Hello, TV lovers! This week on The Magicians, Alice is on a mission to find out what happened to her brother. Supergirl faces off against Bizarro Supergirl, and in turn, Maxwell Lord. The Flash dealt with a villain named Tar Pit and a betrayal in the team. Arrow was full of reunions and newfound confidence. Our full thoughts are below!
The Magicians 1×3, “Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting” (Kayla)
In the third episode of The Magicians, Alice is determined to find out what happened to her brother at any and all costs. As the title of the episode would suggest, her brother’s demise had to do with doing magic way more advanced than he should have. Alice tracks down one of his classmates and finds out that she was trying to do a spell to change her appearance. It went horribly wrong, and Alice’s brother tried to save her. He didn’t actually die, he became non-corporeal energy, and Alice tries to harness him.
At the beginning of the episode, all the first year students are sorted by type of magic. Quentin has no specific magic speciality, and ends up living with Eliot, Margo, and Alice. A book in the house has gone missing, and Eliot and Quentin track it down to the hedgewitches of New York City, where Quentin finds out Julia is still practicing magic. The two have it out, and Quentin’s true, selfish colors come through. Julia shines in this episode, as she balances her desire to pursue magic with her everyday life and oblivious boyfriend.
There was an awkward moment in the episode when Quentin is trying to keep Penny out of his head, and Penny catches him singing Taylor Swift to himself. Quentin says he’ll stop, and then hides behind a tree. It was very bizarro. Speaking of Bizarro…
Supergirl 1×12, “Bizarro” (Kayla)
Maxwell Lord decides it’s time to unleash his Bizarro Supergirl on the world. Her initiative: destroy Supergirl. In their first encounter, Bizarro notices that Supergirl may not be as evil as Lord made her out to be, and decides not to kill her. On Bizarro’s second attempt, she kidnaps Kara from a date with Adam, Cat’s son, as Kara. This shows that Lord knows Supergirl’s true identity. Kara thinks she can reason with Bizarro, but when Alex shoots her with a krypton bullet, it makes Bizarro stronger, and she loses her faith in Supergirl. Alex takes Maxwell Lord in to the DEO, where it seems like he wants to be. Meanwhile, Bizarro, under Lord’s direction, kidnaps James in order to lure Supergirl to her death. James does admit to Bizarro that he loves Kara because of her kindness in his sappy speech to distract the villain. Supergirl saves the day. Kara ends her relationship with Adam, for his safety of course. He decides to leave town, which upsets Cat. Kara gets home, and finds a funky plant sitting on her table. She touches it and looks up to see what looks like the mother plant. Bad things are going to happen. Cliffhanger!
The Flash 2×12, “Fast Lane” (Megan)
Dr. Wells steals some of Barry’s speed to give to Zoom, but Barry can tell that he’s not as fast when he goes to fight “Tar Pit” aka Joey Monteleone, a metahuman seeking revenge on the men who tried to kill him right before the accelerator explosion. When Iris ends up in the hospital because Barry’s diminished speed meant he couldn’t save her, Wells feels guilty and admits what he’s done. Wells pleads to be sent back to Earth-2, and to have the breaches sealed up after him, now that he and Barry have figured out how to do that. Barry goes and stops Tar Pit with a snazzy invention that Wells made before confessing, and realizes that they can’t blame Wells for doing what he did to try and save his daughter. “We’re going to Earth-2” is what Barry tells Wells, as he and some of the team (it’s not exactly clear who) will be going to help save Wells’ daughter. This episode was much stronger than last week’s, and I enjoyed the continuing drama of Wally, Iris, and Joe getting to know each other. Most of all, I appreciated the relationship between Wells and Barry, as both chose compassion over personal feelings. And I am very excited for going to Earth-2 next week!
Arrow 4×12, “Unchained” (Megan)
Thea’s bloodlust turns against her, as the fact that she hasn’t killed anyone in ages begins to kill her. A new thief in town turns out to be Roy, under the control of a villain who calls himself “The Calculator,” which everyone agrees is the worst code name ever. Felicity hacks into The Calculator’s system and figures out his plan – he’s made a “web bomb” that will give him the ability to completely shut down the city’s infrastructure, killing thousands. The team locates the bomb and manages to stop it, with a risky last minute shoot and run moment on Roy’s part. Thea slips into a coma, and Nyssa, newly escaped from Nanda Parbat, shows up at her bedside, offering a cure in exchange for Ollie killing Malcolm Merlyn. Damien Darhk’s wife also enters the mayoral race, and it’s revealed that Felicity’s father is The Calculator. In flashbacks, Oliver starts hallucinating visits from the deceased Shado. The emotional arc of this episode was very well crafted. The touching moments with Thea and Roy were exactly what I felt like had been missing from his departure. And Felicity’s growing confidence in the workplace, with encouragement from Curtis, was also much more credible than some of her fears in last week’s episode. I really loved this episode, and I feel like it may well be my favorite episode of the season so far.
What did you think of the shows this week? Tell us in the comments!
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