The Flash: Season 8

Not gonna lie. MOSTLY great. Of course, it being this show there were several moments of embarrassing cringe. I wish they existed in a worse episode. Because they greatly weakened this one.

Damian Darhk is right that Thawne's plan is evil genius, heavy on the evil. It's just a pure sociopathic idea of a fundamentally disturbed person. I love that once Damian learns Nora is alive in the proper timeline, even knowing he dies to save her, he wants that timeline back. As far as Arrow Season Four went, Damian Dahrk was one of the biggest bastards ever in the Arrowverse. From DC's Legend Of Tomorrow, on? Darhk is a lovable goofball. I can tell you it's the second way that Neal McDonough plays him best.

Speaking of Legends, it's clear Constantine is still a factor in The Arrowverse even if the damn character embargo means we can't ever actually see him. Have I mentioned I hate DC lately? Because I do.

The thing that took me out of everything and made me want to puke was the love story between Chester and Allegra. I could not have written a worse scene if I tried to. Ryan Choi is nonsensically breaking down in tears for God's sake, which is also another reminder that strong acting has never really been this franchise's selling point. And he just call Chester "his boy"? To a white and Hispanic character? And the writers thought that was okay? Man, I really wish this had occurred in a worse episode. Or crazy thought, I wish it hadn't occurred at all.

Speaking of bastards, Despero qualifies. Cecile is right that he's not a hero.

Parts of that, specifically the stuff with Thawn, Barry, and Damian, were pure gold. Other stuff, like the dopey background shipping stuff was some of the most inept writing I've ever seen in this franchise. Too bad. ****.

That was mostly awful. There were two things I really liked, but it doesn't change how awful the rest of the episode was.

I admit I didn't like the crossover setting up Legends Of Tomorrow or Invasion, but this is definitely the worst of all the Arrowverse crossovers. It's unsurprising, because of the Arrowverse shows left, The Flash is the worst one. The producers have to up their game across the board on all the shows when it's a CW-wide crossover. If it's just the writers and producers of this show responsible, they are going to fail as reliably and consistently as this show always does. The episode and the crossover sucked, and I wasn't surprised by that fact in the least. Because this show plain sucks.

The biggest reason the episode sucked is pretty glaringly obvious. I march to my own beat when judging superhero stuff, but I am pretty confident in stating this particular thing is going to gain universally negative notices from fans, and I predict it is going to cause them to call this the worst crossover too. But the idea of Team Flash saving Thawne's life is not an actual controversy. To present it as such is laughable. The dude showed no compunctions about starting Armageddon and destroying Barry's life for the pissiest of supervillain origin stories. Even acting like it's remotely acceptable to save him is ridiculous. And the task is given to Joe to put his foot down, not because Joe is the most morally righteous, conscientious, or virtuous character. But because the producers knew the role had to go to someone, and decided randomly to make it him, probably because Jesse L Martin had nothing to do for the first four episodes. It's a foolish argument. And you know the show is badly written because they could have given it to Iris or Barry himself with no problems. The fact that the show views ideas like that as interchangeable between the characters means the show doesn't actually understand ideas like that. Because if Barry, Iris, and Joe were actually morally righteous, they'd know letting Thawne fade from existence is the safest path forward. All of them would know that. It is not virtuous to let a serial killer who vows to destroy your life and family out of his cage. What it is is stupid.

The worst thing is that the show expects me to be satisfied he's pissed off he's lost his speed. The show wants me to believe that it's a far better and more just end for him than fading from existence. It's not. What it did was make me ask "Why didn't Barry and Iris ask if that was am acceptable trade for Thawne ahead of time?" He almost certainly would have decided to let himself die instead, and it made the whole episode feel entirely pointless instead. And it's only a just dessert for Thawne if you are dumb enough to believe the producers are going to keep him without powers and locked up forever. I'm personally not that dumb, sorry to say.

I also am really frustrated by Mia Queen's arc. I had hoped we could have gotten some closure from the annoying and ill-advised cliffhanger of the Green Arrow And The Canaries pilot. They don't even bother. They suggest the next stop on his journey to find William is to see Felicity. Do I believe the franchise has contracted Emily Bett Rickards for an appearance? I do not. Which means there's essentially no reason for Mia to have shown up at all. It pisses me off.

Also William's been gone for two years? If that show had been picked up that never would have been the case.

As for Despero, it's nice to be made clear that he's not a hero, but he wouldn't have been made into an enemy or future threat at all if Team Flash weren't dumb enough to save Thawne's life.

I mentioned I liked two things. I thought the visual effects were great. Sadly, that's becoming a rarity. During the first season of the show, it had some of the spiffiest special effects ever made for a television budget. As the Arrowverse expanded, I'm guessing the show's budget was cut more and more as the seasons went on. But effects that cool used to be routine, instead of saved for the last part of a big crossover.

The second thing I liked was the end to Damian Dahrk's arc. It seems kind of redundant to how he went out in Legends Of Tomorrow, but it was a nice arc there, and it was nice to see it reaffirmed for a second time, so the audience doesn't get the wrong idea that the nice ending was an outlier or a mistake. I appreciated it for that reason.

The last part of the crossover sucked though, and this is easily the worst Arrowverse crossover. I believe Covid will still be an issue next year. My suggestion is to put the next crossover on the writers of Superman & Lois. They are talented enough to handle something like that. The producers of this show are simply hacks. *1/2.

This show is such a chore. I like that they kept Jay Garrick alive at the end, and the President Luthor joke was funny, but this show makes things such an ordeal to get there.

Bold opinion: It is very hard to root for characters this stupid. Every mistake Bart makes is actually self-evident, which makes him the most annoying person on the show that he can't even meet the barest standards of competence. Nobody should be making mistakes this dumb.

I'm supposed to say it was good to see Rick Cosnett again (that's what you are supposed to say when an old actor returns, right?). But the truth is Eddie Thawne was kind of a dud of a character, and this specific episode was underwhelming. I did not remotely feel a sense of warm appreciation for seeing him again. If his character were better, I would have. If the episode were better, I actually MIGHT have.

I didn't register what the disappearing thing at the end meant. I think this show thinks I pay closer attention to it than I do, which is weird. They write all of the characters as bratty toddlers, and expect us same frustrated viewers rolling our eyes at their kindergarten morals to be sharp enough to attach the proper meaning there? Man, if I knew I should have been paying attention, I would have been. The entire episode being poorly written and stupid works against me doing that.

Meh. The show has ultimately done much worse, but with Supergirl (fortunately) off the air, this is now unequivocally the single worst Arrowverse show left. And it's not even a contest. **1/2.

That wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible (like the show usually is) so I'll consider that a half-victory.

The stuff with Goldface was fun for sure. However the fact that the show couldn't contract Katee Sackoff is VERY noticeable, and is one of the reasons I hate television. Basically good and bad episodes aren't decided by writers anymore, but by the guest actor's schedule and salary demands. It's another selling point to animation in my book. If John DiMaggio passes, he can actually be recast.

I found the stuff with Caitlin and Frost intolerable. I think the thing that bugs me is that the episode believes the opinions offered are insightful and adult. More like insipid. A hack could have written those ideas. Arguably a hack actually did.

It was sort of fun how Kramer figured out how the Flash was Barry, and I do agree it seems like an oversight that the Flash no longer has connections in CCPD to keep the villains' he's nabbed crimes straight, but I don't like Joe and the other characters immediately stating over and over again that Kramer is a good cop and can be trusted. I don't agree with that all. Last year her behavior was deplorable. It didn't cross the line into criminal like similar hardass law enforcement officers on Black Lightning and Superman & Lois went, but Kramer was an unreasonable, dangerous bigot who literally only changed her mind upon realizing she was part of the minority group she was demonizing. The fact that nobody thinks to bring up how shady she was last year and just extolls her virtues as a good cop makes me angry on behalf of the crap Barry and Frost had to go through. And that's totally on-brand for this show. I said the episode itself wasn't terrible. But this show still is in general and stuff like that is why.

I'm going to give the episode with Goldface being outraged his underlings don't know Moby Dick or Wrath Of Khan (and sings baby talk to his boo over the phone) a passing grade of three stars before I delve any deeper into the episode and talk myself out of it. ***.

I kind of liked it. Sue me.

The premise struck me as extremely flawed, and a lot of the ideas were badly handled. But there was enough leeway in the fact that Barry was celebrating a sad anniversary, and the guy's outcry for his son reminded him of his father. Upon seeing the episode synopsis I was like, "The idea that Barry believes a guy is innocent just because he says he is is super shady." But the truth is when they superimposed the flashbacks with Henry, it made sense. The show also made his scene with Joe amazing, with Joe giving the keen perspective that perhaps Barry's experiences gave him an insight there nobody else had.

But the reason the premise struck me as flawed is because in real life, all criminals say they are innocent. It's only unusual in the Arrowverse. In the real world, if Flash were to zip in on a bank robbery, the crooks wouldn't fire at him. They'd drop the guns and loot and exclaim that this isn't what it looks like. Then they'd demand to see their lawyer. Superhero comics are very unrealistic is that the bad guys keep going even after they've been identified and caught by a superior superhero. And that's why the premise struck me as unlikely. If the show were being credible, every single villain would be saying that.

I also object to how they did the ID to the witness. They showed her a picture of the guy. Not in a photo array, not in a police line-up, just asking her if this is the guy. If Cecile were actually a competent lawyer, she should have gotten the entire thing thrown out by a judge as "fruit of the poisonous tree". But like politics, the law in the Arrowverse is not remotely credible, or written by people who know anything about it.

Two notes about Allegra's underling swearing to destroy her. I like that Allegra is not forgiven. I especially like that Allegra is outraged by that fact. "I apologized! What more do you want?" This is the rare instance of this franchise understanding that a damn apology is never actually good enough for the crap the characters often pull with each other. It's weird Allegra thinks she's entitled to forgiveness. That being said, as refreshing as it was, I was shocked Allegra did not just fire her on the spot for insubordination. She's her boss. She doesn't have to take that. Hell, if she repeated exactly what the girl said to her to Iris, Iris would not only believe her, but agree she deserved to be fired. Even when the show does something right, they mess something else big up.

Speaking of which, I was very unhappy that just because Drago was innocent, that meant that there was still a killer out there, and nobody seemed to care until the end. The cliffhanger said my outrage there was groundless, but I can't help feeling that a note of frustration and wariness should have been in the background of this supposed "Happy ending." My guess is the writers didn't want to step on Drago's toes. But that's not how that specific situation should have been treated. In fact, Drago's innocence being proved would still be a real conflict in the D.A.'s office simply because they didn't have another suspect. And despite his fire power working differently, he STILL had motive and opportunity in both murders. Add to that the act break where Drago confronts the witness who was later killed, and I have to say the writers weren't exactly playing fair with us.

But I still kind of liked it. It largely worked, even though parts of it messed up. ***1/2.

I tried to keep an open mind, but I'm not on-board.

I thought the mystery of the black fire was interesting (although the personal stuff about Chester and his dad was laying it on a little thick) but the resolution is pretty much the worst thing the show could have decided to do. The fire itself is the villain? That means nobody for Grant Gustin to act off of and no personal connection to either Barry or the other heroes. If you ask me, having the Big Bad of the season be An It is the dumbest idea ever.

Speaking of which, tell me that in the tenth season of The Arrowverse, that this isn't the first time the notion that the Metagene is worldwide, and can be triggered by many different factors has actually come up. I sort of took it for granted that's what was always going on, but if this show says this is a new idea for this iteration of the franchise, that's an actual failing.

Man, I didn't like that. *1/2.

It was pretty good.

I think the thing I liked was Frost and Carla coming to the understanding that they were mother and daughter, and treating each other that way for the first time.

There is no way Iris accidentally killed that girl's mother. Because I'd never forgive her if she did.

The black fire is Ronnie? I take back my earlier complaints about it being the season's Big Bad being underwhelming. That's actually quite interesting.

Not bad at all. ***1/2.

That was shockingly bad on every level I could mention. I think the thing that alarms me most is that an episode with this exact story and ending could have actually been GREAT if handled by writers who were remotely competent. They'd barely need to change ANY of the fundamentals and the episode would be great instead of terrible.

At some point when I start handing a series negative review after negative review I start to wonder if me deconstructing the mess I just witnessed is worth my time. Am I literally putting more time into the show than I'm getting out of it? It's a fair question, but I'm not quite there yet with this show. I don't feel like me going over everything wrong it did would be a total waste of my time. If the series were generally worse, and this bad every week, I'd feel differently. But let's talk about these failings for now. I feel comfortable doing so.

I think all of the characters in the episode are stupid and make bad decisions. Every last one of them. Chester for his part is so stupid I can't believe it. I don't actually think less of his character for his naivete regarding broadcasting how to build dangerous technology on his podcast. I blame the writers' stupidity for believing that's actually an example of naivete and not super dumbness. The only reason the characters on this show are as dumb as they are is because the writers are dumb and couldn't possibly have any sort of handle on smart characters.

There is a controversy worth exploring in this episode. But nobody is asking the right questions. Whether Deathstorm is Ronnie or not, nobody is exploring the actual ethics of the situation properly. Here are the important questions I would have asked were I in the room with Team Flash. The fact that it never occurs to the writers how necessary those questions would be says the writers are very bad at their jobs. Because even if these questions were asked they could have STILL done the Deathstorm resolution. The reason the questions SHOULD have been asked is not to improve the story itself. But to make the story more interesting.

Cecile is absolutely adamant that Ronnie wants to die. Let's humor her and pretend like we don't know the actual truth. Does Ronnie want his suffering to end through nonexistence because he believes that's his only option? Or would he have preferred to be made into a human body if he was aware it was possible? Why doesn't it occur to Team Flash to try and contact the entity and figure out how wedded to the idea of ending his pain he really was? Nobody even thought to bring the idea up.

Nobody also thought to ask if Ronnie even DESERVED the chance to live again. "Ronnie" as that entity, before revealing he wasn't really Ronnie, killed a TON of people. Who says he and Caitlin get to have their romantic happy ending as if that shouldn't be addressed? Nobody on Team Flash ONCE posited the idea that Ronnie might have to answer for his crimes. And that wouldn't have changed anything about the ending. But it would have been properly exploring the controversy.

Barry using Flashpoint as an example of him messing up by not using his head is a false equivalence. Even if he's right that Caitlin's view is wrong, his example of the stakes and repercussions are nowhere NEAR equal. Not remotely.

I was also annoyed by Iris and Sue. I was annoyed that they believed they could shunt aside the girl whose mother Iris appears to have killed, because supposedly poor Iris needs her rest and some space, are again people not thinking clearly or realistically. I'd look down on Sue and Iris for it, but the truth is they didn't show that level of empathy towards that girl, because the writers weren't smart enough to have them do it. Or worse, they knew they should have, but wrote them out of character so they could have that far-fetched revenge scene at the end. Either way, the writers are bad writers, and stupid writers to boot.

I guess that's all I need to say about this disaster of an episode. It could have actually been decent if The Arrowverse actually had remotely competent writers. But it doesn't. 1/2.

Eh.

I mentioned this the last time Rick Cosnett appeared, but when you see a former regular of a series after a long period of time following their departure, you are ALWAYS supposed to say, "It's good to see _____ again." Always. I can't do that for Cosnett because I never cared about either him or Eddie.

I'll tell you what's annoying. Everyone telling Caitlin this isn't her fault. Since that's not true, they aren't actually helping her by lying about that.

I thought the moment of Sue centering Iris through anger was pretty cool. Not a ton of cool things in the episode.

Whatever. The show may have done better before this, but it sure as hell has also done a lot worse. ***.

Here's something you may not know: If a good episode of a given show is spinning along for 35 minutes or so, if the last five or ten minutes are bad, it turns it into an actual bad episode. I thought the scares were suitable creepy until then, and I liked the debate Deathstorm raised about Frost being a real person. But that ending means this show is just as crappy as it always was.

And this is the exact problem with the rest of The Arrowverse too (save Superman & Lois, so far, knock on wood). Frost isn't dead. Nobody will believe that. Even if Danielle Panabaker were leaving the show, and they gave Frost a big self-sacrificing death to memorably send the character off here, that's not what happened in this episode. What happened was this show committed one of the absolute worst sins a television show can commit: It made its characters grieve a death that didn't really happen. Forget the annoyance of putting the viewer supposedly through an emotional wringer just to walk it back in a few weeks. Or doing the same thing to the characters. What every show that does a fake death or a fake-out dream sequence is telling the viewer is that it cannot be trusted. "I have lied and will lie about some hugely important and powerful things in the past and currently, and have no plans to stop lying to you." Do you as a viewer see this flaw in this type of writing? What happens when you abuse a viewer's trust over and over again? If and when the show DOES decide to kill off a character for real, the audience will not automatically accept it at face value. It won't land properly or hit them hard when it should. They will look for loopholes instead, and ways out of the scenario. That is dramatic poison, and this is not something I should need to point out. Anyone with even a cursory familiarity with writing should already know it too.

Can I tell you who I blame for this? You. Every single comic book fan reading this review is at fault. Because the entire genre has built itself an industry around the idea that death is impermanent and doesn't matter, and you've rewarded them with book sales. Instead of calling b.s. on this type of storytelling, comic book fans hang on the edge of every word of known and proven liars. Why? Why have you told creators through their pocketbooks that this low-down dirtiest method of storytelling is acceptable? Look what you have done. If every single one of you got as angry about this crap as you should get, it wouldn't happen.

Soap opera fans similarly have a high tolerance for b.s. storytelling, but the difference there is the women watching those shows know they are b.s. for it. It's a morbid joke among soap opera fans that their genre is ridiculous. And yet comic book fans instead demand mainstream critics and audiences to treat their nonsense seriously. They deserve Oscar and Emmy consideration, and are pissed when they are justifiably ignored instead. Geoff Johns wears that stupid hat while telling us in interviews that comic books are the modern Shakespeare, and creation myth allegories. While the books buy back several deaths a year. Geoff, do you truly think Shakespeare ever said, "Just messing with y'all!"? Was there ever a massive four-part play called "Reign Of The Hamlets"? Then shut up, man. You're embarrassing yourself.

I have pissed off a lot of comic book fans with my reviews, and I expect this one will be no different. Here is a suggestion for you: Get more pissed off. At the comics and superhero franchises themselves. Believe it or not, you DO deserve better. Maybe I'm taking shots at your sacred cows simply because they aren't sacred, and should never be confused for such. I have lost and will lose friends over this. But really, I rail against this crap every week, and no-one else does. What else am I supposed to think? *.

Are we seriously doing this? For real? I'm not. I'm not reviewing this episode. I'm not going to act like the characters and viewer being asked to grieve a fake-out death is remotely acceptable storytelling. It's a lie, a waste of time and energy, and the show is asking me to put more emotional investment in it than I could ever get out of it.

Not doing it this week. I'll review next week if the writers decide to be honest with their story for once. I don't reward liars with long reviews (even bad reviews). They don't deserve my time. 0.

I thought the premise was interesting, and I wish I could say the episode was great and give it a higher grade.

But I didn't like Deon's out of nowhere heel-turn.

And I especially didn't like Allegra encouraging Chester posting that dangerous stuff on his site. Yeah, the guy who used it had good intentions. But what if he hadn't? Chester freaking out over that is the right lesson, and Allegra telling him he's right to be that careless in general sucks ass.

Also, I don't ever want to hear an actor with Allegra's pale skin tone ever tell a black man like Chester he's "one of the good ones". Literally one of the most tone-deaf things they could have a character say. About as bad as when Ryan Choi called Chester "my boy" in "Armageddon".

What bothers me is that we're back to square one at the end. Barry didn't rescue Iris, and I'm especially frustrated he didn't rescue that girl's mom. I think her rage over Barry coming to her for help is justified. But maybe Barry and Iris can be forgiven if they save her mom. I don't like that being dropped.

The Frost resurrection stuff bothers me, mostly because I know exactly how it's gonna go down. They are going to resurrect her, but she'll be evil, and she'll be the Big Bad of Year 9 that Team Flash will be trying desperately to redeem in the final season. The thing I hate most about The Flash is that it's television. There's nothing more television than that idea. And I am sure I am right.

It was mildly diverting as far as premises go, but the execution left a bit to be desired. ***1/2.

I think the thing I resent most about the show is that Season 8 Barry Allen is almost as stupid as Season 1 Barry Allen. He makes the exact same kinds of dumbass mistakes and never grows and changes. It's weird they are giving that lesson to Joe here. Barry himself is far more resistant to character growth.

This was the exact problem with Kara Danvers on Supergirl, by the way. Barry is not as stupid as Kara was in Season 6. But it's the same damn problem.

I like that Joe doesn't like the roleplaying game. I'm glad Jesse L Martin was game for the costume at the end, because I actually found it a bit embarrassing.

I mentioned in previous weeks I didn't care about seeing Eddie Thawne again. Singh however is a character I've always liked, and it was good to see him again. I like that he was the one who gave Joe the actual clarity this week.

This show is getting to be a chore to watch. It makes mistakes a show that has been on the air for 8 years simply shouldn't make. I'm getting frustrated. **1/2.