Welcome back to The Hollywood Reporter's weekly DC TV Watch, a rundown of all things DC Comics on TV. Every Friday, we round up the major twists, epic fights, new mysteries and anything else that goes down on The CW's Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Black Lightning and Fox's Gotham. Note: Legends of Tomorrow and Gotham did not air new episodes this week.
Supergirl
The superhero team-up we need | Supergirl just dropped the mic when it comes to superhero team-ups. Amid the Time's Up and #MeToo era, The CW's female-led comic book drama enlisted an all-female version of the Justice League (or is that the Suicide Squad?) to fight against the growing threat of Reign (Odette Annable) and the other World Killers she's trying to find. Knowing she can't fight Reign alone, Kara (Melissa Benoist) recruited Legion of Super-Heroes member Imra, aka Saturn Girl (Amy Jackson), along with her former enemies Livewire (Brit Morgan) and Psi (Yael Grobglas). The badass group used the Legion ship to take a trip out to the far reaches of space to the floating Fort Rozz, hitting more than few hiccups along the way. Getting her former nemeses to put the past behind them and work with her was no easy feat, but in the end, Livewire sacrificed herself at the hands of Reign to save Supergirl and suffering a true hero's death. This served as a reminder of the kind of hope Supergirl can inspire even in the most hopeless of cases, and helped Kara take a giant step back toward who she used to be before her break-up.
Spark of hope | Is Reign's human side, Sam, starting to win? After Psi hit the World Killer with a psychic blast, Sam seemed to wake up inside of Reign and was confused of why she was fighting Supergirl. Then, back on Earth, she confessed to Alex (Chyler Leigh) that she keeps losing time and things something is wrong with her. This might be the spark of hope that Supergirl needs to help Reign find her humanity again, especially if Alex is now Sam's confidant.
Was that a crossover? | Before Kara recruited Livewire for the space case, the former CatCo employee was serving up attitude along with coffee at a random diner, in hiding from Reign's reign of terror. But was that a random diner, or was it actually a Riverdale crossover? That diner background looked more than a little familiar, and with Supergirl and Riverdale filming so close to each other in Vancouver, it's not hard to imagine the two CW series sharing a set for one scene. Talk about network synergy!
The Flash
Jailhouse rock | Barry (Grant Gustin) is really committed to this whole prison inmate thing. Despite his ability to make a jailbreak literally any time he wants, he decided to do his time, relying on the STAR Labs team to prove his innocence. But can The Flash's team accomplish their biggest mission yet without The Flash himself? They're not doing such a good job on that so far, so only time will tell. At least Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) finally learned what it takes to be a real hero and overcame his fears to be the temporary replacement for Team Flash's main superhero.
Like father like ... daughter? | That mysterious cater waiter (Jessica Parker Kennedy) from Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry's wedding is back, and this time, she's confirming suspicions that she is Iris and Barry's daughter from the future. After running into Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Ralph at Jitters, she ran back to her table and wrote in a diary in the Speed Force language ... as in, the language that only speedsters know how to use. Her unhealthy obsession with Barry's wedding actually happening coupled with her speedster lineage, plus her uncanny resemblance to Barry and Iris means she's their daughter from the future. Now the question is: what is she doing in the past, and why hasn't she revealed her identity to anyone?
Arrow
Like father, like son | William (Jack Moore) certainly got the heroic gene from his father. When Cayden James (Michael Emerson) attacked Star City, William's class was on a field trip. The boy turned hero when all of his peers became frozen and scared, and like a mini Green Arrow, he led everyone to safety. When William got trapped on the way out, Oliver (Stephen Amell) swooped in to save him, and the way William called him "dad" in the heat of the moment was beautiful. Then, by the end of the hour, William finally accepted Oliver's mission as the Green Arrow and gave his seal of approval for his dad to risk his life every night to save the city. This was the sweetest bonding moment thus far between the father and son, and it feels like the series has finally reached a turning point with their relationship.
Doing as he's told | One low point came during this week's episode at the very end of the hour, when Oliver, despite promising Star City that he wouldn't negotiate with terrorists, actually wired the $10 million to Cayden James who was holding the city hostage. This only buys Star City one day before Cayden's bomb goes off, so does that mean Oliver will keep spending the city's money on ransoms? This only delays the inevitable, and honestly, it seemed out of character for Oliver.
Innocent until proven guilty | Turns out that Cayden James is only doing all this to get revenge on Oliver for killing his son. But Oliver doesn't believe he's guilty of the crime Cayden claims he is. According to the hacker, exactly one year ago, Oliver missed his target and his arrow hit and killed Cayden's son Owen. But he only knows this from a USB that was sent to him from a mysterious source. Could the evidence be fake? Is someone targeting Oliver and setting him up to be taken down by Cayden?
Wink wink, nudge nudge | Benjamin Gale! Cayden gave quite a familiar alias name when sneaking his way into Oliver's mayoral office. Lost fans definitely got a kick out of hearing Emerson says the name Benjamin once more under false pretenses.
Guess who's back? | Oliver's first "wife" is making a return trip to Star City. Katrina Law is reprising her role of Nyssa al Ghul in episode 16, "The Thanatos Guild." The League of Assassins leader returns to "warn of an impending danger that will threaten everything we know and love ... in an unforgettable episode that will change Arrow forever," according to executive producers Wendy Mericle and Marc Guggenheim.
Black Lightning
Corruption runs deep | Just when Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning (Cress Williams), thinks he's won a battle, the audience learns that the war is much more complicated than the hero even knows. He successfully put one of The One Hundred's leaders Lala (William Catlett) behind bars for the murder of one his former students, but it turns out that The One Hundred's presumed-dead kingpin Tobias Whale (Martin "Krondon" Jones III) has so many Freeland cops in his pocket that he can just waltz right into the police station and kill his own lackey. To commit murder literally inside a police station is ballsy, and Tobias doesn't even sweat it. That's how deep his corruption in Freeland runs, meaning that Jefferson has his work cut out for him ... and he doesn't even know it.
Gotham returns this spring on Fox. Supergirl airs Mondays, The Flash and Black Lightning air Tuesdays, Arrow airs Thursdays, and Legends of Tomorrow will return next month, all on The CW.
