Some Thoughts About What I Hope to See in Love, Victor Season 2

 So I just finished watching Love, Victor for the 10th time (yes, I am a little obsessed, deal with it). This is my first time rewatching it since they announced that it will be coming back for Season 2 on June 11th. This time, I decided to rewatch with an eye towards what I would like to see in Season 2.

To refresh: Victor Salazar is a young man who moved with his family from Texas to Atlanta, Georgia after his mother had an affair (it seemed to be more emotional than physical) with his dad's boss and after his dad was fired for attacking his boss over the affair. Victor's sister Pilar is incredibly upset about moving and his brother Adrian doesn't really seem fazed by the move. Victor was relieved to be in a big city because he was starting to realize that he was gay and on his first day at Creekwood High, he heard about Simon Spier who came out as gay and kissed his now-boyfriend at a carnival in front of most of the school. He writes to Simon on Instagram (they never say for sure, but based on the look, I think that is a safe bet) about how he was hoping to start over and that, after hearing about Simon, he felt upset and unsure about what to do. On his first day, he met Mia, a popular and pretty girl who is also quite kind; Felix, his quirky upstairs neighbor who can be annoying at times; Lake, a petty and insecure friend of Mia's who Felix is crushing on; and Andrew, a jock who nicknamed Felix "Lone Stone", has a crush on Mia, and who Lake is crushing on. He also meets Benji, an out gay kid who Victor is instantly attracted to. Over the course of the season, Victor and Simon talk as Victor dates Mia and tries to deny his attraction to Benji. When he and Benji go on a trip to get the coffee machine from the coffee shop they work at fixed, Victor kisses Benji and then freaks out. Benji is none to pleased about it and decides to move to another store because he has a boyfriend who would not be pleased about what happened. Victor sneaks off to New York to visit Simon and meets Bram (Simon's boyfriend) and their roommates who show Victor that there is no one way to be queer and that they are in his corner. Victor comes out to Felix, who gives him a hug and assures him that nothing has to change, and then tries to come out to Mia only to have events stymie him. He takes Mia to a dance where she catches him kissing Benji (who broke up with his boyfriend) and she leaves the dance with Andrew. Felix sneaks around with Lake (at her insistence) and then breaks off what they have when she won't go public. At the dance, she asks him to come up front and kiss and dance with her, making them official. After leaving the dance, Victor and Pilar go back home where their parents tell them that they will be separating. Victor, who had planned on telling them he was gay, decided not to say anything to make sure that there was no more tenseness, only to turn around and tell them, "I'm gay."

Ok, there was obviously a lot that I didn't hit (there are 10 25-30 minute episodes), but those are the highlights. So now I want to go through each main character and say what I am hoping we get from them.

Victor- First off, I am hoping that we get to see his parents' immediate reaction to his declaration. The Spring Fling was at some point during his sophomore year and Season 2 is in his junior year, so I am assuming there is a time jump there. I want to see how they react, not just be told about it. Second, he needs to make things right with Mia. I get why he didn't tell her right away, but he waited way too long. He hurt her tremendously and he needs to make it right if he can. But he also needs to respect her choice if she tells him that she needs space. Third, I am really curious about how he and Benji navigate his coming out and dating. Mia was Victor's first relationship, so this should be interesting. I am hoping that they start to retire the Victor and Simon messaging each other thing because Victor does need to learn how to do this on his own. I would like to see him get advice periodically, but not several times an episode like he did in Season 1. Finally, I want Victor to have more of a backbone. In the first season, he kept doing everything he could to help his family keep peace at the expense of himself. He needs to focus on himself here and not so much on them.

Benji- In Season 1, Benji was mostly the object of romantic interest. He got some character development, but not as much as any other main character. We learned that his coming out was traumatic (he got drunk and crashed a car into a Wendy's just before coming out to his parents in a hospital) and that his ex-boyfriend was very much not a romantic while Benji is definitely one. Benji is going to be in the interesting position of having to help Victor navigate coming out while being in a relationship with him. I also suspect that there is going to be tension between him and Mia over what happened with Victor.

Mia- I really felt for her in the finale. I know that when I was coming out, the idea of dating a woman (to try and force myself to be straight) and causing her pain by coming out was my greatest fear. Victor did this to her in spades. I am hoping she can forgive him eventually, but I am suspecting that it is going to be a bit of a road back. I really hope that we don't come back and they are friends right away. Victor needs to make amends and I want to see him do that. I am also curious about how she will handle her father and Veronica getting married and having a baby together. She seems to be the character who all the drama happens to, and I hope that is not the case. I really hope she and Andrew do end up together because he does seem to care about her. Unfortunately, I am not sure how she feels about him. so unless she can actually care for him, maybe they shouldn't be together.

Lake- It was great to see the character who was presented as a popular almost-airhead has depth. I really grew to love her over the course of the season and she and Felix make a lovely couple. Of course, I love the odd couples like this (I also love Mouth and Rachel or Mouth and Brooke on One Tree Hill), so seeing them together was like catnip for me. I do not like the way her mother talks to her and beats down her self esteem. I think her mom thinks that she is helping Lake by "being realistic", but she is not. I really hope Lake continues on her path to being less shallow and less concerned with what other people think.

Felix- Felix is the type of character I love. He is quirky, cute, and fun. Fortunately, he is also not too neurotic or insecure. He has been an awesome friend for Victor and has really helped Lake realize how awesome she is (I say helped because she started on her own, he just helped the process along). I am hoping that he doesn't change for the worse from being around popular people, because that seems to happen to this type of character a lot. He just needs to keep being the awesome person he has been.

Andrew- For the first several episodes, I intensely disliked him. He used Lake to try and hang out with Mia, gave Felix a dehumanizing nickname years ago, and tried to embarrass Victor due to his socio-economic status. About the only person he didn't hurt was Mia. Where I came to start liking Andrew was after Felix told him off for what he was doing (bullying people by making them the butts of jokes or by humiliating them) and Mia let him know that he might be a good person deep down. I think Andrew truly did not realize how much damage he was doing, because he did try and change after that. I was impressed that he didn't tell Mia about Victor kissing Benji and that he declined to go into Mia's house after taking her home after the dance. He wants to be in a relationship with her and is willing to wait.

Pilar- Honestly, she is the character I like the least. She is whiny, passive-aggressive, and pretty much the most annoying character around. I get why she is the way she is, but that doesn't mean that I like her. I am just hoping that she grows and become less annoying and less passive-aggressive (or just less aggressive).

And I hope Victor's parents get their shit together. They were fighting all season long and did not seem to get how much they were hurting their kids until Victor called them onto the carpet about it. Separating is a good idea because they need time and space. I am also hoping that they handle Victor's coming out with good grace. I am expecting some stumbles and some mistakes, but I really hope we don't get anything major like him getting kicked out or something like that. Based on how Armando (the father) reacted to the idea of Adrian potentially being gay, I am expecting him to have the most trouble. Isabel (the mother) is closer to Victor, so I am hoping that she handles it well, but it is entirely possible this could actually cause her to react worse if she feels betrayed or something.

Anyway, I really am looking forward to season 2 coming out. Until then!

Some Thoughts about The Hardy Boys

I finished watching "The Hardy Boys" on Hulu the other night. I remember reading the books when I was younger, it was one of the series I really enjoyed. Along with Cam Jansen and Encyclopedia Brown, I would say they were some of my favorites. So when I heard about the series, I was pretty excited. I have to say that I feel a little let down. The series was ok, but not great. If it comes back, I'll watch, but I won't rush out to watch it. If it doesn't come back, that will be ok too. Which is more than a little disappointing to me.

It's been a long time since I read the books, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the casting, but I was not impressed by Rohan Campbell, who played Frank. I don't say this often, but his acting felt very emotionless when it came to romance. He was supposed to be interested in Callie, but there were no sparks of anything there. It was actually supposed to be a romantic triangle with Chet, but none of the relationships had any spark or anything. There was no chemistry, no desire, nothing to make me think that any of them were interested in each other. If it hadn't been for being told that they were interested in each other and for the obvious tropes pointing to a romantic triangle, I wouldn't have known there was anything romantic going on at all.

On the subject of romances, there were two potential relationships that were definitely present and I would actually look forward to seeing how they progress. One was Joe and Biff (a girl his age in this iteration) and the other was Trudy and Jesse (Biff's mom). In fact, for a while I was wondering if Trudy and Jesse were in a low-key relationship because there were definite sparks and chemistry going on there. It could have been just a great friendship, but there were things that made me question if that was all there was. If it comes back for season 2, I really hope that they explore that. Joe and Biff were fun and cute in that way that kids get when they know they are interested in someone but don't know how to handle it. Watching the two of them together was really cute. Again, it could just be a great friendship or it could be more, so that would also be fun to see more of.

I have some hope for Frank's character because, other than Chet and Cassie, his relationships felt pretty real. He and Joe had a fun sibling relationship and when he was with Trudy things felt real. This is leading me to suspect that the fault lies in the connection (or lack thereof) between him, Cassie, and Chet. They just need to either get rid of those actors or figure something out because they felt like the weakest links in the show. The other oddity was Phil. He was somewhat helpful, but mostly was just comic relief who occasionally came up with a good idea. I hope that they either develop him more or get rid of him.

One thing I do wish the show did better was explicitly state what time period they are in. I would say that they are in the 80s given the fact that there are walkmen, only landlines, older cars, and other visual clues, but there were some clothing and hairstyle choices that looked more modern (I will admit that my remembering of the 80s is hazy, so I could be wrong there). It felt almost like they didn't want to nail down a time period, but they still sort of did.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but felt that there was a lot they could have done better.

Some Thoughts About Love, Victor

Stop me if this sounds familiar:

A teen drama with a protagonist who meets a sweet, popular character who is a love interest; another love interest; a jock who is an asshole; a quirky friend; a insecure person who wants to be popular; and other background characters.  Over the course of several episodes, the protagonist struggles with who they really like while also trying to fit in and live their life.

If you're saying that this sounds like a perfectly ordinary teen drama, you would be correct.  And Love, Victor has all of these.  What sets the show apart is that the main romantic pairing is a same-sex pair.  The ordinariness of the plot of Love, Victor is the very thing that makes it extraordinary.  Much like Love, Simon, the 2018 coming of age/teen rom-com film whose world Love, Victor is set in, the show sets out to be run of the mill with a same-sex couple as the primary pairing.  It has all the tropes and standard elements of the many, many teen dramas that proceeded it with that little twist.  And that is, as I said, what makes it so extraordinary.

I remember growing up and having characters coming out of the closet be a Sweeps moment.  It was a Big Deal.  So having a show where the character is known to be queer and the show is about them coming to terms with that shows the progress that has been made.  Don't get me wrong, we aren't at the Promised Land yet, but we have come a good distance.

The other thing that makes Love, Victor so great is that Victor is a Latino.  Most queer characters who are leading characters in shows or movies made by major studios (as opposed to supporting or part of an ensemble) have been white males.  There are exceptions to this (of course), but they have been just that, the exception to the rule.

I have to admit to a large amount of trepidation when I first heard about the show.  Early on, it sounded like they were going to turn the movie into a tv series, which would have been a major mistake.  When they announced that the show would have new characters, but set at the same high school, it eased a lot of my fears.  I loved that the show had Victor DMing Simon to get advice and to tell Simon what was going on in his life.  That gave the show a wonderful connection to the movie and allowed us to continue to be connected to Simon and Bram even though they weren't at the high school anymore.  In a similar vein, I loved seeing Ms. Albright as the vice principal in the first episode.  Again, it connected the show to the movie and gave us a very good reason for Victor to hear about and start communicating with Simon.

That being said, there were a couple of things I wish the show had done differently.  First, I was not particularly happy that the only options presented in terms of sexual orientation were gay/lesbian or straight.  There was no discussion that Victor might be bi or pan, which are very real orientations and are severely underrepresented on tv and in movies.  The other issue is a familiar one.  Michael Cimino, who plays Victor, is straight.  While he did an awesome job and obviously cares very deeply about how he presented Victor's struggles, it is always better to have a queer actor play a queer character because they can bring authenticity to the role and the struggle of coming to terms with who you are.

With that, I can't say there was anything else I was unhappy about.  The show had an episode that focused on the queer community and the way that the community really can be a family of people who want to cheer each other on and support each other as we work on coming out and figuring out who we are.  I also loved that Simon and Bram had roommates of various orientations, gender identities, pronouns, and gender presentations.  Again, representation matters.  When we can see people who are like us, or when the straight world can see the variety of people who are a part of the queer community, it helps everyone.  This is not to say that we don't have a way to go, but you have to start somewhere.

I think my favorite episode was the eighth episode where Victor went to New York to meet Simon.  That was the episode I talked about in the last paragraph.  It had great speeches from Bram who showed Victor that there are all sorts of people in the queer community, Justin (played by Tommy Dorfman) who explained how (for many, if not most, queer people) the person they showed to the world before they came out is a costume and how who they are after they come out is their authentic self, and then from Simon who explained to Victor why his roommates knew about what Victor told him.  The fact that Victor was able to admit why he was afraid to come out, which was followed by a group hug, was also wonderful, as was his admission at the end that that night was the best of his life.

Another awesome scene was when Victor came out to Felix and Felix admitted that he didn't know the perfect thing to say, but that nothing had to change between them.  That sort of unquestioning acceptance and affirmation is better than any long, flowery speech.  It was a short, simple declaration followed by a hug that let Victor know that he had at least one person in his life who would not turn their back on him.  It doesn't get much better than that.

I do have to admit to not being fond of the way Victor hurt Mia.  I will grant that he was not intending to be hurtful, but he hurt her deeply nonetheless.  I get why he didn't tell her when he was intending to, due to the fact that her father announced that not only was his girlfriend pregnant, but they were also getting married.  Throwing in the fact that he was gay would have made an already messy situation even messier, so I get the hesitation there.  Unfortunately, she discovered that he was gay on her own when she saw him kissing Benji.  That is never a good situation.

I really hope the show comes back for a second season because the way they ended the first is totally begging for another season.  Victor's parents announced that they are seperating, at least temporarily, and the episode ended with Victor announcing the fact that he is gay.  If we don't get to see how everyone deals with that, I will be really upset.

Overall, the show was well acted, Victor's struggles were eminently relatable, and the characters were developed in a way that allowed them to break free of some of the constricting boxes that characters are often thrust into.  If you like teen dramas, Love, Victor is well worth watching and enjoying.

Some thoughts on 13 Reasons Why *SPOILERS*

Last night, I finished the series finale of 13 Reasons Why.  I can honestly say that I really enjoyed the show, but I do know that there are a lot of people who didn't for various reasons.  Thinking about the show, I would say that, like the characters on the show, it was well intentioned but deeply flawed, messy, and problematic.  In other words, it was very, very human.

The show is definitely not a show I would recommend to everyone.  If you suffer from depression or anxiety, suffered sexual assault, or are easily triggered, it is not the show for you.  They do have warnings on the show about watching with friends or a trusted adult, but it is really heavy and can be emotionally draining.  And there are definitely scenes that are really hard to watch.

I think the biggest problem is that they didn't always handle storylines very well.  In the final season, they had Justin get HIV which progressed to AIDS in the space of a year or so.  Based of what I have read, HIV doesn't proceed quite that quickly, even if it is untreated.  That honestly seemed like it was more for shock than anything else and I cannot say that I appreciated it at all.  Also, there really wasn't a whole lot of groundwork laid for that, which is another problem.  Granted, there were the dark blotches on his face, neck, and back, which I have seen in other movies/shows where someone has AIDS, so that might have been them trying to hint at what was coming, but it still felt so sudden that it seemed to be more exploitative and not something that they really needed to do.

Another storyline that was problematic for some people was the arc in Season 3 when Bryce was trying to redeem himself.  Personally, I didn't have a problem with it because I believe that anyone who is truly sorry and tries to make amends can be redeemed.  Here the flaw was more in the execution and the fact that it was Bryce; a rich, white, cis, heterosexual male.  I do think that he truly realized that he had committed truly monstrous acts or enabled people to commit monstrous acts in his name, but he did seem genuinely sorry for what he had done and was trying to atone for it.  Unlike some people in real life, he didn't just mouth platitudes about how he was sorry, he seemed to truly mean it.  That being said, the fact that they didn't give Monty (a Latino) the same opportunity strikes me as tone deaf and not a good thing.

I can say that I appreciated the way that they deepened all of the characters after the first season.  Just like in real life, there are people who screw up in a major way, but they are not simply bad people.  Rather, they are products of their environment and don't always realize how hurtful their actions are.  Or they try and protect the people they love and end up hurting other people, either on accident or on purpose.  Like I said, flawed and messy.  None of the characters could really claim the moral high ground.  Each of them made some rather shocking actions that caused a lot of damage.  For example, Clay took a picture of Tyler naked and spread it around school to get revenge (he said it was justice, but it was truly revenge) after hearing about how Tyler had taken pictures of Courtney and Hannah kissing.  There are so many more I could cite, but I won't.

I also appreciated that the show did have several queer characters and people of color (some of whom were also queer).  That sort of representation is a good thing and, in every case except one, the person was accepted and embraced by the people around them.  I will say that having Alex kiss Zach and get a boyfriend in the last season (he never defined his orientation) was a little odd because there had been no indication in prior seasons that he was into guys at all.  I don't know if they decided to have him be queer between seasons 3 and 4, if it was a long-term plan that was never indicated, or if it was something that Miles (who is in a relationship with Connor Jessup, but has never defined his sexuality that I know of) pushed for, but it was so sudden that it also felt a little exploitative.  He had only ever indicated that he was interested in Jessica in the past and had never looked at guys or anything, so it could have been prepared for a little better.

As I said, I did appreciate the series overall and definitely enjoyed it, but that doesn't make me blind to its flaws.  I am sure there may be flaws that I either missed or didn't see as flaws, but no one sees everything.  If you think the show is for you, I would give it a look. 

Some Thoughts about the Arrow Series Finale and the Series as a Whole

I finished the series finale of Arrow and have been reflecting on it.  To be honest, as an episode, I can't say I really liked it.  The thing that I wasn't terribly fond of is that it was like the denouement of a movie.  But, if you look at the entire final season as one long episode then the episode becomes a lot better.  I appreciated that they brought all sorts of people back and that they reunited Oliver and Felicity.  I also appreciated that they wrapped up people's stories where Oliver was involved and how he impacted their lives.

I think what got me is that they wrapped up Oliver's story with the Arrow episode of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", so this episode felt a little superfluous.  In many ways, the way I felt about the episode mirror the way I felt about the series.

I loved this episode from the beginning.  The first two seasons were absolutely awesome and had two of the greatest Arrowverse villains:  Malcolm Merlyn and Deathstroke.  The third season was a let down because R'as Al Ghul was not that great of a villain, Season 4 gave us Damien Dahrk who is another awesome villain and season 5 gave us Prometheus, who I also enjoyed.  Unfortunately, Season 5 also gave us New Team Arrow who I cannot say that I liked.  Seasons 6 and 7 had the worst villains in Arrow, particularly Ricardo Diaz.  Season 8 was enjoyable, but not as good at the first 2 seasons since the show had lost some of its luster after seasons 6 and 7.

I do also love that Arrow spawned a whole universe of other shows and gave us the yearly crossovers.  For that alone, I will always love this show.  But that being said, I am in no hurry to rewatch the show again.  It's not that I don't like the show, but I think I need time between the show ending and me rewatching it.

If this seems ambivalent, it is because it is reflecting how I am feeling right now.  With most series finales, I get nostalgic about the show, but I don't have that with Arrow.  I am not sure how much of that is because the characters may carry on in other Arrowverse shows and how much of it has to do with the main wrap-up being during "Crisis".  I wanted to be sadder about the show ending, I wanted to feel a sense of nostalgia, but I don't. 

I was really hoping that writing this would help me sort through things, but it hasn't, so I suspect that only time will help me with that.  I may come back in a while with new thoughts, I am not sure. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths Reaction

I finished watching the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover and it ended very strongly and with a couple of really cool surprises.

First, the cameos. Ezra Miller as the DCU Flash was really cool.  I was so not expecting the movies to be tied into the Arrowverse, so that was a cool surprise.  Then there was Marv Wolfman, aka the guy who asked the Flash and Supergirl for their autographs in the combined Earth.  For those who don't know, he was the writer of the Crisis on Infinite Earths comics, so having him cameo was just a fun Easter egg.

I have to admit that I was surprised when the heroes seemingly defeated the Anti-Monitor in Part 4 (the Arrow episode).  I was expecting that fight to actually happen in Part 5 (the Legends episode), so having it happen sooner was a little unexpected.  I did appreciate that Oliver (as the Spectre) was the one to defeat the Anti-Monitor in the Arrow episode.  That was quite fitting, as was the fact that he died with Sara and Barry close by him, particularly since he did so much to inspire the two of them.  While it would have been nice for Diggle to be present, given everything, that was never going to happen.

If I understand everything properly, the entire multiverse has been collapsed down to one Earth, much like the comic crossover.  My one reason for questioning this has to do with Oliver's voiceover near the end, which seemed to indicate that there were other Earths out there, at least the Earths from DC's streaming service.  That did confuse me, I must admit.  Hopefully they will answer that question definitively relatively soon.  At the very least, the Paragons and their Earths have been collapsed into Earth-Prime (no longer Earth-1 since it combines at least 3 Earths).

I loved it when the Flash revealed the Justice League table at the end of the episode.  Having a central place for them to gather will make crossovers a little easier to do in terms of story now.  I don't know if they plan on doing a crossover next season, but it would be cool if it involved the Justice League.

I am wondering how they will manage the last couple of episodes of Arrow with Oliver Queen dead and gone.  I know the next episode is the backdoor pilot for the Canaries series, but there is another episode after that, so I am really wondering how this is going to work.  Is Oliver Queen some sort of celestial entity now as the Spectre or is it going to be something else entirely? 

I have to say overall that the crossover was quite good.  I had high expectations for it and; for the most part; it met them.  The last two episodes were particularly good after somewhat disappointing second and third episodes.  It didn't blow me out of the water the way I hoped, but it was really good.

Reactions to the first three episodes of "Crisis on Infinite Earths"

Well, the first 3 parts of the 5 part crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" have been seen and we are waiting for the final 2 hours on January 14th.  I just wanted to get some of my thoughts written down now, and I will probably do another one come January 14th.

As I believe I have mentioned before, I do not read comic books.  That is a little weird given how many tv shows and movies based on comics that I have watched, but I have never gotten into comics.  That being said, as soon as I saw that headline about the Flash disappearing during a crisis on the pilot episode of The Flash, I started reading about "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in anticipation of the story being made for tv.  Last year, when they announced that this year's crossover would be "Crisis", I was super excited, mainly because "Crisis" is one of the biggest comic book stories of all times.  Even I had heard about it, even if I didn't know any details.

Reading all the spoilers coming out about who would be making cameos got me even more excited.  They had previously made the 1990 version of The Flash a part of the Arrowverse, but now they have expanded that to include the Batman movies from the 1990s (Alexander Knox appeared in the first episode), the 1966 Batman tv show (Burt Ward [aka Robin] appeared in the first episode), Smallville (Tom Welling and Erica Durance appeared in the second episode), Birds of Prey from the early 2000s (the Huntress [Ashley Scott] appeared in the third episode), Lucifer (from Fox and Netflix), and Titans (from DC's streaming service).  They also had Brandon Routh play Superman (albeit not the same one from Superman Returns) and they finally brought Black Lightning into a crossover.  So hearing about all of these cameos (the Titans and Alexander Knox were the only ones I did not know about ahead of time) made me all the more eager to see the crossover.

I'm not going to say that the crossover has been without its flaws, but for the most part, it has been really good.  I was a little disappointed in the pacing of the second (Batwoman) hour because the first hour had so much going on that when they slowed down for the second hour, it felt like everything was much less urgent.  I will also say that killing Oliver Queen in the first hour was a massive surprise.  I so did not expect that to happen, but it appears that his death will be a catalyst for the rest of the heroes to face the Anti-Monitor now.

I do also have to register immense annoyance and disappointment with Supergirl and how they have handled Lena Luthor.  While I do get her being hurt at not being told that Kara is Supergirl, her reaction has been so out of proportion to the "offense".  It feels like they wanted an excuse to turn Lena evil and seized on Kara's (totally understandable) keeping her identity a secret as a justification to have Lena turn.  Let's be honest, Kara doesn't owe Lena jackshit when it comes to her identity.  *NO ONE* owes complete honesty like that to anyone who is not their spouse/life partner.  I just wish they could have found a better reason to cause Lena to turn if they were so determined to have her turn this way.  Dunno, maybe that is just me.

Anyway, back to "Crisis".  Aside from the pacing of the second hour and Lena Luthor, I have really been enjoying the crossover.  From what I have read about the comics, they have hit a lot of the major plot points from the comics while still remaining true to the world that the series have created.  Having the newest version of Wells be Pariah and having Lyla's call name of "Harbinger" mean what it meant in the comics has been pretty cool to watch.

I will say that there haven't been any totally standout moments from this year like there were last year.  I'm not sure if that's because everything has been good or not, but there it is.

I know this hasn't been the most linear or coherent of reactions , but given the fact that we are just over halfway through the crossover and we are a month away from its end, I don't know how to react yet.  Hopefully, I can get a better reaction after the crossover is completed.

On January 14th, the last two hours will play.  See y'all then!