THE FURY OF FIRESTORM
This episode exists purely to set up Firestorm Mk. 2 for Legends of Tomorrow, which is does pretty efficiently if unremarkably. Jay Jackson is a likeable character, and has a pretty good rapport with Stein (if you can ignore the homosexual undertones. Good name for a band, that). Caitlin is an unbelievable bitch to him though, slagging him off because he's wasting himself earning a living instead of going to a college he can't afford. The fight with Tokamak is perfunctory. This also has the cheesiest dialogue of any episode yet, which in The Flash is really saying something.
In the B- and C-plots, Iris is hugely growing on me, absolutely refusing to take shit from her estranged mother, but it's a huge shame that Joe is becoming increasingly stupid as the series progresses. Assumption: his unheard of son is the series' version of Wally West. Patty is an utter delight... and then that cliffhanger! King Shark looks incredible, and I am so pleased that this series has the guts to have monsters like that running around (although how the hell he sneaks up on Barry is inexplicable).
THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT
A pity we couldn't have had more King Shark, but Tom Cavanagh is back as Harrison Wells, and that makes it all OK. So this, it seems, is the real Harrison Wells, albeit of Earth-2, and in that reality it seems he's a bit of a dick. Good to see that Barry gives him the benefit of the doubt; he's significantly more grown up than either Cisco or Joe, the latter of whom just immediately shoots the guy. He really can't get his head round this parallel universe stuff, can he? We can understand how Cisco would feel, though, and his scenes with "Harry" are great. Only Barry and Caitlin seem able to remember that the man they were fighting before wasn't Wells, but the man who killed him and took his form. Which is, admittedly, a bit confusing.
There's good fun to be had with the Earth-2 alter egos, with the minor villain Dr Light being here the parallel Linda Park. We know that we'll see Killer Frost later this season (presumably the Earth-2 Caitlin), and even if he doesn't turn out to be Zoom, surely we'll see Earth-2 Barry? Meanwhile, our Barry finally gets together with Patty, and though the literal blind date is ludicrous, their chemistry is so good it really works. A cracking episode.
HAUNTED
Arrow, episode 4-5. I'm a little behind on Arrow, which I still don't enjoy anywhere near as much as The Flash, so this was a bit of a cheat, and sneaking ahead left me a little confused. There's also so much backstory on Arrow now that I forget who loves/hates/banged/murdered who. However, this is the highly anticipated return of John Constantine, after his own series got the axe. Matt Ryan is still great in the role; I can see why he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I've completely warmed to him. We watched the Constantine movie afterwards to remind ourselves how bad it could be instead. Introducing magic, soul quests and demons into the world of Arrow creates an interesting clash, reflected in the strong yet uneasy alliance between Oliver Queen and John Constantine. Although it's perhaps a bit of a surprise Oliver didn't call on his favour from a bloody wizard during any of his earlier crises. In the end, the actual battle for Sara's soul was a bit easy, but still, this bodes well for future mystical adventures. I hope the CW manage to negotiate another appearance of Matt Ryan in the future (maybe in Legends of Tomorrow?) Talking of which - Ray Palmer's coming back!
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