Daredevil 2.09

Seven Minutes in Heaven

- lots of Punisher and Kingpin in prison in this one, not much Elektra
- a bit slow and plodding with some moments of action
- in prison, Kingpin's early days are shown, how he tries to lay low at first but then hooks up with some black cons, for protection, but then starts to make moves
- when Punisher arrives Kingpin talks him into going after the guy (the convict) who runs most of the gang activity
- Dutton (played brilliantly by William Forsythe) is the man who runs things; Kingpin convinces Punisher that Dutton was behind the murder of his family
- Punisher goes after Dutton, with some help getting access from Kingpin; he wrecks havoc in Dutton's cell block; it looks like he fatally stabs Dutton but he shows up later on in the prison ICU
- Kingpin turns on Punisher and leaves him locked in Dutton's cell block facing brutal odds against survival but he makes it out alive
- Kingpin then uses his influence to get Punisher out of prison because he sees Castle as more valuable to him on the outside wrecking havoc than in prison doing the same
- Daredevil is on his own for most of the episode and only has two interactions with regular members of the cast: (1) he argues with Elektra (after she heals him) about her hitting the young ninja in Episode 8; she tries to explain to him that they are at war with the Hand but he thinks that they can take it to the police; (2) Foggy comes by after Elektra leaves Matt's apartment; Foggy wants to put their professional an personal relationships on hold
- Karen does some more sleuthing and works with the newspaper editor some more; together they visit the medical examiner
- Daredevil tracks down the Hand's accountant, tries to help him get his son back, faces off against Nobu who was thought to be dead (last season) but Nobu escapes with a large sarcophagus that was being fed by the blood of living people including the accountant's son
- not a great episode but it had it's moments; lots of setup without much payoff
- Frank got out of prison much faster than I thought he would
- Prediction: no more Frank this season; mostly ninjas and Elektra and Stick; Kingpin? naaah...

Teen Titans 1.07

Switched

- Teen Titans vs. Puppet King
- Titans vs. Titans; Boys vs. Girls
- A package with puppets in it is delivered to the Titans Tower; there are 5 puppets, each one resembles one of the Titans
- That night the Puppet King strikes and traps the spirits of Robin, Cyborg, and Beast boy in their puppets; their bodies are then his to control Puppet King tries doing the same to Starfire and Raven but Raven's magic instead causes the Puppet King's spell to make their souls switch bodies
- Much hilarity ensues; this is the best part of the episode; how they deal with one another trapped in the other's body, Raven can't figure out how to make Starfire's powers work, Starfire can't help but use Raven's powers too much; the key to their situation is that Raven needs to be more emotional to get Starfire's powers to work and Starfire needs to calm down in order to get a better hold on Raven's powers
- Raven and Starfire end up having to battle their friends after getting a better hold on their powers; in the end everything gets switched back and Raven and Starfire grow closer

- probably my favorite episode yet, even though it was mostly Raven and Starfire with very little of Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy

Legends of Tomorrow 1.15

Destiny

- A very Star Wars: A New Hope like episode
- Kendra/Chay Ara gets dragged off by Vandal Savage; he claims to have Carter/Khufu but he isn't in this episode
- In 2016 Jackson arrives and finds Dr. Stein; its a little unclear what is achieved here but they spend some time together; Jackson for the most part refuses to talk about the future
- Mick gets brainwashed again into becoming Chronos but that doesn't last too long; once he is armed and equipped he turns on the Time Masters and sides with Rip and Co.
- While captured Rip learns that in about 10 years an invasion from Thanagar will come to Earth and lay it to waste
- The Time Masters believe that Vandal Savage is the only hope for Earth; that's why they've been siding with him; moreover they've been manipulating Rip and Co. to do whatever they want
- Lenard and Sarah break into the prison and almost get snagged themselves but with a big assist from Chronos they escape with the others
- Rip's plan is to destroy the Occulus Wellspring which will cut the Time Masteres off from their source of info; it works but Lenard is killed in the process; at first it looked like it would be Ray who would stay and die and then Mick, before Lenard stepped in and cold cocked his friend and sacrificed himself
- Tractor beam; Lenard's sacrifice; both very Star Wars moments
- The Lenard/Katie relationship moments seemed kind of tacked on and out of nowhere; sure they were friends but I wasn't feeling anything more than that

Arrow 2.06

Keep Your Enemies Closer

- Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, and Isabel travel to Moscow to rescue Lyla, who in this episode is revealed to Diggle's ex-wife
- Lyla is being kept in a prison or gulag; in order to get her out Diggle gets arrested smuggling drugs and thrown in the same prison; he has a contact on the inside but that part of the plan falls to pieces when the contact is killed by Deadshot
- Diggle has to work with Deadshot, the man who killed his brother, in order to find Lyla and break them all out of prison
- Amanda Waller (much younger and slimmer than in the comics) makes her first appearance and is the one who tells Diggle where Layla is and how she got there
- Ollie's Russian contact is also in the flashbacks on the prison ship
- Deadshot tells Diggle that it wasn't an accident that he killed his brother and that HIVE is the organization behind the contract on his brother's life
- Ollie and Isabel have a quick roll in the hay
- Isabel suspects that Ollie and Felicity have a thing going on; Felicity is hurt when she finds out that Ollie slept with Isabel; they are definitely teasing the idea that Ollie and Felicity should hook up
- Jean Loring, Moira's lawyer, tries to get Thea and Roy to break up for her mother's sake, but Moira steps in and approves of their relationship
- In the flashbacks Ollie gets fooled by Sarah into revealing to Dr. Ivo that Slade and Shado are still alive

Daredevil 2.08

Guilty as Sin

- Foggy and Karen do their best to keep the defense of Frank Castle together but Matt and Frank blow the case wide open and Frank goes to prison
- Matt and Elektra encounter the Hand; Stick shows up to give them a -- er -- help them out, or is it the other way around; Matt learns more about Elektra and her ties to Stick
- not great but not awful; it had its moments but some of them weren't so great
- glad to see Stick back in the story; he really knows how to push Matt's buttons; I don't think we've seen the last of him; he will be back, probably this season
- no great Karen or Foggy moments
- loved seeing Clancy Brown in this episode playing Frank's former commanding officer; doubtful that he will show up again in Daredevil but hopefully in the Punisher series he will
- Karen finally got to meet Elektra, not that she even knew Matt was running around with her
- Elektra sees the good in Matt and wants to be good too but ultimately her true nature shows through as she kills the ninja
- Matt's pollyanish attitude about not using deadly force against the Hand is annoying; he thinks he can have it all his way; seems like he might be headed for a breakdown
- Elektra's reveal that she was working for Stick, when she first met Matt, hit him kind of hard
- just as the 4th episode seemed to end the 1st part of this season, as it ended with the capture of Punisher and the introduction of Elektra, this episode seemed to end the 2nd part of this season, as Frank's trial ends and he heads off to prison and Matt's life seems to be in bad shape as he blows it in court, blows it with Karen, and learns the truth about Elektra

Legends of Tomorrow 1.14

River of Time

- After leaving the 22nd century for the Vanishing Point, the year 2166 to be precise, the Wave Rider breaks down and the heroes plus Vandal Savage and brainwashed Carter Hall spend most of the episode trapped in the time stream
- Vandal Savage toys with various team members when they visit him in his cell; Vandal Savage taunts Ray Palmer until he opens the cell to fight Vandal Savage; Savage of course beats Palmer and then frees Carter Hall
- Vandal Savage is eventually recaptured, after a fight, just before they arrive at the Vanishing Point, just after Carter regains his memories
- Jackson gets infected with a time disease when he is repairing the time travel drive; his sbody dtarts to age rapidly; in order to save him Dr. Stein puts him in the jump ship and sends him back to 2016
- After they arrive at the Vanishing Point, Rip turns Vandal Savage over to the Time Masters only to discover that they have been working with him all along and they free Vandal Savage and arrest Rip and his friends/team
- not great but better than the previous episode
- We get a few flashbacks to ancient Egypt (1700 BC)
- Vandal Savage reveals to Rip that Rip was the one who gave Vandal Savage the idea to create a time machine
- Jackson is in the past; how he gets cured I don't know but I'll bet he creates a time machine and comes to the rescue in the next episode
- most of the team were shown being captured or arrested at the end of the episode, except Captain Cold and White Canary
- Ray goes through a character moment which doesn't seem entirely genuine in the way it is portrayed; he goes from resenting Carter, because he doesn't want to lose what he has with Kendra, to accepting that he has lost it, in the middle he fights with Vandal Savage

Teen Titans 1.06

Nevermore

- delves into Raven's background
- mostly just Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg
- begins with all 5 fighting Dr. Light; Raven snaps and turns dangerously scary during the fight and then again later on back at Titans Tower
- Raven retreats to her room; Cyborg and Beast Boy go to talk to her and winds up traveling through a mirror and into Ravens mind where they meet different facets of her personality
- Cyborg and Beast Boy also meet Raven's father, Trigon, while inside Raven's mind; Trigon is ultimately defeated by Raven after all her personalities merge into one white-cloaked form of herself

- the ravens in R's mind were creepy
- animation looked very polished
- just noticing that six episodes in and still no origin episode; not a problem