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The CW Flash has gotten bad

i liked first season but like you, to me everything went downhill after S1. this show is nasty as hell, it gave you hope that it would turn out good but with every season it made you realize that it was a fucking waste of time

with luke cage, at least, they killed any hope half of the first season so the time you dedicated to it wasnt that much when you were done with it
 

LORANT92

Member
Good first season followed by a second season that's both better and worse in some aspects, then everything goes to shit with tumblr quality writing, constant pandering to the worst of their fanbase and seasons that just drag on and fucking on. Luckily there's no way CW would make the same mistakes and run another superhero series in the ground the exact same way.


lol nvm
 

jb1234

Member
I've been catching up on the latest season of SHIELD and man, does it shit on the CW shows from a great height. I'm bummed I didn't watch it earlier.

The biggest problem with Flash's third season (and this carries over from its second) is that it has forgotten how to be fun. The characters are always moping around, the melodrama is off the charts and they delivered very badly on their main arc for the season. I'm not very optimistic they'll be able to course correct for this but Arrow got better so who knows?
 

Veelk

Banned
25KExSu.gif


Arrow Seasons 1, 2, and 5 are really good

I finally quit at season 4 of Arrow, season 2 of Flash

But I watched up to there, and no. Every episode. Every season. All awful.

Look, I know, everyone has their own tastes and opinions and stuff, but I am genuinely baffled at what anyone can find redeeming about any of these shows. Whats your favorite part, the stilted, inhuman acting of every character like the script was written by aliens who've never seen a person? Maybe it's the the formulatic pacing of the plot in each episode that's packed full of stupid melodrama bullshit? That you get to see your favorite comic characters portrayed badly and have their personalities mangled to barely resembling their comics personalities? The trash action choreography?

The OP is complaining about a dirtbike that can outrun speedsters because of the continuity logic errors it presents, but stupid bullshit like that has been the lifeblood of the show since season 1. It's been years since I watched it, so I can't recall the specifics, but when I was watching it, there wasn't an episode where continuity or logic didn't break for the convenience of the story.

CW superhero shows are the shows you watch if you want to remember how bad cape comics can be.
 

Joeku

Member
I think part of the problem is prestige TV is the new standard so all these shows getting dragged out over 23/24 episodes feel like they're dragging their feet while being terribly underbudgeted. If everything season 3 wanted to do was packaged into 12 more expensive, meaningful episodes it would have landed way better.
 

Machine

Member
I still have a bunch of episodes from S3 queued up on my DVR. I will probably power through it eventually but my interest really dropped off this season. With all the history to draw from, I don't get why they were in such a rush (LOL) to push their versions of the Flashpoint and Savitar storylines.
 

AoM

Member
I think part of the problem is prestige TV is the new standard so all these shows getting dragged out over 23/24 episodes feel like they're dragging their feet while being terribly underbudgeted. If everything season 3 wanted to do was packaged into 12 more expensive, meaningful episodes it would have landed way better.

Though AoS showed you can make longer seasons work nowadays.
 
Season 1 was incredible and my favorite season of superhero TV ever made.


S2 was bad and S3 was somehow worse. They need to course correct ASAP but nothing will capture the magic of S1 Reverse Flash. They took a lame villain and made him absolutely captivating.
 

Certinty

Member
Haven't seen S3 but the first season and a half until Zoom takes his mask off is some of the best TV I've ever seen.

After that the rest of S2 was a complete mess especially the stupid ending which had nothing to do with the whole season and was out of nowhere.

I've heard S3 is the same so I won't bother ever watching it. Shame as I loved the show so much I even got like five others into it.
 

Sephzilla

Member
I finally quit at season 4 of Arrow, season 2 of Flash

But I watched up to there, and no. Every episode. Every season. All awful.

Look, I know, everyone has their own tastes and opinions and stuff, but I am genuinely baffled at what anyone can find redeeming about any of these shows. Whats your favorite part, the stilted, inhuman acting of every character like the script was written by aliens who've never seen a person? Maybe it's the the formulatic pacing of the plot in each episode that's packed full of stupid melodrama bullshit? That you get to see your favorite comic characters portrayed badly and have their personalities mangled to barely resembling their comics personalities? The trash action choreography?

The OP is complaining about a dirtbike that can outrun speedsters because of the continuity logic errors it presents, but stupid bullshit like that has been the lifeblood of the show since season 1. It's been years since I watched it, so I can't recall the specifics, but when I was watching it, there wasn't an episode where continuity or logic didn't break for the convenience of the story.

CW superhero shows are the shows you watch if you want to remember how bad cape comics can be.

What are your favorite shows
 

Astral Dog

Member
This made me want to watch season 1 its that good?? 😮

Watched a part of a random episode the other day and it looked terrible but i loved Smallville
 

LakeEarth

Member
To add to the Plunder episode, not only did he have a motorcycle that can outmanuver the speedsters, he also had a gun that could shoot lasers, shoot tracking bullets as fast as the Flash, shoot rockets, shoot some sort of strange electronic net trap thing, and more.

And they give absolutely NO explanation of where this gun came from. None. They act like it's totally normal.
 
yeah, i'm done with the CW DV arrowverse... too many shows, not enough quality at this point

I gave up on Arrow after S4, but not Flash yet as I'm still hoping they can make something good out of S4, but I agree about there being too many shows from the CW. It's hard to keep up.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
I gave up on Arrow after season 4, but not Flash yet as I'm still hoping they can make something good out of S4, but I agree about their being too many shows from the CW. It's hard to keep up.

oddly enough, Arrow S5 is probably tied with Flash S1 as the CW's best stuff
 

Kard8p3

Member
Lol at saying every season/episode of every cw superhero show is bad. Total BS. This is coming from someone who readily admits the problems said shows have. I really don't get the hate about the acting either, Jesse L Martin is an amazing af actor, and the others carry their own weight well enough.
 
Barry is the fastest man alive except when he's going against other speedsters, people with guns, a gorrlia, a shark, a guy on a motorcycle, and pretty much everyone.
 
When they tricked Zoom with like cardboard cutouts of his parents and then Barry gave up his powers even though he had no real reason to at that point is when I slinked out of watching Flash and skipped S3 entirely.

I skipped Arrow S5, but I saw it was on Netflix so I'm probably going to binge on that soon.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
Lol at saying every season/episode of every cw superhero show is bad. Total BS. This is coming from someone who readily admits the problems said shows have. I really don't get the hate about the acting either, Jesse L Martin is an amazing af actor, and the others carry their own weight well enough.

Arrow S5 & LoT S2 were great, but Arrow is coming off 2 garbage seasons and LoT is tied to a ton of bad TV continuity

it's not all bad, but enough of it is

SHIELD can't be that much better, I have seen quite a lot of praise for CW shows outside of this thread.

What makes the quality gap so big?

S4 of SHIELD really is that much better

it uses 3 mini-arcs per season so the pacing is break neck, and the character work they're doing building off 3 seasons of development is really top notch

easily the best cape TV, outclassing Netflix MCU & DC CW
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Has this show passed the Bechdel test yet?

I stopped watching near the end of S2 and it still had some of the worst, most two dimensional female characters on any superhero tv show
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
The only good sci-fi show on the CW is iZombie.

i still have to watch S3, S1 & 2 were terrific

Has this show passed the Bechdel test yet?

I stopped watching near the end of S2 and it still had some of the worst, most two dimensional female characters on any superhero tv show

it's gotten worse - they have a female speedster hero now who basically does nothing
 

abundant

Member
SHIELD can't be that much better, I have seen quite a lot of praise for CW shows outside of this thread.

What makes the quality gap so big?

It's not really a quality gap, as it is more that AoS is a different type of comic show vs. CW shows. For one, there's no melodrama. there's also the fact that AoS break their seasons down into 2 or 3 story arcs, so that there's little to no downtime between story beats.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
It's not really a quality gap, as it is more that AoS is a different type of comic show vs. CW shows. For one, there's no melodrama. there's also the fact that AoS break their seasons down into 2 or 3 story arcs, so that there's little to no downtime between story beats.

this helps a lot - not that melodrama is inherently bad, but the CW bends its characters over backwards for melodrama's sake

Arrow was the biggest offender, as their characters will seemingly act randomly just to create some drama

but AoS builds on their characters and ends up doing relationship work that CW dreams of
 

BFIB

Member
This season of Flash was really tough to get through. Can we have one season where its not "Barry is fast. Uh oh, someone is faster than him! He has to become even faster!"
 

Sephzilla

Member
This season of Flash was really tough to get through. Can we have one season where its not "Barry is fast. Uh oh, someone is faster than him! He has to become even faster!"

Reverse Flash being such a solid villain right off the bat put the show on the wrong path and probably made the writers think every villain needed to be a speedster. Just gimme the Rogues and make this scene chewing SOB the main villain

4597385-0376405704-tumbl.gif
 

Altazor

Member
I never finished watching S3. I think I managed to get until episode 7 or 8 before moving onto other things... I wasn't really "feeling" the season. Never even watched the CWverse crossover event whatever - was it any good?
 

Veelk

Banned
What are your favorite shows

That wouldn't be a meaningful counterargument even if I happened to like shows that demonstrate some of these same flaws. Which I totally do. But there are always differences either in execution or else there are other benefits to it that I can enjoy other factors. But they don't matter. We're talking about CW shows and how they stand on their own.

The problem with CW shows is that the stuff I mentioned is all there is. I've spend several dozens of hours watching them out of curiousity at first, then out of habit. And in all those several hours, I cannot think of anything from them that I'd ever want to see again. There is nothing or next to nothing about those shows that's salvageable.
 

abundant

Member
I never finished watching S3. I think I managed to get until episode 7 or 8 before moving onto other things... I wasn't really "feeling" the season. Never even watched the CWverse crossover event whatever - was it any good?

The Heroes vs. Aliens 3 night crossover event is one of the better crossovers.
 
I never finished watching S3. I think I managed to get until episode 7 or 8 before moving onto other things... I wasn't really "feeling" the season. Never even watched the CWverse crossover event whatever - was it any good?

There were some good moments in the crossover, but some of the animation looked very bad that I cringed multiple times.
 

Beartruck

Member
S3 was so dissapointing. I was excited for Dr Alchemy as a season long threat, but halfway through they just derail the whole thing and go "JK here's another speedster!"
 

jb1234

Member
SHIELD can't be that much better, I have seen quite a lot of praise for CW shows outside of this thread.

What makes the quality gap so big?

For me, it's the melodrama. For instance, if AoS were a CW show,
Fitz and Simmons would be fighting every other episode. And crying. With slow camera zooms into their tearful eyes while the music swells.

In The Flash,
two of the characters literally had a contrived break up just so there was drama to be resolved in the very special musical episode that aired a week later.
 

sugarman

Member
I was stuck in traffic the other day while these guys were filming in Vancouver. Actually the Flash was standing right next to my car.
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I sputtered and stalled in S2, this from a childhood Flash fan.

Honestly, S1 seems like an anomaly, like they got lucky. Arrow itself is also pretty much unwatchable for me.
 
Season 5 of Arrow was great.

Season 3 of Flash was weaker than Season 1 and 2.

Season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow was great.

Season 4 of Agents of Shield was fantastic.

Haven't seen gotham nor super girl.
 

LotusHD

Banned
- Acknowledged that Flash is bad now, and that it started with S2
- Acknowledged Arrow actually having an impressive 5th season
- Acknowledged that AoS S4 is sooooooooo much better than the CW's shows, and described why it was better

Hmm, yup, we're good here.


Flash S4 is going with a non-speedster this time, but I dunno man, Barry's an idiot. Like seriously, it's between him and Danny Rand for dumbest superhero protagonist. Though I guess Barry wins cuz the dude keeps fucking things up regarding time travel and what not.

Also regarding the one-on-one talks, someone pointed out that despite the other CW shows indulging in this habit as well, the reason it is seemingly more irritating in Flash is because of the location. In the other shows, these talks can happen wherever, and generally feel a lot more natural. Whereas on The Flash, it pretty much always happens in that damn S.T.A.R. Labs of theirs. And they don't even try to hide when a talk is about to happen; often you'll hear a character like Iris or whatever say "I got it" or something along those lines, as if the show is tacitly acknowledging that yes, they do this way too fucking often.
 
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