bettername2come

I am glad they finally revealed Matteo's their kid, but the way they acted like it was a reveal...c'mon we all know. I was happy to be correct that he's not spying for his parents and this is all just a remarkable coincidence. Clark Kent and Lois Lane acting like their boys aren't going to be nosing around looking for answers. They are your kids you should really anticipate them finding stuff out and just telling them first. The conversation between the four of them at the end felt very real. I appreciated Clark's response to Jon lashing out and pulling "humans vs. Kryptonians" argument. He was very understanding and I loved hearing him state out loud that "You are just as Kryptonian as Jordan. And your brother's just as human as you." Partially for the Dad-ness of Clark trying to keep those barriers from keeping the kids apart when they're the only ones who understand what they're going through and partly for the "yay, the writers explicitly said it. They remember!" Always love fireworks. I did not anticipate Peia having powers all along, so that was an interesting reveal.

Okay, I'm no expert on Buddhism, but trying to find out how you achieved enlightenment by talking to alternate versions of yourself seems like cheating. I'm glad they remembered Jessie Quick. I appreciate getting into some of Wally's issues but that could've been better explored 6 years ago. Preferably with Joe present. And probably could've used a flashback that wasn't from an erased timeline "brother-sister crimefighting unit." Those few notes of Arrow music when they cut to commercial after Oliver's intro got me. "You're dead. Otherwise, why would I let you hug me so long?" Good speech. I had forgotten he was appearing as the Green Arrow so when he came through with Barry I was shocked. "Let's kick some ass." The music, the logo. God, I forgot how much I loved Arrow. That squeal I let out when Digg and Oliver hugged the first time. Oh, God, they actually said they loved each other. What a great goodbye. Nice conclusion to their story and glad they brought the Green Lantern story. I'm glad Oliver stuck around for the party and they had that nice moment at the bar. The callback to the pilot was fantastic. Khione's fake hair looked better. I love that she knew if we can only unfreeze one person, make it Diggle. But then they made it sound like it's Oliver I can barely remember evil Sendhil Ramamurthy's previous storyline, but I'm disappointed he doesn't sound more like Mohinder. I didn't realize before that Nora's crib is purple and yellow. This was a legitimately good episode. Credit to writers, guest stars, Grant Gustin and Danielle Panabaker for pulling it off.

I did not see Peia as the villain coming. I really liked Jon's talk with Sophie, particularly her saying "Jordan's not special." It made me laugh. I appreciated Lois staying calm and rational as she sent Jordan off to save Clark. And the conflict on her face when Jon came in all happy during a crisis. I think it makes sense for Jordan to be less vulnerable to kryptonite but I feel like they haven't really shown that to be true in the past. Granted he'd never taken a full kryptonite blast to the chest before.

I loved both versions of the bro hug. So much to read into them. Hug A was a thank you to Jacob for being such a good friend and Gregory acknowledging that and being just a tiny bit more open but still ended with that casual back tap. Hug B was Jacob realizing Gregory was struggling and offering emotional support but then being surprised that Gregory really needed it and took it to a further emotional place. They really nailed it. I'm also glad that the episode ended with Jacob, Janine and Gregory going to eat with Jacob using his third wheel powers to make something less awkward. The way they have all the teachers in the school acknowledging the feelings between Janine and Gregory, I have a feeling when they finally do have them solidly together in like season 6, we're gonna get something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfIYDqSvnb0. Complete with students shipping it and squealing.

Mr. Morton, egg drop guy.

When Jacob was talking about his friendship with Shanae, I was not expecting that to be an actual representation of their relationship. I was so ready for her to hate his guts as much as that other upper grade teacher does. So it was fun to see them get along. I liked how Greg got into his groove with having that baseball connection. Jacob's point about communication being like baseball as it has "a lot of boring stuff and then, bam, homerun" was a good quote. I do not believe for a second that cafeteria has sliced almonds, because it seems too expensive for elementary cafeteria and is a pretty common allergen. Taraji P. Henson was good casting. She looks enough like Quinta Brunson for me to believe it and she seemed to fit with the details we've gotten on Janine's mom. She must've been wearing some heels though because she towered over Janine and I looked it up - Taraji is 5'4". Quinta's 4'11". I appreciated that her mother knew her well-enough to be shocked that Janine climbed a ladder to fix a light and seemed genuinely proud of her daughter going to Penn. Doesn't make her a good mother, but I appreciate people having layers. I loved Barbara standing up for Janine, and the followup later with "Barbara Howard squared up to you?" I'm glad Janine found a way to help her mother that didn't sacrifice her vacation. I might've liked it more if she just didn't help her mother at all, but that's no very Janine. The fact that Barbara is supposed to be based on Quinta's mom made for an interesting comparison to me as it's kind of her real mother vs TV mother. And I am sitting here realizing I have only ever been to Ross with teachers so that ending trip feels very real.

The parent-teacher conference was definitely something I went through in my past life as an educator, although when Janine told Barbara she offered solutions, all I could think was "No, no, you did not" but I blame the mom for not letting her say anything. I was kind of hoping for a hug from Gregory. Not even in a romantic way, I think I'd have wanted one if Jacob had been the one talking to her. I did appreciate how he I laughed at Gregory shooing out the wrong camera guy when trying to get the news crew to leave. That's twice we've had confusion due to multiple film crews, the other being Ava letting in the charter school commercial crew when she thought it was the documentary crew. I am good with this as a continuing gag. I would enjoy seeing one of the teachers work on trying to get an evaluation process going and meeting resistance. I feel like that would be one of those rare times Ava might be a reasonable adult who backs up Janine.

I feel like odds are 50/50 on Mannheim either giving Lois the absolute best possible cancer treatments because he's sincere in his philanthropic efforts and dedicated to that work despite villainy in other areas or she's gonna die and be brought back as part of some horrible, horrible experiment. Clark listening to the cancer patients was a nice moment. It was important for him to hear all that, and I appreciated seeing Clark be the empathetic listener that he is. I bet he wrote great human interest stories. I want to see him doing more journalism now. "You washed your hair!" Those little moments of Lois just being an absolutely normal mother are wonderful. I still don't trust Candice. But if she's just gone and not evil, I am completely fine with that. For a bad-influencing drug dealer from a dysfunctional household she is weirdly boring.

And if we hadn't been sure before, his feelings on not hitting kids was made clear in his conversations with Lana.

I assumed the thought "grandfather clock that appears out of nowhere worked on Stranger Things" inspired that one, but who knows. Not a good episode. The B-plot was worse. Khione only bookended the episode because Panabaker had to be paid this week. I thought Iris wasn't going to be Iris because how did she get there so fast? She seemed perfectly comfortable on the couch with her ice cream. I did like the guest actors. Trying to figure out where I've seen the villain before. The mold inspector guy was good. He looked weirdly right in the Renaissance outfit.

You know what? I'm now convinced that Candace is the one who stole Jon's truck. It would explain him being so offended he just hit Jon. And her being the one to show up with the watch. "This isn't a job for Superman!" "He's not going." Yes, so much yes, so badass. So tough and scary and reasonable. Tyler Hoechlin does protective dad mode so well. Kyle, you've been my favorite member of the Cushing family lately. Totally reasonable and fair to both Lana and Sarah, ready to back Clark up. Very nice. I like that Jordan's going to be doing hero work with his Kryptonian powers and his human great-grandfather's goggles. Representing both sides of his heritage. I love it. And while I was amused at them talking about cutting Jordan's curly mop, I'm glad he didn't actually get forced to get a haircut.

Ok, once again Iris is interacting with a woman from another show she's never met before. I appreciate that they at least used the mimosa brunch to introduce them offscreen. I like Iris dreaming herself as Captain. I love that Barry brought Iris cheese fries. He's good hubby. I feel like Barry should've been more surprised to find Nia with Iris. There was definitely a parallel to Kara and Barry in the musical. I liked Barry trying to call "the League" for help. Chillblaine complaining that they should only do exciting things bothered me. It's rude to Khione, but also you know Frost dragged him to some art show he didn't want to go to. The entire bar commenting on Mark's attempts. Not sure how I feel about that. They were right and it was fun to see him getting picked on, and part of me thinks it was probably a chance to get extras who normally don't speak a chance before the show ends, but it was just cheesy. Ok, wasn't expecting Cecile to show up 2/3 of the way through the show. Nia's story didn't feel like it needed closure. And I say this as one of the people who wanted to throw her on the Waverider when Supergirl ended. They better be saving that flash-frozen brunch for another time. Thank you! Drove me crazy. Sure it might not've worked because alien dream magic, but they should've tried.

I appreciate the realism of the cancer storyline, but happening on a comic book series to a title character significantly lowers the stakes for me, even if the telling everybody montage was emotional and confirmed that this is my favorite Sam Lane. It was nice to hear from Lucy. I appreciated the boys making her breakfast. Lois missing her Chemo appointment to chase a story is the most Lois Lane thing ever. I like that Sarah got grounded for being the only one to lie about where she was, which implies the boys did tell their parents Jordan was taking Jon flying. Or they got off on a technicality since they just didn't say where they were going and were home by dark as asked. But the first option amuses me. John is being too much of a jerk to Nat. His points are valid but I don't like his attitude. Love that Chrissy is concerned about getting Superman mad at her for Lois missing her appointment. "This freezer. They must've done something to it" gave off me somehow Palpatine returned vibes. Like soundproof it? Don't think that would work. Lead? He'd still hear her. Scramble a signal? Maybe but I thought it was basically just an electronic Superman dog whistle. Jeez, Lana, don't yell at your mentally ill child who is struggling with her parents' divorce for telling her father basic facts about her life and then slap her. Lana escalated things, and the parental slap by supposedly loving parent feels so overdone and unrealistic. I feel like Lois could've screamed before the freezer door opened and it would've worked. Ok, kids, you probably should've just had the superpowered and armored one go in. Although I suppose Jon's the only one with a license. I love that we got two separate Kent/Irons teamups happening simultaneously. Bitsie's acting in her conversation with Clark neat the end was fantastic. Yay for Candace dumping Jon! Hope it sticks. She's a really bad influence. And boring. And I didn't even recognize her when she showed up as the waitress. And she had way too much attitude when Jon thought her father stole the truck. Kyle's transition from amused to shocked when Chrissy said she almost died in a freezer was well-played. He's got no reason to be in on the stuff except for a right to know if his daughter's going to constantly be in danger. I kind of want him to find out now because it's just ridiculous for him to be the only one in the main cast who doesn't know. Clark is totally driving Lois so she can't leave chemo this time.

Iris looked gorgeous in her two scenes. "He was The Gambler. The only thing missing was a roasted chicken." That amused me far more than it should have. Khione trying to make ice powers work felt like a blatant ripoff of the first Spider-Man movie. So is she actually the goddess Khione if she's not human? Allegra moving in with Cecile seems a little weird and unnecessary with the limited number of eps left but whatever. Why didn't Cecile just drive to Joe and Jemma after the big showdown? I get not bugging Barry on vacation but I know she has a car. Becky's fun. Good on her for being alive and finding love.

I'm glad real Ryan is safe and badass and having monthly brunch with Kara, Alex and Nia (they've never once interacted with her onscreen, right?). I feel like Kara would have already invited Iris to brunch. C'mon, they fought Nazis together, she sang at your wedding, y'all need to be brunch buds. Wait, now we're saying this world's Africa looks like the Vancouver woods? I thought they only used that for alternate worlds with different climates. I thought he was going to Lian Yu.

Jenna lives! Good for her. I like the way they handled that this isn't our main universe's Ryan. Although, wasn't she missing? Where's the real one? So apparently in every other universe Iris and Ryan are besties. Well, I like consistency. Interesting that they went with having an adopted character instead adopted by the Waynes. I now feel the need to search for a comic where they adopted Kal-El and see how that went.

Tariq calling out Legendary Schools guy for "playing Powerball with your kids" was beautiful. I'm glad Gregory called him. Tariq's redeeming quality is that he seems to actually care about those students. "Janine, don't try and fix that!" when she was going to pick up the scoreboard by herself was perfectly executed. And I was glad Jacob and Mr. Morton were hugging and playing nice, even if it was for just the one night. I recognized the name Jazmin Sullivan but couldn't place her, had no idea who Lee Daniels was, and somehow completely didn't even hear the Paramore reference.

Joe realizing he kills every woman he loves was a good moment, only for him to fuck everything up and get way too much of what he wanted. And is he gonna have a relationship with his son now that's back from the dead? I'm so glad Marienne's alive, especially since it's basically what I was hoping would happen last ep. And I'm happy Phoebe's doing well. But poor Nadia and Eddie. I'm glad Nadia lived, but Joe framing her is just sad, though I love that she didn't take the bait of framing Eddie for the murder of Rhys. Gah, I just want Jenna Ortega's character and Nadia to team up with Marienne and possibly his son's adopted dads who are concerned about losing custody of Henry to take Joe down. I want him in prison. Or dead. Or possibly in a high security mental hospital with lots of therapy. Joe is not that smart or even that good at murder, he should be easy to take down! Like when Marienne was like "he's bigger and crazy!" the other ep, all I could think was "He's 5'9" and frequently zones out, sneak attack him!" Taylor Swift's "Anti-hero" was a great song choice. I always want Joe to get his shit together and quit being evil and of course, I know that's not gonna happen. Sigh. It is exhausting.

Ooh, nice to see Beck again. And Love, but we got more of her and she gave as good as she got, so I hadn't really missed her. I wish we could've gotten Candace again. Her story was so sad. I love how all his hallucinations are teaming up to call him out on his shit, but fuck that part of him that started victim blaming and saying Marianne was asking to be kidnapped traipsing off to Europe. This show may be ridiculous but the actors always deliver. Aw, poor Adam. Not likable, but certainly didn't deserve to be murdered. Especially by random hired goons. Greg Kinnear is doing a great job in the role. Ugh, he was so awful calling Kate an investment. Aw, poor Marianne. I kept hoping she was faking so she could outfox him and escape.

I mean, part of him did. The other part of him locked her in a cage. The DID turn is a little sudden, but it makes enough sense with the fact that Joe hit his head and has always been conflicted about his killings. I'm glad to see Nadia getting more of an active role, though not calling the police seems like a stupid plan.

I can't say I thought Joe was going to have gone full-on DID. Despite being crazy/evil/psychopathic, he's always been a fairly reliable narrator, so I Was expecting more of the same. I honestly assumed they had written Marianne out due to the actor having other commitments or something, so I wasn't expecting the cage reveal.

Maurice actor did a good job with his "I'm staying. Please leave." I liked that they were able to find a compromise on the mural and get something meaningful and with the characters they enjoy. I agreed with Janine that Jacob's little table hopping move was impressive. As someone who's taught in public and charter schools, I'm shocked at how easy it is to get kids kicked out of the charter school. That never would've happened where I taught, and I don't think it legally could (I know rules vary from state to state). But teachers who didn't get good test scores were another thing. Those contracts sucked. I watched a dozen teachers get hired and fired (midyear!) in my two years at one.

I really liked that Gregory seemed to not only want to make sure Janine saw the flower classroom, but seemed excited to see it himself. Landscaping - just when you think you're out they pull you back in. So the charter school teacher who worked at Abbott until she kicked a kid is Kate Peterman, who is also a story editor for the show and co-wrote this episode with Quinta. Good on her for giving her character some fun at the conference. I was expecting a crush to form between other Oberlin teacher and Jacob and her to not realize he's gay, but instead she tries to lure him to the dark side with the reasons the charter school is better. Well played and overall I really enjoyed how they brought the charter school plotline back in. This show may have made me a little too pumped for my librarian conference next month.

Okay, Barry, it's public knowledge you own STAR Labs right? When Goldface starts questioning your awesome setup, you can just say you own it. I'm glad Joco was able to figure it out on his own. I enjoyed Hartley being a decent team member. I also liked seeing him signing to that other villain - good nod to both him having hearing loss and being good with languages. "What happens at book club stays at book club!" Goldface could've made a decent Legend.

Iris voting for Frost with a vague "I have my reasons" made me think "well, obviously, shutting up the Snowbarry shippers is the reason." I can't invest in Hartley as a character. We've seen three different timeline versions of him out of 6 episodes and I'd just like him to stay non-evil but still kind of a jerk without it being a real plot point. And maybe hear a little about what he's up to otherwise when he's gone. The "how'd you get in here?" "I used to work here" exchange has me screaming "Ten years ago! Change the damn locks, Barry!" Danielle Panabaker talking about nature gives me Sky High vibes. "He's the Flash!" "No, I'm not!" Hahaha.