Showing posts with label Flash. Show all posts
Mid-Season Finale Rundown
To say the last few weeks have been a little crazy around my place would be an understatement. But alas, after a smattering of unpaid bills, Internet outages, and one computer hard drive crash, I can safely say that I'll be able to pick up with the weekly reviews starting on Monday with the return of Gotham. What I can't so easily profess to know is how this review is going to turn out. Instead of doing a full recap individually, I'm going to hit the high points because, let's face it, if you've seen the finales of Gotham, The Flash, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Arrow, then you've already freaked out all over the Internet about at least three out of four.... So without further ado, let me tell you what I loved and didn't love. Oh, and happy New Year! Hopefully 2015 will be filled with nothing but on time reviews and perfectly working computers!
Verdict: 8.0
Verdict: 9.0
Verdict: 9.5
Gotham Season 01 Episode 11 "Lovecraft"
- I could defend Gotham through all the tonal whiplash and boring one off villains, but I can't defend the show if it insists on kicking the can down the road instead of addressing legitimately interesting plot points. The Bruce/Selina excursion was fun, but ultimately felt pointless and while Gordon's new posting might liven things up, this is still not the Gotham we deserve.
Duck It
The Flash Season 01 Episode 09 "The Man in the Yellow Suit"
- WHO IS HARRISON WELLS??!!?!?!?!?!?!!!? The answer to this question remains frustratingly illusive, but we finally get to see the apparent of killer of Barry's mother when Zoom or The Reverse Flash shows up. Barry also displays real fear when he realizes that he can't seem to match up to his nemesis, not just of being outmatched, but of failing his mother, father and ultimately himself. There's going to be a LOT to address when the show returns in a few weeks.
Verdict: 8.0
Watch It Like a Fox
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 02 Episode 10 "What They Become"
- I swear these shows were planning around each other, because every mid-season finale got more engrossing than the prior. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had a... troubling first season, but this is officially the last time I'll remember to mention that because season two has fully redeemed the show. Largely because its made itself somehow more important in the MCU than the titular cinematic experiences themselves! Avengers: Age of Ultron is almost certainly going to address the Terrigen Bomb Skye and Raina set off in this episode, but this world changing event will have most impact in this show when it hits airwaves again in... Wait, what?! MARCH?!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Verdict: 9.0
Watch It Like a Fox
Arrow Season 03 Episode 09 "The Climb"
- It is now January 2, 2015. I watched this episode live on December 10, 2014. I still haven't fully processed the ramifications of it. While I would like to float theories about Oliver really being dead and Connor taking his place, or Barry taking a trip on his cosmic treadmill, realistically, we're probably going to see Oliver revived due to the magic of a "Lazarus Pit." Comic readers will know that they can rejuvenate a living person of revive a person from death itself, but sometimes (usually) at the cost of a person's sanity. Ra's Al Ghul probably started off marginally less crazy than he was, but he's been using them to keep young and virile for decades or even centuries depending on how closely they follow the comics. Point being? Oliver is likely to get a revival, but how? And does this give us hope of Sara and/or Tommy coming back to life? If not, what will allow Oliver to revive but not them? Oh, and Laurel is stepping up come January 21st, so basically this show has hit full comic book awesome, and it's setting itself up for greatness again.
Verdict: 9.5
Watch It Like a Fox
World's Finest The Flash Season 01 Episode 08 "The Flash Vs. Arrow" Review
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| World's Finest Team-Up (On The CW) |
A common trick of a narrative in fiction is the mashup of
one character who seems to be a twisted reflection of another, usually main,
character. They aren’t direct opposites, but just more or less… extreme versions of the main character.
A cop might meet an special forces soldier. A doctor might meet an obsessive
surgeon. Batman might meet Superman. Or, as in the case with the very well
titled “The Flash vs. Arrow,” The Flash might meet Arrow. Though of course,
both of these characters are essentially the TV-friendly version of those other
titans. Though Barry Allen wasn’t sent to Earth from a dying planet, he’s
certainly got the optimism and moral rigidity of Superman from the comics.
But I digress: “The Flash vs. Arrow” elevates The Flash to a whole new level by
bringing in an excellent mentor/foil in the Arrow himself. Oliver Queen is a
wholly different kind of hero when compared to the somewhat goofy and jovial
Flash. Barry Allen, from the beginning, wants to fight crime and save people’s
lives because he genuinely wants to.
When he first starts out, Oliver feels obligated
to do the things he does. And, as pointed out in the episode, he isn’t really
all that good at first, morally speaking. He kills people in cold blood and is
only working his way down the list of wealthy douchebags his father left him.
Even though he’s an established quantity in Starling City now, outside of it,
he’s seen as the indirect cause of terrorist attacks on the city and a
murderer. Joe West does not like the idea of Barry hanging out with him for
good reason.
Of course, Joe himself is mirrored in this episode when
Eddie reveals his desire to have The Flash locked away. To Eddie, the Flash’s
flagrant disregard for law enforcement is cause for alarm, and probably arrest,
but his attempts at putting together a task force to investigate him meet with
ridicule. Just as Barry brushes off Joe’s distrust of Oliver. The episode
starts with Joe and Eddie raising their objections so they can land in
drastically different positions by the end. But it’s also important because
selling the relationship between Oliver and Barry is easier when Barry can
actually understand how his allies see the Arrow.
Barry’s always been well received by the populace, or at
least Iris, and so feeling like he was being attacked by Eddie naturally drew
out his dark side when he’s whammied by the villain of the week. Another
generally forgettable and uninspired villain who can manipulate light to make
people go crazy. The best thing about this week’s enemy was him being the cause
of Felicity and Caitlin’s geek girl bonding. Being a super genius is generally
such a “bro” thing (in real life and fiction) that it’s especially touching
when women get together to use their intellect. I hope we eventually get
a(nother) Birds of Prey or something out of The CW’s DCTVU. Diggle and Cisco
also got some great lines as they did a “who would win” between Barry and
Oliver.
And really, the best part about this episode was just how
easily the characters flowed with each other. With the exception of the always
creepy (or “off” as Oliver puts it) Harrison Wells, every character from The Flash got a little time to shine,
and Diggle, Oliver and Felicity made nice impressions on most of the cast. Last
week’s Arrow thankfully didn’t have
severe repercussions on Oliver and Felicity’s friendship, or at least they
didn’t focus on them in this episode. So instead we get Felicity adorably
hawking Oliver to go help Barry. Barry and Oliver’s friendship is the lynchpin
to the whole thing, though, and their banter is marvelous. By the time Barry
gets whammied and tells Oliver off because he’ll “Never be as fast as [he] is,”
his rage fueled assertions are more adorable than hurtful. Oliver’s stone faced
stare off with Barry, ending with a “Felicity said you didn’t want my help,”
actually makes him seem kind of hurt. Which is all the more reason for him to
pull out all the stops by the episodes end.
The fight of the century may be Batman v. Superman (Dawn of
Justice. This parenthetical brought to you by DC Cinematic Studios), but “The
Flash vs. Arrow” is a fantastic warm up bout. Both characters display their
drive an ingenuity in move after counter move after move against each other,
and through it all Barry’s inexperience is as evident as Oliver’s ingenuity and
skill. Oliver didn’t have much time to set up tricks and traps, but between
quick thinking and a clear head he manages to incapacitate Barry long enough to
reverse his transformation. The coda, where the two work together to put the
horribly named Roy G. Bivolo (AKA, Rainbow Raider) behind bars at S.T.A.R. Labs
is just icing on the cake.
Through all this, Harrison Wells discovers Oliver’s identity,
allowing Joe to reevaluate his opinion of the Arrow. On the flip side, Eddie’s
crusade against the Flash is official sanctioned by Captain Singh after Barry,
still in a Rainbow Raider haze, rips him from the car he and Iris were
commuting in and threatens to make his day end very badly. This is a
development I’m really kind of glad for, because while normally creating the
rift between vigilante hero and law enforcement relies on either an especially
dark hero or an especially dark officer, The
Flash had neither of these characteristics. Creating a genuine
misunderstanding works so much better than poisoning Thawne’s character
prematurely. Though it still leaves Iris back to where she started, making
decisions for her life based on her connection to her current love interest.
By mirroring the hero and giving everyone in the cast a
moment to reevaluate their preconceptions regarding the heroic figures
appearing in their lives, The Flash
reaches new heights while maintaining its sense of fun and adventure. Here’s
hoping tomorrow’s episode of Arrow
similarly elevates that show, because lord knows it’ll need something to get
out of its rut.
Score: 9.5
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- Diggle. All the Diggle."I had a cousin get struck by lightning once. All he did was develop a stutter."
- Bonus: Felicity and Caitlin womance!
- Eddie is a pretty cool guy. He fights Flashes and doesn't afraid of anything.
- Fantastic showdown combining Arrow's fight choreography with The Flash's excellent special effects.
- Captain Singh is officially out of the closet!
- FireStorm!
- The Flash being wanted by Police seems forced.
- Iris takes a step back.
Yippie Ki Yay The Flash Season 01 Episode 07 "Power Outage" Review
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| You Wouldn't Hurt a Guy Whose Faking Being in a Wheelchair, Would You? |
Note: This review, like every review for Thanksgiving Week, will be much shorter due to all the turkeyness of the week. You should get the gist of whether the episode is worth watching or not, though.
Aaaaaaand we’re back. After a stellar episode where Barry
learns to come to grips with who he is now, and really takes on the qualities
of a hero, the show forces him back into being a less capable superhero. Granted,
this makes sense to a point. It’s not like taking down your old elementary
school nemesis would change you overnight into the best version of yourself.
But giving Barry “The Yips” immediately after he figured out how to perform a
super sonic punch just feels tacky. Nonetheless, the episode used its premise
well, allowing us to see Barry use his wits instead of his speed, and creating the
most complex villain we’ve seen since “Going Rogue.”
That villain being Blackout, a guy who siphons electricity
from anything he can find just to sate his particle accelerator induced hunger.
When he siphons energy from Barry he ends up siphoning his powers for a brief
moment, and so Barry is forced to run and hide with the others at the lab.
Harrison Welles frees Tony Woodward, using him as a distraction to buy time for
Barry’s cells to recharge, and Woodward actually develops a little bit as a
result, though he naturally dies fighting Blackout, who can also discharge
electricity like nobodies business. This is the first terrible act Harrison
Welles has committed openly in front of his proteges at the lab, and it’s great
to see him getting called out for it.
Before finding himself at S.T.A.R. Labs, Blackout had fed on
the city’s power grid, causing a blackout as the police were transporting William
Tockman, AKA “The Clock King,” (Robert
Knepper reprising his role as the villain originally seen on Arrow). Tockman manages to escape and
force a hostage crisis which is only resolved when Iris scores another
takedown. This little side story is thrilling because we get to see Iris be a
complete badass again, and also because we get to see The Clock King be stone
cold again. Also nice to see that we can get a save without having to rely on
The Flash. Speaking of…
Eventually Cisco suggests that Barry has the Yips, and Barry
manages to power through and take down Blackout once and for all. We’re not
treated to much in the way of a cool takedown as Blackout seems to “overload”
when he attempts to drain Barry of more energy. All in all, “Power Outage” was
a decent outing which didn’t quite manage to be as tense as it was attempting.
At least Iris’s KO count is rising. Hopefully she’ll be even with Barry after
next week’s crossover.
Score: 7.0
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- Iris continues to impress.
- Not a lot really happened. Challenging the hero's motivation this early on wasn't such a good idea.
Tag :
Flash,
Sonic Boom The Flash Season 01 Episode 06 "The Flash is Born" Review
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| The Flash is Officially on The CW! |
“The Flash is Born” is a lot more than just wish
fulfillment. Barry spends the majority of the episode struggling to come to
terms with Iris’ continued blogging about his alter ego. Now that he knows she’s
writing for him, it’s much harder to
take umbrage with her blog. Meanwhile Joe decides to semi-officially look into
the murder of Barry’s mother now that he knows Barry wasn’t necessarily
imagining things. His first lead is Harrison Wells himself—because who better
to have a chat with supernatural powers than the man who started the metahuman
craze?
Barry spends some time with Eddie Thawne as well, which
works okay as far as Barry’s misleading his suspicions on metahumans goes, but
when they start getting into Iris West I want to roll my eyes. Maybe it’s
because we’ve seen this exact same beat with Tommy/Laurel/Oliver on Arrow, but I’m really hoping the show doesn’t attempt to do much with the love
triangle. There also seems to be a hint that Caitlin Snow is warming up to
Barry, but I might be misreading her genuine concern for a friend for jealousy
when she asks him of his whereabouts. And it sucks because there’s some
genuinely awesome bromance going on with Eddie and Barry. I’m sure Tumblr has
already dedicated a sizable community to their “friendship.” But seriously, when
Eddie, frustrated with the investigation of Tony Woodward being handed off to
the state police, takes Barry to the precinct gym to work over a sandbag, it’s
genuinely great to see him teach Barry how to land a punch that counts.
Learning that this suave, capable detective was bullied as a kid humanizes him
a great way. If he does become the Reverse Flash as everyone predicts, it’ll
actually kind of suck because of how great of a guy he is.
After everyone has had their karate kid moment, Barry is
ready to take his speed to the next level and actually throw a punch that
matters. He has the perfect opportunity as well, as Tony has kidnapped Iris and
taken them to their old school. The thing about this show is that even when
everything else is pretty middling, it manages to make the final scene feel as
epic as any final confrontation in various super hero films. When Barry steels
himself and then turns around to gather the velocity necessary before taking
the hit that matters, it’s just perfection. Cisco’s exclamation just about sums
it up. We even got to see Iris standing up for herself!
“The Flash is Born” captivates by exploring the less
traumatic events of Barry’s past and allowing him to finally break out of his
heroic shell by learning not just how to fight, but how to win.
Score: 8.5
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- A theme that resonates with a lot of people, even though the villain was lackluster.
- Finally! We have "The Flash" instead of "The Streak!" Though it's actually only a marginal improvement, at least the former name has the benefit of history making it seem not so pervy.
- "SUPER SONG PUNCH BABY, WOO!"
- Iris has quite the punch.
- Cookie cutter villains are back.
- Stop it with the love triangle!
Tag :
Flash,
Back On Track The Flash Season 01 Episode 05 "Going Rogue" Review
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| CW |
The Flash is
proving to be quite the dizzying series. Last week I complained about the lack
of real progress in the main character arcs as well as a lack of interesting,
complex and challenging villains. This week, I can scarcely believe I’m
watching the same show as the week before. And it’s primarily thanks to the
ever amazing Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett
Rickards from… Oh come on, you know) as Barry’s temporary sidechick and Wentworth Miller as the cool badass
Captain Cold, who actually pushes Barry to do some really cool things by being
truly heinous: killing someone while he and Barry do battle.
The episode starts as idyllic as usual, with Barry playing a
trio of games against his labmates in STAR Labs. Then they hear a robbery is
ongoing, and Barry races off to find an armored truck being attacked. He
manages to stop the robbery, but not before a guard gets shot. He gets the
guard to the hospital and has a chat with Joe about the robber. After a fast
flip through of a suspect book, Barry singles out Leonard Snart. Funny name,
but not so funny guy—he’s a notoriously skilled thief who meticulously plans
out his “jobs” so he can get away clean. And his latest job involves using a stolen
“cryogun” to rob a museum full of diamonds.
From here, episode becomes a fast paced, high stakes thrill
ride full of the superhero action I had been waiting for. Make no mistake, this
isn’t to the detriment of the characters. How could it be when Felicity shows
up? Felicity, Eddie, Barry and Iris have a particularly amusing and
illuminating scene at a local restaurant when Felicity and Barry somehow get
invited on what’s really a date for Eddie and Iris. The flirtations between
Barry and Felicity start with their killing it at game night and getting each
other’s nerdy jokes, and end with Barry planting one on her!
The Flash Streak has a much worse date night. He runs
out to stop the museum heist, only to face the wrath of Captain Cold. And in a
pivotal scene, he fails to prevent the death of an innocent bystander during
the battle. I admit, actually having Barry fail is perhaps the most engrossing
thing about this hour. And to add insult to injury, turns out the cryogun was
developed by Cisco. The same goofball that’s such a huge fan of Barry was trying
to figure out a way to kill him, should it ever come to it, before they met. It’s
all very Batman. And yes, I did just compare Cisco to Batman. Weird… Point is,
Barry is double demoralized by the fact that his own friend came up with the
device that ended someone’s life.
He gets his mojo back, though, by having a nice chat with
Felicity as she’s leaving via train. Train that is promptly attacked by Captain
Cold. In the climax, the show really shines by having Barry rescue every single
passenger on the train in a stunning sequence. The way the red blur traverses
the tumbling, shifting mass of train cars as they crumple towards a stop after
the crash is truly some of the best work the show has done. It’s the equivalent
of Arrow’s best hand to hand combat
scenes, and I am really thrilled this series has the budget to do stuff like
this. After rescuing everyone, Barry faces down Cold directly and it’s not
looking good until Cisco arrives to save the day! Once again, I’m impressed
with the depth that has been added to Cisco’s character over the past few
weeks. He’s really become interesting in his own right. He bluffs Captain Cold
into backing down, leaving the inevitable return on the table. The episode ends
with reconciliations all around, and Captain Cold encountering old buddy Dominic
Purcell Heat Wave. Now this looks
like it’ll be good!
Score: 8.0
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- Yeah, Captain Cold!
- You're all over the Barry/Felicity.
- You've been waiting to see an extended, unique super speed setpiece.
- *15
- Iris and Eddie are driving you crazy.
- You want Felicity on this show all the time.
Tripping Up The Flash Season 01 Episode 03 "Things You Can't Outrun" Review
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| The CW |
There cannot exist a hero without a villain. It’s a common adage
in popular culture that villains and heroes feed off one another, existing together
in some form of twisted symbiosis. The best heroes—whether they be of the “super”
variety or the more mundane type, like police officers, firefighters and soldiers—have
excellent, highly compelling foils. The
Flash has a great hero for its main character. It has yet to present us a
villain who is even memorable. Last week’s installment could get away with the terrible
villain by focusing on the relationship between Barry and Joe, but this week
relies heavily on themes the villain is explicitly representing.
Kyle Nimbus was an inmate literally sitting in the gas
chamber before the infamous accelerator explosion. While the gas suffused the
chamber, the accelerator was killing Caitlin’s boyfriend, Ronnie Raymond, and
unleashing metahuman hell upon the unsuspecting population of the Gemstone
cities. Nimbus gained gas powers which he decides to use to knock off everyone
involved in his arrest and imprisonment. It’s a testament to the actors that
they can explain and interpret his motivations without rolling their eyes.
Nimbus is the epitome of cliché, but the show could have still at least created
fun and diverse action sequences to explore his powers even if his
characterization was just “psycho murderer”. Unfortunately, the most we see Nimbus
do is turn into green mist and move through people. Even the method of
defeating him boils down to… Wait until he gets tired. It’s hard to overstate
how much of a supreme fail this is on the part of a show I was beginning to
enjoy.
Of course, staking the terms of an episode on its villain is
doing a disservice to the other characters and themes that are explored. So…
what else did “Things You Can’t Outrun” really want to say? Considering the
title, it’d be easy to think the reference was to grief and regret. Joe West is
reviewing footage of interviews Barry’s father gave, now that he’s certain
Barry was right all those years ago. He even decides to visit Papa Allen by the
episode’s end. While there’s poignancy to seeing Barry’s father interact with
Joe and, in a later scene, his son, we don’t really learn anything new from
their scenes. Thankfully, the S.T.A.R. Labs storyline is much more interesting.
For starters, we get a lot of new information the night of the accelerator
explosion. Turns out Ronnie Raymond (Robbie
Amell of the sorely missed The
Tomorrow People), Caitlin’s dead boyfriend, wasn’t supposed to be at the
lab that night. He just wanted to visit his fiancé when the reactor started
tripping balls, and he volunteered to engage the shutdown valve. Amell does an
excellent job creating a character we genuinely care for with his boyish charm
and coy wit, especially given his limited screen time. He and Panabaker really
make this shortly remembered relationship ring true. I’m even more inclined to appreciate
Cisco after the episode, since we learn Ronnie told him to keep the reactor
door shut if he didn’t make it back in two minutes. Cisco channels courage and
conviction I didn’t know he had by refusing to let Ronnie’s sacrifice be in
vain. Just as Caitlin struggles to run from her depression after Ronnie dies,
Cisco is struggling with his guilt.
The purpose of all this reliving is to figure out a way to
use the accelerator to contain the metahumans Barry faces every week, a
necessary evil unless Barry plans on killing them all (he doesn’t). The end
result, of a prison to house Kyle Nimbus (AKA The Mist), is that we see the
characters able to fully put the painful memories of the accelerator behind
bars and throw away the key as well. But this single proficient plot thread isn’t
enough to stave off the feeling of aimlessness The Flash is beginning to conjure. Iris West is still trying to
hide her and Eddie Thawne’s relationship for no conceivable reason. She
mentions she didn’t want to define the relationship (“DTR” for all you cool
kids that also watch MTV’s Awkward.
What? No one? Alright then…) just yet, but it’s justification worthy of an
eyeroll rather than genuine consideration. Beyond that, we still don’t have an idea of who Iris West is without focusing on
the men in her life. It’s fine to have a love interest, but give her something other than romance to focus on. Laurel
Lance over on Arrow is a successful District
Attorney pursuing bad guys without having to put on a hood when the series
starts, and now she’s beginning to go the hero route! The only thing I know
about Iris West is how she feels about the men in her life. Three episodes in,
this shouldn’t be a thing.
While the third outing a TV series shouldn’t be expected to
be a masterpiece, this show has the same creative team as Arrow, one of TV’s most compelling dramas with well written
characters—both heroes and villains. If The
Flash is to have any hope of being successful, it needs to up the ante on
the bad guys and give us a reason to care for all the characters.
Score: 6.0
Duck It:
You like interesting villains. Or at least interesting ways to defeat villains. You're tired of Iris West being all about her men. Seriously, give Candice Patton a real character! You're ready to either explore who framed Barry Allen's father or just stop talking about it. Watch It Like a Fox:
- You want to see Caitlin smile.
- "Teen me lived for danger!"
- You hate to miss the technical first appearance of SPOILER: One half of Firestorm
Picking Up Speed The Flash Season 01 Episode 02 "Fastest Man Alive" Review
I’ve outlined before the many ways in which a pilot of a
television show can be drastically different from the series on a weekly basis.
The purpose of a pilot is to introduce major characters and tease upcoming
storylines, but all TV shows are, by their nature, meant to avoid resolution to the central theme
for as long as possible. Or, if the central theme is resolved, create a new
theme that leads out of it. Point is, a Pilot is hardly the best thing to judge
a TV show off of, even if it’s the only thing you’ve got. I was thoroughly
unimpressed by last week’s overstuffed, uninteresting series premiere of The Flash, but this week’s episode has
me much more excited for the series.
The first bit of course correction involves getting away
from Iris and Barry’s romance. Iris is in a relationship with Eddie and Barry
is in a relationship with his newfound powers. The fact that they have very
little time for each other isn’t made out to be some huge tragedy, or the
beginnings of a painful “pining for the woman you can’t have” story, but
instead just a natural way of allowing the characters to drift apart. Though
there’s a scene where Barry confesses to Iris about his abilities and hints at
his jealousy, it’s played for laughs as he spills his guts at superspeed.
The rest of the characters are also granted real
personalities, with Caitlin being more than just the ice queen, Harrison Wells
revealing more sliminess and, most notably, Joe West stepping back up with his
role as surrogate father to Barry. “Fastest Man Alive” puts the relationship
between Joe and Barry front and center, it benefits greatly from doing so.
Flashbacks reveal Joe prevented Barry from visiting his father in prison. A
young Barry, eager to prove his father was innocent, lashes out at Joe, only
later to find out that his father himself wanted Barry to avoid visiting him.
The entire dynamic between the two is the cornerstone of the episode, and when
Joe finally comes around to supporting Barry as a hero, it makes you want to
clap and cheer. If there’s one difference between this show and Arrow, it’s the fact that it is up front
about being a feel good, more whimsical take on superheroism, and this scene
exemplifies this mission statement perfectly.
Unfortunately, the superheroics are less impressive. One of
the things I pointed out in last week’s review was that the Flash is a rather
overpowered hero, if used to his full potential. I wondered how the series
would get around him literally being faster than anyone else in the world, and
rather than approach the issue head on, the writers kind of wrote around it.
While they explore some legitimate weaknesses of having super speed, like
having a metabolism that requires hundreds of thousands of calories instead of
hundreds, Barry’s mostly held back from instantly beating the villain du jour
because he chooses to fight at normal speed. With no explanation. There’s a bit
of course correction towards the end, but it’s never fully explained why Barry
runs up to the insane gunman Danton Black, AKA Multiplex (an enemy that will
almost certainly be reappearing considering he’s FireStorm’s arch nemesis in
the comics) at superspeed, only to start trying to fight him with completely
visible movements. Towards the end Barry runs at clones using his superspeed to
send them catapulting through the area in a fantastic display, but he once
again slows down intermittently during the final fight.
To add insult to injury, Danton Black is just as bland a
character as last week’s Weather Wizard. While Arrow always focused less on the villains, that show almost always
made at least a mildly entertaining foe for Oliver to defeat. Artful Dodger’s
roguish charm and explosive collars, and Vertigo’s general insanity made them
stand out. The only thing I’m likely to remember about Danton Black is the
actor’s excellent robotic face.
All in all, “Fastest Man Alive” effectively slows the series
down, putting character first and superheroing second, for a satisfactory
second installment.
Score: 7.5
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- Characters are becoming more independently interesting.
- Intelligent weaknesses and drawbacks.
- Harrison Wells is shaping up to be the perfect season (series?) long antagonist.
- The villains are still pretty lame.
- Cisco is still pretty insufferable.
- Barry's a little too stupid when it comes to using his powers. Run as fast as you can and punch at the same time. It's a thing you can do, Barry.
Style Over Substance: The Flash Season 01 Episode 01 "Pilot" Review
 |
| Image Credit: The CW |
I am not a very big fan of The Flash by any means. I hardly
followed DC comics at all until very recently (like, since the New 52, which is
apparently the worst time if I’m looking for quality stories involving DC
characters, but I digress). The Flash was kind of the lowest guy on my list of
characters to check out. Well, maybe above Hawkman. The entire concept of his
character seemed hopelessly futile. I mean, it’s one thing to make a superhero
who’s super smart or super strong, or incredibly resilient to damage. These
kind of heroes can still display limits to their “superness” and have
interesting battles and issues involving the balance of their personal lives. If
you’re “the fastest man alive,” though, the biggest problem you’re likely to
face is… You know what, the sex joke is too easy. Point is, I never understood
how any villain wouldn’t be hopelessly outmatched by The Flash.
He can
literally run fast enough to go back in time. There was even a half-hearted meme
developed to illustrate how
ridiculous his powers can become. Approaching the “Pilot” for this spinoff
of the CW’s critical and ratings darling, Arrow
made me very apprehensive precisely because Barry Allen had all the hallmarks
of being an unstoppable super powered dynamo with no one in the much more
realistic take on DC Universe that was the world of Arrow. Turns out, I should have been worried about the amount of interesting
storylines and believable character motivations.
Given that it is a pilot, I can cut this first episode of The Flash some slack. It had to drop in
a whole slew of information to allow us to get acquainted with the main cast.
But of the cast, only Barry (played by Glee’s
Grant Gustin) and his surrogate
father, detective Joe West (Jesse L.
Martin) are intriguing enough to make me want to tune in. Candice Patton’s Iris West, daughter
of the aforementioned detective, vacillates between being mildly annoying and downright
frustrating. She spends her time either teasing Barry or getting hot and heavy
with the new detective, Eddie Thawne (Rick
Cosnett) rather than actually connecting with her childhood best friend.
Rounding out the cast are Danielle
Panabaker and Carlos Valdes as Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, two hot shot scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs, a
prestigious research center that enjoys long walks on the beach and creating catastrophes
via exploding particle accelerators. Their boss is the amicable Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), who has become a paraplegic
by the same particle accelerator accident that put Barry in a coma and gave him super speed.
While those who previously watched Arrow will remember Barry’s lab accident from the backdoor pilot
last year, The Flash gives us a bit
of precursor showing Barry in his day job as a CSI before then replaying the
events of said episode. Then, after 9 months in a coma, Barry wakes up with chiseled
abs and the ability to run at hundreds of miles per hour. Wells takes him under
his wing and explains that the particle accelerator probably created more “metahumans”
in the gemstone cities. Across town, the police are dealing with a deranged bank
robber named Clyde Mardon who was previously thought to have died in a plane
crash on the night of the particle accelerator malfunction. He naturally has
the ability to control weather, and uses it to create very scary rain clouds,
necessitating the police back off for fear of getting wet.
Barry finds out about Mardon and has it in his head that he
should do something. Cue obligatory Green Arrow cameo. Oliver gives Barry the motivation
to step up and do something, even though his new coworkers at S.T.A.R. are
against it as he can’t control his speed so well. But even for a superhero
show, this is a weak obstacle that is clearly there to run up the clock before
the fateful showdown. Wells basically says as much towards the end with his
generic diatribe about how he was afraid for Barry to step up to the plate.
Maybe he just wanted to wait until Ramon finished his super special speedster
jumpsuit. Which, I won’t lie, did look fantastic. After suiting up for the
first time the pilot really does kick into high gear and become worth the wait.
Though the Weather Wizard is ill defined throughout the overstuffed episode, he
does get a magnificent (temporary?) send-off as he whips up a powerful tornado.
Flash runs against the wind and cancels the storm. You might say he rained on
Weather Wizard’s parade! (Puts on sunglasses). Detective West sees Barry’s
superheroic display and has no doubt in his mind that strange and seemingly
impossible things are out there. Of course, Barry knows this all too well. He
previously witnessed what looked like lightning murder his mother when he was
11, and has been trying to find out the cause of this event to clear his father’s
name.
As far as Pilot’s go, The
Flash is serviceable. It creates the world and infuses it with a colorful
character. But the supporting characters are all one-dimensional with only the
barest hints of depth. Barry’s motivation to become a hero is also rather slim.
While Arrow showed that avenging a
loved one is a believable goal, The Flash
is predicated upon something mysterious and otherworldly ending Barry’s mother’s
life. While he doesn’t have to have a “hit list” of people who have failed his
cities, Barry should have a more concrete reason for putting his life on the
line. Especially when Detective West points out that his becoming a blur of
justice could endanger Iris and all his other friends and family with the least
amount of subtly possible. Especially when Barry should know how Oliver lost his mother recently, and how many times his other
friends and family members were endangered by his night life as a vigilante.
And I suppose that’s really where my biggest gripes lie with
the show as it stands: there is just no way I can see it existing in the same
universe as Arrow. The score is light
and happy, with just a hint of mischief, making the stakes feel that much
lower. The fact that Flash taken to his most ridiculous extremes is kind of a
Deus Ex Machina makes it that much harder to connect with the characters. There
are plenty of ways a human with a billion bucks can fail himself, his city and
his family. But how is a hotshot CSI with the ability to break the sound
barrier going to be at risk of failing anyone? The suffocating optimism even
leaks in through the way the characters address Barry’s coma—sure, they’re sad,
but his love interest moves on to another guy in a few months. Over on Arrow Laurel wasn’t over Oliver after 5 years! There is a lot of potential for
this show to be something great, but I can’t give it a full recommendation or
condemnation because it is really splitting me with the light hearted tone and
less than interesting characters. The
Flash may be fast, but it will have to do some serious running to catch up
the greatness of its sister series.
Score: 6.5
Watch It Like a Fox:
Duck It:
- You're a huge fan of the character.
- The fight between Weather Wizard and The Flash is pretty fantastic.
- You're interested in a wholly light hearted and fun romp through superheroland.
- Lots of characters, but few of them are interesting.
- You want a grittier, more Arrow feel to your superheroes.
- You're tired of female characters who have nothing going on besides their love life.
- It's just not right to you how Barry wakes up with a fantastic body. Salmon ladder or bust.