As the gang attempts to rescue an old friend, the Siren gets her claws deeper into Enzo and Damon. Also, Alaric learns something about his research assistant....
Well, Sarah Salvatore is officially dead. She was killed by the Siren who then proceeded to take Elena's place in Damon's memory. Elena was the one thing Damon was able to hold on to in order to resist the Siren and now that is gone. I can't say I blame Stefan for being ready to give up. All of his family (with the exception of Damon) is dead and Damon is under the complete influence of the Siren. All he has now is Caroline, who he is now engaged to. Like I said last week, I am really curious about how this parenting thing is going to go since the kids aren't really hers. I know she carried them in her womb, but that doesn't really make them hers. To complicate everything, they call her mom, which does sort of make them hers. So yeah, can you see why this should prove to be interesting? I don't think there will be a lot of issues, but it will still be interesting.
Bonnie and Enzo appear to be pretty much done as well since the Siren sunk her claws deeper into him as well. He'd been using Bonnie and Sarah in much the same way that Damon had been using Elena, as refuges to maintain some control of himself. Since the Siren has now removed those barriers, there isn't going to be much holding them back.
So Ric's research assistant died and apparently ended up in hell briefly before being brought back or something. I am curious as to where exactly she did go. Was is a real near death experience? Or did she simply imagine it as she lay dying? That would be something very interesting to see.
I apologize for the shortness of this particular review, but there really wasn't a whole lot to deal with. I really hope the rest of the season gets better because the first couple of episodes haven't been all that great so far....
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Thursday, October 27, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.04- Penance
Wild Dog is as annoying as ever, Oliver and Lyla go to free Diggle while the team races to stop Church from executing a plan to cripple the ACU, and Felicity and Rory have a heart-to-heart.
I have to say that I was mightily impressed that Rory got that Felicity was cornered last year when she diverted that missile onto his home town and he really isn't holding it against her. That being said, he is having trouble working with her because she is a constant reminder of everything he has lost. To their credit, both Oliver and Felicity get where he is coming from and don't press him too hard about coming back. And to his eternal credit, Rory is really trying to work through it all by coming back and working with the team. Given how badly everything could have gone, I think this was settled in what was the best way possible.
Wild Dog is beyond getting on my last nerve at this point. He is a hot headed pain in the ass and I really don't see any good reason to have him on the team. He won't follow orders, doesn't work well with others, and refuses to think and figure things out. About his only good quality is that he was willing to stay behind this week so the gang could get away from Church. Oliver specifically told him that the shot was Artemis', but Wild Dog took the shot anyway and screwed everything up. It was just like last week where he ignored Oliver and managed to screw things up royally. He needs to shape up or ship out.
I can't believe that the newbies thought they could actually stop Oliver. Seriously? Every time they have fought him in training, he has handed them their collective asses on a silver platter and he did the same thing this time. I get why they and Felicity would want to stop him given the danger, but it was stupid to try and force him to stop. And I really hope they don't try and blame Oliver for what happened to Wild Dog because he was elsewhere. Oliver was given the chance to rescue Diggle, so of course he is going to take it as both Felicity and Curtis should have known. Artemis and Wild Dog don't know Diggle, so they don't know why Oliver would do what he did, but Curtis and Felicity (particularly Felicity) have seen the two of them work together and understand. When it comes to helping his friends, Oliver will let nothing stop him.
And Oliver is now officially a part of the Bratva (in the flashbacks). While in jail, he killed a henchman of the guy he is after without questioning why he should. He did pause,, but ultimately he did it, which seems to be the most important part. I wonder if his propensity to think about why he is doing things is a reason he becomes a high-ranking member of the Bratva as we saw in the first two seasons.
So next week is apparently going to be about rescuing Wild Dog from Church. Hopefully being captured and tortured will knock some sense into his head and he'll start actually listening to Oliver.
Until next week!
I have to say that I was mightily impressed that Rory got that Felicity was cornered last year when she diverted that missile onto his home town and he really isn't holding it against her. That being said, he is having trouble working with her because she is a constant reminder of everything he has lost. To their credit, both Oliver and Felicity get where he is coming from and don't press him too hard about coming back. And to his eternal credit, Rory is really trying to work through it all by coming back and working with the team. Given how badly everything could have gone, I think this was settled in what was the best way possible.
Wild Dog is beyond getting on my last nerve at this point. He is a hot headed pain in the ass and I really don't see any good reason to have him on the team. He won't follow orders, doesn't work well with others, and refuses to think and figure things out. About his only good quality is that he was willing to stay behind this week so the gang could get away from Church. Oliver specifically told him that the shot was Artemis', but Wild Dog took the shot anyway and screwed everything up. It was just like last week where he ignored Oliver and managed to screw things up royally. He needs to shape up or ship out.
I can't believe that the newbies thought they could actually stop Oliver. Seriously? Every time they have fought him in training, he has handed them their collective asses on a silver platter and he did the same thing this time. I get why they and Felicity would want to stop him given the danger, but it was stupid to try and force him to stop. And I really hope they don't try and blame Oliver for what happened to Wild Dog because he was elsewhere. Oliver was given the chance to rescue Diggle, so of course he is going to take it as both Felicity and Curtis should have known. Artemis and Wild Dog don't know Diggle, so they don't know why Oliver would do what he did, but Curtis and Felicity (particularly Felicity) have seen the two of them work together and understand. When it comes to helping his friends, Oliver will let nothing stop him.
And Oliver is now officially a part of the Bratva (in the flashbacks). While in jail, he killed a henchman of the guy he is after without questioning why he should. He did pause,, but ultimately he did it, which seems to be the most important part. I wonder if his propensity to think about why he is doing things is a reason he becomes a high-ranking member of the Bratva as we saw in the first two seasons.
So next week is apparently going to be about rescuing Wild Dog from Church. Hopefully being captured and tortured will knock some sense into his head and he'll start actually listening to Oliver.
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.04- The New Rogues
We find out that there are at least 19 different Earths, Barry teaches Jessie about using her abilities, Caitlin has an unpleasant surprise, there is amusing awkwardness about a new relationship, and we have two new metas.
I love how Grant can get so adorably awkward when Barry is having romantic issues. This week, Joe nearly walked in on Barry and Iris making out, which led to a hilarious scene between Barry and Joe about the new relationship. Joe so desperately doesn't want to think or know about what happens between Barry and Iris, so much so that when Barry talks about moving out, Joe leaps at the opportunity. That whole thing was pure comic gold. The whole thing is definitely a little weird for all of them and it is something that they will have to navigate together.
Watching Barry teach Jessie was great, especially when he started quoting Oliver about checking things out before going in. The look on his face when he realized that he was quoting Oliver was quite funny. Unfortunately, Jessie chose not to listen to him when he said to stay away from Mirror Master and Top, which led to Barry being trapped in a mirror. To her credit, Jessie owned up to her screw up and decided to keep going, after a kiss from Wally.
I am curious about how this new version of Wells will work with the group. He seems to be very laidback about everything. I loved that Harry was jealous about being replaced, but it was nice to see them figure out a way to keep Wells on the show without having Earth-2 be without their version of the Flash and allowing Jessie and Harry to stay together. Watching him figure out the dynamics of this particular group is going to be fun.
I loved that Harry figured out that someone else freed Barry. Since he told Cisco about someone else doing the freeing, I suspect that we are coming closer to a discovery of the fact that Caitlin is a metahuman. And judging from the way her powers were unleashed in the post credits scene, this could be a bad thing. Her hair and lips are starting to change colors. I hope that she doesn't become the evil Killer Frost. It will be very interesting to see how they handle her as everything develops.
Given what Cisco was saying, it seems that he has to cycle through the different Earths in order to reach a particular one. That is interesting because it would indicate that there is a definite order of some sort to the multiverse. I am curious about why he cannot simply create a breach between two particular universes. I really hope they actually explain that. It is possible that he will be able to do it without cycling through different Earths eventually, we'll just have to see.
The metas this week weren't terribly interesting. They mainly served to cause issues for Barry and to force Caitlin to use her abilities to free Barry from the mirror.
Until next week!
I love how Grant can get so adorably awkward when Barry is having romantic issues. This week, Joe nearly walked in on Barry and Iris making out, which led to a hilarious scene between Barry and Joe about the new relationship. Joe so desperately doesn't want to think or know about what happens between Barry and Iris, so much so that when Barry talks about moving out, Joe leaps at the opportunity. That whole thing was pure comic gold. The whole thing is definitely a little weird for all of them and it is something that they will have to navigate together.
Watching Barry teach Jessie was great, especially when he started quoting Oliver about checking things out before going in. The look on his face when he realized that he was quoting Oliver was quite funny. Unfortunately, Jessie chose not to listen to him when he said to stay away from Mirror Master and Top, which led to Barry being trapped in a mirror. To her credit, Jessie owned up to her screw up and decided to keep going, after a kiss from Wally.
I am curious about how this new version of Wells will work with the group. He seems to be very laidback about everything. I loved that Harry was jealous about being replaced, but it was nice to see them figure out a way to keep Wells on the show without having Earth-2 be without their version of the Flash and allowing Jessie and Harry to stay together. Watching him figure out the dynamics of this particular group is going to be fun.
I loved that Harry figured out that someone else freed Barry. Since he told Cisco about someone else doing the freeing, I suspect that we are coming closer to a discovery of the fact that Caitlin is a metahuman. And judging from the way her powers were unleashed in the post credits scene, this could be a bad thing. Her hair and lips are starting to change colors. I hope that she doesn't become the evil Killer Frost. It will be very interesting to see how they handle her as everything develops.
Given what Cisco was saying, it seems that he has to cycle through the different Earths in order to reach a particular one. That is interesting because it would indicate that there is a definite order of some sort to the multiverse. I am curious about why he cannot simply create a breach between two particular universes. I really hope they actually explain that. It is possible that he will be able to do it without cycling through different Earths eventually, we'll just have to see.
The metas this week weren't terribly interesting. They mainly served to cause issues for Barry and to force Caitlin to use her abilities to free Barry from the mirror.
Until next week!
Saturday, October 22, 2016
My Review of The Vampire Diaries 8.01- Hello, Brother
Welcome to the final season of The Vampire Diaries. We find out what has been happening with everyone since Damon and Enzo left, what was in the vault, and get a lot of callbacks to the first season of the show.
I loved that the opening scene of the episode was so reminiscent of the beginning of the series. From the couple driving along the road who are killed to the rolling fog, it was just a great callback. And the lines about the vampire craze being over and Damon and Enzo joking about the end really gave good service to the long time fans and acknowledged that the end of the show is nigh. I also love that the title is the first line ever uttered by Damon in the show and that when he said the line to Stefan in the slaughterhouse, it was almost exactly like the first time we saw him in the pilot. Little things like that are just really awesome and allow the fans to remember some great moments.
Speaking of reliving moments, Damon is at his season 1 best. He has turned off his humanity switch and is going along for the ride. Of course, this time the reason for the lack of humanity is to protect the ones he loves rather than because he wants to have it off, which does make a rather large difference. As much as I dislike Enzo, he and Damon do the whole dry comedy after a gory scene thing well. When they killed the couple and then sauntered off to bed, I had to chuckle. Maybe I'm disturbed, but I thought it was funny.
Speaking of Enzo, he was actually somewhat tolerable tonight. I also thought it was interesting that he was able to leave enough subtle clues for Bonnie to pick up on that she was able to figure out what was going on. Turns out the thing in the vault was a Siren. In case you don't know your mythology, a Siren is a beast that took the form of a beautiful woman and lured men to their deaths using their voices. This Siren can control people and get them to do what she wants, which seems to lead a path of death and destruction. Not nice at all.
I hope that the writers aren't going to have Caroline try and sabotage Alaric's potential relationships. She seems to be in a good place with Stefan, but she was obsessing (just a bit) over Alaric and the hot nanny. If she wants Alaric, then she needs to be with him. Otherwise, stay with Stefan. Although it doesn't seem that Alaric is looking for anything at the moment given the way he shot the one intern down. He made it perfectly clear that he was only interested in being a good dad at the moment and nothing else.
I just have a few hopes for the season:
[1] Get rid of any little love triangles and don't start any new relationships. Enzo and Bonnie (assuming Enzo comes back) are paired off as are Caroline and Stefan. Let Damon either be alone or with Elena at the end. Maybe bring someone in for Alaric and Matt, but that's it.
[2] Speaking of Matt, give him a proper storyline. He, Jeremy, and Tyler have always been criminally underused by the show. Give him something real to do and let him have his own story.
[3] Bring back Jeremy, Tyler, and Elena if at all possible, I know Steven is on Chicago Fire, but I really hope they can bring him back for at least the finale. It would also be great to bring Elena and Tyler back for the finale as well.
[4] Have a crossover with The Originals if possible. It might be hard given the time jump last year, but it would be nice to see the Original Family on TVD.
[5] Close the series with a bang. Too many series seem to end with a whimper. This show really deserves to go out firing on all cylinders.
Until next week!
I loved that the opening scene of the episode was so reminiscent of the beginning of the series. From the couple driving along the road who are killed to the rolling fog, it was just a great callback. And the lines about the vampire craze being over and Damon and Enzo joking about the end really gave good service to the long time fans and acknowledged that the end of the show is nigh. I also love that the title is the first line ever uttered by Damon in the show and that when he said the line to Stefan in the slaughterhouse, it was almost exactly like the first time we saw him in the pilot. Little things like that are just really awesome and allow the fans to remember some great moments.
Speaking of reliving moments, Damon is at his season 1 best. He has turned off his humanity switch and is going along for the ride. Of course, this time the reason for the lack of humanity is to protect the ones he loves rather than because he wants to have it off, which does make a rather large difference. As much as I dislike Enzo, he and Damon do the whole dry comedy after a gory scene thing well. When they killed the couple and then sauntered off to bed, I had to chuckle. Maybe I'm disturbed, but I thought it was funny.
Speaking of Enzo, he was actually somewhat tolerable tonight. I also thought it was interesting that he was able to leave enough subtle clues for Bonnie to pick up on that she was able to figure out what was going on. Turns out the thing in the vault was a Siren. In case you don't know your mythology, a Siren is a beast that took the form of a beautiful woman and lured men to their deaths using their voices. This Siren can control people and get them to do what she wants, which seems to lead a path of death and destruction. Not nice at all.
I hope that the writers aren't going to have Caroline try and sabotage Alaric's potential relationships. She seems to be in a good place with Stefan, but she was obsessing (just a bit) over Alaric and the hot nanny. If she wants Alaric, then she needs to be with him. Otherwise, stay with Stefan. Although it doesn't seem that Alaric is looking for anything at the moment given the way he shot the one intern down. He made it perfectly clear that he was only interested in being a good dad at the moment and nothing else.
I just have a few hopes for the season:
[1] Get rid of any little love triangles and don't start any new relationships. Enzo and Bonnie (assuming Enzo comes back) are paired off as are Caroline and Stefan. Let Damon either be alone or with Elena at the end. Maybe bring someone in for Alaric and Matt, but that's it.
[2] Speaking of Matt, give him a proper storyline. He, Jeremy, and Tyler have always been criminally underused by the show. Give him something real to do and let him have his own story.
[3] Bring back Jeremy, Tyler, and Elena if at all possible, I know Steven is on Chicago Fire, but I really hope they can bring him back for at least the finale. It would also be great to bring Elena and Tyler back for the finale as well.
[4] Have a crossover with The Originals if possible. It might be hard given the time jump last year, but it would be nice to see the Original Family on TVD.
[5] Close the series with a bang. Too many series seem to end with a whimper. This show really deserves to go out firing on all cylinders.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 20, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.03- A Matter of Trust
Oliver deals with a new villain created by Wild Dog while everyone gets a lesson in trust, Diggle winds up in jail, and Thea learns a harsh lessons about modern politics.
While I understand the idea that the buck stops at the top, there are times when people underneath need to held accountable and tonight that was definitely true for both Wild Dog and Thea. I hope this doesn't become a pattern where Wild Dog defies Oliver and then Oliver gets scolded for his reaction to it. Was Wild Dog able to find the drug dealer? Yes. However, the gang was specifically told to stay out of the situation for a good reason. Oliver needs to know that they will obey him when he asks them to do something and that he can trust them. Wild Dog not only showed that he can't be trusted, but he also completely lied to Evelyn about what they were doing. If they had done surveillance only, then I would be more understanding. Instead he went in and attacked the gang and created an even more powerful gangster. So yeah, I totally think Oliver had every right to lay into him and that Felicity was wrong to upbraid Oliver about his reaction. Wild Dog took a situation and made it so much worse than it had to be and then Oliver gets blamed for it. Sorry, that is just crap.
The Thea situation, on the other hand, was handled beautifully, mainly because Thea took responsibility for the screw-ups she did. As soon as she told the reporter that she had offered Lance the job without Oliver's knowledge, I knew that the reporter was going to run with that. That being said, I think Oliver did exactly the right thing here. He accepted Thea's apology and then took responsibility publicly himself. The major difference? Thea acknowledged that she screwed up and offered to take the lumps herself. Wild Dog, on the other hand, never acknowledged that he severely screwed up and then Oliver was blamed for anything. So yeah, I am definitely annoyed about the situation.
I must admit that I was surprised that Felicity told Rory that she redirected the missile to his home town. I am glad that she did, because she was acting awfully sketchy every time he was around her. I am a little worried about how this will affect the team, but I hope that everything sorts itself out nicely.
I am not sure what to think of everything with Diggle. I get that the show is showing him dealing with the fallout of him killing his brother, but I really want them to either bring him back into the main story or something rather than having his story out there all on its own.
At least the flashbacks are tying closer to the overall story this year. Oliver was learning that he had to trust the Bratva even if he didn't get what they were doing. I think that is pretty important for any group. Everyone is not always going to have the big picture, so sometime you have to proceed on a certain amount of faith until you get an explanation. That is never a bad lesson to learn.
Until next week!
While I understand the idea that the buck stops at the top, there are times when people underneath need to held accountable and tonight that was definitely true for both Wild Dog and Thea. I hope this doesn't become a pattern where Wild Dog defies Oliver and then Oliver gets scolded for his reaction to it. Was Wild Dog able to find the drug dealer? Yes. However, the gang was specifically told to stay out of the situation for a good reason. Oliver needs to know that they will obey him when he asks them to do something and that he can trust them. Wild Dog not only showed that he can't be trusted, but he also completely lied to Evelyn about what they were doing. If they had done surveillance only, then I would be more understanding. Instead he went in and attacked the gang and created an even more powerful gangster. So yeah, I totally think Oliver had every right to lay into him and that Felicity was wrong to upbraid Oliver about his reaction. Wild Dog took a situation and made it so much worse than it had to be and then Oliver gets blamed for it. Sorry, that is just crap.
The Thea situation, on the other hand, was handled beautifully, mainly because Thea took responsibility for the screw-ups she did. As soon as she told the reporter that she had offered Lance the job without Oliver's knowledge, I knew that the reporter was going to run with that. That being said, I think Oliver did exactly the right thing here. He accepted Thea's apology and then took responsibility publicly himself. The major difference? Thea acknowledged that she screwed up and offered to take the lumps herself. Wild Dog, on the other hand, never acknowledged that he severely screwed up and then Oliver was blamed for anything. So yeah, I am definitely annoyed about the situation.
I must admit that I was surprised that Felicity told Rory that she redirected the missile to his home town. I am glad that she did, because she was acting awfully sketchy every time he was around her. I am a little worried about how this will affect the team, but I hope that everything sorts itself out nicely.
I am not sure what to think of everything with Diggle. I get that the show is showing him dealing with the fallout of him killing his brother, but I really want them to either bring him back into the main story or something rather than having his story out there all on its own.
At least the flashbacks are tying closer to the overall story this year. Oliver was learning that he had to trust the Bratva even if he didn't get what they were doing. I think that is pretty important for any group. Everyone is not always going to have the big picture, so sometime you have to proceed on a certain amount of faith until you get an explanation. That is never a bad lesson to learn.
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.03- Magenta
We have an episode free of time travel, but with a special visit from some old friends from Earth-2...
It was great to have Harry and Jesse back again. Watching Harry be all snarky with Barry after figuring out that Barry had screwed with time (again!) was just fun, As for the whole Harry not wanting Jesse to run around being a hero thing, I get it. After everything that happened to her last year with Zoom, it isn't hard to understand why Harry wants Jesse to be safe. Could he have stated it better? Sure. And I also think she took what people were saying the wrong way. She seemed to think that they were saying that it was ok for Barry but not her, when really they were just concerned about her being safe, just as they are for Barry. That being said, it was nice to see her work with Barry to save the hospital and the people in it.
As for Barry, he is definitely realizing how seriously he screwed everything up. It seems that every time he turns around, there is another difference. Like I said last week, I am not quite convinced that Jay Garrick is right and things can never go back to what they were. I am not saying that it would be easy, but I do think that if Barry could go back and adjust things just so, he might get things back to the way they were originally. I could, of course, be wrong, but until I hear more definitively, I will hold out that hope.
It was fun watching Barry and Iris on their dates. The first one was a complete disaster because they were trying too hard to not talk about Flash-y stuff. The second one, on the other hand, was looking to be much better because they were being themselves and much more relaxed. The thing is that Barry is never really going to have a normal date because he has to be ready as the Flash 24/7/365. Dating Iris will make that much easier because she knows who and what he is. However, she will have to be ok with knowing that he won't always be there. That is an unfortunate side effect of dating a superhero.
And Wally needs to get some help stat. He is so desperate to be a hero that he was willing to almost kill himself in order to try and activate a possible latent power. I am seriously worried that Alchemy could get to him and somehow twist him to make him an evil version of Kid Flash. I don't see Alchemy turning him into the Flashpoint Kid Flash, but I do think Alchemy would do it if he could twist Wally into an evil speedster. And that could potentially be very bad.
Magenta was an interesting one-off villain. She is obviously very powerful and it was interesting to see Magenta and Frankie fighting for control of Frankie's body. I think I would like to see her back, but I'm not sure if they could since Magenta was the one with powers and it looks like Barry helped Frankie quash her.
Until next week!
It was great to have Harry and Jesse back again. Watching Harry be all snarky with Barry after figuring out that Barry had screwed with time (again!) was just fun, As for the whole Harry not wanting Jesse to run around being a hero thing, I get it. After everything that happened to her last year with Zoom, it isn't hard to understand why Harry wants Jesse to be safe. Could he have stated it better? Sure. And I also think she took what people were saying the wrong way. She seemed to think that they were saying that it was ok for Barry but not her, when really they were just concerned about her being safe, just as they are for Barry. That being said, it was nice to see her work with Barry to save the hospital and the people in it.
As for Barry, he is definitely realizing how seriously he screwed everything up. It seems that every time he turns around, there is another difference. Like I said last week, I am not quite convinced that Jay Garrick is right and things can never go back to what they were. I am not saying that it would be easy, but I do think that if Barry could go back and adjust things just so, he might get things back to the way they were originally. I could, of course, be wrong, but until I hear more definitively, I will hold out that hope.
It was fun watching Barry and Iris on their dates. The first one was a complete disaster because they were trying too hard to not talk about Flash-y stuff. The second one, on the other hand, was looking to be much better because they were being themselves and much more relaxed. The thing is that Barry is never really going to have a normal date because he has to be ready as the Flash 24/7/365. Dating Iris will make that much easier because she knows who and what he is. However, she will have to be ok with knowing that he won't always be there. That is an unfortunate side effect of dating a superhero.
And Wally needs to get some help stat. He is so desperate to be a hero that he was willing to almost kill himself in order to try and activate a possible latent power. I am seriously worried that Alchemy could get to him and somehow twist him to make him an evil version of Kid Flash. I don't see Alchemy turning him into the Flashpoint Kid Flash, but I do think Alchemy would do it if he could twist Wally into an evil speedster. And that could potentially be very bad.
Magenta was an interesting one-off villain. She is obviously very powerful and it was interesting to see Magenta and Frankie fighting for control of Frankie's body. I think I would like to see her back, but I'm not sure if they could since Magenta was the one with powers and it looks like Barry helped Frankie quash her.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 13, 2016
My review of Arrow 5.02- The Recruits
Oliver works with new team members and meets someone new while Diggle learns a hard lesson of his own. In the past, Oliver learns that joining the Bratva has a steep price....
Oliver is not the most inspirational teacher in the world. Shocker. Yes, if you noticed large amounts of sarcasm there, you are reading it correctly. Oliver is a very intense, dedicated, and focused man who is not the best people person. He has lost so many people over the years that it is little wonder that he is reluctant to work with new people and he is very hard on them when he does decide to work with them. Both of his parents, Laurel, Shado, Tommy, the people from the Glades, the people killed by the soldiers on mirakiru, the people killed by R'as Al Ghul, the people killed by Damien Dahrk, and on and on. Rightly or not, Oliver has taken the responsibilities for all of those deaths on himself which means that he won't put anyone else in danger until he is convinced that they are ready. And that also means that he will be merciless when he is training them to make sure that they have the best chance possible. Where he really fell down was the way he reacted after Wild Dog disobeyed him, Did good come of it? Sure, but it could very easily have gone south like a bird during the winter. But Oliver's reaction to completely belittle all of them was a very, very bad reaction. Understandable, but bad. The rest of his training made sense. He was trying to force them to work together as a team to take him down. And he knew that if he told them what the goal was, it wouldn't be worth as much because they need to decide on their own to be a team. So inspirational? No. Good? For the most part, yes.
Remember that Oliver was against the idea of Laurel going out in the first place because she wasn't trained the way everyone else was. Diggle is a trained soldier, Thea was trained by Malcolm, Oliver trained Roy himself, but Laurel only had some training with Nyssa. Not that Nyssa is not skilled, but she didn't work with Laurel as long as anyone of the others had been trained. I think that if he something happens to the new recruits properly and he thinks that hasn't trained them properly, he will blame himself and that idea terrifies him. And Wild Dog's attitude towards being trained isn't helping. One problem with the old team was the fact that there wasn't really a clear cut leader because Diggle kept challenging Oliver. The team really does need to have one leader to plan things and Oliver is indisputably the best one for that role.
Listening to Diggle talk with the young soldier, I felt a little uneasy. Diggle never really struck me as the type to hide from responsibility, but that seems to be where he was headed with his speech about how having other people make the decisions is a good thing because it provides clarity. I know that may sound odd after the last paragraph, but it really isn't. While I may not be super fond of Diggle, it was more because of the way he dealt with things in stark black and white terms. I appreciated that Laurel and Felicity can challenge Oliver's ideas without actually challenging him the way Diggle would. The two of them had a way of pointing out the problems with Oliver's ideas in a good way. That means not just blindly following him, but still following him with thought. They also saw that the world was not as simple as Diggle seems to think it is. And that sort of thinking really got Diggle in trouble. I am hoping that he isn't just going to be separate the whole season because if he is on the show, it really does need to tie into the story in Star City.
As for Lance, I am glad that Thea is giving him a job. As I said last week, the man still needs serious therapy to get over his self-loathing if he really wants to remain sober. The fact that he needs to have something outside of himself to be sober is seriously not a good thing. I don't think it will change, but I hope it does.
Am I the only one worried that Ragman is from Havenrock? You know, the city that was hit by the nuclear missile at the end of last season after Felicity redirected it to save as many lives as possible? yeah, this is going to get messy....
Until next week!
Oliver is not the most inspirational teacher in the world. Shocker. Yes, if you noticed large amounts of sarcasm there, you are reading it correctly. Oliver is a very intense, dedicated, and focused man who is not the best people person. He has lost so many people over the years that it is little wonder that he is reluctant to work with new people and he is very hard on them when he does decide to work with them. Both of his parents, Laurel, Shado, Tommy, the people from the Glades, the people killed by the soldiers on mirakiru, the people killed by R'as Al Ghul, the people killed by Damien Dahrk, and on and on. Rightly or not, Oliver has taken the responsibilities for all of those deaths on himself which means that he won't put anyone else in danger until he is convinced that they are ready. And that also means that he will be merciless when he is training them to make sure that they have the best chance possible. Where he really fell down was the way he reacted after Wild Dog disobeyed him, Did good come of it? Sure, but it could very easily have gone south like a bird during the winter. But Oliver's reaction to completely belittle all of them was a very, very bad reaction. Understandable, but bad. The rest of his training made sense. He was trying to force them to work together as a team to take him down. And he knew that if he told them what the goal was, it wouldn't be worth as much because they need to decide on their own to be a team. So inspirational? No. Good? For the most part, yes.
Remember that Oliver was against the idea of Laurel going out in the first place because she wasn't trained the way everyone else was. Diggle is a trained soldier, Thea was trained by Malcolm, Oliver trained Roy himself, but Laurel only had some training with Nyssa. Not that Nyssa is not skilled, but she didn't work with Laurel as long as anyone of the others had been trained. I think that if he something happens to the new recruits properly and he thinks that hasn't trained them properly, he will blame himself and that idea terrifies him. And Wild Dog's attitude towards being trained isn't helping. One problem with the old team was the fact that there wasn't really a clear cut leader because Diggle kept challenging Oliver. The team really does need to have one leader to plan things and Oliver is indisputably the best one for that role.
Listening to Diggle talk with the young soldier, I felt a little uneasy. Diggle never really struck me as the type to hide from responsibility, but that seems to be where he was headed with his speech about how having other people make the decisions is a good thing because it provides clarity. I know that may sound odd after the last paragraph, but it really isn't. While I may not be super fond of Diggle, it was more because of the way he dealt with things in stark black and white terms. I appreciated that Laurel and Felicity can challenge Oliver's ideas without actually challenging him the way Diggle would. The two of them had a way of pointing out the problems with Oliver's ideas in a good way. That means not just blindly following him, but still following him with thought. They also saw that the world was not as simple as Diggle seems to think it is. And that sort of thinking really got Diggle in trouble. I am hoping that he isn't just going to be separate the whole season because if he is on the show, it really does need to tie into the story in Star City.
As for Lance, I am glad that Thea is giving him a job. As I said last week, the man still needs serious therapy to get over his self-loathing if he really wants to remain sober. The fact that he needs to have something outside of himself to be sober is seriously not a good thing. I don't think it will change, but I hope it does.
Am I the only one worried that Ragman is from Havenrock? You know, the city that was hit by the nuclear missile at the end of last season after Felicity redirected it to save as many lives as possible? yeah, this is going to get messy....
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.02- Paradox
Barry deals with the ramifications of messing with the timeline and they are vast. At the same time, he has an obnoxious co-worker, a new enemy, and an unexpected returning enemy....
The one thing about this season is that they are not wasting any time telling us about what his going on. Turns out Iris and Joe are not talking to each other anymore because of the fact that Joe hid the fact that her mother was still alive. For some reason, in this timeline, she refused to forgive him the way she did in the original timeline. I doubt we'll get an explanation why, but I can only guess that she was even more fed up with being lied to than she was in the original timeline. Other differences included Diggle having a son rather than a daughter and Dante being killed in a car accident, which has caused a massive rift between Barry and Cisco. Cisco has asked Barry several times to go back in time and save Dante, but Barry has refused.
This problem was made worse because Barry confessed what he had done to the gang. Cisco predictably was upset that Barry went to save his mom but won't save Dante. But after his talk with Jay (the real one), Barry doesn't want to mess with the timeline anymore. The question is whether or not Garrick was right. Can Barry never return the timeline to its original form? If not, then that has some serious ramifications for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. When he changed the timeline, Barry caused effects that spread beyond Central City, which could make for some serious issues with the other shows. Either that or The Flash ends up on a different timeline than the other shows, which would make a crossover very hard. I am really curious as to how they are going to solve this.
The other major changes involved Cisco and Caitlin's powers. In this timeline, Cisco has much more control over his abilities than he did in the original timeline. Also, Caitlin actually has the abilities of Killer Frost. She is obviously not Killer Frost yet, but she has the abilities and it seems that the rest of the team is not aware of this yet. This ought to be interesting when it comes out.
The one really good thing to come out of Barry's confession is that he got the team to at least set aside some of their differences. I have very little doubt that they will resurface at some point, but at leas they shouldn't interfere with the team's day-to-day work. At least, we hope they don't.
Who or what exactly is Dr. Alchemy? He apparently has the ability to give people the powers that they would have in an alternate timeline, given the fact that he restored the speed and memories to the Rival from the one we saw last week. I am very curious about how he does that. There is no dark matter, so it doesn't seem to be the same thing that gave other metas their abilities. The fact that he (?) can restore knows about the alternate timelines and can access things from them suggests either meta-human abilities or tech like that of the Time Lords.
I did love seeing Cisco and Barry team up on the Rival. That combination of Barry's lightning punches and Cisco's blast could not have been fun. And I have the feeling that the Rival is actually gone this time.
I'm not sure what to think of Barry's new co-worker. He seems to know that Barry is hiding something, which makes him not trust Barry. Given the pattern of the last couple of seasons, it would make a certain amount of sense that Julian is Dr. Alchemy. But he is also the seriously obvious choice, which militates against the idea that he is Dr. Alchemy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Until next week!
The one thing about this season is that they are not wasting any time telling us about what his going on. Turns out Iris and Joe are not talking to each other anymore because of the fact that Joe hid the fact that her mother was still alive. For some reason, in this timeline, she refused to forgive him the way she did in the original timeline. I doubt we'll get an explanation why, but I can only guess that she was even more fed up with being lied to than she was in the original timeline. Other differences included Diggle having a son rather than a daughter and Dante being killed in a car accident, which has caused a massive rift between Barry and Cisco. Cisco has asked Barry several times to go back in time and save Dante, but Barry has refused.
This problem was made worse because Barry confessed what he had done to the gang. Cisco predictably was upset that Barry went to save his mom but won't save Dante. But after his talk with Jay (the real one), Barry doesn't want to mess with the timeline anymore. The question is whether or not Garrick was right. Can Barry never return the timeline to its original form? If not, then that has some serious ramifications for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. When he changed the timeline, Barry caused effects that spread beyond Central City, which could make for some serious issues with the other shows. Either that or The Flash ends up on a different timeline than the other shows, which would make a crossover very hard. I am really curious as to how they are going to solve this.
The other major changes involved Cisco and Caitlin's powers. In this timeline, Cisco has much more control over his abilities than he did in the original timeline. Also, Caitlin actually has the abilities of Killer Frost. She is obviously not Killer Frost yet, but she has the abilities and it seems that the rest of the team is not aware of this yet. This ought to be interesting when it comes out.
The one really good thing to come out of Barry's confession is that he got the team to at least set aside some of their differences. I have very little doubt that they will resurface at some point, but at leas they shouldn't interfere with the team's day-to-day work. At least, we hope they don't.
Who or what exactly is Dr. Alchemy? He apparently has the ability to give people the powers that they would have in an alternate timeline, given the fact that he restored the speed and memories to the Rival from the one we saw last week. I am very curious about how he does that. There is no dark matter, so it doesn't seem to be the same thing that gave other metas their abilities. The fact that he (?) can restore knows about the alternate timelines and can access things from them suggests either meta-human abilities or tech like that of the Time Lords.
I did love seeing Cisco and Barry team up on the Rival. That combination of Barry's lightning punches and Cisco's blast could not have been fun. And I have the feeling that the Rival is actually gone this time.
I'm not sure what to think of Barry's new co-worker. He seems to know that Barry is hiding something, which makes him not trust Barry. Given the pattern of the last couple of seasons, it would make a certain amount of sense that Julian is Dr. Alchemy. But he is also the seriously obvious choice, which militates against the idea that he is Dr. Alchemy. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Until next week!
Thursday, October 6, 2016
My Review of Arrow 5.01- Legacy
Tonight was all about moving on as Oliver adjusts to life without Speedy and Spartan, Felicity has a new man, and Lance returns...
I'm not entirely sure what to think about Oliver's putting killing back on the table as an option. On the one hand, his explanation to Thea made a lot of sense. If Oliver had killed Dahrk when Dahrk was stripped of his powers, Laurel may very well have been alive. Also, the one guy saw Oliver and what he could do, which could place everyone around Oliver in danger. On the other hand, the Green Arrow is a hero and heroes aren't supposed to kill people. I think how good an idea it is will ultimately be tested by how often Oliver chooses to kill. If he leaves it as a last resort, then I think it is more acceptable. If he chooses to kill often, then we have an issue.
It is nice to see Oliver and Felicity still working together even though they aren't together anymore. It was also nice to see them back to their fun banter and much more of a season 1 feel. It would be nice if Thea and Diggle rejoined the team, but I am interested to see how Oliver and Felicity train Curtis and Wild Dog. Oliver has shown that he is a good teacher (see Roy), so we know he can do it. And Curtis is seriously gung ho about this after getting jumped, so here's hoping he does a good job. I'm just worried about what his husband will say.
I can't say that I am glad to see Lance back. While he has occasionally been not too bad, for the most part I find him to be obnoxious and hypocritical. I get that he is supposed to be the voice of law and order, but the way he goes about it is extremely annoying. I have seen shows with similar characters (like Carter on Person of Interest) who serve much the same function without being so annoying and obnoxious. Honestly, I have the same problem with Diggle most of the time. While I appreciate their sense of right and wrong, the way they express themselves is often horrible. And I do get that Lance is an alcoholic who lost both of his girls. The problem is that he seems to be someone who hates himself so much that he needs someone outside of himself to focus on in order to remain sober, which is never a good thing. He really needs to figure out how to make peace with himself at some point.
The new crime boss in definitely menacing, but not in the same way Dahrk was. He seems to be more like Deathstroke in that he is someone who can stand toe to toe with Oliver in a fight and isn't particularly subtle. I'm really not sure what to make of Prometheus, the new dark archer. He is definitely creepy and I am very curious where he is going to go. Is it possible that he is Malcolm? Or is he someone else entirely?
Laurel's last words were....interesting. So she just told Oliver to find another Canary to carry her mantle. Not what I was expecting. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything in particular, but I would never have gone there. It seems a bit anti-climatic somehow.
Until next week!
I'm not entirely sure what to think about Oliver's putting killing back on the table as an option. On the one hand, his explanation to Thea made a lot of sense. If Oliver had killed Dahrk when Dahrk was stripped of his powers, Laurel may very well have been alive. Also, the one guy saw Oliver and what he could do, which could place everyone around Oliver in danger. On the other hand, the Green Arrow is a hero and heroes aren't supposed to kill people. I think how good an idea it is will ultimately be tested by how often Oliver chooses to kill. If he leaves it as a last resort, then I think it is more acceptable. If he chooses to kill often, then we have an issue.
It is nice to see Oliver and Felicity still working together even though they aren't together anymore. It was also nice to see them back to their fun banter and much more of a season 1 feel. It would be nice if Thea and Diggle rejoined the team, but I am interested to see how Oliver and Felicity train Curtis and Wild Dog. Oliver has shown that he is a good teacher (see Roy), so we know he can do it. And Curtis is seriously gung ho about this after getting jumped, so here's hoping he does a good job. I'm just worried about what his husband will say.
I can't say that I am glad to see Lance back. While he has occasionally been not too bad, for the most part I find him to be obnoxious and hypocritical. I get that he is supposed to be the voice of law and order, but the way he goes about it is extremely annoying. I have seen shows with similar characters (like Carter on Person of Interest) who serve much the same function without being so annoying and obnoxious. Honestly, I have the same problem with Diggle most of the time. While I appreciate their sense of right and wrong, the way they express themselves is often horrible. And I do get that Lance is an alcoholic who lost both of his girls. The problem is that he seems to be someone who hates himself so much that he needs someone outside of himself to focus on in order to remain sober, which is never a good thing. He really needs to figure out how to make peace with himself at some point.
The new crime boss in definitely menacing, but not in the same way Dahrk was. He seems to be more like Deathstroke in that he is someone who can stand toe to toe with Oliver in a fight and isn't particularly subtle. I'm really not sure what to make of Prometheus, the new dark archer. He is definitely creepy and I am very curious where he is going to go. Is it possible that he is Malcolm? Or is he someone else entirely?
Laurel's last words were....interesting. So she just told Oliver to find another Canary to carry her mantle. Not what I was expecting. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything in particular, but I would never have gone there. It seems a bit anti-climatic somehow.
Until next week!
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
My Review of The Flash 3.01- Flashpoint
Barry settles into his new life with his parents before realizing that something is going wrong...
And in one episode, Barry's new timeline comes to an end. I must say that was very surprised. I assumed that the Flashpoint storyline would last until the mid-season crossover or so. So ending it in one episode was completely unexpected. However, it seems that the alternate universe storyline will be ongoing because in the new timeline that the Reverse Flash brought Barry to, Iris doesn't talk with Joe. I have to wonder what happened that was so bad that it would cause the two of them to stop talking. The good news is that Wally and Joe are still good, which is a good thing.
It was really nice to see Barry happy in the alternate timeline. I find it hard to believe that he never thought to look up Caitlin or Cisco in the alternate timeline. I know he was probably absorbed in getting to know his mom, but it is really, really hard for me to believe that Barry would completely ignore some of the most important people in his life for so long. I am especially surprised considering the fact that Cisco had set up shop in what Barry knew as STAR Labs.
Watching Barry try and woo Iris was absolutely adorable. He was so dorky and awkward about the whole thing. I was a little confused when they ran into Joe in the police station. She seemed to know that Barry worked with his dad then, but earlier it seemed like she didn't know him at all. It was a little niggling thing, but it was annoying. And it was amusing to see her try so desperately to get away from Barry when they heard that the Flash (aka Wally) was going up against the Rival. He's had to do it often enough himself that I am surprised it didn't occur to him what she was doing.
Keeping Eobard Thawne locked away wasn't the worst idea. Not saying it was a great idea, but it wasn't horrible either. Given the fact that he wanted to keep Nora safe, I totally get why Barry locked Thawne away. The hatred between them two of them is very real and very palpable. Thawne has done more to hurt Barry than anyone else has, except maybe Zoom. Forcing Barry to ask him to kill his mother was completely cruel of Thawne. That being said, he did have a point when he said that Barry was not being a hero. Saying Barry was a villain was going too far, but Barry was definitely not being a hero. Despite the fact that he has been warned on multiple occasions about messing with the timeline, Barry went and created a brand new timeline for completely selfish reasons. Understandable reason, but selfish nonetheless. I'm just glad he did the right thing in the end.
I was half expecting to see Barry rush in and wave off his other self like we saw in the first season finale. The fact that he didn't should have been an indication that we are in a different timeline now. The problem is that. by relying on Thawne to fix the timeline, Barry allowed Thawne to deposit him in a different one, one where Iris and Joe aren't talking. So are we looking at another Flashpoint or did Barry do (or not do) something that led to the new timeline? Inquiring minds want to know.
It was interesting to see how everyone was different. Cisco was an obnoxious billionaire, Caitlin was a pediatric opthamologist, Joe was a drunk, and Wally was the (Kid) Flash. Iris was the only one who didn't change that much. The only real difference was her relationship with Barry, which was altered because she didn't grow up with him. One does wonder what became of Harrison Wells in the Flashpoint timeline.
Given everything that happened tonight, I assume that a good portion of the time is going to be spent getting Barry back to the "regular" timeline. Otherwise, The Flash will be outside the timeline that Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow are currently in. Well, either bring Barry back or shift the timeline for the other shows, which I don't see happening. This should be interesting.
Until Arrow tomorrow!
And in one episode, Barry's new timeline comes to an end. I must say that was very surprised. I assumed that the Flashpoint storyline would last until the mid-season crossover or so. So ending it in one episode was completely unexpected. However, it seems that the alternate universe storyline will be ongoing because in the new timeline that the Reverse Flash brought Barry to, Iris doesn't talk with Joe. I have to wonder what happened that was so bad that it would cause the two of them to stop talking. The good news is that Wally and Joe are still good, which is a good thing.
It was really nice to see Barry happy in the alternate timeline. I find it hard to believe that he never thought to look up Caitlin or Cisco in the alternate timeline. I know he was probably absorbed in getting to know his mom, but it is really, really hard for me to believe that Barry would completely ignore some of the most important people in his life for so long. I am especially surprised considering the fact that Cisco had set up shop in what Barry knew as STAR Labs.
Watching Barry try and woo Iris was absolutely adorable. He was so dorky and awkward about the whole thing. I was a little confused when they ran into Joe in the police station. She seemed to know that Barry worked with his dad then, but earlier it seemed like she didn't know him at all. It was a little niggling thing, but it was annoying. And it was amusing to see her try so desperately to get away from Barry when they heard that the Flash (aka Wally) was going up against the Rival. He's had to do it often enough himself that I am surprised it didn't occur to him what she was doing.
Keeping Eobard Thawne locked away wasn't the worst idea. Not saying it was a great idea, but it wasn't horrible either. Given the fact that he wanted to keep Nora safe, I totally get why Barry locked Thawne away. The hatred between them two of them is very real and very palpable. Thawne has done more to hurt Barry than anyone else has, except maybe Zoom. Forcing Barry to ask him to kill his mother was completely cruel of Thawne. That being said, he did have a point when he said that Barry was not being a hero. Saying Barry was a villain was going too far, but Barry was definitely not being a hero. Despite the fact that he has been warned on multiple occasions about messing with the timeline, Barry went and created a brand new timeline for completely selfish reasons. Understandable reason, but selfish nonetheless. I'm just glad he did the right thing in the end.
I was half expecting to see Barry rush in and wave off his other self like we saw in the first season finale. The fact that he didn't should have been an indication that we are in a different timeline now. The problem is that. by relying on Thawne to fix the timeline, Barry allowed Thawne to deposit him in a different one, one where Iris and Joe aren't talking. So are we looking at another Flashpoint or did Barry do (or not do) something that led to the new timeline? Inquiring minds want to know.
It was interesting to see how everyone was different. Cisco was an obnoxious billionaire, Caitlin was a pediatric opthamologist, Joe was a drunk, and Wally was the (Kid) Flash. Iris was the only one who didn't change that much. The only real difference was her relationship with Barry, which was altered because she didn't grow up with him. One does wonder what became of Harrison Wells in the Flashpoint timeline.
Given everything that happened tonight, I assume that a good portion of the time is going to be spent getting Barry back to the "regular" timeline. Otherwise, The Flash will be outside the timeline that Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow are currently in. Well, either bring Barry back or shift the timeline for the other shows, which I don't see happening. This should be interesting.
Until Arrow tomorrow!
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