Saturday 7 February 2015

ARROW, 3.12 - 'Uprising' • THE FLASH, 1.12 - 'Crazy For You'

Saturday 7 February 2015

ARROW – 'Uprising'

★★☆☆

It amuses me how Arrow regularly applies ideas from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy; cleverly disguised by mixing plot-points together or splitting one character's role between various members of Arrow's cast. The recent arc with Oliver Queen challenging Ra's al Ghul to a fight to the death, which left him (apparently) dead overseas while his precious city was left to the mercy of a burly English supervillain? Tweak a few details and it's just The Dark Knight Rises—which likewise featured a resolution where citizens helped Batman's allies take back their city by force.

I'm not complaining, because Arrow blurs the homages well enough—in flashbacks, John Barrowman's now playing Bizarro Bruce Wayne with '90s curtained hair! The fact Arrow has a larger ensemble means there are additional layers and subplots, too. I didn't like how they altered the specifics of Merlyn becoming the Dark Archer (reminded me of a storytelling crime Spider-Man 3 committed), and everyone's reaction to The Arrow returning home was... well, frustratingly low-key, considering his "murder" has been such a big deal since the mid-season finale.


THE FLASH – 'Crazy For You'

★☆☆☆

Can Barry Allen run faster than a woman who can teleport to any location within her range of vision? That was the question behind this week's Flash—or at least the primary story that predictably ended with Barry defeating this jail-breaking teleporter by restricting her vision. It was quite a leaden storyline, enlivened by a continuation of last week's plot with supervillain Hartley revealing Ronnie (a.k.a Firestorm) actually merged with a Dr Stein during the S.T.A.R. Labs disaster—explaining his unhinged personality, in addition to his pyrokinesis. Oh, and dull Dr Snow tried to prove she has a life by getting drunk at a karaoke bar, and bonkers Flash villain Gorilla Grodd made his debut in the denouement. A mid-year info-dump during a formulaic hour.