Coming off the best episode of the series so far, it was going to be difficult to come close to the excitement that was last weeks crossover. The Man in the Yellow Suit was a step down from last week but still proved to be a decent mid-season finale.
It opened with The Flash racing against Reverse Flash in what seemed to be a calm meeting. Well then they took us a day before, a new way of telling an episode, and then came numerous Christmas themed scenes. I really like when shows acknowledge real life time. Arrow has done it both of the previous seasons, and Flash was no different. What I didn't like was the overwhelming amount of songs they decided to implement this week. The occasional CW type song at the end of an episode is acceptable but having 4-5 songs took me out of the episode a little bit. I also was unsure as to why this week decided to balance so many different story lines. It is Christmas season, but I don't know that Barry pouring his heart out for Iris was necessary this week. I would have rather had more scenes involving Barry's pursuit of the Reverse Flash or even just some scenes with Barry's two father figures. Detective West and Barry's real dad often share some of the best scenes with Barry.
This week had a lot of emotion. Grant Gustin's acting chops were definitely on display this week as he shared numerous emotional scenes with the cast. Even though I am not a fan of the Iris character at all, I thought the scene between her and Barry was really well acted, albeit it was pretty unnecessary. When we finally did get to see a good look and listen to Reverse Flash he ended up going after Wells. Obviously, with Cisco saying there were likely two separate speedsters that night Nora Allen was killed, it opens up the possibilities quite a bit. Wells is looking like he is one of them if the end of the episode is telling enough. But Thawne isn't completely out of the question, or at least a Thawne family member or even a distant Wells relative. The possibilities are really endless. It was just nice to finally see Reverse Flash.
Firestorm made his first true appearance this week. The special effects looked phenomenal as it's likely the budget was amped just a bit for the mid-season finale. But Ronnie's inclusion also gave us Danielle Panabaker's best performance. Her scene with Cisco was a great look at how good she can be when given the right material. It's also worth mentioning Cisco's 'Opposite Flash' moment. His character is really growing on me in the last few weeks and his comedic timing is really starting to show. So even with this episode possibly not giving any jaw dropping moments like Arrow usually does, but I am still looking forward to a little over a month from now for it's return.
+Good look at Reverse Flash
+Another speedster? So three?
+Father scenes
+Panabaker
+Gustin
+Special effects
-CW put in too many songs
-Iris drama
-Too much going on
8.5/10
It opened with The Flash racing against Reverse Flash in what seemed to be a calm meeting. Well then they took us a day before, a new way of telling an episode, and then came numerous Christmas themed scenes. I really like when shows acknowledge real life time. Arrow has done it both of the previous seasons, and Flash was no different. What I didn't like was the overwhelming amount of songs they decided to implement this week. The occasional CW type song at the end of an episode is acceptable but having 4-5 songs took me out of the episode a little bit. I also was unsure as to why this week decided to balance so many different story lines. It is Christmas season, but I don't know that Barry pouring his heart out for Iris was necessary this week. I would have rather had more scenes involving Barry's pursuit of the Reverse Flash or even just some scenes with Barry's two father figures. Detective West and Barry's real dad often share some of the best scenes with Barry.
This week had a lot of emotion. Grant Gustin's acting chops were definitely on display this week as he shared numerous emotional scenes with the cast. Even though I am not a fan of the Iris character at all, I thought the scene between her and Barry was really well acted, albeit it was pretty unnecessary. When we finally did get to see a good look and listen to Reverse Flash he ended up going after Wells. Obviously, with Cisco saying there were likely two separate speedsters that night Nora Allen was killed, it opens up the possibilities quite a bit. Wells is looking like he is one of them if the end of the episode is telling enough. But Thawne isn't completely out of the question, or at least a Thawne family member or even a distant Wells relative. The possibilities are really endless. It was just nice to finally see Reverse Flash.
Firestorm made his first true appearance this week. The special effects looked phenomenal as it's likely the budget was amped just a bit for the mid-season finale. But Ronnie's inclusion also gave us Danielle Panabaker's best performance. Her scene with Cisco was a great look at how good she can be when given the right material. It's also worth mentioning Cisco's 'Opposite Flash' moment. His character is really growing on me in the last few weeks and his comedic timing is really starting to show. So even with this episode possibly not giving any jaw dropping moments like Arrow usually does, but I am still looking forward to a little over a month from now for it's return.
+Good look at Reverse Flash
+Another speedster? So three?
+Father scenes
+Panabaker
+Gustin
+Special effects
-CW put in too many songs
-Iris drama
-Too much going on
8.5/10