The Flash is Born
Recap: Colossus escapes from the Xmen movies to wreck vengeance on DC for having decent TV shows.
Muggle Musings
Oh hey, I had forgotten to write a review of this episode. That should tell you a lot about it. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just so average it’s forgettable. Although I do always love the trope of “they think Flash is running away but actually he’s getting a head start” even if the slow motion punch they used was a bit of cringe-worthy CGI.
There were two big things this episode. First (and in some ways the biggest) was the development of Eddie’s character. See, given that Eddie is currently with the girl that Barry is “supposed” to be with (judging from show structure and comic history, they might yet do something different) that makes him the antagonist to Barry’s protagonist in love. Well too often fiction makes any antagonist an evil person simply because they are opposed to the hero. Thus the romantic rival is often revealed to kick puppies or something in his spare time and hiding it from the lover. In fact I think a large flaw in a lot of modern stories is that the moral status of a person is defined by feelings. How often do we see a person that “everybody likes” except the hero(s) only for it later to be revealed the hero(s) was right and the person was deceiving everyone about how evil they were? Well in real life people can be antagonistic to each other without one of them necessarily being a bad person. A sign of adulthood is learning that you can not like someone, and there’s nothing wrong with you or them. Some personalities are just very incompatible. So yes I appreciate the show allowing Eddie to turn out (well so far) to be a genuinely good guy and decent person even if he’s somewhat opposed to Barry. It makes for a richer and more engaging story.
The other big thing from this episode is that Det. West gets more screentime with Dr. Wells (and both of them are great acting off each other), showing his suspicion, letting us learn more about Wells, and then having the yellow villain make a bold move at the end. By now even those unfamiliar with the comics should consider it pretty obvious that Wells is the yellow Flash but the show might be trying to trick us there (though I still bet that Wells is villainous).
Metahuman Musings
Again nothing big here much for comic fans save the usual pick of names & shout outs and, like I said above, confirming for us that Wells is an evil Flash, the main debate among us is which evil Flash he is. Some say Professor Zoom but my bet is still on [no title] Zoom as his character actions and motivations seem to best fit that.
And of course if you watched the Justice League cartoon, it was hard not to enjoy the moment that Flash ran off to punch a metal man as evocative of a certain crowning moment of awesome.
Power Outage
Recap: Two episodes for the price of one! The cast of mains split up and both groups get trapped in a building by a villain.
Muggle Musings
It never takes long for any comic (or other) story with a super-powered individual to do a “what if they didn’t have their powers!” tale. Though I’ll admit that I was expecting them to go with the villain gaining superspeed after draining Barry so some props to them for not doing the obvious bit.
The parallel stories are interesting and it gives us a chance to see how much Joe & Barry have kind of come to depend on each other when both have to make do without the other. And while it helps to have watched Arrow and seen a bit earlier from the Clock King, I though this episode did a good job of telling the viewers what they needed to know without getting bogged down in continuity.
Though I do wonder about why Wells showed himself as being able to walk to TWO villains, especially when he seemed ready to die to maintain the appearance of paralysis.
Another episode that’s good, but somewhat forgettable.
Metahuman Musings
Ooooo man. If you were a fan that played a drinking game every time there was a reference to the comics this episode, then you’re not reading this because you’re dead from liver failure.
Well we got another look at the paper from the future, which hints so strongly at doing a Crisis on Infinite Earths I’m wondering how they could possibly do it justice on a TV budget. Though if they run with my idea of each channel being an earth (so Arrow & Flash are on “Earth-CW” while Constantine and the mystical heroes are on “Earth-NBC” etc) they could have some hilarious crossover potential.
Then there is the list of names Wells reads off. From TVTropes:
These are the names that Wells mentioned Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man), Al Rostein (Nuklon), Grant Emerson (Damage), Will Everet (Amazing Man), Bea de Costa (Fire), and Ronnie Raymond (Firestorm).
Of course in the Justice League cartoon the Flash (who I think was Wally in that instance) had a thing for Fire so there could be some fun shipping-shout outs down the road. I am quite impressed with how well this show is maintaining quality and consistent entertainment while pandering to us fans.
