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Monday Media Musings - 9/9/19
Basically, just an Arrowverse check-in this week -- I'm about a season and a half from catching up, new seasons start in just about a month, and I'd really like to get there in time.
I've watched about a season in the last two weeks, which puts me around halfway through Arrow S6, The Flash S4, and Legends S3. I'm so glad we seem to be finished with Oliver's flashback storyline -- I got *really* impatient with the Russia business, especially. This season's drama with the team is pretty compelling, although I do wonder how many times Oliver is going to have to re-learn these lessons about not lying to the people he cares about. I'm not sure about the decision to put both Oliver and Barry in legal peril during the same timeframe, especially as it seems fairly obvious that neither one is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I've now seen the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover storyline three times (once when it initially airs, once when I was watching Legends, and again last weekend), and it all makes a lot more sense now that I'm actually familiar with all the players and their backstories. (The interaction between Sara Lance and Earth-X Quentin, especially, carried a lot more punch. But I still don't quite understand why Barry and Iris invited Mick Rory to their wedding.)
Overpowered villains continue to be an issue, in all three shows (maybe Legends a little less so). Prometheus in Arrow S5 was a big issue in this respect, and DeVoe in Flash S4 even more so. In comparison, Cayden James is better balanced, with Felicity as his obvious foil (and it seems inevitable that he would be played by Michael Emerson -- and with the Legends big bad of this season played by John Noble, not to mention Tony Todd voicing Zoom on Flash a couple of seasons ago, it's like a greatest hits casting of spec fic actors. Hey, does it bother anyone else that Tony Todd and Michael Dorn were both VAs for masked villains that were ultimately played by stock photos of white dude actors? Overall, the Arrowverse shows have decently diverse casts, especially as compared to some other superhero properties, but now I'm wondering if this is A Problem). A good villain is a challenge for the heroes, but it's not so fun to watch people lose and lose and lose only to pull out a win at the last second. There should be some progress, some steps forward, over the span of the season. I feel like Supergirl hits this balance better than the other shows in this 'verse, at least so far.
One other interesting comparison point among these shows is the relationships. I like how solid and stable they've made Barry and Iris, especially when you put them up against Oliver and Felicity, and yet I'm still invested in and enjoying the ship. Who says that steady relationships have to be boring? In fact, I've yet to find myself mad at any of the ships in any of these three shows (unlike Kara/Mon El, the least interesting ship in the history of uninteresting ships, and the fact that two whole seasons of Supergirl are devoted to it is something I will never entirely forgive).
I've watched about a season in the last two weeks, which puts me around halfway through Arrow S6, The Flash S4, and Legends S3. I'm so glad we seem to be finished with Oliver's flashback storyline -- I got *really* impatient with the Russia business, especially. This season's drama with the team is pretty compelling, although I do wonder how many times Oliver is going to have to re-learn these lessons about not lying to the people he cares about. I'm not sure about the decision to put both Oliver and Barry in legal peril during the same timeframe, especially as it seems fairly obvious that neither one is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I've now seen the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover storyline three times (once when it initially airs, once when I was watching Legends, and again last weekend), and it all makes a lot more sense now that I'm actually familiar with all the players and their backstories. (The interaction between Sara Lance and Earth-X Quentin, especially, carried a lot more punch. But I still don't quite understand why Barry and Iris invited Mick Rory to their wedding.)
Overpowered villains continue to be an issue, in all three shows (maybe Legends a little less so). Prometheus in Arrow S5 was a big issue in this respect, and DeVoe in Flash S4 even more so. In comparison, Cayden James is better balanced, with Felicity as his obvious foil (and it seems inevitable that he would be played by Michael Emerson -- and with the Legends big bad of this season played by John Noble, not to mention Tony Todd voicing Zoom on Flash a couple of seasons ago, it's like a greatest hits casting of spec fic actors. Hey, does it bother anyone else that Tony Todd and Michael Dorn were both VAs for masked villains that were ultimately played by stock photos of white dude actors? Overall, the Arrowverse shows have decently diverse casts, especially as compared to some other superhero properties, but now I'm wondering if this is A Problem). A good villain is a challenge for the heroes, but it's not so fun to watch people lose and lose and lose only to pull out a win at the last second. There should be some progress, some steps forward, over the span of the season. I feel like Supergirl hits this balance better than the other shows in this 'verse, at least so far.
One other interesting comparison point among these shows is the relationships. I like how solid and stable they've made Barry and Iris, especially when you put them up against Oliver and Felicity, and yet I'm still invested in and enjoying the ship. Who says that steady relationships have to be boring? In fact, I've yet to find myself mad at any of the ships in any of these three shows (unlike Kara/Mon El, the least interesting ship in the history of uninteresting ships, and the fact that two whole seasons of Supergirl are devoted to it is something I will never entirely forgive).