As November begins to wind down, we’ve arrived at the time of year that, more than anything else, really kicks off the holiday season and by that we mean Thanksgiving. Each November, friends and family gather to spend time together and give thanks. For many, the Thanksgiving holiday comes with plenty of traditions like a special meal, the Macys’ Thanksgiving Day Parade, and of course, watching movies and television as well. Because entertainment has long been an integral part of the holiday, it isn’t uncommon for popular series to have episodes either airing around the Thanksgiving holiday or featuring it outright — and that includes The CW’s Arrowverse. During its 11-year run and across its five series — Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman — the shared universe mentioned the holiday numerous times but had only six episodes specific to it. And we’re ranking them.
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Now, don’t expect warm fuzzies of togetherness here. While these episodes all have themes of family and gratitude, they are still episodes of superhero television which means that a lot goes down. After all, the bad guys don’t rest and therefore, justice never sleeps. It’s also worth mentioning that for at least one of these episodes, Thanksgiving is a little bit of an adventure considering the time-traveling nature of the heroes. There’s even an honorable mention that, while the episode is itself not a Thanksgiving one per se, it’s still worth mentioning and watching. Onto the rankings!
1. Supergirl, “Medusa” (Season 2, Episode 8)
The lead in to the first-ever Arrowverse crossover to include Supergirl, “Medusa” already holds a bit of a special place in the overall franchise (the crossover in question being “Invasion!”) However, “Medusa” is also a Thanksgiving episode. “Medusa” opens with Thanksgiving dinner at Kara’s (Melissa Benoist) apartment, a celebration that not only includes the Danvers family, but Winn, James, and Mon-El as well. The dinner is one that is both heartfelt but also a little tense — Mon-El has feelings for Kara while Alex plans to come out to her mother. However, things don’t go especially well as they’re interrupted by a threat. On the flip side, Lena Luthor and her mother are having a less charming time with Lillian up to no good, unleashing a deadly virus (Project Medusa) that only kills aliens… at the alien bar. Mon-El is impacted. The episode is full of high stakes emotions — Mon-El and Kara’s budding relationship, the uncertainty of his fate due to the virus and the revelation that it was created by Kara’s father, and different family dynamics for not only the Danvers and the Luthors, but among Kara’s friends as well. It’s a fine example of telling a Thanksgiving story and a superhero story at the same time.
[RELATED: Why Don’t More TV Series Have Thanksgiving Episodes?]
2. The Flash, “O Come, All Ye Thankful” (Season 5, Episode 7)
As is often the case with holiday episodes, “O Come, All Ye Thankful” centers around family — in this case, a tale of father-daughter relationships. The episode takes place during the Season where The Flash is battling Cicada and we begin to get more of Cicada’s backstory as well as why he’s become the villain he is after metahumans have caused pain and suffering to him and his niece. There’s also the complicated relationship between Weather Wizard and his daughter and Barry and his future daughter Nora’s relationship that is explored as well — particularly a moment where Nora tries to convince Barry to give up being The Flash in an attempt to save him from the future Crisis. The episode ends with two different Thanksgivings: Team Flash at Barry and Iris’ home while Cicada spends the holiday in his niece’s hospital room. It’s the complicated family dynamics that make this Thanksgiving episode particularly heartfelt, reminding that the holidays aren’t always easy.
3. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, “Tagumo Attacks!!!” (Season 4, Episode 5)
Possibly the wackiest Thanksgiving episode ever, “Tagumo Attacks!!!” sends the team to 1951 Tokyo and is essentially a tribute to Ishirō Honda and gives Godzilla! a hilarious and zany origin story in the process. That’s right, we get kaiju hijinks for the holidays! There’s also a side story with the Time Bureau and magical creatures, and a family Thanksgiving with Nate’s father (aka the Time Bureau’s boss) that ends up not being quite what it seems. It’s a very Legends episode, and frankly, there’s something to be said about having some fun for the holidays.
4. Supergirl, “Livewire” (Season 1, Episode 5)
Interesting fact about this episode: it was aired out of order. CBS — the network Supergirl aired on for its first season in 2015 — shuffled some episodes of the series following a terrorist attack on Paris’ Bataclan music festival. This shift meant the Thanksgiving episode aired just a little early. As for the actual episode, “Livewire” saw Kara and Alex’s mother, Eliza Danvers, arrive for the holiday, something that stresses Alex out since it will be the first time she’s visited since Kara became Supergirl. Oh, and Alex hasn’t exactly told Eliza what she really does for a living, either. Things don’t exactly go well with the revelations, initially, causing a lot of tension. The episode also sees the introduction of the villain, Livewire, and goes a long way towards giving Cat Grant a human side. Ultimately the episode ends with Eliza offering a revelation of her own about the late Jeremiah Danvers and how Jeremiah agreed to work for the DEO if they left Kara alone after Hank Henshaw showed up to take her away. It’s a solid episode and one that offers a lot of details that end up being very important to Supergirl’s story later on, but also shows how all families have their challenges — even super ones.
5. Arrow, “Thanksgiving” (Season 6, Episode 7)
More than the rest of the Arrowverse, Thanksgiving on Arrow was rarely a time of celebration and this episode is no different. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) gets arrested for murder, burglary, and assault as the Green Arrow, leaving the rest of Team Arrow on high alert for the city, though their efforts don’t exactly go well and Diggle’s big secret — he’s dealing with nerve damage and is going through withdrawal from a drug to deal with it — comes out, which causes conflict between him and Oliver. There’s also a Billy Joel concert that’s meant to be the target of an attack, Oliver lies to his own son about resuming his efforts as Green Arrow (after he gets out of jail) and Thea Queen wakes up from a coma. Other than a mention of Thanksgiving at the outset thanks to a food drive, most of the episode isn’t really keyed to the holiday and is more about setting up other issues. But at least there’s a Billy Joel concert.
6. Supergirl, “Call to Action” (Season 4, Episode 6)
Coming in last might be the bleakest Thanksgiving episode in the Arrowverse, “Call to Action”. The episode sees the rise of a group called the Children of Liberty who have a very anti-alien agenda. Kara also ends up going on television to debate Ben Lockwood, aka the leader of the Children of Liberty, and not only does it go badly but leaves sort of a dark cloud over the Thanksgiving dinner as well that quickly devolves into a humans versus aliens debate. There’s also an alien-finding dog, Supergirl ends up battling a dragon, and James gets kidnapped by the extremists. While the episode is centered around Thanksgiving, there isn’t anything very happy or hopeful about the episode, making it for a sort of uncomfortable watch in what is arguably one of Supergirl’s weakest seasons.
Bonus: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, “wvrdr_error_100 not found” (Season 7, Episode 3)
Technically, this isn’t a Thanksgiving episode — it aired in October. It’s not even Thanksgiving-themed, but the 100th episode of Legends makes it on the list as an honorable mention. In it, Astra, Spooner and a Gideon in human form are trying to save the team when an overwhelmed Gideon ends up in a catatonic state. Turns out, a virus is attempting to erase Gideon’s memories and it becomes a race to defeat said virus before it’s too late. As Astra and Spooner work, they go through Gideon’s memories — including a Thanksgiving shared by the team.
You can watch all of these Arrowverse Thanksgiving episodes for yourself on Netflix.
