Grimm: Evil’s only “Skin Deep”

Kyle’s Thoughts

I haven’t covered Grimm in a few weeks, so I’ll play catch up. The Renard story has taken center stage. I like how the story has progressed. Grimm has done a great job of building it with workable chunks each week. If you take this story and look at it in a vacuum of just this season, it makes perfect sense. I’m wondering if Grimm has picked up a lot of new viewers, and the writers’ room is catering to them. But as someone who has seen the previous four Grimm season, I’m not sold on the story because of how Renard has been portrayed in the past.

Renard rejected his royal heritage. Who cares about being mayor of Portland, when you can be a prince of another country? I believe he rejected running for mayor, or being appointed another country’s consulate, earlier this season or late last season, so his sudden turn as mayoral candidate is a head scratcher. As is his wanting to reunite with his daughter. I had forgotten Renard and Adalind even had a daughter until it was mentioned as a political move to reunite the family. This comes off as an artificial way to throw a wrench in Nick and Adalind’s budding relationship.

Adalind and Nick don’t need another complication. She’s regaining her hexenbeist powers, and that’s enough, but I’m down with building more obstacles. Adalind has been a good mother to Kelly (her and Nick’s son), so reintroducing her child with Renard should force her into action because of her parental instincts. I just wished Grimm hadn’t dropped Adalind’s first child. I think Nick could get behind Adalind reuniting with her daughter, even if she does revert to hexenbeist form, but she’s keeping too many secrets from him and that never ends well. I’d call Adalind’s secret keeping and the strain it’s caused on her and Nick’s relationship one of this season’s strengths.

Eve has to be one of this season’s weaknesses. She’s Juliette but not Juliette. And we found out during the latest episode “Skin Deep” that she possesses some of Juliette’s memories, but she’s still not Juliette. It’s confusing. In seasons past Juliette was an emotional rollercoaster, so her robotic performance this season is a reprieve, but it’s still robotic.

I could warm up to Eve and how she is now—Bitsie Tulloch has done a great job portraying a character devoid of emotion—but Hadrian’s Wall has too many more mysteries that I can’t wrap my head around. It’s a secret branch of the FBI, which means that the United States government knows of Wesen, but we don’t know anything else about the agency. Hadrian’s Wall begs the questions who knows of it and when did they know it, but Grimm hasn’t shown any signs of answers. This secret government group opposes The Black Claw, and that’s all we know.

The Black Claw has also had its ups and downs. Some episodes Grimm gives us a good taste of these terrorists, while other episodes are so wrapped up in the group’s machinations, that we’re not sure which issues they stand for. We were first introduced to The Black Claw with their slaughtering of anyone who doesn’t believe the same way they do. So that colored my opinion of them and the actions they took after those initial episodes. Killing off the wesen council: good, effective, and in keeping with their previous actions. Manipulating Portland’s mayoral race: not so good and out of character for the group. Clearly Renard doesn’t own their ideals. Why would they waste their time converting him? Seriously, Renard’s story line would be great if you had amnesia.

With the ongoing arcs out of the way, I’ll give some thoughts on the wesens of the week these past few episodes. I’ll be brief.

“Silence of the Slams” gave us a nice wrinkle to the usual weekly wesen. I like it when Grimm switches its typical wesen antagonist for something a little foreign, and that was what worked with this down on his luck Luchador. What I didn’t like was that the wesen who made the magic Luchador mask was another one and done wesen.

“Lycanthropia” took the usual blutbad wesen and turned it on its ear. I like it when Grimm takes one of its staple wesen, like the blutbad, and changes it up, so this worked for the episode. Unfortunately, the mystery’s twist was too obvious. The prime suspect was a red herring and it was his loved one who was the killer.

“Skin Deep” presented a familiar story of someone sucking youth from young people and selling it as a fountain of youth cream. The wesen was another one and done, so that was working against “Skin Deep,” and the story was not only familiar, it was tired. But Grimm did a great job of presenting the story. Who cares if it ended the way you’d expect? It was entertaining and the final scene of the story was haunting.

Overall, Grimm has had a strong season. While I prefer episodes prior to the mid-season break, there’s enough in these past few episodes to hold my interest.

Thanks for reading.

Archer Review: “The Figgis Agency”

Kyle’s Thoughts

The seventh season of Archer marks the third consecutive year the show has changed its format. I was a little worried before Archer Vice and it proved to be one of the better season. The CIA season last year was a little closer to the original Archer, but I still panicked with Archer’s shift to a private investigator, Magnum PI style. Like Archer Vice, this was a wildly different angle for the show, but I shouldn’t question Archer’s direction. They hit it out of the park most of the time, and Archer PI—at least for the first episode—is no different.

The beautiful thing is that Archer keeps their characters intact, while presenting a new world view each season. I won’t spoil it here, but the opening is Breaking Bad (another great show) in nature, so you know Archer’s going to have fun. And that’s what Archer is, fun.

Each new job the gang takes illustrates a new way Sterling can fail and that’s where the change in the show’s direction is a strength. We’ve seen Sterling goof as a secret agent, a drug lord, and as a CIA operative, but a job as a private investigator presents new pratfalls and puns. This is the first time Sterling has to break into a building to procure evidence, and he leaves the work to Lana and Ray, while he plays with infrared goggles. He’s so like Predator.

It’s too soon to tell what will be this season’s ongoing joke or jokes. “Inappropes” (short for inappropriate), “phrasing,” and “Danger Zone” have been staples in the past, getting peppered into most seasons after they were introduced, but Archer adds at least one new wrinkle to keep things fresh.

I’m sure the first episode’s name “The Figgis Agency” will factor into the show going forward. Sterling’s ticked off that his investigation agency isn’t named after him, and that it’s named after Cyril Figgis. The reason for the agency’s name is that Figgis has multiple degrees, assets, and the certificates to open an agency, while Sterling’s a screw up. Cyril loves to remind Sterling of the agency’s name, so you know there’ll be plenty of explosions.

I don’t want to accidently spoil anything, so I won’t go into too much detail. Just know that Sterling remains as knuckleheaded and suave as ever. And that the first episode’s a blast.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow Review: “Beacon of Hope”

Jim’s Thoughts

Remember last week when I called Cupid the worst Arrow villain since Count Vertigo? That’s probably still true, but this week brought back the second worst villain since Count Vertigo. I guess maybe The Bug-eyed Bandit was a Flash villain at first, but you get the idea. I didn’t miss her.

Bee puns and awkward environmental conservation speeches were only one of the problems, to be fair. It was at least equally detrimental to the episode that we got more Olicity rammed down our throats. Aside from the fact that I’ve found Felicity increasingly insufferable of late, it’s also hard to play the “we miss you” angle when she’s been gone for all of a day or two.

The flashbacks were more of the same. I haven’t cared about that story, and it doesn’t seem to be tying into the present in any meaningful way. At this point, it’s wasted screen time that could (and should) have been devoted to the Damien Darhk story, which wasn’t given enough time to make much sense at all.

I’ve liked Curtis’ character well enough this season, but I can’t say he was effective in this episode. He was too much of a gender-flipped Felicity, and I have to gig the show for the scene where Lance chastises Curtis for screaming. The connotation there is that his masculinity is being questioned, and with a homosexual character, that comes off as surprisingly regressive and insensitive.

Here’s hoping Arrow finds its footing soon. This was not the bounce-back week I was hoping for.

Kyle’s Take

Yikes! Looks like Arrow’s Chipotle cleanse will take another week to get through its system. I’m with Jim. I didn’t like the Bug-eyed Bandit when she was on The Flash. The positive—if it is one—is that we saw more of her face during “Beacon of Hope.” The negative is that she had more dialogue. Don’t feed us an environmental treatise within dialogue. Why? Bee…cause it’s tacky like tortured bee puns. Looks like someone needs to bee…have. Ugh.

Even when Olicity isn’t a thing, it’s still a thing. There’s a demographic that gobbles up anything and everything Olicity, but I’m not a member of that group. Arrow has made it a point to alienate anyone who isn’t on Team Olicity, so Jim and I have been out in the cold most of this season. Oh, and coupling Felicity’s mom with Captain Lance so she’ll be in more episodes is another way to bring Olicity into the forefront. Mother Smoak’s an insufferable character in her own right bee…cause (couldn’t help myself) she voices Olicity fans’ concerns. Seriously, Olicity fans are so catered to that they have their own character who speaks for them in the show. Ugh.

Chastise might be too strong a word to describe what Lance said to Curtis. That doesn’t mean that what Lance said wasn’t insensitive or regressive. Jim’s 100% correct on that front. In fact, half the dialogue that involved Curtis flew in the vicinity of obscenity. “You’re a dude-ish Felicity?” A dude-ish Felicity? What? Welcome to the 90s, Arrow. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Ugh.

The flashbacks bore me. Get rid of them; they haven’t worked since Deathstroke. Murmur came out of nowhere and now, he’s buddy-buddy with Darhk. Sure, that makes sense. Arrow explained that Darhk had kidnapped Murmur’s mother. That’s problematic bee…cause (I’ll stop, maybe) that’s similar to what Darhk did to Ollie, the show hadn’t set up that Darhk would’ve had the foresight to kidnap Murmur’s mother in advance of going to the prison where Murmur was king, and it hadn’t been established that Murmur even had a mother who was still alive. Darhk was the one thing that was working. Just, ugh.

Arrow took longer to get to its rocky stretch of road—the show has a history of ineffective episodes right after its mid-season break—but it’s made up for lost time with some stinkers these past two weeks. We’re careening closer to the season finale, so Arrow should get things back on track. It will get back on track, won’t it? I’m hoping it does.

Thanks for reading.

The Flash Review: “Flash Back”

Jim’s Thoughts

Without a particularly bad episode of Arrow to offset it (I watched the shows out of order last week), this week’s Flash didn’t sit very well for me. It wasn’t all bad. There were some things this episode did that could help tighten the show moving forward, and if that’s how it plays out, maybe this week was just a pill we all had to swallow.

I hate sounding like a broken record, so I’ll just get this critique out of the way. I hated the Eddie/Iris subplot. I thought Eddie’s message from the past was trite, and having Iris in grieving seemed a regression for her character, but I’ve been critical of CW’s handling of female characters for some time. There’s nothing new here.

The issue of time travel always gives the plot the potential to lose cohesion, but it’s been done with a lighter touch in past episodes. This week the plot felt convoluted, and the show expected us to remember quite a bit about an old episode.

There were a few things that came off as huge cheats. First, the team’s solution to the Time Wraith invasion came too easily. Yes, they had a year to solve it, but presumably, Eobard Thawne had been dodging them for far longer, and knew quite a bit more about them. Second, Barry tinkered with the past quite a bit, despite being warned not to. That’s not necessarily a problem, but when he came back to the present, all that seemed different was a seemingly inconsequential cameo appearance from a former baddie (I’ll avoid that small spoiler by not naming names).It’s true that they may show more things affected by Barry’s jump to the past in future episodes, but for now, it seems too clean. Lastly, Eobard’s answer to the speed equation also came too easily. It felt a bit like Barry going back in time to learn a cheat code to a video game, and that’s an unsatisfying way for him to level up to Zoom.

The big positive I can take away from this episode is the existence of Time Wraiths. Kyle and I have gigged the show pretty hard for using time travel and alternate universe’s as something of a “mulligan” for the show, not unlike the Lazarus Pit in Arrow. Time Wraiths offer a good reason for Flash to avoid time travel, and force the show to get things right the first time. All of that hinges on the team’s magic button to defeat Time Wraiths having limits on its effectiveness, but it’s something to hope for.

Kyle’s Take

I don’t have much hope for Time Wraiths placing a limit on Flash time traveling. Eobard said that he avoids them while he’s traveling, so I don’t see why Barry wouldn’t do the same. Even if one hops on his back, Team Flash (with their new member who happens to be a former baddie) has the means with which to deal with them. And the show still has alternate universes as a cheat code.

I agree with Jim and his two huge cheats. Team Flash figuring out Time Wraiths made little sense because Thawne had more advanced technology and had been dealing with them for years and couldn’t crack that nut. I also don’t buy the lack of timeline changes. Barry whispered sweet futures into many ears and the future didn’t alter much. I’m hoping there are more subtle alterations to this new Earth, but I doubt it. Flash has a history of incongruities.

I’m still fuzzy about how Barry can’t run as fast as Zoom. Sure, the Velocity-9 angle has been used but “Flash Back” showed Barry not only time traveling but pinpointing an exact moment in which to time travel. Also remember that it’s Barry who opened the 52 rifts between the two Earths, not Zoom. As far as we know, Zoom doesn’t have this ability because he’s still stuck on Earth-2, so that leads me to believe that Barry is a more capable speedster than Zoom. So how is Barry slower than Zoom? I don’t buy the explanation we were fed through expositional dialogue. Also, a data dump in dialogue isn’t effective storytelling.

I remembered a lot from the episode Barry ran back in time to this week, but that’s because I liked that particular episode so it stuck in my head; it has something to do with the former baddie who shall not be named. That said, I’m not sure that it’s the best episode to use for Barry’s flash back. The gang didn’t explain why it was a good week. I may have missed something, but a less hectic day and week would’ve made more sense. The only reason I can think of for Barry to return to this week was that we could be reintroduced to the former baddie.

Iris mourning Eddie didn’t bother me as much as Jim. Sure, it was out of place, and Eddie’s message to Iris was beyond trite; it was cornier than harvest time in Nebraska. But Iris didn’t have the time to mourn for Eddie. I’m sure Jim’s trying to induce amnesia when it comes to the West family drama—I am too, if you’re keeping score—but that mountain of family drama could’ve easily delayed her grieving process. Add in her drive to become a good reporter—I don’t buy Iris’s progression as a reporter—and Iris going out on her first date with a man since Eddie, and you could get tears for her lost love.

I also can’t ding the CW too much on taking its time with Iris’s grief because when the CW usually screws up its female characters, it does so in the opposite direction. My husband of ten years is dead, rigor mortis hasn’t set in yet, but I’d love to hop into bed with you. Wait for the body to get cold. Even though I’m giving the CW a pass on Iris/Eddie, I still don’t think it was well handled. And there has to be one CW female who can stand on their own.

Flash went back in time this week and so will I with my final gripe. The CW needs to drop the real-time lapses between seasons. iZombie worked because it was only off the air for two or three months, so season two only fast forwarded the narrative a month or two, but these six month gaps are killing character development. Viewers lose half a year of these characters’ lives and we have to play catch-up, and the CW doesn’t do a good job of filling in the blanks.

Caitlin could’ve grieved for Ronnie during those six months, but we didn’t see it. Arrow would’ve made more sense if it didn’t have a six month gap between last season and this season; Palmer Technologies would’ve been closed after six months of inactivity. And the CW is doing the time gap thing because Marvel does it with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but Marvel does a better job of doing it and they incorporate their cinematic universe. CW superhero shows are separate from the DC cinematic universe. So why do it? This rant may seem out of place but it’s not really. The West family drama started after the break, so Iris could’ve mourned for Eddie during the off-season, but we didn’t see any of that. I know this undercuts my previous point about Iris not having the time to grieve for Eddie, but this illustrates how inconsistent the CW is with its leap forwards.

I’m sure things will look up once Flash returns to Zoom, and we did get a small assurance that Flash won’t time travel again in the near future. But in order to get to Zoom, Flash will have to cross into an alternate world. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start. Looks like Barry has 99 lives.

Thanks for reading.

iZombie Review: “Pour Some Sugar, Zombie”

Kyle’s Thoughts

iZombie’s balance of humor and engaging storytelling continues to place it ahead of other DC properties at the moment. I was worried the show would spiral out of control with its quantity of story arcs, but “Pour Some Sugar, Zombie” tied arcs together and formed a more cohesive iZombie whole.

The major reveal was Ravi finding out Major’s the Chaos Killer. It’s been a long time coming (that someone would discover Major’s secret) and it was handled well for the most part. I don’t want to spoil anything but the moment when Ravi confronts Major was satisfying. I do have to ding iZombie a little for having Ravi cobbling a lot of things together in short order. He went from completely trusting Major to questioning his involvement with the Chaos Killer and why he owned a safe in one episode. It’s not that these moments didn’t make sense, or even that they were out of place, but they occurred in a forty minute span, when iZombie could’ve used a little more time for development.

The other big reveal was what happened to Blaine. The zombie cure he took at the end of last episode had a side effect of amnesia. This throws a wrench in the zombie brains trade, the Mr. Boss versus Blaine story arc, and Peyton’s case against Mr. Boss. It also has ramifications for future zombies who choose to go the route of a cure. But perhaps more important than the cure affecting Blaine’s memory is divorcing Blaine’s history from the character and finding out that at his core, he’s a nice guy. That’s why fans like him as a villain.

We caught enough of Gilda to know for sure that she’s a zombie. That’s not too much of a spoiler because it looked as if there was no way she’d make it out of the basement without getting scratched by the Romero-level zombie (a prototypical, mindless zombie). The odd thing is that she’s not a mindless zombie herself. I’m sure we’ll get an explanation.

The Drake story was okay. iZombie revealed that he was working with the cops, so it wasn’t a complete shock to see that he was an undercover cop. I’m not that interested in this storyline. It did nothing more than parallel Major’s arc, back when neither Ravi nor Liv knew that he was the Chaos Killer, and now that Major’s secret is out in the open, there’s no need for Drake. And we may have seen the last of him.

Oddly enough, Liv falls in the cracks. She’s an interesting character and makes for a good protagonists, but iZombie’s an ensemble piece. She shows up as a sounding board for Ravi, Blaine, Major, and the rest. And while I like that her personality receives a twist with each new brains she consumes, it’s become difficult to see where the brains Liv eats end and her true colors begin.

The weekly mystery had the typical red herring or two thrown in to keep viewers off guard, but the best part of the mystery is that it tied into Mr. Boss. It’s funny that the first murder to have any tie to Mr. Boss would happen now, when he’s supposed to be Seattle’s mob boss. You’d think the biggest mob boss in the city would be tied to more murders. Again, this is a minor issue but it’s still believability issue.

“Pour Some Sugar, Zombie” hit on most cylinders. I’m enjoying iZombie’s sophomore season but I’m concerned that the meals Liv makes with the brains she procures from the morgue are looking too edible. I’m not saying I’ll order a BLT (brain, lettuce, and tomato) any time soon but Liv’s become so much of a foodie that despite the brains, her meals look delicious.

Thanks for reading.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Watchdogs”

Kyle’s Thoughts

My first impression, while watching “Watchdogs,” was one of skepticism. The Inhumans have been Marvel’s ersatz X-Men, so a storyline that features inhumans as the subject of discrimination should come as no surprise. “Watchdogs” came out of left field with such a story. I vaguely remembered some of the Watchdog players, but even with some familiar faces, a story of this nature takes the wind out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. versus Hydra main arc. That was the case until the episode reached its conclusion.

“Watchdogs” was a good episode that laid a lot of character ground work—any episode that features Mack is a pretty good one—but once it turned the corner and tied the events of the episode into the larger Hydra arc, it turned into a great episode. The Watchdogs aren’t just a villain of the week and a means to explore different characters. The events have lasting repercussions. And the show climbed a mountain of characterization.

I never liked Lincoln but I’m warming up to him after “Watchdogs.” He played well off of Coulson—I still view his relationship with Daisy (Quake or Skye) as forced—and the character needs more interaction with other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Fitz and Daisy make a good—and unlikely—team but that was another strength of this episode. “Watchdogs” shook up the status quo. Simmons and May have had little airtime together but they worked well off each other. It’s natural to see May reach out to a vulnerable Simmons because she struggles with having to track down her ex-husband. It’s also natural to see Simmons reciprocate. But the character who got the grand treatment was Mack.

I was worried that “Watchdogs” introducing Mini-Mack would lead to another forced side-story. Mack’s little brother, Mini-Mack, sympathized with the Watchdogs. As a result Mini-Mack rejected his brother’s job, when he found out what his brother really does for a living, and for a moment, it looked as if Mini-Mack would join the Watchdogs, but blood is thicker than hatred. Mini-Mack sees his brother in a different light and the episode ends their story a satisfying place.

I hated to see Bobbi and Hunter go, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to trim the fat and go in a different direction. It’s only been one episode since the couple’s departure but so far, so good. I like how Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes chances. It’s not afraid of change and the changes its made this season carry weight.

Thanks for reading.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Parting Shot”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“Parting Shot” was little more than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. conducting some housecleaning, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Agents’ cast had gotten too big and the show’s transitioning to inhuman centric storylines, so an episode like “Parting Shot” was no surprise. I also liked Bobbi Morse (Mockingjay) and Hunter’s send off.

With this being Hunter and Bobbi’s last rodeo, “Parting Shot” gave them a lot of screen time. I hope the show continues to have these two as guest stars because Hunter has had some of Agents better moments, and Bobbi’s not too shabby either. The event that caused the two’s dismissal was contrived and Agent May’s scenes with Hunter were a little out of place, but the nods to loyalty and duty and the show’s end were great and heartfelt.

I wished Agents had left the episode with the team honoring Hunter and Bobbi, but they had to push Hydra’s agenda. I get it. But the final minute and half were forced.

“Parting Shot” better defined Agent Coulson’s role within the ALCU and how the rest of the world might view him. Thankfully he took a backseat because this week’s Agents was all about Hunter and Bobbi. They’ve always had one of the more intriguing relationships on the show—they’re not your typical couple—and “Parting Shot” was a great character study for these two. And you’ve gotta love the Spy’s Goodbye.

Thanks for reading.

iZombie Review: “He Blinded Me…with Science”

Kyle’s Thoughts

There’s a lot to unpack with iZombie this season. While the show runs the risk of being too much to follow, iZombie handles it well and its characters are surprisingly deep. The show also has a heap of story threads to follow but they converge and interweave in new and interesting ways each week. “He Blinded Me…with Science” was no different.

Blaine (David Anders) continues to make the audience root for him one moment and gasp the next. “He Blinded Me…with Science” was—mostly—the former. Blaine climbed out of his makeshift grave and showed restraint as he took a bus to Liv’s for a bite of brain. He knows his life’s in danger and as he’s more a villain by circumstance, one feels for him as he questions whether or not to take medicine that could cure or kill him. That is until he suggests to Major, who’s dealing with his own mess as the Chaos Killer, that he take out Liv’s current beau, Drake. I told you it’s convoluted, but you don’t realize it while you’re watching, because the characters are engaging.

Despite how much I like Blaine, Liv, Major, and the rest of the principle characters, the one character who made the biggest leap this week was Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber). Du Clark started on an even keel but he’s gradually slipped to an over-the-top, the more he’s taken his own drug-laced energy drink. The bottom fell out during “He Blinded Me…with Science,” when Du Clark left his only child Gilda to die at the hands of one of the more traditional zombies. The scene where he ignored his daughter’s screams was sobering and chilling.

With all the fireworks surrounding the weekly mystery, one would forget that there was a weekly mystery. It went well enough, but it was an afterthought. It wrapped up too quickly and neat to become engaging, but iZombie has a lot of ongoing plots going in the air. Some of them were resolved (specifically Drake), so there may be room for the weekly mystery next week.

iZombie continues to impress this season. It’s not just like the comic but that’s a good thing.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow Review: Broken Hearts

Jim’s Thoughts

Have you ever asked someone how their day was, looked for a quick “good” or “bad,” and then found yourself listening to a long story that keeps getting hung up on minor details that don’t really matter? That’s this week’s Arrow. I tend to subscribe to the adage of not saying anything at all if I can’t say anything nice, but since I have a review to write, that’s not really an option. I’ll at least keep it short.

I’ve made no secret of despising the Olicity angle, and this episode was the Olicity show. Add to that the worst Arrow villain since Count Vertigo, and you’ve got a solid hour of cringeworthy show. The blame for Cupid is partly attributable to the actress. She’s over-the-top, but in the interest of fairness, there’s no good way to deliver bad lines, and she spoke mostly in trite catchphrases and puns, as per the character.

On the other end of the show, Damien Darhk’s trial should have been more interesting, but it wasn’t. Buying into the defense’s position that there was no proof that the defendant was, in fact, Damien Darhk was awfully hard when the judge referred to him as “Mr. Darhk.” When it comes to the defense offering an affidavit from a drug dealer to impugn the credibility of a witness, you can say I’m nitpicking, and you might be right, but when you have the judge refer to someone as “Mr. Darhk” when the entire basis of the hearing hinges on contesting that identity, it’s just sloppy storytelling.

I want to soften this review. I want to point to some positives, but I’m not being dramatic when I tell you I can’t find one. This may be the worst episode of Arrow I can remember.

Kyle’s Take

I had hope at the end of “Broken Hearts” that the Olicity story would find resolution and there was one to an extent. Felicity left Team Arrow, at least for a while, and that’s for the best. That tired story and I needed a break.

Another part of story may have lead us down the path of Damien Darhk owning another identity, but the judge kept calling him “Mr. Darhk,” and he still ended up in prison. We know these charges won’t stick, or Darhk will escape, because he has to be free by the season finale, so all the trial accomplished was suspend Captain Lance, and I’m not invested enough in that character to care. The only thing more dramatic than Cupid’s over-the-top performances has been how much Lance changes his world views each season.

Cupid is stupid. I think I’ve seen that meme on the internet, and it’s right. If you want an Arrow fan to cringe, say the name Cupid. She was as insufferable as ever. The only thing she added was that she forced the Olicity story to go somewhere. I hate the Olicity angle as much as Jim but perhaps this week puts it on ice for a bit. I’ll suffer one painful episode to have an Olicity-ectomy.

“Broken Hearts” is difficult to watch for non-Olicity and Olicity fans alike, but Arrow has written itself into this corner, so there was no way out but a horrific episode. Here’s hoping that Arrow had its Chipotle cleanse and has a better show next week.

Thanks for reading.

The Flash Review: “Trajectory”

Jim’s Thoughts

Flash came back reasonably strong from hiatus this week. In fairness, I watched it after Arrow, so that may be skewing my opinion, but I enjoyed it.

I can’t say I cared at all about Iris’ storyline, but that’s been the norm this season. I’m anxious for her to be used as more than romance fodder, and her awkward moments with her new editor make it look like that’s not happening in the foreseeable future.

The Trajectory character was a fair nod to a lesser-known character, but I couldn’t be made to care much about her over the course of one episode, and I don’t remember Caitlyn going to her for help with Velocity-9. It’s possible I just simply don’t remember it, but I’m also not sure it wasn’t something they’re saying happened off screen. If that’s the case, it feels like a bit of a cheat to me.

This could have just been another villain of the week thing, but the conclusion to the confrontation on the bridge, the blue lightning helped bring things back around to Zoom, and that worked to tighten the episode and stop it from being an hour-long tangent.

We’ve been dealing with Barry needing to get faster since the beginning of the show. It’s almost become a mantra, and I feel like there needs to be some more movement there. The scene with Barry holding the Velocity-9 felt a lot like an after school special.

Harrison’s subplot with Jessie wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly interesting, either. I get where they’re going with this. They’re setting us up for another speedster, and that will doubtlessly come about due to her being injecting by Trajectory, but The CW is running the risk of making the show too bloated. Just as Trajectory had an addiction to Velocity-9, The CW may have a problem with adding characters.

Kyle’s Take

“Trajectory” wasn’t a bad episode. This week’s titular speedster brings the development of Velocity-9 story arc to a close and provides Team Flash with what they need to discover Zoom’s identity, laying the ground work for the season’s finale. Trajectory wasn’t a huge Flash character in the comics—she only appeared in eight issues—and while I buy that she and Caitlin were friends in the past, I would’ve liked to have seen a little context. This week wasn’t the first appearance of Mercury Labs, so why haven’t we seen Eliza before this week? This is a small thing, but it’s still a missed opportunity. A little planning goes a long way.

I liked how Cisco is honing his Vibe powers, but Team Flash discovering Zoom’s identity was too easy. The audience had only known who Zoom was one episode before Cisco. And I didn’t like how Barry reacted after discovering the news. Jay means next to nothing to Barry. Barry mistrusted Jay until Earth-2 Harrison Wells showed up and watching Barry run into the forest and scream gave me the vibe of Henry Cavill’s Superman screaming after killing General Zod during Man of Steel. You didn’t set up any of that, Flash. It might have been good acting on Gustin’s part, but it was ineffective writing, and the scene was forced.

I liked the parts that had something to do with Zoom and I guess there isn’t much the show can do to further the main plot while the gang is shut off from Earth-2. I also don’t see how future episodes can hold back Zoom without coming off as filler.

Jim and I talk about suspension of disbelief in terms of Flash and Arrow and that might sound silly because they’re both super hero fantasies, and suspension of disbelief may be the wrong term to use. The problem we’re seeing with Flash is that fantasies aren’t devoid of logic; they have their own internal logic. A man who can run so fast that he can rip 52 holes into the fabric of existence should be able to run and jump 50-150 feet across a chasm and shouldn’t have an uncatchable speedster.

Thanks for reading.