The Adams-Fosters are on lockdown after the events at the school, Stef and Lena try and decide what to do about Brandon and Callie, Brandon repeats the mistakes of the past, Callie and Mariana try and expose what Justina did, Jude tries to come to terms with Jack's death, and Mariana learns about Callie and Brandon...
I have to start with Brandon. I swear, he and Stef had the same argument tonight that they've had several times before. In fact, he even recycled some of the same arguments! He makes a dumb decision, she gets upset at him, he leaves and accuses her of never listening to him, and there's a massive blowout. Only this time, he moved out of the house to be with Cortney. I honestly don't know what to do with him. While he may technically be an adult, he is making dumb decisions left and right. At least Callie understands how seriously screwed up things are because of what she and Brandon did at Idyllwild. Brandon, on the other hand, seems to be his normal, blame-it-on-everyone-else self. While I may have agreed with him in the past that Stef may have been overreacting, that is so not the case this time. I get that they thought the adoption was blown, but sleeping together was still a really, really dumb decision. And I get that he wants to help Cortney, but giving up everything in his future to help her out is equally dumb. I am seriously concerned that she may be playing him for a fool or something. I sincerely hope not, but I can't help but wonder. Someone needs to give that boy a whack with the 2x4 of clues so he'll get some common sense beat into his head.
I was seriously impressed with how Mariana handled Nick. Talking to him and reassuring him so that he wouldn't harm himself was the right move to make. My only nitpick is that the writers seemed to suddenly make him mentally ill with the hearing voices and what not. I can understand that seeing Mariana and Mat kissing might have sent him over the edge in one sense, I don't get why that could have made him start hearing voices. I do know that some mental illnesses can manifest after or during puberty, but there was never a hint that he had something that seriously wrong with him. The only issues we really saw with him was an emotionally abusive father. I guess that, coupled with the kiss and his heartbreak, could have triggered some sort of psychotic break or something. I'm just not familiar enough with psychology to be sure. If anyone does know (and I haven't had the chance to actually look into this yet), comment below because I would be very interested to learn about it.
While I loved that Callie and Mariana decided to expose Justina, I think they may have broken the law to do so. Calling the company and posing as her to get access to Fost and Found strikes me as bordering on the edge of legality. I am totally sympathetic, particularly after she betrayed Callie and is using Fost and Found to destroy Callie with the foster kids there. As I said last season, letting Justina pick admins to monitor the comments on the app was not a smart decision. In fact, getting involved with her at all was a bad decision. I would have thought that Mariana might have left herself some sort of backdoor into the app since she wrote the code and everything. I assume that she either didn't or Justina found it and got rid of it. I also have to wonder if Stef and Lena were right when they speculated that Justina simply guessed and managed to guess correctly. If she is working off that comment that was deleted early on, the question still remains about who exactly posted the comment in the first place.
Jude is continuing to come to terms with Jack's death. Getting his ashes and burying them underneath Frankie's tree was a nice touch. As Stef said, Jude has had so much bad stuff happen to him in his life. Granted, he's also had a lot of good, but that doesn't make the bad any less traumatic. It seems like he'll be fine, but that won't stop me from worrying about him.
I loved the way the episode kept making us think that someone was about to be attacked by Nick. The suspense kept on being maintained at a really, really nice level. Never too much, but just enough that you didn't want to turn away because you might miss something. That was truly well done.
Jesus continues to do a nice job being the supportive brother Mariana needs right now. He has always been more than willing to protect the people he cares about and right now I think Mariana needs him to just be there for her and help her if she needs it. Kudos.
Next episode is in two weeks, so I'll see you then!
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
My Review of The Fosters 4.01- Potential Energy
The school goes on lockdown, Callie's confession has ramifications, Jude continues to figure things out, Jesus reconnects with an old flame, and we get set up for what looks like an intense episode next week...
I want to start by saying that this was an excellent school shooting episode. I've seen a few others (One Tree Hill and Glee come immediately to mind) and this was definitely up there as an excellent one. From Brandon and Callie taking over the classroom for the sub to Mariana freaking out because she's locked out of the classrooms to Jesus and Lena getting ready to lose it when they realize that Mariana isn't in a classroom to Stef's charge into the school, everything was really well done. I appreciated that they really focused on the impact on everyone at the school.
I was amazed at the sub. I know that subs don't get as much training as full time teachers, but you'd think that they would be briefed on what to do. It was a good thing that Brandon and Callie were there. Callie has had so much stuff happen to her that she can keep a cool head under pressure and Brandon has two cops and an assistant principal for parents, so he knows what needs to get done. Between his complete panicking and grabbing that gun, I would be surprised if he ever gets a job teaching again, The other good thing is that Brandon and Callie got the opportunity to get everything ok between each other, I think. It's possible that they were sublimating their feelings in order to focus on the crisis, but I really do suspect that Brandon is not as mad as we could have expected. I was surprised that Callie didn't tell him what Justine had done, I do wonder if Justina had anything to do with all the negative comments on Fost & Found. We know she had something to do with the rumor being disseminated, but I can't help but wonder if she had people do something to cause the story to go viral or to go on the website and provoke outrage in order to discredit Callie.
I am really curious where they are taking Jude. I was really annoyed at Darla for saying that Jude is only looking for attention. While I don't think he's straight (he did date Connor after all), I wonder if he may be bisexual or pansexual. It is also entirely possible that he is actually gay and he is just struggling with everything that has happened to him. Let's face it, being that age is a very confusing time and Jude has gone through more than most people. I think he needs to really take time and figure out what he is before going any further because I don't want him to lead Taylor on or anything. I am just concerned after all the buildup that went into Jonnor, only to have Connor suddenly up and move to LA.
As for Mariana and Nick, that is a hugely messy situation. He saw Mariana and Mat kissing and it obviously completely unbalanced him. And his dad isn't helping matters any. We've seen his dad be emotionally abusive to Nick and I wanted to smack him for the way he spoke to Mariana today about leading Nick on. While I will say that Mariana may have led Nick on, it was obviously not intentional. And with Nick in (or near) the Adams-Fosters house right now with the gun, things are just going to get messier. And I feel so bad for Mariana that she got herself locked out of all the classrooms. As much as I dislike Timothy, he did have a point. Without knowing which student had the gun or if Mariana was alone, it wasn't safe to let her into the room. Totally sucks, but it was the right call to make.
Equally tough to watch was when Lena realized that Mariana wasn't in a classroom and Mike had to stop her from leaving. Again, he absolutely did the right thing. In a situation like the one they were in, running out into the hallway is asking for trouble. Don't get me wrong, I get why Lena wanted to rush out, but it wasn't a good idea. And then there is the whole thing where they never got Nick's father's permission to use the warehouse. In fairness to lena, she honestly thought she had talked with him, so she thought that permission was given. I don't know how anyone could have expected her to know she wasn't talking with Nick's dad on the phone. The only thing I can see is maybe them saying that she should have talked with him in person, but I'm not sure that what she did was negligent or unreasonable.
As much as I admire Stef for running into the building, it was a stupid decision. She didn't know what was going on and SWAT was there clearing the building out room by room. But that is our Stef, not always the most thoughtful person, but always ready to protect someone in need. And I would hate to be Brandon when she finally gets a chance to sit down and talk with him and Callie. That is not going to be pretty. I must admit that when she went into the house (and when the family went in), I half expected to hear shots, similar to what happened when she was shot in Season 1.
Next week, Nick is in the Adams-Fosters house and things look intense....
I want to start by saying that this was an excellent school shooting episode. I've seen a few others (One Tree Hill and Glee come immediately to mind) and this was definitely up there as an excellent one. From Brandon and Callie taking over the classroom for the sub to Mariana freaking out because she's locked out of the classrooms to Jesus and Lena getting ready to lose it when they realize that Mariana isn't in a classroom to Stef's charge into the school, everything was really well done. I appreciated that they really focused on the impact on everyone at the school.
I was amazed at the sub. I know that subs don't get as much training as full time teachers, but you'd think that they would be briefed on what to do. It was a good thing that Brandon and Callie were there. Callie has had so much stuff happen to her that she can keep a cool head under pressure and Brandon has two cops and an assistant principal for parents, so he knows what needs to get done. Between his complete panicking and grabbing that gun, I would be surprised if he ever gets a job teaching again, The other good thing is that Brandon and Callie got the opportunity to get everything ok between each other, I think. It's possible that they were sublimating their feelings in order to focus on the crisis, but I really do suspect that Brandon is not as mad as we could have expected. I was surprised that Callie didn't tell him what Justine had done, I do wonder if Justina had anything to do with all the negative comments on Fost & Found. We know she had something to do with the rumor being disseminated, but I can't help but wonder if she had people do something to cause the story to go viral or to go on the website and provoke outrage in order to discredit Callie.
I am really curious where they are taking Jude. I was really annoyed at Darla for saying that Jude is only looking for attention. While I don't think he's straight (he did date Connor after all), I wonder if he may be bisexual or pansexual. It is also entirely possible that he is actually gay and he is just struggling with everything that has happened to him. Let's face it, being that age is a very confusing time and Jude has gone through more than most people. I think he needs to really take time and figure out what he is before going any further because I don't want him to lead Taylor on or anything. I am just concerned after all the buildup that went into Jonnor, only to have Connor suddenly up and move to LA.
As for Mariana and Nick, that is a hugely messy situation. He saw Mariana and Mat kissing and it obviously completely unbalanced him. And his dad isn't helping matters any. We've seen his dad be emotionally abusive to Nick and I wanted to smack him for the way he spoke to Mariana today about leading Nick on. While I will say that Mariana may have led Nick on, it was obviously not intentional. And with Nick in (or near) the Adams-Fosters house right now with the gun, things are just going to get messier. And I feel so bad for Mariana that she got herself locked out of all the classrooms. As much as I dislike Timothy, he did have a point. Without knowing which student had the gun or if Mariana was alone, it wasn't safe to let her into the room. Totally sucks, but it was the right call to make.
Equally tough to watch was when Lena realized that Mariana wasn't in a classroom and Mike had to stop her from leaving. Again, he absolutely did the right thing. In a situation like the one they were in, running out into the hallway is asking for trouble. Don't get me wrong, I get why Lena wanted to rush out, but it wasn't a good idea. And then there is the whole thing where they never got Nick's father's permission to use the warehouse. In fairness to lena, she honestly thought she had talked with him, so she thought that permission was given. I don't know how anyone could have expected her to know she wasn't talking with Nick's dad on the phone. The only thing I can see is maybe them saying that she should have talked with him in person, but I'm not sure that what she did was negligent or unreasonable.
As much as I admire Stef for running into the building, it was a stupid decision. She didn't know what was going on and SWAT was there clearing the building out room by room. But that is our Stef, not always the most thoughtful person, but always ready to protect someone in need. And I would hate to be Brandon when she finally gets a chance to sit down and talk with him and Callie. That is not going to be pretty. I must admit that when she went into the house (and when the family went in), I half expected to hear shots, similar to what happened when she was shot in Season 1.
Next week, Nick is in the Adams-Fosters house and things look intense....
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Some Thoughts About the Most Recent Season of The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow
Having had a few weeks to digest the finales of Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow, I wanted to take a bit to reflect on each show, how it went, and where I hope it goes next.
Arrow
When the season started, I was super excited because it started off with a bang. After a disappointing season 3 and R'as Al Ghul, I was really excited to see Damien Dahrk and Arrow revitalize itself. And at the beginning, the show did a great job. Neal McDonough was obviously having a wonderful time playing a psychopath and he brought such joy to the role. And Stephen was playing Oliver as much more relaxed than he had been in the past. Even the crossover seemed to be less jarring than the ones from last year when it came to the different tones of the shows.
Where the show seemed to fall short this year can really be summed up in one word: Olicity. Don't get me wrong, I love the two of them as a couple and was really happy when they got together. However, I was very annoyed about the direction the show took Felicity after Oliver found out about his son. The writers created a storyline to cause drama for the sake of drama rather than letting drama flow naturally from a storyline. The result was that Felicity came out looking like an unlikeable shrew. I've gone on about this at length, so I don't feel the need to rehash old territory.
The other problem is that there really was no personal connection between Oliver and Dahrk. In season 1 you had Malcolm and in season 2 there was Deathstroke, both of whom had deep personal connections to Oliver. R'as had the potential to be an awesome villain, but he was seriously miscast and just flat out boring. Dahrk was a good threat to the city in general, but his plan seemed underwhelming and somehow lacked the urgency that was present int he first two seasons. Also, the show seemed to run out of gas at the end.
What the show needs is a villain who can create the sense of personal malice toward Oliver that was present in the first two seasons. Also, the flashbacks need to become more relevant to the overall story. In the first couple of seasons, I found that they were deeply tied to his personal journey, but in seasons 3 and 4, the flashbacks were more detached and more focused on the overall story, which was less personal and less engaging. Basically, the show needs to refocus on Oliver and his journey, because that is what made the first two seasons so awesome.
The Flash
The Flash had the opposite problem that Arrow had. The season started off very poorly, mainly because it seemed that a lot of the first part of the season was spent setting up Legends of Tomorrow. Once Legends started, the show got infinitely better. While the whole storyline with Jay Garrick being Zoom could have been a complete retread of last season's Wells being Thawne, it felt really fresh because Zoom was much more of a menace than Thawne was. The show also did a good job of introducing new characters in a way that kept them involved in the story.
And the show seriously ramped up the action by the end of the season, especially in the last couple of minutes when Barry ran back in time to save his mom, something he refused to do last year. What I really loved about that is that is gives the show a chance to redo portions of the first season from a different perspective. Will Barry and Iris still be such a major part of each other's lives if Barry isn't living with the West's? Will Barry be the Flash or will that completely change because of what he's done? There are so many unanswered questions, and I am really excited to see where they go.
My hope for the show is that they extend the time travel storyline until the 4 show crossover in November or December. I am just wondering who is going to be the villain of the season is going to be. Honestly, there's not a whole lot for me to say about this show. It has been doing a good job so far, so I just hope the writers keep going in the same direction.
Legends of Tomorrow
This show had a very uneven first season. Some episodes were awesome and some stunk to high heaven. Most were pretty good, but nothing to write home about. I am definitely annoyed that they got rid of Snart, because he was consistently one of the best characters on the show. My annoyance is tempered by the fact that he will be available on any of the shows in the Berlanti-verse, so that is good. I am also glad that the show got rid of Kendra, who was a very weak character. She was never really developed, so having her go away is a good thing.
The show was consistently good in the latter part of the season when the show revealed the Time Lords to be the true villains of the season. That was a fun and unexpected twist which really helped the show. What they need to do int he second season is focus on making Rip Hunter into a good character (he was also one of my least favorite parts of the first season), while making sure to keep the remaining members of the team up to the good standards they have set so far. This show also needs a good, compelling villain who has a personal connection to the group, which will really help keep the story really good.
Supergirl was just good overall and it is switching networks, so I will hold off on it until I see how the CW handles the show in the fall.
As for the crossover, I am really excited about how it will go and how it will be handled. This has the potential to be totally awesome. What has me worried is that they may make the crossover overly byzantine which will make it not that good.
Until the fall!
Arrow
When the season started, I was super excited because it started off with a bang. After a disappointing season 3 and R'as Al Ghul, I was really excited to see Damien Dahrk and Arrow revitalize itself. And at the beginning, the show did a great job. Neal McDonough was obviously having a wonderful time playing a psychopath and he brought such joy to the role. And Stephen was playing Oliver as much more relaxed than he had been in the past. Even the crossover seemed to be less jarring than the ones from last year when it came to the different tones of the shows.
Where the show seemed to fall short this year can really be summed up in one word: Olicity. Don't get me wrong, I love the two of them as a couple and was really happy when they got together. However, I was very annoyed about the direction the show took Felicity after Oliver found out about his son. The writers created a storyline to cause drama for the sake of drama rather than letting drama flow naturally from a storyline. The result was that Felicity came out looking like an unlikeable shrew. I've gone on about this at length, so I don't feel the need to rehash old territory.
The other problem is that there really was no personal connection between Oliver and Dahrk. In season 1 you had Malcolm and in season 2 there was Deathstroke, both of whom had deep personal connections to Oliver. R'as had the potential to be an awesome villain, but he was seriously miscast and just flat out boring. Dahrk was a good threat to the city in general, but his plan seemed underwhelming and somehow lacked the urgency that was present int he first two seasons. Also, the show seemed to run out of gas at the end.
What the show needs is a villain who can create the sense of personal malice toward Oliver that was present in the first two seasons. Also, the flashbacks need to become more relevant to the overall story. In the first couple of seasons, I found that they were deeply tied to his personal journey, but in seasons 3 and 4, the flashbacks were more detached and more focused on the overall story, which was less personal and less engaging. Basically, the show needs to refocus on Oliver and his journey, because that is what made the first two seasons so awesome.
The Flash
The Flash had the opposite problem that Arrow had. The season started off very poorly, mainly because it seemed that a lot of the first part of the season was spent setting up Legends of Tomorrow. Once Legends started, the show got infinitely better. While the whole storyline with Jay Garrick being Zoom could have been a complete retread of last season's Wells being Thawne, it felt really fresh because Zoom was much more of a menace than Thawne was. The show also did a good job of introducing new characters in a way that kept them involved in the story.
And the show seriously ramped up the action by the end of the season, especially in the last couple of minutes when Barry ran back in time to save his mom, something he refused to do last year. What I really loved about that is that is gives the show a chance to redo portions of the first season from a different perspective. Will Barry and Iris still be such a major part of each other's lives if Barry isn't living with the West's? Will Barry be the Flash or will that completely change because of what he's done? There are so many unanswered questions, and I am really excited to see where they go.
My hope for the show is that they extend the time travel storyline until the 4 show crossover in November or December. I am just wondering who is going to be the villain of the season is going to be. Honestly, there's not a whole lot for me to say about this show. It has been doing a good job so far, so I just hope the writers keep going in the same direction.
Legends of Tomorrow
This show had a very uneven first season. Some episodes were awesome and some stunk to high heaven. Most were pretty good, but nothing to write home about. I am definitely annoyed that they got rid of Snart, because he was consistently one of the best characters on the show. My annoyance is tempered by the fact that he will be available on any of the shows in the Berlanti-verse, so that is good. I am also glad that the show got rid of Kendra, who was a very weak character. She was never really developed, so having her go away is a good thing.
The show was consistently good in the latter part of the season when the show revealed the Time Lords to be the true villains of the season. That was a fun and unexpected twist which really helped the show. What they need to do int he second season is focus on making Rip Hunter into a good character (he was also one of my least favorite parts of the first season), while making sure to keep the remaining members of the team up to the good standards they have set so far. This show also needs a good, compelling villain who has a personal connection to the group, which will really help keep the story really good.
Supergirl was just good overall and it is switching networks, so I will hold off on it until I see how the CW handles the show in the fall.
As for the crossover, I am really excited about how it will go and how it will be handled. This has the potential to be totally awesome. What has me worried is that they may make the crossover overly byzantine which will make it not that good.
Until the fall!
Thursday, May 26, 2016
My Review of Arrow 4.23- Schism
Oliver and the gang work to end Dahrk's threat to the world and the aftermath leads to some surprising decisions....
While I did enjoy the finale, I felt a bit let down. The year started off so well and I was honestly hoping that the show would regain the glory it had in season 2. Don't get me wrong, I truly think that Damien Dahrk was one of the best villains this show has had, bested only by Deathstroke. But the show seemed to almost run out of gas towards the end of the season and sputtered to a decent, but not great ending, quite unlike the ending to The Flash last night which left us with all sorts of questions. I think what has happened is that the show runners has tried to make Arrow too much like The Flash, which is a mistake because they are fundamentally different shows. It doesn't help that the writing seems to be wildly inconsistent and the characters do odd things (Felicity throwing a temper tantrum over Oliver's son for one). I really hope the show can get back to what made it so great in the first couple of seasons, which was a man and his team trying to protect and save a city in a world that is really grounded in reality. Don't get me wrong, i love it when the Flash or someone else comes to visit, but the shows really do need to keep their unique tones.
All that being said, I did like that Oliver has decided to acknowledge that he does have light and dark impulses within him. He wants to be the person who can save and inspire the city, but he also needs to sometimes do things which are more pragmatic than moral in order to do so. For example, killing Dahrk tonight. Was it moral? No. It was cold blooded murder. However, it was the right thing to do. Trying to contain Dahrk has been shown to be next to impossible, so in order to make sure he couldn't threaten the world again, he needed to be killed. While Oliver may not like it, it is something that he can accept and do as a part of protecting people.
Dahrk underestimated what Oliver would do in order to protect the world and the people he loves. Oliver didn't kill Deathstroke in part because Oliver helped to create him because of what happened to Shado. Also, Oliver knew that ARGUS could contain Deathstroke on Lian Yu. Dahrk, on the other hand, enjoyed being the villain and relished the opportunity to kill and destroy and (as I said above) he couldn't be contained in the same way. The two circumstances called for different tactics and that is what Oliver did. In both instances, he applied the appropriate amount of violence necessary to resolve the situation and made the choice to live with the consequences. That is one of the things that makes Oliver the right person for the job. He avoids killing if he can, but he will kill if the situation calls for it. He may beat himself up a little afterwards, but he doesn't torture himself the way Diggle would.
Now that he's mayor of Star City, his life will be very interesting. I am not sure how he will go out at night as the Green Arrow, or if he will. I imagine that he will find some reason to, but I am curious about the how. I can't imagine that any bodyguards he has will be as easy to shake as Diggle was in the first season. I also hope that he and felicity manage to patch things up, because the two of them are very good for each other. Seeing as she's the only one who stayed with him, I am really hoping that things get back on track.
I do like that this year they had Diggle, Thea, and Lance all leave the city. After everything that happened, the three of them really needed to get out and just clear their heads. Diggle needs to come to terms with his brother's betrayal and the fact that his simplistic view of the world needs to change, Thea really needs to think about whether or not she really wants to stay in her brother's world as Speedy or if she'll just go away and visit periodically. And Lance just needs to leave. While I don't hate the character or anything, he has become increasingly marginalized, so having him disappear and resurface on occasion will be a good thing. He and Donna need to go live a good life together.
I'll be back in a week or two with some thoughts about the seasons of the shows of that Arrowverse and where Id like to see them go. And then on June 20th, The Fosters returns. Until then!
While I did enjoy the finale, I felt a bit let down. The year started off so well and I was honestly hoping that the show would regain the glory it had in season 2. Don't get me wrong, I truly think that Damien Dahrk was one of the best villains this show has had, bested only by Deathstroke. But the show seemed to almost run out of gas towards the end of the season and sputtered to a decent, but not great ending, quite unlike the ending to The Flash last night which left us with all sorts of questions. I think what has happened is that the show runners has tried to make Arrow too much like The Flash, which is a mistake because they are fundamentally different shows. It doesn't help that the writing seems to be wildly inconsistent and the characters do odd things (Felicity throwing a temper tantrum over Oliver's son for one). I really hope the show can get back to what made it so great in the first couple of seasons, which was a man and his team trying to protect and save a city in a world that is really grounded in reality. Don't get me wrong, i love it when the Flash or someone else comes to visit, but the shows really do need to keep their unique tones.
All that being said, I did like that Oliver has decided to acknowledge that he does have light and dark impulses within him. He wants to be the person who can save and inspire the city, but he also needs to sometimes do things which are more pragmatic than moral in order to do so. For example, killing Dahrk tonight. Was it moral? No. It was cold blooded murder. However, it was the right thing to do. Trying to contain Dahrk has been shown to be next to impossible, so in order to make sure he couldn't threaten the world again, he needed to be killed. While Oliver may not like it, it is something that he can accept and do as a part of protecting people.
Dahrk underestimated what Oliver would do in order to protect the world and the people he loves. Oliver didn't kill Deathstroke in part because Oliver helped to create him because of what happened to Shado. Also, Oliver knew that ARGUS could contain Deathstroke on Lian Yu. Dahrk, on the other hand, enjoyed being the villain and relished the opportunity to kill and destroy and (as I said above) he couldn't be contained in the same way. The two circumstances called for different tactics and that is what Oliver did. In both instances, he applied the appropriate amount of violence necessary to resolve the situation and made the choice to live with the consequences. That is one of the things that makes Oliver the right person for the job. He avoids killing if he can, but he will kill if the situation calls for it. He may beat himself up a little afterwards, but he doesn't torture himself the way Diggle would.
Now that he's mayor of Star City, his life will be very interesting. I am not sure how he will go out at night as the Green Arrow, or if he will. I imagine that he will find some reason to, but I am curious about the how. I can't imagine that any bodyguards he has will be as easy to shake as Diggle was in the first season. I also hope that he and felicity manage to patch things up, because the two of them are very good for each other. Seeing as she's the only one who stayed with him, I am really hoping that things get back on track.
I do like that this year they had Diggle, Thea, and Lance all leave the city. After everything that happened, the three of them really needed to get out and just clear their heads. Diggle needs to come to terms with his brother's betrayal and the fact that his simplistic view of the world needs to change, Thea really needs to think about whether or not she really wants to stay in her brother's world as Speedy or if she'll just go away and visit periodically. And Lance just needs to leave. While I don't hate the character or anything, he has become increasingly marginalized, so having him disappear and resurface on occasion will be a good thing. He and Donna need to go live a good life together.
I'll be back in a week or two with some thoughts about the seasons of the shows of that Arrowverse and where Id like to see them go. And then on June 20th, The Fosters returns. Until then!
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
My Review of The Flash 2.23- The Race of His Life
As Barry is reeling from Henry's death, the gang takes matters into their own hands, the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask is revealed (and it's a doozy!), and Zoom reveals his plans. Then Barry does the unthinkable....
Let's start with Barry and his reaction to Henry's death. Unsurprisingly, he becomes unhinged and obsessed with ending Zoom. When Zoom challenged him to that race, I have to admit to mixed feelings about the whole thing. I think Barry was right when he decided to race Zoom and save everyone else, but I could see the gang's point. Barry was not thinking clearly, but he needed time to do that and he wasn't going to get that time. I do think that locking him up was going too far, but I can sympathize with their motives. I knew that their plan to take down Zoom on their own was going to go sideways, but I wasn't expecting Zoom to grab Joe on his way out, so that was an interesting development.
I was so glad that Wally let Barry go. He was right that the gang was making the wrong decision. Leaving Joe to Zoom's tender mercies would have been a horrible idea and Iris would have tortured herself over the decision. Not to mention the fact that they would have totally lost Barry because I don't know if he ever would have forgiven them for that one, and rightfully so. Again, good intentions, but poor execution.
When they revealed that the Man in the Iron Mask was the real Jay Garrick and that he was Henry's doppleganger fro Earth-3, I was floored. I thought for a second that maybe he was Ronnie (hey, hope springs eternal!), but seeing John Wesley Shipp in the Flash outfit again was totally awesome. I watched several of the episodes from the 90's TV series (and I have the DVDs!), so seeing him as the Flash again was a total trip! It sucked that it was super hard on Barry, but it was a really nice bone to throw to people who watched that series.
I wasn't far off about Zoom's plan. He wanted to use the energy generated when he and Barry raced in order to power a machine that would destroy every other universe in the multiverse. As I've been commenting on all season, this was a variation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, right down to Barry (albeit a time remnant) sacrificing himself in order to save the multiverse. That was quite the nice way to wrap up the whole Zoom storyline, which leads us to the ending....
Barry ran back in time and saved his mother from being killed by Eobard Thawne. The ramifications of that are too varied to really list. By saving his mother, Barry completely altered time and created a brand new timeline. Rather than simply changing a relatively small moment like he did once or twice last year, he altered a formative event in this timeline. By saving his mother, he made it so he wouldn't live with the Wests and he will have lost his reason to work as a CSI. He may or may not have stopped Thawne from killing Wells, which would also mean that the Accident would never have happened and he won't become the Flash. Also, since Thawne (as Wells) hired Cisco and Caitlin so that he could create the Accident, they won't be there either. And that is only on The Flash itself.
If you extend the potential ramifications to other shows in this universe, Firestorm will never exist which will affect the team on Legends of Tomorrow and who knows what the effects will be on Arrow. I suspect that the other shows will continue on the current timeline and that only The Flash will switch timelines, but that will mean that the shows won't be able to sync up again until Barry restores the original timeline. There is a story in DC comics called "Flashpoint" which seems to fit in with what they are doing, and that may provide some clues about how Season 3 will go. I plan on writing some more thoughts on all three finales in a week or two after I've had some more time to process and think things through.
Tomorrow is the Arrow finale and then I'm done until The Fosters returns on June 20th. Until tomorrow!
Let's start with Barry and his reaction to Henry's death. Unsurprisingly, he becomes unhinged and obsessed with ending Zoom. When Zoom challenged him to that race, I have to admit to mixed feelings about the whole thing. I think Barry was right when he decided to race Zoom and save everyone else, but I could see the gang's point. Barry was not thinking clearly, but he needed time to do that and he wasn't going to get that time. I do think that locking him up was going too far, but I can sympathize with their motives. I knew that their plan to take down Zoom on their own was going to go sideways, but I wasn't expecting Zoom to grab Joe on his way out, so that was an interesting development.
I was so glad that Wally let Barry go. He was right that the gang was making the wrong decision. Leaving Joe to Zoom's tender mercies would have been a horrible idea and Iris would have tortured herself over the decision. Not to mention the fact that they would have totally lost Barry because I don't know if he ever would have forgiven them for that one, and rightfully so. Again, good intentions, but poor execution.
When they revealed that the Man in the Iron Mask was the real Jay Garrick and that he was Henry's doppleganger fro Earth-3, I was floored. I thought for a second that maybe he was Ronnie (hey, hope springs eternal!), but seeing John Wesley Shipp in the Flash outfit again was totally awesome. I watched several of the episodes from the 90's TV series (and I have the DVDs!), so seeing him as the Flash again was a total trip! It sucked that it was super hard on Barry, but it was a really nice bone to throw to people who watched that series.
I wasn't far off about Zoom's plan. He wanted to use the energy generated when he and Barry raced in order to power a machine that would destroy every other universe in the multiverse. As I've been commenting on all season, this was a variation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, right down to Barry (albeit a time remnant) sacrificing himself in order to save the multiverse. That was quite the nice way to wrap up the whole Zoom storyline, which leads us to the ending....
Barry ran back in time and saved his mother from being killed by Eobard Thawne. The ramifications of that are too varied to really list. By saving his mother, Barry completely altered time and created a brand new timeline. Rather than simply changing a relatively small moment like he did once or twice last year, he altered a formative event in this timeline. By saving his mother, he made it so he wouldn't live with the Wests and he will have lost his reason to work as a CSI. He may or may not have stopped Thawne from killing Wells, which would also mean that the Accident would never have happened and he won't become the Flash. Also, since Thawne (as Wells) hired Cisco and Caitlin so that he could create the Accident, they won't be there either. And that is only on The Flash itself.
If you extend the potential ramifications to other shows in this universe, Firestorm will never exist which will affect the team on Legends of Tomorrow and who knows what the effects will be on Arrow. I suspect that the other shows will continue on the current timeline and that only The Flash will switch timelines, but that will mean that the shows won't be able to sync up again until Barry restores the original timeline. There is a story in DC comics called "Flashpoint" which seems to fit in with what they are doing, and that may provide some clues about how Season 3 will go. I plan on writing some more thoughts on all three finales in a week or two after I've had some more time to process and think things through.
Tomorrow is the Arrow finale and then I'm done until The Fosters returns on June 20th. Until tomorrow!
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
My Review of Blindspot 1.23- Why Await Life's End
Jane struggles to come to terms with what happened; Weller is rocked by a deathbed confession; and Zapata, Patterson, and Reade realize that there is a lot more going on than they thought...
Well, that was one way to end the first season of a show. I want to start with Jane, who had a really rough time. She was absolutely reeling from Oscar killing Mayfair and was trying to figure everything out. Then she finds out that she is not Taylor Shaw, but was planted in the same office as Weller in order to remove Mayfair and make Weller the head of the office so that the group she was a part of could proceed to take down and remake the United States (or at least the government). Add to that the fact that she killed Oscar while the two of them were fighting and you have the recipe for a very lousy day. And then it got worse: Weller arrested her for various unspecified crimes.
Before I look at Weller I want to look at his arresting Jane. From his perspective, it's fairly obvious that he thinks Jane was working with people to ruin his life. The problem is that there is nothing he can prove. He was pissed when he arrested her and that is not a good thing because it totally clouded his judgment. He thinks that she was part of a conspiracy, but he can't prove it. He may even have arrested her for lying to him, but to be a crime the lie has to come in the course of an investigation and has to be knowingly made. While he may think she did both of these, the fact is that he can't prove the second and she never lied about an investigation. All she lied about (inadvertently, I must add) was her identity, which was not (unless my memory is bad) a part of an investigation.
That being said, I do totally get his anger. He thought she was his childhood friend and she lied about memories. Add to that the fact that he just discovered that his father did bury (and maybe kill) Taylor Shaw, and you have a disaster in the making. The only reason I am not unequivocally saying that his father killed Taylor is that we don't know the circumstances or anything, so I will withhold saying anything definitive until we learn something for sure. It is obvious that the relationship between Jane and Weller will never be the same again. I just hope he can learn to trust her, because she never purposefully lied except for some memories, which she thought were true (just out of her memory's reach).
Zapata and Reade finally told Patterson everything they had discovered. I'm glad that the three of them have gotten on the same page. It is totally understandable why they kept things from each other, but we have learned that it was not a good thing for them. I just want to know what Orion is (or was). I think it must have been some government program due to the number of files that Mayfair had on that flash drive. I also hope that they bring Weller in on everything, because Orion appears to be a major key to the conspiracy that Jane is a part of.
Who is Shepherd? I was under the impression (from Oscar) that Jane was in charge of the group he was in, but that is obviously untrue, unless Shepherd is some sort of identity hidden within Jane (which is doubtful). Sophia could be Shepherd, but I think it's someone else, maybe even someone we've already met. Only time will tell.
Until next season!
Well, that was one way to end the first season of a show. I want to start with Jane, who had a really rough time. She was absolutely reeling from Oscar killing Mayfair and was trying to figure everything out. Then she finds out that she is not Taylor Shaw, but was planted in the same office as Weller in order to remove Mayfair and make Weller the head of the office so that the group she was a part of could proceed to take down and remake the United States (or at least the government). Add to that the fact that she killed Oscar while the two of them were fighting and you have the recipe for a very lousy day. And then it got worse: Weller arrested her for various unspecified crimes.
Before I look at Weller I want to look at his arresting Jane. From his perspective, it's fairly obvious that he thinks Jane was working with people to ruin his life. The problem is that there is nothing he can prove. He was pissed when he arrested her and that is not a good thing because it totally clouded his judgment. He thinks that she was part of a conspiracy, but he can't prove it. He may even have arrested her for lying to him, but to be a crime the lie has to come in the course of an investigation and has to be knowingly made. While he may think she did both of these, the fact is that he can't prove the second and she never lied about an investigation. All she lied about (inadvertently, I must add) was her identity, which was not (unless my memory is bad) a part of an investigation.
That being said, I do totally get his anger. He thought she was his childhood friend and she lied about memories. Add to that the fact that he just discovered that his father did bury (and maybe kill) Taylor Shaw, and you have a disaster in the making. The only reason I am not unequivocally saying that his father killed Taylor is that we don't know the circumstances or anything, so I will withhold saying anything definitive until we learn something for sure. It is obvious that the relationship between Jane and Weller will never be the same again. I just hope he can learn to trust her, because she never purposefully lied except for some memories, which she thought were true (just out of her memory's reach).
Zapata and Reade finally told Patterson everything they had discovered. I'm glad that the three of them have gotten on the same page. It is totally understandable why they kept things from each other, but we have learned that it was not a good thing for them. I just want to know what Orion is (or was). I think it must have been some government program due to the number of files that Mayfair had on that flash drive. I also hope that they bring Weller in on everything, because Orion appears to be a major key to the conspiracy that Jane is a part of.
Who is Shepherd? I was under the impression (from Oscar) that Jane was in charge of the group he was in, but that is obviously untrue, unless Shepherd is some sort of identity hidden within Jane (which is doubtful). Sophia could be Shepherd, but I think it's someone else, maybe even someone we've already met. Only time will tell.
Until next season!
Saturday, May 21, 2016
My Review of The Originals 3.22- The Bloody Crown
Marcel returns with vengeance on his mind and Klaus makes a bold move to save his family....
The first thing that has to be said about tonight's episode is that it was rather quiet for a season finale. After the last few weeks of mayhem and death, this weeks episode seemed less about wrapping up this season and more about setting up the next. Not that there weren't effects from this season, but the effects seemed to be getting ready for what is to come.
That being said, I really did like the episode. It was nice to take a break and reflect on everything that has happened. Cami is dead, Davina is dead, the witches have been cut off from the Ancestors, and Marcel is a super-vampire. The Originals are all out of commission for one reason or another and Hayley is left to protect them and find a cure. I will want to look at next season, but I want to talk a little about the episode itself.
It's hard to be upset at Marcel, because he was correct in most of what he said. The Mikaelsons do protect each other before they protect anyone else. Klaus has done a lot of awful things during his time on earth. And people definitely have a right to be pissed off at them. Where I disagree with him is the way he handled everything. The "trial" was nothing more than a show meant to give everyone a chance to yell at Klaus and for Klaus to be defiant one last time. Not that it could have been handled any differently (let's be honest), but it wasn't a trial, so let's just call it what it was: a show.
Klaus' and Rebekah's speeches were both wonderful. I honestly thought Rebekah was betraying Klaus, and to be honest I'm not sure there was much acting on her part. He has been awful to his family in the name of protecting them so she simply told the truth. And Klaus was as Klausian as ever. Defiant, self-righteous, and arrogant as hell, that is our Klaus. He may have become something of a better person thanks to Cami, but he sure knows how to put on a show.
The prophecy was fulfilled. Klaus was taken down by family (Marcel), Elijah by a friend (Marcel), and Kol by a foe (Marcel). The twist is that, as I just showed, the same person was all three. Nicely played.
Freya's plan to link the entire family to Klaus so that they would be protected from death was really smart. Since Klaus didn't die, Kol, Elijah, and Freya will have at least something of a chance to survive. And that is where my thoughts for next season begin.
We know that The Vampire Diaries is three years ahead of The Originals and that Klaus hasn't been seen in New Orleans during that time. I am willing to bet that the show will pick up about three years in the future (to catch up with TVD) with Hayley looking for; or maybe actually finding; a cure for the three siblings. They will then have to get back into New Orleans and freee Klaus from his prison that Marcel put him in. Doing this will allow them to cast a new actress for Hope and maybe have her do more. I am wondering if she somehow holds the key to a cure. Not that she is the cure directly, but maybe she may have something to do with one.
The Originals comes back at mid-season, so I'll see y'all then!
The first thing that has to be said about tonight's episode is that it was rather quiet for a season finale. After the last few weeks of mayhem and death, this weeks episode seemed less about wrapping up this season and more about setting up the next. Not that there weren't effects from this season, but the effects seemed to be getting ready for what is to come.
That being said, I really did like the episode. It was nice to take a break and reflect on everything that has happened. Cami is dead, Davina is dead, the witches have been cut off from the Ancestors, and Marcel is a super-vampire. The Originals are all out of commission for one reason or another and Hayley is left to protect them and find a cure. I will want to look at next season, but I want to talk a little about the episode itself.
It's hard to be upset at Marcel, because he was correct in most of what he said. The Mikaelsons do protect each other before they protect anyone else. Klaus has done a lot of awful things during his time on earth. And people definitely have a right to be pissed off at them. Where I disagree with him is the way he handled everything. The "trial" was nothing more than a show meant to give everyone a chance to yell at Klaus and for Klaus to be defiant one last time. Not that it could have been handled any differently (let's be honest), but it wasn't a trial, so let's just call it what it was: a show.
Klaus' and Rebekah's speeches were both wonderful. I honestly thought Rebekah was betraying Klaus, and to be honest I'm not sure there was much acting on her part. He has been awful to his family in the name of protecting them so she simply told the truth. And Klaus was as Klausian as ever. Defiant, self-righteous, and arrogant as hell, that is our Klaus. He may have become something of a better person thanks to Cami, but he sure knows how to put on a show.
The prophecy was fulfilled. Klaus was taken down by family (Marcel), Elijah by a friend (Marcel), and Kol by a foe (Marcel). The twist is that, as I just showed, the same person was all three. Nicely played.
Freya's plan to link the entire family to Klaus so that they would be protected from death was really smart. Since Klaus didn't die, Kol, Elijah, and Freya will have at least something of a chance to survive. And that is where my thoughts for next season begin.
We know that The Vampire Diaries is three years ahead of The Originals and that Klaus hasn't been seen in New Orleans during that time. I am willing to bet that the show will pick up about three years in the future (to catch up with TVD) with Hayley looking for; or maybe actually finding; a cure for the three siblings. They will then have to get back into New Orleans and freee Klaus from his prison that Marcel put him in. Doing this will allow them to cast a new actress for Hope and maybe have her do more. I am wondering if she somehow holds the key to a cure. Not that she is the cure directly, but maybe she may have something to do with one.
The Originals comes back at mid-season, so I'll see y'all then!
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