"He saved so many lives that day. And no one will ever know what he did,"
The A plot here is similar to last week's- a villainous metahuman created by the particle accelerator explosion (this one can become gas and looks just like Count Orlok from Nosferatu) is killing people in revenge and Barry stops him. This is, presumably, the format of the show. But there's a lot of character stuff going on, and arc stuff being seeded, beyond that.
But the episode starts with Barry and Iris at a zombie movie, and the first thing we see is an extra who looks delighted to be on television. But, by means of a "Ward Boulevard" (nice touch) we are immediately brought into the story of the week. We also see Barry and Joe begin their search to price Harry's innocence. And we see further evidence that Dr Wells is not a nice man and has both an agenda for Barry and a mysterious past- or perhaps future. So far these early episodes are masterfully constructed, so pregnant with storyline possibilities.
But we also get a flashback to the explosion nine months us ago and the tragic, heroic death of Caitlin's fiancé. This packs a heavy emotional punch and acts as serious development for Caitlin as a character. This episode is superb, but I'm a little concerned about this extra-judicial prison at STAR labs. Still, I suppose that as the state here is shown to practise judicial killing by the barbaric means of the electric chair it can claim no moral legitimacy; certainly the judge who sentenced Count Orlok to this death deserves no sympathy as, by her own twisted logic, she deserved to die.
This will be the last blog post on this excellent series for a bit as I'll be turning to Arrow until I catch up. But this is yet another superb forty-three minutes of television.
Showing posts with label Tom Cavanagh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Cavanagh. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
The Flash- Season 1, Episode 2: The Fastest Man Alive
"No more heroics!"
Our first "normal" episode, then, and our first supervillain- is Damian Black, or "Multiplex" according to Cisco, a villain from the comics as I assume? I'm afraid I never read the comic; I was more of a Marvel kid back then.
Anyway, we have another first person intro, so I assume this is going to be a thing. And we have Barry gradually easing himself into the idea that his new abilities mean he can actually go and be a superhero; this is the ideal moment for an "early crisis of confidence" episode.
It's also pretty cool for Iris to become obsessed with the "Red Blip"; I like this. It's one of many little touches that give this an old-school superhero feel, like an updated and better written episode of George Reeves' Superman.
It's a nice ending, with Joe finally able to encourage Barry to be a hero, and Barry accepting that Joe is indeed another father. The characterisation and character relationships are already strong in what seems set to be a masterful show.
Our first "normal" episode, then, and our first supervillain- is Damian Black, or "Multiplex" according to Cisco, a villain from the comics as I assume? I'm afraid I never read the comic; I was more of a Marvel kid back then.
Anyway, we have another first person intro, so I assume this is going to be a thing. And we have Barry gradually easing himself into the idea that his new abilities mean he can actually go and be a superhero; this is the ideal moment for an "early crisis of confidence" episode.
It's also pretty cool for Iris to become obsessed with the "Red Blip"; I like this. It's one of many little touches that give this an old-school superhero feel, like an updated and better written episode of George Reeves' Superman.
It's a nice ending, with Joe finally able to encourage Barry to be a hero, and Barry accepting that Joe is indeed another father. The characterisation and character relationships are already strong in what seems set to be a masterful show.
The Flash- Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot
"You're not a hero. You're just a man who got struck by lightning."
Yes, I'm jumping straight into the Arrowverse, as though I didn't already have enough ongoing TV shows, but bear with me. I'm not necessarily going to start watching them in strict order but I'll get it sorted before any real crossovers, if you'll please ignore Green Arrow's cameo here!!!
This is a very assured pilot episode, especially as superhero origin stories are notoriously difficult to make narrative sky interesting. This manages to be both gripping TV and to set up a premise with lots of hooks for future narrative use. Barry Allen is a police pathologist who is extremely good at his job, as shown by the Sherlock-style visual narrative tricks. He also has a traumatic event in his childhood in which his mother Nora died in bizarre circumstances and his dad Henry was wrongly imprisoned for the crime; that's powerful stuff right there.
We're introduced to his step-sister Iris West, with whom he has a bit of romantic tension, and his solid detective step-dad, Joe. All this is established before the inevitable Event; a particle accelerator which gives him super-speed, and he's helped in this by Dr Harrison Wells of STAR Labs, ably assisted by Caitlin and Cisco. That's a solid set-up right there.
Issues? Well. Grant Gustin is a good actor but I'm not sure if his boy band looks are quite appropriate for a part like this, but time will tell.
Incidentally, it's a nice touch that Barry's dad is portrayed by the same actor who played the Flash back in the early '90s.
Yes, I'm jumping straight into the Arrowverse, as though I didn't already have enough ongoing TV shows, but bear with me. I'm not necessarily going to start watching them in strict order but I'll get it sorted before any real crossovers, if you'll please ignore Green Arrow's cameo here!!!
This is a very assured pilot episode, especially as superhero origin stories are notoriously difficult to make narrative sky interesting. This manages to be both gripping TV and to set up a premise with lots of hooks for future narrative use. Barry Allen is a police pathologist who is extremely good at his job, as shown by the Sherlock-style visual narrative tricks. He also has a traumatic event in his childhood in which his mother Nora died in bizarre circumstances and his dad Henry was wrongly imprisoned for the crime; that's powerful stuff right there.
We're introduced to his step-sister Iris West, with whom he has a bit of romantic tension, and his solid detective step-dad, Joe. All this is established before the inevitable Event; a particle accelerator which gives him super-speed, and he's helped in this by Dr Harrison Wells of STAR Labs, ably assisted by Caitlin and Cisco. That's a solid set-up right there.
Issues? Well. Grant Gustin is a good actor but I'm not sure if his boy band looks are quite appropriate for a part like this, but time will tell.
Incidentally, it's a nice touch that Barry's dad is portrayed by the same actor who played the Flash back in the early '90s.
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