Jessie Robertson reviews the sixth episode of The Flash season 3…
I Like you but we’re certainly not at the cuff stage……yet
Tonight’s Flash felt a bit like a 90’s Batman movie: overstuffed. Much like that tasty Thanksgiving bird we’ll be dining on here in a week, this thing was stuffed to the gills and really didn’t need to be. Prime example: tonight’s episode is titled ‘Shade’; who turned out to be an un-named meta who can become shadow and get really tall. He killed a businessman after work then haunted a movie in the park night, all apparently in the guise of helping Alchemy distract the team; Shade is a prominent villain in DC Comics, especially to Hawkman and Flash, yet he’s treated like the worst Scarer at Monsters Incorporated. Complete waste of a character. When Joe spouts out that there are still 3 remaining husks left with no known identity, that would typically be something of an interesting teaser, but I couldn’t have cared less if Margot Robbie had told me that while sipping wine from a hot tub of bubbles.
A lot was missing from tonight; in a rare move, Joe was getting some quality time as a focused character, as he continued to slowly make the moves on a very game Cecile, but as all the members of Team Flash do, he was completely distracted by worrying about Wally. Iris wisely instructed him to be Joe West tonight instead of Dad, and he took the advice (even if HR completely cock-blocked him!) but then later blamed himself for not being there for Wally. I’m just saying it (again): Wally is not a good character. His insecurity towards Barry always pops out randomly like Richard Simmons on a talk show and you remember how badly he’s written. He seems to be a capable young actor (Keiynan Lonsdale) but even him grimacing in the pipeline while Alchemy whispered gross nothings in his head was such an over the top scene, and the way he got aggressive towards Iris; all schlock. (500 Gold Stars to Iris for decking him; one of my favorite moments of season 3 so far)
Let’s talk about our other villains: Alchemy has all the makings of a super creepy villain, the look, the scratching on the glass, the head-talk, but I can’t piece together what he is. In the comics, he’s a mad scientist who can control the chemical and elemental composition of everything with his magic laser rock (which did make the cut, happily). Here, he seems to be able to build Flashpoint husks around people, and that’s about it. We now know it is not Alchemy , but the god of speed, Savitar who killed Clariss in the jail cell (was really curious as to how they pulled that off). Savitar is another interesting character, who they made look like Megatron’s illegitimate son here, when he’s typically a guy who looks like a Lucha Libre wrestler with a sweet porn-stache. So, it’s another speedster…..To me, Alchemy was a great villain of the season, because they’ve done the speedsters to death already; granted, you can’t do a show on Flash and not have a speed villain somewhere, but so far, not interested.
7/10- way too many half-written (or less) villains and way too few of our favorites doing Team Flash things
Other Notes:
– really strange no focus at all was put on Barry & Iris’ blossoming (or wilting) relationship tonight
– I did like the opening being Wally’s narration instead of Barry’s, even if it was a dream
– I can’t determine how much older Barry is than Wally; it doesn’t seem like much but Wally plays petulant well so maybe 27 and 21?
– HR is killing it! Wells continues to be one of the best characters on the show, hands down, no matter what his character is – he actually called Cisco and Caitlin “Rascals” tonight
– If Julian is Alchemy….it won’t feel very strong….I do like his aloofness though; who’s this girlfriend and is she a Slytherin?
– The police are really just okay with Joe organizing a task force with seemingly circumstantial evidence he knows where the hideout of Alchemy is and what he’s up to? Where’s Singh at?
– Loved, Loved HR”s reaction to hearing Grodd’s name- #GroodSeason4Flashvillain
– Sorry, didn’t mention Caitlin but a good moment between her and bestie Cisco where he just told the team her secret and she forgave him; in a lot of CW shows that would have dragged on for quite a few eps
Jessie Robertson
Originally published November 16, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
