berndschuller Reviews

The Flash: Family Matters, Part 2 (2021) Season 7, Episode 11

What even is this

[3/10 · 26 May 2021]

I've never rated a Flash episode lower than "5", since even at its worst (like "Girls Night Out" or "Run Iris Run") the show had pretty high standards. Not to take anything away from the cast and the people like directors, camera, set design, make up, visuals etc they are all doing a great job. But: The writing in the whole first half of season 7 is so atrocious it's even hard to rant about it. Forces as Barry&Iris "children" who they "birthed"? Why? That's just garbage, only to "set up" their actual (future) children later this season? Everything about this is wrong, only inserted to "feature" iris and her being married to Barry, a relationship that is very lackluster and has no warmth and chemistry whatsoever. They want to make it about "family" and "love" but this totally backfires.

The Frost arc was resolved as well, with the off-screen(!) help of the Flash (so NOW he is a character witness, but not at the trial?). The Frost and Caitlin scenes were some of the few enjoyable things so far this season.

I still hope the writers have better luck with the second half of the season, but I'm not very optimistic.

The Flash: The People V. Killer Frost (2021) Season 7, Episode 8

Outstanding acting by Danielle, but story does not fully make sense

[8/10 · 5 May 2021]

Danielle has been killing it this season, and has put in some great performances playing both Caitlin and Frost, and this episode is no exception.

The Flash: Mother (2021) Season 7, Episode 3

Weak finale to the Season 6 storylines

[5/10 · 17 March 2021]

After the very strong 7x02, this episode was very much a letdown, weakly written and not at all convincing, even taking into account that they had some things like Ralph they needed to wrap up. Something positive first: there were a few fun moments and good scenes. But then there were the bad parts: Eva went from all out supervillain to a meek ally in the span of minutes, thanks to a brief pep talk from Iris. She then disappeared without consequences for her actions including multiple homicide. Barry got his speed back in a way that was completely pulled out of thin air and a total cringe fest. OG Wells was inconsequential. The episode ended with some sort of cliff hanger hinting at speed force being distributed to various points in the city. All in all, a rather weak episode, I hope the show finds its paces again now that the "real" season 7 can start.

The Flash: Success Is Assured (2020) Season 6, Episode 19

Everything considering, a good finale of a decent season

[9/10 · 13 May 2020]

This episode was a good makeshift finale, "thanks" to Covid-19 the season was cut short. It had good action, good character interactions and a great cliffhanger (with some Infinity War vibes IMO). Last not least, I loved the Barry / Caitlin / Frost scenes with Mama Snow, those are always a highlight.

The Flash: Pay the Piper (2020) Season 6, Episode 18

Really half-baked

[6/10 · 6 May 2020]

This episode is half great and half terrible. The action scenes with Godspeed and Pied Piper are well done, and that part of the story is entertaining as well. However at least half the episode consists of repetitive pep talks and rather boring monologues, complete with cheesy music.

The Flash: King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd (2019) Season 5, Episode 15

Great episode reminiscent of the early flash seasons

[10/10 · 6 March 2019]

The episode managed to live up to the hype, and featured great action, a romance subplot acted out very nicely by the two guest stars, as well as lots of original team flash (Barry, Caitlin, Cisco) interactions. All in all, it had lots of S1 and S2 elements, and that is never a bad thing. Well done Flash!

The Flash: The Icicle Cometh (2018) Season 5, Episode 6

Finally some OG Team Flash action

[10/10 · 22 November 2018]

The real Barry and the original trio was at the center of the episode, which tied up the loose ends with respect to the Killer Frost story. She's finally back, fierce and loyal. The amazing Cisco / Caitlin and Barry / Caitlin friendship was back. The show is always at its best when these three are together. Barry is the best version of himself when he is with Caitlin and Cisco, and is not dragged down by issues "from the future" and forced family drama. Kyle Secor was a great guest star, pretty sure we'll see him again.