Television

It's back to the 80s for the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW team, replete with more nostalgia than you could stuff into a pair of parachute pants.

We open with our long-lived villain, Damien Darhk (NEAL MCDONOUGH) engaging in a drug deal in exchange for an artifact, an ancient fasces. (No clues were dropped that I could find as to whether this was a DC Comics Easter egg, as the Isis amulet was recently). Darhk is doing Don Johnson better than Don Johnson did, and when the police arrive he's prepared. But then he's rescued by a speeding Eobard Thawne (MATT LETSCHER), whom Darhk has not seen since 1942 when Thawne hired him to nuke New York City. Of course, for the time-traveling Thawne, it was just moments ago. Thawne reveals that he knows Darhk's future, and reveals part of the plan we saw come together in ARROW, and he offers Darhk actual power rather than symbols of it.

I've got to truly hope that the ending of this episode is an obvious mislead. The alternative would be terribly, terribly disappointing.

The entirety of the present-day focus of "So It Begins" is on Prometheus, the new big bad in town who has it out for Green Arrow [STEPHEN AMELL]. As Oliver and Diggle (DAVID RAMSEY) track him, Oliver is adamant with Felicity (EMILY BETT RICKARDS) that he does not want the new recruits brought into this investigation until the threat level has been assessed. And apparently the threat level is pretty high, because Prometheus is a master of killing people with ninja throwing stars, and has now begun killing seemingly random civilians.

After the Alien Amnesty has been pretty much accepted, there comes even more reason for people to distrust aliens--their technology.

"Crossfire" begins with Kara (our Best TV Actress of 2015 Winner, MELISSA BENOIST) trying her best to acclimate a naive Mon-El (CHRIS WOOD) to life among human beings. She's gotten him a job at CATCO under the name of plain old Mike Matthews. She's even given him glasses to complete the look, just in case he ever decides to put on a cape. Unfortunately, Mon-El must have skipped his Orientation to Earth Culture training, because he's unfamiliar with everything, like telephones and especially work. Throughout the episode, Kara catches him unloading his work onto the twitterpated executive assistant Eve Tesmacher (ANDREA BROOKS), or canoodling in the supply room.

The promos for this episode of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW were geared toward it being Halloween week. Thus, the focus was on the zombies that got created during the U.S. Civil War when a time-pirate crashes there with a bioweapon.

But the really intense story here wasn't the involvement of Sara (CAITY LOTZ) and Nate (NICK ZANO) assisting General Ulysses S. Grant (JOHN CHURCHILL) against confederate zombies (oh where oh where is Selena Rosen when I need her?), nor is it in the drama that finds Ray (BRANDON ROUTH) and Martin (VICTOR GARBER) trapped aboard the Waverider with a zombified Mick (DOMINIC PURCELL).

I didn't have to read a synopsis to know that this week was going to expand the DCW television universe just a tiny bit more. "Human Target" just had to be a reference to DC Comics' own victim-for-hire, Christopher Chance, aka The Human Target. And I'm happy to say that I was right, with the character played by WIL TRAVAL (ONCE UPON A TIME, JESSICA JONES). (Fun fact: The Human Target has had two previous incarnations in television -- once in 1992 played by RICK SPRINGFIELD and again as recently as 2011 played by MARK VALLEY.)

The title of this episode is "Monster," but where it may directly apply is something that is up in the air throughout most of the show. Certainly it could be most aptly refer to the 3-story kaiju that's mysteriously appearing and disappearing in the streets of Central City. But as the episode progresses, there are a few more opportunities where the title could merit application -- or narrowly miss it.

First potential monster: H.R. Wells (TOM CAVANAGH)

Nate Heywood (NICK ZANO) gets to test his mettle against fourteenth century samurais in this third episode of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW's sophomore season. After having been injected with the Nazi super-serum that Ray (BRANDON ROUTH) modified to save his life, Nate finds that he can convert his body to living steel -- but he hasn't quite figured out how to force the change to happen. So training begins, which causes both Ray and Nate to be ejected through the side of the Waverider, landing them in feudal Japan.

Oh yeah, and somehow Vixen (MAISIE RICHARDSON-SELLERS) snuck on board, taking the Legends down as she comes across them because she thinks one of them is the time-traveler mentioned by a dying Hourman.

Now that Superman has made his way back to Metropolis, how will SUPERGIRL move forward? Based on this week's episode "Welcome to Earth", it's clear that playtime is over.

***Spoilers Ahead***

This episode touted the appearance of the wonderful Linda Carter, as the President of the United States of America. Seeking equality for aliens who want refuge on Earth (particularly America), she was set to sign a bill into law that would grant them amnesty.

Hmmm...sounds like a well-timed storyline, seemlessly integrated into SUPERGIRL, for the election season.

Before I get into this episode, I need to address something really important: the obligatory episode introduction. I get that Barry (GRANT GUSTIN) needs to bring the viewers up to speed (pun half-intended), but can they please get him to re-shoot this? Because the current one has him sounding so over-the-top when if finishes. "I am... The Flasssshhhh! It sounds like he's making fun of his own name. It's very off-putting.

At the end of our last episode, our heroes had become disperse, reunited, and ended up in 1942 to save New York from being hit by the Nazis with an atomic bomb, courtesy of Damien Darhk and Eobard Thawne (MATT LETSCHER), aka the Reverse-Flash, a time-traveling speedster from the 25th century. And when the dust had settled, the Legends team was confronted by a secret military force known as the Justice Society of America.

Picking up where we left off, the team's newest member, historian Nate Heywood (NICK ZANO) recognizes the JSA from his studies, particularly Commander Steel (MATTHEW MACCAULL). We later learn that this is because Steel is Heywood's grandfather, and Heywood still wears his grandfather's dogtags around his neck.

ARROW fans, are you ready?

Beloved readers of Critical Blast, are you ready?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, fans of all ages...are you ready to rummmmmmmmbllllllle?

Yes, I'm stealing from Michael Buffer, and why shouldn't I? This is the episode for the fans who cross the borders of ARROW and World Wrestling Entertainment. This is the episode where Stardust -- aka Cody Runnels, aka CODY RHODES -- enters the Arrowverse.

Episode 303 of THE FLASH introduces us to another new character, Magenta, because she flashes things with a purple color. No wait, that's not right. She affects metallic objects like a magnet, so they call her Magneta. No, that's not right either.

You can see why Frankie Kane a.k.a. Magenta is not one of my favorite characters in DC canon. She comes across like a dyslexic Magneto (who thankfully isn't called Magento). Frankie (JOEY KING) is a foster child living in an abusive home. When we first meet her, the father comes home from work in what we assume to be a typically disgruntled mood. In fact, the scene is almost a direct lift from CONSTANTINE Episode 102. Having had all she can, Frankie's dissociative personality, Magenta, takes over, and pulls in a lamp post from outside the house to beat her foster father into the hospital.

If you thought this season of SUPERGIRL was going to suddenly move slower than a speeding bullet, you were wrong. Monday night's episode was full of changes that demonstrated a willingness to adapt to their new location.

That location is The CW.

I know we're beating a dead horse here but it's crucial to be reminded that SUPERGIRL's inaugural season began on CBS. And while it started strong and ratings remained good enough to warrant a second season, moving to The CW was a point of concern to some level.

The CW superhero show LEGENDS OF TOMORROW started out last season with potential that was, largely, unrealized. The fact that it didn't end its season with an alert from Gideo about time changes being wrought by The Flash (see "Flashpoint") seemed to be an obvious connection that should have been made, but instead we fluttered through time tracking Vandal Savage.

Last week, we saw the first appearance of the big bad whom we assumed to be Prometheus. This episode, he confirms the name, but again only in the brief amount of time that we see him. However, that time is enough to conclude affirmatively that he has a grudge against Green Arrow, with the warning that he gives to the new criminal kingpin in town, Tobias Church (CHAD L. COLEMAN).

But that's not the focus of this week's episode, "The Recruits." Oliver (STEPHEN AMELL) decides he can't go it alone after all, and relents to recruiting local would-be vigilantes Wild Dog (RICK GONZALEZ) and Evelyn Sharp (MADISON MCLAUGHLING), as well as volunteer Curtis Holt (ECHO KELLUM). His training is harsh, and harkens back to yet another "5 Years Ago" flashback when Oliver was infiltrating Russian gangs.

Naturally, they hate him for his methods, and almost quit.

When Barry (GRANT GUSTIN) reset the timeline in last week's episode, he learned that Iris (CANDICE PATTON) was no longer speaking to her father, Joe West (JESSE L MARTIN). This week, in "Paradox," he finds out why -- and what other tragic changes have been wrought by his attempt to save his mother from being murdered.

Rod Lurie wrote and directed the widely praised Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated political thriller THE CONTENDER, which took the first-ever Alan J. Pakula Award. For the small screen, Lurie also created the series COMMANDER IN CHIEF, which was nominated for the Best Drama Series Golden Globe, and for which Geena Davis won the Best Actress Golden Globe for her depiction of the first female president of the United States.

Lurie's latest project is the made-for-television movie, KILLING REAGAN, based off the book of the same name by FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly, which airs Saturday, October 16, on the National Geographic channel.

Bill O'Reilly's book, KILLING REAGAN, is done in a very "outside looking in" documentary style. How is the film going to be in comparison -- a documentary style or a more traditional dramatic reenactment?

Last night SUPERGIRL debuted as the highest rated show ever in its time period among men (18-24), on The CW, and tripled the network's performance in total viewers in all key demos.

That's not to say Supergirl did it alone. She had a little help from a certain Kryptonian kinsman who seemed as though he were sent to us in a pod directly from the Donner-verse.

If you haven't yet watched last night's episode you can check it out on The CW app available on itunes and Google Play.

***Minor Spoilers Ahead***

One of the most talked about events coming out of NYCC was the Iron Fist panel where fans of the long-awaited show finally got some insight and were treated to a flashy trailer.

And by 'flashy' I mean the scenes flash so quickly on-screen that you'll want to have the pause button ready to really appreciate the work being done. The fight sequences are sure to be 'lit' with more martial arts action than you can shake an escrima stick at.

Finn Jones may not look like a traditional version of Marvel's Danny Rand, with his curly hair and beard, but at least the signature chest marking is still there. Season 1 is set up to be his origin story so don't expect to see a full-fledged costume right away.

The critically acclaimed Netflix original series, that paved the way for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, is arriving on Blu-ray November 8th.

DAREDEVIL was recently honored as Best New Media TV Series, at the 42nd Annual Saturn Awards, hosted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Earning every accolade the series has collected, with it's realistic vision of a popular street-level crimefighter, Daredevil, season 1 ignited fan excitement about Marvel properties on Netflix.