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The theme of Arrow Season 6 has to be "Oliver is right" or "Just listen to Oliver". It's easy to pin down why people might not be too happy with this season because it feels like a rehash of previous seasons. But the truth is, we're getting a season that shows not only the growth of Oliver Queen but also why he's in charge. Yes, the new team is annoying and they are making a bunch of bone headed mistakes but these are mistakes that Oliver used to make and he's trying to show them the right way. Growth is Oliver not putting an arrow in Renee (he deserves it) or rubbing it in to Dinah that she made the wrong call to go after Vincent instead of stopping the bomb. The team is going to learn some harsh lessons real soon.

Oh and sorry Quentin, Earth-2 Laurel is now a full villain. Ain't no saving her now.

Oliver continues to battle Cayden James; when Dinah and Oliver have a major disagreement, one of their own is put in danger.

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Kriss is joined this episode by Aaron from the Black Astronauts Podcast network. This is yet another different Insanity Check where we drop some of our more familiar segments and just have a conversation. Kriss and Aaron give advice to new podcasters and creatives on how to build a community. They also talk about some of the tax and financial information that we don't learn as kids but probably should.

This is another informative episode that you're not going to want to miss.

Topics:

• Advice to people following their creative passions
• Playing the long game
• We need to teach financial literacy at a younger age
• The new tax bill and how it could affect you
• Getting money back for Taxes isn't actually a great thing
• Father almost beats up Larry Nassar in court
• Why Uma Thurman is angry (fuck Quentin Tarantino)
• Monique's Netflix deal was way worse than her being underpaid

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*Note* Excuse the audio issues this episode. I was partly sick when recording this and didn't check my settings.*
We’re back! While our Summers Brothers episode was technically the first Character Corner of 2018, we recorded it in 2017, so this Lex Luthor episode is the first real episode of 2018. And you all are in for a treat. This episode is slightly different from our other Character Corners. We still go through the history of Lex but we spend more time really discussing and breaking down the core of the character. Unlike other DC characters, the core of Lex Luthor has strangely been consistent throughout his depictions. Sure his early first appearance in Action Comics #23 really set up as the ridiculous comic book villain stereotype, but the interesting thing about Lex is how his depiction mirrors the “stereotyped” bad guy of the era he’s in.  He’s been a ridiculous caricature of a bad guy in the 40’s, evil real estate billionaire, overweight and shrewd corporate exec and even a billionaire evil President. Each version might have a reworked background but for a DC character, he’s oddly enough very consistent in how he’s portrayed.   The basis of Lex is always his absurd hatred of Superman followed by his true belief that if not for Superman, he himself would be a good guy/hero. There are some really great non-canon stories that show this (Lex Luthor: Man of Steel and All-Star Superman for example).    This is a great episode that you’re not gonna want to miss as we break down what makes Lex Luthor tick. Oh and Kriss makes it very clear, Lex doesn’t qualify for his “Villain Agenda”. Find out why. Key Issues (we cover a lot more than what’s listed here):

• Action Comics #43 - First Appearance
• Non-Canon 
  • Lex Luthor: Man of Steel
  • All-Star Superman (Grant Morrison)
    • Issue #5 - Clark visits Lex in jail
• The Man of Steel (1986) - John Byrne redesigns the character
  • Issue #4 - sets up a hostage situation on his own boat to try to hire Superman
• The Death of Superman: Superman vol1 #149
• Superman vol 2 #2 - Is told Clark Kent is Superman, doesn’t believe it
• President Luthor
  • President Luthor: Secret Files & Origins
  • Our Worlds at War
  • Superman - Batman (Jeph Loeb)
    • Vol 1 - Public Enemies - Whole series is great, first 6 issues deal with the end of President Lex 
• Superman: Birthright (Mark Waid)
• Infinite Crisis
• Fifty-Two
  • Issues 34 & 35 - Turns off the Everyman powers for citizens and makes it “rain bodies” on New Years 
• New Krypton saga
  • Superman: New Krypton
  • Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton
  • Superman: War of the Supermen
• Superman: The Black Ring
• Forever Evil
• Rebirth

So since coming back from break we’ve been pretty hard on The Flash but Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash put the show back in the right direction. First, the preview for the episode didn’t really do it justice. This episode was more even toned and less campy than The Elongated Knight Rises. Speaking of that, this was the right amount of Ralph Dibny. He wasn’t the center focus like last episode, he wasn’t overbearing but he worked when used. 

There were three big things that worked for us with this episode:

• While the episode doesn’t focus on Devoe, it begins and ends with Harry drawing the connections. First he’s upset that they don’t have a plan to get Barry out of jail and then at the end he starts drawing the connections between Dwarfstar and how this all can’t be random and has to relate to Devoe’s overall plan. So while Barry is “off the board”, the main story still has connections and moves forward.
• The focus and heavy lifting was done by the Team Flash members we’ve always cared about. Cecile’s temporary telepathy gave us some good Joe West moments. Harry’s insecurity about not being smart enough to stop Devoe and feeling responsible for Barry being in jail was good as well.
• Barry and hope. Barry Allen (or any Flash) and their overwhelming need to believe in hope despite all the terrible things that happen to them might seem like a flaw but it’s a key feature of the character and is straight from source material.

We definitely enjoyed this episode. There are still some issues (inconsistencies with Barry’s powers) and the end of the episode with Warden Wolfe should guarantee that Barry has to reveal his identity to the public (but it won’t), but overall, this puts The Flash back on track for us.

The team battle a meta who can shrink anything he touches; Cecile's pregnancy gives her temporary powers.

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Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd we're back!

Trying to reconcile a crazy week damn near drove me mad, so I didn't want to expose anyone else to the levels of ridiculousness within sports. From Michigan State to the XFL to Boogie Cousins' Achilles exploding, not a whole lot to cheer about in real sports. No one is allowed to ask me why I love wrestling, because at least the WWE wants me to go home happy. Or do they?

Topics:

• This MSU fire is going to consume everyone. Good.
• Ignoring this isn't going to work.
• Much bigger than just one actor at MSU, and everywhere else.
• Jemele Hill and future endeavoring oneself.
• The new XFL will never happen.
• And Vince needs better code.
• NBA drafting on conference calls - boooooooooo.
• But snub season is in full swing!
• Even FAKE snub season.
• Oh my god, the WWE did it.

 

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We're quickly approaching the end of the first arc of this season of Agents of Shield so you know that means heart break is on the way. Agents of Shield does a great job of ensemble storytelling. We get two separate focuses, one on the team on the surface and the second with Mack & YoYo leading the resistance. On the surface we see Daisy struggling with the belief that she could be the one that causes the destruction of the earth. Should she get her powers back? Can she just be Daisy Johnson and not Quake? Oh and Fitz finally freaks out over the realization that they're in a time loop and therefore things can't change.

With Mack and YoYo, we get zombie Tess and Kasius revealing that he knows who YoYo is. So now the real question: Does he have a past version of Mack or YoYo locked up in that room telling him what's going to happen?

This show is great and we all need to be prepared for the heart break that is eventually coming. We all know it is.

We finally get more information on why Cayden James has beef with Oliver and it makes us ask, who is setting Oliver up? As much as folks say Arrow is rehashing old stories, they still have managed to add in small changes. Oliver is letting the new team try to spread their wings even though he knows they're wrong. Showing a bit of growth. Also Felicity gives William a pretty good speech on why Oliver has to put the suit on. 

We also talk about why Arrow has been better than The Flash the last two seasons. I know folks have been calling for Arrow to end but we explain why The Flash has the same issues as Arrow but worse.

William gets caught in the cross hairs as Oliver attempts to stop Cayden James with just the original Team Arrow.

This is a special Insanity Check. This week Kriss was reminded that he launched his first website, TheInsanityReport.com which then led to the Insanity Check podcast, 11 years ago. He's joined by Rod from The Black Guy Who Tips and they talk about what got them into Podcast, what lessons they've learned and give advice to those who want to start. They also reminisce about the infamous 4LOKO Podcast Party.

Topics:

• Black Panther is almost here
• It's been 11 years since Kriss started the Insanity Report, almost 10 for podcasting
• The lessons Rod & Kriss learned about podcasting
• What got Rod & Kriss to start podcastin
• Larry Nassar gets prison
• What do people want from Democrats?
• Reality is much more complicated than the bubbles we live in
• More delusional Trump voters
• Great Moments in White Privilege
  • Teacher gets paid leave after telling students to turn their "nigger music" off
• Jessica Chastain gets Octavia Spencer a pay raise

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Shanna and The Doctor discuss the Supergirl Roadtrip to space as they seek more information on Reign from an old dark Priestess.  Through some convoluted challenges, only women can go, so Kara must recruit LiveWire and Psi.  Along with Imra, they infiltrate Fort Rozz but are quickly intercepted by Reign.  We also debate the appropriateness of sharing your romance grief with a 12 year old.

Later, P-Funk and DB who host the Premium Star Wars Rebels cast join us to discuss the Blackity Black show Black Lightning, in an episode that saw a lot of bodies fall.  This show is so gritty and realistic with its stories, and has already started sparking debate, from the meta narrative on the futility of respectability to the debate around the use of the word "fast" to discuss young Black girls.  We also discuss the fact that this ain't your momma's CW DC television show, as the pacing is rapid and the stakes are high.  And yeah, about White thieves-thank you Black Lightning for giving us one this week.

Follow us on Twitter: @shittybonmots, @TheDrIsIn2015, @TheMTRNetwork

Either you're in or you're out on Ralph Dibny. That's pretty much the takeaway from The Elongated Knight Rises. If you don't like Ralph, then this campy filler episode is a drag. If you do like him, then this was a nice distraction from the DeVoe storyline which has been pretty dark. We debate whether folks are being too harsh on Ralph because it's not what they expected or if it's just that bad.

One thing we do agree on though is that the scenes with Barry in jail just don't make any sense. Last week Barry was so fast he had a full conversation with Iris in the courtroom that no one saw. This week he's worried about being spotted by cameras in the prison? None of it makes sense and we feel that they could easily solve these issues with simple throwaway lines.

Finally we talk about how the "mystery girl" (It's Dawn Allen folks) fits into the storyline and what it could mean for this season or the next.

Oh and if you're gonna take on Bill Goldberg in prison, use the shank.