With a comics heavy lineup of shows each week, The CW has no shortage of opportunities for clever Easter eggs and pop culture references. But the network doesn’t just make outside references. There are a lot of internal tidbits as well with some themes playing across not just the Arrowverse shows, but Riverdale as well.
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While we’ve covered most of the big Easter eggs and important references for each show while they aired this past week as we get ready for another week of television to kick off on Monday it’s worth taking a look back to see what little things you may have missed across The CW shoes this past week. You never know, some of them may end up being important as the seasons wear on.
Read on for various themes and references from this last week’s CW programming.
Family Matters
Every show on The CW this week seemed to have some variation of family issue and while daddy issues seemed to be the most prominent, even those cool with their father had some sort of dust up when it came to relatives this week.
On Supergirl the whole episode “Far from the Tree” was a big family issue with J’onn discovering his father wasn’t dead after all and Maggie having a less-than-positive reunion with the father that abandoned her when she as fourteen. It was a good mix of happy and sad, but the network moved from that into shocking territory on The Flash where Joe found out he is going to be a father for the third (fourth if you count Barry) time when Cecile announced that she is expecting.
Then, on Legends of Tomorrow Amaya had to connect with her ancestor in order to get some advice on how to deal with the issues she’s been experiencing with her totem. And speaking of totems, Amaya had another family encounter. Kuasa — who happens to be Amaya’s granddaughter — attempted to kill Zari for her mysterious totem, but Amaya came to the rescue though we’re certain this isn’t the last time we’ll see this family face off.
Speaking of face offs, while Riverdale isn’t part of the Arrowverse it had its own family drama to content with. The Lodges continue to struggle with finding their footing now that Hiram is back from prison, though this week it saw Veronica getting along with daddy dearest and engaging in a kind of power struggle with her mother, Hermione. It’s a parental relationship that has swung wildly since the pair was close at the dawn of the show’s first season, but over on Arrow, Oliver’s relationship with son William is making smaller, more incremental shifts. After connecting over video games last week, Oliver tried to be the cool dad not bothered so much by grades and it didn’t fly with William. William, it turns out, takes school as seriously as Oliver takes brooding and the kid was seriously stressed about a math test. Fortunately, Oliver knows Felicity and she was able to help William study and keep things smooth between father and son.
Arrivals and Departures
Another network-wide theme this week was one of people moving around, be it literal moving or simply changes in teams. On Supergirl, J’onn brought his dad, M’yrnn home to Earth, but on The Flash Joe and company had to say goodbye to Wally. With Jesse Quick sending him a breakup cube and Central City seemingly no longer needing Kid Flash now that Barry is back, Wally decided to go stay with a friend in Blue Valley so he could get some perspective and figure out what he’s really supposed to be doing.
On Legends, the Waverider found itself with a new passenger and this time it’s not just Gary from the Time Bureau needing a rescue. After a few words with Amaya, Zari Tomaz joined the team and brought her impressively powered amulet with her. It will theoretically help keep her safe from Kuasa. Polly Cooper on Riverdale also found herself looking for somewhere safe to be after the Black Hood sent a letter revealing that he is targeting sinners. With Polly being an unwed teen mother (and, as she reminded us, her babies are technically the kids of her cousin) she might just be the town’s poster child for sin. Polly packed her bags and headed off to the farm she and Jason dreamed of running away to before he was, you know, murdered by his own father.
Perhaps the biggest arrival for The CW this week, however, was that of a new Green Arrow. John Diggle made his debut as Star City’s protector and, after a rocky start, seemed to win over the team and even got a fancy new piece of equipment — a type of tricked out crossbow perfect for his non-archer Green Arrow to rock.
This Network Is Bitchin’
One of the best lines to come out of premiere week was “this house is bitchin’” courtesy of Barry’s return from the Speed Force on The Flash. This week on The CW nearly every show tied back to that to an extent and used some form of the word “bitch.” Arrow used the word most liberally thanks to Wild Dog, but if we were giving out awards for most clever use, Joe West would win on The Flash.
While Joe and the kids have been used to living with the noisy plumbing in the West house, Cecile couldn’t just ignore it. She had a plumber come check things out. It was not Joe’s lucky week — and we don’t just mean because the team was dealing with Hazard. According to the plumber the house needed a lot of work so when the plumber broached the topic by saying “this house is…” Joe wryly finished his sentence with “bitchin’?”
Surely Speed Force addled Barry wasn’t scribbling about Joe’s need for home repair during his manic phase after coming back, was he?
Everyone References Arrow
Arrow was the first of The CW superhero shows and this week the rest of the Arrowverse threw in some clever nods to the show that kicked off the Arrowverse. On Supergirl, Kara makes a reference to an “elevator to a secret hangar” when J’onn takes her to a garage storing his awesome spaceship. It’s likely the tiniest of references to Batman if it’s anything at all, but the only show in the Arrowverse to name-drop Batman (or rather, Bruce Wayne) thus far is Arrow. The Flash makes a far more obvious reference during it’s opening when Cisco calls Barry out while the team plays laser tag (and loses) against some school kids by saying “you have failed this city,” which is exactly what Oliver Queen said far too frequently during Arrow‘s first season.
Legends of Tomorrow kept the Arrow references in full effect during Tuesday’s second hour of Arrowverse programming, though their nod was a bit more direct. The show took a trip into the future to rescue Zari Tomaz only to come face to face with a version of ARGUS that was far more antagonistic to the Legends than what we’ve seen of the group in its interactions with both Team Arrow and Team Flash. It definitely got some fans thinking that maybe the Arrowverse is leading up to a return to a semi-dystopian future version of Star City, something that even executive producer Marc Guggenheim hasn’t ruled out.
And while it’s not part of the Arrowverse so there’s not a solid Arrow references here, but it is worth noting that on Riverdale, Archie started his own vigilante squad, The Red Circle, on this week’s episode and even made a video letting their presence be known — with the guys wearing masks.
Just say no?
While not a theme this week per se, there were two interesting drug-related references this week that fans certainly haven’t seen the last of. On Riverdale, this week was the second week in a row where the drug “jingle jangle” has been referenced, this time with Jughead making a connection to Southside High and Clifford Blossom’s drug network. And on Arrow, this week’s episode closed out with Diggle handing a wad of cash to someone in an alley to buy what just might be mirakuru.
Before You Go
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c, followed by Legends of Tomorrow at 9/8c.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c.
Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c.
