Man, talk about a heartbreaker. Don't know what to make of this episode. There was stuff I liked a lot, but there was also some stuff that reminded me of why I hate Arrow. Which I guess goes to prove that all Berlanti shows are blighted by the same kind of writing weaknesses, they're just more evident on Arrow.
- Henry's death was (badly) telegraphed in last week's episode, as well as this one. The clues were countless: Henry staying around, Henry and Tina meeting, Zoom telling Barry that he's never actually witnessed a parent die, Barry's positive attitude, the talk Barry and Henry had at Star Labs and so forth. What bothers me most is that they did this for the same stupid reasons Laurel got killed off on Arrow: Because they couldn't think of any other way to up the ante heading into the season finale and to make Zoom look like a bastard. Greg Berlanti actually previewed this scene by saying "it's that time of the year". So they basically admit they resort to killing off characters because they can't think of anything else. On top of that, it's tremendously shortsighted to (basically) end John Wesley Shipp's run on the show so soon. Besides being a good actor, he was the perfect bridge between this show and the 1990 Flash. Yeah, he didn't appear much, but he gave a new sense of gravitas to the Flash when he did show up. I understand JWS may still show up in flashbacks or as the man in the iron mask, but it won't be the same, IMO.
- Won't lie, Henry and Tina meeting warmed my heart. It's something I wanted to see ever since this show began. I actually kind of shipped JWS's Barry and Tina in the original series. Sadly, it didn't happen then and it didn't happen here. On the other hand, it was nice to see Tina find out about Barry. Hopefully it will mean more appearances for Amanda Pays down the line. You know, until they kill off Tina as well.
- Barry's positive attitude was a bit over the top and unrealistic. Yeah dude, you are invincible. What about your loved ones though? But I didn't mind that bit so much. What bothered me was that you could just tell the other shoe would drop and he would lose it all again. Kreisberg once said about Arrow (before Sara died in early season 3): "We like to have our characters in a happy place before we take it all away". And that's what they did here. And now Barry will be in the same place Oliver has been in numerous times: Grieving, broken and wondering if he should take a life or not. Meh.
- On a technical side, there were 1-2 times during that last scene where I wondered why Barry didn't try to stop Zoom. Clearly he couldn't reason with him, so why did he just stand there? Even if Zoom is faster, at least try.
- There's something very fishy going on with Caitlin. We never saw what her answer was to Zoom and we don't know how she got away. I don't want to believe she became his mole, but something with her feels off right now.
- Katie Cassidy was a joy to watch. Loved her as Black Siren and I'm glad she didn't die. Her Canary Cry looked badass and her costume was excellent. On a shallow note, Katie should keep the brunette look. Of course, her appearance was accompanied with plenty of poking that the show wasn't subtle about. Dagenspear alluded to it: The dead birds, having Katie say "Bye bye birdie"... I guess certain Executive Producers were really annoyed by the outrage Laurel's death caused and they reacted like children. Kudos.
- So do we finally know when Laurel died on the Flash's timeline? The fact that Caitlin already knows means that it happened before she got abducted by Zoom in episode 18. Also, her line about "loving" Laurel felt so fake. We didn't see the team mourn for her at any point. Not even Cisco who was supposedly a big Black Canary fan.
- I wonder what Zoom's grander plan is. I guess we will find out next week. One thing that bugged me though. How the hell can he create breaches? A couple of episodes ago they clearly established that he couldn't.
- Laurel-fan-poking-dead-birds aside, Cisco's visions were intriguing. I wonder what causes the rift on Earth 2.
- For once, I completely liked Wally in an episode.
- Harry's banter with Cisco and Joe was top notch. That's what makes this show so fun to watch at times. Tom makes any scene he's in much better.
The Runaway Dinosaur was a tremendous episode that should have set up the fina stretch of the season perfectly. Sadly, this was a step back. Βut since Black Siren was awesome and I'm still invested in a Barry/Zoom showdown, I'm giving it a respectable and generous 6.5/10.
- Henry's death was (badly) telegraphed in last week's episode, as well as this one. The clues were countless: Henry staying around, Henry and Tina meeting, Zoom telling Barry that he's never actually witnessed a parent die, Barry's positive attitude, the talk Barry and Henry had at Star Labs and so forth. What bothers me most is that they did this for the same stupid reasons Laurel got killed off on Arrow: Because they couldn't think of any other way to up the ante heading into the season finale and to make Zoom look like a bastard. Greg Berlanti actually previewed this scene by saying "it's that time of the year". So they basically admit they resort to killing off characters because they can't think of anything else. On top of that, it's tremendously shortsighted to (basically) end John Wesley Shipp's run on the show so soon. Besides being a good actor, he was the perfect bridge between this show and the 1990 Flash. Yeah, he didn't appear much, but he gave a new sense of gravitas to the Flash when he did show up. I understand JWS may still show up in flashbacks or as the man in the iron mask, but it won't be the same, IMO.
- Won't lie, Henry and Tina meeting warmed my heart. It's something I wanted to see ever since this show began. I actually kind of shipped JWS's Barry and Tina in the original series. Sadly, it didn't happen then and it didn't happen here. On the other hand, it was nice to see Tina find out about Barry. Hopefully it will mean more appearances for Amanda Pays down the line. You know, until they kill off Tina as well.
- Barry's positive attitude was a bit over the top and unrealistic. Yeah dude, you are invincible. What about your loved ones though? But I didn't mind that bit so much. What bothered me was that you could just tell the other shoe would drop and he would lose it all again. Kreisberg once said about Arrow (before Sara died in early season 3): "We like to have our characters in a happy place before we take it all away". And that's what they did here. And now Barry will be in the same place Oliver has been in numerous times: Grieving, broken and wondering if he should take a life or not. Meh.
- On a technical side, there were 1-2 times during that last scene where I wondered why Barry didn't try to stop Zoom. Clearly he couldn't reason with him, so why did he just stand there? Even if Zoom is faster, at least try.
- There's something very fishy going on with Caitlin. We never saw what her answer was to Zoom and we don't know how she got away. I don't want to believe she became his mole, but something with her feels off right now.
- Katie Cassidy was a joy to watch. Loved her as Black Siren and I'm glad she didn't die. Her Canary Cry looked badass and her costume was excellent. On a shallow note, Katie should keep the brunette look. Of course, her appearance was accompanied with plenty of poking that the show wasn't subtle about. Dagenspear alluded to it: The dead birds, having Katie say "Bye bye birdie"... I guess certain Executive Producers were really annoyed by the outrage Laurel's death caused and they reacted like children. Kudos.
- So do we finally know when Laurel died on the Flash's timeline? The fact that Caitlin already knows means that it happened before she got abducted by Zoom in episode 18. Also, her line about "loving" Laurel felt so fake. We didn't see the team mourn for her at any point. Not even Cisco who was supposedly a big Black Canary fan.
- I wonder what Zoom's grander plan is. I guess we will find out next week. One thing that bugged me though. How the hell can he create breaches? A couple of episodes ago they clearly established that he couldn't.
- Laurel-fan-poking-dead-birds aside, Cisco's visions were intriguing. I wonder what causes the rift on Earth 2.
- For once, I completely liked Wally in an episode.
- Harry's banter with Cisco and Joe was top notch. That's what makes this show so fun to watch at times. Tom makes any scene he's in much better.
The Runaway Dinosaur was a tremendous episode that should have set up the fina stretch of the season perfectly. Sadly, this was a step back. Βut since Black Siren was awesome and I'm still invested in a Barry/Zoom showdown, I'm giving it a respectable and generous 6.5/10.
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