Another Oliver-light episode, “Unchained,” focuses on Felicity, Nyssa, and ROY’S RETURN! It was wonderful how much light Roy brought back to the group. He had Oliver smiling and everyone happily working together as a team.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: Welcome Back, Harper”
From Felicity’s back and forth with pain meds to the Diggle’s being featured up front, Episode 4.11, “A.W.O.L.” gave its secondary leads lots of screen time. It was one of the season’s strongest episodes on that front, because fans always want more of Diggle and Felicity, and less of Oliver (and the darn island). We did, however, see how the DC Cinematic Universe could be ruining things for their TV properties. Let’s dive in real quick.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: A.W.O.L. Stands for Amanda Waller”
We’ve returned from Arrow hiatus to something very familiar. Remember how the cliffhanger had a lead of the show potentially dying in the 9th episode of the season and then they survived in episode 10? And episode 10 deals with the characters figuring out if they can cope without the not-dead character? Felicity’s absence is shorter lived than Oliver’s, but the stakes still feel as false as they did when Oliver “died.”
I love how the show didn’t even pretend Felicity was dead (unlike every promo until this week). Well, they had that grave shot, but marked it very clearly as 4 months from now. Why would this bullet have killed her four months from now with a fresh grave? Anyway, I hope that’s the last midseason finale with a fake death, because I’m over it. On to episode 4×10, “Blood Debts.”
Marvel’s Agent Carter had its season premiere Tuesday night with a double episode, and all sorts of things are new.
For one, the somber, immediate-post-WWII-New-York-values tones have been replaced by a lighter, sunnier, Californian color that suits the show’s inevitable slide into the fifties. For another, Agent Daniel Sousa’s childish crush on Peggy Carter seems to have deepened into a reciprocal — if ambiguous — relationship. (On this, more later.)
Continue reading “Agent Carter Adds Superhero TV’s Newest Trope”
On a very cold sub-zero January evening in Minnesota (talking windchill -30 F people) , one of our favorite NOCs was ready for some questions. Director, writer, activist, martial artist, general badass, and real life superhero Lexi Alexander joined me at The NOC for another round of #AskLexi. I wasn’t prepared for the hundreds of fans that overwhelmed us with questions, but the feeling of love radiated out of the computer and warmed my heart in the chilly house. Here are some highlights.
Because this recap is a week late (sorry, got distracted writing on twitter about a different rich, blonde, white guy who learns the ways of the Orient and returns a superhero) and because I’m just filling in, my recap of the Arrow winter finale, titled “Dark Waters,” will follow a different format. Rather than just giving a play-by-play of what happened in the ep, I wanna spend extra time on two aspects of the show and its fandom that needs to be discussed. And of course we will talk about that ending.
It’s no secret we’re big fans of The CW’s shared universe of DC superheroes. Arrow and Flash are two of the only shows we still livetweet and recap on a regular basis (shout out Connie and Christelle!) and this season — though it’s on CBS and not (yet) connected — we’ve thrown Supergirl into the mix as well. Of course all of these shows are now on their annual holiday break and won’t return until January. But when they do, they’ll be joined by a new kid on the block, Legends of Tomorrow.
Continue reading “January Brings Four Straight Days of Greg Berlanti’s DC Universe”
As we know, Team Flarrow is trying to protect the Hawks from Vandal Savage, who wants to murder them because of destiny or habit or something. So everyone’s all teamed up, Kendra’s unlocked her hawking powers, and Oliver’s spotted his baby mama!
I’ve been so cautious this season, guys. Good things were happening. Oliver was LEARNING LESSONS. TEAM FLARROW WAS AWESOME. Despite some plot/exposition bumps, the team up in this half of the crossover was fun. There were things I wished for: Less Carter. ANY Snowlicity aside from their one nerd moment. Less white ancient Egypt (I’ll get on some of that later). But the Barry/Oliver moments were great — they’re wonderful foils for each other. As was anything with Cisco. Can he be my friend? Also he should be in every show. But just like we were burned last season with the Ra’s al Ghul arc, this Kid arc (I’ll come up with a better name for it another time) is only going to lead to terrible things. Unhappy fans. Annoyed fans.
Other title options: Ready to Hawk and Roll, Hawked and Loaded, Hawk of Ages, We Will Hawk You, Too Hawk Hawk Damn, and Drop It like It’s Hawk1.
Before we begin… does Hawkgirl “claim” to be white? Uh oh, this is hawkward… but it wouldn’t be too surprising. (See Sandra Hawke, Sin, and Ra’s Al Ghul). I personally went through Kendra Saunders’ twitter history to read her tweets and reactions and responses to identifying as white. I urge others to do the same and form an opinion after seeing both sides.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps The Flash: It’s Getting Hawk in Here”
We’re not going to do this recap like past ones. Mainly because the last episode of Arrow, “Brotherhood,” aired two weeks ago. Also, because I’m not Connie, whose recap game is much stronger than mine, there probably won’t be any Hamilton references either. Instead, we’re just going to touch on the main points as we prep for the second half of the Flarrow crossover tonight.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: Brothers Gonna Work It Out”
Felicity hasn’t showered in a week, Sara woke up from her soul coma, and Ray returns in this week’s Arrow, “Lost Souls.” As we’ve discussed before, most of this season of Arrow (and somewhat The Flash) has been set up for Legends of Tomorrow. I don’t have a problem with this because it’s been moving our characters forward all season (as we see especially this week with Olicity), but I wondered today what would happen to the season when they don’t have Legends to work towards. But that’s a question for another day. Let’s base jump into this thing like Curtis and Felicity!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: There’s No Place Like Immediately Leaving Home”
Full disclaimer: I didn’t watch Constantine on NBC. Sorry! But even without knowledge of the character or the show, I enjoyed this crossover (is it still a crossover when one of the crossed shows is cancelled?). John Constantine and Oliver had great bro-chemistry and the little bits of interaction he had with the rest of Team Arrow were great as well. 10/10, would enjoy again.
This week’s episode of Arrow was really great — it’s probably the first time ever that I’ve enjoyed Arrow more than The Flash since 1.) Last season of Arrow was ROUGH, and 2.) This week’s episode of The Flash was also rough. Of course, the amazingness of “Beyond Redemption” was helmed by none other than Punisher: War Zone (and friend of the NOC — go check out Keith’s interview with her!) director Lexi Alexander.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: The Room Where it Happens”
Arrow fans, are you ready for next week’s episode, “Beyond Redemption,” directed by fan-favorite Lexi Alexander? Fortunately, the woman behind such films as Green Street and Punisher: War Zone — and one of the best follows on twitter — was kind enough to sit down with Keith to talk media representation, directing superheroes, and whether she should be a permanent guest host of Hard NOC Life.
Continue reading “One on One with Arrow Director Lexi Alexander”
Going into the 2015-16 television season, there were questions about how Legends of Tomorrow was going to fit in to the timelines established by Flash and Arrow. Little did we know that the first few episodes of both shows were essentially being used as set up for the midseason series.
In the previous night’s Flash, we saw the lead in to two of Legends’ protagonists: Leaonard Snart’s redemption and Martin Stein’s Firestorm dependency. Similarly, most of last night’s Arrow was used to set up another Legends lead: the emergence of the White (not Asian) Canary and the return of Caity Lotz.
I’m back guys!! So far, I’ve been cautiously pleased with this season. But that’s probably partly because I’ve avoided all trailers and pre-information about each episode. Of course, certain characters force angry or confused glares (both of the Lances), but so far, so good. I think both episodes one and two of this season so far have been set up episodes. “Green Arrow” got us back to Star City and where everyone is at, but “The Candidate” tells us where everyone is going. I think a lot of what ruined Arrow last season was that it was jumping into plots too fast, leaving themselves with nowhere to go. They wrote themselves in a corner. This season seems to be pacing itself better. Also it’s giving bigger plots to its side characters (but we need more Diggle please), so there is more story to spread around.
In most sports, scoring early is a good thing. If you’re a soccer player or fan, though, you know the woes of scoring too early. If any of you listen to or watch Men in Blazers, you’ve heard this all before from Roger’s unending sadness with his Everton routinely scoring too early. This has happened to me both on the pitch, but mostly watching my beloved teams pay dearly for going up 1-0 in the first five minutes of matches only to be smacked down with three or four unanswered goals once the final whistle blows. It’s part of the roller coaster of emotions that is the world of football. I feel like this could be a metaphor for Michael Jai White’s career.
I recently had an evening to myself and while scrolling through the ever expanding Netflix streaming queue, I noticed a couple of recent Michael Jai White flicks I hadn’t yet seen. Double feature? Sure.
Continue reading “Scored Too Soon? The Career of Michael Jai White: A Retrospective”
UPDATED OCTOBER 9, 2015
This is definitely my favorite time of year. Autumn is in the air, and superheroes are back on my television. PS, you might be disappointed that the byline for this recap doesn’t say “Connie.” I’m going to fill in for her on the Season 4 premiere recap while she holds it down at New York Comic-Con.
So be gentle on me, Olicity shippers!
As we do every year, we take some time to preview the upcoming debuts of our favorite superhero shows. And since Netflix recently announced The Flash will be joining Arrow to stream, everyone can catch up before both shows return next week. To discuss those shows and others, criminology professor ‘Shawn Smith makes his triumphant return to the NOC, joining our resident Flash recapper and TV superfan Christelle Gonzales (@christellexoxo).
Watch the episode here.
I was probably more excited than most when it was announced that DC Comics’ Vixen would be animated for the small screen. Vixen is one of my all-time favorite characters and if you aren’t up on her, check out this and this. Marvel may be the heavyweight champs of the cinematic landscape, but DC are the lords and masters of the animation realm. Rarely does DC miss with their animated properties. So far, with Vixen, I think I’m going to have to put the first five-minute episode in the ‘eh… maybe’ column.
[Spoilers Ahead]
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Vixen: The Animated Microseries”
Before getting into it, I just wanted to thank all of you readers for joining me in my recaps this season. I’ve been having so much fun writing these (even when I take a week to do it) and the community that I’ve developed here at The Nerds of Color is one that I truly cherish. Can’t wait for more superhero TV adventures this fall (SUPERGIRLLLLL!!).
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Arrow: City’s Under Attack, Must be May”
If last week’s “Rogue Air” is anything to go by, tonight’s episode will be a beautifully worked and satisfying finale leaving us with lots to look forward to in the second season. Before I recap the penultimate episode below, I want to bring attention to the title “Rogue Air.” This show (and Cisco) has made it clear that names are important, so why the partnering between the words “rogue” and “air?” Team-ups and partnerships were a major theme of the episode, and “rogue” obviously refers to Captain Cold’s teaming with The Flash, then his betrayal to form his own team of Rogues. But “air?” Could it be alluding to Ferris Air and a possible test-pilot Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern coming into Barry’s life? The presence of The Flash’s superfriends and Arrow’s changing-of-the-suit-color to make room for another guy who likes green leads me to believe YES YES HELL YES.
Alright, onto the recap.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps The Flash: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?”
The latest issue of Variety features a profile of super-producer Greg Berlanti — who will have six(!) different shows on three different networks next season. It’s a great profile about one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood. But what got the internet buzzing was the magazine’s cover, featuring Berlanti flanked by the stars of his most recent superhero offerings: The Flash’s Grant Gustin and Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist.
Because they’re both Glee alums, it got me thinking about the potential for not only a Flarrow/Supergirl crossover, but why that crossover needs to be a musical episode!
Continue reading “Why There Must be an Arrow/Flash/Supergirl Musical Crossover”
