The Clock Tower: Everything That Went Down In The Arrowverse This Week

(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 other week! Warning: this Clock Tower is filled with spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.)The boys are away this week, which means we get to spend a solid hunk of time talking about Batwoman and Supergirl. I know it's hard when these mini-breaks crop up when you're not expecting them, but it's high time we give The World's Finest some attention! They've been pushed to the side a little bit more than The Flash and Arrow not because they're inferior shows, but because the Scarlet Speedster and his cranky friend have a lot more interactions with The Monitor and many more lead-ins on the whole Crisis situation. Let's take a look at what else the Arrowverse had to offer this week.

This week was a very good week for the baddies. Not only did we get a deep dive on Andrea Rojas and Lena Luthor's relationship on Supergirl, but we also heard a lot of big names dropped over on Batwoman. Jack Napier (The Joker's longtime alias) got casually dropped into conversation this week, along with former Mayor Cobblepot! Things are always messy in Gotham, but they get even messier when the Commissioner's a corrupt creep. This takes us to the GCPD's current commish: Jack Forbes. The Arrowverse doesn't always play it close to the comic books when it comes to their cannon. With that in mind, Gotham City could be in some real trouble if they choose to do so with Commissioner Forbes. Based on the comics, he could be anything from a shady leader willing to let his cops take bribes all the way to a pawn on Carmine Falcone's chess board. One option is infinitely more interesting than the other, but we'll just have to wait to see how things shake out.

There's understandably a lot going on as we get closer and closer to Crisis on Infinite Earths. But, through it all, I'm just over here rooting for Lena Luthor. Her narrative has revolved around proving that not everyone with the Luthor name is a villain, but that narrative has always included plenty of teases for her fall from grace. Unfortunately, those teases stopped being of any plot benefit long ago. We've hit the point where actually turning Lena into a bonafide villain feels lazy. Yes, her "origin" story includes the best of intentions, but how long until she's willing to do harm as a means to an end? We have a whole family of Luthors available to answer that question for us. Redeeming Lena would be an infinitely more interesting plot direction for the series. Here's hoping the writers see it that way too. 

Kate learning to be her own hero while still honoring the bat symbol aside, the Kane sisters' story has been the best part of Batwoman so far. Alice has always been likened to The Joker of Batwoman's rogues gallery, but the series has done an incredible job making her a character of her own. Last week's introduction of Mouse helped deepen the intrigue surrounding Alice's mental health. She's ready to take down anyone and anything as ruthlessly as possible to get the attention of her father and sister, and is clearly willing to murder daddy dearest. But Kate's different. Alice doesn't want to kill her sister, she wants her to join her tea party. Over the past years, we've seen Batman's–and the Bat Family's– violence romanticized to the point where it's all general fans know about the character. Perhaps Batwoman can get us back to more of using that symbol as a means to help rehabilitate the criminally insane in Gotham, rather than simply beating them black and blue and dumping them in Arkham. The mob bosses? We can keep beating them up. 

Leviathan has been a background threat in Supergirl for quite some time now. They've allowed the slow burn to do what it's supposed to over the past two seasons, but things are finally starting to heat up on the secret organization front. It's unlikely that Leviathan is connected to Talia al Ghul as it had been in the comic books of the past. Which begs the question, who's pulling the strings? Will Leviathan be Kara and company's big connection to Crisis? There are very few answers right now, but there's lots of excitement at the prospect of finding out! 

Sometimes when we discuss ships, we gotta talk about the ones that need to come to a prompt end. In this instance, it's Sophie and Kate. Will-they/wont-theys can be great for a series. They can build tension and add to deeper narratives. Unfortunately, Sophie and Kate's troubled past really does none of that. The first interesting thing they've done with the pairing is Sophie immediately knowing that Kate is Batwoman, and that can come into play without the ladder pining over a woman who's made a very specific choice vis-a-vis their relationship. 

There's nothing new to report on Monitor Watch. With Arrow and The Flash off for the next couple of weeks, it's unlikely we'll see any big Crisis tie ins. With that in mind, don't forget that Nash Wells is about to take Team Flash deep into Monitor country when they return. Presumably the goal is to find a way to save Barry Allen. But, those Wells' can be a tricky bunch. Some theories have been bouncing around about The Monitor we're seeing actually being The Anti-Monitor, which would mean we haven't met Mar Novu yet at all. Instead, we could be dealing with Mobius, and may yet be introduced to Alpheus as well. We'll dive in a little deeper on what all those names mean next week! 

Sophie's "loyalty" will be put to the test next week when Batwoman's captured by The Crows. She'll make the right choice, because the show depends on Batwoman's anonymity for the time being. Let's just hope they manage to make it something more interesting than what we've seen from the pairing in the past. While that goes down over on Batwoman, Supergirl will continue to dive into the threat that is Leviathan. With Lena's access to Eve Teschmacher's memories, we'll be getting more information on the organization than we've ever had before. I get the sense Andrea's Shadow will become more of a problem for Lena now that her beau is dead, too. Either way, there will be capes, there will be kidnappings, and someone's probably gonna get punched!