Episode Title: Sinking Day
Original Airdate: 2-16-17
While this episode still has a strong feeling of antagonism between all of the characters, there is finally the start to some mutual respect and a little bit of chemistry between some of the characters. Notably Alan Tudyk’s Van Wayne and Vanessa Hudgens’s Emily. We also get to see yet another member of the Wayne family as Corbin Bernsen plays Van’s father Vanderveer Sr. Not only that, but we start to veer away from all the Batman references and have a whole episode dedicated, in a way, to Aquaman. Specifically the Atlanteans. While the rest of the R&D team don’t get much play in this episode, Alan Tudyk carries the episode with his antics. Definitely the best episode so far and it gives me hope for where the show ends up.
Most of the episode revolves around the relationship between Van and Emily. Specifically how Van is an incompetent boss who uses his family’s influence and money to coast his way to the middle while Emily came from nothing and worked her way up to slightly below the middle through perseverance and talent. And while Van’s incompetence loses one of their biggest clients: Ace Chemicals (just couldn’t get completely away from the Batman references), Emily wouldn’t have been able to land her idea for their next big client, the city of Atlantis, without Van’s help. Some of the biggest jokes that landed for me were Van’s moments of desperation where he retreats to his awful-but-funny music. There’s also a sub-plot where the rest of the R&D team think that the new guy is the secret identity of a generic new hero, but that fell pretty flat for me with pretty standard jokes and a payoff that was rather lacking. The best moments were Jackie’s constant sexual suggestions. It doesn’t help that I had read that this plot was used in the original pilot, though they thought the co-worker was Green Lantern rather than a more generic Charm City hero. Honestly, this could be an excuse for them to break out the lesser known heroes (though I will admit to writing this without actually looking up whether or not they are using actual lesser-known DC heroes and villains, it just feels like they have been using original characters for the show)
Ok, I looked it up and they actually have been using lesser-known DC heroes and villains so far, and I will admit to being wrong rather than edit this out. Kudos to them.
Channel: Superhero 