GregHowley.com

Superhero stuff has been blowing up of late, and I'm not just talking about Age of Ultron. While the movie was great, television has been doing a good amount of catch-up. And while DC is generally playing Zune to Marvel's iPod in terms of big screen movies, they're really starting to do well in terms of television. I've never been able to get into Arrow, but ever since I read Mark Schultz's excellent novel The Flash: Stop Motion, I've been a fan of The Flash. So when I heard that there was going to be a new show based on that character, I was in. I don't read comics, but I love the stories.

While the way The Flash's powers are handled in the TV show aren't all I could have hoped after reading what I did in the Mark Schultz novel, that can easily be attributed to him having only had access to the speed force for a few months. And I love that there's actually reference to the speed force (from Eobard Thawne) in the show. I can only hope that as things move forward, they go into how Barry can actually speed up his mind and think/perceive at super-speed. I mean, he'd have to in order to react quickly enough to turn a corner at speed, right? His reactions would necessarily have to speed up to match his land speed. That's why it kills me when he can't get out of the way of some bad guy punching at him. It should be as easy for him as it's presented in the best on-screen representation of a speedster I've ever seen: Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The Flash's first season finale was this week, so if you're worried about spoilers you may want to skip the rest of what I'm writing, although I'll keep spoilers minor.

I really didn't like Captain Cold as a villain. And I think it's ridiculous that his only power is a gun, and that team Flash finds him formidable in any way given that they built the freeze gun he uses. Break or steal the gun and his powers are gone. And you can at any time create his match by building another gun. Also, the actor's performance just doesn't do it for me.

I do love that they neatly wrapped up the season one plotline, leaving room for something entirely new next season. I'll remain happy with that as long as they don't pull some alternate timeline BS that brings dead characters back to life. And they've still got GRODD for next season. It's impressive that they could pull off a giant psychic gorilla without having it seem completely stupid.

My favorite episode during season one was probably the one with Mark Hamill, who is so good. His Empire Strikes Back reference had Linda and I shouting and laughing. Amazing. The show does nerd references so well. I cracked up when Barry went to meet Captain Cold and Foreigner's Cold as Ice was playing in the background. But generally, it's Cisco with the references.

Aahhh, Cisco. Such a great character. I just really hope they don't ruin him by giving him powers the way they ruined Mohinder Suresh in Heroes. I'm a firm believer that you don't need to give every character powers.

Also, Iris. She's written so annoyingly. The same way that Skye was so annoying initially in Agents of SHIELD. Granted, Skye had the annoying Wesley Crusher thing going as well. But Iris feels like an out-of-place character. I like her best when she's just being Barry's best friend. When she's having romantic moments, there's just no chemistry. With Eddie, that's likely just because the character comes across as gay and that breaks any suspension of disbelief. But she's got no chemistry with Barry either. And she needs to have more going on than just their relationship.

So they seem to have set up CW's Legends of Tomorrow fairly well, although including Captain Cold as a team member seems suspect, especially given his shenanigans in the finale. All the crossing over in these shows is a laudable imitation of what Marvel has done in its movies. I can only wonder whether Supergirl will also cross over, given that it's a different network. Apparently, Netflix's Daredevil may appear in Marvel movies, so I suppose that anything's possible.