Wednesday, April 1, 2015

I guess this is just a Flash blog for now

Not that I mind...Arrow has been solid but nothing feels like it needs to be said yet.  Supernatural has been...sigh, awful since the musical episode.  Crowley's mom should be an interesting foil, but she has yet to really do anything.  She's Endora at best, and she needs to be the next Dick Roman and give this show something to DO.  Walking Dead's finale was a great 90 minutes as long as you can just enjoy it for what it is, and not really require "things" to be happening.  It exposed some flaws, but then painted over them with the really really nice paint that TWD has in its shed.  At least The Wolves are going to be a tangible foe, and Alexandria is a Thing Worth Losing (you know, like the farm and the prison), so next season now has some stakes on the table.

Anyway, The Flash.  Boom.  The great thing about shows based on comics is that there is so much history to draw from without worrying about running out.  Also, a grand tradition of recurring villains.  Flash managed to put me on my ass before the first commercial, as I already thought it was a cool idea to give us the full visual of the Flash on Reverse Flash fight that Lil Barry witnessed when his mom died.  But then, Reverse Flash runs away, can't run anymore, oh and it's not Harrison Wells under the mask.  Whaaaaa?

We got a couple of different stories woven through this episode, and the meaty one was the Origin of Harrison Wells.  After the break, we see that the guy under the mask is actually Eobard Thawne (which makes sense, because he looks a little like Eddie), and Harrison Wells is a nice guy with a wife and a plan to build STAR Labs in the future.  Buuuuut, Eobard is stuck in the past with no connection to the Speed Force (finally!) and so he needs to manufacture a source for Speed Force (aka, Barry) sooner than the original timetable that events happened.  He jams a Future Plot Device into Harrison and sucks his DNA out and morphs into the appearance (and knowledge?) of Harrison.  So actual Harrison Wells is dead, and New Harrison Wells is Eobard Thawne (and Gideon, his helpful sidekick!).  Not gonna lie, I had my hopes up that there would be a way that Actual Harrison Wells could come back and be a good guy (and Tom Cavanaugh could stay on the show forever), but it looks like Wells is gonna be Evil Wells.

Speaking of Evil Wells, Barry has flipped from Wells Defender to Wells J'Accuser, which leads to a LOT of awkward moments as Barry doesn't trust Wells, but kinda has to in order to keep being the Flash.  Much like Wells would like to off Barry but can't because he needs to harvest his speed from him.  And this all comes to head when Wells has to get inside Barry's head, speedster to speedster, and talk him through developing the ability to vibrate/phase/whatever through solid matter.  Barry may have had some doubts, but only Reverse Flash would have that kind of knowledge, and Cavanaugh's read on that monologue was SO GOOD.

Have I gone this far into a review and not even mentioned THE GODDAMN TRICKSTER?  UNF, I loved the CBS Flash series, and Mark Hamill's two appearances at The Trickster were not only highlights of the series, but also formed a lot of the Joker voice from Batman the Animated Series.  There was so much to love: Them using stills from the CBS series when talking about Trickster's original crime spree, the entirety of the scene with Barry and Jesse L. Martin in the jail cell, sniffing the red licorice, the reveal of Son of Trickster, the read on "I am your father", evil monologueing at the mayor's fundraiser, everything.  Bring him back Season 2, I demand it. 

Now we get two weeks before the next new episode, but holy crap that "this season on The Flash" montage at the end!  CW is killing it with their first foray into "superheroes", since Arrow is street level with more stunts than effects, and I am all about whatever spinoff/spinoffs they roll out with Ray Palmer and the gang.  And Rory as Rip Hunter!  Forget about movies, DC is building a TV empire.

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