Arrow/The Flash

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I will lump these two together since they are on the same network, have the same creative team, and have already crossed over with each other two or three times. Just to give you my indication of the quality of these two shows, my advice to DC, who is desperately trying to catch up in the superhero movie market, is "keep these actors and this creative team then transition them to the big screen".

Initially, I watched a couple of episodes of Arrow on a lark because I was bored one Saturday. Despite being from the first season, and most TV shows haven't found themselves during their first season, the writing, acting, and action were actually pretty good so I kept watching it. The more I watched it the more impressed I was--Arrow is an example of how a TV-based superhero show should be shot.
The usual cast of expected characters showed up--Huntress (in the show one of Oliver's ex-girlfriends), Merlyn (played by John Barrowman, who many will know as Capt. Jack Harkness from Dr. Who and Torchwood), Deathstroke, Deadshot, Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), Count Vertigo (who was only a specialty drug manufacturer), Clock King, etc. Canary showed up beginning the second season, as did Speedy/Arsenal. Season Three has brought us Nyssa (apparently Ra's A;-Ghul's *other* daughter), Cupid, Ra's Al-Ghul himself, Katana (from the Outsiders), Captain Boomerang, Amanda Waller--complete with at least one version of her Suicide Squad--and one or two I may have missed. Oh--Dr. Ray Palmer, played by Brandon Routh (who already has a DC character under his belt), who is working on the ATOM suit now that he bought Queen Consolidated and turned it into Palmer Technologies.
Anyway...the writing has gotten better and the show's quality has improved for it. I didn't know the actor playing Ra's but he delivered the lines quite nicely: "I have replaced evil with death. I have killed thousands of evil men over the years and the world is better off for it".
The only part of the show I don't like is that it is targeted to twentysomethings and young thirtysomethings so the overly dramatic love troubles get on my nerves--can they quit agonizing over it, just say what is on their minds, and then make a decision already? Seriously, the indecision gives me more gray hairs. *sigh*

Flash. They introduced Barry Allen on Arrow (he was working a joint case between Central City and Starling City PDs) then had the accident. He had given Oliver advice about being a hero before getting his own powers then had to seek advice from Oliver after receiving them. They have been much more willing to introduce actual super-powered characters: Captain Cold (who doesn't actually have any powers, of course), The Mist, some guy who turns into metal whose name I do not know, and, of course, Reverse Flash (correctly set up as the primary antagonist, given that in the show he killed Barry's mother when Barry was 11 years old). In the mid-season cliffhanger we even got to see Ronny Raymond, otherwise known as Firestorm (who may or may not actually be Ron Raymond....).
Again, this show is targeted to the same audience so there is a little overly-dramatized "romantic" tension here and there but otherwise the show is cleverly written. Now that they have gotten the first half season under their belts, though, they need to make sure the show doesn't degenerate into "Metavillain of the Week".

The rambling notwithstanding, the point is that these shows are well done and DC should pick them up as they are for conversion into movies, not going off in some other direction with different actors and writers.

[sgt.null]

is the metal guy Girder?

www.comicvine.com/girder/4005-5717/

I have yet to see either show. and I really want to. they look great. I haven't been able to follow Gotham either.

I hate my shift.

[Fist and Faith]

I enjoy The Flash. Some of the things they do are stupid. His defeat of (let's just call him) Girder being among the best examples. And the fact that Girder, or anybody but RF, ever lays a hand on him drives me up the wall. He's so damned smart, and uses his speed brilliantly in one instance, then stands there while somebody punches him. But the good outweighs the bad, for sure.

Arrow is way too capable for me. I stopped watching long ago, so don't know if they explained why he's impossibly skilled in fighting and archery, and impossibly fast with the archery, just because he had to fight a lot on the island. Did he get some of Deathstroke's chemicals or something? But the overall plotlines are good, and it's all visually great.

The Arrow/Flash fight in last week's Flash was really great. Arrow telling him all the stuff he's doing wrong was great. He's more like the comic Batman than Green Arrow in how he thinks ahead and researches everything.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Leave it to Sarge to know the obscure comic book characters. Yes, that's him--even the name is the same, Tony Woodward.

As I said, the most obvious weakness of The Flash right now is they are in "supervillain of the week" mode and they need to get out of that--make each villain run two episodes for more character depth.

Arrow is supposed to be highly skilled--he did nothing for a couple of years but get trained by Deathstroke then went to work for Amanda Waller in Hong Kong. Five years of working out and intense training will make anyone skilled. He wasn't quite good enough to take on Ra's, though....no surprise there.

[sgt.null]

Leave it to Sarge to know the obscure comic book characters. Yes, that's him--even the name is the same, Tony Woodward.

all I needed was to know he was "some guy who turns to metal."