"Subject 9" Hits Highs Before Settling For "Ho-Hum."

The Good: Moments of continuity, Most of the special effects and humor work.
The Bad: Obvious plot progression, Mediocre performances
The Basics: "Subject 9" starts The Flash out with an intriguing new metahuman before settling into the familiar.


The fourth season of The Flash has finally come into focus. While DeVoe was instantly the season's adversary, the show has meandered into the S.T.A.R. Labs team figuring out what DeVoe is up to. But, as "Subject 9" begins, DeVoe's general plan - to absorb the metahuman abilities from the metahumans he created - has become apparent to both the viewers and the characters within The Flash. "Subject 9" also opens with Ralph Dibny at an intriguing narrative juncture; recognizing that DeVoe is coming after the others like him, he starts the episode knowing he has a target painted on his back.

"Subject 9" was preceded by"True Colors" (reviewed here!) and found Barry Allen being exonerated for the murder of DeVoe - thanks to Dibny discovering a newfound ability; using his stretching skin to shape-change. Allen's successful appeal came following DeVoe making a rather bold move with the metahumans he had created and the murder of Warden Wolf at the hands of DeVoe. The seeds have been well-planted for Marlize DeVoe to switch sides; it remains to be seen how long she will hold out before betraying her husband.

Barry Allen returns to work where he gets a surprisingly cold reception. Captain Singh asks that Barry take a leave of absence to help restore faith in the Central City Police Department. The new Mayor wants to prove that DeVoe is still alive, but while relieved of duty, the S.T.A.R. Labs team closes rank on Ralph Dibny and they renew their search for the other bus metas. Dibny visits the bus depot's lost and found and discover that Izzy Bowin was one of the people turned into a metahuman through the bus accident. While visiting Bowin at a gig, Dibny and Allen are surveilled by the DeVoes. When Bowin resists their help, she reveals her power: the ability to manipulate sound waves.

After DeVoe reveals herself to Bowin while the Flash team is trying to convince her of the threat to her life, the S.T.A.R. Labs team decides to try to train her to be a part of the team. Bowin wants nothing to do with them, but Dibny actually changes her mind. Horton rails against Wells's new device while Bowin is trained at S.T.A.R. Labs. When The Flash steps in with the training, Bowin gets hurt. After bringing the new dampener to Horton, Wells and Horton try to strike up a friendship when Wells has an important epiphany about the nature of the device he built for her. Believing she can take DeVoe on herself, Bowin leaves S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Subject 9" makes Ralph Dibny surprisingly important. Dibny helps find Bowin and he is integral to convincing her to stay with the S.T.A.R. Labs team. Dibny is willing to be tested upon so that Bowin can develop her abilities and that is a nice twist for him; being suddenly useful.

Attentive viewers will recognize the moment it is brought up that "Subject 9" has the season's resolution within it. In the third season, when DeVoe was being teased as the fourth season's adversary, Savitar mentions the weapon used to defeat DeVoe. In "Subject 9," Horton turns to Wells for help with dampening Joe West's thoughts . . . which seems like exactly what the crew needs to adapt in order to stop DeVoe. So when the silent epiphany comes, attentive viewers are well-prepared for it. In fact, it is hard to believe that it takes so long for the S.T.A.R. Labs team to develop the cerebral inhibitor . . . considering they had a similar device already in play to protect Barry from the psychic attacks of Gorilla Grodd.

The climax of "Subject 9" is incredibly frustrating. The physics of the final scene make no reasonable sense; there is a force field (apparently) and The Flash doesn't even try to vibrate through it. Or go around it. As a result, the move by DeVoe feels ultimately forced for the plot, as opposed to a sensible development based on characters' actions.

Harrison Wells returns to the narrative in a way that continues to illustrate that the writers have not figured out how to write for him now. Tom Cavanaugh is good - though he does smirk through one moment where he is supposed to be performing exasperation - but the character has been a bit aimless this season. Fortunately, Cavanaugh's final scene in the episode is well-executed and bucks the trend of adult characters being almost exclusively under thirty. Cavanaugh and Danielle Nicolet have good on-screen chemistry for their scenes.

In the end, "Subject 9" leaves the viewer with something of a ho-hum feeling. The plot moves into the inevitable territory fans knew it would, but it still feels more formulaic than it is fresh. The cast - save Hartley Sawyer - seem to be simply going through the motions and "Subject 9" feels more like a filler than a thriller episode.

4/10

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

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Land Of The Lost" Progresses Legends Of Tomorrow Well!

The Good: Moments of character, A few good performance moments
The Bad: Moments of direction, Simplistic and obvious plot
The Basics: "Land Of The Lost" puts the Legends Of Tomorrow on the path to save Rip Hunter then the Waverider crashes in the ancient past!


As Legends Of Tomorrow progresses, it is hard not to imagine that the series will find a way to restore Rip Hunter to the narrative as a hero, effectively undoing the conditioning that the Reverse Flash did to him when he altered his stored memories and personality. While it might have been fun for Arthur Darvill to play the villainous version of Rip Hunter, it is not a sustainable character for Legends Of Tomorrow. Rip Hunter's restoration threatens to completely undermine the character growth for Sara Lance, who has truly stepped up to be a leader of the Waverider's crew in the second season. The first big chance to restore Rip Hunter comes in "Land Of The Lost."

"Camelot/3000" (reviewed here!) climaxed with Rip Hunter falling back into the custody of the Waverider crew, which set up "Land Of The Lost." "Land Of The Lost" is essentially a sidetrack story as the Legends get lost in the distant past and in Rip Hunter's head. The episode leaps into restoring Rip Hunter by undoing his programming, which gives the viewer hope for the direction of Legends Of Tomorrow.

As Gideon processes data in her attempt to locate Commander Steele of the Justice Society. Unfortunately, Rip Hunter has a failsafe in place and overrides Gideon, taking control of the Waverider. When Hunter sets off a self-destruct sequence, Mick Rory steps in to stop him and, in the process, destroys the compass that could tell the crew where Steel is. The Waverider also gets thrown into the Cretaceous Period, where Ray Palmer had been stranded before. While Palmer, Heywood and Jiwe look for parts needed to repair the Waverider's time drive, Lance and Jackson use Time Master technology to enter Rip Hunter's mind.

In Hunter's mind, Lance and Jackson encounter threats from Hunter's memories, including an alternate version of White Canary. Palmer's team takes up refuge in Palmer's old hideout, which leads Jiwe and Heywood to get amorous - through they are inadvertently blocked by Palmer and his hunting skills. While Lance confronts Rip Hunter in his own mind, Jackson meets Gideon there and Palmer is forced to tell Heywood why the archaeologist needs to end his relationship with Amaya.

"Land Of The Lost" is set up with the Waverider crew making one of the most stupid mistakes of the series. Sara Lance - or one of the other members of the Waverider crew - smartly orders Gideon not to respond to any commands from Rip Hunter. It does not, apparently, occur to any of the crew to ask Gideon if there are any commands Rip could initiate that could hijack Lance's order to her . . . or simply turn off all voice interfaces from the brig. Why would anyone of the smart people on the Waverider allow Rip Hunter to have any sort of computer interface?!

Director Ralph Hemecker makes one of the worst cuts in Legends Of Tomorrow in "Land Of The Lost." When Sara Lance faces off against herself, Caity Lotz is acting opposite herself. Hemecker uses split screen to have Lotz face herself, but he completely bungles the shot; one version of Lance is looking nowhere near the other. The eyelines are completely off and for a scene that hinges on the two staring one another down, it's a fatal error. The technology for this type of shot has existed since the original Star Trek, so it seems pretty terrible that Hemecker gets the shot wrong.

Outside the one huge directoral snafu (why wouldn't you get another cut?!), the special effects in "Land Of The Lost" are generally decent, including the first appearance of Firestorm in quite some time! Even the dinosaur in "Land Of The Lost" is surprisingly well-rendered.

The special effects in "Land Of The Lost" do not hold a candle to the character moments and performances in the episode. Maisie Richardson-Sellers is wonderful as Amaya. Throughout the episode, Richardson-Sellers manages to find the right balance of strong and smart and flirtatious and fun in "Land Of The Lost." Richardson-Sellers makes Amaya awesome and indispensable in "Land Of The Lost."

The surprisingly best scene in "Land Of The Lost" is actually a simple dialogue between Mick Rory and Dr. Stein. Victor Garber and Dominic Purcell play off one another incredibly well and the scene offers the opportunity for both to play to the strength of their maturity. Purcell has more than just physical presence as Rory when he and Stein square off. The simple scene is impressive and so much smarter than most of the rest of the episode in a very cool way.

Ultimately, "Land Of The Lost" has a simple a-plot, b-plot that actually manages to feel fresh from the performances and character moment peppered throughout it.

For other works with Matt Letscher, please visit my reviews of:
"Flashpoint" - The Flash
"The Reverse-Flash Returns" - The Flash
"Potential Energy" - The Flash
The Flash - Season 1
Her
Towelhead

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

6/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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All The Favorites Return In "The Chicago Way!"

The Good: Decent performances, Good character moments
The Bad: Incredibly problematic plot, Neglects some key character traits for the sake of plot reversals
The Basics: Legends Of Tomorrow refocuses on its own main plot with "The Chicago Way" when Eobard Thawne's team makes an ally of Al Capone in 1927 to lay a trap for the Waverider crew!


Fans of Legends Of Tomorrow have a decent reason to be upset by the massive DC Television Universe crossover event that The CW produced. After all, because Legends Of Tomorrow is the final of the four shows in the CW's airing order each week, The CW chose to end the crossover event on the Legends Of Tomorrow episode "Invasion!" (reviewed here!), despite the Waverider crew having astonishingly little to do in their own episode. Indeed, the Legends Of Tomorrow episode "Invasion!" afforded Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak the chance to play around in the Waverider, but it's not like the Legends Of Tomorrow resolved the Dominator invasion or fixed Barry Allen's Flashpoint tangent.

Legends Of Tomorrow essentially picks up its own storyline after the events of "Outlaw Country" (reviewed here!) in "The Chicago Way." Despite "Outlaw Country" climaxing with the call back to Earth to deal with the Dominators, the main plot ended with Eobard Thawne taking Damian Darhk into the future. "The Chicago Way" returns the two antagonists to the narrative, along with other characters missing from the narrative and another key villain from the DC Television Universe!

In Chicago, 1927, Eobard Thawne and Damian Darhk approach Al Capone with an offer, with Malcolm Merlyn. Aboard the Waverider, Heywood and Palmer train, much to the chagrin of Lance and Jackson. Jackson visits Stein, who reveals that his memories are re-orienting to his new timeline (wherein he has a daughter, Lily). When Heywood's temporal seismograph goes off, the Waverider crew heads to October, 1927. When Palmer accidentally allows Elliot Ness to get picked up by the corrupt Chicago police officers, the team returns to the Waverider and learn that days later, Al Capone will become the mayor.

When the Waverider crew saves Ness from drowning, he suffers brain damage. While Gideon cures his brain damage, Heywood impersonates him and heads to the Chelsea Club, one of Capone's clubs. While Rory hallucinates Snart, the take-down of the Chelsea Club goes south when Damien Darhk and Thawne appear and abduct Stein and Lance. In the custody of Malcolm Merlyn, Lance is offered the nine years she lost when the Queen's Gambit was destroyed back, in exchange for the amulet Thawne is after. While Rory leads the Waverider team in a rescue attempt, Stein is tortured by Thawne. But Darhk's trap is revealed when Rory's rescue attempt appears successful and puts the Waverider crew at the mercy of their enemies.

"The Chicago Way" features a ridiculous narrative progression. Heywood has a temporal seismograph, which tells the crew where and when temporal anomalies occur. Why the Waverider crew doesn't research the nature of the anomaly before they arrive in 1927 is a mystery. Actually, it is just sloppy writing. Long before the crew actually sets foot in 1927, the crew should have found how and where time was altered. Far from being a surgical strike team, the Waverider crew has become a sloppy hammer and anvil.

In a similar fashion, there is something incredibly sloppy in the way Firestorm is handled in "The Chicago Way." Jackson and Stein have a psychic bond between them. When Stein is tortured, Jax shows no adverse effects. The whole reversal surrounding Stein and his torture is entirely weakened by the fact that Jackson and Stein's psychic bond is entirely neglected in "The Chicago Way."

Martin Stein is deepened in "The Chicago Way" as he is forced to confess his temporal transgression to Lance. Stein has memories of his daughter and one of the severe problems with the way "The Chicago Way" is structured is that it eliminates any credibility to any future plotlines that might force Stein to make a choice between his daughter and his wife. Right now, Stein has memories of both his wife and his daughter; if Lily exists because his wife died as a result of the temporal aberration he caused, he should know it now. Stein and Lance have some great scenes in "The Chicago Way" and they continue to be the viable heartbeat of Legends Of Tomorrow. Lance continues to step up credibly as the leader of the Waverider crew in "The Chicago Way" by recognizing how troubled Stein appears.

While it is hard to believe that an integral character like Malcolm Merlyn could ever be killed off in a non-Arrow episode (thus gutting Lance's key scene with Merlyn), "The Chicago Way" does a good job of balancing the heroes and villains, the humor and the action in the episode. Mick Rory's hallucinations of Snart come as Rory attempts to wrestle with how has moved on since Snart's death. Rory and Jiwe continue to credibly develop beyond their initial simplistic characterizations in "The Chicago Way."

Amid all of the action and revelatory character moments, Heywood and Palmer become an effective team. Palmer and Heywood act as comic relief for much of "The Chicago Way," but their interplay is well-delivered by Nick Zano and Brandon Routh. Their performances are par for the course in "The Chicago Way," where all of the performers manage to step up for their big moments well. Zano and Routh have great comic timing, while Caity Lotz and Victor Garber share some of the season's best dramatic scenes. Fans of the DC Television Universe are likely to geek out at the mere appearance of Wentworth Miller as (hallucination) Snart and getting more of Eobard Thawne (his mission finally becomes explicit), but the regulars carry the day in "The Chicago Way," despite how sloppy the episode's plot is.

For other works with John Barrowman, please visit my reviews of:
"Invasion" - Arrow
"Legends Of Today" - The Flash
Doctor Who - Season 4
Doctor Who - Season 3
Doctor Who - Season 1
The Untouchables

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

6.5/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Terrible Episode Results When The Flash Creates A "Paradox!"

The Good: Moments of performance, A few character moments
The Bad: Guts the entire show . . . again, Technical problems
The Basics: "Paradox" continues the reshaping of The Flash by rewriting the last crappy episode.


Fans of DC Comics who are also fans of the DC Television Universe have a lot to be apprehensive about. Last year, as Supergirl was announced as moving to The CW and Legends Of Tomorrow was getting renewed, news leaked that there would be a massive crossover between the four DC Television Universe shows and it was hard not to be excited, especially when The Flash ended for the season. The smart money was that there was going to be an adaptation of Flashpoint (reviewed here!) for the DC Television Universe and the idea of a sprawling story that used all four shows to characterize Barry Allen's altered universe was an exciting, captivating one that was only made more exciting when the third season premiere of The Flash was entitled "Flashpoint" and that name was dropped very early.

But that was not to be an as "Flashpoint" reduced a massive crossover event from the comics into a pretty crappy forty-three minutes of television, fans of The Flash were left feeling a lot of apprehension going into "Paradox." Picking up where "Flashpoint" (reviewed here!) left off, it is impossible to discuss "Paradox" without some references to where the prior episode ended. After all, Barry Allen has returned to his present after three months in a tangent universe that he had to collapse. And, as the last few moments of "Flashpoint" informed Barry, he has returned to an altered present. "Paradox," then, seemed like it would be instantly burdened with following Barry Allen around as he learned the differences between his familiar world and the world he accidentally created by letting Eobard Thawne kill his mother a mere forty seconds later. Going into the episode, all viewers knew was that apparently, those forty seconds caused Joe and Iris West to no longer be speaking to one another in the new rendition of the future.

Opening with Barry Allen visiting Felicty Smoak to tell her what has changed in his life following his experiences in the Flashpoint tangent universe, Barry recalls taking down a motorcycle thief he took down as the Flash and the changes he noticed upon returning to S.T.A.R. Labs. Allen's team has been completely altered; Cisco is sullen, Iris and Joe are not talking, Wally is much friendlier to Barry, and at the Central City Police Department, there is a new Meta-Human Forensics Specialist who has been working with Barry for the past year. Felicity charges Barry with fixing what has been altered when he notices that Diggle's child has changed genders from what he once knew.

In Central City, there are husks of human skin being found and Allen steals a sample from the crime scene when Julian Albert refuses to give him access. Edward Clariss, who was The Rival in the Flashpoint Universe, is being tormented by Alchemy, a voice in his head who soon manifests as a masked villain. Alchemy offers Clariss the ability to become The Rival again after restoring his memories of his Flashpoint experiences. Barry contrives to put all of his friends back in a room together and they share an awkward dinner together before it is broken up by an attack in Central City. The Rival and The Flash clash and The Flash has his first encounter with Alchemy.

"Paradox" is riddled with problems, based on what is unshown in both "Flashpoint" and "Paradox." At the climax of "Flashpoint," Eobard Thawne goes back to the moment that The Flash stopped him from killing Nora Allen. When the Eobard Thawne who had been dragged forward in time into the Flashpoint tangent returned to the past, the remnant of him that was there disappeared, as did the Barry Allen who came back in time at the climax of "The Race Of His Life," the one who then went forward in time to create the Flashpoint Tangent. So, the fundamental problem with the way "Flashpoint" was shot is that it fails to reveal where Barry Allen was. The Barry Allen we have watched all along, the one who was taken out of the Flashpoint Paradox by Eobard Thawne - the one who had memories of everything viewers have seen, including the Flashpoint Universe - was not in the room when Eobard materialized in the past from the Flashpoint Tangent. Where did he leave Barry Allen? The answer to this question becomes integral to "Paradox" because it has the potential to reveal the entirety of it as nonsense, much like the missing element from "Flashpoint." There seem to be two prime possibilities: 1. Eobard materialized somewhere outside with Barry Allen from the Flashpoint Tangent and left Barry somewhere else, like on the porch of the Allen house, for example. In that circumstance, the Barry Allen that came back with him from the Flashpoint Tangent should have disappeared exactly like his other temporal remnant. Or 2. Eobard left Barry Allen within the Speed Force while he went to kill Nora, then recovered him to take him back to the point at which he left the future. There are two key problems with this idea. The first is that Barry Allen was losing his memories of his past in "Flashpoint." If he were insulated from the temporal changes by being within the Speed Force when the changes occurred, his memories would not have been restored. The second problem is the same one that was a problem in "Flashpoint;" if Barry Allen was insulated from the temporal changes and the version we have watched all along were taken from the Speed Force and re-deposited in the future, there is another Barry Allen to account for. In other words, after Eobard Thawne killed Nora Allen, there was a child Barry Allen who would grow up native to the timeline . . . one who should still be there in the future when "our" Barry Allen is returned there. After all, there is no evidence that the native Barry Allen would have tried then to go back in time to stop Eobard . . . especially if he did not have the conversation with Iris on the porch.

Within "Paradox" the problem of what is not seen is pretty extreme. Barry Allen scours Felicity's computer for information on what might have changed in the new tangent and he cannot find anything until a picture of Diggle and his son pops up. What the hell was Barry looking at where he would have missed things like Dante Ramon dying? Was he just looking for major historical events? And the reference to Iris being angry at Joe for concealing that Iris and Wally's mother was still alive becomes problematic in this context because the viewer does not see the information Barry sees; is Francine still alive? Did Iris and Wally grow up together with Barry, with both of them being lied to? Retcons are absolute bullshit.

But reconciling the various universes becomes almost impossible to complain about because the writers and producers can just say "Well, that didn't happen." Case in point, when Jay Garrick appears, my first reaction was, "this is bullshit; there is no mechanism by which he could watch Barry Allen." After all, the Earth-2 Cisco Ramon (Reverb) was killed and Earth-2 would not be affected by temporal changes on Earth-1, save for crossover events. But maybe Reverb didn't get killed because "Welcome To Earth-2" (if there were a New Universe equivalent of the episode) happened differently because New Universe Flash handled things differently. Where is Hartley Rathaway? He was retconned back into Team Flash in the second season through temporal meddling . . . or was he?

"Paradox" is frustrating because there is no scene where Barry Allen actually confides rationally in someone. Instead of stumbling through everything, the most clear solution Barry Allen would have had would be to ask someone he trusts "Can you tell me about our experiences together?" So, for example, when visiting Felicity Smoak, Barry Allen should have actually asked her to tell him about their common experiences. He explains the Flashpoint Universe to her; she could have provided him with information she had about his friends and experiences, either by volunteering the information or he could have asked him for a primer on his past. When did The Flash characters become so stupid?!

The Flash has succeeded because it had built some interesting characters and dynamics. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon had a fun, cool friendship that was pleasantly deep in a way that is not frequently shown on television. In "Paradox" that is gone. Julian Albert came to town and was present through the entire second season's events, apparently. And why would changing Nora Allen's time of death by forty seconds change any of these things?!

The pleasant surprise of "Paradox" is that The Flash does not play the old trope with a time traveler returning to meet someone who no longer recognizes him. So, Felicity Smoak's first lines do not include her asking, "Who are you?" when Barry runs into her office. Sadly, that is the only true pleasant surprise of "Paradox."

Similarly, Grant Gustin makes a good show of the emotional range of Barry Allen's character journey in "Paradox." Gustin reminds viewers that Barry Allen has very real vulnerabilities and wounds. In "Paradox," Gustin plays the part of Barry Allen with a different sense of pain than he did when he was simply crying about his parents or frustrated about the new universe he found himself in. Tom Felton is introduced to The Flash narrative as Julian Albert and he plays the part as professional and able to see Barry Allen for someone who is deceiving others, which is intriguing.

Todd Lasance continues to be unimpressive as Edward Clariss, but given how easily The Rival has been dispatched twice now, it does not seem like he is even remotely close to the Big Bad of season three. That is a good thing because Speedsters as villains for The Flash are getting pretty played out.

In the end, "Paradox" is flat-out disappointing and viewers who have been engaged with the prior seasons, keeping up with the science and character relationships, have to feel cheated by how both of those have been entirely mortgaged.

For other works with Tom Felton, please visit my reviews of:
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
The Harry Potter Saga

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

2/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Badass Patty And Rise Of The Spinoff With The Flash's "Legends Of Today!"

The Good: Decent performances, Engaging pacing, Good plot
The Bad: Very light on character development, Packs a lot in; obvious set-up episode.
The Basics: Despite the nature of the beast - "Legends Of Today" is a set-up episode both for a crossover on Arrow and the forthcoming spin-off Legends Of Tomorrow - The Flash delivers an entertaining episode ramping up for its midseason finale!


A midseason finale time looms, most television shows that are taking a few months off are going for the gimmicks. The midseason finale is a relatively new phenomenon and it's becoming almost as unfortunate for narrative flow of a season as commercials can be during an episode. While I continue to enjoy The Flash, the second season's narrative structure has been erratic thus far - though, fortunately, there have been very few ful-fledged "metahuman of the week" episodes in the season's first third. Before its big midseason finale next week, The Flash is softening viewers up with a tangent story that allows them a crossover with Arrow and provides a proper set-up for the next DC Television Universe spin-off, Legends Of Tomorrow. The set-up on The Flash is, appropriately, titled "Legends Of Today."

"Legends Of Today" follows "Gorilla Warfare" (reviewed here!) in only the loosest sense; one reference is made to the latest encounter with Grodd. Otherwise, the recapping done in "Legends Of Today" tends to encompass the entire season with fast exchanges of dialogue between Felicity Smoak and Barry Allen. For a crossover episode that makes a ton of references, perhaps the biggest surprise from "Legends Of Today" is how accessible it is to new viewers, without feeling expository.

Opening with Barry training and Dr. Snow and Harrison Wells worrying about how he is not getting faster, the S.T.A.R. Labs team begins to investigate how to make Barry faster. Wells wants to develop a drug that will unleash more of Barry's potential, which makes Dr. Snow nervous. At the port in Central City, a stowaway is taken off a boat in handcuffs, before magically removing the cuffs and killing those from the boat he was on. He is hunting the woman with the wings that Cisco saw in his vision. The man hunts Kendra Saunders during her date with Cisco and when the Flash saves them, Cisco accidentally outs Barry. Barry turns to the Green Arrow in Star City to hide Kendra and keep her safe.

Once in Star City, Barry's sketch of the assailant reveals that he has not aged since the mid-1970s and Oliver Queen interrogates Kendra. Back in Central City, Wells and Snow work on developing a biochemical solution to Barry's problems. Jay Garrick, however, wants no part of the Velocity Six drug and he does not want Wells experimenting with it on him or Barry. When Vandal Savage crashes the party meeting of the heroes, everyone is shocked by his speed and his ability to disappear after being shot by many, many arrows. Malcolm Merlyn arrives with information on the assailant - identifying him as the immortal Vandal Savage. Merlyn tells them that Savage is set upon killing Kendra and the team tries to keep her safe . . . until she is abducted by a man with giant hawk wings. When Patty shoots Wells and the man, Carter Hall, reveals that he and Kendra are linked and Vandal Savage will use all his power - and the power of the Staff Of Horus - all of Team Flash is thrown into chaos.

"Legends Of Today" packs a lot in and the unfortunate aspect of it is that it crams in a whole load of supernatural elements to a previously, surprisingly, grounded television series. The scientific basis of The Flash is singlehandedly undermined in "Legends Of Today." While Vandal Savage is an awesome villain to introduce into the DC Television Universe, immediately attaching the immortal villain to the reincarnating Hawkman and Hawkgirl throws a lot at the viewer at one time. Given how hard The Flash has worked to maintain a scientific basis for the metahuman concept and the speedsters, the "real world" of the DC Television Universe becomes some mixture of fantastic and ridiculous in "Legends Of Today."

Vandal Savage is a good villain, though he is introduced in "Legends Of Today" as a pretty generic psychopath, despite being an immortal. Savage gains power - though it is not made clear exactly what those powers entail in "Legends Of Today" - by killing reincarnations of Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall. He is powerful in "Legends Of Today" and the use of the Staff of Horus truly explodes the use of magic in the DC Television Universe. The fact that Savage hits his mark more often than not makes him a decent adversary.

Much of the character development in "Legends Of Today" comes from Kendra Saunders realizing her own potential to become Hawkgirl. Bringing out the reincarnated heroine leads to some super-cheesy speeches from Barry and Cisco, but they work well-enough to make Kendra Saunders's journey watchable. Perhaps the most intriguing concept in Saunders's journey in "Legends Of Today" is that Hawkgirl's wings are organic, not mechanical (which opens a whole new conceptual can of worms for the DTU). The other significant moment of character development comes when Jay Garrick is given the opportunity to save Harrison Wells's life.

Much of the rest of the character development comes in the form of simple exposition. Felicity and Barry exchange stories to catch viewers up on how Arrow and The Flash have changed since the last crossover event in season one.

"Legends Of Today" gives viewers hope for the potential of Legends Of Tomorrow by virtue of demonstrating decent special effects all the way through. Between the slow motion attacks, Barry throwing lightning again and the execution of Carter and Kendra as virtual characters for several shots, the visual effects are impressive.

That said, "Legends Of Today" is an entirely incomplete story. This is a crossover with Arrow and The Flash component is all set-up, little pay-off (only the Harrison Wells/Jay Garrick plot is actually resolved within the episode). Leading into next week's midseason finale, The Flash goes off on a tangent and it is a gimmick. Whether or not "Legends Of Today" actually works in the larger context of the second season of The Flash remains to be seen, but it is an entertaining episode on its own.

For other works with Neal McDonough, be sure to check out my reviews of:
"The Iron Ceiling" - Agent Carter
Tin Man
Minority Report
Star Trek: First Contact
"Facing The Fire" - V.R.-5

7/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Mystery Of The Atom Smasher Sets Up A New Season Of The Flash Well With "The Man Who Saved Central City!"

The Good: Good plot development, Some decent character moments, Neat concept
The Bad: One or two of the performance moments
The Basics: "The Man Who Saved Central City" continues the story of The Flash in a way that leaves the viewer with a lot of hope for the second season.


Every now and then, a television series peaks at a moment where it seems impossible to come back from. With the first season of The Flash (reviewed here!) having, essentially, a full-season arc, it almost seemed like the executive producers were not banking on getting a second season. The first season finale had the potential to do what the second season of Millennium (reviewed here!) did; it had the potential to make it impossible to make a good follow-up season (the third season of Millennium was terrible and had to virtually dissociate itself from the second season's amazing finale). Given the climax of the first season, there was an exceptional burden placed on "The Man Who Saved Central City" when The Flash returned for a second season.

It is impossible to discuss "The Man Who Saved Central City" without discussing exactly where "Fast Enough" (reviewed here!) ended. The first season finale put Barry Allen on the cusp of creating an entire rewrite of the series so far by trying to save his mother from dying. While that specific time travel rewrite did not happen, the paradox caused by the death of Eddie Thawne (which erased his descendant Eobard Thawne from ever existing) caused a singularity to explode over Central City. How Barry Allen would close that singularity to save Central City would still seem to have some ripple effects through the timeline of The Flash and the DC Television Universe. While Barry Allen has a potential immunity to time travel - those who affect universe-altering situations sometimes exist outside the event that changes everything - the potential to alter the DTU that was implied by the singularity in the last moments of "Fast Enough" are potentially catastrophic from a storytelling perspective. After all, the first season of The Flash did a number of crossovers with Arrow and if circumstances are changed in Central City significantly, fans will rightly ask, (for example) "How would Deathbolt have been stopped if Barry Allen's Flash didn't run this fast until this time in the new timeline?" The brilliance of "Fast Enough" is that no matter what changes are forced by "The Man Who Saved Central City," Barry Allen has a comrade who would be able to recall the entire first season in Cisco. Resolving the paradox and collapsing the singularity put an incredible burden on "The Man Who Saved Central City" to both explain what effects that had and clearly define where the series would be going from this point on.

And "The Man Who Saved Central City" opens in such a way that it seems like it will neglect all of the big issues from the creation and closing of the singularity; fortunately, it turns around surprisingly quickly to become a very solid season premiere and a good episode of The Flash!

Opening six months after the collapse of the Singularity with a daydream The Flash is having about taking down Captain Cold and Heat Wave at the same time, Barry Allen has a longing for his friends and family. As it is, though, he spends his days as the Central City Police Department's forensic scientist and his nights rebuilding the businesses in Central City that were destroyed by the Singularity. On the day before Flash Day in Central City, Joe and Barry investigate the death of Al Rothstein, who was strangled . . . but not by Grodd. Cisco is working with Joe as well, as part of the CCPD's Metahuman Task Force. With Caitlin Snow working at Mercury Labs, the former Team Flash that worked at S.T.A.R. Labs and in the CCPD has disbanded.

After Barry restores Jitters, the episode flashes back to the day of the Singularity. On that day, the Flash stabilized the singularity, but when the time came to collapse it and save Central City, it was Firestorm who stepped up to do the heavy lifting. Feeling guilty about Ronnie's death, Barry is not keen on going to the day honoring him. Nevertheless, when the day comes, the Flash makes an appearance at the Flash Day ceremony. His appearance brings out Atom Smasher, a man who looks identical to the dead Al Rothstein. When both Cisco's anti-metahuman "boot" and the Flash fail to stop Atom Smasher, Barry's companions come together to restore the team and save Central City from the latest threat.

"The Man Who Saved Central City" opens at an irritating point, but the pay off is worth it. The sacrifice of Ronnie Raymond makes the discordant tone at the episode's outset make perfect sense and it finally answers the lingering question of just how the hell Victor Garber could be cast for the new spinoff Legends Of Tomorrow, but Robbie Amell (Ronnie Raymond) was not. In fact, the episode is a lot about assumptions and delayed pay offs. The viewer has to assume that the Atom Smasher is able to keep pace with the Flash because the Speed Force is a type of energy that Atom Smasher can absorb and that the metahuman is from an alternate reality that bled through as a result of the singularity.

In fact, with the acknowledgement that Eobard Thawne existed, "The Man Who Saved Central City" becomes fodder for fan theories. While "Fast Enough" explored the idea that by going back in time, Barry Allen would rewrite history, "The Man Who Saved Central City" makes no mention of how The Flash is now at a point where the future is being rewritten. The first time through the timeline, Barry Allen became the Flash (at some point) and Eddie Thawne had children and descendants and in the future, Eobard Thawne was born and became an enemy of The Flash. Eobard came back in time, killed Nora Allen, first season of The Flash and then was erased from existence by the death of Eddie Thawne. Everything that now follows exists in a new tangent universe and Eobard Thawne essentially came from a parallel reality that no longer could generate him (essentially Eobard Thawne came into existence in the universe of The Flash at the moment he appeared in the past as an anomaly!).

Beyond sparking numerous conversations on time travel and parallel realities, what "The Man Who Saved Central City" does very well is flesh out the characters of The Flash. Iris and Dr. Snow are both in mourning and Dr. Stein takes a strong leadership role in the new team. Cisco even has a flash of his newly-realized power (which might prompt the writers to have to explain why his talent was latent for so long . . .), but he remains largely unphased by the six months since Eobard Thawne was blinked out of existence.

Victor Garber and Carlos Valdes have great on-screen chemistry in "The Man Who Saved Central City" as Dr. Stein and Cisco. While Danielle Panabaker isn't given a lot of opportunities to do a lot of complex emoting - Dr. Snow barely reacts to Ronnie's death - the episode's emotional climax gives everyone a lot to do and the cast does it well. Between the opening scene and the final one, "The Man Who Saved Central City" feels very much like an epilogue to the first season.

More than Grant Gustin, the acting powerhouse of "The Man Who Saved Central City" is Jesse L. Martin. Between flashbacks and simple reaction shots that illustrate how Joe is feeling as Barry works to exonerate his father, Martin once again is given the greatest range for the episode. The surprise, however, is how well actor Adam Copeland does. While much of his performance relies on the physical training he had as a professional wrestler, his final scene allows him to convey great emotion while barely moving and he emotes surprisingly well through his eyes.

While the episode's climax might irk some, Henry Allen's resolution is a great character moment too often lacking from super hero works. Henry wants what is best for Barry and he makes a sensible decision that plays remarkably well with a character who would probably not want to stick around a place that treated him so badly.

Ultimately, "The Man Who Saved Central City" does exactly what a good season premiere ought to do. It reminds us why we love the show and it makes us believe that what is yet to come has the potential to be as good as what came before!

For other season premieres where a show had to reinvent itself, check out my reviews of:
"The Way Of The Warrior" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Laws Of Nature" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"No Compromises" - Babylon 5

7/10

For other television episode and season reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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So Much That Is Obvious: Why "Tricksters" Disappoints!

The Good: Performances are generally good, Explanation of some key elements
The Bad: Obvious plot elements, Some super-predictable character moments, Erratic special effects
The Basics: Bolstered by hype, "Tricksters" dupes casual viewers of The Flash into believing the episode is actually good.


While there have been more anticipated episodes in the first season of The Flash, I cannot think of an episode that was more hyped than "Tricksters." Unfortunately, as with many things that are hyped up, "Tricksters" is given the daunting task of trying to live up to that hype and it falls dramatically shy of its potential. While the episode marks the return of Mark Hamill to television (in a live-action role, as opposed to doing voicework from behind-the-scenes) it creates a weird dynamic to have him reprising his role from the prior The Flash series. For all his talent, it is hard not to watch "Tricksters" and see that Hamill is just playing James Jesse as The Joker.

Picking up after “Rogue Time” (reviewed here!), with Barry Allen disillusioned about Harrison Wells, "Tricksters" has a decidedly weak a-plot and a b-plot that finally answers some key questions about the Reverse Flash. Unfortunately, to do that, the episode mortgages some of the momentum from "Rogue Time." In "Rogue Time," it made no real-world sense that the news was so quickly reporting the disappearance of Mason Bridge; in "Tricksters," it is similarly baffling how only Iris seems to care that he is missing.

After seeing the night Nora Allen was killed yet again, "Tricksters" returns to the present where Central City is attacked by bombs wrapped as gifts that parachute into a playground. While the Flash is able to prevent any loss of life, the attacker identifies himself as the Trickster and Joe recognizes him as a copycat for a serial killer that attacked Central City decades prior. After visiting James Jesse, the original Trickster, in Iron Heights, Joe and Barry visit his lair. After surviving a booby trap, Barry returns to S.T.A.R. Labs, where he is overtly hostile to Harrison Wells. The second Trickster threatens Central City with a massive bomb that S.T.A.R. Labs cannot seem to locate. Unfortunately, when The Flash finds it, it is a decoy.

The young Trickster's diversion plays as his opportunity to rescue James Jesse from Iron Heights. Jesse and the other Trickster abduct Henry Allen and set about preparing their most elaborate plan yet. They go to the mayor's fund raiser and hold the attendees hostage. Poisoning the potential donors and holding them hostage leads the Flash into another trap. That leads The Flash to exhibit a new skill; coached by Harrison Wells, he phases through solid matter. More suspicious than ever of Wells, The Flash has to stop the Tricksters and protect Iris from herself.

One of the redeeming elements of "Tricksters" is that it stops the teases. While it uses a concept that feels very familiar to anyone who watched the second season of Fringe (reviewed here!), the episode's key character elements surrounding Barry Allen and the Reverse Flash are given more payout than tease. As a result, viewers do not have to wait for it to click with Barry that the description Wells gives him could only come from experience. That is satisfying.

Equally satisfying is how Eddie actually becomes relevant again. Barry and Joe are not stupid and when they bring Eddie into the fold, Rick Cosnett gives his best performance of the season without saying a word. In fact, despite having a performance that is derivative from Mark Hamill, the acting in "Tricksters" is pretty good all around. Even Devon Graye, who is saddled with the worst lines of the episode to deliver, does the best he possibly can with the crap he was expected to say.

In the flashbacks to the night of Nora Allen's murder, there is a huge plot hole that is created (unless there is another bit of time travel, a third speedster, or Henry Allen actually murdered his wife). The problem is that we are treated to a view of the Reverse Flash losing his speed abilities. The Reverse Flash abducts the young Barry Allen, presumably, to draw off The Flash before he kills Nora Allen. In "Tricksters," after dropping the young Barry Allen outside the conflict zone, the Reverse Flash loses his speed. The Flash is seen, after that, running out of the Allen house. Without the Speed Force, the reverse flash could not get back to the Allen house to kill Nora Allen. Nora wasn't dead when young Barry Allen was abducted, future Barry Allen (The Flash) runs out after the Reverse Flash is gone and has lost his powers . . . how did Nora Allen even die?! And how did Barry Allen as The Flash not catch him?! (In "Tricksters," the Reverse Flash ran in a straight line after dropping the young Barry Allen!)

This issue is followed by a special effects issue in the transformation of the Reverse Flash in the flashback scenes. The morph is decidedly animated at parts and that is disappointing. Similarly disappointing is the episode's climax scene. Almost as obvious (but lacking the fun) as the scene wherein James Jesse reveals his relationship to the second Trickster, the final scene adds no new information and teases nothing special to bring viewers back.

Until "Tricksters," it is hard to imagine that viewers would need enticement to return to The Flash, but sadly, the episode is just that bad.

For other works with Mark Hamill, check out my reviews of:
I Know That Voice
Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
The Little Mermaid
The Star Wars Trilogy
Wizards

[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!]

4/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not All Is Revealed By "The Man In The Yellow Suit!"

The Good: Great character moments, Most of the acting, Moments of theme
The Bad: Some of the performances
The Basics: “The Man In The Yellow Suit” propels The Flash forward quite a bit, while leaving enough reasons to return after the show goes on hiatus for a few weeks!


Since The Flash began, no question has preoccupied fans as much as which character would develop into the Reverse Flash, arguably the most powerful and intriguing villain in the Flash pantheon. While those who read the books have thought the answer was obvious with Eddie Thawne sharing the last name of the original Reverse Flash, theories have flown around fandom as to who might be revealed as the Reverse Flash. The most popular theory seems to have been that Dr. Wells, the mentor for Barry Allen would be the Reverse Flash, whatwith his already-established time-travel abilities (Wells comes from the future) and his mentoring the Flash (the second Reverse Flash idolized the Flash and wanted to make Wally West into a better hero, believing that tragedy was the key to doing that). Those who are considering longer arcs have supported the idea that Thawne would turn into the Reverse Flash, given that he is being built up to lose almost everything by The Flash/Barry Allen. And there has always been the potential that the Reverse Flash would be a new, random element. “The Man In The Yellow Suit” begins the process of answering the question of who the Reverse Flash is. I write “begins the process” because more skeptical viewers will note that only one aspect of the identity was conclusively proven: the identity of the man who made the yellow suit.

That is not me, as a reviewer and fan, either living in denial or being particularly dense: the big reveal at the end of the episode was hardly conclusive, except for revealing who created the Reverse Flash’s suit. On a series where the dead do not stay dead (Ronnie Raymond, thought dead since the first episode, but teased in “Arrow Vs. Flash, reviewed here, plays a prominent role in “The Man In The Yellow Suit”), it is very much not out of line to believe that there is more than meets the eye at the climax of this episode (even though there is more than the yellow suit and its apparent occupant standing before it, speaking in a voice that is altered). Regardless, I shall not spoil the reveal in this review!

A day before the Flash finds himself in a race against the Reverse Flash, Barry gives Iris a very special gift; a replica of her dead mother’s ring, which was lost on a school trip years before. There is a break-in at Mercury Technologies, one of S.T.A.R. Labs’s competitors, perpetrated by a speedster in a yellow suit. While Joe West starts to investigate with Barry, Caitlin Snow comes face to face with her lost fiancé, Ronnie Raymond. When Ronnie bursts into flame in front of her, she turns to Cisco to help her find him. Dr. Wells theorizes that the Reverse Flash was looking for one of Mercury Labs’s prototypes that involved the use of tachyons. Appealing to Dr. McGee for use of the prototype to lay a trap for the Reverse Flash, the Central City Police Department finds McGee reticent to help. After Eddie gives Iris a key to his house and clues Iris into the idea that Barry might have a romantic attraction to him, Iris confronts Barry and Barry denies his true feelings for her.

But a race against the Reverse Flash and a trip to Iron Heights change everything for Barry. Leveraging his scientific knowledge against McGee, Barry gets her to release the prototype to S.T.A.R. Labs. When Caitlin and Cisco encounter Ronnie, Dr. Snow is shaken and confesses that his return was not all she hoped it would be.

“The Man In The Yellow Suit” features a lot of character work and it has a decent amount of moments where actors are given a chance to present a lot of emotion. This is an episode filled with tears. Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, and Jesse L. Martin each have moments that require their characters to cry. The only one, sadly, who does not nail it, is Panabaker. While it might seem like I take a number of digs at Danielle Panabaker’s acting, the sad truth is that while she is an expert at getting through the show’s technobabble, the presentation of human emotions is not her forte. Sure, she manages to cry on cue in “The Man In The Yellow Suit,” but the rest of her face remains unaltered; she shows no emotion other than the tears and in her lines. My point is that Panabaker (whose character seems ridiculously attired in high heels, despite working in a lab, through no fault of Panabaker’s) consistently plays Snow with little emotional range, even when the script calls for it. “The Man In The Yellow Suit” certainly calls for it.

Fortunately, Panabaker’s performance does not work to the serious detriment of “The Man In The Yellow Suit.” The character interactions in the episode are almost universally wonderful. Outside a slightly soap opera-esque between Joe and Eddie and the fact that when Snow and Cisco confront Ronnie he insists he is not Ronnie and neither think to ask “Who are you?,” “The Man In The Yellow Suit” pays off some big emotional moments. The big moment, of course, is Barry confessing his feelings to Iris. Instead of belaboring the point for years and years and beginning a long “will they or won’t they” series of events, “The Man In The Yellow Suit” has Barry being emotionally honest with Iris and it is one of the most impressive and deeply human moments of the entire series to date.

Fortunately, the confession is not the only big moment for Barry Allen. The scene where Allen and his father talk about the past and Henry’s incarceration leads to both character growth and a larger theme for the episode. “The Man In The Yellow Suit” is all about confronting and conquering fear. That scene motivates Barry to be honest about his feelings to Iris and it plays out beautifully. It also serves as a nice foil to the Snow/Ronnie plotline.

Perhaps the most subtle bit of character development in “The Man In The Yellow Suit” comes for Cisco. Cisco Ramon is arguably the coolest character in The Flash and he is well-played by Carlos Valdes. In “The Man In The Yellow Suit,” Cisco becomes the first one to explicitly cross the mental finish line and make the leap just short of saying explicitly “time travel was involved in the death of Nora Allen.” That is pretty cool and illustrates that Cisco is smart and imaginative.

While it becomes clear upon rewatching that S.T.A.R. Labs could not just claim that they had the tachyon generator without actually possessing it, there are still a few problematic aspects to “The Man In The Yellow Suit.” Chief among them is Dr. Snow. Snow is a medical doctor and I’ve been lobbying for the idea that she is in on the ruse that Dr. Wells is playing (he appears in a wheelchair, despite being able to walk). That supposition becomes hard to support after “The Man In The Yellow Suit;” she operates on the wounded Wells and there is no scene where she asks him anything about why he did not blow his cover to defend himself against the Reverse Flash. This, however, undermines her character; if she is not in on Wells’s deception, she seems to be a pretty lousy doctor. Here, Snow operates on Wells, clearly something she would not do without the aid of the sophisticated medical equipment S.T.A.R. Labs possesses. That being the case, the choices are now down to: she is a lousy doctor (in that she completely fails to notice that there is no medical reason for him to be in a wheelchair and/or that his leg muscles have not atrophied over the year he has supposedly been paralyzed) or she is in on Dr. Wells’s ruse. Similarly, tachyons – a faster-than-light theoretical particle – are introduced to The Flash, without their potential ability to move backwards in time being brought up.

Despite the potential reveal of the identity of “The Man In The Yellow Suit” hinging mostly on a voice modulation (it’s hard to deny that the mundane form of the man sounds a LOT like the Reverse Flash), the motivation of the “villain” makes a lot of sense, at least to those who read The Flash. The second incarnation of the Reverse Flash, as written by Geoff Johns (who is an executive producer on the show) is motivated by the desire to make the Flash into a better hero by bringing him tragedy and eliminating distractions. That explanation explains why the Reverse Flash lets Eddie live (so his relationship with Iris might progress and keep Barry and Iris apart), why the Reverse Flash tries to kill Joe West, and why the Reverse Flash lets Barry live. Unfortunately, the supposed identity of the Reverse Flash makes no sense for those who see where the series is going. The first episode made it clear that The Flash is moving toward the story Crisis On Infinite Earths (reviewed here!). Unfortunately, the Flash’s part in that storyline was the heroic redemption of Barry Allen after his tragic fall . . . after Barry Allen killed the Reverse Flash and was put on trial in The Trial Of The Flash (reviewed here!). The unfortunate aspect of twisting the story of The Flash in this way is that it becomes psychologically unsatisfying; the Reverse Flash is characterized as a villain who is grooming the Flash to save our universe from the collapse of the multiverse . . . that’s hardly villainous.

It’s also the best argument in favor of the idea that the reveal at the end of “The Man In The Yellow Suit” is just a red herring. Either the Reverse Flash is not a villain whose murder will leave Barry Allen feeling like he has nothing left to lose (he can’t both be murdered and return to the past to mentor Barry Allen) or the creation of the yellow suit is one person’s work, but that work is co-opted by another. In other words, “The Man In The Yellow Suit” does what wonderful television ought to do; it answers significant questions and moves the characters forward without giving everything away. There is certainly enough in “The Man In The Yellow Suit” to insinuate that what follows will be compelling and worth waiting for!

[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!]

8.5/10

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

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