There's been two things this show's consistently struggled with since it moved to the CW.
1. When there's no action happening, everything feels *really* slow. And no, it's not lost on me that my favorite episode of this show, "Shining Knight", is an episode that doesn't have a single action scene. But the reason that episode worked is because it was the culmination of an eleven episode storyline about our main character finally accepting the truth about her father, and also because it was an outlier. It was the only slow episode in a well-paced season. Granted, that season had a lot to set up, but seasons 2 and 3 have a lot of characters to play around with too, so there's no reason they should feel as slow as they do. Then again, there's also no reason the show should still be taking place in 2020, but here we are.
And 2. This show struggles with character deaths.
The deaths in season 1 felt like they mattered in ways that the CW deaths just don't. For example, Henry King Jr.'s death served as the end to his arc about understanding his powers, and served as one of the main things that led Courtney to falter once her real father destroyed her self-image. Courtney blames herself for Henry's death. It also served as a moment that allowed him to atone for what he did to Yolanda, who believed that he sent her pics to the whole school. That moment was about Henry getting to prove that maybe her image of him was wrong.
How about another example? Joey Zarrick's death comes full-circle by the end of the season. Icicle killed Joey and made it look like a truck hit him by accident. That came back around in the finale when Mike slammed into Icicle and killed him with a truck, which we later found out was an accident. It was a really brilliantly done full-circle moment that, even though Icicle's back now, is still one of my favorite moments of season 1.
Ever since Stargirl moved to the CW, character deaths aren't done effectively anymore. I already talked about how they screwed up Isaac Bowin's death in my review of "Summer School: Chapter Six", but to summarize, Isaac only died because season 2 was trying to be dark and edgy. It would've been more satisfying for Isaac to learn that the Crocks killed his mom, befriend Artemis anyway, and then sacrifice himself to save her in the finale. If Isaac had to die, which I don't believe he did, *that* would've been a good way to do it. Give him a real arc instead of phoning it in. The deaths of the Crocks in this episode very much fit into this category as well, and there's three main reasons that these deaths didn't work for me. Because while the moment itself was good in a vacuum (and I cannot stress *in a vacuum* enough), it was so blatantly telegraphed, unnecessary, and makes the Crocks look stupid!
From the first scene of this episode I could tell you that the Crocks were gonna die. We get this two-minute-long sequence showing us how happy the Crocks are, how things are going good at Crusher's gym, Paula making a cake for the Women's Rotary Club (just like her and Barbara made in "Frenemies - Chapter Two: The Suspects"). Not to mention that Artemis just got accepted into college moments before their death. You could not have made their deaths more obviously telegraphed if you tried!
Their death also wouldn't serve any narrative purpose. If it was so the JSA could try to avenge the deaths of people that were trying to be better, the Gambler's death already serves that purpose. If it was for the reveal of Icicle being alive, maybe save the conversation between Courtney and Cameron for the end of the episode, have it happen in the Mahkent house, and show that Icicle has one final camera left operational before panning to see him keeping tabs on his family. It carries the same weight.
It would've been more satisfying for the Crocks to survive until the end of the season. We needed to have a moment where they knocked on the door of the Whitmore-Dugan house and Pat or Barbara respond with "It's unlocked!", showing that they're finally willing to let their guard down around this family of reformed villains.
But to me, the worst part is that the scene portrays the Crocks like they're idiots. The Crocks are clearly being baited into going into the ISA's old tunnels, so why don't they TAKE THEIR GEAR WITH THEM?? Crusher had his Sportsmaster mask on him when he went to visit the Mahkents! I'd be willing to bet that he had his entire suit on him in that duffle bag. Not to mention that Paula just carries her crossbow on her as shown by this very episode (though maybe she let Barbara keep it, but we don't get confirmation of that this week). Why in the bluest of blue fricks didn't they suit up? Or if they worried the trail might go cold by the time they're ready, why not at least call Pat and say "Hey Pat, we found something suspicious on (street name), and we're going to check it out. If we're not back in (time), take Artemis as far away from here as you can." But no, the Crocks go into the tunnels, completely unprepared, because in order for their death scene to work they need to be complete idiots! You cannot convince me that the Crocks are *this* stupid!
But of course, the season needed a death and a cool villain reveal. So any and all common sense must immediately get thrown out the window. As is the pattern with this show since it started airing on the CW.
And now that I've gotten my rant out of the way, it's time to talk about some of the things I actually liked about the episode.
I thought last episode's Ultra-Humanite reveal was great! I mean, it's inherently a cop-out since the season never establishes him as a suspect, going against the entire point of the "murder mystery" idea, but it's great! But I think that a lot of people that liked that reveal don't necessarily understand what makes that moment work as well as it does. It's actually two things. Firstly, I did a bit of reading on Ultra-Humanite and found out that he's the *first* supervillain to ever exist, and with this being one of the last seasons of DCTV on the CW, bringing in Ultra-Humanite as one of the main villains is a full-circle moment that I can't help but love! And the second reason this reveal was so great is that some of the evidence *doesn't* fit him as an explanation, and that just made the reveal even cooler!
The Gambler's trailer got torn open by someone who's big and has super strength, but the cause of death was a stab wound on his back. However, there was no weapon found at the scene. Then there was the clue that "The killer has many names". This episode showed that Ultra-Humanite has a habit of body swapping, proving that that piece actually *does* fit him surprisingly enough, but we didn't know that last week. The killer also only took action once the camera feed was discovered by the Gambler, so the killer had to be human enough to fit inside that black cloak. And the last major piece of evidence was that it couldn't be Cindy. It just wouldn't make sense for her arc. So when we got the Ultra-Humanite reveal, everything started to click for me. We tried to make all the evidence fit one person and that was never going to work! It was *always* a two-man job!
Now we get to see all that evidence start to fit into place. "The killer has many names" clue? Well, Icicle's family had to move to America because of discrimination, so mayhaps he changed his name from "Joar" to a more american name like "Jordan", which would hint at the character's actual name from the comics. Not to mention that he adopted the moniker "Icicle" at some point in his supervillain career. I'd say he fits the bill on that front. Fitting under those robes? Check! The stab wound that Sharpe and Sylvester had? Icicles. There was always this piece of evidence that I knew had to be important, something I now realize was the writers showing a bit too much of their hand, and that evidence was Cameron shooting an icicle at the tires of Rick's car. Rick gets a flat tire, and there's seemingly no cause because by the time he discovers it the ice would've melted. The perfect crime! The exact method used to kill the Gambler in the premiere!
And if you're gonna get up in arms about the writers bringing Icicle back from the dead, technically we didn't see him die. If the ice crystals he shattered into melted and got into the city's sewer system, it would be pretty believable that eventually Icicle would be able to reconstitute his body. And I'd been suspecting a possible Icicle resurrection since last episode, but never wanted to lean too far into it. Bottom line, this was a great reveal despite the pointless deaths of the Crocks.
I also liked the scene between Courtney and Cameron this episode. I especially liked that Courtney recognized if she told Cameron the truth, that Mike killed his dad, he would've gone after Mike without a second thought. So she lied and took responsibility herself, a truly heroic thing to do, protecting another human being, and as a result Cameron leaves. And even if we as the audience knew Courtney was gonna survive, I'd bet my bottom dollar Courtney didn't know if she would, which is the reason that scene really works.
And one smaller thing, I really like that when Mike tells Pat and Sylvester that Ultra-Humanite is out there, they *both* say "Oh, crap!" A line like that coming from Pat would make sense, but Sylvester saying it as well means that this guy is a big deal! Especially since we know how strong Sylvester can really be when he wants to be from "Frenemies - Chapter Three: The Blackmail."
This was a decent episode overall, but that death scene really spoils the entire thing for me. The death of the Crocks in this episode is without question the worst death in any superhero movie or show in recent memory, possibly one of the worst of all time. And considering that the rest of the episode doesn't have much going on, those deaths really are what this episode's gonna be remembered for.
5 / 10.
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