The Flash - Alleged Superhero

[Knight of Ashes]

On Saturday, May 07, 2016 at 2:20 AM, red snow said:

Actually watched the episode. I like how Joe and Barry's dad are all "once Barry's mind's made up it can't be changed" only for him to spend the entire episode changing his mind.

Wonder if they bothered releasing all the prisoners before setting up the explosion?

 

How many dads  does it take to change Barry's lightbulb?

About the prison, I have this memory of Joe declaring twice that the more recent bad metas are being taken to Iron Heights.  I'm sure that was the case for the earthquake guy that looks like Cyclops but I can't remember who the other one is. Anyway I just assumed that means they shipped off the rest of them there as well. 

[RedEyedGhost]

On 5/7/2016 at 7:02 PM, Dr. Pepper said:

The best thing to come out of The Flash all season!

LOL

[red snow]

14 hours ago, The_Gallows_Knight said:

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole Barry & Iris thing.

I used to find it utterly bizarre that a TV show would start off with this dynamic. Fortunately after two seasons of increasing nonsense and establishing Barry as an evil egomaniac i take it all in my stride. Maybe his unease with the relationship is part of what underlies his confidence problems and assertion he can do whatever the fuck he wants? More fun is how Joe will probably hi-five Barry as soon as he runs up to Joe and grins "I had sex with Iris!"

10 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

LOL

Come thinking about it, when was the last time Barry got laid? Maybe that's slowing him down and Iris revealing her attraction to him is actually setting up the season's resolution?

Although i still prefer my Barry is an egomaniac control freak lens of he just tells Iris she's doomed to be with him as that's his version of romance.

It's still a shame that this season's main value has been making puerile jokes and seeing the hero as a villain.

 

[red snow]

Some of the stills from this week suggests we're getting more of the DC/CW staple of staring at unmarked graves. Probably some time travel too.

[RedEyedGhost]

YES!  Iris is now 100% Team Flash, "We'll use me as bait, lure Tony back to Starlabs, where Wells and Cisco can kill him, again."

I love how the Wormhole Aliens keep treating Barry like a dog.  "Sit, Barry, sit."

Oh shit, now Iris's love is going to bring Barry home!!  "Run, Barry, run."  

And of course, when all else fails, just run circles around the villain.  Defeats them every time.  

Henry Allen's teeth are exceptionally white.  

Aww, Zoom, he's so romantic 

[Jon AS]

Man, this episode came awfully close to treating Iris like an actual, independent person at the end there. A person who also grew up without a mother. Thankfully she immediately brought it back to Barry and his issues, probably realising that after an entire episode telling him how special he is, Barry's ego might not have taken kindly to the suggestion that other people are not necessarily an extension of him.

 

This episode kind of serves as an alternate reality view of what Drake's fate would have been if he hadn't met Liv on iZombie. He really was better off on that show.

[Batman]

I wonder what Zoom was doing all day. Like, he got there, took over the police department and told that meta to kill the police. That took up like 10 minutes of his day. What does he do with the rest? Go see some sights? Video games? Painting? 

[GallowKnight]

Hey, that was Jason Mewes. Awesome! (and not entirely unexpected)

To bad we got Barry back though, I was kinda looking forward to potentially having Jesse and Wally take over the Flash mantle for a little bit.

[Dr. Pepper]

15 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

YES!  Iris is now 100% Team Flash, "We'll use me as bait, lure Tony back to Starlabs, where Wells and Cisco can kill him, again."

I love how the Wormhole Aliens keep treating Barry like a dog.  "Sit, Barry, sit."

Oh shit, now Iris's love is going to bring Barry home!!  "Run, Barry, run."  

And of course, when all else fails, just run circles around the villain.  Defeats them every time.  

Henry Allen's teeth are exceptionally white.  

Aww, Zoom, he's so romantic 

This is all exactly what I wanted to say about this episode.  

 

13 hours ago, Jon AS said:

Man, this episode came awfully close to treating Iris like an actual, independent person at the end there. A person who also grew up without a mother. Thankfully she immediately brought it back to Barry and his issues, probably realising that after an entire episode telling him how special he is, Barry's ego might not have taken kindly to the suggestion that other people are not necessarily an extension of him.

 

This episode kind of serves as an alternate reality view of what Drake's fate would have been if he hadn't met Liv on iZombie. He really was better off on that show.

And also this.  

[red snow]

Two things this episode had going for it, one was it may finally put an end to evil Barry (we can only hope) and second it actually used the cast pretty well so that it wasn't 3 characters plus deadweight.
I think they should definitely consider getting the episode's writer (Zack Stentz) on as a regular and Kevin Smith could work as a good producer and occasionally direct. If they are considering changing things up anyhow. Nowadays Smith feels like that bloke who talks about other people's shows but he does know a lot about DC comics and had some interesting runs (when he wasn't massively behind schedule).

The speed force as a godlike race reminded me a bit of the wormhole gods in farscape. I'd have liked some overlap with the time wraith things but otherwise I'm open to weirder aspects in the show. They should definitely mine some of Grant Morrison's work on the Flash/Speed Force if they want to have fun with weird.

I like how they have a morgue for all the metas they kill.

Barry really needs some therapy too. Makes sense given his mother's murder and father being imprisoned for it and then having to live with a family whose daughter you are attracted to.

But it was still one of the first episodes I've seen in a while that was fun and used the cast. Hoping the writer does more episodes.

Update: Just read an article that the writer of the episode is developing a script for a Booster Gold movie. Bugger, that reduces the chance of him doing regular duties on the Flash. I'm guessing it's all connected in him doing this episode for/with KEvin Smith and then getting noticed by Berlanti and sent upstream.

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Mandy said:

I have to confess, I started watching this week's episode last night, and I had to turn it off.  It was god-awful. In the speed force?  Come ON.

 

You made the right choice as there are only two options with the Flash, embrace the stupidity or run away (running solves all problems)

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Mandy said:

And his magical zapping fingers to wake up Jessie?!?! "How did you know to do that?"

"I can't explain it."

Yeah just don't even try please. Spare us.

They just roll with it. Whenever anything weird happens or there are jumps in logic they can say "speed force said".

I don't know how established the actors were before this show but I imagine there's a mixture of "it's work, squee!" "I need to pay the bills". A mercy for CW actors is that they are mainly young up and comers (transitioning from modelling/sports to acting). It's probably more painful for actors who've been in the game for a while. Victor Garber springs to mind as someone who understands how awful the writing is - poor guy.  Many actors wisely don't get too invested in episodic tv - they deliver their role and may never even watch the finished product. It's not for them, it's for the audience. There's probaly theatre roles for the passionate actor but material that's rewarding in mainstream tv/film is pretty rare.

I read an interview with Stephen Dillane recently and it was pretty clear he thought his character and GoT was utter nonsense. Still didn't stop him doing a good job on set.

[red snow]

weirdly, I thought it was the best episode in a while but I guess i was judging it more on characters being used and hopefully an end to evil Barry. I've given up on judging on merit of logic.

[The Anti-Targ]

23 hours ago, Mandy said:

Well, I finished it.

There have been some filler episodes and there have been some with ridiculous and bad BS sciency explanations, but that was just terrible. I wish I could ask the actors what they honestly think of the writing. They can't think it is good. That entire episode was painful. I felt bad for them. And the speed force personified as Barry's personal therapist helping to work out some previously non-existent angst? I'm just SMDH.

"We're gonna need a really long extension cord." Sigh.

SMFH surely. The second it was revealed Barry was talking to the speed force I was just waiting for the episode to finish.

Did we ever know that Barry had never been to his mother's grave? I can kind of see how the reason Barry can't run as fast as his potential is connected to his mother's death, but they could have managed him working through the issue in a much better way that didn't involve a sentient speed force.

 

21 hours ago, red snow said:

They just roll with it. Whenever anything weird happens or there are jumps in logic they can say "speed force said".

I don't know how established the actors were before this show but I imagine there's a mixture of "it's work, squee!" "I need to pay the bills". A mercy for CW actors is that they are mainly young up and comers (transitioning from modelling/sports to acting). It's probably more painful for actors who've been in the game for a while. Victor Garber springs to mind as someone who understands how awful the writing is - poor guy.  Many actors wisely don't get too invested in episodic tv - they deliver their role and may never even watch the finished product. It's not for them, it's for the audience. There's probaly theatre roles for the passionate actor but material that's rewarding in mainstream tv/film is pretty rare.

I read an interview with Stephen Dillane recently and it was pretty clear he thought his character and GoT was utter nonsense. Still didn't stop him doing a good job on set.

Well in terms of his character in the show I tend to agree. In terms of the show I would disagree but only for the first 3 seasons. And I also agree that he did a fine job of acting the part he was given.

[RedEyedGhost]

Just fired up the DVR, no way I watch this live:

• Yay, they're continuing to slow play Jesse and Wally.  Yawn.
• "I believe in Harvey Den... you Barry"
• Did Jay die his hair?
• Inspirational speech from Barry?  Isn't supposed to be the other way around?
• Barry's heart to heart with Wally was embarrassing
• Black Siren  
• Joe mad!
• Good gawd the dialogue this episode is some of the most wooden I've ever heard.  Angry Joe, followed up by Zoom and Black Siren (that conversation was easily the worst I've seen on television this year)
• Were Caitlin and Cisco planning on going as their alters for Halloween next year?  Why did they have their costumes at the ready?
• None of the Earth 2 Metas went to the burbs?
• All doppelgangers are mirror images  
• "Where's Allen?"  *shoom* Must unsubtle identity change ever.
• Wally can't not know right?
• Well, now he does.
• What's up with Jay's twitchiness?  Is that guy just the worst actor ever?
• Oh shit, they're racing next week!!  Racing  

[red snow]

So there's "conservation of ninja" going on with metas, as I just saw Flash take down a season's worth of villains in 3 seconds? Did his epiphany last week simply show him how easy it is to beat virtually all of his enemies?
 Except for the ones that run faster than him.

Black Siren? Why??? One of the reasons I stopped watching Arrow was because of that character and now they choose to inflict her on Flash. Is this some petty revenge? Team Flash loved Laurel? I take it all the time spent together was between seasons and off-screen because they barely interacted.

Barry's dad brings a lot to the show. He's really good at standing at the side of the screen. I did like the point where it seemed like he was going to tell him to use condoms though. He's certainly giving a lot of "I'm going to be killed" looks/speeches. Oh, there we go.

I really hope Wally punches Barry when he finds out who he is. Although Wally is learning from the master when he runs a woman over (I guess having a sonic scream makes you impervious to cars?) and then grins like a cheshire cat.

I was thinking about Earth 2 and how all the "good" people are "bad" over there and how Jay's alt is at least not "evil" on earth 1. So bascially any meta seems to have a polar good/evil between Earth 1 and 2. And the clincher is Barry who's evil on Earth 1 and good on Earth 2 (although he doesn't have powers over there so maybe that's why he's good?). I think in the comics it's Earth 3 where the heroes are bad and vice versa. The left handed thing clinched it although i bet if i rewatched the other episodes there'd be zero attemp at having the characters switch left and right-handedness.

[GrimTuesday]

1 hour ago, red snow said:

So there's "conservation of ninja" going on with metas, as I just saw Flash take down a season's worth of villains in 3 seconds? Did his epiphany last week simply show him how easy it is to beat virtually all of his enemies?
 Except for the ones that run faster than him.

Black Siren? Why??? One of the reasons I stopped watching Arrow was because of that character and now they choose to inflict her on Flash. Is this some petty revenge? Team Flash loved Laurel? I take it all the time spent together was between seasons and off-screen because they barely interacted.

Barry's dad brings a lot to the show. He's really good at standing at the side of the screen. I did like the point where it seemed like he was going to tell him to use condoms though. He's certainly giving a lot of "I'm going to be killed" looks/speeches. Oh, there we go.

I really hope Wally punches Barry when he finds out who he is. Although Wally is learning from the master when he runs a woman over (I guess having a sonic scream makes you impervious to cars?) and then grins like a cheshire cat.

I was thinking about Earth 2 and how all the "good" people are "bad" over there and how Jay's alt is at least not "evil" on earth 1. So bascially any meta seems to have a polar good/evil between Earth 1 and 2. And the clincher is Barry who's evil on Earth 1 and good on Earth 2 (although he doesn't have powers over there so maybe that's why he's good?). I think in the comics it's Earth 3 where the heroes are bad and vice versa. The left handed thing clinched it although i bet if i rewatched the other episodes there'd be zero attemp at having the characters switch left and right-handedness.

I actually was just thinking about this being earth 3 earlier today. All the signs are there, Barry is an asshole, Killer Frost and Vibe aren't villains, I mean, it really writes itself.

I'm usually not one who drops a series, but boy are they making a case for this at least losing it's status as something I watch the night it airs. I started watching the latest episode, and not even a minute in, I realized I just don't give a shit. Might as well just keep catching up on iZombie, where not everyone is a raging dickbag or yes men to said raging dickbag. Or maybe I'll keep watching Hogan's Heroes, where at least the rediculously unlikely and contrived plans are meant to be farcical

[Corvinus85]

Zoom is competing in stupidity with Barry. He has an army of metas but he doesn't send any of them to attack STAR Labs, the one place where there are people with a chance to stopping him. Black Siren can bring down any building, but he has her randomly destroy buildings to keep team Barry off his scent. How about just send Black Siren to destroy STAR Labs? What an evil mastermind. 

And kudos to the scientists at Mercury Labs for showing up to work while their city is a literal war zone. I wish I had their dedication in my professional career. 

[red snow]

5 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Zoom is competing in stupidity with Barry. He has an army of metas but he doesn't send any of them to attack STAR Labs, the one place where there are people with a chance to stopping him. Black Siren can bring down any building, but he has her randomly destroy buildings to keep team Barry off his scent. How about just send Black Siren to destroy STAR Labs? What an evil mastermind. 

And kudos to the scientists at Mercury Labs for showing up to work while their city is a literal war zone. I wish I had their dedication in my professional career. 

It's probably not random destruction of buildings. I have the horrible feeling it's for a race-track that he and Flash can run around in the finale. Because this show is dumb enough to think this is a great idea. I even feel as if they admitted this?

I'm a researcher and we're always so desperately trying to publish that we can't afford any time off - even if the city is being over-run. I went to work during the london riots (it was overblown but still a lot of folk went home early that day)

[Dr. Pepper]

So we got confirmation that Barry is evil, right?  Right?  Or do we think the writers didn't realize what they were implying with Laurel's 'mirror image' speech?  

Guess we sort of got confirmation that Laurel is actually dead.  I was still assuming she would return (on Arrow), but suppose not.  Unless it's Earth 2 Laurel that goes to Star City, which would be fucking lame.  

This show is so painful to watch.  I don't even know why I'm holding out to finish the season.  I know there is almost no way I'll be tuning in next season.  The stupid is just unbearable. Why did they show how incredibly easy it is for Barry to take down dozens of metahumans but then they devote entire arcs to the difficulties of taking an ice gun away from a regular person?  Why are they going to have a race at the end?  Why won't the speed force just turn Zoom off?  Why this stupid plot with Wally not knowing and then knowing and then probably being pissed they kept him ignorant for no fucking reason?  Do we have to wait nine months for Wally and Jesse to start showing special skills?  Why hasn't Zoom destroyed Star Labs?  Why is this show so stupid?