The Flash Season 7, Episode 13: Masquerade

This week on The Flash, we get an OK episode focusing solely on Cecile. It ain't high art, but it's freakin' Shakespeare after the subpar Four Forces Saga.

Structurally this has been a VERY odd season of the show. Due to the whole pandemic situation, the first three episodes were wasted, er, I mean spent wrapping up the detestable Mirrorverse Saga. We then spent a whopping eight episodes on the Forces storyline, which was at least four too many.

Now we seem to be in this "One & Done" mode, each of which spotlights a different character. Last week it was Cisco, this week it's Cecile and next week it's allegedly Allegra. Once that's done, we'll be closing out the season with a four episode Godspeed arc.

Most fans (including myself) wish they'd have reversed all that and spent much, MUCH less time with the Forces and more on Godspeed. Eh, who cares what we think, we're just the people who watch the show— or not.

And continuing with the season's odd structure, this is the second episode in a row that features a mind controlling meta. Last week we got Rainbow Raider 2.0, who had the power to manipulate emotions. This week we get Psycho Pirate, who has the ability to... do the exact same thing. Strange. And repetitive!

This is the first "Post Cisco" episode, and already his absence is keenly felt. They've been grooming Chester as his replacement for some time now, but... he's just not the same. The sense of fun and enthusiasm that Cisco brought to Team Flash is gone, and so far Chester's just not bringing it.

This week's episode was directed by Rachel Talalay. If that name sounds vaguely familiar, there's a good reason for that. She previously directed several episodes of The Flash, including Fast Lane, The Present, Fury Rogue and Cause And XS.

She also directed episodes of Legends Of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Superman & Lois as well. She's also the visionary director who gave the world such films as Freddie's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Ghost In The Machine and Tank Girl. Hmm... maybe she should stick with TV.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
At the West home, Joe tells Cecile he's suspicious of Kristen Kramer (who's now the new CCPD captain) and is digging into her background. Unfortunately all her files are heavily redacted. Cecile just happens to have a meta client who served with Kristen, and gives Joe their unedited files.

Joe rushes off to check out the lead, leaving Cecile alone. She begins hearing voices again, and suddenly finds herself trapped in an overexposed padded cell in an asylum.

At STAR Labs, Chester repaints Cisco's old workshop. He goes to the STARchives to get a part and walks in on Barry & Iris, who've just finished having sex there (yikes!). Everyone's suitably mortified, and Barry mercifully gets a text from Cecile and zooms off.

Barry meets with Cecile about a meta case. Suddenly he begins feeling weak and says he can't see. He collapses and wakes in the padded cell with the REAL Cecile.

Fake Cecile somehow takes Barry back to STAR. Caitlin says he's in a comatose state, and she's detecting a second set of brainwaves in his mind. She says if they don't snap him out of it soon his coma could become permanent. Chester suggests Cecile use her empathic powers to see if she can sense Barry's mind.

Fake Cecile pretends to do so, and says she sees an image of a golden mask in Barry's head. Chester somehow recognizes this as the Medusa, Mask, which belonged to Roger Hayden, aka the Psycho Pirate. It's an ancient artifact that's been around for millennia, and is a psychic parasite that's now feeding on Barry's brainwaves. He says the mask is currently in the hands of the Central City Museum. Fake Cecile says it's too bad they can't just steal the mask from the museum, which doesn't sound the least bit suspicious at all. Chester says he knows someone who could help with that.

Back in the Mind Asylum, Cecile tells Barry the last thing she remembers was being struck by lighting during Family Matters, Part 2, and then waking up here. Barry says someone must have taken over her body and trapped them both in this cell. He theorizes they're in some sort of memory, and notes he doesn't have his powers. Just then the door to their cell opens, so they exit and explore.

Elsewhere, Sue Dearbon (sans Ralph Dibny, of course) arrives at STAR after Chester calls her, and agrees to help steal the Medusa Mask. She looks over the blueprints of the Museum, and says getting in will be easy. Unfortunately the mask is inside a vault, and only the security guard knows the passcode. Chester suggests that Cecile go with Sue and use her powers to get the code. Fake Cecile hesitates, but eventually agrees.

Sue takes Chester aside and says this caper seems a little too easy, and something's not right. He dismisses her concerns and says he's got this.

That night Chester & Iris monitor the situation from the STAR Labs van, while Sue & Fake Cecile sneak into the museum. Sue drops from the ceiling into a secure room, and uses smoke bombs to reveal the laser grid and dance through it. Yes, I said dance. She deactivates the grid, and Fake Cecile then awkwardly drops in as well.

Meanwhile, Barry & Cecile wander through the Mind Asylum. They see a swirling portal at the end of a corridor, and Barry says it's the way out. Cecile hesitates, and the portal vanishes— revealing a figure crouched in a corner. Barry approaches the figure and it turns, revealing it's yet ANOTHER version of Cecile— this one with crazy looking eyes and an even more insane laugh. She blasts Barry, putting him into a coma inside the Mind Asylum. A Double Secret Coma?

Caitlin calls Iris and says now there's a third mental pattern in Barry's mind. Iris somehow realizes Fake Cecile's responsible, and that she's an imposter.

Back at the museum, the security guard comes in and Fake Cecile uses her powers to get him to unlock the vault. Sue then tranqs him, and Fake Cecile enters and grabs the Medusa Mask. Iris warns Sue that Cecile isn't actually Cecile. Before she can act though, Fake Cecile puts on the mask and forces Sue to tranq herself. Fake Cecile says her new host will now serve her for eternity, and waltzes out of the vault.

Cut to STAR Labs, where Chester & Iris have somehow recovered the unconscious Sue. She wakes and they explain that Cecile was an imposter who duped them into stealing the mask for her. Chester says it's all his fault and runs off to sulk.

Barry wakes back in the padded cell, and says it's clear that Cecile's familiar with the place and that they're inside her memory. She says it's St. Carmine's Psychiatric Hospital, and she was once a patient here. She then infodumps her retconned backstory, saying she was working crazy hours when she first became an attorney. Then her Mom got sick, but told her she was fine and to keep working hard. As a result of this her mother died alone, and Cecile felt such tremendous guilt she had a breakdown.

Barry tells her he knows what it's like to lose a mother, and says it's not her fault. He says she has to face her pain or they'll never get out of this memory. She tries to imagine another portal, but can't open one. Barry says she's on the right track though, as his powers begin to return.

Back at STAR, Iris checks on Chester. He says he doesn't deserve to be there, as he could never replace Cisco. She gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk©, telling him it took Cisco a while to fit in and that he'll figure it out too. Somehow this causes Chester to realize what Psycho Pirate's up to. He says she needs a permanent psychic food source, which is located in their basement— the Thinker's Chair!

Barry & Cecile return to the hallway, where she tries to summon the portal. Crazy Cecile appears again, tells her she'll be trapped her forever and fires a blast from her eyes. Barry leaps in front of Cecile and takes the blast, which knocks him out (again!).

Cut to the STARchives, where Psycho Pirate has found the Thinker's Chair and activated it. Iris then appears from behind a cabinet and fires a blaster at her. Psycho Pirate uses the Chair to shoot back. Iris fires a few more times, then walks out in the open with her hands up.

Meanwhile, Crazy Cecile taunts her counterpart, saying she failed her mother. Cecile looks down and sees she's in a straitjacket. She says she's no longer ashamed of her past, and the jacket disappears. She says she's done wearing masks, and fires a blast of her own at Crazy Cecile, destroying her.

While Psycho Pirate's focused on Iris, Chester leaps from a cabinet with some kind of samurai sword, and slices through the forcefield protecting the Chair. He cuts up the back of it, shutting it down. It releases a blast of energy, which knocks out Psycho Pirate.

The portal reopens in the Asylum, and Barry & Cecile speed through it and escape.

In the wrap up, Caitlin takes the Medusa Mask to ARGUS for safekeeping (?). Sue decides to stick around for a while for no good reason and invites Team Flash to dinner at her penthouse. Cecile takes a rain check, saying she has something to do.

Back at the West House, Cecile tells Joe about her past, and apologizes for not mentioning it before. He then fills her in on Kristen Kramer, saying she led her squad into an ambush, and she was the only one who survived. He says he thinks she's working with the "enemy."

Thoughts: 
• At the beginning of the episode we get yet another Baby Jenna mention from Joe & Cecile, but of course we don't actually see her. I think the last time she physically appeared on the show was in a brief scene back in Season 6's A Girl Named Sue.

It's patently obvious at this point that the producers don't want to have to deal with an infant on the set. Which of course makes me wonder why they gave Cecile a pregnancy storyline in the first place. Surely they could have come up with an alternate way to initiate her empathic powers?

Also, Joe tells Cecile, "I can't thank your aunt enough for taking care of Jenna. I now am left with some free time to look after my lady."

The implication here of course is that with the kid out of the way, Joe & Cecile can finally have some much needed alone time, nudge nudge, wink wink.

Annnnnnd then less than a minute later, Joe gets a lead about Kristen Kramer and instantly takes off to investigate it, leaving Cecile sitting in the house by herself. Probably NOT how she thought her day was going to go!

• According to Joe, now that he's quit the force, Kristen Kramer has become CCPD's new captain. When the hell did THAT happen? Apparently she took over between episodes while we weren't looking. The bigger question though is WHY? Why the hell would they anyone willingly hand the keys to an instigator and agitator like her? 

On the realism side, police captains are appointed rather than elected though, so I guess it's possible.

• For some reason this week's opening titles are in black & white, until The Flash logo appears. I assume this was to match the overexposed, desaturated look of Cecile's Mind Asylum?

Also, no Cisco in this week's titles. BOOOOOO!!!

• Chester goes to the STARchives to grab a part, and accidentally walks in on Barry & Iris as they're "finishing up." They then awkwardly pretend they were both taking inventory. I bet!

So I guess we're gonna get several weeks of the two of them screwing in various spots inside STAR Labs as they attempt to conceive a child, eh?

• As Chester hurriedly vacates the STARchives, we see a large gray helmet sitting on a box in the background.

That particular helmet belongs to Al Rothstein, aka Atom-Smasher. He appeared wayyyyy back in Season 2's The Man Who Saved Central City, and was a meta with the ability to increase his size by absorbing radiation.

Oddly enough, Atom-Smasher was a denizen of Earth-2 and was forcibly brought to Earth-1 by Zoom, who wanted him to kill the Flash. Atom-Smasher was basically killed by Cisco, who trapped him in a chamber flooded with radiation.

I guess even though Earth-2 was retroactively erased by the Crisis, Atom-Smasher must have somehow still tangled with Team Flash in some capacity, hence the presence of his helmet.

• Chester & Caitlin ask Cecile (who's possessed by the Psycho Pirate) to scan the comatose Barry's mind. She does so, and says she sees an image of a golden mask in his head. This causes Chester to exclaim, "Sweet Ira Cooper!"

As with most of his declarations, this one's a reference to a prominent figure from Black History. Ira Cooper was St. Louis' first black detective, who was active in the 1930s.

• Just last week we saw the return of Cisco's Official Who's Who Binder. Apparently he gifted it to Chester, as he hauls it out in this episode as well.

It looks like Cisco even made a trading card for the Psycho Pirate. Chester's all read up on him, and believes he's responsible for Barry's unconscious state. Caitlin then recounts how Team Flash once fought him.

Cool story, but there's just one problem with it— that never actually happened in any episode of the show. We saw a brief glimpse of the Psycho Pirate in Elseworlds, Part 2 (which was actually an episode of Arrow) but he never appeared on The Flash before.

I assume this is yet another retroactive Crisis change.

• In the comics, Psycho Pirate first appeared in 1965's Showcase #56. He was a supervillain named Roger Hayden, whose Medusa Mask gave him the power to manipulate emotions. He played a crucial role in the Crisis On Infinite Earths comic, where he became an accomplice of the evil Anti-Monitor. When the Multiverse was eventually merged down into one, the Psycho Pirate was the only one who remembered the way things used to be.

Obviously none of that comes into play in this episode, but I thought I'd include it as backgroun info.

As I pointed out above, the Psycho Pirate appeared briefly a few years ago but hasn't been seen since. At this point it's unclear just how Cecile came to be possessed by the Medusa Mask. 

Back during the Four Forces Saga, Cecile was struck by a lightning bolt and lapsed into a coma. At the time it was thought the Sage Force caused the lightning that hit her. Apparently that's not what happened at all. It appears the Medusa Mask sensed her psychic abilities and somehow generated an energy discharge that allowed it to posses her mind. Sure, why not?

• Chester recounts the history of the Psycho Pirate's Medusa Mask, saying it's an incredibly ancient relic that was used by the warrior Gilgamesh. I was always under the impression he was a fictional character, so I was surprised to find out the legends are based on a real person.

• Barry finds himself trapped with Cecile inside her mindscape. He then tells her, "Whoever took over your body could hurt Joe or Iris." See? Barry even forgot that Baby Jenna exists!

• Chester states they'll need help stealing the Medusa Mask from the museum, and says he knows just the person. Right on cue, Sue Dearbon sashays in and strikes a dramatic pose.

It should have been fun to see her appear on the show again. Instead her presence was a rage-inducing reminder of the way the producers treated actor Hartley Sawyer, and how they ruined the cool, flirty dynamic between Ralph & Sue. Feh.

• Team Flash (or what's left of it) decides to steal the Medusa Mask from the Central City Museum.

Oddly enough the place looks a LOT like the Vancouver Art Gallery, which, as you might imagine from its name, is located in downtown Vancouver.

• Sue drops from the ceiling into the Museum's vault. Once inside she releases smoke charges to make the security lasers visible, then performs a graceful and intricate ballet to expertly avoid the beams.

It's all very silly— especially the part where she begins twirling around, causing her long hair to fling itself dangerously close to the lasers. I've no trouble believing she can control the position of her limbs, but there's no way in hell she could be sure her hair wouldn't interfere with one of the beams. 

Yes, I get that the producers probably thought it looked sexy, but she really should have tied her hair back before she started spinning.

As ridiculous as this was though, it still can't top the time that Captain Cold froze a laser grid solid and then walked through the beams and shattered them. Yeah. That actually happened.

By the way, if you're wondering if actress Natalie Dreyfus was the one jumping and flinging herself around the room, that'd be a hard NO. Helpful Tip to director Rachel Talalay: In the future, DON'T film your stuntwoman in slow motion, so the audience can get a good look at her face!

• Sue pirouettes across the room, deactivates the security system and radios Team Flash that the coast is clear. Iris is somehow able to see Sue's performance and says, "You learned THAT in Tunisia?" Sue replies, "No. DeMatteis Academy Of Dance."

That's likely a nod to JM DeMatteis, a VERY prolific comic book writer. He wrote a metric crap ton of books at DC, working on virtually every title at the company. Oddly enough it doesn't appear he ever wrote The Flash though, so I'm not sure why he's getting a shoutout here.

• So Sue & Fake Cecile drop from a ceiling vent into the highly secure museum vault. As soon as they land, we get a VERY deliberate shot of their grappling lines retracting back up into the vent. This effectively leaves them with no way back out.

Fake Cecile then grabs the Medusa Mask, puts it on and forces Sue to tranq herself. She then calmly strolls out of the vault. We then immediately cut to Sue as she wakes up inside STAR Labs.

The big question here is... how the Holy Hell did they get Sue out of the vault without setting off all the security alarms? I'm assuming Chester or Iris had to sneak into the museum to retrieve her unconscious body and somehow lift her back up into the vent without being discovered. Just how they accomplished that Herculean feat is apparently that's none of our goddamned business, as it's never addressed and the episode just blurs past that conundrum.

• Inside the Mind Asylum, Cecile's confronted by a crazy-eyed, cackling version of herself. Looks like someone needs to tell Crazy Cecile about waterproof Lancome!

• When Cecile's startled by her insane doppelganger, we get a nice use of the Hitchcock Zoom®. It's an old school camera trick (popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, natch) used to show shock and fear, as it gives the illusion the background is zooming away from a character while they stay the same size in the frame. 

It's done by moving the camera backward at the same time the lens zooms in on the subject.

Hitchcock famously used the technique in Vertigo to visually depict Scottie's physical aversion to heights.

Spielberg used it to great effect in Jaws as well.

• I liked Sue a lot in her previous appearances, but not so much in this episode. She's always been sarcastic in the past— that was part of her charm. She went way overboard this week, coming off as rude, hostile and condescending. Eh, who am I kidding here— she acted like a complete dick!

It's almost like Natalie Dreyfuss forgot how to play the character.

• I'll probably get canceled for saying this, but it was hard to be too awfully scared of a Psycho Pirate who's all of five feet tall. And that's in giant six inch heels!

• Man, this show's reeeeeeally getting its money's worth out of that Thinker's Chair prop! This is at least the third time it's popped up since it was retired at the end of Season 4.

• Late in the third act, Psycho Pirate steals the Thinker's Chair and uses it to try & blast out of STAR Labs. She throws up a forcefield around the chair, making it impervious to Iris' heavy duty blaster. The chair's destroyed though when Chester leaps from the ceiling and slices open the back of it with a samurai sword.

So... high tech laser blasts can't penetrate the energy shield, but primitive edged weapons can. Got it.

• At the end of the episode we're told that Caitlin's taking the Medusa Mask to ARGUS, where the incredibly dangerous artifact will be stored in a special dampening vault. Why not just destroy the goddamned thing and be done with it? Why keep it around so it can potentially possess even more victims?

• Joe tries to dig up dirt on Kristen Kramer, but comes up empty. Cecile says she has a meta client who served with Kristen at Fort Dakota. Joe then looks into those files and discovers that Kristen was in command of a squad, led them into a deadly ambush and was the only survivor.

At first I wondered how Cecile's client could still be alive if Kristen's entire squad was killed. I'm assuming this military meta served with Kristen BEFORE the ambush incident.

Otherwise we've got another nonsensical "Neither can live while the other survives" Harry Potter moment!

• At the end of the episode, Joe says, "Cecile, I think Kristen Kramer was working with the enemy!"

Um... so just which enemy would that be? The remnants of Black Hole? The Reverse Flash? MAGA supporters? Unfortunately Joe doesn't elaborate and leaves us hanging.

Superman & Lois Season 1, Episode 6: Broken Trust

Sorry this review's so late guys, but it was unavoidable. The CW's still airing all three of their shows that I watch at the same time, making it nearly impossible to keep up.Add in the typical work & life demands on my time, and you get a late review. I'll eventually catch up, but it's gonna take a while.

This week on Superman & Lois... the series finally returns after an eight week absence! Apparently there was an untimely Covid outbreak among the cast & crew that shut down production for a couple months. Hopefully everyone's healthy and things are back to normal.

This is yet another very strong episode, which, as its title suggests, examines the issue of trust and the faith we place in one another. 

Broken Trust also gives us a fascinating look at how the various superpowered characters balance their strength with their intense emotions. All through the episode, Clark, Jordan and Tag Harris are given cause to lash out and use their powers in anger. It's interesting to see how they react and handle their situations.

Elsewhere, we also get a small bit of progression in the Captain Luthor story, as Lois realizes he's far more than a fellow journalist. Kyle's betrayed (sort of) by Morgan Edge, and Clark's shocked to discover that General Lane has a contingency plan to stop him by any means necessary. Yikes!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Picking up right where we left off last time, Tag attacks Jordan on his way home. He savagely beats Jordan, saying he knows he caused the explosion that gave him his powers, and demands he undo it. Jordan activates his ELT and Superman appears a second later.

Tag gets scared and runs off at super-speed. Superman follows, but Tag runs in front of a train to escape. The train tries to stop, but ends up derailing. Superman grabs the train and sets it back on the track, but by then Tag's long gone.

Back at the Kent house, Lois treats Jordan's injuries. He says Tag knows he gave him his powers, and may know that he's super as well.

Lois tells Clark that whatever Morgan Edge is doing in his recently purchased mine is somehow giving random people Kryptonian superpowers. She vows to find out how he's doing it. She also wonders if Edge is the mysterious Stranger that's been attacking Superman.

The next day, Clark tells Jordan that due to his injuries, he thinks he should sit out the big game against Metropolis. Jordan begs him to let him play, as he wants a chance to play against the jerks who bullied him all his life. Clark says he's afraid Jordan doesn't have his powers under control, but eventually relents and agrees to let him play.

Elsewhere, Edge attends an opening ceremony for the new mine. Afterward he offers Lana a job as the head of his Smallville Revitalization Program. Kyle's visibly pissed that Edge passed him over for the job, since he's been championing the mine since the beginning.

Lois is also at the ceremony, staring daggers at Edge. She's approached again by Marcus Bridgewater (aka The Stranger, aka General Luthor), who asks if she's found a way to get into the mines to see what's going on. She says not yet.

At school, Sarah sees Jordan's injured face and wonders what happened. She tells him she'll be at the big game to watch him win. Just then the bell goes off, and Jordan grabs his ears in pain as his eyes begin glowing red. He runs to the restroom, and Jonathan follows and manages to talk him down. Jordan makes Jonathan promise not to mention the incident to Clark, as he'll make him sit out the game. Jonathan reluctantly agrees to clam up.

Lois goes to see Kyle & Lana, and asks for their help to get into the mines. She says she's sure Edge is up to something shady, but needs proof. They refuse, since Lana's working for Edge now and can't afford to jeopardize her new position.

General Lane calls Clark and says Tag was spotted in Metropolis, and he's planning to put the "monster" back in its cage. Clark is shocked by Lane's attitude, and reminds him that Tag's just a scared and confused teen. Lane says he's going to deal with the threat his way.

Kyle says he wants to take Lana out the next night for a fancy dinner to celebrate their good fortune. She balks, saying they'll never find a sitter for Sophie in time. Sarah offers to miss the game and babysit her sister. Outside, Tag spies on Sarah through the window. So I guess he's back in Smallville now?

The next day, Clark accompanies the football team to Metropolis for the big game. He uneasily notices Lane has dozens of DOD soldiers stationed in the stands. Jordan's disappointed when he finds out that out Sarah's a no-show. He then sees he'll be playing against Cutter, a Metropolis player who used to bully him. He tries to take him out, but the ref's whistle triggers his super-hearing, distracting him long enough for Metropolis to score— as well as injure the Smallville quarterback.

Coach Gaines is then forced to put Jonathan in as quarterback. Cutter taunts him as well, but this time Jordan knocks the bully on his ass. Clark pulls Jordan aside and tells him to dial it down a notch or twelve.

Back at the Kent farm, Marcus shows up with two inspector passes that'll get him and Lois into the mine. She asks where he got them, but he refuses to say. The two dress in coveralls and drive to the mine, where they're able to easily slip past the guard.

Elsewhere, Sarah & Sophie are arguing over what to watch on TV. Sarah answers the door and finds Tag there. He says he needs her help, and starts vibrating uncontrollably. Sarah's freaked out by this and slams the door. Tag busts it open, accidentally throwing Sarah backwards and knocking her out.

At the game, Cutter & the other Metropolis players pile onto Jordan during a play. He begins losing control again as his eyes start glowing red. Clark sees him and runs over, telling him to try and calm down. Jordan says he can't hold back his power, so Clark cups his hand over Jordan's eyes and tells him to blast his heat vision into his palm. Somehow, no one sees this.

Back in Smallville, Kyle & Lana return home. They get worried when they can't find Sarah, and Kyle checks their surveillance cam.

After the game, Clark & the boys are staying in a Metropolis hotel. Clark asks Jordan if his powers have been acting up before now, but he denies it. Jonathan pipes up and says it's happened before. Clark's angry that Jordan lied, and says he needs to be careful about showing his powers.

Just then Lana calls Clark, and asks if Sarah went to the game after all. He says he didn't see her, then overhears Kyle as he recognizes Tag on their security camera. He orders the boys to stay put in the hotel room and takes off.

Meanwhile, Lois & Marcus are sneaking around in the mine. Marcus pulls out a high-tech laser tool (?) and and cuts a hole in a wall. Inside he finds a cache of X-Kryptonite, which he says is the rarest form. Just then Leslie Larr, Edge's personal assistant, barges in and attacks the two with her heat vision. They barely manage to dodge her beams in time. They run down a tunnel, and Marcus uses another piece of tech to blast Leslie and knock her out. The two then flee from the mine.

Back at the hotel room, Jonathan & Jordan's teammates show up and want to party. Jonathan says Clark ordered them not to leave, but Jordan convinces them it'll be OK. Jonathan reluctantly goes with them.

Superman hovers over Metropolis, listening in on the entire city. He eventually hones in on Tag & Sarah's voices. He swoops into Tag's hideout, and tells him he's just there to help. He hears General Lane's troops coming, and tells Tag & Sarah they need to come with him now.


Meanwhile, Jonathan, Jordan and the other Crows are messing around in a parking lot. Suddenly Cutter and the Metropolis team show up and begin giving them crap. Cutter gets in Jordan's face and asks if he gets his strength from steroids. Jordan's powers begin building up as he starts to lose control. He clenches his fist and throws a punch right at Cutter's face. At the last second, Jonathan tries to block the blow, which ends up shattering the bones in his hand.

The DOD troops break into the hideout, and start firing on Tag. Superman zips in front of him, and is hit with several Kryptonite shards. Superman falls to his knees, and his eyes begin glowing as his anger grows. He pulls the shards out, then marches over to the commanding officer and orders him to stand down. The soldier orders the others to lower their weapons.

Later at the DOD, Superman tells General Lane he never dreamed he'd use live rounds on a kid. Lane justifies himself by saying his job is to protect the American people by any means necessary. Just then Superman hears Jordan signaling, and rushes off.

Back in Smallville, Lois follows Marcus to his RV, and asks where the hell he got his futuristic tools and weaponry. She also says she checked their passes, and found they were well-done forgeries. She demands to know who he really is. He says he can't tell her, but is trying to prevent something bad from happening. Just then Clark calls about Jonathan, and Lois rushes off.

Sometime later, Jonathan says his arm will be in a cast for the next six to eight weeks, meaning he'll miss the rest of the football season. Jordan tries to apologize, but Jonathan tells him to save it and goes to bed. Clark tells Jordan he knows he's sorry, but "with great power comes great responsibility."

Clark says when he first came to Metropolis, people were scared of him, and it took a long time to gain their trust. He says every time he uses his powers, that trust is tested. Like it was earlier that night.

Lois then tells Clark that she was almost killed at the mine, and says something's up with Marcus. She vows to find out who he really is.

The next day Sarah tells Jordan that Tag thinks he somehow gave him superpowers. Jordan plays dumb and says he doesn't know what Tag's talking about. Sarah tells Jordan that he can talk to her about anything, and he says he knows.

Lois visits Lana, and tells her about what happened at the mine. She says she thinks there's a connection between Edge and Tag's powers. Lana says she'll help Lois investigate Edge— but warns her not to let Kyle know about it.

Later Jordan whines to Lois, saying he thought his powers would bring him closer to people, but they're just driving everyone away. Just then he goes into convulsions and collapses. Lois calls for Clark, who says he needs to get Jordan to the Fortress Of Solitude, stat. He flies off with his son at full speed.

Thoughts:
• How long before Tag figures out Superman's secret identity?

At the beginning of the episode he's beating the crap out of Jordan, who whips out his ELT device and presses it. Five tenths of a second later, Superman shows up!

Later in the third act, Tag accidentally injures Sarah. Unsure what to do, he takes her to Metropolis, where he's been hiding out. Sure enough, Superman shows up there as well.

About the only possible conclusions are that Superman's really his friend Jordan's father, or the Man Of Steel is stalking him for some reason!

• I loved the whole "Superman Saves The Derailing Train" sequence, in which he uses his heat vision to soften the buckling track and flatten it out again. Awesome!

It was sort of a high-tech callback to Superman The Movie, where he saved another train by actually using his body to fill in a missing chunk of track!

• So is Tag an orphan? If not, then where the hell are his parents? I get that the producers may not have wanted to deal with two more actors during the pandemic, but Jesus Christ! At no time are they even mentioned! How hard would it have been to throw in a line about how much his parents are worried about him?

At this point it appears that Superman's more concerned for Tag's welfare than his parents are. It's an odd and unnecessary omission.

• At one point Lois & Clark discuss Morgan Edge and his new mine:

Lois: "Whatever gave Tag those powers came from those mines, and now he wants to extract more of it and make more Derek Powells. What if you went there?"
Clark: "I flew over the mines. I scanned the tunnels. I can’t see inside. They’ve lined them with lead fiber."

Wow! Did Edge really line the ENTIRE mine? That's gotta be a lotta lead! Seems like that'd be pretty dangerous for anyone working in there as well.

Also, it Clark really wanted to see what was going on inside the mine, why screw around with flyovers? We've seen before he can move faster than the human eye can see. Why not just zip past all the workers & security, take a quick look around and then zoom back out while everyone's blinking?

• During breakfast, Jordan's super hearing starts going haywire as it magnifies every tiny sound and gives him a splitting headache. The producers do an amazing job of depicting this— not only do they use an ear-piercing sound effect, but they flood the screen with a bright and annoying lens flare.

It's VERY well done, and almost gave me a headache watching it. Finally, an actual GOOD use for a lens flare! Are you watching, JJ Abrams?

• Poor Kyle. Always a bridesmaid, and never a bride.

At the opening of Edge's new mine, he thanks Kyle for drumming up support for the project. He then says he needs someone to lead Edge Enercorp's Smallville division. Kyle can't stop smiling as he obviously thinks he's offering him the job.

He's then immediately blindsided when Edge gives the position to Lana instead...

Which causes Kyle's face to fall as he realizes he's just been had. I actually felt bad for the guy here!

I may be reading wayyyyyyy too much into this, but... does Kyle represent a disillusioned MAGA supporter? 

Back when trump first ran for prez, he assured the nation that he'd create jobs, restore industry and replace our ailing health insurance system with something "tremendous."

Clearly that was all bullsh*t, er, I mean empty rhetoric, as he never intended to do any of those things. As a result of that, many of his former zealots are finally starting to become disillusioned, as they realize they were duped by his corruption and lies.

It's not hard to see Edge as a trump analogue and Kyle as one of his diehard believers. If this is really what the producers were doing here, then kudos!

• At school, Jordan tells Jonathan he resents Clark trying to make him sit out the big game, saying, "I know he's just looking out for me, but he thinks I'm made of glass."

Again, I'm probably reading way too much into this, but I kind of wonder if his mention of glass is a subtle reference to Unbreakable? In that film, Bruce Willis played David Dunn, who was basically a non-costumed, indestructible Superman. He was opposed by Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, an evil genius with extremely brittle bones who called himself "Mr. Glass."

• Not a nitpick, but an observation: At one point Lana's looking at a website to try & find a babysitter for her youngest daughter. So... is that really a thing? Is there really a "Babysitter Tinder" now, where you can search for one online? I've never had to hire a sitter in my life, so I honestly don't know. If it is a real site, then that's actually a pretty good idea!

• It's been established many times on the show that Smallville is located somewhere in Kansas. But where's Metropolis on this Earth? I always assumed it was the Earth-Prime equivalent of New York City, and indeed the Official Arrowverse Wiki says that's where it's located. 

If that's true then, why are Jonathan & Jordan talking about playing in the big game against Metropolis? Why the hell would a football team in a podunk town like Smallville travel 1,400 miles to New York state for a game? Clearly the two cities must be a lot closer on this world.

Is it possible Metropolis is somewhere in Kansas as well? The state's only about 400 miles wide, so the two cities couldn't be farther apart than that. Clark & the boys get a hotel room after the big game instead of driving back home that nights, so I guess it's possible.

Another clue that Smallville & Metropolis must be relatively close: Tag beats up Jordan in Smallville. The next day General Lane spots him in Metropolis. Later than same day, Tag's back in Smallville, standing outside the Cushing home and spying on Sarah.

Granted, Tag's now able to run at speedster velocity, but he's not a god. The two cities must be relatively close if he's able to zip back & forth between them at will.

• At the start of the big game, we get an establishing shot of Metropolis High. If you look over to the extreme left, you can see the football field where the action's taking place. Note the row of massive skyscrapers just behind the field.

Unfortunately, once we cut to a closeup of the field, those high-rises have all mysteriously vanished. In fact if I didn't know better, it looks like they filmed the game in the middle of a Vancouver suburb! Clearly those buildings should have been visible from nearly every angle.

• Behold the massive post-Covid crowd in the stands! I get it, but Jaysis, this is supposed to be the biggest game of the season for both schools, and there're barely fifty people in attendance! Couldn't they have CGI-ed a few more bodies into the stands?

• Nice Attention To Detail: After Tag abducts Sarah, he takes her to his hideout in Metropolis. She looks around and sees a pile of discarded running shoes.

Those are all Tag's, as his newfound speedster powers cause the soles of his shoes to melt from friction. Well done, producers!

Of course I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask where he's getting all these shoes. I supposed he must be stealing them at super-speed as well?

• I love the moment when Superman hovers over Metropolis, searching for Tag & Sarah. He just quietly hangs there, basically eavesdropping on the entire city until he hones in on the voices of the two people he's searching for. Cool!

• I also loved the scene in which Superman confronts the DOD soldier who's firing live rounds at Tag, and orders him to stand down. He fires up his heat vision and comes thissssssss close to frying the soldier, but eventually manages to compose himself. It's a powerful scene, and perfectly illustrates the constant struggle Superman must face every day to keep his enormous powers in check.

Best of all, at no time did Superman snap anyone's neck in anger, as he did in the detestable Man Of Steel. Are you watching, Zack Snyder? THIS is how Superman should be portrayed. As a demigod who could easily destroy us all, but would never think of it due to his integrity and strength of character. 

It's perfectly fine for Superman to have feelings of rage and anger, as it actually gives the character some much-needed humanity. He just needs to mindful and not recklessly act on those feelings.

• At the same time the Tag drama's going on, Jordan & Jonathan are being confronted by Cutter and his Metropolis teammates. Cutter relentlessly provokes Jordan, causing him to throw a superpowered punch at him. Jonathan intervenes at the last second, getting his hand broken in the process.

So... does Jonathan have super powers as well? He'd kind of have to, if he can stop Jordan's atomic punch in mid-swing like that. Seems to me like his hand should have gotten crushed between Jordan's fist and Cutter's skull.

To be fair, they try to justify the action by having Jonathan brace his arm with his other hand, but I ain't buying it. Earlier in the episode we saw that Jordan can use his fist to dent a hardwood log. Yet somehow Jonathan literally stops his brother's punch 100% dead. I don't see any way that could happen unless Jonathan's got powers too.

Credit Where It's Due: I did appreciate the cool "shockwave ripple" effect that travels up Jonathan's arm when he absorbs the force of the blow.

• The DOD takes Tag away, hauling him off in meta-dampening cuffs. So where'd they get those? They look just like the ones STAR Labs uses over on The Flash. Did Cisco Ramon patent the cuffs and sell them to various law enforcement & military agencies? Maybe that's how STAR makes its money and manages to stay open!

• After they escape from the mine, Lois demands to know who Marcus really is. In particular she mentions the security badges he produced out of nowhere, saying, "I sent a photo to a friend of mine, and she said it’s one of the best forgeries she has ever seen."

Well... yeah, that was the point, right? He forged a badge that looked identical to the real thing so no one would question them. I don't get why she's so shocked by that.

• Lois tells Clark about her adventure in Edge's mine:

Lois: "I got into the mine, with the help of this supposed journalist, Marcus Bridgewater, and he led me to something called X-Kryptonite. Have you ever heard of that?"
Clark: "X-Kry–No. No. Wait. Back up. What do you mean you almost got killed?"
Lois: "Leslie Larr came after us. Turns out she has powers, too. She tried to heat vision us, and then Marcus zapped her with this, like, high-tech ray gun."
Clark: "Why? Why does a journalist have a ray gun?"

A couple things here:

First of all, Clark acts like he's never heard of X-Kryptonite before. That's interesting, as it played a big part in past seasons of Supergirl. You'd think his cuz Kara might have mentioned it to him in passing at some point.

Once again, it's things like this that convince me that this show takes place in its own separate world, and isn't part of the Arrowverse.

Secondly, Clark wins the Best Line Of The Week Award for "Why does a journalist have a ray gun?"

• By far the best part of the episode came late in the third act, after Jordan accidentally injured his brother and Clark lectured him about the importance of trust.

Clark: "That anger you felt that made you want to use your powers the way you did tonight, I have those feelings, too."
Jordan: "You do?"
Clark: "Yes. But I keep them in check. Otherwise, I risk losing the trust of the very people I’ve sworn to protect. When I first showed up in Metropolis as Superman, there was a lot of talk about what the world should do with someone who had powers like mine. And it took me a minute to realize that other people were more afraid of what I could do than I was. So what I had to do, more than anything, was earn their trust, prove to them that, no matter what, I would never use my powers to hurt them. Twenty years later, every time I use my powers, that trust is tested, every time. Just today, in fact. The thing about trust, Jordan– once you break it, it’s take a lot longer to heal than a wrist."

Now THAT'S a speech!

It's particularly interesting to see how differently Clark and Jordan handle their identical powers. Clark could easily level an entire city, but his age, experience and wisdom prevent him from ever doing so. 

Compare that to Jordan, who lacks the physical, mental and emotional maturity to restrain himself. It's often easy to forget that teens aren't yet equipped to control themselves the way an adult can.

It's a fascinating and original take on the subject, and pretty deep for a superhero show!

If I had one small complaint, it's that Jordan seems to need to learn this same lesson over and over each week. Let's hope it finally sticks soon.

That small glitch aside, this one minute scene is better by far than the entirety of all the DCEU movies to date. It's clear that the writers here understand the character of Superman, what he stands for and how he should be portrayed.

Happy 25th Anniversary To Independence Day!

I'm a couple days late here, but whatever. Happy 25th Anniversary to Independence Day (the movie, not the holiday)! Believe it or not, it premiered back on July 3rd, 1996 (although some cities just couldn't wait and began running it a day early).

The movie was written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, and was directed by Emmerich. Over the years the duo collaborated in one form or another on films such as Universal Soldier, Stargate, Godzilla (1998) and The Patriot.

Independence Day had a budget of just $75 million, but went on to gross an astonishing $817 million— in 1996 dollars! That's the equivalent of $1.4 BILLION today! Holy Crap!

ID4 (as it's often known) is one of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. No, strike that— there's nothing guilty about it, as it's one of my all time favorite movies. I saw it in the theater back in 1996, and immediately loved it. I've seen it a good twenty or thirty times over the years, and I never get tired of it. Any time I see it playing on TV I have to drop everything and watch it.

I'm not exactly sure why I like it so much or what makes it so compelling to me. I freely admit it's big, dumb and loud, but damn if it isn't engaging and entertaining, and in the end, isn't that a movie's job?

Yes, many of the characters are paper thin or stereotypes. But the film allows the audience to spend time getting to know them, so we end up becoming invested in their lives and what's happening to them. Modern movies could learn a thing or two from ID4.

It's become an annual tradition in my household to watch it every July 4th!

ID4 has a huge cast, featuring a large number of actors who'd worked primarily in TV— including Will Smith. He'd just finished his stint on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air TV series when the film premiered in 1996. The movie catapulted his career and made him a superstar overnight. 

The FX work is top notch as well. The film premiered after the dawn of the CGI age, but still used a massive amount of practical effects. In fact it holds the record for most miniatures used in a single production. That's probably why most of the effects still hold up a quarter of a century later. It featured its fair share of digital work as well though, mostly in the fighter jet scenes. In all the film features over 3,000 effects shots.

What made the movie stand out was its "go for broke" attitude toward the alien destruction. This wasn't your typical wimpy invasion— these aliens didn't hold back, and went for the major landmarks! It's fair to say audiences had never seen carnage on such a massive scale before, which is part of what made the film so successful. The shot of them destroying the White House was totally unexpected and at the time, shocking. It ended up becoming the most iconic image of the entire movie.

The idea for the film came when Devlin and Emmerich were on a promotional tour for Stargate. When a reporter asked if he believed in aliens, Emmerich said no, as he didn't believe they'd fly all the way here just to hide in a backwoods field. He said he was fascinated by the idea of waking up one morning to see fifteen-mile wide spaceships hovering over the world's cities. He then reportedly turned to Devlin and said, "I think we have an idea for our next film!"

The pair wrote the script during a month long vacation in Mexico, and it was greenlit by Fox chairman Peter Chernin just one day later. Three days after that they began pre-production on the film!

The US military originally promised to provide personnel, vehicles and uniforms to the production, but pulled out when Devlin & Emmerich refused to remove references to Area 51!

Watch for the edit when David (played by Jeff Goldblum) warns his coworker Marty (played by Harvey Fierstein) to get to safety. Marty says, Oh, my God. I gotta call my brother! I gotta call my housekeeper! I gotta call my lawyer! Nah, forget my lawyer!" If you watch closely, he clearly says, "F*ck my lawyer," but the filmmakers dubbed the line to "forget" to avoid an R rating.

In the original ending, Russell Casse (played by real life crazy person Randy Quaid) saved the day by strapping a missile to his red biplane and flying it into the alien ship hovering above Area 51. Emmerich eventually reshot the scene with Russell piloting a fighter jet, as he thought it was too unbelievable for a biplane to keep pace with such planes. I think he made the right decision.

Something I noticed in my most recent viewing— the movie features a large and very diverse cast, consisting of numerous races, genders, religions and orientations. Everyone gets along as they all work toward the common goal of survival against insurmountable odds. Best of all, this diversity feels completely natural and not forced, as it so often does in films today. It simply exists, and no one comments on it— which is the way it should be done.

If this film were being made today, you can bet your bottom dollar that the studio would be trumpeting its diversity, representation and inclusivity and beating the audience over the head with the fact, and would sacrifice story for identity politics. Again, modern films could learn a thing or twelve from this one.

So Happy 25th to Independence Day!