Monday 31 July 2017

Television: 'Supergirl: Worlds' Finest' (2016) (Episode 1x18)

It's almost good enough to be the best of the season. It's almost good enough to ease my aversion towards crossover episodes of television shows. It's not quite good enough to make me watch an episode of 'The Flash' rather than jump in a tank of piranhas at the behest of a gloating supervillain, but there are some nice moments. It would be a much better episode if it weren't so light and fluffy and undermined by the cliffhanger at the end. Yes, that's it, this would have been twice as good if it weren't bookended by the hangover of Siobhan's story from last time and the setup of the Kryptonians' mind control for the penultimate episode. Exactly.

The most interesting part of 'Worlds' Finest' is the one involving the Flash, as guest star Grant Gustin drops in from his own series, via an interdimensional rift, to pep up this one and advance Kara's romance with James Olsen in the process. He also helps to trap the newly transformed Siobhan, the Silver Banshee, and the villain she helped to break out of the DEO, Livewire. He additionally sets up National City's police force with a metahuman prisoner containment facility and eases several of the morality problems associated with what had bee happening previously. Finally, he takes up the screen time usually given to Kara's sister, the problematic Alex, hurrah! Whoop whoop.

Grant Gustin is pretty good, and charismatic, but he couldn't make me watch another episode of 'The Flash', which was utterly dreadful and formulaic when last I sampled it. He's also the least solid when compared to the regulars on 'Supergirl', which seems to indicate that this might be a stellar cast, although one that will be crippled in the upcoming second season. Second season? Oh, I forgot that its existence was being denied. There is no second season! No! CBS cancelled the show, and that was it. There are no extra episodes, without CBS, Max Lord, Cat Grant, or even most of the dynamics in season one. Nope. It's a myth.

Getting back on track, this was a pretty good fluffy crossover, although it did highlight just how many experiences the two heroes had in common, and how little originality is kicking around in the DC telly-verse. It was nice to see Wynn get a little giddy at having someone to geek around with, and the confrontations between the two opposing duos were not too generic or formulaic, and indeed the final one was resolved nicely. Bebe from 'Frasier' popped in as an evil aunt, Cat was super-smart and spotted Barry Allen (aka The Flash) almost from the outset. In fact, it was good to see him non-plussed by no-one recognising his name or not very nice looking costume.

So, pretty good is the operative phrase, with some solid visuals. No Alex meant sadly no J'Onn either, but the Flash was pretty good. For those missing Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord... well, hold on until next time.

O.

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