DC Live Action

[Spark Of Spirit]

The new Arrow was great, but I'm always a fan of seeing what characters do when the main character is missing. You can tell the loss of Ollie has them confused and frayed, yet they still went out there and did their job.

But still, those were some great action sequences. Everybody really went all out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While I still like this show, the writers really need to change the formula up. Several episodes in a row have just been as follows:

-A new metahuman is revealed, and they are a bad guy/gal just because
-Barry learns about them at a crime scene, then encounters them as The Flash shortly after that
-Round 1: He gets his ass kicked because he underestimates them and doesn't understand their ability
-The Star Labs team research a way to defeat their new foe and tell Barry
-Round 2: As The Flash, Barry uses that research to strategically win the fight
-The enemy is captured and locked up
-Either we get a scene showing us how clearly evil Dr. Wells is, or a new character or villain is teased

Rinse and repeat.

Like I said, it's still entertaining, but unlike Arrow we really haven't seen the show even begin to evolve yet. Personally I hope that it happens with the development of Firestorm subplot. We really need another regular ally to Barry to help shake up the team dynamic.

[gunswordfist]

half of an episode i saw was just like that, lol

[Spark Of Spirit]

I do agree. I'm enjoying it, but we're getting to the point that we need a shake up to happen now. I am happy they're no longer killing the villains off indiscriminately, but it would be nice to have more than two round fights that end with the villain's capture.

On the other hand, they need to do something with Iris already. When that guy, Mason, at the paper, told her off, I was nodding along with everything he said-- and I got the distinct impression I wasn't supposed to. As far as the entire cast goes, she is by far the weakest link and adds little to the show except to be Barry's love interest who has no interest in him.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, with the formula, I'm at least confident that they can break out of it like they did with Arrow after the first season. But Iris has me concerned as to whether the writers even know what to do with her. Some fans have compared her to Laurel from early on in Arrow, but here's the difference: Laurel was unlikable, but NOT uninteresting. She was intentionally written to have several issues to work out, but seeing her get through her self-destructive hero and legitimately become helpful to Team Arrow was in and of itself rewarding to watch and felt purposeful. Iris, in comparison, is just a nuisance, in that she's either inconsequentially boring or inconsequentially annoying. Either way, she's just there....because she's Barry's most iconic love interest from the comics. There really isn't any other justification to her character in the show, so far, which isn't a good sign for her.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Laurel at least did things in the main plot-line and had relevance to the story. Nothing about Iris so far has added up to anything except to whine about attention she isn't getting and, frankly, doesn't deserve (really, Barry and Eddie HAND HER everything), to get in the way of either the cops or The Flash, and to make Barry generally uncomfortable.

In contrast, Laurel worked as a lawyer to help people, worked undercover and put bad guys away, and has, since mid-season 2, tried to better herself. She hasn't always been likeable, but she contributes to the story. Iris hasn't done any of that yet and has been handed any relevance to the story she has by Barry or Eddie.

At this point, she's clearly in Mary Sue territory.

[Spark Of Spirit]

So, does anyone else think DC TV has been doing villains better than the Marvel movies or is it just me?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, in Arrow we've had 3 major villains so far: Dark Arrow (though he's arguably more of an anti-hero right now), Deathstroke (who is by far the best interpretation that I have seen of this character in any adaptation), and Ra's Al Ghul (likewise). I suppose you could also count the flash-back villains, but they haven't impressed me too much. The rest of the villains from Arrow and The Flash are more run-of-the-mill one-shot or minor recurring villains. They are fun, if somewhat forgettable. Now, as for Marvel, Loki is the only truly stand-out villain so far, so Arrow alone has the MCU beat 3-to-1, IMO, but to be fair, it just has much more time to develop its major villains as a TV series. If we were to compare it to a Marvel series like TSSM or AEMH (which are animated, but still TV shows) then I'd say that Marvel could match Arrow.

[Spark Of Spirit]

If we're including animated shows, then the game goes in a pretty interesting direction.

But I think even episodic villains like Clock King, Brick, or Pied Piper are really good, too.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I find Brick in and of himself to be OK, but it'll be interesting to see Merlyn/Dark Arrow confront him later on since, if you've been paying attention to clues and character background info from the past, he is in fact the guy who killed Merlyn's wife (Tommy's mother).

[Spark Of Spirit]

I find Brick in and of himself to be OK, but it'll be interesting to see Merlyn/Dark Arrow confront him later on since, if you've been paying attention to clues and character background info from the past, he is in fact the guy who killed Merlyn's wife (Tommy's mother).

It was addressed in tonight's episode, actually. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm always a day late on episodes since I don't have cable and have to wait for them to upload it online, but at least I figured it out early.

[Peanutbutter]

I've caught up to The Flash, and I'm really liking where this show seems to be going. The guys from Prison Break as two of Flash's Rouges have knocked every scene they have out of the park. Thankfully, they're due to come back very soon this season!



In regards to Iris, she's not of my favorite characters, but I think she's okay. I can see why some would find her boring, but I don't think she's annoying. I blame the writers dragging their feet with her, not herself. They already had something with her blogs about The Flash that could have been utilized for the story, like using it as a way to introduce other characters from the comics that would fit this show. But they dropped that, so I'm hoping with her being a reporter now that that will lead her getting to something other than being rescued.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Captain Cold and Heatwave were really fun villains, and I can't wait for them to come back. Though since they no longer have their weapons, I wonder what they're going to do to get them back.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That scene with Red Arrow and Lance last night was hilarious, by the way. Of course people like Thea and Lance could tell he was the Arrow's partner, he only went on about wanting to help him over and over since they first met him. 

Arrow just keeps getting better with every episode.