The Clock Tower: 'Supergirl' Calls Out Some BS While 'Batwoman' Engages In Some

(Welcome to The Clock Tower, where we'll break down the goings on of the The CW network's Arrowverse. We'll touch on things like themes, cultural impact, lead-ins to major events, ships, and more every week! Warning: this Clock Tower is filled with spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.)Readers, friends, countrypeople – I lied to you last week. Only half of The Arrowverse was off this time. Supergirl and Batwoman held down the fort while the teams on the Waverider and in Central City did, well, whatever it is that they do. The World's Finest did an admirable job keeping our TV streets safe. Let's dive in. 

Y'all, there were several moments in this week's Supergirl where I straight up cackled. If you don't follow celebrities – particularly those from classics like Lois and Clark – I regret to inform you that Dean Cain has political views that don't quite align with the Girl of Steel or her ethics. To be clear, that was a nice way for me to say that Cain's a creep. He denied getting written off the show on twitter back in 2018 in a civil exchange with a fan and Brandon Routh. However, his politics have gotten louder and more public in that time, and he was definitely written off this week. Tragically, Jeremiah Danvers was found dead. How did he die? Well, while helping alien refugees of course! Why is that funny, you wonder? Mostly because Cain, a man who's played the most famous alien refugee in history, is a vocal Trump supporter and absolutely wants refugees in America! So long as they're not "breaking the law" to get here. You know, like fleeing their countries to ensure their children aren't slaughtered. Real cool guy, Cain. Anyway, full marks to the writing team. I aspire to be able to inject that level of pettiness toward a complete creep in my writing someday. 

I am into damn near everything Batwoman has been doing since Sophie was given some dimensions with one exception – the murder of Reggie Harris. For those who read these without necessarily keeping up every week, Harris was in prison for the murder of Lucius Fox. Now, the twist here is that though we saw a hardened criminal on the inside when he saved Director Kane's life, Harris was actually innocent. He was in the middle of desperately trying to get Luke to believe that as he was shot in the chest from a Sniper.This isn't a crime procedural, but having Luke eventually believe Harris and fight for his freedom while trying to find Lucius' true killer is so much more interesting to me than watching an innocent black man who'd just found some hope die on a Gotham side street. The show's proven me wrong once already this season, but I'm very "eh" on what we saw tonight in regard to this story. 

You had to know we were going to talk about Luke and Mary. I may have literally swooned when she showed up to the hearing to support Luke. He immediately came to her after Harris was shot and he was free to go, and they're polar opposites, and, and, and... it's just too cute! Shout out to Kelly over on Supergirl for being girlfriend of the year as well. Her patience compliments Alex's fire so nicely. Most folks would have responded a lot worse to Alex's cruelty, even if she had just lost her father. 

While the Reggie Harris situation missed the mark with me, I am absolutely eating up everything they're doing with Kate and Alice. The conflict there is so complex and tangible. It's one of the most interesting hero/villain dynamics I've ever seen, and I've been in this hero game for over two decades. A lot of it appropriately likens back to Batman and The Joker – particularly the concept of them being two sides of the same coin – but the sisters' rivalry goes deeper than that because of their love. That infuriating, debilitating emotion that neither of them can shake for each other takes this story so much deeper than The Bat versus The Clown Prince of Crime can ever go. It was interesting from the start, then Beth came into play and it got curiouser. Then she died, and now I'm obsessed. There are so many layers and I want to see every single one pulled back in complete detail. More complicated relationships like this one, please! 

Okay, okay! This time I'm being honest, I swear! The Arrowverse really is off for a couple of weeks this time. As always, we still have plenty to talk about. Batwoman's given us a lot to discuss, and not just because Kate and Alice are so interesting! I'm going to keep thinking on why The Flash's mirrorverse story is doing absolutely nothing for me. Hopefully I'll have something to report back with next week. We'll probably talk about Ray and Nora, too. 'Cause yeah, ya girl's still salty.