• Home
  • Writers, After Dark
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Charlie Jade Verse
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Contact Us
    • About Us

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Podcast
  • Interviews
  • Movie Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • DVD Reviews
  • Columns
  • News
    • TV News
    • Film News
    • DVD News
    • Online Entertainment News
    • Space News
    • Music News
    • On Stage
    • Geeky, Funny & Weird
5 Episodes In: “The Flash”, Season 3

5 Episodes In: “The Flash”, Season 3

November 29, 2016 By Gini Koch Leave a Comment

I’d started watching The Flash when it first came on, but then deadlines got the better of me and I just wasn’t into it, in part because I thought much of the acting was poor, and I stopped. The hubs, however, continued on and loves it.

Barry Allen, aka the Flash, did a guest shot late in Season 1 of Supergirl and it rekindled my interest in The Flash. And then, with Supergirl moved from CBS to the CW, with the prospect of crossovers galore within the Berlanti Superhero Factory Shows ™ (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow), I decided to tune in to The Flash again and see if I wanted to stick around. Turns out, I do.

Season 1 dealt with Barry (Grant Gustin) getting his powers, and discovering that a lot of other people got powers, too. Central City is pretty much the metahuman capitol of this particular world. Barry’s mother was murdered when he was a child and his father (former Flash, John Wesley Shipp) wrongfully imprisoned for her murder. So Barry grew up with detective Joe West (the ever-awesome Jesse L. Martin) and his daughter Iris (Candice Patton). Barry has always been in love with Iris.

Star Labs and its creator, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) were instrumental to Barry becoming the Flash, particularly Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes). And now it gets complicated.

Wells was evil because a speedster from the future stole his face in order to train Barry to be a worthy opponent. Sacrifices were made. Somewhere during this time Joe’s long-long/didn’t know you existed son, Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) also shows up to join Team Flash. And then, in Season 2, Barry realizes he can run fast enough to change time, so he goes back in time to save his mother’s life, which creates an alternate timeline – Flashpoint. Things are different, and not necessarily good for people Barry cares about, and Barry ultimately decides at the start of Season 3 that he’s been selfish and wrong—helped by the fact that the Flashpoint world is starting to have negative effects on him and others – and he has to make things right. So he goes back again, with the help of Reverse Flash/Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher) and allows his mother to be murdered – but things are again changed and again not all for the better. And, apparently Barry’s brought back Dr. Alchemy, who’s determined to give everyone who had powers in Flashpoint their powers back in the new timeline – including Wally.

Pictured (L-R): Violett Beane as Jesse Quick and Grant Gustin as The Flash — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Also, Caitlin and Cisco both have powers, there are 52 Earths (this IS a DC show, remember), and they find a good Wells and his speedster daughter, Jesse (Violett Beane), who help out, Caitlin and Cisco are both evil on at least one other Earth, and Barry’s changed things both in Central City and in the Arrowverse, aka on the show that started it all, Arrow. And it seems like everyone and their brother can access the speed force. Oh, and Barry’s father is now also dead and yet someone who looks just like him is a Flash from another Earth. Good Wells and his daughter have to go home, and they find yet another Wells from another Earth to fill in. He might be evil, he might be a flunky, he might be good, we don’t know.

Confused yet? You’d think you would be, right, but, honestly, it was pretty easy to jump back into this show – having, remember, only seen about 5 episodes of the first season – and follow along. The Berlanti shows are great about giving you pretty much all you really need to follow along in their opening credits.

The acting has greatly improved from Season 1. Martin and Gustin were always good, as was Cavanaugh, but the rest, even Panabaker, were inconsistent. Now, everyone’s settled into their roles and the cast has had to work to play different versions of themselves and I find that I no longer “notice” the acting, I’m just enjoying it.

The storyline is fun, because time travel in this show has consequences (unlike in Legends of Tomorrow where it sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t), and we see the results of Barry’s bad decisions play out in a variety of ways.

The show achieved some amazing casting this season as well, since we have Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy) as Barry’s co-worker/nemesis Julian Albert. Felton is a seasoned actor and he’s great – as with the Wells character, the show keeps you guessing – is he good, is he bad, is he just unimpressed with Barry, is he lonely? We don’t know yet, but Felton makes us want to find out.

The show keeps up with its namesake and is fast-paced, with a good blend of humor, romance, and mystery to go along with its action. Unlike Arrow, which tends to be on the dark side, The Flash remains reasonably sunny, even when things go bad. It’s also about to launch a four-show crossover week starting Monday, November 28th (beginning in Supergirl), which should be an excellent place to jump in if you haven’t given it a try yet. Now’s a great time to try out the speed force (and the rest of the Berlanti Superhero Factory ™ shows) and see if you want to run with it.

Rating: 4 Stars

5 Episodes In: "The Flash" Season 3
4

Summary

The show keeps up with its namesake and is fast-paced, with a good blend of humor, romance, and mystery to go along with its action. Unlike Arrow, which tends to be on the dark side, The Flash remains reasonably sunny, even when things go bad. It’s also about to launch a four-show crossover week starting Monday, November 28th (beginning in Supergirl), which should be an excellent place to jump in if you haven’t given it a try yet. Now’s a great time to try out the speed force (and the rest of the Berlanti Superhero Factory ™ shows) and see if you want to run with it.

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on Email

Filed Under: TV Reviews Tagged With: DC Entertainment

About Gini Koch

Gini Koch writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine "Kitty" Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles. She also has a humor collection, Random Musings from the Funny Girl. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series and she's made the most of multiple personality disorder by writing under a variety of other pen names as well, including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch. She has stories featured in a variety of excellent anthologies, available now and upcoming, writing as Gini Koch, Anita Ensal, and J.C. Koch. Reach her via: www.ginikoch.com

Related Posts

Brandon Easton: Writing the Worlds We Want to Live In
Slice of SciFi 865: All About Black Lightning
TV Talk: “Black Lightning”
“Man of Steel” Live Online Fan Event

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Filter by Categories
Active Contests
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Slice

Follow Slice of SciFi

  • twitter
  • youtube
  • facebook

Listen to Slice of SciFi

  • iheartradio
  • playerfm

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsiHeartRadioStitcherPodchaserTuneInRSS
  • Movie & TV Reviews

Father's Day - Deals on 4K UHD Collections

Recent Comments

  • Greg R. on “Hotel Artemis” offers splendid lodgings: “Hotel Artemis – I just had the chance to watch Hotel Artemis again on SHO and looking for an answer…”
  • Raymond Stevens on Reviewing “Return to Sender”: “Killing her dad’s dog was unnecessary and cruel. I then felt instant dislike for this woman. Giving the rapist POS…”
  • Eric Wiggins on “The Equalizer 2” explores retribution and consequences: “Very very well written. Im drinking ?and ?. But im watching equalizer 2 an was looking up random stuff. Awesome…”
  • janet p on “The Equalizer 2” explores retribution and consequences: “hope for equalizer 3”
  • Bb on Reviewing “Return to Sender”: “I HATED she killed Bennie the dog. Bennie recognized that Miranda is off kilter. Both Miranda and Finn are serious…”
Tweets by Slice of SciFi
death to humans 160x600
Save 20 on all pre-order statues at TFAW.com!

Slice of SciFi
415 Pisgah Church Rd #302
Greensboro NC 27455
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
The Babylon Podcast
Charlie Jade Verse
Slice of SciFi TV

Slice

Copyright Slice of SciFi © 2005–2023 · WordPress · Log in