A DC-TV Primer: the CW Network’s superhero lineup
Tuesday: the Flash
Part Two (here
is part one)
It does not take Sherlock Holmes to
deduce this is my favorite of the DC/CW shows The Flash is light-hearted without being silly.
“Light-hearted?” you might say,
“Worlds are imperiled; timelines are wiped and sometimes good people die!”
True, but by light-hearted I mean the
show still keeps its sense of fun even at the darkest of times. You cheer on
the good guys and boo the bad guys. You know things will turn out all right in
the end, however tense it might be.
Watch Supergirl episode “World’s Finest” in which Flash appears. The
scenes in which they appear together emits so much joy and sweetness it hits
you from every angle. There is genuine chemistry between the actors. You don’t
see this on TV very often. Good acting, good writing, good show!
Flash sticks
to its comic book roots in the Silver Age and Bronze Age. There are lots of
Easter eggs that make this old fan smile.
1) There are so many references to the
Silver Age Green Lantern – Ferris Air and Coast City are mentioned frequently
and we even see a flight jacket with a “Jordan” name patch – that I think an
appearance by the ring slinger is inevitable in the years to come.
2) Even their casting harkens back to
loyalty and tradition: Barry Allen’s father (John Wesley Shipp) played the
scarlet speedster in the 1990 TV show. Great casting – when I first read that he was
playing Barry’s father I was excited! When I heard that Jay Garrick would
appear in season 2, I thought, “Too bad, Wesley Shipp would have made the
perfect Jay Garrick!”
3) Even the villains give homage to the
past: the Trickster is played by Mark Hamill (do I REALLY need to tell you
about that OTHER role he played), who played the Trickster in the 1990 TV
series. Watching him chew the scenery is a delight.
Jesse L. Martin, who plays Iris and
Wally’s father (and Barry’s adoptive father) is always a highlight. His role as
a policeman harkens back to his Law &
Order days. But characterization was not L&O’s forte. What a treat to see him laugh heartily, mist up as
he gives fatherly advice, etc. He is superb…
Grant Gustin is no slouch either. As
Barry Allen and the Flash you can feel his joy in playing the character. “I
love being a hero,” Flash often says. Through Grant’s acting, it shows.
I would be remiss not mentioning
Carlos Valdes as Cisco. He plays the viewer’s role in the show: giving names to
the heroes and villains, encouraging Flash to fight the good fight, creating
the mcguffins that beat the bad guys. He is us.
Rounding out the crew of Flash’s
allies are Danielle Panabaker as the beautiful uber-nerd Caitlin Snow. She
started off as a cold fish but warmed up to the Flash (and us) pretty quickly.
Her “date” with Barry in the karaoke scene is a must-watch. I hope her role in
Season 3 is better than the love-sick hostage of Season 2, though. The
character and the actress deserves better.
Candace Patton as Iris West is
stunningly beautiful (just think if she were real: her dad’s a policeman,
yeek!) and plays her up-and-down relationship with Barry well. Both Iris and
Barry learn what we comic book fans have known for almost 50 years – they are
destined to wed. But with all the time tinkering; will they?
The villains (super or otherwise) are
also fun. One of the best part of the Silver/Bronze Age Flash comics was his
Rogue’s Gallery. The fiends are second only to Batman’s slate of bad guys. The
only one NOT to appear so far is Abra Kadabra; and with all the time-traveling
taking place in the show this is surprising. I think even the Top showed up (I
might be wrong, though). Mordant blue,
even the TURTLE shows up!
The show has its flaws: most obvious
is the character’s past. When Wally West shows up, we old comic fans have a
fair idea where his character will eventually lead. Characters with familiar
last names (Thawne) spoil any surprise to old readers of the comic. There is no
Black-Canary-bait-and-switch ala Arrow,
although with Edward Thawne, they try.
Binge watching reveals another flaw in
the show: sometimes it tends to wallow in formula. Villain is introduced, Flash
confronts villain and gets his ass handed to him, Flash’s back-up team propose
a solution using Star Trek Next
Generation-esque technobabble, they create a mcguffin to help Flash/use an
everyday devise to help Flash, Flash confronts villain again and defeats him.
Insert subplots at any point (Barry loves Iris, Iris loves someone else or visa
versa/team member might be bad guy/bad guy might be good guy).
Maybe it is a problem inherent in the
premise, but they use it too often. Supergirl
and Arrow use that formula, too.
A final issue that gnaws at me (and
not just Flash, but with all DC/CW
and other programs as well), is the season-length storyline that concludes with
the big season finale. A super-supervillain is hinted at from episode one and
introduced about four or five shows in. Other plots and villains come and go,
but the super-supervillain plot keeps seeping to the surface – usually given
the main plot-point every few episodes. The last three or four shows of the
season deal exclusively with defeating the BIG baddie.
This is tedious for the casual watcher
and eyerolling for the loyal fan. It became something of a joke at one point in
Arrow: “Some supervillain is
threatening to destroy the entire city? Must be May!”
For Season One of Flash this was acceptable, as everything about the show is new. By
the end of Season Two, a new viewer will be lost, or should I say Lost. If the “previously on…” segment
takes more than twenty minutes, you’ve lost your audience. Flash is in danger of that.
I can’t even tell you the events of
Season Three without giving spoilers for Season Two (although the ads are
giving it all away – it HAS to, to be effective)! All I can say is Barry
regrets what he did and is trying to change the people and things he has
affected!
The show is also in danger of becoming
one long storyline (ala Agents of Shield).
Which is fine if you are fan of that, but the real danger comes as lack of
story progression: no plot advancement with the good guys facing failed plans
and disappointed goals for 20 episodes (ala Agents
of Shield) leaving the viewers frustrated and looking elsewhere (ala Agents of Shield).
In other words, every show will become
“Villain is introduced, Flash confronts villain and gets his ass handed to him,
Flash’s back-up team propose a solution using Star Trek Next Generation-esque technobabble, they create a mcguffin
to help Flash/use an everyday devise to help Flash, Flash is defeated anyway,
repeat twenty times, Flash wins in episode 22, but it is revealed the enemy
lives and will square off again next season. Repeat until cancelled.” (ala Agents of Shield).
See what I mean?
But let’s hope Flash doesn’t descend
to that. There is too much love in the show, I think. And there is too much
love OF the show to make me think otherwise!
Arrow is next…
Original Material
Copyright 2016 Michael Curry
Characters
mentioned and their images are copyright their respective holders. Thanks to DC Comics, the CW Network and
Berlanti Productions and the actors portrayed for the use of their images.
I also
thank the original creators of all characters mentioned, whether or not they
have been properly compensated (gratmens during the credits aside).
No comments:
Post a Comment