Review: DC CW TV shows 2018

This review will cover the current “Arrowverse” seasons including: Arrow (season 6), The Flash (season 4), Supergirl (season 3), Legends of Tomorrow (season 3), & Black Lightning (season 1).  This excludes the crossover episode that I reviewed a few months back, but focuses on the main series’ separate story arcs.

Arrow this season had quite a few high points, and very little low.  High points are Ricardo Diaz (Richard Dragon), the breakup of team Arrow, Ollie’s solo crusade, Detective Lance’s goal to turn Black Siren into someone more like his Laurel, Black Siren’s story arc, Oliver as a father, Diggle becoming an Argus agent, Rene being more like a father and his emotional side, Christopher Chance as the Human Target, and the pace of the season leading up to an explosive and shocking finale with some really great decisions albeit heartbreaking ones.  The parts of this season that didn’t work… Everyone complaining about Oliver as the Green Arrow.  His decisions might not all have been perfect, but the man’s crusade has definitely been for the greater good.  Oliver and Felicity getting married.  Just stop already.  It’s annoying, and she works better as a separate entity not with him.  Also are we just supposed to believe she will jump in and play mommy role to Oliver’s son?  I guess so.  Two Black Canary type figures.  They need to decide who to get rid of because it’s too much.  Make the new Laurel what the old was supposed to be, and it’ll work better.  And finally, Mister Terrific.  He’s so clichéd at this point its not even enjoyable to watch him.  He barely has a role other than to fill in the gay guy part, and that is over played in bad taste.  All in all, I give the season 4 out of 5 sCrypt ratings.

The Flash like arrow this season was overall enjoyable.  The good parts of the show were the mystery girl who turned out to be Iris and Barry’s daughter from the future.  It was short but kept me wondering.  Ralph Dibney (Elongated Man) as an addition to the team is far more enjoyable than some of the other members.  He adds a new personality that differs from the rest of the cast making him a breath of fresh air.  The Mad Thinker as the villain worked in so many ways and finally gave us someone who wasn’t a speedster.  Here’s what didn’t work… The whole Killer Frost thing.  It felt very forced as if they just didn’t know whether to choose to keep her as a hero and piss everyone off or have her stone cold villain and lose their precious Kaitlyn.  Get over it already and do the thing actual comic fans want.  Iris as team leader is just stupid and takes away from that character.  H.R. was great as usual, but there were times where I felt he just didn’t fit into the story.  I give this season 4 out of 5 sCrypt ratings for the fact that they finally did something different, and didn’t get too involved in controversial things.

Legends of Tomorrow was better than its previous seasons but I still wonder why it’s on.  It began strong with me thinking they were going to address how they have no concept of time travel and how it logically would work, but they scrapped that right after the first episode and went back to pure garbage.  If anything at this point they shouldn’t even exist in the same reality as the other shows because they’ve screwed things up from their actions… but that is all ignored by lazy story telling.  The writers only care to push their agendas from anti-Trump nonsense to shoving lesbian plots into places where a relationship doesn’t work no matter what the character’s orientation.  As a man who is very middle ground, open minded to all, and offended at any extreme left or right political push, this bothers me a lot.  It’s to the point where a guy who has loved comics from when he was a kid can’t even get away from this real life problem by watching a show that’s supposed to be enjoyable.  One good thing they did was to bring Constantine in for a few episodes, and give Wally West a role that is much better suited than on The Flash.  I give Legends 1 out of 5 sCrypt ratings.

Supergirl is slightly better now that they’ve focused less on relationships and more on story.  My problem with this season is that it fell flat with the rip off Smallville Doomsday plot.  They just keep reusing Superman’s villains or doing a new take.  It’s not even creative at this point.  What saved the show this year was the introduction of the Legion, and having Martian Manhunter’s father losing his memory.  That is something that connects with all viewers and not just a certain crowd.  Supergirl was overly hard to watch though because it focuses less on the main character and more on her supporting ones.  I give it 1 out of 5 sCrypt ratings.

Black Lightning is the new addition to the universe, but he’s not much more than a wannabe Luke Cage.  Sure, the characters are different, but the theme of the show goes for that feel.  Here’s where it shines… The actors are all very excellent in their roles and Tobias Whale is a great villain.  Where it falls is everywhere else.  The political things that I’ve mentioned earlier go even more here to the point of making it seem like every cop is bad, most people are racist, and in order to stand up for what we believe we should condone violent protests.  It’s just downright appalling to me that the writers really think this is okay.  Touching on a subject is fine, but making it something for you to spread your message is not entertaining by any means.  Black Lightning is a little bit better than the other two shows, but not by much.  I give it 2 out of 5 sCrypt ratings.

In Conclusion I must admit that I don’t know if I’ll be watching the last three shows mentioned next season.  I’ve almost given up on Arrow a few times, but it reels me back in.  The Flash is stale at times, but has interesting rogues.  These others though are just a platform for close minded liberal attacks on anyone who doesn’t agree with them.  I mean who are they gearing this toward?  I honestly think that they believe everyone needs to think like they do or F%#$ off.  From a man who is open to all beliefs and people, who is also a comic book nerd from youth, people like me should be one of the target audiences.  Sadly we are not.  In fact I’m sure most people can’t even stomach watching it even when we agree (and yes there were times when I agreed).  It just shouldn’t be what it is and they’ve taken a great idea and universe and made it painful to watch.  Even worse is that I just don’t care about it any more.  I have seen how many people have just stopped watching these things, and now I know why.  For what might be my last review of these shows with writers who have no concept of how entertainment works, I give the whole DCTVCWverse this season a 2.5 out of 5 sCrypt ratings.

What did you think?  Feel free to comment below whether you agree or disagree.