Board 8 > Television Discussion Topic 2.0

(+) Yeah! (+)

It purged and I'm bringing it back!

Watching Black Lightning from last night right now. Lady Eve is fantastic and is what the show needs.

Flash was decent. As bad as the trial was I like Barry's story line in jail and like Team Flash having to deal without him.
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I couldn't believe how stupid Barry was to set Big Sir free like that, right after being confronted by the warden for helping him. Granted, I didn't see what followed coming, but did he seriously think no one would notice?

Rest of the episode was fun though.
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I couldn't believe Big Sir exists on this show.
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Need to see the latest Flash still, but WOW that trial was one of the worst I have ever seen on any tv show...like goddamn that was terrible. The episode after was solid and I am liking Ralph. I actually thought he was Plastic Man, but hes Elongated Man instead. I uh dont know the difference between the two having close to 0 comic experience.

I still wish the show would quit with the Were the Flash thing because honestly Iris provides almost nothing of value. Her leader role could easily be done by Caitlin when shes not on active team duty, Cisco for the same reason, Wells or even literally just an AI program if need be >_>

Ive only seen a couple random episodes lately (super behind), but I love the "we're the flash". Really good counter to the whole "GOTTA PROTECT MY S/O FROM THE HARSH REALITY OF MY CRIME FIGHTING" mentality most heroes get into. Especially Barry. Ugh @ him doing that to Patty non stop in season 2.
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I'm basically all into Berlanti shows right now. Just finished all of Riverdale S1 and getting into S2, that show is so dumb and awesome.

Also I liked the Flash trial episode. A lot of people miss the point of the Thinker, saying stuff like "why didn't Iris record her conversation or Team Flash show X evidence or do Y and Z????? so dumb!!!!" when the whole point is that the Thinker had thought of every possible way the trial could've turned out and had workarounds for literally everything. The instant Barry entered his apartment, it was guaranteed he would be in jail. In fact, the instant Team Flash opened the rift to bring Barry back in E1, this was the inevitable conclusion.

Jail episode and Ralph going solo was cool too. They have definitely found a good way to make darker episodes without going into sheer boring depression like in S3.
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People still watch television?
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It comes off as forced because Barry didnt develop that way. The writing just started forcing it early so they could use great CW drama nobody wanted to see for some episodes.
Iris honestly just exists as Barrys waifu and the show has seemingly completely forgotten her journalist career since I cant even remember the last time she was actually working.

As for the trial of course The Thinker knee how it would all go down. The point is the way the trial was covered.
His defense was almost nothing and sure part of that is because he accepted whatever his fate was, but they made no real effort of any kind to do anything. Literally just his boss as the only testimony to his character and it makes Cecile seem like a super terrible lawyer since there was never any real point where she seemed on top.

Also it would at least be better if the viewer had literally any idea what Thinkers plan is. Right now its literally just everything is going according to my plan you will find out at the end of the season or possibly sometime next season depending on how long Im the villain flavor of the month. Id be more hopeful its some good plan, but the show has had some pretty horrific writing for a while now :(

swordz9 posted...

Literally just his boss as the only testimony to his character and it makes Cecile seem like a super terrible lawyer since there was never any real point where she seemed on top.

His boss was the main witness of the murder and also the one who arrested Barry. So his testimony was the most important. That part was fine.

Cecile did end up looking weak as hell, which was bad. But also intentional I think, since the whole team was supposed to look totally helpless. They should've had her winning strongly at the beginning though before having the rug pulled from under her (the one thing about the wife cheating wasn't nearly enough, and it was also all Joe/Ralph).

swordz9 posted...

Also it would at least be better if the viewer had literally any idea what Thinkers plan is

Definitely not. Flash seasons are always based on this mystery. Sure, the previous couple payoff have sucked ass, but at least the mystery was there for the duration of the season to pull it along.
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swordz9 posted...

Iris honestly just exists as Barrys waifu and the show has seemingly completely forgotten her journalist career since I cant even remember the last time she was actually working.

If they gave her a journalism storyline I guarantee you'd complain about it being a waste of time
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My issue with the trial is it should've never gone to trial. By now Barry should be able to trust Captain Singh enough to pull him aside and be like "hey i'm the flash and i'm being set up by some brainy metahuman". I mean maybe The Thinker would've had answer to that too, and that's fine, but I don't like that they didn't even try to go that route.
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There were still several holes in the episode though. She said she feared for her husbands life and literally not one person questioned her in the trial for why she let her wheelchair-bound husband go alone to visit somebody she thought was dangerous? Literally what person on Earth would even do that. It completely destroys her caring devastated wife testimony.

He also violated his own restraining order against Barry and that wasnt really brought up either. Not to mention they didnt even bother to question the new DaVoe and just immediately believed her story about how that arrangement was all set up. Like he totally couldve had motive to want DaVoe dead and they completely ignored ANY sort of motive Barry had. Like they never even mentioned WHY he would possibly want to murder him and then the judge just calls him the worst monster hes ever seen. So much of it was just cringe

swordz9 posted...

judge just calls him the worst monster hes ever seen.

This was by far the worse part
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Oh yeah and Barrys house alarm was going off which you know usually means somebody tried to break in and that was completely ignored during the trial as well...

Honestly probably the worst part is that Barry is a goddamn forensic scientist with tons of assisted arrests under his belt and people are supposed to believe he was stupid enough to be caught red-handed murdering someone almost immediately? A guy of his intelligence and profession would normally be thought to be more than capable of getting away with crimes

The whole crime and trial were terribly written so I cant even really defend any of it. It was basically S3-4 Arrow Felicity level of terrible writing

If you gave Iris a plotline like Lois Lane used to get in the mid-00s, where Iris used her superhero contacts to propel her investigations into more serious and less superheroic concerns it would be great. Lois used to investigate the shady shit LexCorp did that wasn't in Superman's umbrella. He can't make sure tenements are getting clean water. He can't stop gerrymandering. Lois could use a little superheroic push here and there to make her exposition of these elements more flashy.

Take Iris, have her call in Hawkgirl for ten minutes to help her, then have Iris use whatever knowledge was accrued with Hawkgirl's help to take down the mayor or a city planner or something like that. That's where Iris should be. Iris whispering sweet nothings into the lab mic so Barry gets his confidence back and runs faster is the sort of Marvel shit I don't want on my DC shows. That's Mary Jane tier. That's Jean Grey level.
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swordz9 posted...

Honestly probably the worst part is that Barry is a goddamn forensic scientist with tons of assisted arrests under his belt and people are supposed to believe he was stupid enough to be caught red-handed murdering someone almost immediately?

swordz9 posted...

Not to mention they didnt even bother to question the new DaVoe and just immediately believed her story about how that arrangement was all set up.

swordz9 posted...

She said she feared for her husbands life and literally not one person questioned her in the trial for why she let her wheelchair-bound husband go alone to visit somebody she thought was dangerous?

foolm0r0n posted...

A lot of people miss the point of the Thinker, saying stuff like "why didn't Iris record her conversation or Team Flash show X evidence or do Y and Z????? so dumb!!!!"

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I just some saw spoiler pics of future Flash episodes. I dunno how far into the future they are and because I havent seen last nights episode I dunno if they happened so Im spoiler tagging them anyways. The Flash spoilers Iris was in a superhero-like costume...yeah Im gonna hate where theyre going since I dont like her character at all

foolm0r0n posted...

swordz9 posted...

Honestly probably the worst part is that Barry is a goddamn forensic scientist with tons of assisted arrests under his belt and people are supposed to believe he was stupid enough to be caught red-handed murdering someone almost immediately?

swordz9 posted...

Not to mention they didnt even bother to question the new DaVoe and just immediately believed her story about how that arrangement was all set up.

swordz9 posted...

She said she feared for her husbands life and literally not one person questioned her in the trial for why she let her wheelchair-bound husband go alone to visit somebody she thought was dangerous?

foolm0r0n posted...

A lot of people miss the point of the Thinker, saying stuff like "why didn't Iris record her conversation or Team Flash show X evidence or do Y and Z????? so dumb!!!!"

With everything around the case this basically just boils down to we can get away with whatever bad writing we want with Thinker because its all according to his plan which is sort of similar to all the bad writing they got away with because lol time travel

the only tv show I currently watch is supergirl

this season has been pretty good

don't really see it get discussed too much anywhere, though. even the supergirltv reddit is very, very slow and gets very few posts in even the most active threads.
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You don't like Iris swordz?

I couldn't tell
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Only shows I'm currently keeping up with are The Good Place and Crazy Ex Girlfriend

And they're both consistently excellent
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My Immortal posted...

You don't like Iris swordz?

I couldn't tell

Someone's gotta stand up for Patty Spivot, the generic whitebread "quirky but somehow lacking a tangibly unique personality" cop who randomly went splitsville.
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Just the alarm throws the entire case out the window. I mean for it to even have gone off youd have to either believe that a man who was almost completely paralyzed set it off either by breaking in to the house of somebody he thought was dangerous enough to get a restraining order against or somehow managing to trigger it in some other way; or that cold calculating murderer who passed himself off as one of the good guys for years set off his own house alarm by some extremely unlikely way to kill a nearly completely paralyzed man he had no motive to kill. Theres just no believable way that alarm was set off no matter how you spin it because DaVoe would be as easy to kill as a baby

swordz9 posted...

With everything around the case this basically just boils down to we can get away with whatever bad writing we want with Thinker because its all according to his plan which is sort of similar to all the bad writing they got away with because lol time travel

Not really. There's a lot of valid criticisms about that episode, and flaws and such, but the examples I quoted are just time wasters that would've resulted in exactly the same conclusion. It's not a flaw to leave those out of a 1 hour episode where we already get the point - Barry is going to jail.
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I also really like Supergirl but it's pretty straightforward so far. Kara is insanely cute, Reign is badass, Jonn is comedic relief. That being said, the introduction of the League seems like a pretty awesome direction. Also Kara's actor pretending to be Jonn pretending to be Kara.
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The wife letting him go one still seems impossible to explain even with the Thinker having it all according to plan. I dont feel thats a time waster because even incredibly stupid people wouldnt believe there was any reason a loving wife would let her nearly completely paralyzed husband go alone to a dangerous mans house. Thats something a wife who wanted her husband dead so she could hook up with the hot young stud might do >__>

I actually wouldnt have minded the case taking 2 episodes if it meant the writing wouldnt have been so glaringly bad. I mean Cecile was the freaking DA and she seemed like a brand new rookie lawyer. Now I have to say Laurel is the best Arrowverse lawyer and that hurts

Supergirl's been good. It felt rather forced how quickly the new woman became besties with Kara and Alex, but oh well. I remember feeling the same way about Kara and Lena's friendship last season, but eventually they forced it enough that it became natural.
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Sinara :(

Also I was loving Preacher S2, but it's just kinda been faltering since the half-way mark. It's not bad, I'm still enjoying it, but I really loved the first half of this season, way more than the second half. S2 finale tomorrow!
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I just realized I probably shouldve used spoiler bars for all of that. I mean people were responding without using them too, but still Im just gonna apologize for not doing so.

I watch very little tv so I still need to catch up on Arrow and I havent even really started with Supergirl or Legends. I still have most of the Netflix Marvel stuff to get through too. I did finish Stranger Things S2 pretty recently if you count it as tv. It was pretty decent, but I liked the first season more.

Warning Flash spoilers below... (only for episodes that have already happened)

Lot's of problems with the trial of the flash. The evidence against Barry was pretty weak to begin with. His fingerprints on the murder weapon? Given that it was a wedding gift--as admitted by the prosecution, it's purely circumstantial. There's plenty of good reasons for his fingerprints to be on that knife (nobody thought to trace the knife back to DeVoe?). Coupled with the fact that his alarm went off moments before the police arrived (why were they even there?) Why did his wife let him go see a man they both thought was dangerous--alone? Cecile could have planted seeds of doubt in the minds of the jury, but instead decided "Barry's a nice guy, please don't convict him." Would do it. She didn't even press on the fact that she said her husband let them have the affair.

Then the Judge tells Barry he has to be back for sentencing--before being found guilty. What sentencing would that be, your honor?

And how about some character witnesses during the sentencing phase? Surely Joe West, his wife Iris, and plenty others could testify on his behalf. Throw in Dibny too, especially since Barry cost Dibny his job.

I'm fine with this being DeVoes plan. But they could at least make Cecile look competent while doing it.
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foolm0r0n posted...

I also really like Supergirl but it's pretty straightforward so far.

I think this is one of the reasons it doesn't have much discussion despite being decently popular. there just isn't that much to talk about really. also people love complaining on the internet. going "oh you liked it? I liked it too" isn't all that much of a conversation sadly.

foolm0r0n posted...

Reign is badass

Reign is pretty badass, yeah. the episode with her first fight against Kara was my favorite battle on any of the CWVerse shows that I've seen. although I only watched Flash through season 2, and Arrow up to a certain point (5 I think?) ... oh and Legends season 1 and part of season 2.

I'm like 95% sure at this point that her powers are magic based or something along those lines. if they never say it or explain it this is the explanation I'm going with since it makes the most sense. if they do confirm it I won't be surprised. if they give us another explanation I guess I'll be forced to go along with whatever the canon says.

foolm0r0n posted...

Also

Kara's actor pretending to be Jonn pretending to be Kara.

haha yeah that was hilarious. one of my favorite scenes so far.

mnkboy907 posted...

Supergirl's been good. It felt rather forced how quickly the new woman became besties with Kara and Alex, but oh well. I remember feeling the same way about Kara and Lena's friendship last season, but eventually they forced it enough that it became natural.

I've seen this mentioned by others before as well and I kinda agree that Sam becoming best friends with everyone happened a bit too fast. but it is TV so I guess they're just trying to reach the level of plot relevance that they need her to be at, and they wanted to do it quickly. the good thing at least is that they have done a decent-to-great job of following up on that promise. like yeah them all referring to each other as best friends after meeting twice was jarring, but the scenes this week where Sam and Alex were alone together it felt like they had really strong moments. the development that should lead to them becoming close is happening after the natural conclusion of them becoming close, but at least we're getting the development at all. some shows will just tell you 'these characters are best friends' or 'these characters are in love' and never reaffirm it for the audience at all.
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Newest Flash is awesome

The jokes were soooo on point
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Woo Magicians.

It's amazing how much better the show's gotten since it started.
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I really enjoyed The Good Place finale twist.
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Watching Arrow.

Curtis: Vigilante works with us! We were going to tell you... eventually.

Fuck new Team Arrow
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Fuck Arrow in general. I actually dropped watching it. Me. The DC Comics guy.
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I think Arrow could go back to being good if they somehow could write themselves a situation where they could kill off at least half of the cast who is dead weight and start fresh.

Wait...
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Okay that's the best post on Arrow I've seen in a long time.
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Arrow has gotta be one of the hardest shows to recommend someone. S1-2 are great and then the writing goes to shit for nearly all of S3-4 before going back to pretty good for a season and then back to shit

Oh my goooooooood now Dinah is blaming Oliver for Vince's death and ignoring the fact that she walked right into the trap

I can't

I just can't
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why do i watch this
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5 was pretty good, but the way it ended I knew I had no intention of coming back for season 6

prometheus was truly the greatest villain this show has ever had. he even terrorized the audience by showing us a version of the show which could be good, before allowing it to go back to trash.
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Dammit I cant find the image, but I love the part where Oliver calls his mom and people put captions on it of Arrow being great again and her crying. S5 so good

The idiot trio needs to be written off. Right now their only purpose seems to be to show how stupid they are.

These villains are awful too. And without vigilante they pose ZERO threat to Oliver on his own. Throw in Spartan, and the two of them shouldn't have any trouble.
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