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elrhiarhodanRegarding last night's episode of The Flash.
A big bag of stupid.
After the Gorilla City episodes, I really thought that The Flash was finally returning back to the show I fell in love with, fun and adventurous, with moments of angst.
But, alas, I should have known better. And in truth, the fun and adventure were kind of sucked out of the story in the penultimate scene of Attack on Gorilla City, when Barry practically set the apartment on fire with a thousand candles and asked Iris to marry him.
The proposal was quite romantic and heartfelt and Barry clearly adores Iris - but the timing was way off. Iris has an expiration date tattooed on her forehead (metaphorically speaking, of course), so the proposal smacked of desperation. And considering that everything that Barry's done since he'd learned of Iris' impending doom is to change the future, this proposal felt like it was yet another way to change the future.
Also, the timing is WAY off for the series as a whole. It's just too soon - the back half of the third season? Hell, Oliver and Felicity didn't try for wedded bliss until the fourth season of Arrow. And look how badly THAT went.
My feeling was that the moment Barry asked Iris to marry him, either Iris was going to die or Barry was. Remember, this is Berlanti-verse where the heroes are not allowed to be happy, not for more than three episodes in a row. And hearts-and-flowers romance is only a pre-cursor to seasons of angst.
And last night's episode proved be completely right.
Barry's motivation for asking Iris to marry him WAS to change the future. And when Iris finds out, she pretty much dumps his sorry ass. But her rational is equally sorry - it's not romantic, it's "tainted" because he asked her only to try to save her life.
Problems on problems on problems:
1 - Where have you gone, awesome Iris West?
Iris, in season one, had a personality. She had an independent life and made reasonable and responsible choices. In season two, we saw her grow into a seasoned professional (despite the squicky attempt at a romance with her boss). But Iris, in season three, exists in a very weird and uncomfortable place. In the first 8 or so episodes, she was there as a prop for Barry's wounded ego. In the last 6 episodes, she's become the McGuffin, the Maltese Falcon, she's Kate Moreau from White Collar with more screen time. She's a prize, not a character. With few exceptions, she doesn't seem to exist outside of being part of the Flash support team. There are occasional references to her being a journalist, but other than her ludicrous b-plot in Episode 11 where tries to goad the gun dealer into killing her, we don't ever see her at work. And come to think of it - other than a few moments in Episode 2 when Barry's trying to get Iris and Joe to reconcile, we haven't seen her in the newsroom! Perhaps the studio needed that set space for the new Speed Lab?
2 - Joe getting angry at Barry for not asking for his "permission" to marry Iris.
What the ever-loving fuck is this? Victorian England? Iris is an adult, closer to thirty than twenty. She lives with Barry, for crying out loud. I know Joe tends to be a little patriarchal at times, but this was played all wrong. And then Iris, when Barry's motivations are revealed, is also pissed that Barry didn't ask for her father's permission! I thought Iris West was supposed to be an icon of female independence? Apparently I was wrong, she just made herself her father's property, and then her husband-to-be's property. I guess this is the Flash Writer's Room's (a total sausage party) idea of romance? Excuse me while I go vomit in the corner.
3 - Wally seeing Savitar for a month and not saying a thing to ANYONE???
Huh? He lets the whole team go off to Earth-2, he courts Jesse, he trains with HR, but says NOTHING to NO ONE about having visions of the monster that's going to kill his sister? It was pretty clear that the show was setting Wally up to be the season's big hurt. He got his powers too fast and he's been way too cocky - so naturally, he's the one who's going to fall hard and fast and perhaps not get up so quickly (also, too many speedsters in the room). At first, I thought that the show was easing Grant Gustin out, looking to replace him with Keiynan Lonsdale permanently, which would be a gusty and forward thinking move, but then they made him too happy, too, with Jesse. So therefore, he's doomed.
4 - Caitlin keeping a part of the Philosopher's Stone.
Double huh???? Seriously, when did she have the chance to open the box and chip off a piece? And where was she keeping it? This smacks of writer's desperation - they realized that they didn't have a proper prison for Savitar, so they shoved him - last minute - into the Speed Force, but wait! The Philosopher's Stone - the key to Savitar's prison - is in the Speed Force, so how come Savitar can't escape? Leave a piece behind, that's how.
There's a whole lot more stupidity, but it's not worth the effort to delineate.
Now, the episode isn't without its merits...
1 - Barry asking Cisco to be his best man, and HR trying to butt in.
2 - HR going to check on Jesse after Wally goes poof into the Speed Force and Jesse hugging him as a Harry substitute.
3 - Vanessa A. Williams reprising her role as Francine West. While the premise of the scene was stupid - like the whole episode - the execution was brilliant.
4 - Joe telling Barry that Wally's disappearance into the Speed Force wasn't his fault. It wasn't - not one bit of it. Wally kept secrets, big ones, bad ones - and he was rightfully set apart from the team. And he repeated his mistake by again not telling the team, and compounded it by swearing Jesse to silence.
A few other thoughts.
I enjoyed the pacing of the episode. Despite it's flaws, it moved fast and kept me engaged for the whole hour, as witnessed by the paucity of comments back to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theatregirl7299 during the show.
I don't care about Savitar at all and I finally realized why. He's CGI. He's a monster. And despite the channeling through the very talented Tom Felton, I feel nothing for him. Zoom was faceless, but he was terrifying. The Reverse-Flash was a well-built mystery wrapped up into a very charming and attractive package. But Savitar? I'm sure I'll be shocked when I find out who he is. For about five minutes.
I also figured out why I have a hard time falling in love with HR (I want to, I really do). The writers have given us no emotional hooks - no private scenes after his first episode. He's been hanging around for months, relentlessly charming and happy and all I can think is "tears of a clown" - he's got some terrible and sad backstory and we'll never get to hear about it. I kind of understand why HR is being so intensely backgrounded - the writers didn't want a third season where the primary plot was driven by a version of Harrison Wells. But you know what, Season 3 is mostly crap, so maybe it's time to step up the game and either send HR packing and bring Harry back full time, or give us a reason to feel anything for HR other than mild to intense annoyance.
And now I'm out of words.
What are YOUR thoughts?
A big bag of stupid.
After the Gorilla City episodes, I really thought that The Flash was finally returning back to the show I fell in love with, fun and adventurous, with moments of angst.
But, alas, I should have known better. And in truth, the fun and adventure were kind of sucked out of the story in the penultimate scene of Attack on Gorilla City, when Barry practically set the apartment on fire with a thousand candles and asked Iris to marry him.
The proposal was quite romantic and heartfelt and Barry clearly adores Iris - but the timing was way off. Iris has an expiration date tattooed on her forehead (metaphorically speaking, of course), so the proposal smacked of desperation. And considering that everything that Barry's done since he'd learned of Iris' impending doom is to change the future, this proposal felt like it was yet another way to change the future.
Also, the timing is WAY off for the series as a whole. It's just too soon - the back half of the third season? Hell, Oliver and Felicity didn't try for wedded bliss until the fourth season of Arrow. And look how badly THAT went.
My feeling was that the moment Barry asked Iris to marry him, either Iris was going to die or Barry was. Remember, this is Berlanti-verse where the heroes are not allowed to be happy, not for more than three episodes in a row. And hearts-and-flowers romance is only a pre-cursor to seasons of angst.
And last night's episode proved be completely right.
Barry's motivation for asking Iris to marry him WAS to change the future. And when Iris finds out, she pretty much dumps his sorry ass. But her rational is equally sorry - it's not romantic, it's "tainted" because he asked her only to try to save her life.
Problems on problems on problems:
1 - Where have you gone, awesome Iris West?
Iris, in season one, had a personality. She had an independent life and made reasonable and responsible choices. In season two, we saw her grow into a seasoned professional (despite the squicky attempt at a romance with her boss). But Iris, in season three, exists in a very weird and uncomfortable place. In the first 8 or so episodes, she was there as a prop for Barry's wounded ego. In the last 6 episodes, she's become the McGuffin, the Maltese Falcon, she's Kate Moreau from White Collar with more screen time. She's a prize, not a character. With few exceptions, she doesn't seem to exist outside of being part of the Flash support team. There are occasional references to her being a journalist, but other than her ludicrous b-plot in Episode 11 where tries to goad the gun dealer into killing her, we don't ever see her at work. And come to think of it - other than a few moments in Episode 2 when Barry's trying to get Iris and Joe to reconcile, we haven't seen her in the newsroom! Perhaps the studio needed that set space for the new Speed Lab?
2 - Joe getting angry at Barry for not asking for his "permission" to marry Iris.
What the ever-loving fuck is this? Victorian England? Iris is an adult, closer to thirty than twenty. She lives with Barry, for crying out loud. I know Joe tends to be a little patriarchal at times, but this was played all wrong. And then Iris, when Barry's motivations are revealed, is also pissed that Barry didn't ask for her father's permission! I thought Iris West was supposed to be an icon of female independence? Apparently I was wrong, she just made herself her father's property, and then her husband-to-be's property. I guess this is the Flash Writer's Room's (a total sausage party) idea of romance? Excuse me while I go vomit in the corner.
3 - Wally seeing Savitar for a month and not saying a thing to ANYONE???
Huh? He lets the whole team go off to Earth-2, he courts Jesse, he trains with HR, but says NOTHING to NO ONE about having visions of the monster that's going to kill his sister? It was pretty clear that the show was setting Wally up to be the season's big hurt. He got his powers too fast and he's been way too cocky - so naturally, he's the one who's going to fall hard and fast and perhaps not get up so quickly (also, too many speedsters in the room). At first, I thought that the show was easing Grant Gustin out, looking to replace him with Keiynan Lonsdale permanently, which would be a gusty and forward thinking move, but then they made him too happy, too, with Jesse. So therefore, he's doomed.
4 - Caitlin keeping a part of the Philosopher's Stone.
Double huh???? Seriously, when did she have the chance to open the box and chip off a piece? And where was she keeping it? This smacks of writer's desperation - they realized that they didn't have a proper prison for Savitar, so they shoved him - last minute - into the Speed Force, but wait! The Philosopher's Stone - the key to Savitar's prison - is in the Speed Force, so how come Savitar can't escape? Leave a piece behind, that's how.
There's a whole lot more stupidity, but it's not worth the effort to delineate.
Now, the episode isn't without its merits...
1 - Barry asking Cisco to be his best man, and HR trying to butt in.
2 - HR going to check on Jesse after Wally goes poof into the Speed Force and Jesse hugging him as a Harry substitute.
3 - Vanessa A. Williams reprising her role as Francine West. While the premise of the scene was stupid - like the whole episode - the execution was brilliant.
4 - Joe telling Barry that Wally's disappearance into the Speed Force wasn't his fault. It wasn't - not one bit of it. Wally kept secrets, big ones, bad ones - and he was rightfully set apart from the team. And he repeated his mistake by again not telling the team, and compounded it by swearing Jesse to silence.
A few other thoughts.
I enjoyed the pacing of the episode. Despite it's flaws, it moved fast and kept me engaged for the whole hour, as witnessed by the paucity of comments back to
theatregirl7299 during the show.I don't care about Savitar at all and I finally realized why. He's CGI. He's a monster. And despite the channeling through the very talented Tom Felton, I feel nothing for him. Zoom was faceless, but he was terrifying. The Reverse-Flash was a well-built mystery wrapped up into a very charming and attractive package. But Savitar? I'm sure I'll be shocked when I find out who he is. For about five minutes.
I also figured out why I have a hard time falling in love with HR (I want to, I really do). The writers have given us no emotional hooks - no private scenes after his first episode. He's been hanging around for months, relentlessly charming and happy and all I can think is "tears of a clown" - he's got some terrible and sad backstory and we'll never get to hear about it. I kind of understand why HR is being so intensely backgrounded - the writers didn't want a third season where the primary plot was driven by a version of Harrison Wells. But you know what, Season 3 is mostly crap, so maybe it's time to step up the game and either send HR packing and bring Harry back full time, or give us a reason to feel anything for HR other than mild to intense annoyance.
And now I'm out of words.
What are YOUR thoughts?
