shadow abilities attacks the DEO in an attempt to free Rip Roar, now known to be Russell Rogers, and is eventually revealed as Andrea. Going to Lena for help, Andrea believes she can save Russell instead of following through on Leviathan's orders to kill him.

Flashbacks reveal the complex relationship between Andrea and Lena, beginning in their boarding school days, and exploring the events that lead to their strained friendship. Meanwhile, Kara and Alex attempt to learn who turned Russell into Rip Roar, and Andrea's possible involvement.

FINALLY! I have been waiting for an episode like this since the season premiere. Season 5 has given us some interesting stories up to this point – J'onn and Malefic's past, Kelly's research into Q-waves, James' new journey, Kara's feuds with William and Andrea – but none of them are nearly as interesting as Lena's arc and the overarching threat of Leviathan, and we get to explore both in this episode.

The main crux of this week is exploring the strained past between Lena and Andrea, and I was fascinated by their dynamic. Lena has always been interesting to me – her attempts to right her legacy alone are proof enough – but this is the first time I've been interested in Andrea as a character.

Unlike William, Andrea's more direct ties to Leviathan offer us a much more intimate look and the most details about the organization than we've gotten up to this point. Through Andrea's relationship with her father, we start to see some of the more obvious parallels between her and Lena, and yet they're both equally understandable and to blame for the events that transpire in those years.

That's not to deny the glimpses we get into Lena as well, specifically addressing the sense of betrayal that has battered her down over the years. Her parents, her brother, the Daxamites, Eve, Kara, all of their mutual friends, and now her former best friend in Andrea; as we see those betrayals pile up, suddenly Lena's sense of detachment becomes more credible and heartbreaking than ever, I really felt for her.

In addition to being used as a tool to explore these two characters, it's also incredibly fun as a fan to see the show re-exploring the near-entirety of its history through the lens of these characters. Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor makes a brief return, Rahul Kohli returns as Lena's ex-boyfriend Jack, and we even get mentions of Maxwell Lord from Season 1 (a name I never thought we'd hear in the Arrowverse again).

But the grand cherry of all of this is the teases to Leviathan and, to sound like a broken record, FINALLY! Throughout the flashbacks and even a bit in the modern-day stuff, we're starting to dig further into what exactly Leviathan is and what their intentions are. We still know basically nothing, but the fact that the show is utilizing this big of a trope means that the season can finally start to move forward into deeper stories, only highlighted by the fact that Team Supergirl now knows them by name.

While I was legitimately engaged with the flashbacks as a basis for the story, I do wish that they were structured a bit more consistently. Sometimes it feels like we're jumping back and forth between time frames and they're not exactly clear. I also hope that, with the new information we've gotten, the rest of the team will start to be affected in big ways.

Maybe Kara becomes an unwilling pawn in an attempt to release Andrea? Or maybe as their plans start to become more apparent, Leviathan goes public a la Season 4's Children of Liberty? Again, this week put forth a lot of potential, the pieces are all in play, and I'm more hooked on this season than I have been in a minute.

Overall, I give 'Supergirl' Season 5, Episode 6 a score of 9/10.

Black Lightning Season 3, Episode 5 - The Book of Occupation: Chapter Five

In Episode 5 of Season 3, Jefferson is confronted by Tavon's parents, who confirm that their son tested negative for the meta-gene and, therefore, was taken illegally by the ASA. He asks Anissa to bring Tavon back to Freeland after hiding him with the Perdi. Despite disagreeing with her father, Anissa brings Tavon to the perimeter, where they are met by Painkiller, who has been authorized by Agent Odell to eliminate Blackbird.

Meanwhile, Lynn (still unknowingly addicted to Green Light) continues her journey to find a metahuman vaccine. She discovers that Dr. Jace had sent Lynn her research on a vaccine through the amino acid chains found in the metahumans sent to Freeland. Dr. Jace's formula could theoretically be used as a cure, but only through a human host. In this case, that host is Tobias Whale, whose former abilities resulted from a similar serum, and who reveals to Lynn that he knows Jefferson is Black Lightning. Elsewhere, Chief Henderson faces ridicule from the public for his cooperation with the ASA occupation.

After the previous episode, I wasn't sure how exactly "The Book of Occupation" arc of Season 3 would pan out, but 'Black Lightning' has proven a show where weak episodes aren't meant to set an example. That's my longwinded way of saying that this week is another fantastic episode, and a great way of setting up next week's "Book of Resistance" arc.

Jefferson may not be the main focus in this episode, but he does have a pivotal role to play in multiple instances of the story. His risk to bring Tavon back into Freeland results in the student's death (by Painkiller nonetheless), and, in attempting to keep his word on keeping the rest of the students safe, he gets beat up in a broadcasted assault by the ASA soldiers. The parallels between Jefferson and Tavon with the Rodney King assault and the buildup to the Los Angeles riots only reflects this shows a willingness to tackle topical subjects within its own mythos, and serve as key setup for where Freeland itself will find itself as the season goes on.

Lynn is quickly going from the least interesting member of the Pierce family to the most interesting. Her continued obsession with finding a metahuman cure is consistently interesting over this arc, and has reached a fever pitch with her interactions with Tobias. It's not so much shocking that Tobias regains his youth and abilities (this seemed pretty likely even at the end of Season 2), but what is shocking is that Lynn willingly gives him the serum in her pursuit of science. If the likely scenario comes to pass and Tobias does reclaim his empire, it will be on Lynn's hands, posing the question of if the cure is even worth it, let alone her willingness to work aside Odell and the ASA's plans.

(Also, this is not nearly as important as any of the other story threads, but Gambi looking after Grace is actually kind of amazing and I didn't know I needed it until this week.)

Then comes the other big revelation of the episode: Henderson has been aiding the insurgents the whole time, and wants to use Jefferson and Tavon as examples to start a resistance in Freeland, recruiting Reverand Holt, Two-Bits, and even Blackbird to the cause. Again, not really shocking about Henderson aiding our protagonists, but it is surprising that he is the epicenter for this movement, and I'm curious how he'll take to this new type of leadership.

I wasn't a huge fan of Anissa and Jennifer this episode, and it's rare that I say that. With Anissa, while her alliance with Henderson and co. is interesting, it does solidify her continued methods as Blackbird which haven't always been the smartest decisions from the character.

Meanwhile, Jennifer continues to be unwillingly played by Agent Odell, who I'm convinced has a reason for allowing Jennifer to attack the ASA guards from the school. Sure, the revelation about Brandon being a metahuman that can absorb Jen's abilities is neat (and no…he's not Static Shock), but Jennifer feels weirdly obedient to Odell and, with her whole family back in the fold, it feels detrimental to her character, and I hope that we start to see a bit more of her personality take charge in her own story.

Overall, I give 'Black Lightning' Season 3, Episode 5 a score of 9/10.