The Flash

[Koete]

Standard "hero has to believe in himself again" episode, but it was a good way to bring back John Wesley Shipp.

The Grodd stuff was really good. Grodd killing the scientist was brutal, the CGI was really impressive by TV standards, and I think they succeeded in making you feel sorry for a CGI psychic gorilla. It was cool to see Cavanaugh play E-2 Wells having to learn to play E-1 Wells. Also, Earth-2 Gorilla City! 

 

[Donomark]

Yeah, another solid one. The start of this season really had me worried, but they've definitively gotten back to the glory of the season one days.

Most of the cliche'd stuff was made better by the acting. Everyone did a great job, including Danielle Panabaker. And I love how this show continues to flip off any other comic media property too gun-shy to get into the silly stuff by continually making Grodd appropriately awesome. And dat ending doe!

[JasonC]

I was ridiculously pleased that Grodd got a happy ending. I hope we see him again,

Now why couldn't they do something like that for King Shark? Are we allowed only one superintelligent human/animal hybrid?

Edited November 19, 2015 by JasonC

[Donomark]

They said they blew the budget on what little we saw of King Shark, but maybe next season when they do Crisis on Infinite Earths!

[Davedevil]

Has the budget actually gone up this year, has the effects team just hit its stride or what? Because this season's been terrific as far as flashiness. (Couldn't help myself)

[Donomark]

I loved the effects of Barry on the treadmill, how he was slowly gaining his Flash speed back but it was easier to see. He' was still super-fast at that point, but not "Flash" fast, and there were more blur effects. That was cool.

[Donomark]

I thought this crossover episode was terrific. It really REALLY felt like watching a comic book. There was great use of all the characters (except Iris, my continuing gripe of the season), and I liked how it managed to be a Flash episode while still having lots of Green Arrow stuff. It really watched like reading a tie-in comic. "TO BE CONTINUED IN ARROW EPISODE # WHATEVER!"

I liked the presentation of Savage and his abilities. Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell have really perfected their chemistry together as Barry and Oliver too. As someone who (STILL) hasn't got around to watching Arrow, loved seeing some of the more classic trick arrows like the magnet one. This was a ton of fun.

[Davedevil]

I dug it but it felt a little too busy. I can see how Savage would be intimidating, but I didn't get much out of the acting. 

It was cool to see the Hawks on TV though. 

[Koete]

I thought this one was a bit of a mess. So far, I'm not feeling Vandal Savage. I liked how they showed his fighting skills that would have developed over thousands of years, but the dialogue and acting did not give him the gravitas of an immortal. And arriving by stowing away on a boat is how you introduce a ninja villain-of-the-week, not the antagonist of an upcoming series. I also thought the introduction of the Hawks was extremely rushed. As they noted in the episode, this is the Flash team's first encounter with the mystical, and while I get throwing them into the deep end, it was too much. It would have helped if Carter was introduced earlier and we got to know Kendra more before her life gets turned upside down. And the explanation of the relationship between the Hawks and Savage makes no sense. If he's killed them 206 times for their power, he should literally be unstoppable by this point. Oh, and Cisco blurting out Barry's name in front of Kendra is maybe the dumbest thing the show's ever done. That irritated me so much.

There were things I liked; Barry and Oliver's banter is always great, and it was cool to see Caitlin and Wells-2 working together. Velocity-6 has me intrigued with the paths they might take it. One I thought of when Wells got shot was that they were going to have to inject him with it to save his life. Jay ended up taking it, but maybe Wells-2 still will, something tragic will happen with his daughter, and we get a new Reverse-Flash with his own reason for hating Barry. I don't know if they're going to do it, but it would be interesting swerve. And that's about it on the positives, really. I'm hoping the second part tonight is better.  

[Koete]

Okay, so...this crossover was terrible. They made two huge mistakes in the Arrow part, the first being the use of Flash's time travel. Like with Doctor Who, you can't use time travel as an easy reset button, because once you do, that becomes the answer every time something bad happens. Now, Barry did mention how dangerous it was, but compared to how well constructed it was in the context of the first season of The Flash, it's a storytelling shortcut here. Bootleg Christoph Waltz hasn't earned it, but we're going to have him kill everyone and reverse it to show how powerful he is. As a bonus, we're going to rewind on the SMALLVILLE AS FUCK scene between Oliver and Felicity over the kid that I'm admittedly surprised the writers remembered.  Speaking of, why the hell was that in this? An immortal is threatening to destroy some cities and Oliver NEEDS to know if that's his kid? The other mistake is Vandal Savage getting "killed." We know he's the villain in Legends of Tomorrow, we know we're seeing him next month, why the circle jerk?  "Vandal Savage is immortal, he can destroy cities, he's killed the Hawks 206 times, he's...oh, hey, he's dust." And Merlyn is involved somehow? Fuck off. Oh, and I didn't mention it the other day because I didn't want to be overly negative, but not only was there a ripoff of Age of Ultron FOR NO REASON in The Flash, they do another ripoff in Arrow. AND THEA MAKES A JOKE ABOUT IT. I will say that I really like Ciara Renée, and I hope she actually gets material in Legends of Tomorrow, but this was awful. 

[slothian]

I dug it but it felt a little too busy. I can see how Savage would be intimidating, but I didn't get much out of the acting.

This.

I don't watch Arrow (more for lack of time rather than lack of interest) and I'm aware that John Barrowman is a recurring actor on that show, but it was weird seeing Captain Jack there nonetheless. He's finally starting to show signs of aging too.

Kinda delighted by Neal McDonough's happy Arrow villain too.

[Dan]

McDonough is having a ball on Arrow right now.

[Donomark]

I tried watching part two like 3 times and kept getting distract by pesky real life, so I just now finished it.

Definitely weaker than the Flash ep. which I still think was a lot of fun (although I agree a million percent with Chris about Cisco's idiocy). The scenes between Ollie and Felicity were the Smallvilliest things I've seen since the show ended.

And honestly, being not a regular viewer of Arrow, Felicity's constant Spider-Man-like quipping got on my nerves. The actress is very good and has a definite charm to her that I totally buy (both times I went to Hall H seeing the Arrow panels, each time Emily Bett Rickards came out she met a THUNDERSTORM of applause. She is BELOVED), but this was really much for me. Honestly both her and Cisco were getting on my nerves throughout, especially Cisco's jealous routine which was understandable, but bleh.

I totally get Chris' gripe of them undermining the time travel aspect as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but I did think the effects were REALLY good, and yeah it was meant to put Savage over but I am liking that he was put over. He was taken down pretty easily tho.

At the end of the day what I took away from this crossover the most is the chemistry between Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell. They REALLY work well together, and it's the best media interpretation of costumed crime fighters being bros I've seen...ever to be honest. At least live action. Really makes me pine for Hal Jordan to somehow appear and for there to be friend-tension. Barry in general I thought was really fun to watch in both episodes.

The story was okay, definitely rushed and could have been much better. They should have set up the Hawks, mainly Carter as much as Kendra, more in the episodes leading up to this. I kinda thought the guy who played Carter came off as a bit of a dullard. Maybe it's the CW's rule of everyone having to wear leather jackets. IDK. Overall I definitely prefer the Flash part, but the Arrow part was more average than awful to me. I am enjoying the fact that they're having Oliver Queen be less of a broody guy and closer to the GA from the comics. Complete with baby mama drama.

[Koete]

They got Hawkman from the same factory that made Sam Worthington and Jai Courtney.

[Davedevil]

My new favorite episode. I'm biased, but so what? I love how Mark Hamill's episodes don't just coast on his appearance, but always significantly advance the plot in some way. That scene with the three Rogues is pure joy.

Zoom's motivation...ehh there's been better. He's still such a cool character though.

[Koete]

One of the better episodes in a rocky start for Season 2. I loved Captain Cold just chilling in the West home with a mug of cocoa, and his back and forth with Iris was great. They're clearly seeding for his arc in Legends of Tomorrow, but since Cold's sense of honor was established last season, it doesn't feel forced. Mark Hamill was a blast as always, and I like that they're continuing to build Weather Wizard. The bombs were dealt with in a very comic book way, maybe a little too much, but it got the job done. The biggest problem with the episode was that they laid the references to Christmas on way too thick, but that didn't tank it or anything. And once again, thanks to Carlos Valdes' delivery, Cisco got a laugh out of me. But in the end, this episode was Jesse L. Martin's. Praising Jesse L. Martin's acting on this show is nothing new, but beyond even that, he was absolutely incredible playing Joe dealing with finding out he has a son. That kind of honest emotional work has been sorely missing from this season so far. And Grant Gustin got to do a little of that too when confessing how much he still hates Wells. Again, this may be pointing to Barry-2 being Zoom or a red herring, but right now it's about connecting with Barry. 

[Donomark]

With this episode, my top three this season are last night's and the Wells/Zoom two-parter.

Mark Hamill was absolutely RABID throughout. If he was doing the Joker voice last season, he was straight up BEING THE JOKER in this episode. But since he's forever and always the best Joker, it made for an endlessly entertaining performance. I mean him posing as Santa, talking to kids and pulling down his beard to laugh evily, it doesn't get more insane than that, but goddamn was that funny. And I gotta say I really liked the Weather Wizard in this as well. Last season Mark Mardon was super pissed off about his brother, but with no mention of that in this episode, here he's just an out-and-out douche of a villain, and it really worked. He was extremely effective as a comic book bad guy without going too far. Finally this might be my favorite performance from Wentworth Miller. From the very first line of dialogue, he's savoring each spoonful of scenery like a fine wine. I'm glad he didn't come back at the end to save Flash, kept his character intact.

One of the bigger highlights for me is that *drumroll*...IRIS GOT TO DO SOMETHING! In an episode full of great performances, this might be my favorite from Candice Patton. I was hoping for a bit more on-the-nose shipping angst from the first scene, but it could still be perceived as that. But she was absolutely terrific throughout, especially when confronting Joe. She could barely get the words out, she was so emotional. And Jesse L. killed it as always. When he says "Who showed him how to be a man? 'Him', I can't even say his name", I choked up. I thought the emotional resolution at the end was a little weak. There's this off-screen reconciliation between him and Francine, I wonder if it's a deleted scene. But I will also say that with the very little screentime he was given, Keiyan Lonsdale really impressed me in his acting as Wally. There was cool air of weight to Wally's existence throughout, subtle enough so that fans of the character could feel validated without making it too big a deal beyond the pale of the world of the characters.

The very end tag I thought for sure we'd be given the identity of Zoom, mirroring the Christmas mid-season finale of last year, but whateves. It's cool that Wells will be an antagonist again, albeit an unwilling one. And goddammit, I have to think they're teasing us with Jay's "I sure don't have my speed" talk. Just give him his powers back already, Barry got his back by the end of the episode last season.

The first half of the season started off really shaky, but once the season-long plot really came into focus it's been mostly solid. I liked last week's Flash episode as a superhero spectacle, but this week's was CLASSIC Flash in the best way. Great comic book stuff, excellent acting from everyone, terrific emotional scenes and Mark Hamill on crack.

[Davedevil]

I disagree a bit, in that I heard his original Trickster voice. His video message to the CCPD sounded like the Trickster hypnotizing Barry Allen. That was a Joker move though, doing an evil Christmas song addressed to the police and the hero. (As I say whenever it's relevant, I still haven't forgiven you for interviewing him, Don.)

Love the scene of Flash chasing Mardon, with him running across the propellers of a helicopter. I remember seeing that in the Johns-Manapul run.

"Mellow out, Mardon. Don't get in a snit, Snart." The thing about Christmas having all the fun, and him using exploding dreidels was fricking hysterical. So was Harry knocking on some kid's door saying, "Your toys, give them to me." The comedy was perfect in this.

[Koete]

Adam Stafford is playing Geomancer in two episodes.

[Davedevil]

I dunno about you guys, but my first thought was "who and who?"

[Donomark]

I dunno about you guys, but my first thought was "who and who?"

Same

[Koete]

Matt Letscher is returning as the Reverse-Flash in Episode 11. So fucking excited.  

[Donomark]

W0W! Like...WOW Scoob!

Seriously, how're they gonna pull that one off?!

[Koete]

Alternate Earth? Proof Eddie's still alive? Flashback? 

[Koete]