"Don't Run" Makes DeVoe Into A Proper Villain For The Flash!

The Good: Decent performances, Generally well-constructed plot, Moments of character development
The Bad: Forced humor, A few plot contrivances
The Basics: The Flash finally starts to illustrate a dark side to DeVoe in "Don't Run!"


Fans of The Flash might have more to hate from the recent, massive, DC Television Universe crossover than fans of the other three shows produced for The CW. After all, in addition to killing the narrative momentum of The Flash, the crossover included both the would-be and actual weddings of Barry Allen and Iris West in episodes of other shows (not The Flash!). So, as The Flash returns for its mid-season finale, "Don't Run," it has the feeling of recovering from a stumble and is likely to leave viewers instantly bewildered if they are picking up from the prior episode of the show.

"Don't Run" follows up more directly on the plot events of "Therefore I Am" (reviewed here!) than it does of the immediate predecessor, "Crisis On Earth-X, Part 3" (reviewed here!). "Don't Run" returns the focus of The Flash and Barry Allen's life to The Thinker, Clifford DeVoe. "Don't Run" is the first overtly sinister on-screen action of Clifford DeVoe as he abducts Barry Allen. The episode also marks the return of Killer Frost's adversary, Amunet Black.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco and Harry are decorating the tree when Dr. Snow and Ralph Dibny arrives. The men note that they have been hanging out with Killer Frost, which upsets Dr. Snow. As Barry and Iris go through their gifts after their abrupt wedding (and their return from their honeymoon), Barry notes that he does not feel the need to use his speed powers when Iris is with him. DeVoe and his wife make plans to help DeVoe overcome his body's deterioration. While Harry is counseling Dr. Snow at Jitters, Amunet Black arrives to abduct Snow and Barry is abducted by a floating chair-equipped DeVoe.

Black brings Snow to a metahuman she has incapacitated and is in need of medical attention, while DeVoe imprisons Allen in his laboratory. Snow realizes that Dominic Lanse has telepathic abilities. Joe West arrives at DeVoe's home where he and Harry are unable to find Barry or a way into DeVoe's laboratory. Harry returns from the trip frustrated and advises Iris to make a tough decision. Dr. Snow and Lanse attempt to escape, but are captured by Black. When Snow attempts to remove the foreign object Black embedded in Snow, Snow uses the surgery as an opportunity to stage another escape attempt. DeVoe makes a bold move to try to get rid of the Flash, solve his deteriorating body problem and move on to the next phase of his plan!

The fourth season of The Flash, rather smartly, has not followed the same formula as its prior seasons. In addition to not having an enemy to defeat who is a Speedster, Barry Allen has known just who his adversary is. As a result, this midseason finale - unlike the three that have preceded it - is not about revealing the Big Bag and that part of the formula is refreshingly stirred up in "Don't Run." The weakness of the way that the villain for the fourth season of The Flash has been presented is that he does not seem particularly villainous. After all, in the prior episodes of the fourth season, DeVoe was revealed to have been a metahuman, accelerated his abilities to become super smart and he engineered the escape of Barry Allen from the Speed Force prison (in the process creating more metahumans). Until "Don't Run," DeVoe has not actually done anything that is demonstrably bad.

That changes in "Don't Run." Before "Don't Run," DeVoe was just a desperate man trying to save his own life. He manipulated circumstances to create other metahumans, but even that was not a particularly evil act. In "Don't Run," DeVoe forcibly abducts and imprisons Barry Allen. By the end of the episode, he and his wife have stepped over the line of desperate people into super-villains and the transition is pretty good. In fact, one of the few character and plot issues with "Don't Run" is how the subplot with Dr. Snow plays off of the a-plot. Marlize DeVoe built the chair for The Thinker; it seems like the surgery in the episode would have been well within her skill set to perform. The burden on the rest of the episodes in the fourth season is to prove that DeVoe is villainous beyond his desire to survive. What makes DeVoe want to control or change other people is still a mystery and it seems like (thus far) DeVoe would just be happy if he could effectively educate people, so his sinister plan actually has to rise to the level of villainy AND make for a sensible transition.

The surgery subplot is not the only character issue in "Don't Run." Suddenly all of the men of S.T.A.R. Labs talk like frat boys. That is a troubling change for fans of The Flash. So, too, is Cisco Ramon's utter stupidity in his final scene (really, he can't turn off the interdimensional message device?!). It seems like since Ralph Dibny showed up and joined the team, no one on the team is written to be as smart as they had been.

Katee Sackhoff returns as Amunet Black in "Don't Run" and Sackhoff seems to delight in playing the villainous metahuman as completely crazy. The most impressive aspect of Sackhoff's performance is that she plays the big-smiling sociopath amazingly well. But at one of the episode's key moments, Sackhoff is able to soften her performance and deliver a surprisingly inspiring monologue. Sackhoff ties together the disparate character moments without making either seem like they are not two halves of the same whole. That type of balancing act is actually pretty tough to pull off, but Sackhoff manages to do it.

Ultimately, "Don't Run" is another episode of The Flash where the titular character sits out most of the episode's important events. While Barry Allen is captured, he waits around. Iris West-Allen has to go through a whole "burdens of command" moral dilemma and Dr. Snow has to fend for herself to save a life; Barry Allen does shockingly little in the piece. As a result, The Flash continues to play second fiddle in his own show. Indeed, even Cisco seems more powerful in "Don't Run" than Barry Allen!

The net result is a midseason finale that puts a lot of burden on the rest of the season to actually make the viewers believe in the villainy of DeVoe and the ineptitude of the S.T.A.R. Labs team.

For other midseason finale episodes on The Flash, please visit my reviews of:
"The Man In The Yellow Suit"
"Running To Stand Still"
"The Present"

5.5/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" Is Fun And Flirty Supergirl!

The Good: Decent performances, Good special effects
The Bad: Predictable plot, Contrived character conflicts
The Basics: Supergirl opens the door to magic with "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" and makes a generally fun episode that sidesteps its biggest potential problems!


The DC Comics Television Universe has done a fairly good job on The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow of having a pretty decent scientific base (the Legends Spear Of Destiny conceit aside - it hasn't been revealed yet, so it's possible it will still be pulled off with a scientific explanation). It was very hard, going into the Supergirl episode "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" to see how that might be maintained on Supergirl - a show that was pretty well packed with aliens and alternate dimensions. Magic had not come up in Supergirl before, but in Superman comics, Mr. Mxyzpltk is from an alternate dimension and he utilizes magic - which is why Superman is vulnerable to him. How Supergirl could bring Mr. Mxyzptlk into the narrative without acknowledging some aspect of magic was instantly a problematic conceit with the episode.

"Luthors" (reviewed here!) introduced Mr. Mxyzptlk in its final moment, which leads into "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk." While Supergirl has been toying for several episodes with a "will they or won't they" romance between Kara and Mon-El, Mr. Mxyzptlk showing up was a pretty obvious wrench into their potential relationship.

In the moment after Kara and Mon-El kiss, Mr. Mxyzptlk arrives to try to woo Kara. He illustrates impressive power to teleport and (apparently) create objects and he teleports Mon-El to the DEO in his underwear. When Kara tells Mr. Mxyzptlk she is not interested in marrying him, he disappears and when visiting the DEO, J'onn identifies the new alien as a 5th Dimensional being. Alex is a bit miffed to discover that Maggie hates Valentine's Day and at the alien bar, Winn is bullied until he is rescued by Lyra, a refugee from Star Haven.

When Alex turns to Kara for advice on how to deal with her Maggie problem, Parasite suddenly attacks. Mxyzptlk rescues Mon-El and Supergirl, but they quickly realize that he is the cause of the return of Parasite. In going through the DEO archives, Winn finds an artifact that tests high in 5th Dimensional energy and Mon-El takes it to try to use against Mxyzptlk. When Alex tries to do a romantic night for Maggie for Valentine's Day, it backfires on her, but leads them to a bigger truth from Alex's new love. When Mon-El calls Mxyzptlk out, they end up in a duel and Mon-El discovers the DEO artifact has the ability to contain the power of the 5th Dimensional being. But Mxyzptlk destroys the artifact, which puts Kara in a bind in order to rescue him. To save Mon-El, Kara agrees to marry Mxyzptlk.

"Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" is odd in that some of its humor immediately is based upon incredibly Victorian values. When Mr. Mxyzptlk teleports Mon-El to the DEO, he is teleported in his underwear and the idea that that level of undress - or any level of undress - would upset him is a very human, very Victorian, notion. Similarly, Mr. Mxyzptlk - in helping Supergirl to stop three gunmen - makes an oblique reference to the film X-Men (reviewed here!). How the DC Television Universe justifies Marvel Comics movies within their narrative is unclear.

The relationships in "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" are engaging, though the two main ones fall into very predictable arcs. Mon-El and Kara fight through much of the episode, fighting over Mxyzptlk and his attempt to woo Kara. This allows both Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood to play some wonderful angry chemistry between them for their characters. Kara is upset over Mon-El's jealousy and lack of trust and when Kara agrees to marry Mxyzptlk, the more subtle levels of upset that Benoist is able to play shows real range for her!

The other big relationship in "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" is between Alex and Maggie. The relationship has a pathetically simple problem/solution. Alex has a bad past history with Valentine's Day and Alex loves it. Alex is not honest with Maggie about how much she truly wants to spend Valentine's Day with her and Maggie, it turns out, lied about how she came out in her early backstory. Both of these problems are incredibly simple and could have been entirely avoided if they were honest with one another from the outset. The only reason they were not seems to be to create exactly this type of dramatic tension down the line, which is disappointing and immature.

In "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk," Winn is written virtually identically to Cisco Ramon on The Flash. In fact, Winn's arc with Lyra is essentially Ramon's ongoing fantasy with Golden Glider or any of the metahumans he has had a crush on. Jeremy Jordan plays Schott well, but he is reciting lines written essentially for another character.

Mxyzptlk himself is an interesting, if horribly misguided, character. "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" manages to completely sidestep the whole "magic" conceit by explaining Mxyzptlk as a 5th Dimensional being whose powers only appear as magical. Unfortunately, Mon-El believes that the only way to banish a 5th Dimensional being is to get it to say its name backwards, but there is no scientific reason that should work and it is not satisfactorily explained within the episode.

Despite that, "Mr. And Mrs. Mxyzptlk" is a fun and generally satisfying Valentine's Day episode of Supergirl!

For other works Barry Nerling has been in, please visit my reviews of:
"Compromised" - Legends Of Tomorrow
"Legends Of Today" - The Flash
Robocop
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Tin Man

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Supergirl - 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 Kryptonian superheroine here!
Thanks!]

6/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Invasion Begins As An Afterthought In "Medusa!"

The Good: Good performances, Moments of effects, Character development
The Bad: Predictable plot, Tacked on plot element/rushed plot elements, A few key technical elements.
The Basics: "Medusa" refocuses Supergirl on Kara, Mon-El, J'onn, and Lena Luthor in advance of the big Invasion crossover event!


When Supergirl moved from CBS to The CW, it was almost immediately announced that there would be a four-part crossover event between the four DC Comics television properties on The CW: Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow. The most inherently problematic show to incorporate into any crossover was going to be Supergirl as the first season of the show had a crossover with The Flash, which clearly established that Supergirl occurs on a different Earth in the DC Multiverse than the other three shows. The solution comes in "Medusa" when the four-part Invasion storyline is introduced as Supergirl is recruited to save "our" Earth (Earth-1 in the parlance of The Flash). Ironically, the introduction of the Invasion storyline comes as two afterthoughts, tacked on scenes in Legends Of Tomorrow's "Outlaw Country" (reviewed here!) and then in the climax of "Medusa" on Supergirl. Most of "Medusa" is a self-contained episode entirely unrelated to Earth-1.

"Medusa" picks up right after "The Darkest Place" (reviewed here!), which makes some sense because the Cyborg Superman had just used Kara Zor-El's blood to breath the Fortress Of Solitude and he asked for information on the "Medusa Project." Between that and the way that Kara just learned that Lena Luthor is the daughter of the director of the Cadmus Project and is instantly suspicious of her affiliation with her mother's anti-alien organization, there is a lot of momentum going into "Medusa" from Supergirl's current storyline.

Opening at Thanksgiving, Alex insists the guys not tell Kara that Olsen is The Guardian, when Mon-El come for the family dinner. Eliza recognizes that Mon-El is interested in Kara and before Alex can come out to her mother, a hole in the space time continum opens and closes right over the dinner table. Returning the next day to the DEO, the team tries to figure out how to stop Lillian Luthor and Cadmus. At the alien bar, Mon-El runs afoul of the Cyborg Superman, who plants a bomb at the bar, gassing its guests and killing the aliens inside. Alex decides to bring Eliza in for back-up on figuring out what the alien toxin was, keeping Kara and J'onn in quarantine.

In quarantine, Kara confronts Mon-El about his feelings for her, moments before Mon-El collapses. Kara makes a trip to the Fortress Of Solitude where she learns what Hank Henshaw was after: a bioweapon called Medusa created by Kara's Kryptonian father, Zor-El. When the DEO figures out that L Corp makes an isotope that will allow Cadmus to disseminate the virus throughout National City. When Hank Henshaw attacks L Corp to get the isotope, Supergirl saves Lena and has to tell Lena Luthor the truth about Lillian. When Cadmus moves to release the isotope which will carry the virus to everyone in National City, J'onn steps up to save humanity.

Lena Luthor continues to be characterized as a straightforward and generally good person who actually loathes her mother's agenda. Kara's attempt to get an interview out of her reveals that Lena is deeply uncomfortable by what Lillian Luthor is doing. There is something deeply refreshing in "Medusa" about how Lena appears to be exactly how she has appeared. Supergirl has used a volume of reversals of late that has bordered on the ridiculous. As such, the show has needed to have some sense of grounding to it. Lena Luthor provides that grounding simply by being exactly what she appears to be in the scenes with Lillian Luthor. Lena and Lillian have opposite agendas and Lena's ability to see that her mother does not love her clearly characterizes her as someone unwilling to fall into the traps that Lillian lays.

Lena is characterized as appropriately complex and she has a surprisingly reasonable response to Kara outing Lillian to her. "Medusa" has a lot of outing and Alex's journey in the episode has her getting some resolution with both her mother and Maggie in ways that are incredibly satisfying scenes. Kara having to come clean to Mon-El about her father's creation of Medusa is well-executed by Melissa Benoist.

"Medusa" opens with a classic Superman-style problem, which has Alex, Olsen and Schott talking about Olsen being the Guardian within earshot of Kara. As well, the writers create a problem that is not clearly solved within the episode. The Medusa virus is a virus that targets all non-Kryptonian aliens. While it makes sense that Mon-El would not be affected as seriously, as Daxomites have a common physiology with Kryptonians, it makes no sense that humans are not affected by the Medusa virus. Humans would be aliens to Kryptonians and their virus should be laying waste to humans and non-Kryptonian aliens alike.

J'onn J'onnz's transformation into a White Martian continues in "Medusa" and the moment he has to confess what is happening to him to Kara is preceded by one of the episode's most impressive and horrifying special effects sequences. His personal arc in "Medusa" is compelling and heroic, exactly what one would expect of the Martian Manhunter.

"Medusa" is undermined by its climax. In an episode that is filled with people being emotionally honest with one another and confronting the difficult truths, the way Kara lies to Mon-El at the end is exceptionally disappointing. Fortunately, the Alex and Maggie scene quickly blunts that. But then there is the crossover aspect that also feels incredibly tacked on to "Medusa."

On the balance, though, "Medusa" is a solid episode of Supergirl that continues to promote decent values of tolerance and acceptance with characters who are engaging to watch.

For other crossover episodes, please visit my reviews of:
"Flash Vs. Arrow" - The Flash
"Legends Of Today" - The Flash
"The Birthright, Part I" - Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Supergirl - 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 Kryptonian superheroine here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

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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New Wells, New Metas, "The New Rogues" Restores A Lot Of Fun To The Flash Formula!

The Good: Decent character work, Good performances, Special effects
The Bad: Very basic plot, Some technical elements
The Basics: "The New Rogues" helps to turn around the downward momentum of the third season of The Flash with the introduction of one of the coolest Flash villains!


Have you ever had something that you're really excited about, but by the time it materializes, you dread it? I'm a fan of The Flash - both the books and the CW television series. As a fan of The Flash graphic novels, one of the things I have been most eager to see is how the character of Mirror Master would be adapted to The Flash. During Geoff Johns's run of The Flash, the Mirror Master - and his mundane, Scudder, identity - had some particularly compelling moments and his backstory was both realistic and appropriately dark. So, when it was announced that Mirror Master was finally coming to The Flash, I got excited. Then I saw the cast list.

Wentworth Miller is included for the cast of "The New Rogues," the episode that introduces Mirror Master and that instantly got my goat. After all, the events of "Flashpoint" (reviewed here!) would not have influenced the first season of Legends Of Tomorrow (reviewed here!) and, spoiler alert, Miller's Leonard Snart died and has remained dead on that show. So, I lowered my expectations and sat down to "The New Rogues," now expecting it to be a shitshow that did not care at all about the continuity of the larger DC Television Universe. Fortunately, Leonard Snart's appearance in "The New Rogues" is solely in the form of a flashback, so not all of the continuity goes out the window in the episode. And no, "The New Rogues" is not the hellishly bad episode I had grown to fear it could be in the hours before I watched it . . . but it is not incredible either.

"The New Rogues" follows on "Magenta" (reviewed here!), which was a very typical "Metahuman Of The Week" episode. "The New Rogues" follows the previous seasons' trend of breaking up such episodes with a visit by The Rogues, who are a mix of mundane criminals with awesome technology and Metahumans. As one might expect, "The New Rogues" starts the process of assembling a new collection of Rogues, even if it very subtly dismisses the Weather Wizard as a Rogue for the near future (in the search for Snart, all of his known accomplices are gone - dead, imprisoned or AWOL, so the implication is that Mark Mardon is no longer in play).

Opening three years ago, on the night of the particle accelerator accident, Sam Scudder and Rosalind Dillon decide they are out of Leonard Snart's gang. When the dark matter explosion occurs, Dillon is turned into a Metahuman and Scudder is blasted into a mirror. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs in the present, Jesse and Barry train in the pipeline and the team learns that Jesse is as quick as The Flash. After Barry cuts short his date with Iris, Sam Scudder appears elsewhere in Central City, searching for Leonard Snart. Not finding him, he throws a man through a mirror universe out of a second story window. To try to lure a Harrison Wells to S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-1, Wells and Cisco create a multidimensional lure.

With Scudder searching for Snart, Joe and D.A. Horton hunt down Snart's only known remaining cohort, Rosalind Dillon. Dillon is rescued by Scudder. Dillon now has the power to inspire crippling vertigo using her eyes and in his first encounter with them, Dillon is able to incapacitate Jesse while Scudder traps Barry Allen in a mirror. As the S.T.A.R. Labs team tries to figure out a way to get The Flash out of the mirror, they search the multiverse for another Harrison Wells to join their team to bring down metahumans in the future. With Barry rescued by an unlikely source (save that viewers will figure out exactly what is coming long before it happens!), The Flash and Jesse Quick go into the field to try to defeat Mirror Master and The Top!

Mirror Master enters The Flash narrative after a string of alternate universe-style episodes over the past season and given that alternate realities are a popular way to bring Mirror Master into the story in the books, putting him in play now is a thematically grim notion. Fortunately, "The New Rogues" does not put The Flash into one of Mirror Master's mirror universes to menace the hero and have him forced to figure out that he is not on his Earth. Instead, "The New Rogues" is a fairly straightforward revenge story with a man who can travel through mirrors or any reflective surface. The episode smartly avoids having Barry Allen's perspective from inside the mirror illustrated, which avoids the whole "mirror universe" or "mirror reality" can of worms.

The Barry Allen and Iris West relationship progresses and it is mirrored by Jesse Wells making moves on Wally West. Wally is hesitant to get into a relationship with Jesse, only because he knows he will lose her. Barry and Iris have a hiccup over the progress of their relationship given that they were raised as siblings and now have a romantic relationship. In some ways, "The New Rogues" feels like it is a Valentine's Day episode months early as Joe West even starts to develop a romantic relationship with D.A. Horton. While the episode is a little relationship heavy, it is actually nice to see on The Flash given how much of the third season so far has been very quickly tearing down relationships in troubling ways.

Cisco returns to form rather abruptly in "The New Rogues." Cisco was sullen and did not name Metahumans in clever ways when Barry Allen returned from the Flashpoint Tangent Universe. Yet, in "The New Rogues," he and Harry compete for naming the Mirror Master and The Top (Dillon). It's weird because the executive producers have no way of knowing how the changes to The Flash universe would go over with the fans, but it is almost like they course-corrected for completely gutting Cisco's character before they even got the negative feedback from the fans. Seeing the potential of Cisco returning to his geeky, delightful self is one of the treats in "The New Rogues."

Tom Cavanaugh is given an awesome chance to perform as different incarnations of Harrison Wells through the interdimensional casting call. The various Wells's are goofy, stuck-up, and weird, which allows Cavanaugh to play the same character with a lot of variations. The fun of it is that Cavanaugh is not simply playing in different costumes, he uses a tiny amount of time to create entirely new characters. This plays off Wells's new, more overtly crass, persona since returning in the prior episode and the episode's resolution promises a wonderful new permutation for Cavanaugh to play.

On the plot front, viewers can only hope that the interdimensional casting call is followed up upon by luring someone other than Wells from an alternate universe (my first thought was, "oh my gosh, what if Grodd gets the signal?!"). The plot is otherwise pretty basic both within the episode and with its serialized elements - most notably the transitions going on with Dr. Snow.

"The New Rogues" returns the humor to The Flash in a good balance with the menace. Dillon is hardly a compelling villain or a well-rounded character, though Ashley Rickards plays her fine. Grey Damon is good as Sam Scudder, though he is presented somewhat monolithically, almost like a parody of a gangster with his bearing.

The primary characters in "The New Rogues" are a decent mix of brilliant and troublingly stupid. Harrison Wells is smart enough to recognize that his and Cisco's solution did not rescue Barry Allen, which is refreshing. Cisco is smart, fun and observant and Iris stands up for herself and her relationship in a delightfully adult way. But how Jesse Quick goes back out into the field against The Top without something like goggles or contact lenses that prevent Dillon's powers from having an effect upon her is baffling and just plain stupid. At the other end, Scudder is inadvertently characterized as one of the smartest Metahumans to show up on The Flash; the man was trapped within a mirror for three years and within a couple of days, he is able to manipulate his powers to such a sophisticated level that he can throw people through reflective surfaces and travel through the windows on a skyscraper exceptionally fast.

The special effects for The Top's vertigo power are very cool. Jesse and The Flash running together and the many times Scudder passes through mirrors are very coolly rendered.

"The New Rogues" might be lacking in larger statements and themes, but it is a solidly entertaining episode of The Flash that is enough to pleasantly defy expectations. It is exactly what the new season has needed!

For other works with Danielle Nicolet, please visit my reviews of:
"Who Is Harrison Wells?" - The Flash
"Rogue Air" - The Flash
Lego Marvel Super-Heroes

[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!]

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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Expose The Villain When The Flash Goes "Versus Zoom!"

The Good: Character development, Performances
The Bad: Some troubling technical glitches, Mediocre plot
The Basics: The Flash Season two begins its home stretch with "Versus Zoom," which reveals many truths about Zoom and sets up the final episodes of the season.


Every now and then, someone asks me why I review both single episodes and entire seasons of some works. The answer is that sometimes, a serialized show holds up better as a whole than its individual episodes and sometimes, the episodes themselves have noteworthy subtlety and greatness and deserve to be explored further. There are some seasons of television where the sum is greater than its parts; individual episodes are not great television, but when viewed, the whole season develops into something. It is hard to see how The Flash will hold up given that its second season has been subject to unfortunate network scheduling; being pulled off the air for several episodes, reappearing for a single episode or two and then going weeks before returning. It makes the episode by episode flow terrible, which is detrimental to the season. Fortunately, the erratic scheduling of The Flash is now over and the final string of episodes for the season has begun. The comeback episode is "Versus Zoom."

"Versus Zoom" picks up after "Flash Back" (reviewed here!), following Barry Allen's resolve to take the fight to Zoom after traveling in time to get advice from Eobard Thawne.

Many years ago on Earth-2, James Zolomon returned from the War Of The Americas and his wife made plans to leave him. James killed his wife in front of their son, Hunter, and Hunter was committed to an asylum. On our Earth, Barry uses the prototype of the tachyon enhancer to run four times faster than he ever has before. Returning to S.T.A.R. Labs, the Flash tries to figure out how to get back to Earth-2 to use his newfound speed to stop Zoom. Drs. Snow and Wells do not want to help Barry. That night, Barry and Joe talk about The Flash going back to Earth-2 when Wally arrives. Returning to S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry postulates that Cisco has the same abilities as Reverb did and that he might be able to open a breach to Earth-2.

On advice from Joe West, Wells decides to help the Flash and he modifies Reverb's goggles so Ramon can use them. Cisco begins to open a breach when he becomes concerned about the potential ramifications and stops him. After Wally moves in and Barry gives Ramon a pep talk, Dr. Snow reveals the name that Jay gave her for his Earth-1 counterpart. Wells reveals that Hunter Zolomon was a serial killer on Earth-2 and Barry comes up with a way to stop him. Cisco makes another attempt to open a transdimensional doorway and it works. Zoom comes through, but when the Flash executes his plan, Zoom is able to take Wally hostage in order to extort Barry's speed from him!

"Versus Zoom" is chock full of character moments and the best are those that focus on Joe West and (separately) Cisco Ramon. Ramon's arc in "Versus Zoom" is one where he must overcome his fears to try to access his powers. Ramon's powers were latent for almost the entire first season and his learning curve has been exceptionally erratic since he learned he is a metahuman. Reverb had years of using his powers and was still doing things like creating waves of energy - spatial distortion waves. Cisco goes from having difficulty vibing to see people in other universes when attached to their objects to using a simple device (goggles?!) that allow him to suddenly manipulate multidimensional energies. Fortunately, Ramon has a moral dilemma associated with it that makes the episode's gimmick more than a plot-based problem.

Joe West begins to truly bond with his son, Wally, in "Versus Zoom." West gets advice from Allen and it nicely overshadows the potentially soap operatic Iris subplot. West's opening his heart to Wally plays nicely off his professional detachment with Wells (who has asked the police officer for help in finding his daughter). Jesse L. Martin wonderfully plays the range of emotions needed to make the two very different scenes feel fluid and congruent.

One of the real issues with "Versus Zoom" is that the episode fails to address Zoom's abilities to leap between universes. Ramon opens a doorway through which Zoom comes, but he is able to return to Earth-2 (the presence of the man in the mask in a cell adjacent to Wally confirms that) without any aid. It makes sense that Cisco might have fractured the breaches back open (at least two), but there is nothing in-episode that makes it explicit.

Beyond that, "Versus Zoom" finally gives the viewer enough backstory on Zoom to be satisfying. The showdown between Barry Allen and Hunter Zolomon is engaging and, fortunately, does not devolve into a simple physical contest. But in many ways, "Versus Zoom" is unremarkable and straightforward on the plot front. The contrasts in backstory between Zolomon and Allen make for a compelling character study, but they are essentially long sequences of exposition and set up an ending that makes the episode very repetitive on the plot front.

"Versus Zoom" is still a decent return to the universe of The Flash and reinvigorates the fans for the next episode.

8/10

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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Iris Becomes Awesome As Everyone Takes A Leap With "The Fury Of Firestorm!"

The Good: Good performances, Excellent character development, Engaging plot, Special effects
The Bad: Formulaic plot/soap operatic character additions
The Basics: In a near-perfect episode, The Flash once again manages to impress with "The Fury Of Firestorm!"


The Flash has, arguably, been one of the most pleasant surprises for me on television in the last year. The series has engaging plots, interesting characters and the blend of experience and youth in the cast seems to factor out in favor of surprisingly good performances. As the second season of The Flash has picked up, it has started to feel like the show was plotted out for the season by episode for the serialized elements. It's like there's a board at an executive producer's office that has serialized elements on it and clear episode ideas for the second season: Seal wormhole, Firestorm, Dr. Wells encounters Barry, etc. As a result, the second and third episodes of the second season have annoyingly similar endings: Dr. Stein collapses and an alternate-Earth's Harrison Wells looks eerily at the camera.

Well, that hypothetical plot board has finally gotten up to the big a-plot reading "Firestorm episode" and the episode is "The Fury Of Firestorm." With Dr. Stein's part so far in the second season being mostly to survive the season premiere when Ronnie Raymond did not and then collapse to foreshadow to viewers that the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. Matrix is unstable, the writers and executive producers delayed the problem that seemed like a pretty immediate issue. "The Fury Of Firestorm" picks up after "Family Of Rogues" (reviewed here!) and only references that episode in that Dr. Stein begins the episode collapsed.

Opening two years ago, Jefferson Jackson is a promising high school athlete who is likely to get picked up by a college ball team when the particle accelerator exploded. Jackson worked to get his teammates away from the blast, but he was wounded in the wave and he became one of two remaining people in Central City whose bodies were altered by the particle accelerator to become receptive to the Firestorm Matrix. Back in the "present," Dr. Stein is temporarily stabilized by Cisco, but the search begins for another person who might be able to merge with Dr. Stein to stabilize the Firestorm matrix. While the team works to determine the compatibility of Jefferson Jackson and Henry Hewitt with Dr. Stein, Barry returns to work where Patty Spivot presents him with a shark's tooth and a potential case: a metahuman who might be a giant land shark!

Dr. Snow brings Henry Hewitt back to S.T.A.R. Labs after Barry and Dr. Stein strike out with Jefferson Jackson, who does not want to be part of the Firestorm project. But when Cisco's stopgap cane for Dr. Stein runs low on power, Hewitt and Stein attempt to merge and the attempt fails. At Mercury Labs, Dr. McGee witnesses Harrison Wells stealing something from the lab and asks Joe West to investigate the matter. Joe asks Patty not to talk with Barry about the theft, which Patty is uncomfortable with. After Jefferson comes to S.T.A.R. Labs to learn about what has been done to him from the dark matter wave, he rejects the idea of merging with Dr. Stein and Dr. Snow snaps at him. As Dr. Stein's condition gets worse, Snow makes a more personal appeal to Jackson and he comes around just as Hewitt shows his true colors and goes nuclear on Central City!

While the title tries to prioritize the Firestorm plotline, the real story of "The Fury Of Firestorm" is how awesome Iris West suddenly becomes! Iris has a subplot involving her meeting her biological mother and she resists her mother's lies. The relationship between Joe and Iris deepens and Iris approaches her mother with an adult perspective and she does not let faux-emotionalism influence her decisions in regard to her mother. Joe further proves his own awesomeness as a father by not pressuring Iris to accept her mother in any way.

Fans of the DC Comics are likely to feel a little baffled coming into "The Fury Of Firestorm." In the first season, Jason Rusch was introduced and he was one of the Firestorms in the comic books upon which the DC Television Universe is based. Jefferson Jackson is in the New Earth DC Comics, but it seems weird to add yet another Firestorm when there is one not being used.

"The Fury Of Firestorm" is packed with surprisingly awesome performances. Danielle Panabaker is delightfully passionate in the episode as Dr. Snow and Carlos Valdes gives another performance that effectively blends intelligence and humor. Grant Gustin and Shantel VanSanten continue to explore the depths of on-screen chemistry that Barry and Patty Spivot can possess. They are thoroughly charming in "The Fury Of Firestorm" and the chemistry between Gustin and VanSanten makes the paternal advice Joe West gives Barry feel entirely credible.

Interestingly, the worst performance in "The Fury Of Firestorm" comes from Demore Barnes . . . and his performance can easily be brushed off as establishing the character. Barnes plays Henry Hewitt and from the first moment he appears on screen, he has anger in his eyes. Barnes might just have been adding a subtle clue to the character's defects before it is made obvious, but he Hewitt never seems like a good guy the way Barnes plays him. Barnes plays a man with anger issues exceptionally well, though!

Amid all the character development and great performances, there is an annoying subtext that comes in from adding soap opera conceits to The Flash. Francine West claims to be dying and that leads Iris to dig up her mother's other secret. The whole dying abandoned parent thing is played out and the best thing "The Fury Of Firestorm" does is have Iris take a firm stand against Francine regardless of her potential mortality. In the episode, the viewer does not know for sure if Francine is lying about her fatal condition or not; the refreshing aspect is that Iris takes a stand that makes the truth irrelevant and that is refreshing to see. It also allows Candice Patton to give an awesome performance.

"The Fury Of Firestorm" might seem formulaic with the way Jax is offered the choice, turns away, comes around, but the episode flows incredibly well. As well, the special effects in the episode are awesome and they lend a credibility to the fantastic universe presented in the episode. The convergence of the various plotlines is remarkable and well-executed making "The Fury Of Firestorm" an episode that is exciting to watch and re-watch!

For the other episodes in which Firestorm appears, check out my reviews of:
"The Man Who Saved Central City"
"Fast Enough"
"Rogue Air"
"Fallout"
"The Nuclear Man"
"The Man In The Yellow Suit"
"Flash Vs. Arrow"
"Things You Can't Outrun"

9/10

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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