The Critical Corner

The show heads into the finale with the strongest episode of the season, probably the entire series.  Near the end of March, things had been looking a little too bleak for Season 3 of "The Flash". The plot progression of the story had been stifled by the writer's reluctance to reveal the identity of Savitar, and the show was becoming a little too self indulgent with repeating the same story beats over and over. Even their return episode to kick off the final stretch of the season, "The Once and Future Flash" , gave the impression Season 3 would stay the course with its obvious strengths and obvious weaknesses. Oh boy, was I wrong.  In my initial write up for Season 3 , I mentioned how if there was a show that had the potential to pull itself out of its funk, it was this one. The last three episodes, "I Know Who You Are", "Cause and Effect" and this week's "Infantino Street" have served as a well deserved reprieve to ...

Earlier today, my final post about the current state of The CW's "Arrow-verse" focused on "The Flash" went live . In it, I mentioned the things the show had been doing right in the midst of a lot of things it's gotten wrong in Season 3. Coming into this final batch of episodes, the show needed to pickup the pace with its "Savitar" storyline after the show pulled off the wrong move in teasing their audience in a bad way with the last episode, " Abra Kadabra ".  What they delivered tonight was a mixed bag. If anything, "The Once and Future Flash" is actually a microcosm of everything that has defined this season, in both good and bad ways. The episode picked up right where the previous one left off. With Barry still determined to fully uncover who Savitar is, he fulfilled his promise to Joe and Iris and made a time travel trip to Central City 2024. Even with a mild detour at the beginning of the episode with a showdown with...

Once the head of the pack, "The Flash" has experienced plenty of highs and lows in Season 3. In the final part of my look back into the current state of The CW's "Arrow-verse", I turn my attention to the most popular show of the pack. The one show that was once the undisputed king of The CW's shared universe, held back this year by a mix of highs and lows. The Flash Grant Gustin as The Flash Back in 2014, no one would have predicted that the first spinoff from "Arrow" would have been as successful and as special as it was when it came out. From its inception, "The Flash" was that rare show that came out of the gate fully formed. Out of all the 4 "Arrow-verse" shows, this was the one that knew what it wanted to be, what it wanted to do, and how far it would go to achieve that. It was unapologetically comic book-y.  It was unapologetically charming. It was unapologetically heartwarming. It knew when to make you feel...

Supergirl may not be the best Arrow-verse show, but it may be its most important.  As I continue my look at the current state of The CW's "Arrow-verse", I turn my focus to the one show considered the odd man (or in this case, "woman") out of the lot. One that didn't properly spin off of the established universe (even debuting on a different network) that eventually found a happy medium to exist alongside its peers. Supergirl Supergirl/Kara Danvers flying to the rescue It may seem strange now, but it can be hard to remember that "Supergirl" originally was a show separate from The CW's "Arrow-verse". Stranger still when it always had the same creators in executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg. But such were the realities of when the show debuted on CBS back in October 2015. While being on different networks was enough of a reason to not exist within the other "Arrow-verse" shows, its own ...

The long running series staged a creative comeback in Season 5 As I continue looking back at the current state of the "Arrow-verse", my focus shifts now at looking into the grand daddy of them all. The show that kicked off this whole shared universe that, coming into this season, was on the verge of losing any relevancy.  (A fair warning that there will be some  spoilers for Season 5) Arrow Oliver Queen sporting a more traditional costume Of all the shows in this shared TV universe, no one was in such need of a creative miracle like "Arrow". After a great debut season that lead to the high point that was the Oliver Queen vs Slade Wilson/Deathstroke conflict that defined its second season, Arrow went on a creative funk for its next two seasons.  Season 3 of "Arrow" found the show facing an uphill battle as they had to come up with a conflict that could possibly rival or even surpass the one from Season 2. On paper they had all the ri...

The "Arrow-verse" is The CW's greatest success to date  For the past couple of years, The CW network has done a great job at changing their identity in the eyes of audiences. Once hailed as the home of female teenage drama's like "Gossip Girl" and the remakes of "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place", The CW is now the go to home for what can be considered "genre" TV dramas (scifi, fantasy, comic book, etc.). Even though The CW had delved into "genre" fare before (a heritage from defunct networks "The WB" and "UPN") with long running shows "Smallville", "Supernatural" and the networks own creations like "The Vampire Diaries", "The Originals" and "Nikita", no other show marked the network's shift in a bigger way than the debut of 2012's "Arrow". Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow Originally a spiritual "spi...