Monkeys Fighting Robots

This series will be a brief, semi-comedic review of the CW superhero shows. You can check out last week’s review post here. The only shows discussed will be ‘Arrow’, ‘Flash’, and ‘Supergirl’. There WILL be some spoilers discussed, so only look at the reviews you’re up to date on!

Arrow, “Brothers in Arms” (April 5th)

CW John Diggle
Do the clothes doth maketh the vigilante? (copyright CW)

The balance between the Diggle and Diaz conflict makes for an okay episode. The more focused conflict between Oliver and John works better than the general Team Arrow break-ups. The semi-resolution between the two also works better than the total split. On the other end, Diaz is still a vague threat, whose primary strategy is just… having lots of people. The threat of impeachment is the most concrete, scary threat that’s come from Diaz in this post-Cayden James world.

SCORE: 7/10 People Telling Oliver That Diaz Has Already Won

Monkeys Fighting Robots Youtube

The Flash, “Null and Annoyed” (April 10th)

CW Flash
Literally too old for this rift (copyright CW)

While Kevin Smith has made some great CW entries, this episode doesn’t land as well. It’s a nice-looking episode to be sure, but the content is severely lacking. Aside from a strong episodic villain, ‘Null and Annoyed’ is very weak. This goofy Ralph Dibny is a complete 180 from the past few episodes of character development. Plus, the return of Ralph’s Stretchy Blackface Power is incredibly unnerving. Danny Trejo seemed to be phoning it in hard, as if he really hated being in this episode. The reveal of Thinker drugging his wife lost steam by the time it came around. While the potentially corrupted Harry is interesting, it doesn’t do enough to ground a weightless FLASH.

SCORE: 6/10 Silent Bobs

Arrow, “Fundamentals” (April 12th)

CW Arrow
Don’t see why he needed to jump back to the lamer costume (copyright CW)

ARROW uses a very uninspired framing device to set up a new status quo. Oliver getting secretly drugged with Vertigo makes the specifics of the plot confusing. Exactly how much of Arrow’s new behaviors are drug-induced, aside from obvious hallucinations? It was smart to bring back Adrian Chase – the series could use a strong villain to actually scare Oliver. What works is the idea of Green Arrow going back to his loner ways. The show has felt oversaturated with vigilantes as of late, so refocusing ARROW on Arrow is a promising start to a potentially better future.

SCORE: 6.5/10 Science Fair Projects

WEEKLY WIN TALLY:

The Flash: 7 Weeks

Arrow: 5 Weeks

Supergirl: 4.5 Weeks

What show did you think won the week? Does Legends of Tomorrow or Black Lightning take your vote? Let us know in the comments below!

Jon Barr - TV Editor
Jon Barr is a comedian and TV Phanatic. Yeah, he meant to spell it that way. It's like the Philly Phanatic, like from Philadelphia, because he's from - you get it. He loves good TV & mocking bad TV. You can find him all over the web.