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punch_kicker15I was in Vancouver last week and didn't watch Arrow or The Flash until several days later. Spoilerish thoughts below:
Arrow: Nooo, Sara! is pretty much the predominant impression. She was a fantastic, complex character who knew Ollie better than probably anyone else (Knew him pre-Island, on-Island, and post-Island). It pisses me off that she was killed to jump start a much less interesting character (Laurel) and to match comics canon. Seriously, I DNGAF about comics canon; Diggle and Felicity are original to the show and are massively entertaining; some of the canonical characters are utterly boring.
Sara was a warrior and deserved a better end than a drawn-out, helpless murder. I'd have accepted an instantaneous death; even assassins can get momentarily caught off guard, but I'd expect her to put up more than a fight with a few seconds to react. Bleh. Badly played all around.
Onto the other things that happened. I think the Arrow writers are particularly devious to give Olicity shippers exactly what they want (An unambiguous declaration of love! A kiss!), under circumstances where Ollie's being a huge jerk by doing them. Really tired of the "I can't be with you because my life is too dangerous" cliche. There are lots of obstacles that could be explored instead. The most obvious one is that Ollie has no idea how to be a good boyfriend in a normal relationship, since he wasn't a good boyfriend to Laurel, and nothing that's happened since has helped in that respect.
Aww, for Diggle and his baby, and Felicity was awesome as usual, whether it's multitasking at work, being adorkable on the date ("multiple times!") or calling Ollie on his mixed signals at the end.
The Flash: Maybe the buzz about it being a lighter show screwed with my expectations, but I found it to be a lot darker than I expected.
I mean, this was a show that had a scene where a little boy pulls the sheet off his murdered mother's corpse. How grimdark are superhero stories these days if The Flash is considered "light" for the genre?
I also thought that Detective West's outburst (where he tells Barry that Barry's dad killed Barry's mom) to be over the top brutal and unnecessary, especially when the character takes it back after about 3 minutes of screentime.
Ollie's conversation with Barry seemed utterly out of character, since Ollie has always been cautious about encouraging other people to fight. Amell seemed to be phoning in the scene, and I can't say I blame him.
I doubt I will ever care about the Barry/Iris/Other Guy triangle. Hopefully Iris will make a better impression on me in future episodes. Here she didn't seem that bright since she 1) couldn't read really obvious signs that Barry had a crush on her and 2) had her dissertation on a laptop that she apparently didn't back up.
I don't mind shallow-ish relationships if a show is fun, and I don't mind dark and angsty shows if there are complicated relationships, but shallow relationships + dark angst = boring for me.
I generally like Barry's demeanor (not every superhero has to be an angsty boy). I liked Cisco and Caitlin. I want to like this show, and if they dial back the angst and replace it with more humor and fun in future episodes, I probably will.
Arrow: Nooo, Sara! is pretty much the predominant impression. She was a fantastic, complex character who knew Ollie better than probably anyone else (Knew him pre-Island, on-Island, and post-Island). It pisses me off that she was killed to jump start a much less interesting character (Laurel) and to match comics canon. Seriously, I DNGAF about comics canon; Diggle and Felicity are original to the show and are massively entertaining; some of the canonical characters are utterly boring.
Sara was a warrior and deserved a better end than a drawn-out, helpless murder. I'd have accepted an instantaneous death; even assassins can get momentarily caught off guard, but I'd expect her to put up more than a fight with a few seconds to react. Bleh. Badly played all around.
Onto the other things that happened. I think the Arrow writers are particularly devious to give Olicity shippers exactly what they want (An unambiguous declaration of love! A kiss!), under circumstances where Ollie's being a huge jerk by doing them. Really tired of the "I can't be with you because my life is too dangerous" cliche. There are lots of obstacles that could be explored instead. The most obvious one is that Ollie has no idea how to be a good boyfriend in a normal relationship, since he wasn't a good boyfriend to Laurel, and nothing that's happened since has helped in that respect.
Aww, for Diggle and his baby, and Felicity was awesome as usual, whether it's multitasking at work, being adorkable on the date ("multiple times!") or calling Ollie on his mixed signals at the end.
The Flash: Maybe the buzz about it being a lighter show screwed with my expectations, but I found it to be a lot darker than I expected.
I mean, this was a show that had a scene where a little boy pulls the sheet off his murdered mother's corpse. How grimdark are superhero stories these days if The Flash is considered "light" for the genre?
I also thought that Detective West's outburst (where he tells Barry that Barry's dad killed Barry's mom) to be over the top brutal and unnecessary, especially when the character takes it back after about 3 minutes of screentime.
Ollie's conversation with Barry seemed utterly out of character, since Ollie has always been cautious about encouraging other people to fight. Amell seemed to be phoning in the scene, and I can't say I blame him.
I doubt I will ever care about the Barry/Iris/Other Guy triangle. Hopefully Iris will make a better impression on me in future episodes. Here she didn't seem that bright since she 1) couldn't read really obvious signs that Barry had a crush on her and 2) had her dissertation on a laptop that she apparently didn't back up.
I don't mind shallow-ish relationships if a show is fun, and I don't mind dark and angsty shows if there are complicated relationships, but shallow relationships + dark angst = boring for me.
I generally like Barry's demeanor (not every superhero has to be an angsty boy). I liked Cisco and Caitlin. I want to like this show, and if they dial back the angst and replace it with more humor and fun in future episodes, I probably will.
