This used to be the best show on the CW. What happened?
I saw a review yesterday on the previous episode from vzzrafcjr that read "This season has been frustrating with what most episodes are bad episodes with good moments." I completely agree with this statement. There's bits and pieces of the episodes that are good and have genuine quality to them, but the episodes as a whole aren't good.
Let's get this out of the way. Chester is a fun presence on the team, and I'm enjoying seeing him come into his own. I didn't review "Good-Bye Vibrations", but I thought it was the second best episode of the season because it focused on who it needed to. Cisco Ramon. The writers allowed Cisco to pass the torch, and I don't think it was a bad call. I like Chester, and I don't mind him replacing Cisco. I think he just needs more smaller scenes throughout the rest of the season of him getting to know the team and growing to be part of the family dynamic of STAR Labs. He's got big shoes to fill, but I think he can fill them if the writers decide to let him. I already really like how he keeps changing up the sets using a lot of old technology and stuff he found in dumpsters. That's cool, and fun, and an awesome new way to have the "tech support" role. Please writers, give us more scenes where Chester is doing this. Know what, you should even let him make a small addition or two to the Flash suit. I'm sure it would allow fans to get used to him being a part of the team a lot quicker, and allow him to come into his own more as a character.
Next up, this is a show about The Flash. So forgive me for jumping on the bandwagon and saying that I'd like to see The Flash on my show about The Flash. When Barry Allen is acting very uncharacteristic in the last episode and having (IMDB's gonna censor this) with Iris in the STARCHIVES in the last episode, and then is in *three* minutes of this episode, you start to wonder if there's something going on between Grant Gustin and the CW at this point. This show used to be about Barry Allen, and now... Well, now it's not. I'm all for episodes about side characters in these types of shows, alright? One of my favorite Legends of Tomorrow episodes is "Here We Go Again", in which the episode is all about Zari stepping into her own and joining the team. However, there's only so much that I can take of Barry Allen not being the main focus of his own show. I'll even admit, when Ralph got his own episodes last season, "License to Elongate" and "A Girl Named Sue", they were okay. Not as great as, say, "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1", but they were episodes focused on side characters that worked. Even this season "The People vs Killer Frost" wasn't bad. I think it's gotten to the point though where there's only so much you can take before you have to beg the writers to make Barry the main character of his own show again. Oh, and also to give the man some dignity and let him act like himself again. I'd even be okay with him complaining for an entire season about not being fast enough. Just let Barry be the main character of his own show again PLEASE!
Allegra isn't necessarily a bad character. She's just a pointless one. Seriously, she only existed for Nash Wells plotline, but now Nash and all the other Wells along with him are gone for good, so I really have to ask why she's still here. She's not a terribly compelling character, and I'm not of the belief that that's a bad thing as long as a character can become compelling as time goes on. If it were me writing the show, I would've written this character off when they decided to kill Nash Wells. Then again, I would've also decided not to kill Nash Wells. Kayla Compton is good in this role, but this character just needs to become compelling and fast. This was supposed to be an episode focused on her, but she came off as stubborn, bratty, and irritable as opposed to being devoted, loyal, and ready to step up like the writers were trying to portray her. These things don't just happen overnight, guys. You need to build up to this in small ways. Let's take "Here I Go Again" for instance. The episode focused on Zari getting to know the team more, and ultimately learning to accept each of them for who they are, as well as growing as a person and becoming a full member of the team. The reason "Here I Go Again" worked where "Rayo de Luz" failed is that Zari had been carefully built up to be the opposite of a team player for *seven* straight episodes (eight if you count Crisis on Earth-X), and this episode was the payoff to all of that buildup. On the other end, "Rayo de Luz" has no buildup and just feels out of place. This episode even fails to fit into a major season arc in some way, and ultimately seems like it lacks depth because of it. There's no substance here, making the episode completely skippable. Easily the most skippable episode of the Arrowverse in my opinion. Either give her a meaningful, well-constructed plotline, or kick her off the show.
Oh yeah, and remind me again how old Allegra was? Because last season she was in juvie to my understanding, so having her and Chester get together just seems creepy. Establish this character's age, PLEASE.
Also, it seems wrong to have Sue on the show without Ralph. Now, we all know what happened to Hartley Sawyer, but what they could've, and honestly, should've done is keep Sue off the show out of respect for his character. Just because the actor's been cancelled doesn't mean he didn't play one of the best characters on the show's history (once they started taking him seriously). I was okay with Sue showing up last episode since it seemed like it was just a one-time thing, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Sue works best as a character given to us in small doses, no matter how good Natalie Dreyfuss is in this role. A one episode cameo is fine, but she belongs with Ralph in CW limbo forever. They're best as a pair, and without Ralph being on the team as a good foil for her, she just seems out of place.
There was some good parts of this episode. They're not enough to save it by any stretch of the imagination, but they are good moments in their own right.
For starters, the scene between Allegra and Sue, at heart, wasn't bad. If you strip this scene down to its bare essentials, it's about the two sides of people trying to save or redeem family members that have done terrible things. Granted, Ultraviolet's killed people, and Sue's parents worked for one of the most terrible companies in the Arrowverse by choice, so that lessens the blow of the scene a bit, but take that away and you have one character trying to save her cousin and another having given up on her parents. This isn't actually terrible, and has a good enough payoff by the end of the episode.
Also, Sue's fight scene was super fun, dumb, and crazy! You can really tell between these last 2 episodes that Natalie Dreyfuss is having a lot of fun in with these scenes, and that alone is pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't super into the character last season, and I'm still not, but Natalie Dreyfuss kills it every week.
Also, the stuff with Joe slowly uncovering Kristen Kramer's backstory is actually intriguing. Once Joe quit the CCPD, I was worried about the writers not having anything for him to do. That's not the case here. Kramer isn't the most interesting character or anything, but she seems to be sticking around, so we mightaswell try to find a plotline for her. I also think it's totally in character for Joe to want to save her. I do like that Kramer isn't just a generically evil or mean military person. Kramer made a mistake. She trusted someone that was close to her heart, and that caused her to falter and get her squad killed. It's honestly a sad story, and it doesn't excuse her past actions, but it does make you feel a little bad for her. These scenes were good, and I actually really liked them.
Also, the cgi on Allegra after her fight with Ultraviolet was genuinely stunning. Credit to the special effects department for that, because wow that was cool.
This episode encompasses the season perfectly. So, if you wanna torture yourself for an hour, I'd say to go for it. However, if you don't enjoy torturing yourself, go watch Superman and Lois instead. You'll probably enjoy it a lot more.
No, I'm serious. This week's Superman and Lois was really good! Highly recommend watching it!
5 / 10.
I saw a review yesterday on the previous episode from vzzrafcjr that read "This season has been frustrating with what most episodes are bad episodes with good moments." I completely agree with this statement. There's bits and pieces of the episodes that are good and have genuine quality to them, but the episodes as a whole aren't good.
Let's get this out of the way. Chester is a fun presence on the team, and I'm enjoying seeing him come into his own. I didn't review "Good-Bye Vibrations", but I thought it was the second best episode of the season because it focused on who it needed to. Cisco Ramon. The writers allowed Cisco to pass the torch, and I don't think it was a bad call. I like Chester, and I don't mind him replacing Cisco. I think he just needs more smaller scenes throughout the rest of the season of him getting to know the team and growing to be part of the family dynamic of STAR Labs. He's got big shoes to fill, but I think he can fill them if the writers decide to let him. I already really like how he keeps changing up the sets using a lot of old technology and stuff he found in dumpsters. That's cool, and fun, and an awesome new way to have the "tech support" role. Please writers, give us more scenes where Chester is doing this. Know what, you should even let him make a small addition or two to the Flash suit. I'm sure it would allow fans to get used to him being a part of the team a lot quicker, and allow him to come into his own more as a character.
Next up, this is a show about The Flash. So forgive me for jumping on the bandwagon and saying that I'd like to see The Flash on my show about The Flash. When Barry Allen is acting very uncharacteristic in the last episode and having (IMDB's gonna censor this) with Iris in the STARCHIVES in the last episode, and then is in *three* minutes of this episode, you start to wonder if there's something going on between Grant Gustin and the CW at this point. This show used to be about Barry Allen, and now... Well, now it's not. I'm all for episodes about side characters in these types of shows, alright? One of my favorite Legends of Tomorrow episodes is "Here We Go Again", in which the episode is all about Zari stepping into her own and joining the team. However, there's only so much that I can take of Barry Allen not being the main focus of his own show. I'll even admit, when Ralph got his own episodes last season, "License to Elongate" and "A Girl Named Sue", they were okay. Not as great as, say, "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1", but they were episodes focused on side characters that worked. Even this season "The People vs Killer Frost" wasn't bad. I think it's gotten to the point though where there's only so much you can take before you have to beg the writers to make Barry the main character of his own show again. Oh, and also to give the man some dignity and let him act like himself again. I'd even be okay with him complaining for an entire season about not being fast enough. Just let Barry be the main character of his own show again PLEASE!
Allegra isn't necessarily a bad character. She's just a pointless one. Seriously, she only existed for Nash Wells plotline, but now Nash and all the other Wells along with him are gone for good, so I really have to ask why she's still here. She's not a terribly compelling character, and I'm not of the belief that that's a bad thing as long as a character can become compelling as time goes on. If it were me writing the show, I would've written this character off when they decided to kill Nash Wells. Then again, I would've also decided not to kill Nash Wells. Kayla Compton is good in this role, but this character just needs to become compelling and fast. This was supposed to be an episode focused on her, but she came off as stubborn, bratty, and irritable as opposed to being devoted, loyal, and ready to step up like the writers were trying to portray her. These things don't just happen overnight, guys. You need to build up to this in small ways. Let's take "Here I Go Again" for instance. The episode focused on Zari getting to know the team more, and ultimately learning to accept each of them for who they are, as well as growing as a person and becoming a full member of the team. The reason "Here I Go Again" worked where "Rayo de Luz" failed is that Zari had been carefully built up to be the opposite of a team player for *seven* straight episodes (eight if you count Crisis on Earth-X), and this episode was the payoff to all of that buildup. On the other end, "Rayo de Luz" has no buildup and just feels out of place. This episode even fails to fit into a major season arc in some way, and ultimately seems like it lacks depth because of it. There's no substance here, making the episode completely skippable. Easily the most skippable episode of the Arrowverse in my opinion. Either give her a meaningful, well-constructed plotline, or kick her off the show.
Oh yeah, and remind me again how old Allegra was? Because last season she was in juvie to my understanding, so having her and Chester get together just seems creepy. Establish this character's age, PLEASE.
Also, it seems wrong to have Sue on the show without Ralph. Now, we all know what happened to Hartley Sawyer, but what they could've, and honestly, should've done is keep Sue off the show out of respect for his character. Just because the actor's been cancelled doesn't mean he didn't play one of the best characters on the show's history (once they started taking him seriously). I was okay with Sue showing up last episode since it seemed like it was just a one-time thing, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Sue works best as a character given to us in small doses, no matter how good Natalie Dreyfuss is in this role. A one episode cameo is fine, but she belongs with Ralph in CW limbo forever. They're best as a pair, and without Ralph being on the team as a good foil for her, she just seems out of place.
There was some good parts of this episode. They're not enough to save it by any stretch of the imagination, but they are good moments in their own right.
For starters, the scene between Allegra and Sue, at heart, wasn't bad. If you strip this scene down to its bare essentials, it's about the two sides of people trying to save or redeem family members that have done terrible things. Granted, Ultraviolet's killed people, and Sue's parents worked for one of the most terrible companies in the Arrowverse by choice, so that lessens the blow of the scene a bit, but take that away and you have one character trying to save her cousin and another having given up on her parents. This isn't actually terrible, and has a good enough payoff by the end of the episode.
Also, Sue's fight scene was super fun, dumb, and crazy! You can really tell between these last 2 episodes that Natalie Dreyfuss is having a lot of fun in with these scenes, and that alone is pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't super into the character last season, and I'm still not, but Natalie Dreyfuss kills it every week.
Also, the stuff with Joe slowly uncovering Kristen Kramer's backstory is actually intriguing. Once Joe quit the CCPD, I was worried about the writers not having anything for him to do. That's not the case here. Kramer isn't the most interesting character or anything, but she seems to be sticking around, so we mightaswell try to find a plotline for her. I also think it's totally in character for Joe to want to save her. I do like that Kramer isn't just a generically evil or mean military person. Kramer made a mistake. She trusted someone that was close to her heart, and that caused her to falter and get her squad killed. It's honestly a sad story, and it doesn't excuse her past actions, but it does make you feel a little bad for her. These scenes were good, and I actually really liked them.
Also, the cgi on Allegra after her fight with Ultraviolet was genuinely stunning. Credit to the special effects department for that, because wow that was cool.
This episode encompasses the season perfectly. So, if you wanna torture yourself for an hour, I'd say to go for it. However, if you don't enjoy torturing yourself, go watch Superman and Lois instead. You'll probably enjoy it a lot more.
No, I'm serious. This week's Superman and Lois was really good! Highly recommend watching it!
5 / 10.
