Flash - 1x02 Fastest Man Alive - Review

Positive Energy is the best fuel

Shortly after embracing himself as "The Flash," Barry soon discovers that his powers may come with a setback. While this is going on, Detective Joe West questions whether or not having Barry act as a vigilante is a good thing for the city. That thought couldn't have been settled sooner as a new metahuman makes his presence known to Central City.

The main thrust of this episode focuses on the relationship between Barry and Joe, his surrogate father. While I'm not surprised that the "you're not my father," story was going to happen, I did not expect it to be this soon. But given the situation, it makes sense. Joe has continually tried to influence Barry to be a positive role model, while at the same time keeping his actions within the restraints of the law. The thing is, since Barry has gained his powers he feels he can help people. And since he knows how the law works, he doesn't feel he is breaking the law. It really does boil down to an interesting dynamic of who is right and who is wrong. Both of them give good arguments, with Joe's being the strongest in that just because Barry is fast doesn't mean he can stay fast. 

As this episode was so generous to point out, Barry's powers are not infinite. Caitlin and Dr. Wells make it clear to Barry that all of his energy to run fast has to come from somewhere. Which is where science comes in. Now it should be no surprise that he requires a ridiculous amount of food in order to keep running, which is why he has the tendency of crashing in this episode. It was good that the showrunners and writers point out immediately that he is not invincible, because it would pretty much take the drama out of him being in tight situations. This allows for some extra character interactions with the S.T.A.R. labs team, particularly Caitlin and Dr. Wells. Caitlin is extremely against Barry doing extracurricular activities out of fear that something can go wrong, whereas Dr. Wells seems to be more about allowing him to do what he does as long as he knows his limits. Cisco on the other hand just loves the idea of Barry being a Superhero. And the city definitely needs one.

Enter Multiplex, a metahuman who has the ability to make exact copies of himself. This way he is able to rob people in an extremely efficient manner. He proves to be a formidable opponent, especially one who is capable of taking on The Flash. While his backstory is definitely a sympathetic one, he really serves as the first test to Barry's limits, as well as the limits of the police force. Because only with him are Barry and Detective Joe able to come to terms with needing each other, not just as family but as protectors of the law. If anything it helps point out the weakness of both these characters. Barry may possess a lot of optimism, but if people begin to doubt him, that doubt may cause him to lose grasp of that optimism. Joe on the other hand is over protective of Barry and is afraid of letting him get hurt, especially now that he has these powers that could bring Barry into more danger. In the end, it is the mutual trust that they have with each other that keeps Barry going. And that is really the only power source he needs. Well, that and the modified protein bars that Cisco made for Barry.

Despite all these trappings of the usual testing the limits and questioning of family, it is still a solid episode that continues to be a blast of fun. It really is akin to the feeling of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. And that is not a bad thing. Though it would be nice if we get a little bit more of the mystery surrounding Dr. Wells. That is, if he is really Dr. Wells. Hopefully more answers will come soon. But till then, at least we'll be entertained along the way.

SCORE: 8.5/10 - An entertaining romp that takes care of establishing Barry's weakness

STATUS: Continue to Watch - Probably the most entertaining superhero show ever

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Arrow - 3x02 Sara - Review

And the mighty have fallen...

Continuing directly where the last episode left off, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) has been killed. The Black Canary is dead. Oliver Queen and his team use their resources to avenge their friend. Laurel Lance begins her journey to possibly taking on the mantle of her fallen sister. 

Just when fans believe that Sara will always be there to save the day, they were wrong. While it is a known fact among comic book fans that Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance is the true Black Canary, they could not have predicted when exactly she will become the warrior her sister is. Many probably predicted that it was going to be this season when she will begin her journey, but no one could've predicted that it would start at the end of this season's opener. It was a genuinely shocking moment that definitely had repercussions to the entire cast of Arrow. Felicity suffers the most after seeing the person she believed to be ultimate embodiment of female power get put down so easily. And it doesn't help that Oliver appears to not feel anything for Sara's death.

While Roy and Diggle are definitely affected by Sara's death, they do dedicate most of their time into finding out who is responsible. It is this sign of emotion that automatically makes Oliver's expression very noticeable. He seems to be emotionally attached. His body language says he's affected, but his face tells a different story. It is shown even from how his voice has slightly changed into a more deeper and authoritative voice. He is determined to find out who did this to her, yet he is under the impression that he has to be the one who remains level headed because he's in charge. However this greatly affects his relationship with Felicity, who doesn't seem to be able to comprehend why Oliver is being emotionless about Sara's death. While it does make sense from a character standpoint, especially given how far Oliver has evolved into the hero he is, it makes sense for him to be this way. But it does not make sense to Felicity why he would not be an emotional wreck after losing someone he possibly was in love with. The flashback plot in Honk Kong may have offered some answers, but in honesty, it wasn't very well thought out.

While in captivity in Hong Kong, Oliver was able to activate his e-mail account, alerting his friend Tommy Merlyn to go to Hong Kong to search for his missing friend. While it was great to see Colin Donnel return in the flashback plot, it really didn't seem to offer anything new that we didn't already know about Oliver. This part of the story involves Oliver being tasked by Amanda Waller to kill Tommy because she can't allow anyone to discover that he's alive yet. It does show how much he cares about his friends and how he is willing to find alternative means in order to keep them alive. The problem is, this flashback plot would've worked better if it could've somehow tie in to what is going on in the main plot. Usually they do, and I'm sure the flashback plot was meant to show that he does care about all his friends. But it probably didn't match up with the main plot of the episode as the writers hoped. Therefore the one who really has to drive the emotional part of the main plot falls to Laurel.

This episode is really ground zero for Laurel. As I've stated before, it is no surprise that she will become Black Canary, and this episode pretty much solidifies it. She may have basic self defense training and learned a thing or two from Sara, but this is the first time we actually see her taking on a more vigilante stance. From her emotional breakdown in wanting to blame this week's villain for Sara's death, to how she went about interrogating suspects by taking advantage of their injuries, it is clear that she knows what path she wants to take now. But really the emotional weight that falls on her is having to tell her father that his youngest daughter has died once again. Except this time, she really is dead. But given the way that Captain Lance is dealing with a heart issue, Laurel feels that knowing about Sara's death would be too much for him to handle. So really, the only option for her is to strive to become like Sara. Only time will tell if she will succeed. Because even though comic fans know her path, that doesn't mean this show will remain faithful to that. Otherwise we would've never have Sara taking the mantle of Black Canary. There are plenty of twists and turns for this series to go, even though the road ahead seems like an obvious one.

SCORE: 8.7/10 - A major turning point for Laurel and a nice return of Tommy Merlyn

STATUS: Continue to Watch - When things get worse, it gets more entertaining

Review of Previous Episode - CLICK HERE

Green Arrow - 3x01 The Calm - Review

The Calm before The Storm

The CW's breakout superhero hit continues its hot streak with this phenomenal season 3 opener. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) continues fighting the good fight as "The Arrow," alongside his fellow teammates: John Diggle (David Ramsey), Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and the now fully fledged Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) as Arsenal. A new threat emerges from two fronts. One is the return of a familiar foe but with a new face (Peter Stormare) while the other (Brandon Routh) threatens very charmingly to take over Oliver's company.

This season opener starts with a bang. A really big one. It is a high speed case of grand theft auto showing Team Arrow taking down an eighteen wheeler in stylish superhero fashion. It is a great way to start the season and also surprisingly a really nice way of letting new viewers know who each character is and what they can do. You got Stephen Amell as our title character, Arrow, better known as Oliver Queen. He is still the efficient vigilante that he was in the past two seasons and it doesn't seem like he's going to stop being efficient anytime soon. But speaking of efficiency, we now have Colton Haynes really in sync with the team now as Arsenal, better known as Roy Harper. I refer to him as Arsenal mainly because this show doesn't seem to want to call him Red Arrow or Speedy, the actual superhero names of his character in the comics. Harper has is own red rendition of Queen's costume, which honestly looks a little bit more badass than Queen's. And of course you got David Ramsey's John Diggle, the veteran of the team and actual war veteran. While he has been a major part of the team in the past two seasons, Queen seems to be relegating Diggle to tasks that would keep him out of approximate danger. Which makes sense given that Diggle has a baby on the way, and Queen doesn't want a child to grow up without a father. Diggle is of course resentful of this at first, but in the end, he understands that Queen is right. However, Queen also acknowledges that Diggle is still an essential part of the team, and should help with what he can.

But what about that last teammate that fangirls of the show have been using as their conduit to have fantasies with Oliver Queen? Emily Bett Rickards returns as the lovable geeky tech girl, Felicity Smoak. Or as I like to call her, the hottest girl in the main cast when she takes her glasses off and lets her hair down. The lovable dork and awkward conversationist has been the subject of many fangirls wanting her Felicity and Oliver to get together, a subject referred to as Olicity. Well, this season didn't beat around that bush for too long. The season opener deals with the possibility of Oliver and Felicity becoming a couple as Oliver asks her out on a date within the opening minutes of the episode. I can already imagine the twitter stream from fangirls exploding, and maybe some fanboys too. While as a comic book fan I know this won't last because after all, destiny has already decided in the comic books that it will always be Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance as the definitive couple for the series. However, it was good for the show to address this right away. Because I mean, how long can someone dangle a maybe in front of someone's face? See what I did there?

Speaking of Katie Cassidy's Laurel Lance, she seems to be doing a lot better. She's once again a working attorney and now that she knows Oliver's extracurricular activities, she is taking the fight against crime to whole new level. The way Laurel puts it to Oliver is he bags them and she finishes them, through actual legal work. There wasn't much for her to do in the episode besides establish that her and Oliver are now on good terms compared to the events of last season. And things seem to be pretty good for them so far. However it does bring up her concern for her father, Captain Quentin Lance played by Paul Blackthorne. Last time Quentin was seen, he was a disgraced officer who suffered a really bad heart attack. Now he has reestablished himself and is promoted to Captain. On top of that, he also acknowledges the Arrow and his team as members of the police department, therefore canceling any anti-vigilante investigation teams. I hope this is permanent because that storyline would officially get old if it carried into this season. While Quentin seems to be fine, he does still have a really bad heart after taking a beating from one of Deathstroke's soldiers last season. Laurel is obviously concerned, but Quentin shows that he's not going to give up being what he is. Especially when new criminals are on the rise.

One of those criminals is Werner Zytle played by Peter Stormare. Comic book fans would recognize that name as the true identity of Count Vertigo. Now, there has been a character in the past two seasons of Arrow who went by the name of The Count played by Seth Gabriel. That character has now officially died last season, and was essentially meant to serve as The Arrow's counterpart for The Joker. This new Count, as he calls himself, actually has the name of his comic book counterpart, but not the royalty attached. No, the show's Count Vertigo is once again just a drug dealer who deals with the drug Vertigo, but that is perfectly fine. Stormare's portrayal is more like Heath Ledger's Joker than how Gabriel previously portrayed the character. This count's tactics are simple and straight forward: kill all the competition and The Arrow first then deal later. It definitely mirrors aspects from Christopher Nolan's Batman films, particularly the new dosage of Vertigo that the New Count uses which has effects similar to the Scarecrow's fear toxin. One could even call this entire season opener a big mash up tribute to Nolan's films, but it works out well for them in establishing a new Count and having Oliver confront his fears.

Unfortunately for Oliver, while he does have his fears to conquer on the vigilante side, the business side of things are just as shaky. Enter a very charismatic Ray Palmer played by former Superman, Brandon Routh. It's always nice to see Brandon Routh appear in something, mainly because I do believe the guy is a terrific actor who was brought down by a mediocre film carrying an iconic name. His outing as Ray Palmer, better known to comic book fans as the original shrinking superhero The Atom, shows off his best performance yet. He's everything a rich billionaire doctor and hacker would be, which shines a light on how far more serious Oliver has become since the past two seasons. From Palmer, we see a charismatic optimistic hero who just happens to be robbing the show's hero of what he needs to survive. Oliver seems to have lost some of that charisma, as it shows when the board members of Queen Consolidated favor Palmer and his plans of changing Starling City to Star City, a great nod to the comic fandom. It will be interesting to see more of Routh's character and if he will eventually become the shrinking man his character is known for in the comics.

If there is one thing about the show that I failed to mention, it is the flashback sequences that this show is known for. It deals with Oliver's time in Hong Kong after being saved by Amanda Waller. There wasn't much in these flashbacks as they were mainly used to set up two character who will become prominent later. One of them is Tatsu Yamashiro played by The Wolverine star, Rila Fukushima. Comic book fans will know her as the woman who becomes the assassin, Katana. How she ties in to Oliver's backstory has yet to be seen.

There is a surprise appearance by Caity Lotz as Black Canary. It is a brief appearance but is also the most talked about appearance in the entire episode.

With an ending like that, and the production values in the action stepping up to play, this show continues to be the best among the live action superhero shows on television right now. Welcome back, Emerald Archer!

SCORE: 9/10 - An excellent start to what should be an incredible season

STATUS: Continue to Watch - Here's hoping for more craziness to come

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The Flash - 1x01 Pilot - Review

"Run, Barry, RUN!"

I can't believe that was an actual line in this show.

After a freak accident in Central City's S.T.A.R. Labs causes unknown elements to explode onto the Earth, Barry Allen gets struck by lightning generated by these mysterious elements. And in the process, discovers that he has been changed in ways that he could never possibly imagine. But he is not the only one. In fact, someone from his past may also have been created by this power. But this is just the first step in his journey in becoming The Scarlet Speedster: THE FLASH!

Having been a huge fan of Arrow, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this new show. When Grant Gustin makes his first appearance in Arrow, for some reason I had a really huge smile on my face. He's an honest guy, and has a lot of trouble getting to places on time. While that does seem like hitting the point that he's too slow a little bit too much, there is something charming about how Gustin plays it. He probably knows it is cliche, but he sells it with this lovable charm. Which is exactly what The Flash needs.

The episode starts off by showing us a little about Barry's past with the murder of his mother and his father being accused of her murder. As comic book fans know, this is a defining moment in Barry's life as it is what made him want to join the police force. But unlike Batman who becomes a menacing and disturbed person, Barry grows up to be the complete opposite. Which is what makes him a fascinating character as he pretty much had a really traumatic moment in his life that indirectly leads him to become a superhero, but it didn't turn him to the dark side like Bruce Wayne. In fact, he can almost be viewed as a more optimistic Batman, but with superpowers. The comparison really comes from the fact that he's actually a pretty good detective stuck as a Forensics Scientist. His way of deducing things is akin to the way Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes does in the show, Sherlock. While it is an obvious rip off from that show, it is used well here in order to sell the point that he is really smart, if only he was a little more focused.

What is also established at the beginning is his relationship with the West family. Detective Joe West played by Jesse L. Martin acts as Barry's surrogate father as well as his boss at the prescient. Their relationship is pretty much one you would expect. He's the caring father figure who can be stern at times, especially since he is doubling as Barry's boss. It is a nice cliche relationship that will hopefully develop more in the future. But then of course there is Joe's daughter, Iris West played by Candice Patton. So far all that is known about her character is that she's been best friends with Barry since they were children, with their relationship being almost brother and sister like after Barry moved in with them. But as comic fans all know, Barry wants to be more than just a friend with Iris. It is made painfully obvious here, and as always in these shows and comic based properties,  she just wants to stay friends.

Now that all of that backstory is established in the first few minutes, we get the big moment when a freak accident at S.T.A.R. labs goes horribly wrong, resulting into Barry getting struck by lightning. Luckily for us, when Barry wakes up, he's already out of his coma. And from here we are properly introduced to characters that fans of Arrow have seen before and a character who was briefly introduced at the start of the show. They are Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco Roman (Carlos Valdes). The trio of scientists are pretty much all that remains of the Central City S.T.A.R. Labs research team.  Dr. Wells is now confined to wheelchair after surviving the accident. As far we know, he has no powers...yet. Comic book fans will recognize the names Snow and Cisco as character who will get superpowers eventually. When that will happen, I hope not in this season. Given how the writers of Arrow have been good about making characters their comic book counterparts at the right moment, I have faith that we will see some good development for these characters before they get any powers. But till then, they have to help Barry learn the limits of his powers, as well as provide him with a really cool suit that won't burn off when he runs.

But given that this is the first episode of a superhero show, there has to be a villain. And the one that this show gets to show off is the Weather Wizard. Having this character as your big opener and a character like the Flash as your star, this Pilot was designed for the sole purpose of showing off what can be done on TV. And it is amazing. While it is obviously not as refined as the effects you'd see in feature length films, this is some incredible work. When Weather Wizard unleashes his tornado and thunder powers against The Flash, it really is an amazing feat on TV. It is amazing that we are now living in an age that TV can compete with movies, especially in the effects department. This really was a great way of showing off, despite the fact that Weather Wizard was just the villain of the week without any character development at all. He is just an excuse to see The Flash in action very early on, and it is perfectly acceptable for The Pilot.

Speaking of villains, there is one character introduced in the show who may or may not be one of the legendary villains from The Flash lore. That character is Detective Eddie Thawne played by Rick Cosnett. So far in the show he is referred to as "Detective Pretty Boy" and became Iris's boyfriend while Barry was in a coma. As of right now there seems to be hints of slight antagonism between him and Barry, but it really isn't flushed out a lot here. What is interesting to Flash comic book fans is that the name Eddie Thawne is obviously a reference to Eobard Thawne who is better known as Professor Zoom, the Flash's archnemesis. However, Zoom, or otherwise referred to as Reverse Flash, is a being from the future while the show's Eddie Thawne is definitely a man of the present.... or is he? Given the nature of how the producers made a few twists to the lore in Arrow, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of twists are in store for comic fans expectations of Thawne. It is always good to keep the fans guessing and not make them think they have the answer to everything.

To wrap up my thoughts on all of this craziness and constant grinning I had while watching, I'll have to say it is a good yet cliche start. This pilot is filled with not just the standard CW drama or superhero cliches, but also with cliches that are always found in pilots. Everything is set up, and with no character development, but rather introduction. There is some character development, but that is usually just for the main character and not everyone else. And while I did enjoy all of these cliches as they are handled really well, the one thing that really sold me is the moment I have pictured here. It is a conversation between Barry and his father Henry Allen played by none other than the original Flash himself, John Wesley Shipp. It was a nice moment and great way to have an emotional close for Barry's arc. It is moments like these that will keep people coming back for more and hopefully not just for the rad effects.

There's a lot of promise here, but unlike Gotham (which is pretty entertaining) I have full faith that this show will fully deliver sooner than later.

SCORE: 8.7/10 - A highly entertaining positive superhero show, despite the cliches
STATUS: Continue to Watch - Yup, I'm already hoping for a good first season!

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