Normally I’d probably just think this is an instance of the latter, but the back half of this season hasn’t had much of a specific path beyond just cleaning up aliens scattered across history. Because of this, there’s still an opening for a new big bad of these last 5 episodes, and I’m starting to think there’s a possibility it could even end up being Constantine himself. Whatever the hell kind of insane acid trip that red potion is, it’s clearly nothing good but we know that John’s gonna be taking it at least a few more times. I also can’t imagine that after taking it again and again, it’s only gonna have that same exact affect we saw w/out things getting even worse. I could definitely see this substance really corrupting him, as we already saw him mind control Spooner w/out even a 2nd thought. The further he sinks into this, I figure there’ll be less and less that he’s unwilling to do to keep this a secret, which will just make it even worse when the whole thing blows up in his face. Whether something else takes him over completely or he becomes fully corrupted, I think there’s real potential for this to be the start of Constantine as a villain for the Legends, even if it doesn’t go past this season. While I do hope that’s not the case, I have to acknowledge that it does seem like a real possibility
However it ends, it’s gonna be a shame to see John go down this path, which he’ll probably justify w/ the assumption that his soul is once again damned after killing those men at the end of the episode. True, if he just left things there that’d be the case, but this isn’t quite like before where it’d take an extraordinary effort to get his soul back. He’s not beyond saving at this point, but I suppose it’s just easier for him to assume that’s the case again after so many years of it being true. Despite these months of him being in a better place, I feel like this shows that he wasn’t able to truly move past that previous darkness in his life. I think losing his magic was the thing that exposed this truth rather than something that he can blame for his current actions and state of mind. But if he does come to this realization, it’ll likely be another interesting bit of character development for him
While it was ultimately cool to see a speedster big bad after multiple seasons w/out one, I’m not really sure that this version of Godspeed lived up to the buildup since season 5. Granted, he certainly wasn’t all bad. The costume is still awesome, Karan Oberoi was clearly having a lot of fun chewing the scenery during his villain speeches and it led to 1 of the most ridiculous but also kind of awesome sequences w/ the speedster “lightsaber” battle between him, Barry and Thawne. But ultimately, I just felt like the writing wasn’t all that strong for him. It was disappointing to learn that his motivation just came down to a thirst for power, which isn’t particularly interesting or even original. His whole “god of speed” shtick felt repetitive from Savitar, who had the edge in the writing department when we learned that he was 1 of Barry’s time remnants who felt neglected and abandoned. Heart didn’t have that kind of sympathetic angle to make him more interesting, as he just feels that he’s “owed” organic speed w/out having a compelling reason for it
You compare that to his comics counterpart who, because of his brother’s murder, took to killing criminals out of a twisted sense of justice, and it’s clear which version is more interesting. Not that they should’ve necessarily copied this origin completely, but I think it would’ve been good for the writers to remember that in an attempt to make their Godspeed more compelling. I do think they had something going like that when Heart lost his memories and was fearful of the kind of person he was w/ them intact. If they hadn’t abandoned this completely and perhaps done something like having the 2 versions of Heart at odds w/ each other – the villain wanted to wipe out his “weaker” self and the amnesiac one not wanting to let his dark side hurt anyone else – then I think the character would’ve been better as a whole. But as it stands, this Godspeed is just power-hungry. Even though he’s still alive and could thus return at some point in the future, I’m not too hopeful that his character will be significantly improved upon, but you never really know
There’s so much potential that I’m really excited to see in November, but I think above all else, I’m hoping that 1 of these episodes will bring Flash and Supergirl together 1 last time. W/ both Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist confined to their respective sets under COVID filming restrictions so far this year, it unfortunately make sense that neither of them would be able to cross over to the other show, as would be the case for any other actor in the main/supporting cast of any of the other shows. But w/ Supergirl’s final season just about finished filming, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to hope that Melissa will be OK to make a guest appearance on Flash since she won’t be confined to the Supergirl set the way she’s been for most of this year. Since Kara and Barry have known each other for years now, it’d truly be a shame to see Supergirl end w/out just 1 more crossover. I absolutely love their dynamic, and having 1 of the 5 episodes be dedicated to Supergirl could also serve as somewhat of an epilogue to that show. Further, bringing in other members of the Super Friends like Lena, Nia and Kelly who’ve had little to no opportunity to interact w/ characters outside their show would be amazing. While I certainly wanna see characters from Black Lightning, Legends and Batwoman also appear during this “Brave and the Bold” run, my hopes remain the highest for Supergirl
Both Clark and Lois had very valid points in their argument, but what pushes me toward Clark’s side is just knowing how many stories there have been throughout the decades where Supes has been completely brainwashed, mind-controlled or otherwise corrupted. It’s happened enough times throughout his history that a number of fans have complained that “evil Superman” is an overused trope, but it’s definitely 1 that’s not gonna be going away anytime soon. Ultimately, I think the compromise they came too is a good balance of what they both wanted. I initially thought that the DoD would be more capable of protecting the weapons than just 1 person, but then I realized that it’s not necessarily a matter of protecting them w/ a huge force. Beyond the matter of general trust, John Henry will be able to stash them away somewhere in the world where only he knows, making it even harder for 1 of Clark’s enemies to get to them compared to if they were at the Pentagon. And while he might not be able to have an entire army protecting them, JHI is still plenty capable of building something that’ll provide a solid amount of physical protection if a villain does manage to find the supply. This’ll never be a perfect situation, but given the complicated circumstances, this seems like about as good a solution as possible
(Of course I’m also unsurprisingly upset that in all this talk about ways to stop Clark if he went rogue again, nobody brought up the only other Kryptonian on earth, who’s even been proven to be physically stronger than Superman. Seriously, would it kill them to mention Kara just once?)