Into The Arrowverse: The post-Crisis world is bright
By Ariba Bhuvad
Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
Supergirl Episode 510: “The Bottle Episode”
Is it just me or was the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover the best thing to happen to DCTV? I’ll even take it a step further: it might be the best thing to happen to superheroes on television, period.
Following the events of the Crisis, Supergirl was the first show to help us understand how the world works from here on out. No one remembers what happened (apart from those involved, obviously), and it’s a good thing, because apparently brains would melt if they did.
The strangest part about getting back to National City is that the world perceives Lex Luthor…as a good guy. Of course, he, along with Lena, have their memories of life before the Crisis, so it’s not like we actually have a nicer version of Lex, just one that has managed to let the world believe he’s a hero.
A part of me wishes Lena didn’t remember anything because her and Supergirl/Kara’s friendship is one I miss dearly. I’m very much over the whole feud, and I was hoping the Crisis would serve as a reset button for them. Kara had the same idea, but finds out that Lena is still bitter and angry with her, and even more so now because she believed Kara was trying to take advantage of her post-Crisis mind.
Come on Lena, let’s forgive and forget!
As a result of the Crisis, things got a bit funny on Supergirl because of the not one, not two, but several Brainiac-5s. They ended up on Earth-Prime via a wormhole, which is just one of many consequences of what transpired.
At first, I found the one-too-many Brainys thing a bit annoying, but I see now that it was necessary to drive home the consequences of the Crisis. Things aren’t going to be the same, and it’s important Arrowverse fans understand that.
I know we’ve spent a lot of time talking about and dissecting the Crisis, but “The Bottle Episode” gives us a lot to think about through Brainy’s arc. He’s a character we didn’t know much about prior to this episode, and I think Supergirl did a magnificent job helping us connect with him more than we ever have.
Viewers come to find out that Brainy’s home was literally bottled up, and one of his many versions was hoping to release it on Earth-Prime. Basically, our Brainy would have to take off his personality inhibitors and convince one of the other versions of himself to not do this. I think fans were freaking out when he finally did take off those inhibitors because he turned green — and gets a new costume, right from the comics!
Don’t you just love it when the Arrowverse does that?!
And if you loved that, then the final moments of Supergirl probably made you very happy. It appears Brainy isn’t the only one with doppelgangers running around; a cliffhanger reveals that Winn (yes, Winn!) has been arrested! Unfortunately, it’s not our Winn, but nonetheless, he’s back!