Multiverse Theory Goes Mainstream In The Flash Season 2!

The Good: Some decent moments of performance, Most of the special effects, Moments of character
The Bad: Repetitive season arc and reversal to season one, Far less scientifically-valid than the first season!
The Basics: The second season of The Flash explores threats from an alternate version of Earth and its megalomaniacal speedster, Zoom, while Barry Allen continues to adjust to being the hero The Flash!


When it comes to works based upon comic book source material, there are few works that were a more pleasant surprise to me than the first season of The Flash (reviewed here!). The point at which the first season ended was an impressive one, but it left a daunting task for the second season. Ironically, the cataclysmic event of the last moments of the first season - the appearance of a massive singularity over Central City - was almost instantly brushed aside and resolved. Despite the ease with which the singularity was closed, the consequences of that event resonated through the entire second season of The Flash.

The Flash Season Two is an unfortunately fractured season as a result. The set-up involves a surprisingly compelling concept; there are holes in the fabric of our universe that lead to locations on an alternate Earth, much like in the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" (reviewed here!). There are metahumans from the alternate Earth sent through to our Earth to kill Barry Allen and they all work for a dark speedster from Earth-2 called Zoom. But the set-up for The Flash Season 2 leads to a very poorly-constructed resolution and the latter-half of Season 2 illustrates that the first half of the season wrote a check that the second half could not cash. In fact, in defining Zoom, the second season of The Flash ends up (largely) treading in the exact footsteps of the first season.

Six months after the singularity was created over Central City and was subsequently closed through the heroism of Firestorm, The Flash is on his own and his team has separated. While Central City prepares for Flash Day, Barry and Joe investigate the death of a man who was killed by someone impossibly strong and surprisingly large. When a living version of the same man pops up at the Flash Day ceremony, The Flash reunites his team and they discover that the singularity that Firestorm sealed was not the only event in Central City. Sealing the singularity left fifty-two breaches in Central City. The holes in the universe lead to Earth-2, a slightly more advanced Earth. There, the citizens are menaced by a speedster, Zoom, who is sending metahumans from Earth-2 to our Earth to try to kill The Flash.

Team Flash is soon joined by Jay Garrick (Earth-2's Flash who has lost his speed) and Dr. Harrison Wells, who runs S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-2 and whose daughter is a captive of Zoom. While Joe and his new partner, Patty Spivot, hunt down metahumans, the S.T.A.R. Labs team tries to stop the alternate world's metahumans from killing Barry and they work to seal the breaches around Central City. When Wells is unable to find a way to defeat Zoom, he begins to develop ways to drain Barry Allen of the Speed Force in order to transfer it to Zoom to save his daughter. When the S.T.A.R. Labs team learns of this, they make a concerted effort to save both Earth-1 and Earth-2 from Zoom once and for all!

The second season of The Flash mimics the first season in a number of ways, some of which are pretty lazy on the part of the show's executive producers. For example, major actions within the two seasons happen at virtually the same spot in each season. In the first season, there is a two-parter exploring Firestorm and in the second season, those same episode slots are filled by a two-parter! Zoom and the Reverse Flash are revealed at pretty much identical points in each season, etc. That structural familiarity accents the fundamental problem with the season's primary adversary and it plays into the problem with the way the final episode of the second season of The Flash leads to an emotionally similar climax.

In constructing an adversary worthy of succeeding the Reverse Flash for the enemy of the Flash, the executive producers of The Flash sensibly used Zoom. In the comic books, Zoom was Wally West's adversary the same way that the Reverse Flash was Barry Allen's enemy. But for the television series, constructing a mystery around Zoom made the executive producers and writers utilize almost all of the same character reversals and that feels particularly lazy. Indeed, the construction of Zoom comes to make almost no rational sense, which is something the producers - who even reference "Mirror, Mirror" should have known. At the climax of that seminal multiverse episode of Star Trek, Spock notes that it is much easier for sane people to act crazy than for a barbarian to play civilized. In that way, the ultimate revelation of Zoom's mundane identity makes no sense in the second season of The Flash, making for a very unsatisfying late-season.

Ultimately, after all of the various attempts to misdirect, Zoom is characterized as a speedster who became a Speed Force Vampire, who needs (just as the Reverse Flash did) The Flash to run faster and faster. This time, though, the adversary wants The Flash to run faster so he can absorb Barry's Speed Force energy. Given how murky that premise is and how late in the season it is before it becomes defined, there is a remarkably unsatisfying quality to much of the second season of The Flash when one views is as a whole work, all at once.

That said, the character development and performances in the second season of The Flash show an evolution that is a progression from the first season, which is nice. Those who watch The Flash are rewarded with reasonable character progressions for all of the major characters. The essential characters in the second season of The Flash are:

Barry Allen - The Flash. Initially disillusioned over how Eddie and Ronnie gave their lives to save Central City (while The Flash got credit), he tries to keep his friends safe by working alone. Spending his nights rebuilding Central City after the singularity appears, he is able to exonerate his father after Wells leaves a video will confessing he killed Nora Allen. He has to help his ex-girlfriend, Linda Park, when her doppelgänger comes through and tries to kill The Flash. He and Patty begin dating. In his first major conflict with Zoom, he is nearly killed and he has to learn to walk again! After his father helps him get his confidence back again after his back was broken, he becomes unwilling to risk anyone else getting hurt, which puts an impossible amount of pressure on his relationship with Patty. He is willing to forgive Dr. Wells when Wells betrays him and that solidifies his resolve to save both Earths. His journey forces him to consider giving up his powers and endangering all he loves to save lives,

Iris West - Daughter of Joe West and an intrepid reporter. She meets her long-lost mother and uncovers her secret. When she learns she has a brother, she becomes protective of Joe. Surprisingly, she is not initially jealous of Barry and Patty. Her work for the Central City Picture News gives her access to Wally's drag racing and it inspires her to intervene with Joe when he is over-cautious as a parent. She is wounded by Tar Pit when Barry's speed is diminished, which leads Wally to finally bond with her. After a series of underwhelming dates with her new boss, she begins to consider the possibility that she and Barry are destined to be romantically entangled,

Joe West - One of the lead detectives at the Central City Police Department, he works with Cisco to establish the Anti-metahuman Task Force. He resists allowing Patty Spivot to join the team, but quickly sees her value when she is professional in helping to apprehend the Sand Demon. When his ex-wife comes back to Central City, he is forced to confess to Iris that he lied to her for years. He continues to motivate Barry. He does not trust Earth-2's Dr. Wells and is unwilling to truly trust Patty, which makes their working relationship untenable. He learns about his new son, Wally West, who he accidentally pressures into accepting him. But after opening his heart and home to Wally, he has to risk losing Barry once again,

Dr. Caitlin Snow - Widowed by Ronnie's sacrifice, she abandons the S.T.A.R. Labs team for Mercury Labs. Cisco draws her back in when Atom Smasher arrives in town and he needs a medical opinion. She is attracted to Jay Garrick when they start working together. With Dr. Wells, she develops Velocity 6, a drug that helps speedsters super-charge the Speed Force within them. She is captured by Grodd and has to betray him to save the gorilla's life. While Barry and his team visit Earth-2, she refines her Velocity drug in order to allow Jay to step in as the Flash. After experiencing even more loss, she begins to shut down emotionally, which makes Cisco worried about her. She is, alas, the season's dupe and finds herself the captive of Zoom as a result,

Dr. Harrison Wells - The creator of S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-2, he comes through the breach to attack metahumans Zoom. On Earth-1 to save his daughter's life, he is instantly mistrusted by The Flash's team. He outs Cisco for his ability in order to start using Cisco's powers to find metahumans. He feels guilty about causing the dark matter accident on his Earth and its resulting in his daughter getting captured by Zoom. When Patty shoots him, he is rescued by an unlikely individual. He continues to prioritize saving his daughter's life over working with the S.T.A.R. Labs team, which makes him willing to abandon his entire world to Zoom in exchange for his daughter's safety,

Cisco Ramon - The enthusiastic, geeky scientist and inventor at S.T.A.R. Labs, he names most of the adversaries The Flash encounters. He continues to suffer visions of other people and places - often with time displacement - which causes Dr. Stein to recognize him for being a metahuman. To try to verify Wells's story, he "vibes" him and confirms that Zoom has Jesse captive on Earth-2. He takes a chance and starts dating a beautiful new barista, only for her to discover that she is a reincarnated Egyptian priestess. He continues to develop his powers, especially after he sees what his Earth-2 doppelganger can do and realizes he is only using a fraction of his potential,

Patty Spivot - A young police officer who loves reading Barry Allen's forensics reports and argues Joe into letting her join the Anti-Metahuman Task Force. Her father was killed by Mark Mardon, the Weather Wizard, and she wants to stop metahumans who harm others. She does not like lying, especially to Barry when her work requires it. She quickly deduces Barry is (temporarily) blind on their first date. Irked by Barry and Joe keeping secrets from her, she is fast on the trigger when she tracks down Dr. Wells. She is given the opportunity to end Mark Mardon's life at Christmas and shortly thereafter, she comes to believe Barry is withholding something critical from her. She has to consider her deferred admission to forensics school when her relationship with Barry is on the rocks,

Wally West - The son of Joe West and Iris's mother, he was born without Joe ever knowing about him, which leads him to harbor a pretty serious resentment toward Joe. He is into drag racing and is obsessed with speed, which worries Iris and puts him on the wrong side of the law for Joe's comfort. After his mother dies, he begins to spend more time with Joe and Iris, but gets tired of living in Barry Allen's shadow. He wants to design faster car engines until he is inspired by Joe and The Flash to want to help others,

and Jay Garrick - The first major visitor from Earth-2, he was a speedster on Earth-2 (their Flash) when he was fighting Zoom and pulled over to Earth-1. After surveilling The Flash and his team, he reveals himself to them and Barry is immediately suspicious of him. He helps build the speed cannon to stabilize the breach between worlds in the S.T.A.R. Labs basement, which makes Dr. Snow enamored with him. He is initially resistant to take the speed drug Drs. Snow and Wells create. After his first successful attempt to use a drug to bring the Speed Force back into his body, he is forced to confess to Dr. Snow that he is dying and she begins to work to save his life.

The performances in the second season of The Flash are quite good. Grant Gustin continues to develop as both Barry Allen and The Flash. Gustin and Candice Patton play off one another quite well and in the second season, the two are finally able to explore some chemistry between their characters and the actors land it wonderfully. Carlos Valdez continues to develop as Cisco Ramon, which gives the actor more to perform than simply making quips. Like Danielle Panabaker, Valdez has the chance to play multiple characters and both performers do some awesome acting to portray their various characters.

Ultimately, the second season of The Flash is good, but more familiar than it is audacious, which makes it a somewhat tougher sell than the first.

For a more complete guide to the second season of The Flash, be sure to check out my reviews of each of the episodes of the second season at:
"The Man Who Saved Central City"
"Flash Of Two Worlds"
"Family Of Rogues"
"The Fury Of Firestorm"
"The Darkness And The Light"
"Enter Zoom"
"Gorilla Warfare"
"Legends Of Today"
"Running To Stand Still"
"Potential Energy"
"The Reverse-Flash Returns"
"Fast Lane"
"Welcome To Earth-2"
"Escape From Earth-2"
"King Shark"
"Trajectory"
"Flashback"
"Versus Zoom"
"Back To Normal"
"Rupture"
"The Runaway Dinosaur"
"Invincible"
"The Race Of His Life"

For other works from the 2015 – 2016 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Game Of Thrones - Season 6
Grace And Frankie - Season 2
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 3
The Walking Dead - Season 6
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 2
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 1
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 2
House Of Cards - Season 4
Doctor Who - Season 9

6.5/10

For other television and movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Shaking Up The Dialectics: Forever Evil Is Worth Reading!

The Good: Engaging storyline, Some very cool character arcs, Generally decent artwork, Excellent coloring
The Bad: Some big missing chunks, Predictability
The Basics: Forever Evil has Lex Luthor's predictions about human vulnerability coming true as the Crime Syndicate takes over the world, laying waste to it for their own amusement.


Unlike many people who read graphic novels, I was not immediately sold on the DC Comics crossover event Forever Evil just by its title and promotional materials. After all, DC Comics has a pretty lousy way of dealing with its villains and the lead-in to Forever Evil was a mess. No, I was not a huge fan of Trinity War (reviewed here!) and, ultimately, it's long-evolved purpose was simply to introduce Forever Evil, so it was a lot of set-up for no real pay-off. Forever Evil, fortunately, is almost the complete opposite.

Forever Evil, despite the implications of the title, is a fairly concise volume assembled from the eight issues of Forever Evil comics that were released as part of the crossover event. It is the core story - from characters like Grodd appearing for only one key scene, I have to assume there were tangent volumes that deepen the story away from the main action presented in this book - and, unlike events like the Blackest Night Saga that require an obtuse amount of referencing between various volumes to figure out what is going on, Forever Evil shares with the reader everything they need to know. And, largely, it succeeds at what it sets out to do, despite having a very predictable overall arc.

Picking up where the Trinity War ended, with the arrival of the Crime Syndicate Of Amerika, from Earth-3, Earth-1 is rocked. Grid, the alternate version of Cyborg, takes Earth's communications systems off-line and members of the Secret Society are given coins that act as communicators between them. The important prisons - Arkham Asylum, Blackgate Prison, Belle Reve, Iron Heights, etc. - are all broken open and the super-villains housed there are set free and invited to join the Secret Society, under the leadership of Ultraman. While Ultraman blocks the sun and begins a hunt for all of the Kryptonite on Earth in order to power himself, the rest of the Crime Syndicate - Johnny Quick, Superwoman, Atomica, Power Ring, Deathstorm, and Owlman - have fun destroying as much of Earth as they can, while leaving some of the infrastructure intact for maintaining control. Grid communicates between the Syndicate and its new villain lackeys, while The Outsider guards a mysterious prisoner brought over from the alternate universe. When Ultraman exposes Dick Grayson as Nightwing to the world and claims to have killed all of the Justice League, most of the villains flock to join his new world order.

Lex Luthor, however, is not one of the Justice League's enemies who bows to UItraman's will. Instead, he, the Rogues led by Captain Cold, Black Adam, Black Manta and an underdeveloped clone of Superman (Bizzaro) quietly organize and execute a plan to stop the Crime Syndicate. They are surprised when their ranks are joined by Batman and Catwoman, who survived Firestorm absorbing the rest of the Justice League and heroes, and who quietly got the human elements of Cyborg back to S.T.A.R. Labs to save his life. When Batman tries to bring down Power Ring using a Yellow Lantern ring, that draws Sinestro to Earth and he joins Luthor's team to be able to do what Hal Jordan never could: save Earth. Together, the villains bring the fight to the Crime Syndicate, but not before they unwittingly unleash the greatest threat from Earth-3 upon themselves and their enemy!

Forever Evil might well be the biggest, most-developed Lex Luthor story since Luthor (reviewed here!) and it illustrates that the deeper, more complicated version of Lex Luthor resonates on a number of different levels. Luthor is a genius whose methods differ from Superman's, but he has the same essential goal; to make Earth strong. While Superman keeps it safe by protecting it, Luthor tries to get humanity to rise up to better itself so it won't need to rely upon Superman, metahumans, or super hero vigilantes. Forever Evil is a vindication of sorts for Luthor and it allows him to nakedly gloat to Batman.

Also exceptionally compelling in Forever Evil is Captain Cold. Captain Cold starts by trying to break Trickster out of Iron Heights because, as the leader of the Rogues, he takes care of his own. But Deathstorm rewrites his metahuman DNA and makes him a mundane human again, who must rely upon his technological contraption and his wits. He also suffers the loss of the Rogues and that leaves him at a very uncertain point at the end of the volume.

After the initial reversals from the villains - Ultraman takes Kryptonite like a drug, Superwoman is pregnant and uses a Lasso Of Submission to bend others to her will, Power Ring is enslaved by his ring, which berates him, etc. - the characters become pretty generic villains, though. In fact, the Crime Syndicate members turn on one another, once again proving what every other similar endeavor already has: the difference between heroes and villains is that heroes can work together for a common goal, while villains will always put self interest above a mutually advantageous alliance. Deathstroke pretty much embodies that spirit in Forever Evil when a single conversation with Luthor turns him, mid fight!

Keeping Batman alive and in play somewhat hampers the concept of Forever Evil, but given that Catwoman is with him constantly, egging him into following Luthor's lead keeps that element in check.

Forever Evil is notable for having decent artwork throughout almost the entire book. The colors are vivid and distinctive and almost all of the characters are recognizable in each panel.

The concept of Forever Evil is an ambitious one and after jettisoning most of the deadweight - The Joker is referenced once, but does not explicitly appear, Grodd gets one line before disappearing completely, and most of the villains appear for the big announcement and then fall out of the narrative entirely - Geoff Johns manages to tell a pretty solid story that leads into the next big storyline without neglecting the importance of the story he is telling here. That, ultimately, makes Forever Evil a worthwhile read!

For other big villain-centered books, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Justice
Villains United
The Black Ring, Volume 2

7/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Long Way To Go For The Next Major Comic Event: Justice League: Trinity War!

The Good: Generally decent artwork, Good coloring
The Bad: Fidelity to issues as opposed to story, Failure to resolve
The Basics: Justice League: Trinity War sees the three Justice Leagues from The New 52 come into conflict when Superman appears to kill Doctor Light and all forces on Earth converge on Pandora.


This year, I've been expanding my trading card business and I've been moving away from just Star Trek trading cards. I've been beefing up my stock of trading cards based on comic book franchises and when I got in the DC Comics Epic Battles trading cards (reviewed here!), I came to realize how out of touch I was with the newer comic book releases. The truth is, the whole concept of The New 52 from DC Comics put me off: I am a fan of Wonder Woman and after a few years of alternate universe type scenarios, The New 52 completely reworked the character. But reading the Epic Battles trading cards, I figured it was time to check out some of the major DC events since I stopped reading the books regularly. I opted to start with Justice League: Trinity War because it seemed like an important crossover event.

It's not.

Justice League: Trinity War is little more than an elaborate set-up for the more encompassing "Forever Evil" event. To wit, Justice League: Trinity War is supposed to be the story of the Trinity War, yet where the book ends, some of the major actions and characters remain unresolved. Justice League: Trinity War explains everything, but it does not resolve the storyline and while I enjoy the aspect that the story is part of a larger continuum of story in the character arcs of the major characters, it is hardly a complete or compelling story. As well, like virtually all comic book anthologies, Justice League: Trinity War shows fidelity to the original issues, as opposed to the story. This is problematic at several key points in the story because elements come out of order and the momentum of the story gets absolutely killed.

In the near future, the psychic Madame Xanadu sees the Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League Of America at war with one another. Pandora breaks into the A.R.G.U.S. facility that holds her recovered box, believing she has figured out a way to use it to undo the damage she did millennia ago when she first opened the skull-shaped box. Billy Batson, as Shazam, makes the decision to return the ashes of Black Adam to his homeland of Kahndaq. Entering their territory draws the ire of the Kahndaqi military and the Justice League moves to intercept Shazam. Amanda Waller uses the incursion to Kahndaq to move on her plan to have her Justice League Of America try to discredit the Justice League. The two justice leagues converge on Shazam and when Doctor Light comes into proximity of Superman, his powers unexpectedly erupt. Between Doctor Light inadvertently attacking Diana and the after-effects from an encounter with Pandora, Superman gets angry and accidentally kills Doctor Light.

In the wake of the unintentional murder, the heroes and the Justice Leagues splinter. Superman turns himself over to A.R.G.U.S. so he cannot hurt anyone else. Wonder Woman is convinced that Superman's eruption is a result of his exposure to Pandora's Box and she marshals a force to hunt for Pandora. Many of the detectives are convinced that appearances are not what they seem and that Superman could not have actually killed Doctor Light. Their search takes them to heaven's basement to interrogate Doctor Light's soul and to the lair of Doctor Psycho. But all the machinations in play come to a head when Pandora tries to use Lex Luthor to open the box and its true nature is exposed!

Justice League: Trinity War spends most of its time developing the character of Pandora and setting up its own premises. The book is very much for those who have a love of the whole DC Comics Universe, not amateurs. As a result, those of us who are unfamiliar with secondary characters like the whole Justice League Dark - though Constantine has recently had more mass culture appeal - and the New 52 concept (I was at a loss to understand how there was a Justice League AND a separate Justice League Of America until context clues midway through the book made it clear) are likely to find the book overwhelming.

Some of the issues are a result of the artwork and/or the way the issues compiled into the anthology work. The Trinity War comes to a head a chapter early, so the story backpedals to explain Pandora's final epiphany, which kills the momentum. As well, the artwork features Shazam in a black outfit making him appear virtually identical to Black Adam, which is problematic for those who neither follow Shazam (last I knew, the character was still called Captain Marvel!) or are hoping for an in-volume explanation. The only other major conceits from The New 52 in Justice League: Trinity War are the relationship between Superman and Diana and the inclusion of Frankenstein and S.H.A.D.E.

Justice League: Trinity War balances supernatural elements and a detective story for the bulk of the book and while it's tough not to be put off by the gods, Sins, and supernatural elements in the book. That Batman doesn't seem to object when the Phantom Stranger wants to visit heaven's basement to interrogate Doctor Light seems somewhat out of character. The book's resolution - the way the various competing interests are exposed and revealed - is satisfying in that the key questions raised by the book are answered.

But Justice League: Trinity War is a bridge between the complicated, failed marketing scheme (the reboot The New 52) and its next major conceptual adventure, Forever Evil. The Epic Battles trading cards might be a better way to get the gist of this storyline!

For other Justice League books, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Justice
Identity Crisis
Justice League: Secret Origins
I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Justice League!
New World Order
New Maps Of Hell
The Tornado's Path
The Lightning Saga
Justice League Of America: The Injustice League
Sanctuary
Second Coming
Justice League Of America: Dark Things
JLA: Terror Incognita
Justice League: Generation Lost – Volume 1
Justice League: Generation Lost – Volume 2
Volume 1: Origins (The New 52)

5.5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Why The Flash Season 1 Is An Essential Show To Run Out And Watch!

The Good: Engaging plot and character arcs, Generally good acting, Cool effects
The Bad: Some bottle episodes that are massive duds
The Basics: The Flash gets off to a very impressive start with a first season brought down only by episodes that lose focus on the season's larger, compelling, story!


With the San Diego Comic Con in full swing (and my being very far from it), I find myself considering the works I actually enjoyed last season. As Comic Con panels are announced and news breaks from them, the one I was actually excited about was The Flash. I was, admittedly, biased going into the first season of The Flash; one year I spent studying the graphic novels focused on The Flash and so I had developed a fondness for the character and his corner of the DC Universe. In a number of ways, the first season of The Flash only had to disappoint me to keep me from heaping praise upon it. And there were a handful of episodes in the twenty-three episode first season that did disappoint. Largely, though, The Flash is an incredibly satisfying and ambitious start to the character's story.

The Flash was produced for The CW, a television network that aims for a younger - teenage, twentysomething - audience and The Flash tries to straddle high-concept elements with a look and feel that is just plain cool. In the first season, the show mostly succeeds. While the first season has both a general formula and the occasional bottle episode, most of the first season is centered around a mystery that drives the hero in the process of becoming to search for answers and become something more.

Barry Allen is a police forensics scientist working in Central City, where he lives haunted by the memories of the night his mother was killed and his father was arrested for the crime. Barry is best friends with Iris West, the daughter of Joe West, Barry's legal guardian after Henry Allen was locked away for the murder of Nora Allen. The night that S.T.A.R. Labs brings its revolutionary particle accelerator online, Barry Allen is in his police lab when he is affected by the shutdown of the accelerator and is knocked unconscious. Barry wakes up nine months later to discover that S.T.A.R. Labs has kept him alive and that he now has the ability to move at incredibly fast speeds.

Unfortunately for Barry Allen and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs - which includes the genius Dr. Harrison Wells, Dr. Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon - Barry was not the only one affected by the particle accelerator. Other metahumans begin to pop up who can manipulate weather, electricity and emotions. While Barry slowly develops into his alter-ego, The Flash, he captures the metahumans he can and imprisons them within S.T.A.R. Labs. But along the way, Allen is plagued by very human adversaries who use technology to get what they want and a mysterious speedster who wears a yellow costume that Barry almost immediately recalls as being present at his mother's murder more than a decade prior!

In its first season, The Flash works to introduce and develop the primary characters while making the show accessible to new viewers and help build the DC franchise by featuring crossover characters from The CW's other DC Comics-based television series, Arrow. While that occasionally leads to a terrible episode - "All Star Team-Up" which involves a villain who controls bees is a stand-out for horrible - the character conflicts and work done to develop relationships overcomes a sense of formula. Moreover, the show's big mystery - what happened in the Allen house the night of Nora Allen's murder - becomes the driving element of the season, especially when Barry Allen encounters the yellow-suited Reverse Flash as an adult!

While the series occasionally employs a snappy comic book sense of patter and dialogue, what makes The Flash so watchable in its first season is how grounded the show remains despite Barry Allen getting super-powers. Allen's super speed does not make it easier for him to watch Iris Allen falling in love with Eddie Thawne and his friendships with Cisco and Joe come with consequences that sometimes are exploited by the Villain Of The Week. Largely, though, The Flash works because Barry Allen is a good guy who wants to exonerate his wrongfully imprisoned father, do right by his friends and his city and stop those who are irresponsibly deploying their newfound powers upon Central City.

The key characters in the first season of The Flash are:

Barry Allen - The Flash. He is a young man who grew up in the West house after he witnessed his mother killed amid red and yellow flashes of light in their house. He was driven to become a police scientist and growing up with Iris, he began to fall in love with her, though he lacked the courage to tell her his true feelings. After being knocked out by the particle accelerator's wave, he awakens with super-speed. Dr. Wells, who Barry idolized for years, helps to train Barry into a super hero and encourages the young man to work to go faster. Barry works hard to maintain the moral high ground and balance his new job as Central City's protector with his desire to spend free time with Iris and his job working for the Central City Police Department,

Iris West - Daughter of Joe West, she is a reporter. She begins working for the Central City Picture News when her blog on "the streak" (the earliest sightings of The Flash in Central City) gets her noticed by the publication. Shortly after the particle accelerator accident, she began dating Eddie Thawne, a fact that she kept from her father. She moves in with Eddie and cares deeply about Barry's happiness even as she starts following the clues that might lead her to discover his alter ego,

Joe West - One of the lead detectives at the Central City Police Department, he is paired with Eddie Thawne after his prior partner was killed the night of the accelerator accident. He believes very firmly in the law, but learns of Barry's speedster secret very early. He asks Barry to keep his Flash identity from Iris to protect his daughter, though he empathizes with Barry's love for her. He becomes the target of a number of metahumans who have personal grudges against him (he locked up a number of criminals who become affected by the accelerator) and has an innate distrust of Dr. Wells. He forms an unlikely friendship with Cisco when he decides to investigate Nora Allen's death without Barry,

Dr. Caitlin Snow - One of the lead research scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs, she lost her fiance in the accelerator accident and has been in mourning since. Unfortunately for her, Iris digs up stories of a man wandering the streets of Central City, able to engulf himself in flame, and she realizes it is her lost love. She assists Barry with understanding the medical aspects surrounding his transformation and the transformation and abilities of other metahumans in Central City. She is very stiff and usually unemotional,

Dr. Harrison Wells - The owner of S.T.A.R. Labs, he was a respected physicist until his particle accelerator malfunctioned and caused damage to Central City and led to the rise of metahumans. Wheelchair bound since the night of the accident, he is hiding numerous secrets from his S.T.A.R. Labs team, not the least of which is that he has access to a secret room in S.T.A.R. Labs that includes an interface that is technology centuries ahead of anything else. He pushes Barry Allen to be the best possible Flash he can,

Cisco Ramon - The enthusiastic, geeky junior researcher at S.T.A.R. Labs, he is one of the few members of the staff who remained after the accident. As Barry's abilities developed, he began to give nicknames to the adversaries Barry encountered and he became wary of Barry's abilities. Seeing how every other metahuman became demented and evil with their powers, Cisco developed a cold gun to stop Barry should The Flash ever go off the rails. Unfortunately, his prototype was stolen and that leaves Cisco and the Flash (as well as Cisco's brother) at the mercy of a cold thief who wants to continue robbing Central City. Cisco builds most of the tech The Flash needs, including his suit,

and Detective Eddie Thawne - Joe West's partner on the Central City Police Force, he is young, focused, and romantically involved with Iris West. After dating for a while, he ask iris to move in with him and comes clean with Joe, who is worried about having the extra relationship factor to worry about in his relationship with his partner. Before long, Eddie notices the metahuman problem and becomes aware of the Flash's true identity.

The Flash utilizes its character mix well and it manages to use the cast fairly impressively. Jesse L. Martin plays Joe well, though the character is often used as a tool for exposition (Joe is baffled by the technobabble about the Metahuman Of The Week, so other explain it to him with analogies or simpler, clearer, terms). Tom Cavanaugh plays Harrison Wells with erudition and authority, making his character's rise out of the wheelchair at the end of the first episode absolutely chilling.

The cast for The Flash is young in its first season, though, and while Cisco Ramon is cool and infused with the necessary enthusiasm and energy by Carlos Valdes, Valdes seldom finds the balance that makes the viewer believe that Ramon is a super-genius who applies a scientific method to his reasoning. Danielle Panabaker plays Dr. Snow with a stiffness that makes her seem more Vulcan than human and that plays poorly throughout the first season.

The ensemble for The Flash is led in its first season by actor Grant Gustin. Gustin is energetic and gets through the technobabble well. At least as importantly, Gustin quickly adapts to working with virtual objects, people, and sets to help sell the fantastic world that surrounds the flash. Gustin is also able to emote well with his eyes and facial expressions to portray beautifully the longing Allen has for Iris West.

Ultimately, anyone looking for the start of the next great character-driven superhero epic would be well-served by picking up The Flash Season 1; it is surprisingly smart for a show that aired on the CW!

For a more complete guide to the first season of The Flash, be sure to check out my reviews of each of the episodes of the first season at:
"City Of Heroes"
"Fastest Man Alive"
"Things You Can't Outrun"
"Going Rogue"
"Plastique"
"The Flash Is Born"
"Power Outage"
"Flash Vs. Arrow"
"The Man In The Yellow Suit"
"Revenge Of The Rogues"
"The Sound And The Fury"
"Crazy For You"
"The Nuclear Man"
"Fallout"
"Out Of Time"
"Rogue Time"
"Tricksters"
"All Star Team Up"
"Who Is Harrison Wells?"
"The Trap"
"Grodd Lives"
"Rogue Air"
"Fast Enough"

For other works from the 2014 – 2015 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Orange Is The New Black - Season 3
Sense8 - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 1
Agent Carter - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 1
The Newsroom - Season 3
House Of Cards - Season 3
Doctor Who - Season 8
True Blood - Season 7
”Shadows” - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Walking Dead - Season 5

7/10

For other television and movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Rushed Villainy: The Flash Lacks “The Sound And The Fury!”

The Good: Decent backstory fill-in, Acting is fine
The Bad: Character moments that fail to resonate, Generic villain-of-the-week story, Unimpressive adversary
The Basics: Hartley Rathaway is introduced as one of the least compelling villains for The Flash in “The Sound And The Fury.”


Sometimes, the trick to having high standards is keeping up with the expectations and pace of producing a smart show. Unfortunately, The Flash - which has, admittedly, gotten off to a wonderful start – seems to have some serious issues with consistency and maintaining the quality of the show. Thus, with almost every peak, comes a valley that bottoms out the show and forces the viewer to lower expectations. At least, The Flash does not keep its fans waiting long. This is the long way around saying that the latest episode, “The Sound And The Fury” is far (very far) from the best episode.

Almost entirely unrelated to the prior episode, “Revenge Of The Rogues” (reviewed here) – except that it pays off the reference to “Hartley,” who was alluded to when his wealthy parents were seen in the previous episode - “The Sound And The Fury” introduces popular The Flash villain Hartley Rathaway. Hartley is one of the more interesting characters in the DC Comics pantheon (save that the prominently gay character seems to reference his gayness either directly or through comments from others around him in virtually every issue he is in) and he has a compelling, redemptive arc in the books. As such, it makes sense that he would be introduced as an adversary. Unfortunately, in “The Sound And The Fury” he takes the form of one of the least-impressive, poorest-defined, most-generic villains the series has yet produced.

For that, I blame the writing. The Flash is not a lowbrow superhero story, so its audience should be treated with some respect and intelligence. Alas, in “The Sound And The Fury” the viewers are treated with neither and for that, the writers are to blame. The lack of respect to the viewers comes from creating a villain who is supposed to be exceptionally smart, but is not. Ironically, for a production studio that shares a lot with The Big Bang Theory (season seven is reviewed here!) and references the comedy, The Flash does not make use of the same writing staff or technical resources. In other words, the comedy, which fills-in-the-[tech]-blanks with appropriate jargon from experts, pays more attention to creating smart people than The Flash does and that is troubling.

After The Flash helps trap members of a motorcycle gang, Barry Allen returns to S.T.A.R. Labs to celebrate with his friends. He was guided on the mission by Harrison Wells. Going home, Barry finds Iris around and a phone message informs her that she got a new job offer at the Central City Picture News. That night, Harrison Wells is attacked in his home and the Central City Police and his team from S.T.A.R. Labs are called in. Flashback to Cisco’s first day on the job at S.T.A.R. Labs, where Dr. Wells is playing chess with Hartley Rathaway. Rathaway, who calls himself the Chosen One of Dr. Wells, is jealous of Cisco’s hiring and back in the present, Dr. Wells suspects the attack on his house was perpetrated by Rathaway.

Rathaway exposes himself almost instantly, attacking the company his grandfather built. In the resulting showdown, he is easily taken down by The Flash, but when he is brought in to S.T.A.R. Labs, he starts to expose Wells. Wells tells Dr. Snow and Cisco that Hartley warned him about the potential failure of the supercollider and Rathaway uses equipment embedded in his ear to break out of his cell in the Pipeline. Stealing secrets from S.T.A.R. Labs, along with his sonic wave gloves, Hartley escapes. And while Wells comes forward as having risked Central City, it is not enough for Rathaway and he creates an endgame to try to destroy The Flash as a dam in Central City.

“The Sound And The Fury” is hampered by two serious character problems. On the continuing character arc front, the Iris West storyline completely fails to land. West enters the snarky world of reporting/photojournalism where she meets her own generic adversary in the form of Mason Bridge. Mason takes up a pretty arbitrary dislike of West and when Iris covers the Harrison Wells press conference late in the episode, she is given a line to deliver to Mason that fails to land. In fact, it stands out as a terrible line that sounds more like a line than anything resembling organic dialogue. While it is a callback to a line delivered by Mason, the throwback seems especially contrived.

The other big character problem comes in Hartley Rathaway as a villain. Rathaway is supposed to be incredibly intelligent and he is written without real intelligence. Smart people tend to have: 1. More than one iron in the fire at any given time and 2. Plans that are more sophisticated than they simple. Rathaway exhibits an intelligence initially in having a plan that is not immediately apparent: he clearly wanted to get captured by the Flash. But his endgame is remarkably one-dimensional. The Pied Piper has an endgame that is based on the Flash using his super-speed to remove his sonic gloves. But the problem with the character is his whole plan hinges on that. He does not have any sort of back-up plan and that makes no sense for a character who is supposed to be smart.

You know what a smart person would do? He would have a secondary attack designed to save himself or achieve another goal. In the case of the plan the Pied Piper utilizes in “The Sound And The Fury,” Rathaway buys time by banking on the idea that The Flash will save people over the vehicles the Pied Piper flings off the dam. Those falling cars create explosions that weaken the dam. Once the Pied Piper is ungloved, The Flash is incapacitated. A smart person would have a back-up plan and a good one would have been any sort of self-destruct system that utilized the weakened superstructure of the dam. So, if I was a guy who knew that Harrison Wells would either have to expose his true identity or destroy my gloves remotely, I would make sure that whatever way the gloves could be destroyed remotely would result in more destruction. And, hey, that would fit the character of Rathaway, too. If Harrison Wells, in remotely deactivating the gloves, destroyed the dam that helped power Central City, it would continue to discredit Wells. That idea took me, literally, three seconds to develop. I should not be smarter than the super-genius super-villain on the show.

Barring that, a good writer could have used the same technique to give Rathaway an escape plan; the falling, exploding, cars are focused on enough to seem significant. A secondary plan that was the result of clever writing would have involved the idea that The Flash going to super-speed on the weakened dam would result in the dam breaking and The Flash being forced to choose between saving the lives of the people on the dam or capturing Rathaway. No such luck in “The Sound And The Fury.”

The Flash is based on a comic book series that comes the closest to defying the idea that one of the big differences between heroes and villains is that villains do not work together. In the comic book series The Flash, there are the criminals who conspire together, The Rogues. The Rogues have already begun assembling on The Flash and that’s cool. But in keeping fidelity to the source material, “The Sound And The Fury” weakens itself. This is an episode that creates a villain who has the potential to be smart enough to create his own villainous enterprise where enemies of The Flash could work together for an extended period of time and common purpose. Hartley Rathaway has an agenda and in the final moments of the episode, he is given a new escape plan. That escape plan is based on him getting caught a second time. That escape plan, though, is unnecessary because his idea precludes the necessity of him getting captured again. To be explicit, if Hartley Rathaway knows where to find Ronnie and how to stabilize him, the sensible and smart approach for such a person would be to approach Ronnie and get him to work alongside him to discredit Wells. “Hey, Ronnie, want to get some revenge on the guy who made you into a human fireball and robbed you of the chance to actually be with the love of your life? Let me help you . . . “

Harrison Wells has an awesome house, but it is utterly impractical for the character. Wells is a man hiding a big secret – and “The Sound And The Fury” completely undoes any ambiguity left from “The Man In The Yellow Suit” (reviewed here!) – so a big, beautiful house that is almost entirely made of glass makes no sense for the character. People who live their lives under the guise of a persona would not make a safe house where they are so exposed. For a guy who acknowledges that people keep coming to attack his home, Wells having a glass house only works as a plot device for this episode.

Ultimately, “The Sound And The Fury” fails to capitalize on any of the doors it opens in the episode. While it is a well-performed hour of television and the mini-arc in which Wells loses and regains Barry’s trust is decent, the bulk of the episode is less-developed and far less-smart than it ought to be. This is an unfocused episode that tries to do a lot, without doing any of it very well.

For other works with Tom Butler, please visit my reviews of:
The A-Team
The Score
”Colony” - The X-Files

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Flash - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

For other television and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Training To Defeat The Ultimate Threat, Barry Allen Is Interrupted By The “Revenge Of The Rogues!”

The Good: Great banter, Interesting villains, Good continuity within the series
The Bad: Dominic Purcell’s inconsistent accent, Moments of poor internal continuity
The Basics: Barry Allen’s training is interrupted by the return of Captain Cold . . . who has powerful backup in “Revenge Of The Rogues!”


Talk about counter programming! Last night, offering an alternative to the State Of The Union address, The CW brought The Flash back. This was quite the surprise for me when I learned about it this morning and it was one of the best surprises of the year so far. The new episode of The Flash is “Revenge Of The Rogues” and it forced the producers of The Flash to ask the question of “what the hell do you do to follow up the arrival of one of the most popular characters in the franchise?!” The answer is: you bring popular Flash writer (and co-executive producer) Geoff Johns back to the script and have him write an episode that returns the other popular adversary to the forefront.

Following directly upon the threat from “The Man In The Yellow Suit” (reviewed here), “Revenge Of The Rogues” acts as a sequel to “Going Rogue” (reviewed here) by returning Leonard Snart to Central City. Interestingly, “Revenge Of The Rogues” does not spoil the identity of the Reverse Flash, though co-writer Geoff Johns utilizes the opportunity of following-up the revelation by seeding a number of delightful jokes that tease viewers with what they have seen. And “Revenge Of The Rogues” is good!

Barry Allen is training with Cisco, Dr. Snow and Dr. Wells against drones to be able to defeat the Reverse Flash when he makes his next appearance. The past month of disciplined training has made Barry Allen faster and better at what he does. Elsewhere in Central City, Leonard Snart breaks into a customs garage where valuable European cars are being stored. His partner in crime, Mick Rory, is shocked when they are not stealing a single car . . . Captain Cold is waiting for The Flash to appear. When The Flash doesn’t come, the two bail, much to Rory’s disgust. When Barry Allen investigates the crime scene, he realizes that Snart is back and the Central City Police begin their search for Snart. Guided by Dr. Wells, Allen decides to focus on his training, as opposed to the hunt for Leonard Snart.

While Caitlin looks into Firestorm, the Central City Police Department comes up against Captain Cold and Heat Wave, losing a $25 million painting in the process! After Dr. Snow finds Jason Rusch, she is captured by Snart and Rory, who use her as bait to finally draw out The Flash. In the ensuing fight, The Flash is exposed to all of Central City!

Threaded throughout “Revenge Of The Rogues” is a subplot involving Barry Allen’s relationship with Iris West. Iris is moving in with Eddie and Barry tells Joe that he finally told Iris he has been in love with her. The development of the Barry/Iris relationship works fine in the episode and attaches the personal, mundane, side of Barry Allen to the rest of the episodes. Fortunately, Iris moving out on Joe is contrasted by Barry returning to Joe’s, which provides the episode with a sweet, universal character-building moment.

In a similar way, Cisco working with the Central City Police Department starts an intriguing arc for the S.T.A.R. Labs employees. S.T.A.R. Labs has been discredited for about a year and Cisco devising a defense for the cold gun for the police starts Dr. Wells’s organization on the road to legitimacy.

Mick Rory is well characterized as absolutely crazy, though the episode loses a little credibility by Dominic Purcell’s inconsistent accent while playing Heat Wave. The science of Heat Wave is somewhat ridiculous – temperatures well below “absolute hot” would ignite virtually all the oxygen on Earth, so a gun that achieves absolute hot is far less attainable than one that creates absolute zero. The contrasting natures of Captain Cold and Heat Wave are well-executed in “Revenge Of The Rogues,” though Purcell’s erratic nature for the character does not explain the weird accent issues.

“Revenge Of The Rogues” has a pretty high geek-out factor for fans of The Flash. Johns used the opportunity with scripting the episode to tease the forthcoming appearance of the Pied Piper, but that allusion does not hold a candle to the real promise of the episode: a brief flash on Dr. Snow’s smartphone reveals that Victor Garber will be making an appearance in future episodes of The Flash!!!!!!!! (This makes sense because one of the producers was an executive producer on the later seasons of Alias!) As usual, there is a final scene that does a good job of paying off investment for die-hard fans of the comics and promising a next step for the series.

While “Revenge Of The Rogues” ties into other episodes of The Flash well, it does not have the best internal continuity. The opening trap for The Flash makes sense; what doesn’t is why The Flash does not spring it. Barry Allen is out during the day testing his limits, but it is night outside when Snart and Rory break into the customs garage. Barry should have reacted to the silent alarm and outrun the police to the scene of the crime. Similarly, the bomb beneath Dr. Snow makes less sense than it ought to; a psychopath seems like an unlikely person to rig a delay on a bomb as opposed to an explosive device that would involve absolute overkill. Strangely, The Flash makes an effort to disguise his voice when talking directly to Officer Thawne . . . but not when Eddie is well within earshot. Minutiae like that drives down the overall quality of the episode.

Even so, the performances in “Revenge Of The Rogues,” slipping accents notwithstanding, are good. Danielle Panabaker sells the irrationality of Dr. Snow trying to open her frozen door and Rick Cosnett lands the awkwardness of Eddie interacting with Joe. The best chemistry in the episode remains the interactions between Grant Gustin and Jesse L. Martin. Given the soap operatic nature of the interpersonal relationships on The Flash, Martin’s character will be killed off horribly and it is episodes like “Revenge Of The Rogues” that will make that inevitability all the more horrible; Martin and Gustin have great on-screen chemistry and their relationship is uncommon on television.

It might have had a stealth return, but The Flash returned big and wonderful with “Revenge Of The Rogues” and it gives us hope that the series will not simply turn on big final act surprises!

For other works with Luc Roderique, please visit my reviews of:
The Seventh Son
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Flash - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other television and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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In Its End, Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 Barely Justifies The Sequel

The Good: Completes the story, Moments of character, Most of the artwork
The Bad: Villain is predictably treacherous, Low general character development, Not “big” enough for the supposed scope
The Basics: In trying to service the Justice Society Of America, Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 diverges too much from being a pure Kingdom Come sequel to recommend the journey.


There are, despite my love for the medium and my many reviews of them, remarkably few graphic novels that I have in my permanent library. I am, largely, okay with that; I would much rather get graphic novels out from my library, determine if they are actually worthwhile and then buy them as opposed to buy them on spec and end up disappointed. Unfortunately, while I was on vacation recently, I broke my steadfast rule when I found a bunch of hardcover graphic novels dirt cheap at the comic book shop near my hotel. While I was thrilled to finally find an affordable copy of Absolute Identity Crisis (reviewed here!) to add to my permanent library, I have found myself less impressed by the other purchase I made. I found, incredibly inexpensively, Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 2 (reviewed here!) and Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3. Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 does what it has to, which is to resolve the story begun in Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 1 (reviewed here!), but the book does little more than that . . . except when it does things completely different.

Allow me to explain; Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is put in the unenviable position of having to rectify a situation with a villain who has not yet revealed himself to be villainous at all and is part of a series that was ongoing at the time. Unlike Kingdom Come (reviewed here!), which this series is a sequel to, Thy Kingdom Come was not a special DC Comics event; it is a collection of comic books from the Justice Society Of America monthly book. Author Geoff Johns had to service the larger comic book series, so Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 included divergences like a trip to Earth-2, seeds of things to come with Starman and, of course, an otherwise pointless bit that features Black Adam resurrected and just kind of looking around Khandaq. The rest of Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is stuck with resolving the events of the prior two volumes and unfortunately, in that way the book is remarkably formulaic.

Gog burst into existence in Volume 2 as an apparent benevolent god on Earth, walking around Africa healing people and the land and even resurrecting David Reid. The issue in Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is that, of course, Gog has to leave Earth and given how everything the new deity has done seems monolithically benevolent, savvy readers of comic books have to figure what the most cynical characters in the book do; Gog is doing his good works with a catch. What the catch is turns Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 and, unfortunately, it is not enough to save the storyline or make it an indispensible read.

With Power Girl lost in Earth-2, hunted by all of her former friends who claim she is a doppelganger (whatwith them having their own Power Girl still there!), Sandman pleasantly asleep, and David Reid resurrected as Magog, the Justice Society Of America begins testing Magog. Reid seems stronger and more resilient than before, despite being blinded in one eye and having a new, mechanical arm. Reid returns to the Congo to rejoin Gog as he walks. Reid’s return begins a split in the Justice Society Of America that turns hero against hero and puts the alternate universe Superman instantly on edge. Fearing that heroes will come to blows over their devotion to Gog (or their resistance to following Gog without question), Superman begins to question if there is any way to stop “fate” and history from repeating itself.

Power Girl manages to make it back to our universe, only to have the Justice Society Infinity, from Earth-2, chase her and pull her back. With the help of the now-not-schizophrenic Starman, Power Girl is brought back to our universe. There, Superman wrestles with an attack on the Daily Planet that puts him face to face with Lois Lane and the rest of the Justice Society Of America splits over Magog. Things come to a head when Sandman finally wakes up and senses the price that Gog will exact from humanity for his benevolence. Ultimately, the heroes unite against Gog in their efforts to protect the Earth.

Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is, unfortunately, predictable. The second act to the story built up a somewhat ridiculous “ultimate good” while only hinting that his benevolence could have a negative turn. Instead of being a being who people reject for how his gifts ruin their lives (Dr. Mid-Nite getting his sight back has negative consequences, like not being able to see into people’s bodies for their ailments), Gog exacts a payment that the Justice Society deems “too high.” It’s a pretty basic hero vs. villain story.

Unfortunately, because the book is packed with so many characters, the plot elements dominate the character ones. The book meanders until the plot catch for Gog is finally revealed; the characters barely motivate the book’s action. Instead, Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is largely about putting otherwise inconsequential characters out of play – Gog, the Kingdom Come Superman, Magog. The result is a less-than-thrilling volume that does not captivate, it merely concludes.

The artwork in Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 is good, but erratic. A divergent story featuring Superman is done with Kingdom Come style artwork, despite taking place in “our” universe, which is irregular for the rest of this series. Still, all of the characters are recognizable and there is a decent sense of movement within the book.

But Justice Society Of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volume 3 does not save the storyline and it acts as a cautionary tale to those creating sequels; the utterly unnecessary follow-up to Kingdom Come does not create anywhere near as compelling a story as the original.

For other comic book sequels, please visit my reviews of:
Justice League Of America: The Lightning Saga
Final Crisis
Green Lantern: Rebirth

5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Flash Hits Its Stride With “Power Outage!”

The Good: Engaging plots, Cool character work, Good performances, Decent special effects
The Bad: Thematically light
The Basics: Before degenerating into a bloodbath that eliminates some of the most potentially compelling adversaries for The Flash, “Power Outage” builds into a cool story that finds Barry Allen robbed of his powers and his friends held hostage!


In superhero stories, there are some virtually inevitable plotlines or plot devices, arguably the most prevalent is the superhero being robbed of his or her powers. The Flash wastes no time going there and in its seventh episode, “Power Outage,” the result is actually the best episode so far. Entertaining, fast-paced and full of DC Comics Universe allusions to thrill the die-hard geeks, “Power Outage” is a wonderful hour of television. “Power Outage” also manages to utilize a plot device which is typical in super hero stories, but virtually impossible to pull off believably when the superhero has super-speed: the hostage situation wherein the hero’s friends and family are held captive.

“Power Outage” is a direct sequel to “The Flash Is Born” (reviewed here!) and it actually returns Girder from that episode to the plotline, while progressing other elements, like Joe’s sense of fear inspired by his encounter with the Reverse Flash in the prior episode. Realistically shocked by that, Joe is somewhat marginalized in “Power Outage” and the Flash is forced to rely more upon his new, S.T.A.R. Labs, friends than his police comrades and family.

On the night of the particle accelerator disaster, Farooq Gibran and his friends were out across the river, watching the particle accelerator come online. Gibran survived, but was electrocuted and he now has the ability to siphon electricity. Gibran comes to the attention of the Central City Police Department when Barry Allen, Joe West, and Eddie Thwane investigate a severely charred body found in an alley. When Barry encounters Gibran, his energy is siphoned off by the metahuman and Barry struggles with the loss of his super-speed.

Barry’s helplessness could not come at a worse time; the CCPD is preparing a prisoner transfer when Barry loses his powers. As Gibran attacks S.T.A.R. Labs in his search for vengeance against Dr. Wells, causing a city-wide power outage, William Tockman seizes his opportunity, grabs an officer’s gun and shoots two police officers before taking the remaining occupants of the Police Department building hostage. While Iris and Joe fight to keep Eddie alive, after he is shot trying to subdue Tockman, the S.T.A.R. Labs team works to get Barry his powers back. Dr. Wells is especially on-edge as Gibran is in the facility hunting him and he makes a gambit that pits Girder against Gibran and risks the future he seems intent upon creating!

“Power Outage” is arguably the most dense episode of The Flash yet and the packed quality makes every moment of it seem vital. This episode moves forward at a decent clip and while it might not make much of a larger thematic statement, it progresses the plot and characters of The Flash remarkably well. The closest to a statement “Power Outage” makes on more universal themes is “friendship can be a powerful motivator” and given how Barry Allen realized that a few episodes back the fact that the much smarter Dr. Wells realizes it now undermines his otherwise awesome and insightful character.

That said, “Power Outage” is magnificent and it holds together with so much happening largely because of the awesome characters. While Barry Allen is helpless and has to rely almost entirely upon his friends and, in an unexpected twist, his old childhood bully, Tony Woodward, Iris West steps up. Far from being a damsel in distress, in “Power Outage,” Iris West antagonizes Tockman and leaps upon her opportunity to take him down.

While Joe becomes more reserved in “Power Outage,” Dr. Wells reveals himself to a surprising number of people in the episode. In contact with a mysterious new entity, Gideon, Wells is seen out of his wheelchair and he shows his true self to both Woodward and The Mist. Wells is an intriguing time-traveler and in “Power Outage” he continues to illustrate an overt sense of care for Barry Allen while exhibiting sinister tendencies (like trying to understand just how Blackout is able to steal the Flash’s power).

The balance of villains in “Power Outage” is an important component of the episode. Central City’s extraordinary heroes are beset by a metahuman while the mundane allies of Barry Allen are held hostage by an equally-dangerous criminal mastermind. William Tockman is a cool, cruel villain who has only hints of backstory in “Power Outage” (apparently, he was the subject of an episode of Arrow before this) and that he is both able to hold his own against Joe West and Eddie, but has a reasonably flaw (which allows Iris to get the drop on him) makes him seem realistic and compelling. Tockman is a good foil for Farooq Gibran as well. Gibran is broken, but has incredible power while Tockman takes control to hide how broken he is. Gibran is a metahuman who, like Tockman, has an entirely relatable human core and as his feelings of guilt are exposed, his expressions of vengeance make much more sense.

Blackout’s incredible siphoning ability affords Barry Allen the chance to reflect upon just what his powers mean to him. After an early incident when he uses his powers in a ridiculous way to thwart a minor criminal, Barry loses his powers and his dependence upon his friends motivates him to take extreme measures to try to jump-start his super powers. Allen without his powers encourages Wells to push him and the extreme reaction Wells has to Barry not reaching his potential is explained in a compelling way when one of the precepts of The Flash Universe is established: the future is malleable. Wells’ contact with the future is warped by current events and that opens the door to potential storyline which might fundamentally alter and prevent the Crisis which the show seems to be building to since the first episode.

“Power Outage” features decent performances all around. Guest stars Michael Reventar (Gibran) and Robert Knepper (Tockman) blend seamlessly with the main cast. Knepper especially plays off Candice Patton and Jesse L. Martin beautifully. Knepper plays weird, precise and creepy incredibly well. “Power Outage” is also notable in that Grant Gustin (Barry Allen) and Tom Cavanagh (Wells) finally have a chance for some meaty scenes together and their relationship develops as more than just a collection of quips. Gustin and Cavanagh lay down a bedrock for a new relationship for their characters that should credibly lead to Dr. Wells acting as a more active and stable mentor to the energetic young man.

The special effects surrounding Blackout are pretty cool. The special effects end up as the icing on the cake for a wonderful episode that is well worth watching multiple times and is certainly worth returning to!

For other works with Robert Knepper, check out my reviews of:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
R.I.P.D.
Heroes - Season Four
Prison Break - Season 1
Carnivale
"Dragons Teeth" - Star Trek: Voyager
“Haven” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Flash - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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