... and certainly there were varying levels of quality in what came to be called "The Arrowverse" from its initially great early seasons of Arrow through some very uneven years for every show that Arrow spawned.
Arrow itself was amazing early on, suffered from some weak seasons but ultimately spooled out a show that redefined the concept of superheroes on television. Say what you will about it, but it moved the needle in the right direction for everything that came after it.
The Flash was never as good as its first couple of seasons but had some greatness left to give over its eight year run.
Legends of Tomorrow started off weak and ended strong.
Black Lightning never really found its footing but had some superb moments during its run.
Supergirl was always uneven but had a strong lead and some great supporting characters that occasionally were as good as superhero shows can be. And one of the best musical television episodes in history, too.
Stargirl was cute and I loved that they were able to bring characters like Hourman, Dr. Midnight and Wildcat to television for the first time, even if they did it by basically putting the Scooby-Doo gang into superhero costumes. Never a great show and often as corny as Kansas at harvest time, Stargirl did have its own kind of charm.
The one exception to the choppy scorecard for Arrowverse shows was the final property to spin out of that universe, Superman and Lois.
Over the course of four almost uniformly strong seasons, this show spooled out a sprawling story about love, family, sacrifice and joy and it did it with a dwindling budget, casting changes and despite its home network being sold to a group that prefers cheap unscripted game shows to high budget superhero content.
I just finished my season four dvd set. It's bare-bones. No special features, just the 10 episode season on three disks and that's it.
Thing is, it's so damned good they could have doubled the price and it would still be worth owning.
The last fifteen minutes of the final episode serves as an epilogue not just to the season and not just to the show but to this version of Superman's Clark Kent's life as we were lucky enough witness over the show's run.
It's fifteen minutes of damned near perfect television that caps an excellent run of four solid seasons. I can't recommend it highly enough. Start at the beginning, enjoy forty episodes of quality superhero storytelling that weaves heart, family, love and joy through every story line.
And don't worry, Superman and Lois brings the boom, regularly.
It went by so fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment