The Flash (Crazy for you) review

Britne Oldford as Lashawn Baez

Hey, it’s a teleporter!

The Flash is an fun hour of entertainment every Tuesday 8PM. The Flash continuously impresses with the special effects for a television show. The VFX budget must be pretty financially substantial for the show.  Tonight, the Flash encountered a threated that he couldn’t catch, a teleporter.

Barry Allen continues to save people as the Flash and make a great impression the citizens of Central City.  However, a prisoner is broken out of Iron Heights, and the Flash team discovers the prisoner is aided by a teleporter.  The teleporter is quicker than the Flash so he has problems in defeating her.  Barry Allen and Detective Joe West ask Barry’s father, Henry Allen, to get information the escape prisoner’s whereabouts.  Henry gets stabbed in the process but helps the Flash. Cisco meanwhile is aided by Hartley, the villain from last week’s episode, to find out where Catlin’s boyfriend, Ronnie Raymond, is hiding.  Hartley’s does help Cisco to find truth about Ronnie but Hartley escapes.  Catlin and Barry go to a bar and Catlin gets drunk. She sort of admits her feelings towards Barry which goes over his head and he starts to date a fellow reporter at Iris’ work. Iris gets so jealous.  Oh Gorilla Grodd shows up at the end of the episode.

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen and Candice Patton as Iris West

This Flash episode had many positives for example, the special effects, Cisco dealing with Hartley, and introduce of Grodd at the end.  The relationship between Barry and Caltin and the moments between Barry and his Dad, Henry, really stood out in this episode. The moments between Barry and Caltin are adorable. Catlin obviously likes Barry so much, and he is blind as a bat to her flirty mannerisms towards him.  They have a great moment together where they sing karaoke during the episode. It was very light hearted and romantic at the same time.   Henry Allen has a lot of bonding moments with Barry. For example, Henry tells Barry subtly that he might know this Flash guy, and he that he is super proud of him and loves him.  They both cry and it is hinted that Barry’s father knows that Barry is The Flash and is super proud of him.

The teleporter story line was a drag on the episode.  She breaks her boyfriend out of prison and instead of runaway together they continue to pull heist jobs. The Flash catches her and her boyfriend leaves her in the dust. It was the classic decent girl with powers falls for the wrong guy story. Personality, the writers might have missed out on the opportunity to do something exciting and fun with teleporter’s introduction.

Overall, this episode was pretty good and enjoyable. Barry Allen and Catlin develop their potential romantic relationship. It was the interaction between Barry Allen and Henry Allen that really made this episode standout. The Flash continues to get better and better plus we will have a talking gorilla as a villain soon.  “Crazy for you” gets a 3.5 out 5. Too bad for the weak villain story.

The Arrow vs. Flash crossover review

Arrow played Stephen Amell & Flash played Grant Gustin

Every Justice League begins with two heroes coming to a kick ass team!

There are events in television history that put the spotlight on a show or two television shows. Star Trek: The Next Generation had a series of episodes where Spock, Leonard Nimoy, was a guest star. The viewership for these episodes skyrocketed. Arrow and The Flash had their first crossover episodes, and it was the first of many.  Essentially what made this crossover so great was the fact every important character from the Flash or Arrow was essential to the storylines.  Felicity and Diggle appeared on the Flash and went to Star Labs while Cisco and Caitlin were hanging out in the Arrow cave in the Arrow episode.  Arrow and The Flash are created and run by the same people. Marc Guggenheim and Greg Berlanti created Arrow and Berlanti went on to be executive producer of the Flash while Guggenheim is the head man at Arrow as of right now.  Berlanti also looking at producing a Supergirl show for CBS. The two producers along with the team of writers for both show were spectacular at making high quality entertaining television for two nights.

Oliver Queen and Barry Allen decide to work together

The first episode of the crossover was Flash vs. Arrow.  The Flash, Barry Allen, has to face an enemy that can cause rage in people. The villain causes people to overstep their emotional boundary and it them to into a Hulk rage. Oliver Queen, Green Arrow, and his team are in Central City looking for a killer that kills people with boomerangs.  Arrow saves Barry and Detective Joe West from trouble. Barry and Oliver decide to find the new metahuman together and defeat him. Detective West and Dr. Wells tell Barry that the Arrow is dangerous and can’t be trusted. Barry has to decide to between working his trusted friend, Oliver Queen, or following the advice of his two mentors. His choice will either strengthen or destroy Barry’s alliance with his team who helps him at Star Labs?

Nick E. Tarabay plays Digger Harkness or Captain Boomerang

The second part of the Arrow vs. Flash crossover had Oliver going after Captain Boomerang. Caitlin and Cisco drop by Palmer Industries to help Felicity with the death of Sara Lance. They want to see the Arrow cave and which Oliver is not to happy about. However, Captain Boomerang shows up at Star Labs and starts to take out ARGUS soldiers left and right. Oliver, Roy, Diggle, and Lyia are on the brink of death when Flash shows up and saves Oliver from two boomerangs.  The Flash and Arrow again team to stop the former suicide squad member. Barry has a huge problem with Oliver’s methods of getting information and this causes friction between them. The question is, will Oliver change his ways or same the stay?

The most positive aspect of Arrow and The Flash crossover was the interaction between the characters.  The banter and conflict between Barry and Oliver was spectacular but the supporting like Felicity, Diggle, Cisco, and Caitlin stood out. Roy was a spectator between the members of the team debating who would win in a fight Arrow or Flash. The stories themselves were good. The first time Diggle saw Barry Allen use his super speed in person caused Diggle to be speechless. Caitlin and Ramon were psyched to see the Arrow cave. Every character was used properly besides a few of them.   The Flash and Arrow showed case their primary attributes that makes them unique.  The two episodes were funny and it is one of the reasons why this crossover got the ratings it did.

The negatives for me were Eddie Thawne deciding suddenly The Flash was a villain and wanting to take him down. It causes Barry Allen gives in to his rage and he nearly kills Eddie. Iris turns her back on The Flash just like that.  For me, that plotline should have happen at the mid-season finale, and it felt like the writers of The Flash tried to have every character be essential to the storyline.  My biggest pet peeve for the Arrow crossover episode was Lyia.

Lyia was almost dead and gone. Captain Boomerang puts a boomerang in her chest and she is at death’s door. I have applauded the creators of these two television shows in the past for killing their characters off. However, the writers of Arrow copped by having the Flash to run Lyia to the hospital so she could survive. Lyia for me is a weak character and really bitchy. She is not likeable. I would love to see her die and Diggle go on vegence streak or turn his back on Oliver. Hell, Diggle could go after Amanda Waller and is also a deceitful troll. Those would have been better options in my opinion instead of having the Flash there to run Lyia to the hospital, and she survives.

Overall these two episode were spectacular and funny. The Flash crossover gets a 4.7 out of 5.

(have links to the two crossover episodes below on the CW site. I suggest watching them because it is like watching a Batman episode with Superman involved.)

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-flash/flash-vs-arrow/?play=bd69b271-88c1-404f-880f-0e23fe34eaf8

 

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/arrow/the-brave-and-the-bold/?play=4254f82b-bf7d-4d18-819b-8e275ab45bec

The Flash (Pilot Review)

Flash using his super speed

The Flash is considered to be one of the best comic book characters according to fans and people in the comic book industry. It’s not surprising that The Flash would get his own television show after the character appeared on Arrow (non super powerless).  The Flash will have a very comic book tone and not really a grounded feel like Gotham or Arrow. Arrow and Gotham are grounded in crime fighting while Flash is pure entertainment and using science to get superpowers. The character himself is lighthearted and sees the world mostly in black and white. The Flash pilot was a good start to the new series but not great a start.

The pilot begins with young Barry Allen, The Flash, witnessing his mother’s murder. Consequently his father is convicted for the crime while Barry is taken in by Detective Joe West. Detective West is Barry’s best friend’s father, Iris West, and Iris is the love of Barry’s life.  Barry is a forensic investigator for the Central City Police and always investigate strange crimes in the world.  Barry claims a yellow ball of lightening kill his mother.  His fellow officers think that he is weird but love him as a person.  Barry is very quirky. humorous, and intelligent character.  He loves science and his main goal is to work at Star Labs. However, Star Labs built a particle accelerator that would allow them to study subatomical physics  and it explodes.  The machine creates a huge red cloud of unknown energy that causes a lightening bolt to strike Barry. The lightening strike causes Barry Allen to gain superpowers such as his super speed, super intelligence, and super healing like Wolverine.  The pilot had a lot of great aspects that made it a good start for a potential series.

(Top L-R) Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns, producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, and (Bottom L-R) actors Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow), Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells), Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/Flash), Jesse L. Martin (Detective Joe West), Candice Patton (Iris West), and Rick Cosnett (Eddie Thawne)

The strong acting in the first episode was the most positive aspect of the Flash pilot. Grant Gustin is a great Barry Allen.  Rick Cosnett and Jesse L. Martin were the bests of the pilot. Martin nail his character’s overly protectiveness as a father for Barry and Iris. Martin gave Joe West a lot of depth and emotion as a television character.  His performance will get better each episode and it will continue to make the show awesome. However, Rick Cosnett, was a great Eddie Thawne.  Eddie is a complete dick!  He’s arrogant, thinks highly of himself, and also banging his partner’s daughter. He’s already jealous of the friendship between Barry and Iris. Thawne is super important to the Flash lore. Martin and Cosnett are scene stealers.

The pilot had a strong story to it and the special effects were spectacular. There’s a scene where Barry sees time slow down to the nano second and knocks the crap out of a thug who about is to shoot a cop. He’s does this in the police station too. His powers have unlimited potential and it will be interesting how the special effects team for the show create the needed scenes to make the Flash super cool. The other great part of the show is the fanboy easter eggs.  There are a lot of nods to the Flash universe and Andrew Kiesberg and  Geoff Johns wrote into the episode.

The biggest negative about the pilot is the predictable of the episode. Arrow was unpredictable in it’s pilot. It drew in your attention immediately but Flash just like any other pilot. There is no mystery or suspense to it. The show felt like it was all scripted to be by the book and not wanting to capture the audience’s attention for more.  The show runners will improve on this each episode.

Overall, the Flash pilot was a great start to the Flash series. It did lack suspense and felt like it was following the standard plot points of introduction. Martin and Cosnett were spectacular in the pilot and command the television screen in each scene that they were in. The show has potential and it will get better each episode. The Flash pilot receives a 4/5.

Side note: Arrow comes back on tonight in the US and I will review that tonight. Arrow and Flash will have a crossover in a few weeks.

Flash Pilot, what did you think? Comment below and let me know.