The Flash - season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Oliver Ravencrest]

Zoom wants you to race him so he can harvest your energy to destroy all existence!
I better race him to save my family who will all be killed if I race him!

The business about Earth 1 not being destroyed or Barry's plan came out only later. His initial behavior was a repeat of his previous debacle of giving up his powers to Zoom to save Wally...an ignoring the obvious fact that then enabled Zoom to then kill Wally and everyone else with impunity. I want better writing that shows me an imperfect Barry, who is angry and grief-stricken and more irrational from that, without making him a complete fool for the sake of plot tension.

Subsequently, Barry saw through the false dichotomy a constructed a novel solution. But I didn't like the story-telling path to getting there.

If Joseph's interpretation is correct, that would make sense of it. But watching, the show didn't communicate that to me.

I see your point and understand it but after some of the boneheaded decisions made on the show, I'm just going to assume it (Barry racing and creating a remnant) was all apart of Barry's plan. I like to think that Barry finally leaned from his past mistakes. Otherwise, trying to fully understand some of this is enough to give one a headache. The final scene pretty much undoes everything from both seasons, that annoys me more than anything else that happened. The writers really need to step up their game next year, this could have been a great season.

 

[DaveF]

Fair enough.

And I hope for improvements next season. S2 substantially improved on S1 on the episode-level stories and dramatic events. It was on course to be a nearly perfect season, except for one or two major blunders.

While I'm still not Team Iris, the actors have improved and there's more chemistry between them than in the beginning. (But I still pine for Spivek ).

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I agree about Barry and Iris having better chemistry this season but he was a much better fit with Patty, I miss her. The acting by everyone improved this year. I still feel season 1 was better, partly because we didn't know where things were going and this year mirrored last year to some degree. This is still one of my favourite shows.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Fair enough.
While I'm still not Team Iris, the actors have improved and there's more chemistry between them than in the beginning. (But I still pine for Spivek ).

Season One Iris was basically nails on a chalkboard every scene she was in. They at least made the character halfway likable this season. A big part of that is really nailing the blended family dynamic of Joe, Barry, Iris and now Wally. Those scenes are usually the strongest of the entire series. I do prefer Barry and Iris as pseudo-siblings to romantic interests, but I'm just glads the days of Barry pining for Iris and Iris obliviously stomping on his heart are over.

One thing I'm interested in: do the ripples from changes to the timeline spread across universes? Will Earth-2 Harry Wells and Jesse's timelines be impacted by Barry's decision to rewrite the Earth-1 timeline? Or will they happily remember things exactly the way they've gone down so far, and only discover the new timeline if they hop back over? The multiverse stuff with Earth-1, Earth-2, the "Supergirl" Earth and now Jay Garrick's Earth-3 works well for me. The time travel stuff remains a fucking disaster. They needed to decide up front on some basic, concrete, unassailable rules and stick with them. As it stands now, a lot comes across as hand-waving. It's a big problem on both this show and "Legends of Tomorrow".

 

[DaveF]

"
Barry’s romance with Patty (Shantel VanSanten) had some promise, but it felt like romance for the sake of romance, and it didn’t make sense he’d pursue it in light of the ongoing threat of Zoom and other struggles. His continued romantic fixation with Iris (Candice Patton) — with his adopted sister — will never work for me. Barry’s rapport with Joe, animated by great Gustin/Martin chemistry, is one the show’s greatest strengths and best sources of meaning. There wasn’t enough of it in season 2, due to the decision to introduce a biological son for Joe, Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale), and the effort to nurture Barry’s motivation for changing time by emphasizing his attachment to Henry. But Henry was an intermittent and awkward presence this season, especially during the endgame, and Shipp’s performance struck me as conspicuously stilted. Neither the writers nor Shipp knew what to do with the character until he could fulfill his function, i.e., getting killed by Zoom. (Small tangent: It does blunt the impact of a major character death when you can keep the actor by having them play a multiverse double. In the case of Cavanaugh and Harrison Wells, this was inevitable and absolutely essential; Cavanaugh is indispensable. Shipp as Jay Garrick? I thought that reveal diminished the sting of Henry’s brutal exit.)

"
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/25/flash-season-2-review

 

[Sam Favate]

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/25/flash-season-2-review

Who orders a 2,000 word review of a TV show? Yikes.

 

[ponset]

My Dream came true, JWS has been reveal as the one-true JAY GARRICK. YAY!!!
He sure look sweat wearing the uniform and helmet.
Maybe Amanda Pays could play JOAN GARRICK next season.

 

[Richard V]

JWS as Jay Garrick is truly wonderful. He not only looks the part, but is the sentimental favorite to play him. AND, introducing the real Jay to the Arrowverse opens up a whole new expansion of the DC TVU. He can appear on all 3 of the current shows, and possibly even on Supergirl as well. I am super excited to see the JSA being introduced next year into the Arrowverse, as they have always been my favorite Superhero group. Dying to see Jay Garrick, Rex Tyler (Hourman), Wesley Dodds (The Golden Age Sandman), Kent Nelson (Dr. Fate), and I hope Charles McNider (Dr. Midnight) on a retro-styled Earth 3. Would be awesome and a personal dream come true.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

More appearances by Shipp is a good thing, even on other shows in costume. I'd even watch Legends of Tomorrow again if he's on it.

 

[JamesSmith]

I like Ship as the real Jay Garrick, but I would have also enjoyed him as the Barry Allen from whatever Earth his show was based on.

I also hate the fact that Henry died. I would argue to the screenwriters and producers of the show, that they were really overdoing the "death of a parent" story point that Superman and Batman have. It was unnecessary.

They could have still kept Henry and had Shipp be Garrick as well.

James

 

[JamesSmith]

Also feel that Barry changing the timeline (and saving his mother] as the second season cliffhanger runs the risk of treading already established plot lines. It might have been best to introduce another theme or direction for season three. The mentor turned traitor has been explored enough, as well as the death of Barry's mother being a pivotal point in our hero's journey as the Flash. Granted, I can seen as a series finale, Barry being able to successfully going back in time and saving his mother's life bringing about the destruction of the universe, but not now.

Could it have been more clues to the possible destruction of Earth 2? to the Crisis? the Mirror Master? I would love it if the writers of the series would look at the first 200 issues of Barry's comic book run and see what other plot points they can gather from the comics. They should really try to have some "fun" stories based on the comics. For example, when Flash got an elongated head, became fat or caught in a different but not parallel universe. Perhaps an exploration with how show time seems to be to Barry when he's moving at super speed.

James

 

[TonyD]

That's what I wonder.

My guess for Zoom...Joe West or Barry's Dad.

Barry's dad. Woah that's the best one yet. I like it.

So no theories on all the Garricks' and Zolomons running around.

I'm thinking at least 3 have been seen at the same time but only in the last bit from King Shark ep.

Zoom is E-2's Zolomon.
Mask is E-2's Garrick
Dead Flash = I don't know.

Missing is E-1's Garrick and Zolomon so IDK is probably one of them.

And the "real" Jay Garrick will be played by John Wesley Shipps. Do you remember. When Barry first went to Earth 2, they showed clips of Supergirl and the Shipps' Flash.
Supergirl later showed up, so I'm betting that cameo was a clue to something.

James

I remember that in SG. Also how could I have not thought of that. Plus that would be one of the greatest things ever on tv if that happened.

I said Mask is E2 Garrick but James took it further and nailed it.

 

[Sam Favate]

I also hate the fact that Henry died. I would argue to the screenwriters and producers of the show, that they were really overdoing the "death of a parent" story point that Superman and Batman have. It was unnecessary.

Writers on these shows seem to have no other way to elicit an emotional response from their characters (or their audience) than killing off characters. Besides the fact that I was never a fan of this, it has worn so thin that at this point it's expected.

If the Flash and the rest of these shows are to feel fresh when they come back next season, they need another plot device to explore deep emotional impact.

 

[DaveF]

Was there payoff for Sysco vibing the destruction of Earth 2? I thought that was going to be a major plot development. But I don't recall it being addressed in the finale, except for "Must stop Zoom before he destroys Multiverse".

My original guess was the E2 tone generator used to knock out all the E2 meta's was going to have unintended consequences: the mass bird deaths and subsequent damage to E2.

Maybe it was a setup for S3?

 

[JamesSmith]

it might have been better if "Zoom" had been revealed to be Barry from a possible future, played be either Ship or a the current Flash ( with sufficient makeup that would allow him to pass as aged).

That would have been a better twist, that Zoom himself had been Barry, who's longing to be the fastest had corrupted him.

James

 

[DaveF]

What I expected, based on preceding episodes: was Zoom had fractured himself into three personas. This was suggested in the Velocity 9 episode, with Caitlin's scientist colleague who suffered severe personality disorder from V9. So, Zoom was fractured into: Good Jay Garrick, Caitlin's new love, Zoom Jay Garrick, evil overlord; and enigmatic imprisoned Jay Garrick, with role yet to be revealed. This was also suggested in a previous episode when a closeup to the back of Zoom's prisoner showed a hairline similar to Jay's, along with a body frame that was slim and compact like Jay's (and nothing like Shipp). Zoom knew about the fracture, and had captured one of his elements. But Good Jay and imprisoned Jay may or may not have known. Perhaps in a Horcrux-ian story, Zoom's goal was to reunite his fractured self to then be vastly more powerful than Barry.

So I had my own internal story that, to me, was much more interesting than what the writers actually produced.

 

[JamesSmith]

What I expected, based on preceding episodes: was Zoom had

So I had my own internal story that, to me, was much more interesting than what the writers actually produced.

So true. So very very true. Thank you Dave.
James