For the first time this season, I enjoyed The Flash more this week than I did Arrow. The Flash pushed some of its major storylines while giving us a fun story at the same time. Arrow definitely stayed strong, but the guest appearance of Matt Ryan's John Constantine ended up feeling a bit shoehorned in.
The Flash: "The Darkness and the Light" (Season 2, Episode 5)
People always talk about "a-ha" episodes from their favourite shows, as in the moment or episode where things clicked for them and they knew they were going to love the show. My "a-ha" moments with The Flash last season were the introduction of Captain Cold in "Going Rogue" and when the Reverse-Flash mystery really began to pick up in "The Man in the Yellow Suit." For the first 4 episodes of this season, I wasn't feeling that excitement. Until this week. This is my "a-ha" episode for this season so far. I enjoyed the episode all the way through and really liked what happened and what it set up.
The best part would have to be Tom Cavanagh's big kinda-sorta return as Harrison Wells. Well, the Earth-2 version anyway, dubbed Harry by Cisco. His introduction to and his interaction with the STAR Labs crew was immensely entertaining, especially Cisco. Cavanagh's performance was on point, creating a clear distinction between the previous Wells/Thawne and this new one. This version of Wells is a lot more arrogant and blunt than the last, but we see he does have a bit of humanity given his decision to take responsibility for the disasters he's caused. I do wish that we could have seen the full encounter that we saw between Barry and Harry (hey-o!) at the end of last week's episode, but we did get hints as to what his reaction would have been. Also, it looks like this version of Wells will be Barry's new mentor, which is an interesting move.
Dr. Light was a cool villain of the week. Her identity as the Earth-2 doppelganger of Linda Park was a great twist and the plot point that she was more of a thief, not a murderer, created some good content.
Barry finally got his date with Patty, but was temporarily blinded by Light just beforehand. I thought this would lead to some corny sitcom scenario, but it was actually pretty hilarious and strengthened the chemistry between the two. Cisco giving a play-by-play of what was happening while also serving as Barry's wing-man was great. I also like how Patty was able to deduce that Barry was blind. Clever girl *gets eaten by velociraptor*.
I'm also really happy Cisco isn't keeping his powers a secret anymore. That storyline was starting to drag a bit. He's also gets his super-name: Vibe!
Other Thoughts:
- I can't really buy that Caitlin was that quick to move on from Ronnie now is having a thing with Jay. It feels out-of character for her.
- We got a proper introduction to Kara Saunders/Hawkgirl, who Cisco tries, fails, then succeeds in getting to go on a date with him.
- This must be the third or fourth week in a row that both Flash and Arrow are being used to set-up Legends of Tomorrow. Exciting, yet intrusive.
- So, apparently, Wells' daughter from Earth-2 will be revealed to be Jessie Quick, another speedster. Somethings telling me that, with Barry and Jay introduced already and Wally West and Jessie Quick on the way, we're gonna be getting some big speedster tag-team fight against Zoom.
Rating: 8.7/10 Harrys
Next week, the team sets a trap for Zoom that will totally work without a hitch.
Arrow: "Haunted" (Season 4, Episode 5)
The big focus of the marketing leading up to this week's Arrow was Matt Ryan's return to the role of John Constantine after his series, um, Constantine, was cancelled earlier this year. I never watched it, nor do I feel the urge to after this episode, but I was excited for those who did watch and enjoy that show. It's not often a cancelled show gets a continuation of some kind on screen (Firefly/Serenity shout-out!). So, how did the episode turn out? It was alright.
I thought Constantine's role was going to be much larger, given how much his appearance was hyped up by the promos. But, it turns out most of his screentime is during the flashbacks, where he forces Oliver to help him retrieve a magical artifact. His time in the present day storyline, where he joins Laurel and Oliver on a quest to reclaim Sara's soul, is only, like, 10 to 15 minutes. That made it obvious to me that the character was inserted at the last minute. His scenes, though, are fantastic, thanks to Matt Ryan's charming and entertaining performance.
The pivotal scene where John, Oliver, and Laurel are transported to the spirit realm was kind of crazy, but in a fun way. If a scene like that happened in the first season, where everything was gritty and realistic, it would've been very jarring. But now these characters live in a world with metahumans and Lazarus Pits and parallel Earths, so I guess anything goes now. The rescue of Sara didn't seem to be as hard as John warned it would be. Fight some ninjas, pull Sara out of pool, and poof, she's back to normal. It didn't turn out to be that exciting, but it was fun.
Sara's rampage seemed too similar to Roy's back in season 2,since both were after Thea. When she did get her soul back, her reunion with Lance and Laurel was completely glossed over. We just saw them hug. The end. There should've been more to it. Perhaps we'll get some of that next week.
The relationship between Laurel and Oliver got some focus, more than it has in a while. Though I hate to admit it, Laurel is totally right about Oliver being hypocritical about saving Sara when he did the same for Thea earlier.
Other Thoughts:
- The Lance/Diggle team-up was great. David Ramsey and Paul Blackthorne had a great dynamic.
- So Andy Diggle wasn't as great of a man as his brother remembered him as. Light will probably be shed on the specifics later.
- I wanna talk about how poor the set design was for this episode:
- The lair where Constantine and Oliver find the staff-gem thingy was really bad. I couldn't buy that this place had been hidden for a presumably long time on an uncharted island. The inside looked more like a haunted castle than a hidden cave.
- The building Diggle and Lance break into was even worse. I can see the set designer reading the script, seeing that the characters need to hack into a computer, and thinking "I'll make the whole room, dark be full of large computers with tiny, colourful lights, and have one single, unguarded desk right in the middle with a regular computer on it." A bit too on the nose there, pal.
- I continue to find the Arrowcave really corny. Why? I have no idea. This week we found out the cave has a garage and a big table for meetings. I struggled to contain my laughter.
- Ray's alive! Didn't see that coming! (sarcasm).
Rating: 8.3/10 energy drinks
Next week, Ray!
Noah
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