The Flash - season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Yes, a good episode, and I agree that Cadabra is one of THE strongest and most entertaining villains. And I was SO glad that it was Joe and not Barry that took matters into his own hands. A nice change.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Gonna be a long wait. Excellent episode.

Was interesting how Joe was the catalyst, it felt more real. Abra was such a great villian. Maybe he can escape to once again bring some "fun" to Central City as a villian. About on par with "The Trickster".

 

[Hank_P]

How can we scan for everything in the world or on the planet, but couldn't find a massive power source down the hall? Cisco, you kind of suck buddy....hehehe. And once we ripped the necklace off and she started healing herself, any reason we couldn't put the necklace back on? At one minute, we are following the smartest, brightest minds we have ever seen in a super hero show. The next minute, the same people can't seem to tie their own shoes.

 

[Matt Hough]

New episode tonight. I was rolling my eyes a bit as the 2017 Barry wandered around his 2024 timeline saying "I'm so sorry" to everyone he met. I kept wondering if that was ALL the show was going to be about, but it finally snapped out of that and actually presented some story.
I thought for sure we were going to see Savatar's identity tonight, but it's got to be fairly soon, doesn't it?

 

[TonyD]

I was happy to see a flash in a suit that was actually red.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

"Secrets always were our thing, weren't they?" You got THAT right. Not "Arrow" bad, but not great.

New episode tonight. I was rolling my eyes a bit as the 2017 Barry wandered around his 2024 timeline saying "I'm so sorry" to everyone he met. I kept wondering if that was ALL the show was going to be about, but it finally snapped out of that and actually presented some story.

The one thing I really liked about this episode is that it finally broke Barry out of his single-minded focus to save Iris. That's still priority number one for him, but if he can't save her at least he's going to make a stronger effort not to drop the ball with everybody else. It was nice to see him give the bleak 2024 of that timeline some hope and camaraderie again. And I particularly liked that Cisco was still Cisco, even though he took his lumps like everybody else.

I thought for sure we were going to see Savatar's identity tonight, but it's got to be fairly soon, doesn't it?

Spoiler

Based on the synopses released by the network, It will be within the next three episodes. Team Flash (and the audience) will know going into the finale.

Interesting that 2024 Barry talked about trying to use time remnants against Savitar, and Savitar killing them all mostly. That mostly is more fuel on the fire for my theory that Savitar is actually some version of Barry Allen.

I was happy to see a flash in a suit that was actually red.

Definitely dug the 2024 suit. My favorite part was using the belt to create the lightning bolt around his waist instead of just having little lightning bolt decals around the buckle. Definitely much closer to the classic comics costume than the 2017 suit.

 

[NeilO]

I guess by 2024 most people have forgotten that someone with Wells' face was evil and he was able to use his normal face on his books. (Or the writers forgot about this.)

I still don't understand why Barry and the team have yet to use any of the resources of the Time Vault. You'd think that Abra Kadabra plucking a device out of there might have prompted them to think there's something else of use.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

I guess by 2024 most people have forgotten that someone with Wells' face was evil and he was able to use his normal face on his books. (Or the writers forgot about this.)

I'm still confused as to why Wells would have even been evil in the first place in this timeline. Eobard never had the chance to kill the real Wells after Flashpoint, so the real Wells should still running around.

Unless I missed something.

 

[Jeffery_H]

Who Savitar is has been revealed already for those of us that know the comics. We have been FAR ahead of the TV viewers since the beginning, but it's still nice to see it played out on screen and remain mostly true to the comic version.

But as we have seen with Wells, the show does take a decided twist to mix things up between the TV show and the comics. Still, it should come as no surprise to who Savitar really is by now. There are just two options depending upon rather they stay with the comics or go with a slightly different take:

Savitar is -

Spoiler

1. Berry Allen - From the future

or

2. Ronnie Raymond - AKA Deathstorm

The reasons why they are doing this I can explain in detail, but again some will already be obvious. After the reveal I can post more about this.

Also, it should come as no shock that both is and is NOT Iris. Surprised many have not picked up on this and she does indeed die, but it may not be her. Actually we will see a character written out most likely if they go with it:

Spoiler

Caitlin Snow - She comes back to being herself and uses basically the same type of technology that RF did to look like Wells, only she appears as Iris to save her and complete the timeline.

 

[NeilO]

I'm still confused as to why Wells would have even been evil in the first place in this timeline. Eobard never had the chance to kill the real Wells after Flashpoint, so the real Wells should still running around.

Unless I missed something.

How they treat the timeline in The Flash is not consistent and is hard to wrap our heads around Eobard killed Wells so that The Flash would be created some 10 years earlier than in Eobard's original timeline. So, if we have this current Flash we must have had the evil that Eobard-Wells did.

 

[DaveF]

There was some decent stuff in the episode. But it also had typically The Flash randomness. Barry's motivations and choices continue to not make sense. And time travel...

 

[Sam Favate]

James Gunn posted this article (from a few years back) today, which discusses how spoilers aren't necessarily detrimental to an audience. It also touches on how many projects write for spoilers, meaning they write in anticipation of "surprising" the audience, and how it's not really necessary for the enjoyment of the movie or show.

Anyway, as much as I enjoy Flash/Arrow/Supergirl/Legends, I think the writers of those shows could learn a lot from this article. There are a lot of "surprises" in these shows that feel forced, and the set-up of the characters to that end is often uncharacteristic.

Surprises are much more fun to plan than experience. The human mind is a prediction machine, which means that it registers most surprises as a cognitive failure, a mental mistake. Our first reaction is almost never “How cool! I never saw that coming!” Instead, we feel embarrassed by our gullibility, the dismay of a prediction error. While authors and screenwriters might enjoy composing those clever twists, they should know that the audience will enjoy it far less.

Spoilers Don’t Spoil Anything

https://www.wired.com/2011/08/spoilers-dont-spoil-anything/

 

[DaveF]

James Gunn posted this article (from a few years back) today, which discusses how spoilers aren't necessarily detrimental to an audience. It also touches on how many projects write for spoilers, meaning they write in anticipation of "surprising" the audience, and how it's not really necessary for the enjoyment of the movie or show.

...

Spoilers Don’t Spoil Anything

https://www.wired.com/2011/08/spoilers-dont-spoil-anything/

Nonetheless, I hope everyone will continue to use Spoiler tags for spoilers on content not revealed within the show itself. (There's a general agreement that for movies, within the first two weeks reviews and discussions should use spoiler tags of major plot elements. But for TV shows that seems impractical to me. And it's reader beware if reading past the date of what you've watched.)

I assume The Expanse is not revealed by readers of the Leviathon Wakes series and that The Flash spoilers are ruined by longtime comics readers.

 

[Sam Favate]

Nonetheless, I hope everyone will continue to use Spoiler tags for spoilers on content not revealed within the show itself. (There's a general agreement that for movies, within the first two weeks reviews and discussions should use spoiler tags of major plot elements. But for TV shows that seems impractical to me. And it's reader beware if reading past the date of what you've watched.)

Oh yes. I was not suggesting people stop using spoilers. I was suggesting that writers stop writing in order to shock or surprise the audience.

 

[NeilO]

One friend pointed out a possible way out of Iris being killed by Savitar. Make sure it isn't Iris. They do have a friend that could look exactly like Iris who could probably survive the attack. I doubt they would do this, but it does bear consideration.

 

[DaveF]

Oh yes. I was not suggesting people stop using spoilers. I was suggesting that writers stop writing in order to shock or surprise the audience.

I don't agree with that either. Shock and surprise are fundamental to storytelling.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I always think about that Hitchcock quote about the difference between surprise and suspense:

There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.

The Arrowverse shows are heavy on surprise, but I agree with Sam that they could use a bit more suspense.

 

[Sam Favate]

I always think about that Hitchcock quote about the difference between surprise and suspense:
.

Yes. Oh man, that's brilliant. It's no wonder Hitchcock was a master at suspense.

 

[DaveF]

I always think about that Hitchcock quote about the difference between surprise and suspense:

The Arrowverse shows are heavy on surprise, but I agree with Sam that they could use a bit more suspense.

Fair enough. I didn't read Sam's post closely enough.

Anyway, as much as I enjoy Flash/Arrow/Supergirl/Legends, I think the writers of those shows could learn a lot from this article. There are a lot of "surprises" in these shows that feel forced, and the set-up of the characters to that end is often uncharacteristic.

Because I agree wholly with this. I've been frustrated with an aspect since Season 1. They write the characters to make stupid choice to force cheap "drama" rather than doing the hard work of writing smart characters -- and smart villains -- and letting that play out. And I still don't understand Barry's behavior in the Speed Force or choosing to time travel again.

I want shock and surprise. But grounding that in suspense which comes from good writing makes them effective.

 

[Garysb]

Who Savitar is has been revealed already for those of us that know the comics. We have been FAR ahead of the TV viewers since the beginning, but it's still nice to see it played out on screen and remain mostly true to the comic version.

But as we have seen with Wells, the show does take a decided twist to mix things up between the TV show and the comics. Still, it should come as no surprise to who Savitar really is by now. There are just two options depending upon rather they stay with the comics or go with a slightly different take:

Savitar is -

Spoiler

1. Berry Allen - From the future

or

2. Ronnie Raymond - AKA Deathstorm

The reasons why they are doing this I can explain in detail, but again some will already be obvious. After the reveal I can post more about this.

Also, it should come as no shock that both is and is NOT Iris. Surprised many have not picked up on this and she does indeed die, but it may not be her. Actually we will see a character written out most likely if they go with it:

Spoiler

Caitlin Snow - She comes back to being herself and uses basically the same type of technology that RF did to look like Wells, only she appears as Iris to save her and complete the timeline.

They have already shown what Savitar looks like under his costume from the back so you couldn't tell who it was. He was built much more like your second choice. If it turns out that your 1st choice is Savitar, that is some serious retcon.