I’m sure Kayla’s intentions here are more selfish than she’s letting on, but I get the feeling that this journey w/ Mick is ultimately gonna steer her at least a little bit toward the Legends’ side. Having to travel across the galaxy in search of Sara, which will likely take quite a while, is the perfect setup for her to develop an unexpected bond w/ Mick (unexpected for them, at least). I saw a reviewer point out that Kayla already seems like Garima (the female warrior from one of Mick’s books who was temporarily brought to life) but real. It seems like a pretty accurate comparison, which makes me think they’ll get actually end up getting along pretty well…maybe a little too well, but we’ll cross that bridge if we get there. Ultimately, if Kayla comes to legitimately care about Mick in any capacity, then she may also come to care for his friends, including Sara, and thus be less inclined to abduct her again
While I definitely think the episode (and the season) could’ve very much benefitted from more time overall to let everything fully breathe, I still absolutely loved this twist! Don’t get me wrong, I had no problem accepting this explanation for why Jen looked different so as to explain China Anne McClain’s absence, but seeing her return for the finale was such an unexpected thrill. Her comments earlier in the year about wanting to step back from acting overall even before it was announced that the show was ending made me think there was no chance she’d return, but I was very much happy to be proven wrong. At the end of the day, it just proved that while Laura Kariuki did a great job stepping into the role, there’s really only one Lightning, and it was amazing seeing Jen master her powers more than she ever has before
Though China’s return does also have me questioning the potential future of Jen’s character. While we now know that Painkiller won’t be getting picked up by the CW, China would’ve returned to film her scenes in the finale before news of that broke, and as far as we know, there were still general plans in place for Jen (and Anissa) to show up on Painkiller as it went on. Does this mean that China would’ve come back to appear on that show as well? If so, does that mean she’s already returned to acting, or would she just stick to smaller appearances going forward? I imagine Painkiller would’ve still fit into the latter, and it could still on the off chance that it gets picked up elsewhere. And there’s also the potential for her and other BL characters to return in 1 of the opening episodes of Flash’s next season since those will feature heroes from other Arrowverse shows. Whatever ends up happening, I just know I want to see more of these characters, Jen included, and so I’ll keep holding out w/ whatever scraps of hope we still have left
Ideally it’d be better for him to spend the rest of his life in prison, but I just don’t think that would’ve been a viable option. Even w/ Looker’s testimony likely being strong enough to actually put him away, his newfound connections w/ that shadowy criminal board he took over likely would’ve provided him the means to avoid jail, assuming his usual connections/resources didn’t do the trick. I just feels like he dug himself in so deep that he was practically above the law, so I’m not sure that it would’ve fit w/ the show’s more grounded tone to expect that he’d stay imprisoned. He really elevated himself to the status of “too dangerous to be kept alive” considering not even the ASA was able to hold him permanently, so I feel like this was really the only way for it to end. And I’m also glad that Jeff was able to end things in a way that didn’t involve actual murder (I’m assuming that Jeff knew about the balcony outside Tobias’ window since he flew in that way, and also that he was only trying to throw Tobias a few feet onto surface just a few feet below, not onto the spike). For all his talk in previous seasons about how murder would corrupt the rest of his family, it wouldn’t have felt right to see Jeff go down that road himself, but he can still rest easier knowing that Tobias will never be able to hurt his family or his city again
There’s obviously a lot of great ones to pick from, but I think the scene that left the biggest impact on me was Bill Henderson’s death from the season 3 finale. There aren’t a ton of moments that can make me burst out into tears, but that was absolutely one of them. I had loved seeing Bill and Jeff’s dynamic over the years, being at odds several times but still always able to come together and work with each other for the greater good of protecting Freeland. As painful as it was to watch, I was also able to still take comfort in knowing that Bill got to go out as a hero, sacrificing his life to save Jeff. It was a beautifully heartbreaking moment, and I’m glad that Jeff was able to honor his best friend and save Freeland from its greatest threat before he hung up the metaphorical cape for good
In terms of happier moments, seeing Jeff finally cross over into the main Arrowverse in Crisis was such a huge thrill. Even though we obviously knew about it beforehand, it’s something I had been wanting to happen for quite a while, and so actually getting to see it play out in screen was just amazing
Though I certainly didn’t hate the Forces, I was starting to get a little tired of how often each of them kept flipping sides from seemingly good to seemingly bad, or vice versa. The show seems to love that betrayal twist too much, and I’m just really hoping that the next big bad, whether it’s Godspeed or someone else, is a little more straightforward in that regard. Even though I didn’t think this half of the season was able to capitalize on the momentum from the 1st few episodes, there’s still plenty I’m still looking forward to seeing. Cisco’s departure in the next episode, as sad as it’s gonna be, should still provide some genuinely emotional moments in a mostly good way. There’s the looming 150th episode that’ll not only see the return of several speedsters, but also have Impulse’s debut, which I’m still pretty excited about. There’s the prospect of Godspeed finally getting a decent amount of screentime and getting some actual character development, which has plenty of promise. And even if 7B ends up being a dud, I’ll still be excited for season 8 and the mini crossovers that’ll be happening in each of the 1st 5 episodes. Regardless of my frustrations w/ the show, they just keep finding ways to continue reeling me in
This actually makes a lot of sense looking back on his scenes, and I really love how they were able to pull off a legitimate surprise like this. Of course it only took 1 mention of “Captain Luthor” for everyone to assume this was some other version of Lex or a member of the Luthor family from another world, but John Henry never actually referred to himself as a Luthor. And while someone w/ the brilliant mind of a Luthor would certainly be capable of building weapons like he’s had this season, it actually fits in better w/ John Henry’s usual persona, especially the silver suit. We just didn’t think of Steel since it was lacking the usual features like a face, the S logo and a red cape, but it very much fits. Hell, even the episode title was a giveaway that I’m sure most of us brushed off since it’s been used to describe Clark a lot more than it has for John Henry. Plus, it also maintains the Arrowverse’s established rules that doppelgängers who leaked onto Earth-Prime after Crisis can’t survive alongside their counterpart for too long, as his doppelgänger ultimately died 6 years ago
After all this, what we’re left w/ is a new and fascinating version of Steel who’s likely going to be at a crossroads soon. Sure, he’s still very much anti-Supes right now, but there’s always the potential for that to change. We’ll have to see just how similar this Superman is to the Superman on his world was before he went all Injustice, as it could end up being that the two Clarks are actually very similar as heroes, thus giving more credibility to John Henry’s fear. Of course that Superman also didn’t have Lois in his life, so she could really end up being the key difference in keeping him on the side of good (also similar to Injustice!). As the fight to stop Morgan Edge goes on, John Henry could remain a villain to Superman, or perhaps his mind will be changed and we could ultimately be watching the heroic origin story of Steel in the Arrowverse…
