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The Comics Multiverse
CW's Arrowverse Weekly Round: Week 4
By Chad A. Burdette on November 3, 2017 at 1:35 PM
This was another great week for the Arrowverse shows on the CW. I think my favorite was Legends of Tomorrow followed by the Flash.
I am going to try and get these recaps out on Friday so I can focus on other posts I have been meaning to get to the first part of the week. I am also still trying to figure out how I like to do these recaps like I did with the Supergirl episode (below) by looking at subplots along with the weekly story or do a straight recap of the episode then expand on them.
I am also going to move my recaps of Riverdale to a seperate post, most likely with the
Episode 4: The Faithful
Main Storyline
The episode begins on a plane. The man who will turn out to Thomas Coville is drunk and telling the guy next to him that just when life seems to be going great, that is when things fall
apart. Next thing the plane starts to crash, Coville looks around the cabin and sees the other passengers praying and trying to appeal to a higher authority to save them. The plane lands
in the water and Alex is on the plane and Coville looks out his window and sees Kara on the wing looking like an angel from heaven.
As it turns out this is a flashback to the Season one pilot where we first met Kara aka Supergirl as she saved Flight 237.
Back to the present Samantha is at Ruby's soccer game, doing work of course, when she is approached by another parent who tells her that she and Ruby are special and hands her a pamphlet.
Back at the L-Corp, Lena and Kara visit to check on Samantha who is in the process of closing her first major deal as head of L-Corp. Kara sees the pamphlet on the desk and Samantha tells
her that somebody gave it to her at Ruby's Soccer game.
The symbol on the pamphlet is that of Rao, the Kryptonian God. Kara is still investigating the mysterious group as Jimmy and Wynn are leaving CatCo. They ask why Kara is still at the office
and she tells them about the pamphlet and the three attend the meeting to check it out.
The group, called The Children of Rao, are people who have been saved by Supergirl and Coville is the leader. Kara is very unsettled that someone has formed a cult around her and the
things she has done as Supergirl. They are met by one of the followers, Olivia who says that she can't explain what the group is and they have to experience it for themselves. It turns out that Olivia was saved by Supergirl after she jumped off a building one evening at a party where she went to drink her sorrows away after finding out that the people who were trustworthy hooking up behind her back.
During a Girls Night Out (Kara, Lena, Samantha, Alex, and Maggie) to celebrate Samantha's first big business deal, Kara, has to leave to take care of building fire. As it turns out, the
fire was set by Olivia's boyfriend, who has put himself in danger so he could be rescued by Supergirl and become a part of The Children of Rao
Kara asks Maggie if there something she can do anything to stop Coville, to which Maggie responds saying it is a freedom of speech issue and unless they can prove that Coville is telling his followers to put themselves in danger. Kara confronts Coville, who realizes that she is Supergirl and asks her if she is there to test his faith. Coville tells Kara that after he was rescued and saw her on the wing of the plane, he devoted his life to learning about Rao and recovering Kryptonian artifacts. He tells her he found a Kryptonian probe (similar to NASA's Voyager I) and that is where he has gained his knowledge of Rao from. He gives Kara a Rao artifact and tells her maybe she needs to reaffirm her beliefs, to which Kara tells him to stop perverting the teachings of Rao.
Later, Kara is brooding at CatCo when Jimmy comes in and tells her that having Faith is not always a bad thing. He recounts the time Superman first saved him as he was falling off a
scaffolding as he was trying to snag a picture of a fire. He tells her as he fell he prayed that he would be saved and next thing he knew, there was Superman.
While they are talking, Kara activates the artifact and has an idea on how to track Coville by following the specific radiation the artifacts use, as a power source. Coville apparently
knows about the unlimited power source he possesses and decides to go on a recruiting drive for the cult.
He and some of his followers have brought the probe, which is about to go nuclear and set it in the basement of the National City Hockey rink during a sold-out game. When Supergirl arrives there is not enough time to evacuate the stadium without causing mass panic. Supergirl also has to deal with the fact that there is Kryptonite in the Probe that is going to explode. Coville tells Supergirl she can save everyone if she just believes. When it is clear that Supergirl is too weak because of the Kryptonite, Coville tries to stop the countdown but can't. Kara reveals herself as not a god by cutting her hand and showing Coville and his followers her blood, causing Coville's followers to flee.
Luckily Alex arrives in time and gets the Kryptonite far enough away so that Supergirl can use her heat vision to burrow into the Earth's core and ALex and Coville push the probe into the hole and everyone is saved.
Even after he is arrested, Coville believes that he has done nothing wrong and it is his purpose to help Kara, saying she's lost her way.
Kara, Alex, and Lena join Sam for Ruby's talent show which has a group of little girls dressed as Supergirl, As Ruby sings the Willy Wonka song, Alex leaves and Kara follows her. ALex tells Kara that Maggie doesn't want kids but she does and been going along with Maggie because she loves her so much.
Later that night, back at Samantha and Ruby's apartment, Samantha has a vision of being covered in Kryptonian symbols and a priestess telling her that soon she shall Reign. At the same time something in one of the holding pods in the second Kryptonian pod, last seen in the season premiere comes out of stasis.
New Characters:
Thomas Coville:
Coville seems to be a new character with no counterpart in the comics universe. He does have some of the characteristics of Devem who I mentioned last week, who led the Cult of Conner during the post-Infinite Crisis event, 52.
Coville (played byRob's Lowe's lesser-known brother Chad, btw he has a cool name ) presents more than what could have easily been a villain of the week type of character. He is also the first person to see through the Kara persona and see Supergirl, for who she really is.
I am sure we will see him again.
Samantha (Reign) & Ruby Subplot
The foundation for the thread that will become the main story of the season begins this episode.
Samantha is a savvy businesswoman who is definitely struggling with her duties as a professional and a mother.
Ruby's father is no longer in the picture
The part that will become Reign asserts itself, as she sees a vision of one of the people that sent her from Krypton
Alex & Maggie's Wedding Subplot
The impending breakup of Alex and Maggie once again is foreshadowed as the topic of having children pops up again
Alex reveals to Kara that this issue is a big
CatCo / D.E.O. Characters Subplot
Four episodes into the season and Jimmy as The Guardian has yet to appear
Wynn does his usual tech geek thing but not much else
J'onn is only seen in a few scenes, including one where he joins his father for prayer.
Other DC Comics connections:
The Holy Order of Rao
Raoists were a religious group of Kryptonians that worshiped the Krypton's system sun known as Rao as a god. They were formed during the time when Jor-El became president of his people and ushered in a new age of scientific advancement. At this point, they were known to had been zealots who possessed hidden temples across the planet. They were opposed to the preaching of the new government that Jor-El had created and did not believe his words about bringing their people into a new age of spiritual enlightenment.
When multiple children get sick from lead poisoning, Morgan Edge points the finger at Lena and blames her creation of the lead bomb she made to save National City from the Daxamites. While Lena knows she never intended any harm, she fears there may have been a flaw in her design, leaving her responsible. Kara teams up with Samantha to clear Lena's name, but it turns out to be harder than they thought. Meanwhile, Alex and Maggie make a crucial decision about the future of their relationship.
Directed by Kevin Smith
Episode 4: Elongated Journey into Night
The episode begins with Cisco and Gypsy spending some quality time together. Just as things are about to get hot and heavy, Gypsy's father, Breacher, shows up on Earth-1 and takes an immediate disliking to Cisco. Luckily Gypsy comes back in the room and saves Cisco.
The scene shifts to the Central City Police office where the mayor is holding a press conferences. Joe is preoccupied with the news from last episode, but has yet to tell anyone. Barry pulls Joe away to update him on the bus that received the dark matter remnants from The Flash's return to Earth, informing him that the driver of the bus is dead.
When they get to S.T.A.R. Labs they are met by Breacher, who asks why the facility is so poorly guarded. Cisco arrives and explains that this is Gypsy's dad, who he brought to show him where he works. Cisco intorduces Barry as his personal assistant, Barry Allen and aks him to give Breacher a tour while Cisco figures out the answer to the age old question: how to make his girlfriend's father like him.
Wells, the expert on over protective fathers, gives Cisco some advice, Take him out to get some coffee, find out what they have in common, besides Gypsy. After refusing to ever drink coffee again becasue of what happened on his Earth, Breacher tells Cisco the reason for his visit: he wants to hunt Cisco like an animal and kill him since Cisco is not good enough for his daughter. He is a sport about it gives him a 10-second head start, but not before warning Cisco not to use any powers to try to escape this world and he has to survive for 24 hrs.
Back st S.T.A.R. Labs, while Cisco is hiding the rest of the team follow up on the coroner's report from the bus driver's file. While looking through the evidence pictures, Barry notices an IOU from a guy named Ralph Dibny and as Iris pulls up a picture of the guy, she notices that Barry seems uncomfortable. She also makes the jab towards Barry that Ralph is handsome like Oliver Queen.
It is obvious from Barry's reation that he and Ralph have a history. Barry and Joe pay Ralph a visit at his private detective office, as he finishes hitting on a client Mrs. Broome (a nod to Ralph's co-creator John Broome). Barry and Joe ask Ralph if he was on the bus the day of the incident. Ralph doesn't cooperate due to the past tensions between him and Barry.
Immediately after the door shuts, it reopens. Ralph thinks that Barry and Joe have returned but it is a couple of goons come in to shake things up and hang Ralph upside down from the roof…obviously his private investigating has turned up something they want. Before the goons can drop him, he slowly stretches like silly putty down to the ground. Joe and Barry watch in amazement, learly Ralph was lying about not being on the bus.
They take Ralph back to S.T.A.R. Labs and run some tests, discovering that Ralph's cells are elastic and is now a human Stretch Armstrong. The kicker of his elastitiy is when Ralph sneezes, forcing his entire face falls off his skull. Caitlin thinks that she can find a cure if she gets some of Ralph's DNA from prior to his being exposed to the Dark Matter. Once again it is obvious that Barry has an axe to grind with Dibney as he wants to lock Ralph up, anticipating he will start hurting people like Kilg%re and Hazard. Caitlin calls Barry on the way he wants to treat Ralph, the two have a minor arguement over second chances.
Barry gives in he and Iris head to his office to find something with Ralph's DNA which should hopefully help to stabilize him. AS the two look through Ralph's office, which has already been trashed, Barry clues Iris in on his history with Ralph.
Ralph was the lead detective when Barry was a junior CSI. Ralph planted evidence and then committed purgury while working a big case. He was eventually thrown off the force.Iris finds a hair brush and a bomb in Ralph's desk drawer. Barry speeds into action, vibrating them both down through the floor, racing them away as the building explodes.
Returning to the lab, Joe and Barry approach Ralph, who is spread eagle with extended limbs, and tell the information that someone is trying to kill him. Joe, who has pulled his phone records, knows he's been calling the mayor and wants to know why. Ralph declines to answer, so Joe and Barry make a trip to City Hall to find out. Caitlin is able to whip up a concoction for Ralph to drink that should help him regain control over his body. Within seconds of drinking the serum, his arms and legs zip back to their original form. Caitlin explains that Ralph can control his cells, which casues Ralph to smile, think about his belly, and have an instant six pack …if only.
Barry and Joe lean on the mayor to learn the reason why he would be calling Ralph, a private detective. The mayor admits that he cheated on his wife and Ralph has photographs of it. He begs Joe to just let him handle it, instructing his two thugs, the same ones who hung Ralph over the edge of the building, to just hurry up and finish the job. Barry confronts Ralph about his blackmailing the mayor, and Ralph reminds Barry that hadn't he cost him his job so many years ago, than things might be differnt. He tells Barry he's not a dirty cop, but he is doing a dirty thing at the moment. The argument between the two escalates and Barry punches Ralph directly in the nose. Ralph's head absorbs Barry's entire fist which was awkward, gross, a visually stunning at the same time.
Back at the apartment, Barry and Joe are discussing Ralph and why he gets on Barry's nerves when the doorbell rings. Surprise! the Mayor two thug cops. As they step inside, they draw thier guns and fire but Barry, of course is able to catch all the bullets before they hit Joe, knocks out the two cops, while noticing that they're the ones on the mayor's detail…I think we know who the villain of the week is.
All the while this is happening, Cisco is still trying to avoid Breacher, again taking Well's advice to fight him on his own terms. Cisco traps Breacher in a force field which lasts a whole 5 seconds. Cisco hides behind Barry's costume as Breacher enters the room, and sees video of Ralph all elongated and starts yelling about Plastoids, which apparently on his Earth, are evil.
Ralph has decided he to blackmail the mayor anymore. Breacher appears and tries to kill Ralph, thinking he is a Plastoid. The Flash arrives and trys to protect Ralph from Breacher's attacks. The mayor takes Joe prisoner at gunpoint and makes him get inside a helicopter. Breacher prepares to finish of Flash and Ralph when Vibe shows up, telling Breacher that if he has a problem with The Flash, then he has a problem with him. Cisco disfuses Breacher then everyone freaks out that there's no way to help Joe. The Flash looks to Ralph and asks he can stretch his arm up to the helicopter, to which Ralph hard passes, laughing when The Flash says he knows he can do it. As par for the show, Barry pulls off his mask to show Ralph that he is the Flash and challenges him to do something good to prove he's not a dirty cop.
Ralph throws his arm up to the helicopter, grabs it, and watches as The Flash run on his stretched arm to save Joe. Joe breaks the the tension by deciding to tell Barry that Cecil is pregnant.
After the Team celebrates the good news with cigars, Breacher and Gypsy are getting ready to head back to work catching criminal of the Multiverse. Breacher tells Cisco that he still hates him, but respects a steadfast warrior who will fight the fiercest of enemies (Breacher humble brag) to protect his loved ones. Cisco finally learns Gypsy's name after her fater he calls for Cynthia to join him, which truely elates Cisco.
The cliffhanger of the epsiode follows Caitlin to apartment door where someones scratched message "We miss you. Come back soon." #lossofsecuritydeposit
Barry meets Ralph back at his P.I. office. Ralph is a bit disappointed that Barry repaired the office and he can't claim the insurance for it. Barry says he wants to help Ralph and move forward from the past. He wants to study Ralph's powers and train him to use his powers for good. Ralph asks if he gets a cool costume and a cool superhero name. Barry suggests Plastic Man which Ralph says is the dumbest nickname he's ever heard. Barry also learns that Ralph's lead on the mayor's case was from a man named Mr. DeVoe, which causes Barry flashbacks of Abra Cadabra and Savitar mentioning that name last season.
Ralph does his classic nose wiggle saying he smells a mystery.
Ralph Dibny was created by John Broome & Carmine Infantino, first appearing in The Flash #112 (Vol.1) 1960
When they first met in the comics, there was a rivalry between the two of them. Barry was jealous over all the media attention the Elongated Man was receiving as a new vigilante in Central City.
In the CW Universe, Ralph's origin is completely different, being the result of exposure to the Dark Matter and not Gingold, although there is a can of the stuff in his desk drawer. His comic book origin is:
In season 1 Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) had an Easter-egg-filled list of the people who were hurt in the particle accelerator explosion which included Ralph Dibny, one can only assume him being alive is a result of this being the new Flashpoint timeline.
Initially, I had doubts about if they could pull of the effects needed to do Ralph justice, but they di down to the classic nose wiggle.
One can only expect/hope that Sue, his future wife, and crime-solving partner, will soon show up in the CW Universe
Breacher was created by Sterling Gates and Pete Woods and made his first appearance in the New52 series: Justice League of America's Vibe #3 (June 2013)
Like his CW Universe counterpart, in the DCU proper, Breacher is the father of Gypsy, whose real name is Quell Mordeth, not Joshua
Cisco briefly grabs a machete, when thinking of ways to protect himself from Gypsy's dad, as an easter egg reference to one of Danny Trejo's iconic Machete character.
Flash Facts:
The story starts off dealing with the team trying to figure out what is going on in the season's larger story but is pretty much an origin for Ralph, who looks like will be appearing as a regular, especially after he mentions the connection to Devoe.
Gypsy's real name is, in fact, Cynthia, however, her Pre-Crisis name was Cynthia Reynolds, then changed to Cynnthia Mordeth in the New52 Vibe title
Also in the Vibe series, On Earth-19, his home Earth, Breacher led a rebel army to overthrow the supervillain Rupture, aka Armando Ramon, brother of the superhero Vibe.(whether or not this is the same in the CW Universe remains to be seen)
Having received an ominous threat from her old boss, Amunet / Blacksmith, Caitlin fears that her past time as Killer Frost may be back to haunt her. Felicity comes to Central City to help the girls celebrate Iris's bachelorette party, while Cisco, Joe and the guys take Barry out for a night on the town.
Episode 4: Phone Home
Ivy Town, 1988
A young Ray, who was shown having the first of many ET moments this week in the cliffhanger, has apparently run afoul of some A.R.G.U.S. agents, similar to the ones from last seasons INVASION crossover, and is killed.
Back on the Waverider
Ray has figured out what The Legends need… some good old team building to help introduce Zari to the team. Zari is not to keen on the whole team idea, pointing out that the team is made up of people who are trying to overcompensate for their shortcomings such as Ray trying to do team building, the obvious sexual tensions between Amaya and Nick. the fact that Rory has been drunk all day, and the fact that Stien obviously doesn't want to be there.
Ray has promised Rory he would pay him to do a "trust fall," as Rory falls backward, Ray disappears and Rory hits the floor. Apparently, when young Ray was killed back in 1988 due to the presence of an anachronism that they created when they broke time, Ray wound up erasing his future self aboard the Waverider. As soon as the team finds out why Ray disappeared they head back to the future to the day before the events that would take little Ray's life, which just happens to be the day before Halloween.
Upon arriving before Ray is killed in 1988, future Ray reappears (oh time travel you sneaky mistress).
Once on the ground, Ray takes a walk down memory lane, which turns out not to be how he remembers things. As they follow young Ray they learn there's no threat chasing little Ray; instead, he has taken the creature he encountered at the end of the last episode home…oh and it's a baby Dominator. little Ray's has nicknamed his new pet "Gumball" and the two have apparently bonded
The team decides the best way to handle the situation is get the baby Dominator and return it to it's mother, who shows up later looking for it, like any good parent would. The Legends have to call an audible when little Ray gets in the way of the Legends' plan to kidnap Gumball when Ray skips school and nearly catches Zari and present-day Ray in his room. Zari hides under the bed while Ray shrinks inside his Atom suit to the size of an action figure becoming Gumball's newest favorite toy. As is par for the course with the Legends, things only get worse when Ray's mom comes home to find Ray has skipped school.
Amaya and Nate, dressed as animal control officers, step in to rescue Ray and Zari. Nate makes no attempt to hide that he noticed how great Ray's mom looks while Amaya assesses the situation inside the house. They tell Ray's mom that there is a creature loose in the area they're there to check on leads they received. Ray's mother tells them how reckless little Ray is, how he fails to make normal friends, and that he would rather spend time with his "weird" inventions, which both versions of Ray hear.
The criticisms discourage poor little Ray, who decides to take Gumball and run away from home.
Zari is able to follow little Ray, finding the boy and his alien in an outpost named Camelot. Like last season, this highlights Ray's fantasies about the knights of the roundtable. actual Zari tries to convinve little Ray to release Gumball, which happens with some help from the older Ray who is still in his shruken state.
The A.R.G.U.S. agent, has also followed little Ray to his hideout. The are all taken to the A.R.G.U.S. lab, where Gumball is sedated and his psychic, mind-altering abilities are surpressed. Ray, who was shrunken when the agents arrived, sizes back up and busts Zari out of her holding cell and save little Ray in the nick of time. Ray tries to talk his younger self out of saving Gumball, but Zari sees how distraught the boy is and agrees to help him save his alien friend.
The three of them return to the lab, only to be cornered by the suits. Little Ray removes the inhibator from Gumball, which freaks Ray out, but not to worry Gumball gathers his powers and uses mind control to subdue the agents, making them perform "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain.
Once outside the lab, find some bikes, which they don't "steal" more so borrowing as they are off to rendezvous with Sara.
Speaking of Sara, she has been tracking Gumball's mom,the Dominator queen, who has been turning Ivy Town upside down looking for her baby. Sara, knowing what an adult dominator is capable of, has been trying to locate the queen. After the queen attacks her, she is knocked out, wrapped her in goo, and has her memories viewed. Sara tries to reason with the Dominator, saying they also want to get her baby back, but the queen still reads her memories which led Mommy Dominator to Ray's childhood home. After she cocoons Ray's mother in a tree, Nate arrives to check on Ray's mom, only to be seduced by the Dominator who makes him see Ray's mom in her nightgown. Amaya arrives just in time before the situation turns into a cross-species Discovery Channel show. The queen does end up kissing Nate, which brings him back to reality about his sexual prowess.
Nate and Amaya lead the queen to the meetup spot that Sara has set up, with them arriving the same time as Ray, Zari, little Ray, and Gumball. Little Ray says his tearful goodbye to his new best friend, accepting that he has actual humans around him who'll take care of him in the end.
The Dominator queen scoops up her kin, and the pair departs peacefully.
The episodes B story involves Dr. Stien, Jax, and Rory.
Jax notices that the jump ship's records have been deleted. Jax and Mick grow suspicious and suspect him of working with the Time Bureau since it is obvious that he wants to let the Bureau handle the broken time problem. Jax and Rory confront him in the jump ship, going so far as to disable the jump ship. Stein convinces them he's not working for the Time Bureau but has used the jump ship so he could visit Lily and deliver a communicator that allowed him to keep in touch with his daughter. Turns out he was making sure he'd be there for Lily when she gave birth but was afraid that if he told his teammates what he was doing they would think he wasn't fully committed to their mission. Thus, he kept all of his work, especially creating a communicator that would work across time and space so he could check in with Lily without disturbing anyone on the team.
With that cleared up, Jax and Mick borrow the Waverider, since they broke the jump ship, and take Stein to Central City 2017 for the birth of his grandson who is named Ronnie. They return to 1988 in time to help little Ray have the best Halloween ever, by dress up in their superhero costumes to give the boy support when his bullies find him in the middle of trick-or-treating. Legends go Trick 'r Treating
Later Ray and Zari decide to have a movie night after she admits she also loves musicals. However, Jax arrives to ask Ray for some help. Jax realizes that Stein no longer wants to be a part of their bonkers mission and to allow Stien the time to focus on his new family, they need to split up Firestorm.
E.T. References:
little Ray feeds Gumball candy just like Elliot did
little Ray and Gumball watch classic films (in this case, it's Singin' in the Rain because Ray loves musicals) with him just like Elliot did in E.T.
Gumball is hidden in a bunch of stuffed animals just like Elliot did in E.T. (E.T. ala Legends)
Gumball and little Ray are abducted by government agents like E.T. and Elliot
Zari manipulates the air which causes the bicycles to fly with the moon in the background like in the movie.
Other Easter Eggs:
Zari's costume when the team goes Trick or Treating is very reminiscent of the "The Secrets of Isis" television show.
Question: Did the Legends erase young Ray's memories after Trick 'r Treating? If not wouldn't this cause another anachronism? If they did, wouldn't that just be a dick move?
Return of the Mack"
When Nate thinks he has found a pattern to the anachronisms, it leads the Legends to London in 1897 to hunt down a time-traveling vampire. When they arrive in London, they run into Rip, but not everyone welcomes him back so quickly, leaving Sara to make a tough choice in the end. Amaya tries to connect with Zari, but she is still struggling with being part of the team. Meanwhile, Stein ) discovers what Ray and Jax are up to and is not entirely pleased.
Could we be getting an I, Vampire cameo by Andrew Bennett or Mary Seward, Queen of Blood…please!
Episode 4: "Reversal"
The episode opens with Black Siren back to causing trouble again. She seduces and murders a seemingly unimportant accountant at a bar.
Meanwhile Oliver and Felicity are rekindling Olicity with a nice dinner date, Oliver remarks about their first "date" back in season 3's premiere. Oliver acknowledges the fact that he wasn't ready for this three years ago, but now he is. After a short chat with a fellow diner who realizes the two are back together and throws her support against the impending anti-vigiliante legislation up for a referendum, Oliver invites Felicity to be his date to the fundraiser, which she declines because she has her hands full with the team and the new startup with Curtis.
Thier date ends prematurely when Felicity recieves a call from the team and has to run off, leaving Oliver to muse, "This is how it felt to be you, isn't it?"
When Felcity gets to the bunker, the team have no idea what Black Siren is up to and just have to wait for more information to come through. Dinah is at the crime scene as a cop and Curtis is in the bunker running comms. Curtis, the president of the Olicity fanclub tells Felicity go back to her date with Oliver and he will hold down the fort in the meantime.
In her absence, Curtis is able to track Black Siren via her sonic scream. But it's not enough to determine a motive which allows Black Siren to kill two more seemingly random and boring people.
Felcity returns to her apartment, hoping to have dessert with Oliver. Things take a turn when Alena, who recruited Felicity to Helix, shows up having broken into her apartment because she needs her help in stopping Cayden James. James is apparently planning something so terrible that it will result in the death of at least 4 percent of the population. Felicity questions Alena's motives, but Alena says she's a hacktivist and Cayden has crossed the line. As the two get ready to go get the tech they need to track Cayden, Oliver shows up right as Felicity, he offers to join them, but Felicity says they don't need his help.
Felicity and Alena head to some club to secure a ghost drive from someone names Amnesiac. Amnesiac suspects Felicity and Alena are narcs and has his men grab them, when a masked man bursts into the club and knocks out all of the guards…surprise it's Oliver. Unable to resist his overprotective impulse, he followed the girls and got worried when he saw Amnesiac's men take them away with force. Felicity is annoyed; it was her turn to protect him, as she is well aware the FBI is tailing him. Felicity retrieves the ghost drives she needs, and her and Alena head off to Helix's old lair to gain access to the technology Cayden built and stop him.
Once Team Arrow has returned to the bunker after failing to stop Black Siren from killing a third time, Curtis discovers that each victim's hand were covered with a polymer that enabled Black Siren to steal fingerprints the victem's fingerprints. Diggle realizes these people are purposefully boring and they be covert agent, but need Felicity's help to connect the dots. Felicity, at Olivers request lets Diggle know that she is working with Alana to stop Cayden James as she feels incredibly guilty due to the fact that she's reason James is free and creating chaos. She also figures out what is is after and how it connects to the three seemingly random murders: The three people are the only people on Earth who can open the super-duper secret vault that houses the internet.
Curtis devises a way to track Black Siren's canary cry, and using to find her base of operations. They pull footage from the McGuffin Device security camera, Diggle recognizes who Black Siren is working with, realizing that Felicity's in trouble. Which means that Black Siren shows up at Helix's lair and attacks Felicity and Alena.
Black Siren isn't alone, as we finally meet the mysterious Cayden James (Michael Emerson). James is disappointed that Alena, who he believed had such potential, would betray him. Team Arrow arrives in time to stop Cayden James' men from killing Felicity, but alas, Cayden ends up escaping in the confusion of another exceptionally executed extended-take fight sequence. Alena also gets shot in the process.
While Oliver is still not the Green Arrow after passing the quiver and pep talks to Diggle, he continues to play an important role outside of the hood. Felicity asks how Oliver how he did it all those years by himself, to which he replies that he wasn't by himself, and he had her literally in his ear the entire time. Now as Felicity is the one struggling with not only her guilt but also the stress of the startup with Curtis (she still hasn't come up with an name or idea for the startup, which means she hasn't filed the article of incorporation, etc) and it is Oliver's turn to be there for her, the way he wasn't there for her last season when went against the team and help HELIX rescue Cayden James from A.R.G.U.S.. He also tells her to do what he has learned over the past 5 seasons: Let it go! … Let it go! Let of the past and make things right in the present.
This moment is interrupted when Curtis calls with a location for the vault (man, he is so on tonight… you might say he is doing Teriffic)
By the time Team Arrow arrives at the vault, Cayden James, his sidekick, and Black Canary have already accessed it. Cayden's plans is to overload the vault's system so it explodes, shutting down the internet and killing millions. Felicity joins the team onsite and tries to thwart Cayden's plan. Cayden has anticipated Felicity's presence and uses the vault's firewall to lock Felicity out of the system, which means the only way she can stop the vault from exploding is direct access. Cayden's men are all over the facility, and they're armed, but lo and behold Oliver, is back in the bunker and has taken over the Overwatch position (another reference to the episode title, Reversal). He is able to guide Felicity past the gunmen and to the terminal, allowing her to save the internet and Wilddog's Fantasy Football season. Going to the scoreboard of Olicity coming through for the other in a pinch, after six seasons we have Felicity: 1,000,000,000 and Oliver: 1).
Black Siren escapes as does Cayden James, who reveals that he pnly need access to the vault because to upload some code for his "ARCLIGHT" plan and needed Felicity to lower the firewall. Apparently he really wasn't actually trying to destroy the internet, he just wanted Felicity's tech-fingerprints, not his, all over the vault. He also gives Black Siren a device to couter the ability for Team Arrow to track her Canary Cry.
Back at the bunker Oliver assures the team that his being Overwatch was a one-time thing (sure, that is what they all say). Felicity visits Alena in the hospital, who tells her she has had her idea for the startup along: mass-producing her spinal implant which was created by Felicity and Curtis. Felicity also floats a name in mind for the company: Helix Dynamics, which is just oozing with synergy.
Later that night, Felicity and Oliver continue their date from the other evening, but it's interrupted yet again by Slade Wilson, who calls Oliver asking for help.
In the Quiver: Arrow Thoughts and Easter Eggs
Turns out it was Cayden James who saved Black Siren from Lian Yu, not Richard Dragon as I thought.
I thought Alena was trying to pull the old bait and switch with Felicity so Team Arrow would be distracted and allowing James the time to enact his plan. I also thought she was going to steal some tech from Felicity after she learned about the plans for the startup. I thought I saw he pick something off the table before they left to get the ghost drive. Turns out she was actually telling the truth. Is this the beginning of a new and less cynical ARROW.
If Cayden James, who has no counterpart in the DCU, like Coville (Supergirl)… If they wanted to eventually reveal that he is or eventually make him to really be Mister Bones, I would be cool with that.
This episode didn't have an appearance of Detective Lance, FBI Agent Watson, or William.
I think this is the first episode with the new opening with the Team Arrow members symbols in the opening credits.
"Deathstroke Returns"
Slade returns and asks Oliver) for help in tracking down his son. When they learn Joe has been taken hostage by mercenaries, their mission to save him gets complicated by a terrible revelation that could shatter Slade's hopes of reunion forever. Meanwhile, Vigilante reappears in Star City.
— — — — — — — —
Back next week…
Previous Recaps
Up, Up and Away with the CW's Supergirl season 3 Primer
CW Primer: Up To Speed with THE FLASH and DC Legends of Tomorrow
CW Primer: On target with Season 5 Recap and Season 6 preview of ARROW
Week 1 Episode Recaps
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Armitage on CW's The Flash – Season 6. Episode 1 (Premiere) "Into the Void " recap, breakdown, comic universe connections
Armitage on CW's Legends of Tomorrow -Season 4: Episode 14: "Terms of Service" recap, breakdown, comic universe
Jason on Martha …er Mothers Day 2019
Armitage on CW's Supergirl – Season 4: Episode 21 – "Red Dawn" recap, breakdown, comic universe connections
Chad A. Burdette on CW's Legends of Tomorrow -Season 4: Episode 11: Sense and Seance recap, breakdown, comic universe
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Top Tradies know that Tools Insurance is a no-brainer.
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Tools and/or stock left in the open or unsecured on site may not be protected?
Tools and/or stock are not covered when being transported by a commercial carrier, such as a courier service?
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Any questions? Contact Tradesure. We know Tradies and we understand insurance.
Keeping a list of the value of your tools and stock makes it easy to keep tabs on your most important assets. To help with knowing the right amount to insure them for, we recommend you speak to your Accountant and keep an up-to-date Tools & Stock Inventory. Having this up to date information will also help in the event of a claim.


text:
Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes Reflect on Successful 2022 Chiefs Training Camp
by Emily Park
The Kansas City Chiefs are heading back to Arrowhead after wrapping the 2022 season's three-week training camp at Missouri Western University in St. Joseph.
At their Thursday press conference on the last day of training camp, both head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes assessed this year's camp as a success, bringing a stronger team to the field this NFL season.
"I think I challenged the guys, which was important," Reid says. "That bonding becomes important, and you bond when you have to do something tough. They answered the bell every day. I appreciated the effort that went into it, that foundation will pay off for them down the road."
Over the last few weeks, Reid says he saw great competition between offense and defense.
"They challenge each other, and that's all you can ask for as a coach," he says.
"I thought it was great for the young guys to see that and feel that you have to come out here every day with the right mindset, and you have to challenge every play. If you get beat, you have to learn from it, erase it, and get onto the next play."
Reid also applauded the team leadership from Mahomes and other veteran team members.
"This camp went really fast," he says. "Not a lot of distractions, guys coming in working hard, new bodies in here wanting to learn, and Patrick and his attitude. It's a positive attitude from your leadership group every day and he tries to get better every day. Kelcie tries to get better every day. Chris Jones tries to get better every day. They're all in there battling like crazy, and that becomes contagious and presents with a good camp when it's all said and done."
On the last day of camp, Mahomes reflected on which players caught his attention.
"Chris Jones," Mahomes says. "He was dominant, and he's the first one I think of. The biggest thing from Chris this year was the run and the pass. He was down there dominating stuff, making tackles on run game just as much as he was getting back to the quarterback and getting around me and affecting how I threw the ball."
Mahomes highlighted a few receivers that caught his eye as well.
"I thought Noah Gray had a great camp making stuff happen," he says. "I thought Jody [Fortson], up until the injury, he was making a great camp and bouncing back. A lot of guys had great camps out here. You expect guys like Chris, Travis, all of them to have a great camp, but seeing other guys have great camps is always a good thing."
Overall, Mahomes says the team took giant steps at camp for the upcoming season.
"We have some guys that are really fast, and they'll go up and make catches," he says. "We saw that with Watson in the end zone yesterday and today with Marquez in between two defenders going up and making a high point in the ball. You have guys that are big and can make those tough contested catches. It shows how versatile they are and attests that we're going to come from everywhere. It's not going to be just one guy; everybody is going to put their blueprint on this offense, and I'm excited for it. We're making the adjustments and not making the same mistakes twice."
Now it's back to Arrowhead for a few more preseason games and then the 2022 season. Can we get a Goooo Chiefs? It looks like this season will be another one for the books.
"We're going to continue to work hard," Reid says. "We're going to be more on a normal schedule and get the guys in the swing of that and get it in the groove of what they'll be doing during the season."
Tags: Andy Reid, chiefs, Football, Kansas City Chiefs, NFL, Patrick Mahomes
Emily Park August 19, 2022
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Emily Park January 27, 2023
Artist Who Painted Mahomes Also Makes Custom Boots for Travis Kelce, Tech N9ne, and Other Celebrities
Shatto Celebrates Sunday's Win with Chiefs-themed Milk and Apparel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


> tests: tighten checks for octal escapes in shell printf.
> on at least 2 digits. This causes failures in test-keyword.t and test-status.t.
> octal values. Extend the check to \NN and \N and fix up resulting failures.
Note the preference for open() over file().
> -  $ printf '\0' > "file with spaces"
>    $ hg add "file with spaces"


text:
Examining public awareness of bees and the need for pollinator conservation
Sheila Colla
What is the buzz about bees? Why do we need to protect the well-bee-ing of bees? How concerned are you about the health of honeybees and the conservation of wild, native bees? Who is responsible for the protection of wild native bee populations in Canada? These are some of the questions that a team of researchers including Professor Sheila Colla, PhD students Nyssa van Vierssen Trip and Victoria MacPhail, as well as Beatrice Olivastri (CEO, Friends of the Earth) posed in a recent study that aimed to understand public knowledge and perceptions of bees, particularly native wild bees and the need to protect them in Canada. Not surprisingly, the researchers found that there is a lack of bee knowledge among the 2000 participants surveyed in the study. Half of the participants, for example, named the non‐native managed European honeybee as a wild bee, native to Canada. Half of participants also thought the Canadian federal and provincial government should be responsible for bee conservation. Over two‐thirds of participants stated the provisioning of ecosystem services is the most important reason to conserve bees.
Nyssa Trip
"What we found, is that despite people's general knowledge about native wild bees being low, they care about bees -- they are interested in bee conservation and there is strong engagement in this issue," says van Vierssen. "The reason for analyzing the survey results in detail is we really wanted to understand the Canadian public's overall general knowledge of bees, their perceptions of bees and the threats they face," she adds.
The results highlight the key role that scientific researchers as well as environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) play in outreach and education activities towards active lobbying at the provincial and federal levels with respect to bee conservation.
"There is a real need to work with the public and educate them about Canada's native wild bee species," says Colla. "It is important in order to increase legal protections for bees, we need to understand how the public sees them. If there is support for bee conservation among the public, then it would be easier for politicians to take action," she adds. (See Notably, Colla's SavetheBumblebees research lab at York University is studying all aspects of native pollinator conservation.
Friends of the Earth Canada initially conducted a poll to understand the level of support from Canadians for protecting wild, native bees and their understanding of these species. "The analysis of the poll results by researchers from York University adds weight to the interpretation of these findings and increases their utility for scientists and government officials. We believe Canadians will support new measures to protect wild, native bees beyond protection for those already at risk" says Olivastri.
Rachel Nalepa
Along with postdoc fellow, Rachel Nalepa and Colla are in the process of developing Canada's first national pollinator strategy. Accordingly, the development of the strategy will be science-led, non-partisan and will aim to engage all stakeholders, including industry and the public. They will review pollinator policies written for various jurisdictions in the EU, UK and North America to compile various approaches and analyze various potential frameworks. They just published an article on pollinator-supporting land management practices on the farm providing evidence on how to sustainably continue growth of agricultural lands and urban areas while minimizing impacts on wild pollinators and the natural ecosystem service of natural pollination. (Also see their TVO article on Give Bees A Chance). Notably, Colla's interdisciplinary research has been at the forefront of the field of pollinator conservation, a dynamic and growing subject area within the broader fields of ecology and conservation biology. Her early research was among the first to quantitatively document the declines of native bee species in North America and to document pathogen spillover from managed bees to wild bees. These papers are highly cited, have been replicated and have informed subsequent research in the field globally.
In 2014, she and her colleagues published "The Bumblebees of North America:-An Identification Guide (Princeton University Press). This award-winning book has sold over 12,000 copies and has provided a much-needed reference guide for scientists and practitioners using a large-compiled dataset of over 300,000 species records, morphological descriptions, ecological information and molecular genetics. This book has led to consistency in species identifications across the continent, which will better allow for comparative studies in the future. During the same year, she helped launch a Community Science project, BumbleBeeWatch.org, with various partners. This allows the public to help build a long-term database of bumblebees which can be used to look at changes in abundance and distribution over time in light of global change. In 2020, she co-published an FoE publication titled A Flower Patch for Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat Gardens for Native Pollinators in the GTA, a practical guide and powerful tool for taking action to support and protect native bees by creating habitat where we live, work and gather as communities.
Indeed, in pursuit of this goal, Colla collaborated with fellow EUC professor in Indigenous arts Lisa Myers and visual artist Dana Prieto in a New Frontiers Research Fund project which they dubbed "Finding Flowers", focuses on pollinator conservation through ecology, art and pedagogy and aims to take a biocultural and interdisciplinary approach to investigate plant-pollinator biodiversity in Canada, while also expanding Indigenous art history and curatorial practices. The team, along with artists/curators, ecologists and native plant experts, as well as Indigenous elders and knowledge holders in the country, are working with pre-existing gardens created by the late Mi'kmaq artist Mike MacDonald.
Finding Flowers Research Team
Among other initiatives that engage indigenous gardens, the team has replanted the late Mi'kmaq artist Mike MacDonald's Medicine and Butterfly Garden at the Woodland Cultural Centre and newly planted this same garden at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery. Multi-event community engaged art projects would activate and animate the various garden sites on the grounds of art centres and galleries across Canada. Similar in-situ events will be held at Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Walter Phillips Gallery at the Banff Art Centre, in Alberta, Canada and other locations. In fact, the replanting of Mike MacDonald's Medicine and Butterfly Garden at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (KWAG) and the Woodland Cultural Centre has received the award of best exhibition by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries 2020.
In over a decade of pollinator research, Colla has produced some of the key studies on the statuses and threats to wild pollinators. She has recently been awarded a York Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Conservation Science recognizing her leadership in the development of policy, community science programing and science communication which has significantly increased knowledge mobilization of relevant scientific research and influenced policy in a variety of jurisdictions including the USA, Canada, Ontario and Toronto. In collaboration with other colleagues at York, they initiated the creation of a Bee Ecology, Evolution & Conservation (BEEc), an interdisciplinary research centre that will advance research in the fields of bee ecology, evolution and conservation. (See Colla's tips on bee conservation in celebration of World Bee Day on May 20).
Colla's research program continues to investigate issues to solve real-world conservation challenges from a variety of angles. Her research projects have generously been funded by The Weston Family Foundation, the Province of Ontario, MITACS, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Tri-Councils, and the Liber Ero Fellowship Program. Research partners include the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada, Wildlife Preservation Canada, Ontario Nature and The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
Categories: Tags: Bees, Bumble Bees, Discover EUC, EUC, Everyone, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, Finding Flowers, Keele Campus, Nyssa Trip, Polinator Conservation, Rachel Napa, Research Spotlight, Sheila Colla
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I have wanted to try my hand at a Red Velvet Cake for some time now. However, when I found out how much food coloring one needs, I began to rethink my plans. I did some research and found a Red Velvet Cake recipe on Helene Dujardin's Tartelette blog, swapping out food coloring for strawberry juice. I decided to give it a try. I was not entirely expecting the cake to turn out red, but I was hopeful. Of course, the result was not red, but more of a pinkish brown.
Overall, the recipe was easy to follow. There were three components to the recipe: making the strawberry juice, baking the cake, and making the frosting. The cake itself was nothing to write home about (and I am not just saying this because it wasn't red). While it was moist, it did seem a little dense. Also, it was lacking in flavor. The frosting, on the other hand, was wonderful. It tasted great and was easy to work with (I was even able to use it for piping, something I have always had difficulty with!). I will definitely make the frosting again.
Even though I wasn't a hundred percent sold on the cake, I did learn some new tricks that I will use again. Helene's method for make strawberry juice is really easy. I love to make strawberries with juice for crepes, pancakes, waffles, etc. Also, the frosting was so tasty and easy to make that I will be using it in the future.
Slice one pint of strawberries. Juice 1/2 lemon. Cook the strawberries along with the juice and 1/2 cup of sugar in a sauce pan. Let the juice become a little syrupy. If you would like to separate the strawberries and juice, strain the mixture. If the juice is still too liquid for your needs, put it in a pot over medium heat until you reach the desired consistency.
Beat together one stick of unsalted butter (at room temperature) and one 8 oz bar of cream cheese (at room temperature) at low speed until smooth. Then, while continuing to beat at low speed, gradually incorporate 2 cups of sifted powdered sugar until fully incorporated and smooth.
Since I prefer to not put a ton of frosting on my cake, I actually cut the frosting recipe in half and it worked really well.