The Flash S:01 E:20

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Trap
Original Airdate: 4-28-15

We finally get our full villain reveal at the end of this episode to head into the last two episodes of the season along with plenty of other reveals for all sorts of cast members. This episode had a strong build up to the climax along with plenty of great character moments and humor along the way. This show just keeps getting better and better all the time and it’s one reason why Wednesday is my favorite day of the week for television (being a day behind to watch streaming). After proving time and time again that Iris is the worst reporter ever, she finally starts to make a little bit of headway towards not being completely oblivious to everything around her, and Dr. Wells finally gets to the chance to go full villain, and explain why he always seems to pop up at the right (or wrong) moments.
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The Flash S:01 E:19

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Who is Harrison Wells?
Original Airdate: 4-21-15

This episode definitely feels like it’s ramping up to the season finale as the circle of trust continues to get bigger and bigger while those who trust Dr. Harrison Wells gets smaller and smaller. There’s a few reveals in the episode for the characters but not the audience, and also a bit of a visit to both Coast City as well as Starling City to get a couple more members of team Arrow onto the Flash screens. And all topped off with a metahuman who can make himself look like anyone. Excellent episode that hits a lot of the right notes while very much accelerating the pace to pave the way towards the season finale which I imagine will involve the defeat of the Reverse Flash, hopefully temporarily as Tom Cavanagh is an excellent member of the cast.
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The Flash S:01 E:18

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: All Star Team Up
Original Airdate: 4-14-15

It’s been a little while since the last crossover, so it’s nice to see the return of Felicity Smoak and the introduction of Ray Parker also known as the Atom here in Central City. And as I haven’t been watching Arrow, I’ve brought in fellow writer here at Channel: Superhero Jeffrey Lyles, our Arrow correspondent to share his thoughts on the episode from Arrow’s perspective. But as for my own thoughts, there was a little bit of television trope tension involving keeping secrets and the tensions that creates between friends and lovers, and it never ends well. But other than that, there’s a lot of fun to be had throughout the episode which is one of the reasons why I love this show so much. There were a few rocky patches, but overall there was much more to enjoy than there was to criticize.
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The Flash S:01 E:12

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Trickster
Original Airdate: 2-7-91

With the release of this week’s episode of the Flash featuring the return of Mark Hamill’s the Trickster, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the episode that originated the role. I later thought it probably would have been just a bit more appropriate to look at his first “return” near the end of this series, but it was nice to take a quick look back at this episode, even though I had re-watched this series less than a year ago. I did quite enjoy this take on the Flash and I will likely revisit it once again episode-by-episode for this site, but for now enjoy my thoughts on a single episode.
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The Flash S:01 E:17

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Tricksters
Original Airdate: 3-31-15

It’s the return of Mark Hamill as the Trickster! There’s not really anything more important than that in this episode. Oh, besides some flashbacks of how Eobord Thawne takes on the role of Dr. Harrison Wells back after the death of Nora Allen 15 years ago. As well as another fairly important reveal near the end of the episode that will definitely change the course of the next few episodes. Not only that, but we get to see a little bit more from John Wesley Shipp as Henry Allen both inside, and outside of the jail cell. A very nice episode, and a welcome return of the Trickster.
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The Flash S:01 E:16

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Rogue Time
Original Airdate: 3-25-15

Continuing where last week’s episode left off, which was also pretty much the beginning of last week’s episode since Barry found himself repeating the same day once again, but the show doesn’t go the typical time loop route for very long. And while it does undo pretty much all of the major revelations of last week’s episode as most of us would have anticipated, it did undo them in ways that I didn’t entirely expect. It was a very surprising mixture of falling into expectations while also subverting them in some subtle ways. And while there are still some serious topics coming through the episode, it always finds time to lighten the mood whenever possible. Not quite as enjoyable as last week’s Out of Time, but still a great entry in the series nonetheless.
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The Flash S:01 E:14

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Fallout
Original Airdate: 2-17-15

Continuing where we left off last week, we get to see a bit more into what makes Firestorm tick, and he (they?) will become the first metahuman of the series that is not a villain and also survives through the end of the episode. We get some more of Iris playing reporter, and the return of Clancy Brown as General Eiling. And on top of that, we get some discussion of time travel as Joe reveals his discovery from Barry’s old house. And finally, as usual it ends on a nice reveal though I still don’t think it means what some people will think that it means.
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The Flash S:01 E:13

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Nuclear Man
Original Airdate: 2-10-15

Without really having to fall back on a villain of the week, the Flash comes around with another really strong episode that really furthers almost everyone’s character arc in some way while answering a few mysteries and creating a few of their own. It generally focuses on Firestorm, the amalgamation of Ronnie and Dr. Martin Stein, but there’s also plenty of other things going on like Barry realizing how difficult it is to have a girlfriend while being the Flash, and has Joe working with Cisco for the first time investigating Barry’s old house for some new clues.
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The Flash S:01 E:12

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Crazy For You
Original Airdate: 2-3-15

While Gotham may be the show I most enjoy discussing, the Flash is still the show that I just completely enjoy on almost every level. It gets the right combination of drama, action, and humor without generally taking itself too seriously. I seriously doubt that Gorilla Grodd would ever be able to make its way into Gotham, but he’s already been teased a couple times before now and during the final scene before the credits we get our first glimpse of the intelligent ape even if he stays mostly in the shadows. But this episode wasn’t really about Grodd, instead it was about Peek-A-Boo, or a Nightcrawler style teleporting metahuman. As well as a bit about what really happened to Ronnie.
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The Flash S:01 E:11

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Sound and the Fury
Original Airdate: 1-27-15

Once again, the Flash reminds me of Smallville in some of the best ways. Even when it has an episode with a fairly weak villain as the main focus of the episode, there are still some great elements of character development that are just too interesting and/or enjoyable to ignore. There is a lot to dislike in The Sound and the Fury from the rather uninspired villain of the week who has sonic gloves and a hearing aid that more or less turns down his super hearing, or at least just tempers his extreme tinnitus. Not to mention overplaying the chess metaphor between the Pied Piper aka Hartley Rathaway and Dr. Wells. But aside from the A story, there were some interesting developments regarding the mysterious Dr. Wells himself, giving a few more hints as to what his ultimate goal is as well as making him very analogous to Smallville’s Lex Luthor in the early seasons when he was still trying his hardest to do good and be Clark’s friend, but it just wasn’t in his upbringing to go about it in any other way than through money and power. In a very similar way Dr. Wells is doing what he can to be a hero in Barry’s eyes, but meanwhile he has an alternative agenda in place that is much more sinister.
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