This week Barry Allen got a case of the yips. After an unfortunate run in with Blackout, he finds himself severely drained, both with his power and his psyche. Apparently even super powers rely on mind over matter.
Grant Gustin keeps up the good job; he’s always likeable, even if he’s a bit whiny sometimes. Though for the most part he’s great. This week he has to be strong without being The Flash, which he does successfully. He shows that he’s going to the moral fulcrum for the show. He’s definitely a paragon of goodness, for now. Keep it up Gustin!
I’m Barry Allen, bad ass in the best lighting.
The secondary characters are pretty solid this week, more so than in past weeks. Tom Cavanaugh really stepped it up. Dr. Wells showed his true colors, even if they are a little on the dark side. His willingness to sacrifice others to protect Barry is not so nice but sacrificing himself is kind of noble. Don’t worry; he’s not dead. As we see he’s actually very desperate to keep Barry alive and keep him speedy. This is one of the few episodes I really felt how Dr. Wells feels, and it’s a good thing. I don’t like how cozy Cisco is to him; I still don’t trust that Cisco. Caitlin, Joe, Iris, and Tony don’t have a lot going on this episode, even if most of them were involved in a hostage situation and Tony has been shot. That’s about all that happens. Oh, but we do get to see that Iris can handle herself.
You know, that I’m no good.
Now for the bad guys, that’s right … two! First we have Blackout, who did not live long enough to get his moniker. He’s a very tragic bad guy. Changed during the particle accelerator incident, he knows his friends died trying to save him, electrocuted trying to perform CPR. Now he hungers for energy constantly and wants revenge of Harrison for the death of his friends. He isn’t completely heartless; Barry has a modicum of success just trying to reason with him. He’s angry, and he’s essentially always constantly dying.
The tragic Blackout. But how cool do his eyes look?!
The other villain is a returning one from Arrow, so that’s neat. We get to see The Clock King again. This time he does his best to escape his police bondage, and he does. He takes a handful of people hostage at the police station in an attempt to escape, including Joe, Iris, and Eddie. He shoots Eddie, by the way. The Clock King is just a fun character; he’s crazy he’s eccentric and is completely out for himself. He might be evil, but he’s just too much fun not to like. And he shoots Eddie Thawne!
Don’t they look like they are in time out right now?
And this:
How does Barry speed up how fast a coffee pot brews?
We hear Dr. Wells acknowledge that Barry reaches his potential when people he cares about are in danger. This isn’t good for someone.
Iris steps up and saves herself; maybe we’ll see her take on a stronger role, which would be good for her character.
Again I am given the feeling that Cisco is a little too close to Dr. Wells, he can’t seem to let Wells go.
We’re reminded that someone is out for Joe, he’s clearly shaken by these threats.
Blackout seems to need energy almost 24/7 it’s been almost a year since the disaster, why hasn’t this come up before?
We lost one of the two meta human bad guys captured alive, I think someone doesn’t want them around.
Hush Comics gives “Power Outage” an A-. I really like where The Flash is headed with character development. Barry is coming out as a true hero, truly looking out for everyone, even old foes. Dr. Wells is becoming a little deeper of a character. I’m dying to see what his ultimate plans are. He sees into the future, he’ll sacrifice anyone to save Barry, and he’s clearly up to something really dastardly.
All pictures belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. They are credited to Diyah Pera.
This week’s The Flash definitely opened up A LOT of doors for the wide range of possibilities going on. While many of the characters remain stagnant in development, the cliffhanger at the end was a shocker. The dialogue is getting better, and overall it looks like they really could squeeze more than a season out of this show. So here are my pros and cons of “The Flash is Born.”
This is a totally meme worthy photo.
Pros:
Cisco Ramon: Dear Cisco Ramon, I love you. You are the quintessential adorkable character. You are better than Sheldon Cooper could ever hope to be. When you geeked out about Barry hitting Mach 1, I geeked out, too. When you were serious about going after your childhood bully, I hoped that it would happen. You are the sole reason I keep coming back every week. Also, your t-shirts rock. Love, Adrian at Hush Comics.
Girder sticks around: Wow! They didn’t kill a character this week. Maybe because they can’t figure out how to kill him, but still. It’s a step.
Iris West when she was little: Is anyone else wishing that Iris West now would have the gall she did as a little girl? She sure wasn’t a damsel in distress when she punched Barry when they were kids. Let’s hope this part of her nature shows up again soon.
Detective Joe West: Ok Joe, I really like you too. Not only are you played by an amazing actor, Jesse L. Martin, but you are the perfect blend of caring father and tough cop. I particularly liked the line, “This particle accelerator is the gift that keeps on giving.” But mostly I enjoyed that you actually did your detective work on Harrison Wells because that guy just ain’t right.
The dark twist: It sounds strange, but I loved that twist at the end. All of Joe West’s work on Nora Allen’s death is stolen by the same meta-human who killed her, and then they left a picture of Iris with a knife sticking through it, in her chest, hanging on the wall. Creepy? Very. But going to a dark place will be good for this show.
Cons:
Barry isn’t the best at this yet: Barry Allen needs a Yoda. Basically, he kind of sucks at this whole superhero thing as of right now. He has killed his fair share of foes, yet feels no remorse, which seems out of character for a man who cares so much about everyone else on the show. And this episode, he risked a lot by running in front of Eddie Thawne and their perp. It is only a matter of time before Eddie figures out that Barry and The Streak/ The Flash are the same guy. Not to mention, that in the fight scene with Tony Woodward/Girder, Barry didn’t tell Iris to run from the scene, and when Barry and Tony were fighting each other with a flag pole, Barry didn’t let go, which would have saved him some damage. The force is weak with this one.
Those special effects: The beginning of the series had some pretty cool special effects. I know that this show is on a network that has a small budget, but with all the talk about the Mach-1 stuff, I was pretty excited for the special effects, but instead felt like I was watching The Flash from the 90’s. Step it up, C-Dub!
Not only is Girder made of steel, he can do bad ass things like flip semi-light shelving units!
Easter Egg Hunt:
Girder, Man of Steel: The baddie of the week was Tony Woodward, aka Girder. He was created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. As in the show, he was in an accident where he fell into molten steel, and then be literally becomes steel. The show added the twist of him being Barry’s grade-school bully. Harrison Wells referred to Girder as “Man of Steel,” a smile-worthy nod to Superman.
Nice of you to show up, Barry: Barry shows up late to work, a habit Barry Allen is known for. Funny considering he is the fastest man alive.
Garrick’s Wharf: Barry and Eddie are led to a microbrewery to look for Girder’s whereabouts. The microbrewery is on Garrick’s Wharf, a reference to the first Flash, Jay Garrick.
Heat Wave is coming: With excitement in her voice, Iris tells Barry not only about The Streak, but about a man who is one fire but doesn’t burn. This is our second reference to Mick Rory aka Heat Wave. We know he is played by Dominic Purcell, but when is he coming is the question?
Predictions:
This episode opened up many different cans of worms. Who is Harrison Wells? What is his past? And does he know about who killed Nora Allen?
Bustle released an article this week with their prediction, which is pretty good. To sum it up, they say that Harrison’s mysterious wife, Tess Morgan, is a meta-human, was the first meta-human, and is a suspect in the murder of Nora. While this would explain a lot of things, it does not explain that the killer is in a yellow suit and has the same power as The Flash. It also does not explain Eddie Thawne’s role in all this. It also doesn’t explain how Harrison has a newspaper from the future.
Tess Morgan maybe presumed dead, but I think she is the time traveler. It has been theorized by many fans that Harrison Wells is traveling time, but we have no evidence of this. In addition, Eddie Thawne seems too nice to be Reverse Flash… yet. It feels like the writers are trying to develop him in the same manner as Lex Luthor in Smallville was developed. So what if Nora’s killer is Reverse Flash aka Eddie Thawne, but current Eddie Thawne doesn’t know who he is in the future? And what if Nora is in the future already and sending information to Wells to orchestrate whatever their master plan is? Cue evil laugh here!
Hush Comics gives “The Flash is Born” an A- for good use of the “side” characters, revealing more about its enigmatic characters, and appealing to the nerds.
All pictures belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. They are credited to Cate Cameron.
I hate to say it, but this week’s episode of The Flash, “Plastique”, did not impress me. Between the reckless amount of murder and attempted murder, the weak writing of the relationship between Iris West and Barry Allen, and Harrison Wells being so obviously immoral, it felt like more of a set back than going forward with the story-telling (other than the revelation about a very famous Flash enemy shown in the last scene).
Every episode of The Flash begins and ends with a voice over monologue by Barry Allen, telling us things he has learned, which is usually charming, but this week, I felt it didn’t really fit in with what the episode was about, albeit, I’m not sure I, or the writers, know what the point of this episode was. Barry talks about his friends, how he met them, and how sometimes friends come and go. He met a potential new friend in Bette Sans Souci, fellow meta-human, his friendship with Caitlin and Cisco remained the same, and he lost a friend in Iris West. However, it wasn’t Barry’s friendships that defined the episode, but I’ll get to that later.
Iris “cheers”ing, but I’m not falling for this girl just yet.
The plot line that was supposed to garner the most emotion was the “break-up” of Barry and Iris. Joe West was very concerned with his daughter’s obsession with the so-called “Streak” and her blog dedicated to him. Because Joe thought it was Barry’s fault that Iris was writing the blog (which it sounds like nobody reads), he makes Barry go talk to Iris at an inopportune time, which only forces her into a further obsession. It seems ridiculous that Joe would be so upset about her hobby, considering that at the beginning of the episode, her name was not attached to it. Barry’s conversation with her made things worse, and she decided to put her name on it. How idiotic! Barry shows up to her work as The Flash, and talks to her, but when she doesn’t relent, Barry goes to talk to her and tells her they can’t hang out anymore. The writing for this episode alone was bad, but it brought up a plot point that is inherently problematic.
Comic fans know Iris West as Barry’s future wife. It still seems as though the show is trying to head in that direction, but in a really roundabout way. In addition, it feels icky that Barry and Iris were raised together like brother and sister. It is understandable that Barry would love her, but their relationship seems too familial. Because of that, it didn’t feel like their “break-up” is going to last long, is heart wrenching, or is worthy of time in the show.
Bette Sans Souci as Plastique. Meta human, therefore, worthless in the eyes of the writers.
The rest of the episode spent time (slightly) focused on its namesake, Plastique herself. Bette Sans Souci, an Iraqi vet who was involved in a car bomb accident in the war, starts making a name for herself by sending explosives at the people who experimented on her, including General Eiling. Bette, aka Plastique, can detonate literally anything with the touch of her hand. She is trying to get information on how she got her powers. When she is found by The Flash and his team, she tells them she thought General Eiling was the one to make her this way. This was another thing about the episode that didn’t make too much sense: if Eiling was experimenting on her before she had her meta human powers, why was she an asset to him? If I’m missing something, let me know.
The most disturbing thing about Plastique’s appearance, other than her bad acting, was the fact that Wells, Cisco and Caitlin were so cavalier about not caring about Plastique’s well-being, despite Barry’s reasoning that she isn’t purposefully hurting anyone. While Cisco has a crush on the pretty meta human, all three S.T.A.R. Labs employees make it crystal clear that she is dangerous and must be stopped. When Wells convinced Plastique to go on a suicide mission of killing General Eiling (again, such a casual attitude towards murder) it became even clearer to the audience that unlike its parent show, Arrow, no one in Central City gives a single *bleep* about people’s lives. The reckless abandon given specifically to meta humans is appalling. It is hard to believe that this would go unnoticed, and that a man like Barry, who is so driven to do good doesn’t see the flaw in killing. Guess he still has yet to meet Batman, so his sense of justice is a little skewed.
Eiling is bad, but is Wells worse?
Speaking of skewed, I am about sick of Harrison Wells. Every episode has given a little teaser into his lies. The pilot episode gave the best tease, but there has been nothing of consequence since. This episode alludes to Wells being bad, something we already knew, but forced the issue with long stares into the camera and ominous music as the camera pans up to his face. While Wells seems to take the high road by breaking ties with Eiling in the flashbacks, Wells reveals he has other plans with SPOILER: Gorilla Grodd. While this is the most progressive moment this week, it still revealed nothing about Wells. It’s time to stop with the small reveals and get to the point.
But perhaps my biggest beef with this episode, and quite possibly the show as a whole, is lack of character development, particularly with the women. Yes, every week I roll my eyes when watching Laurel in Arrow. I don’t really care for Thea. I also think that the writers rely too much on Felicity to be the female voice. However, ALL these women are carefully crafted. None of them are the same woman they were when they entered the show. Currently, only Iris and Caitlin are the female voice in The Flash. While Caitlin is a scientist, she has little to no personality. Iris makes up for the personality, and other than her mission to help Barry solve his mother’s death, she seems incredibly shallow. This week, there was the potential for a really cool female character in Plastique, only for her to be senselessly killed off. Ugh.
And this:
Cisco Ramon saved the episode from being a total wash by appealing to every collector by saying “I have two but I loved that one” when referring to Barry getting his suit blown up.
In an attempt to save a window washer, Barry thinks that stacking up a bunch of mattresses will save him. Part of me wishes he would have tried that instead of running up the building.
How is it that regular humans can handle the high velocity The Flash maintains when he saves them? Wouldn’t they at the least vomit?
Joe West comments that trouble must mean it’s a Tuesday in Central City. Buffy fans rejoiced on the use of that line.
Cisco wanted to test Plastique’s powers with the use of a boomarang. LOL.
Where does Barry live? In his lab thing? That needs to be clarified.
Hush Comics gives “Plastique” a C for its lack of character development, willingness to kill off so many meta humans, and its needless attention to Barry and Iris, who seem to be going nowhere.
Easter Egg Hunt:
Captain Atom: General Eiling is clearly a baddie, but he is also known as The General. He blackmails Nathaniel Adam, aka Captain Atom, into joining an atomic experiment. While Nathaniel is gone, The General Single White Female‘s Nathaniel, stealing his away his wife and kids.
Captain Atom, again: The doctor that Plastique goes to visit is named Dr. Harold Hadley. He was one of the doctors who was part of the Captain Atom experiment team.
Captain Atom, one more time: When the team is looking into Bette Sans Souci, her emergency contact is named Cameron Scott. Cameron Scott is the real name of Nathaniel Adam.
Captain Atom… just kidding! Gorilla Grodd: The episode ends with Wells telling the ape that Wells has plans for him. Gorilla Grodd is one of the more famous Flash villains, only proving further that Wells isn’t the good guy.
All images belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. They are credited to Cate Cameron and Jack Rowland.
When I saw that not only was Captain Cold going to make his first appearance in this week’s episode of The Flash, but that Felicity Smoak was going to be in Central City, I was really excited for “Going Rogue.” But I walked away feeling like this was a mediocre episode. Captain Cold was an awesome villain, and surely will continue to be, but the rest of the story line fell a little flat.
There could be a number of reasons about why this episode felt like it didn’t have enough umph, but Felicity actually summed it up quite well. She told Barry that her group in Starling City didn’t come together overnight and that it took awhile for the trust to be built among the heroes there. It suddenly dawned on me that Barry’s group at S.T.A.R. Labs don’t have a lot of depth. Harrison is mysterious, but unbeknownst to Barry, Caitlin has a bit of a cold heart, and Cisco is the lovable goof. We had a glimpse into Caitlin and Cisco last week, but I still feel like we could get more. It also does seem a little strange that for someone who works for the police department, Barry is so trusting of all three of them. This week they seemed to be filler, and for the group that is supposed to help Barry be the best he can be, they should not be treated as filler.
I may be in the background, but I’ll suck you up!
And is it just me or is there too much emphasis on Iris and Eddie when it seems to be going nowhere. The beginning of the series made it seem like Eddie was about to Single White Female Barry. That story line seems to have dropped and now its all about how often we can see Iris and Eddie kiss, or how their relationship upsets Joe West. I am hopeful that little hint about Eddie not knowing what the freaking Millennium Falcon (who doesn’t know that?!) was during the trivia night scene will bloom into a deeper story for Eddie Thawne. Especially if he really is supposed to be Reverse Flash.
It was hard to tell who was supposed to be taking center stage in this episode, Felicity Smoak or Leonard Snart. As much as I love Felicity, her appearance was a distraction. The Flash has a large cast, many of them we don’t know very well yet, and this week, only four episodes in, Felicity swoops in and takes all the attention away from characters I am interested in getting to know. Felicity comes in to check on her “friend” Barry after he wakes from his coma, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot of story going on. Barry showed off for her, a lot. She wore an array of hot dresses, a lot. And the whole build up was for a kiss at the end, which if you are keeping up with Arrow, was a bit confusing. It felt like the writers were trying to say “Hey Felicity and Barry belong together, but that will never happen. They will kiss to appease fans, but nothing will come of this other than a few crossovers with some quirky lines of dialogue.” I guess I felt gypped because Felicity is an amazing character, and she had some really cute lines in this episode, but she cannot carry both shows. It became even more obvious to me that The Flash needs a strong female to be the “Felicity” and Iris nor Caitlin are able to do that.
Would it be too much to ask that Felicity were on both shows?!
Despite my disappointment with the rest of the episode, I was extremely impressed with Captain Cold. Wentworth Miller is no stranger to the small screen and pulled off the character with ease. Captain Cold is smart, calculating, and ruthless. What’s not to love? He is the first baddie we have met that doesn’t have meta human abilities, which makes him just a little bit scarier. I particularly loved his scene when he talks about how far away police are from each bank and how no one could have gotten to the crime scene so quickly. He clearly is better than the Central City Police Department (minus Joe West) at thinking about who could be saving so many people. And realizing that Barry can’t not saving people and then derailing the train was brilliant. The end was exciting because Captain Cold is starting to assemble The Rogues, what the episode was named after. It looks like Heat Wave will be just the beginning for the group that Barry Allen will have to battle. I love a good bad guy, and I have a feeling Miller’s Captain Cold will be one for the books.
Cool guys always stand in front of fire.
And this:
Barry tests his abilities on his day off by playing ping-pong, timed chess and Operation. Best. Day. Ever.
Harrison Wells is a dick for no reason. (ok, maybe there is a reason)
Cisco made the cold gun (its a freeze ray, people). Maybe we should be focusing more on his capabilities because that is pretty badass.
Barry finally thought that calling himself The Flash was a good idea.
The show still doesn’t take itself too seriously *cough Gotham cough*. The exchange between Barry and Iris about telling her about police work was fas and fun, and what other shows need to do.
Barry’s shoes finally caught on fire.
Felicity referenced Arrow on his salmon ladder, because, yes please.
Cisco really won the day by using a vacuum. I only hope my Dyson can win my day.
Hush Comics gives “Going Rogue” a B-, for relying on the cuteness of Felicity to pull the story, lack of depth in any of the main characters, but for Wentworth Miller making a freeze ray look so deliciously evil.
Easter Egg Hunt:
Things will be warming up in Central City: As mentioned before, the end scene shows Captain Cold recruiting a man named Mick to join his cause. Mick can be assumed to be Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave, one of the main Rogues and nemesis of The Flash. In addition, he is played by Dominic Purcell, who was Wentworth Miller’s co-star on Prison Break.
Ooooo, Shiny!: The diamond that Captain Cold was trying to steal was the Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond. Kahndaq happens to be where Black Adam is from.
Diggle: Ok, Diggle wasn’t in this episode, but his old security firm was. The armored vehicle holding the Kahndaq Dynasty Diamond was a Blackhawk Squad Security car.
Street names always matter!: Crime always happens at a cross street. This week was 4th and Kolins, a nod to The Flash artist Scott Kolins.
Night at the Museum: The curator who calls the police about Leonard Snart being at the museum was wearing a name tag that read “Dexter Myles.” Mr. Myles happens to be the man who opens the Flash Museum.
All pictures belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. The are credited to Cate Cameron.
Hush Comics 