The Flash: Discussion Thread

[cassadine1991]

They should introduce the Mother Boxes

[Wales2004]

The next two episodes in Gorilla City should be better than what's been going on so far.

 

Tuesday they reminded me why I cannot get invested in any character's death.  So they've been all Savitar is going to kill Iris and the season finale and we've got to stop that.  And Barry's constantly assuring her with his most earnest look that he's not going to let that happen--even going so far as to swear on his dead parents that he won't (which is odd for what I think are obvious reasons), but apparently it's not so serious if she dies that day. 

 

They expended some energy in trying to get Caitlin to freeze her arm and they all looked so serious about it and then everyone basically took off to go do their heroic things--phasing through a train is awesome!!! And voila, Iris is saved because all they needed was the bad guy's blood.  Joe who was so upset that his baby girl might die in May, just left her side not knowing if she might die that very day.  If they're going to write it so poorly than why should viewers care about her potentially dying down the road?  This is such a weak plot on which to build most of the season.

[P.J.]

Sometimes it feels like Flash is too comic-bookish. For all of Barry's angst over this, that and whatever, emotionally, he rarely seems to struggle with anything more substantial than whether his socks match in the morning. There is some weird kind of lack of emotional connection in and around this show that mystifies me. Barry and Iris are now living together, but their new status lacks any kind of heat. (if I was a fan, I'd be pissed at the lack of love scenes, period) The first half of the season, I was supposed to be invested in Cisco's brother's death and his blaming Barry, but that was hampered by the fact I'd rarely ever seen them together in the first place.

 

I always seem to be waiting for these emotional connections, and either they don't materialize, or they get rewritten or they just underwhelm.

Edited February 12, 2017 by P.J.
mixed up Cis

[Wales2004]

The whole thing with Cisco's brother was more of that Flashpoint silliness which might have worked had Flashpoint not been reduced to less than one episode.  I don't care about any of the changes he caused since Ramon was a blip on the screen. I didn't know the professor didn't want kids so his time aberration daughter is just a so what.  And Diggle's daughter being erased for a son is not interesting me either since I don't watch Arrow.  It's more of the same Barry screws up by time traveling.

 

What did stand out to me was how they pushed Cisco being angry with Barry over his brother's death as such a big deal it created a rift between them and could potentially ruin the team, yet one of the reasons Barry gave Iris for leasing that apartment was that he was tired of sleeping on Cisco's couch.  I must have missed the two seconds where he moved out of Joe's to sleep on Cisco's couch while Cisco was mad at him.

 

I think the animated Justice League did a lot better job with storytelling and relationships than any of these Berlanti shows. 

[P.J.]

Maybe its because I was such a Trekker and any time of time-space continuum thing was consistently explained, that this entire time aberration/flashpoint crap annoys me. Personally, I don't think they needed to drag Flashpoint to the other shows whatsoever. (I think Stein's new daughter wasn't a result of Flashpoint, but rather the fact that he talked to himself on a mission that altered his history). But it does piss me off that John's daughter got switched out for a son.

 

It feels like lazy storytelling. I think the "shared universe" has definitely become unwieldy. I think all three shows (Arrow, Flash and Legends) have too many "main" characters. Legends has 7, plus the three bad guys, Arrow has their five plus the four/five new recruits PLUS whoever the baddie is, and Flash has 7 or so. It seems like everyone gets their two minutes and the result is no one gets really an indepth story.

[Wales2004]

I know their crossovers are just a way to try to generate excitement and interest in all the shows but that gimmick seems to make them try to sync the other shows to The Flash.  That just doesn't seem to work well because of the writing.

 

The Legion of Doom is just an odd bunch to stick together but since the characters that make up the group are strong individually, they higlight the flaws of the LOT.  Ray is underwhelming and dramatic Jax is overwhelming.  The others are okay but they're not really a dynamic unit which coupled with the writing, tends to make the show mediocre.

 

The Flash has a lot of main characters but it worked okay previously.  I think this season is bad because their main villain is weak and basically MIA for the greater portion of the season so nothing sets him apart from any run of the mill villain of the week.  And instead of a gradual focus on Kid Flash, they've gone overboard with the introduction of groupies and making Barry seem less significant.  If Wally were a stronger character it might work but he's about as generic as Barry without any of the sensitivity.

[cassadine1991]

The show might be called The Flash but isn't this an ensemble cast?

[P.J.]

 

Yeah, I hope we're done with the crossovers, EXCEPT/IF they further story. (yes, I know about the SG/F one coming up, and it sounds like it blows)

 

While I can appreciate using the Legion of Doom on Legends, I miss Malcolm on Arrow. And an AMEN---Ray SUCKS. More like Brandon Routh is a black hole sucking all energy in his path, but I digress. It's hilarious that they only thing they could figure out for him to do on the last episode was being chased by a rat. My other major problem is Rip, who really seems superfluous now that the Time Masters have been destroyed. He was a drain last season with the hammily plotted "gots to save my dead family" story---which lacked imagination or curiously, heart.

 

I don't think the cast of Flash really jells. Other than Tom Cavanaugh and Jesse Martin, they're bland with a capital B. Cavanaugh was really the anchor of season one---and I don't think it's coincidence that this season's "blah" comes when his current version of Wells is primarily comic relief.

[Wales2004]

Yes, Rip is a drag.  This programmed version of him makes the character a little livelier but he is not compelling enough to make his mission interesting. 

 

I don't have a problem with the cast as much as I do with how their characters are written.  Caitlin just seems to exist for the occasional medical emergency and to bond with the new guy.  The only change this season is that she gets to fret over becoming Killer Frost.  There's more they could do with Caitlin instead of periodically having a team member give her a pep talk.   

 

 

[P.J.]

This is why I hate time travel/alt. dimension [!@#$%^&*]. It cannabilizes itself and leads to bad, lazy storytelling. Savitar is some alt-Barry? GMAFB. That's the best they could do? RME. And then I read some BS interview where showrunner praises GG's abilities at differentiating the characters. Talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. GG is a likeable guy. No doubt. But he doesn't have the chops to pull this off. He's played the angst of Iris' imminent death with all the intensity of a stood up prom date.

 

Part of the problem is there's really no one Barry's that close to to play another Barry-betrayed-by-mentor card. But this sucks.

[cassadine1991]

That's what The Flash comics are about. 

 

I see they took the Future Flash story and combined it with the Savitar story

[P.J.]

Flash comics are about lame time travel plots? Well, then they've done a bang up job. I don't even know why I'm complaining, I barely care anyway. AFAIC, this season has been a complete stinkhole.

[cassadine1991]

Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West) comes out as bisexual

 

http://www.thewrap.com/flash-star-keiynan-lonsdale-comes-out-as-bisexual-in/

Edited May 13, 2017 by cassadine1991

[Toups]

The beginning of the season finale episode was pretty emotional - Blake Neely's score adds so much to the scenes.  I was surprised that it was H.R. that died but looking back now, the clues were there all season.  I really liked H.R. because of his humour.  I also love the emergence of Killer Frost in this season.  I just finished reading Suicide Squad vs. Justice League 6 part comic book series and I had no idea Killer Frost was part of the Suicide Squad team and that she's very powerful.  The Killer Frost character is quickly becoming a favourite of mine now.   I enjoyed this season and don't really have any big complaints, except that these comic book TV shows should have a shorten season.  23 episodes is way too long.  Cut it down to around 16-18. 

[victoria foxton]

 

  Hartley Sawyer Fired From 'The Flash' After Racist, Misogynist Tweets Surface https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hartley-sawyer-fired-flash-misogynist-tweets-surface-1297483

Edited June 8, 2020 by victoria foxton