SPOILER ALERT!
I have to say I was actually quiet disappointed with this episode of The Flash…after the build-up over the last couple of episodes, where the writing actually made it through. With this episode however, I felt the writing was a little lazy…Let’s explore:
So here is the brief episode summary courtesy of Wikipedia:
“After being dormant, the particle accelerator is activated and the team realizes that Wells has been at S.T.A.R. Labs the entire time and has repaired the accelerator. While investigating, Wells escapes but the team is able to find and rescue Eddie. Worried that when the accelerator reaches full power the metahumans imprisoned inside will be killed, the team decides to relocate them to the A.R.G.U.S. prison on Lian Yu. In order to set up a safe transport, Barry is forced to go to Leonard Snart for help. Snart agrees but only after Barry erases Snart’s criminal record and history from the CCPD database. Snart sabotages the transport and allows the metahumans to escape. Wells arrives back at the lab just as the accelerator fully charges. The Flash, Firestorm, and The Arrow all meet outside to fight Wells. And Wells is knocked out with a poisoned Arrow. The episode ends abruptly here.”
The lack of tension and wow moments in this episode was almost zero for me. Perhaps it had to do more with the acting performance rather than the writing, perhaps I am too used to the ‘bang’ on writing and pacing of other superhero shows.
For example, when the team finally rescued Eddie, there was little to no sign of relief from any of the team, but instead, had the tone of ‘job done, what’s next’… so all the emotional build-up towards this one goal of rescuing Eddie, had no payoff, even Eddie himself, acted like nothing had happened and continued his day-to-day as a cop. This really messed with the character development that had been shown prior, for all the characters involved.
Another major plot in the episode which I was disappointed with, was the whole Leonard Snark (Captain Cold) situation, which came about once the CCPD refused to offer a safe passage for the metahumans to be transported to the airport. Other than the fact that his sister had a trucker’s licence (extremely minor) There was absolutely no reason for Barry to approach Snark for the transport, all he did was ride on his bike in front of the truck, while Barry put traffic barriers ahead of them. If there were actual obstacles that they had to go through showing why Snark was needed, then I would’ve been a little more satisfied, but this wasn’t the case, it was basically a smooth ride, until the airport. The only reason that I could think of for such an unnessecary element, was to have a set up to be paid off either in the next episode or next season.
Now let’s talk about the final fight, Which was again an example of convenient co-incidences, and again a non-payoff. When Barry goes outside of star labs to face Wells, he is joined (Out of nowhere) by Firestorm and The Arrow. Firestorm arriving I can understand a little bit more, since he was sent off not too-far-out earlier in the season. But Arrow (Oliver Queen) has enough on his hands, with the league of assassins and the bio-weapon, to just randomly make a cameo to fight Wells, Ra’s sends men after him if he is out meditating for too long. Not sure if this was fan service, or it was because The Flash made an equally random cameo in Arrow as well. This threw me off majorly, especially when Oliver’s arrow was the thing that knocked Wells unconscious, The reverse flash was immediately made to look remarkably weaker and way too easily defeated, rendering all the build-up badassery up until that point entirely meaningless.
I hope that in the season finale, the show redeems itself, by having a worthwhile showdown, otherwise I feel very much like I did with the finale of season one of ‘Heroes’. But we shall wait and see until the final episode has aired.
By:
Dhaivat Mehta
(Editor – ARTbop alternative)
Dhaivat Mehta is a film-maker and performance poet, and a member of the Tauranga Writers…Involved with many aspects of local creativity! As an organizer he was responsible for last year’s National Poetry Day event “Caught In The Act” He also raps and does spoken word under the stage name Mantra
