The Flash

[Riggswolfe]

I was excited to see alternate universe Wells and hope they bring him over to Earth-1. I also liked the references to Earth-1, Earth-2, etc.

[Evildrider]

Another great episode... and I lol'd at that ending.  I am glad they are willing to put stuff like that on the show.

[jgsugden]

They're definitely moving more into images coming off the page.  Some elements are not quite hitting home for me this season (Barry's dad leaving is still a huge wtf), but I still love the show overall.

[Ironwood]

lol.  Michael Ironside just exploded someones head.  lol

[Evildrider]

[Tannhauser]

This was a good episode.  I didn't totally hate Iris for a change.  Do wish the new girl would dial down acting adorable. 

[Ironwood]

New girl so resembles Rachel from Suits, it freaks me out.

[Ironwood]

Where is my Flash fix tonight.  Why is Flash not on ?  Break after Grodd or what ?

[HaemishM]

They took the Thanksgiving week off in America. There's a new one tonight that's part of the crossover with Arrow which leads into Legends of Tomorrow.

[Ironwood]

Ah, thanks.  I forwarded a week and there it is.  That's a bit baws, but fair enough.

[jgsugden]

http://www.blastr.com/2016-1-11/kevin-smith-signs-direct-season-2-episode-flash

Looking forward to it.

[Furiously]

I hope he doesnt piss himself...The flash that is.

[Ironwood]

Guest Directors are always a big pool of meh.

[Khaldun]

Once upon a time I thought he was a bit good. And then he went and was lots of different kinds of really ghastly bad in several different media. I assume they'll keep him on a tight leash.

[Evildrider]

3/28 is the date that the Flash will head to National City and meet Supergirl.  This will be followed up later with Supergirl showing up on Flash.

[Khaldun]

I still like this show a lot but it is getting dangerously dependent on two gimmicks that will eventually mess it up for good:

a) Barry makes the worst possible choice despite lots of his friends and/or Harrison Wells telling him to not do it.
b) Barry gets depowered.


I think they're resorting to these because they recognize that the character is almost unbeatable with his powerset once he stops being a novice who doesn't know how his powers work.

I think they have to put in some thought about what kind of character can really put the Flash to the test who is not another speedster and who isn't just a freak of the week, meaning someone who can sustain a season-long general storyline. Where they don't have to have the tension come from: Barry being unforgiveably stupid and/or being depowered or weakened.

Fundamentally, it's got to be:

1) Basically invulnerable person (immobile object meets irresistable force)
2) Super-genius/master-plotter
3) Mind controller
4) Hidden/invisible master-plotter
5) Legion of Doom-type--an alliance of villains who are dangerous to the Flash when they coordinate their attacks

Though the Flash's Rogues' Gallery has  a lot of fun powers and some good personalities/backstories, ultimately almost all of them are chumps that the Flash can beat unless he's not focused on the situation or working with a handicap. In the Silver Age comics, they only were threats because they had increasingly ridiculous elaborate equipment--Captain Boomerang with boomerang-shaped satellite death rays, Captain Cold with city-freezing guns, that kind of stuff. Won't fly today.

But of the Rogues, the one who might be able to be both #2 and #4 (and maybe even #3) would be the Mirror Master, reimagined. Some kind of creepy horror-tinged mastermind who lives in a dimension behind mirrors? Who can observe everything and control people through mirrors or reflective surfaces? That could work really well. Then you have a whole season--first off trying to figure out what's going on when people do strange or uncharacteristic things, then finding out it's an alternative dimension, then trying to protect people from mirrors/reflections, then trying to find a way into the mirror-dimension, etc.


An updated version of The Thinker might work too, I suppose. Or Rag Doll, if they went with the Charles Manson/guy can't be hurt by punching him angle. Or bring Grodd back for a season-long arc.

------------

One other thing that sort of bugs me about the show but I think it's finally working out ok is that Earth-2 is basically a mash-up of old DC Earth-2 and old DC Earth-3--a place where most of the superpowered dopplegangers are evil, but where the non-supers are good. I don't think they knew that was what it would be when they started, so it's never felt fully consistent. But now they seem to have the 'rules' figured out.

[jgsugden]

I think your last idea is where we're headed. Flash vs. Grodd and the army of apes that they gave him.

[Khaldun]

Been trying to think about it and actually I realized there isn't a single Earth-2 super that's good except that we were shown a few examples of Jay Garrick being a good guy early in the season--and Wells seems to treat Garrick as a failed do-gooder. This doesn't go at all with the story we were told in the early part of the season.

I'm suddenly wondering if Zoom is in fact actually from Earth-3? That the man in the mask is the Earth-2 Garrick? But you know, if so, the show is really kind of in a rut--that would be the second "I was pretending to be your mentor, but I'm actually evil but wait there's still a good version of me" story.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Zoom was always Garrick.  He was just playing the part of a hero while also being the villain, just to you know, fuck with people.

[HaemishM]

Jay Garrick is the man in the mask, and likely the original Flash. Notice that Barry's grandmother's maiden name was Garrick. That little detail wasn't dropped for no reason.

I think all the DCU TV shows need to drop the whole 1 master villain per season thing. It's really hurt Arrow and there are some parts of this season of Flash where it just hasn't made any sense that they aren't fighting Zoom. I have no problem with them taking 2 master villains per season - just do one that goes through the mid-season finale, then start again with another one the second half. Of course, that may be a no-go because actors want to be hired for full seasons but I think it would work better.

You have to remember something about Earth-2: Zoom seems to have been in some kind of control for a while there, so any supers who weren't evil may be dead or captured by now.

[MediumHigh]

Honestly Arrow better seasons where when they literally hide the main Villains until the last 5-6 episodes. Hell Harrison Wells as the reverse flash wasn't revealed until mid season, the heroes didn't have to confront him until the last 4-5. I think they're stretching out the drama because the writing staff maybe hitting the DCCU limit where Warner Bros is nipping anything that would interfere with the movies. They need about 3 main villain archs per season otherwise this is going to be smallville levels of unwatchable soon.

[Evildrider]

Kid Flash announced for next season.  Costume looks good, I'm not digging the additional chin part or whatever though.

[HaemishM]

I'm down with it. The chin piece mirrors the current costume design.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yeah it stays thematic with the CWverse flash suits which is deceptively important.

[Khaldun]

I am kind of assuming he's going to get the name "Kid" Flash because Captain Cold or someone else derisively mocks him that way.

[Evildrider]

Flash Season 3 teaser.   

[Khaldun]

Really like the look of this. They're committing to the premise in a good way.

(Unlike Arrow...)

[Evildrider]

Really like the look of this. They're committing to the premise in a good way.

(Unlike Arrow...)

Arrow is going back to it's "Vigilante" roots now.  Amell has made it clear he knows that having to help Flash and Legends launch that the show has suffered.  He's hoping that they can get on course this season since they don't have to worry about anything but the crossover.

[Khaldun]

Except that it's a bunch of new characters who seem uninspired for the most part (Wild Dog? Digging deep in the intellectual property discard there) rather than focusing on Ollie and some more intense or concentrated character work.

[Evildrider]

Except that it's a bunch of new characters who seem uninspired for the most part (Wild Dog? Digging deep in the intellectual property discard there) rather than focusing on Ollie and some more intense or concentrated character work.

You'll have to ask Geoff Johns about that.  You still have Artemis and Mister Terrific.  The Olicity shit is what bothers me the most about the show lately.  Then I remember its CW and I have to put up with it to see the other stuff.

[Khaldun]

I don't know that I've seen a basically fun character ruined as thoroughly as they ruined Felicity. And it happened about mid-way through Season 3.

[HaemishM]

Having to launch Legends and have crossovers with Flash were the POSITIVES of the last season of Arrow. If that's why they think the show suffered, they were very wrong.

[Khaldun]

They just do not an idea for Arrow which can hold up for a season's worth of orders, or at least haven't since the second season ended.

[HaemishM]

Both Flash and Arrow have suffered from the same mentality - we have to have ONE big bad villain that carries the whole goddamn season. It worked in first season of both shows because we didn't really know who the villain was for like half the season. There was mystery on top of building characters. Season 3 of Arrow and Season 2 of Flash both gave you the villains up front and center and there was no mystery to it. There was just stretching one story out to 22 episodes. They both need to be a bit more Burn Notice and a bit less of that. Of course, Burn Notice pulled it off because there were only 13 episodes a season. They should just break the seasons up into 2 long stories instead of 1.

[Khaldun]

Starting to lose interest in the show. It's stuck in a time loop of its own making--an inability to think of a serious menace to the Flash that isn't a speedster, and an unrewarding obsession with time travel. The time travel plot was done in the first season and didn't need to be done again. Or if it was done again, I'd prefer to have the "Barry Allen gets castigated by his friends" done in a relatively concentrated way and to move on from there. One of the assets of the CW shows in theory is that they're a palate cleanser from the Snyder Murderverse version, and the Flash and Supergirl particularly function that way. Nobody wants mopey, angry Cisco Ramone. Agitated almost-Killer Snow Caitlin Frost is a bit better, but still kind of annoying. Guilt-ridden, furtive Barry Allen is just, please, stop it. What is especially driving me nuts, though, is that there's no sense of progression in the character: he's not getting better at being the Flash, he's actually getting kind of worse at it. He remains basically dumb about his powers most of the time, because otherwise the writers don't know how to explain how an adversary lasts more than 2 minutes against him.

But that's easy, and it's annoying that they don't seem to have the imagination to pull it off. Take Mirror Master--a colossally wasted version of the character who could potentially be half-season long or longer antagonist. A guy who isn't really there, who can jump into mirrors and glass to get away, who can project illusions, who can't be kept out of a place, who could be a terrifying manipulator (he sometimes has hypnotic powers in the comics)? Super-speed alone can't beat an enemy like that. And he's not an expensive CGI-fest villain like Gorilla Grodd.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that HR is Abra Kadabra (the drumstick would be his wand) but I almost hope not, since that's likely to lead to more time-travel stuff. Plus it is yet another example of the Flash team being dumb if so--you once again let a version of Harrison Wells hoodwink you?

The cast is really appealing and they've established a pretty good setting. They should be able to do more with it than what they're doing now.