The Flash Review – “Grodd Lives” S1E21

Gorilla Grodd is in the house, you guys! We’ve been waiting for this initial showdown ever since the pilot aired. Eobard Thawne continues his descent from the alias of Harrison Wells, while Caitlin and Cisco learn how to function without a mentor. All the while, Iris learns how to make an episode all about her.

Pros:

Alternate narrative: Like last week’s Arrow, The Flash begins with a different introduction of our hero. This time, it’s Iris who gives the nifty little spiel. It works really well given the circumstances, and it’s just about the only positive thing Iris brings to the entire episode.

Cisco and Caitlin at play: With Wells out of the picture, and no drama to distract them from each other, these genius scientists are a joy to watch interact with each other. No looming bad guy scientist to tell them their jokes are stupid or dampen the mood means Caitlin and Cisco’s personalities can run free. Wells’ absence (and lack of pointers) also means that Cisco will have to be more resourceful with his gadgetry. Remember, the first rule of Mechanical Engineering: never waste good tech.

The movie references: Cisco is usually on point with his film references during each episode, but this was an All-Star performance right here. From Jurassic Park to King Kong, he hits it on the nose each time. It might have come off as excessive to a lot of viewers, but it was the nice, nerdy supplement to all the mush going on with Iris. Cisco is a nerd’s nerd, and we all love him for it.

Good Grodd almighty: Grodd is terrifying. He’s completely CGI’ed, which was to be expected, but he was used sparingly enough that if you weren’t staring him in the face, you were constantly looking around to see where he could be. I loved the failed sonic punch and the futile efforts to punch the Grodd. It made him a believable formidable opponent – and a problem that won’t go away for a while. Also interesting, we know that Grodd loves Wells, but he’s not an outright bad guy, sort of like Koba was in the first Planet of the Apes. You have a certain sympathy for him, and it doesn’t make the “heroes” any more heroic by encroaching on him.

Wells is… mean: I know the facade is up, but jumping Jesus, he is so mean! He tears Eddie’s self-esteem down to shreds, and caps it off with the whole “oh yeah, and Iris doesn’t even love you” thing. I personally love that Wells/Eobard Thawne is becoming the egotistical a-hole that we want the Reverse-Flash to be, and Tom Cavanagh is portraying him very well. Eddie is just a nice guy, and I’m curious how his psyche will change after being caged up by this mad man.

Cons:

Iris: She’s one of the worst characters on TV today. To me, she’s Season 1 of Arrow Laurel. She’s not quite Gotham‘s Barbara Keane, but she’s on the same totem pole of badly-written characters whose reactions are full of narcissism and bad timing. Unfortunately, a majority of this otherwise solid episode is spent with Barry pandering to her emotional needs. It’s so frustrating to watch a show revolving around a relationship I hope never happens. Things could change, and they obviously will if we’re ever supposed to root for the West-Allen thing, but it’s hard when Caitlin and Felicity have already proven to be better matches for Barry than Iris has.

Who pays for this?: What’s the deal with STAR Labs? Who pays the lease? Who pays Cisco and Caitlin? Why is nobody worrying about security? What the hell is going on?

Easter Eggs:

Rainbow Raider: Barry’s off-handed remark about this guy in full riot gear being the “Rainbow Raider” sounded weird to me, especially since he was dressed in all black and a gold mask. Well, the Rainbow Raider is a Flash character from the 80’s who dressed in a rainbow suit, and used intensely colored beams of light to defeat his enemies. Yeah, I’m glad they went with the riot gear.

No nanners: The Grodd I grew up with, from the Justice League cartoons, also HATES bananas.

Heartbeat: While Joe is lying in the hospital bed, talking with Iris, his heart monitor machine has some weird 3D display to it. Upon closer investigation, there are just two lines spiking – one red, one yellow. It might be coincidence, but that could signify the impending face-off between The Flash and Reverse-Flash.

Curious George: I’ve been wondering why they still sometimes refer to Reverse-Flash as “The Man in Yellow,” and here’s an idea. In Curious George, his owner’s name is The Man in the Yellow Hat. It fits perfectly with Eobard’s new pet monkey, Grodd. Not really an Easter Egg, but a fun observation. Also unrelated, did anybody else notice how close “I Am Grodd” sounds like “I Am Groot?”

Street names: Okay, again on the far-fetched theories: 5th Ave and 10th Street…. what if it’s a reference to The Flash: Rebirth, which was released in May of 2010. Rebirth was an interesting book about the return of Barry Allen (he dies in the comic books during Crisis on Infinite Earths, no biggie), and the Reverse-Flash’s admission to murdering Nora Allen and framing his dad. I’m probably reading too much into this, but it fits, so why not?

Predictions:

What was that gold for?: Safe to say that Grodd wasn’t stealing gold to make himself a shiny necklace. I’m no expert on the metal, but I do know it is an excellent conductor for computers and other science machines. Maybe Grodd is on his way to making a mind control device for a larger audience.

Why reboot the particle accelerator?: Here’s a crazy idea. Eobard Thawne is going to use Barry’s compulsion to save everybody against him. He’s going to activate it, tell Barry that the only way to stop it is to turn back time. The reactor core is shaped like a giant donut, so he could do it that way – or, to make comic book fans happy, he could use the treadmill. Thawne will then run alongside Barry, allowing him to use the Speed Force to return home. There are a lot of holes to this idea, but it’s the best thing I could come up with.

Free Will vs. Destiny: Obviously, Barry is going to live to see next season. With all that the group knows, what’s stopping Eddie from just never having children (or taking his own life)? There is just too much out in the open now for them to question whether or not they can change the world. And having Gideon stowed away in the time vault won’t make that any easier. That is, unless CW decides to just go back in time and erase everybody’s memories. Time travel is confusing.

Line of the Week:

An undercover ice cream truck may be the dumbest idea in police history if they want to remain conspicuous, but when the officer tells the mom looking for ice cream that if the music is playing, “Yeah, it means we’re out,” I couldn’t help but laugh.

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Hush Comics gives “Grodd Lives” an B+ for doing everything right, in spite of a Barry-Iris mushfest. With a team-up for the ages coming next week, don’t miss out!

All images belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. The are credited to Cate Cameron..

The Flash Review – “Plastique” S1S5

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.

The Flash Review – “City of Heroes” S1E1

After months of waiting, The CW’s new series, The Flash, finally streaked across the small screen last night. For those not familiar with Barry Allen, AKA The Flash, he is a forensics scientist in Central City. He has obsessively been trying to prove his father’s innocence of his mother’s murder, and Detective West, who had taken Allen in after the tragedy, thinks that what Barry saw the night his mother died was a hallucination. After the success of Arrow, and the positive reception Allen (Grant Gustin) received from his cameo in Arrow‘s Season 2 episode, “The Scientist,” CW quickly green-lit a solo series for the Fastest Man Alive.

Rest assured, that was a really, really good idea. Like Oliver Queen before him, choosing a hero that everybody knows of, but that not many know intimately, has become the secret formula that nobody but The CW has seemed to figure out yet. From the get-go, we’re introduced to The Flash with the promo clip we saw months ago in a way that is completely reminiscent of Andrew Garfield’s voiceover in Amazing Spider-Man. The more I thought about it,  and the more we get to know Barry Allen, the more I realize that he is the Peter Parker of the DC world: he jokes all the time, he’s a goofy science kid, tragedy has left him with surrogate parents (although that doesn’t exactly narrow it down in the comic book world) and his heart of gold is his most endearing quality.

Barry Allen before the storm.

Fanboys will be instantly drawn to The Flash, as there are a profusion of Easter Eggs. And I mean real Easter Eggs, not the crap we get in Gotham. The tidbits we get in the pilot episode here are not shoved down our throat and they don’t take anything away from the enjoyment of the show – whether you’ve read Flash books or not. I will list out some of the more subtle ones we think are important (warning: there may be spoilers) after the reflection. Easter Eggs aside, this is one show that you can watch with absolutely no precursor. The events of the last Arrow episode Allen appeared in are fully explained here, so there is no need to catch up on Starling City’s happenings to understand what going on in Central City – although Steven Amell makes a much-anticipated cameo here to give Allen the proverbial thumbs-up. The particle accelerator that genius physicist Harrison Wells put into motion underwent catastrophic failure, causing Barry’s accident – being struck by lightening. Barry goes into a coma and wakes up nine months later in S.T.A.R. Labs with superpowers and super-abs. Count me in!

The Flash is why people come to the show, but they will stay for the supporting characters. There was not a single character that I felt was: out of place, over-acting or ridiculous in nature – and for a CW show, that says a lot. Arrow has fallen victim to the patented “Laurel gaping stare” far too many times to count, yet the swooning love interest here, Iris West, is a strong and rational character that makes decisions based on merit, and she is not a damsel in distress. Meanwhile, the S.T.A.R. Labs assistants, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, add both comedic relief and a staunch sense of tragedy – and Harrison Wells (played by Tom Cavanagh, or as I called him throughout the episode, “J.D.’s brother in Scrubs“) adds a bit of flavor to the show as well. Everything seems amazing at first, but there are stones left unturned, sideways glances between the S.T.A.R. Labs guys, and thanks to an insane reveal at the end, a lot of withheld information.

Barry’s Gang: Harrison Wells, Cisco Ramon, and Caitlin Snow

As it turns out, the storm caused by the particle accelerators explosion gave not only Barry Allen his powers, but what turns out to be scores of unknowns, as well. Among them is Clyde Mardon, known in the comics books as the deceased brother of the Weather Wizard. We can still tell, by the reaction of the news station and Detective West, that “meta-humans” are not of mainstream knowledge yet, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of The Flash’s rogues gallery pans out. Mardon is a great villain, who is callous in action and has a piercing hate stare that was convincingly frightening.

Cinematically, The Flash owns up to the source material and then some. Barry is not just a forensics assistant, but a damn good one. Thanks to some sweet effects, we are able to see inside the cogs turning inside the mind of a forensics scientist – C.S.I, eat my shorts. There are also some great Jesse Pinkman “Yeah! Science!” moments of the episode that assure me that I did not spend $80k on an engineering degree for nothing. Speaking of Breaking Bad, it seems that the idea of adding a filter to flashbacks has been adopted for The Flash, as well; as far as we are concerned, any show whose cinematography is inspired from the greatest show in history is alright in my book. From the slow-motion effects to the camera angle when Mardon robs the bank, it’s evident early on that CW is willing to put their money where their mouth is about making this show work.

The show borrows elements from its predecessors without feeling like a carbon copy; it actually helps connect the viewers to a show that they are already familiar with. For example, Iris’ position in the coffee shop is warmly nostalgic of Lana Lang’s job in Smallville. And Cisco’s extremely nerdy yet adorable demeanor (check out his awesome collection of t-shirts. Bazinga!) make you think he and Felicity from Arrow would make the cutest couple ever. Going back to the Spider-Man comparisons, there’s even a bit of a Captain Stacy thing going on with Detective West (doom ahead for West?). As much as the show combines different elements, it stands alone as a show about The Flash. Barry Allen is charming and funny, and the story is as true to the spirit of the character as I’ve seen on any television show so far. Now, that could have a lot to do with the fact that DC Comics legend Geoff Johns is credited as the series co-creator and executive producer. Johns has written some classic Flash material, and has been a contributor to almost a decade of DC/WB television. With him at the helm, there is absolutely no reason to worry about substance in the story going forward.

Barry and Iris chumming it up… without the “Laurel” gaze.

Hush Comics gives The Flash pilot, “City of Heroes” an A for its refreshing and accurate portrayal of one of the funnest characters in the DC Universe. While it was packed with little secrets for DC fanboys, it only slightly pulls back the curtain on the world of the man who is saving people in a flash. The pilot gives us plenty to look forward to in Season 1, and even though The Flash has one of the weaker rogues gallery in the DCU, we are looking forward to him and his band of merry misfits to thwart any danger that comes their way.

 

Easter Egg Hunt

Where is CSI?: You may recognize Jesse Martin, who plays Detective Joe West on The Flash, as Detective Ed Green from Law & Order. Martin played Green for almost ten years before leaving to tour with RENT as Tom Collins.

Grodd dammit!: While touring the remains of the S.T.A.R. Labs facility, Harrison Wells and Barry Allen pass a cage that has been broken open from the inside with the label “Grodd,” presumed to belong to Gorilla Grodd, a savage ape with far-superior intellect. That could probably come back to haunt them.

Who is the real Weather Wizard?: In the comic books, Clyde Mardon was a scientist that had discovered a way to control the weather, only to suffer a “heart attack” in his home. His brother Mark, who had escaped from prison, “found” Clyde’s notes and decided to use them to become the Weather Wizard. In the show, Clyde, who has seen Allen’s face, was conveniently shot and killed by West at the end of the episode. I’m predicting that Clyde could not have been the only Weather Wizard, who is a prominent villain of Flash’s. Who was flying the plane that Clyde escaped in? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his brother, Mark.

Ferris Air: Green Lantern Hal Jordan got his not-so-humble beginnings as an ace pilot for Ferris Air. The appearance of this could mean that the Emerald Guardian is due to make an appearance on the show sooner or later. Allen and Jordan have always shared a great relationship (as have Jordan and Green Arrow, Oliver Queen), but I’m willing to bet that this was more of a shout-out to Geoff Johns, whose tenure on Green Lantern made him one of DC’s most popular heroes.

DC’s Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon: Oh yeah, that exists. Google that shit. DC is somewhat obsessed with the number 52. Listen and watch carefully, because this episode is littered with references to the magic number 52.

The Thawne Song: Thawne-Th-Thawne-Thawne-Thawne: Perhaps one of The Flash’s most formidable foes, Eobard Thawne is a time-traveling anti-Flash. There’s a big secret about him that you can find out by reading Flashpoint (one of my favorite graphic novels!), but just know that his guy is bad news. It would seem that his TV alter ego is Eddie Thawne, who has managed to steal Iris away from Barry, reads Barry’s blog on the regular and manages to know everything about Barry as it happens. There’s gotta be something to this “new guy” than meets the eyes.

Trying to resist the Impulse for puns… and failing: Before letting Allen test his full speed, he straps on two lightning-studded earpieces to his helmet to help resist sonic booms, or “battlefield impulse noise.” Kid Flash, Barry’s grandson from the future, has also gone by the name Impulse.

Don’t piss off the help: Allen’s companions at S.T.A.R. Labs correlate to fellow “meta-humans” in the DCU. In the comics, Cisco Ramon is Vibe, part-time breakdancer and full-time ass-kicker with the ability to emit shock waves. And Caitlin Snow is Killer Frost (there have been several Killer Frosts, but Snow is the most recent one), a not so nice villain that absorbs heat and spits it back out as cold. Caitlin already looks to be on the path to permanent piseed-offedness, so we might see her turn even more of a cold shoulder to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Just where is Starling City?: Luckily for us, almost every damn state in the country has a Central City. In the comics, it is referred to being in the middle of the country, from Ohio to Chicago to Missouri. However, when Allen takes a trip to Starling City in the show, Arrow says that it is just 600 miles away (lol “only”). We have previously thought Starling to be a West coast city (San Fran, Seattle) or an East coast city (Connecticut, Massachutesetts), but from this reference it looks like the most fitting location for Starling City must be something like Minneapolis. As many times as I’ve traveled there in the books, I realize that I have no idea where I’m going.

Legacy: The man that plays Henyr Allen, Barry’s father, was the star of the 1990’s Flash series. John Wesley Shipp does a great job here, which we can only assume was due to 25 years of practice.

Heroes raining from the sky: It looks as though the particle accelerator’s failure caused meta-humans to pop up left and right across the city, and that is the logical approach they will take to explain all these super-heroes and villains to emerge. It is an approach that reminds me of how the video-game DC Universe Online was explained, where nanobots were dropped around the world that gave people random powers all over the globe to help combat Brainiac’s invasion.

The “FUTURE”: Oh man, wasn’t that knowledge bomb at the end just spectacular? Just who the heck is this Harrison Wells guy and what horror does the future (spooky voice) hold? There are a few theories floating around, and thanks to the inclusion of time travel, the possibilities are endless:

Theory 1: Either Eddie Thawne is a smoke screen and Wells (who is not a real character on his own) is the real Reverse Flash, or Wells is related to Reverse Flash somehow. In the books, Eobard’s son, Thaddeus, becomes the villain Inertia. This is unlikely in the show since Wells looks considerably too old to be Eddie’s son, but with time travel, there are no rules.

Theory 2: Another DC magic word, “CRISIS,” insinuates that there will be some event relating to the book Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Barry Allen sacrifices himself to save the universe. As epic as this would be to see on TV, I feel that DC would want to avoid something as spoilerific as that.

My theory: Perhaps… Harrison Wells IS Barry Allen. The headline reads that The Flash has disappeared; this could be a literal translation, implying that he has traveled back in time. His insistence on testing Barry’s reaction early on in the goal of “unlocking mysteries,” his attempts to keep Barry from crime-fighting and his eventual encouragement suggests a personal investment in Barry; his hopeful glances at the paper ten years from now to see if circumstances have change further reinforce the theory that he is a good guy, contrary to the eerie music playing.

All photos belong to DC Entertainment.