Bleach Review: Friend 4

"Must not scream out in pain"

The fight between Bazz - B and Haschwalth comes to an end.

What an awesome fight, I tell you I really wish the anime would come back so we can watch it! This chapter we got a mix of Flashback and present day fight and in the Flashbacks we unfortunately didn't get to see any more Sternritter but it was still great none the less. Seems that Bazz - B didn't see Haschwalth for 3 years and has since been trying to fight him even though it is forbidden. Haschwalth does look more and act like his present day self however I got the feeling he was looking out for Bazz - B by refusing to fight him and then threatening Hubert. However in the fight in the present Haschwalth obviously doesn't care anymore as he seemingly kills Bazz - B after slicing his arm off. We got some awesome shots like when Bazz - B activated Burner Finger 4 and then 5, the fire looked epic and the whole movement with the two characters made this fight out to be really intense (which again is a shame it is not animated). It really is a sad end for Bazz - B, the way he grabbed his former friend's collar before collapsing and the way he said it isn't shameful to lose made me think he didn't mind it. What I mean is that in the Flashbacks we got to know that Bazz -B never got to fight Haschwalth but now that he has, he has accepted the loss. All in all this fight has been one of the best moments in the arc but I am looking forward to the Elite Sternritter taking on the Soul Reapers. Plus we got to learn Bazz - B's real name is Buzzard Black which actually sounds really cool.

Guess this is the end for Buzzard Black

Overall I am going to give this chapter a perfect score because I liked all of it, found no faults and I was a fitting conclusion to the fight.

SCORE: 10/10

Highlights: Flashbacks
                   Bazz - B vs. Haschwalth
                   Bazz- B's death was really sad and done well  

The Flash Season One: Revenge of the Rouges

The Song of Ice and Fire

Captain Cold returns to Central City with Heat Wave to steal a priceless painting but instead kidnap someone close to The Flash. Meanwhile Barry is training harder so he can take on Reverse Flash and begins to doubt himself because of how Captain Cold bested him last time, Iris also deals with the aftermath of Barry's confession. As you might have noticed I am shortening the plot explanation because anyone who reads my reviews have already watched the episode and it takes a lot time anyway, this way I can go straight to my thoughts.

Moving on to the episode it was great to see the return of Captain Cold because Wentworth Miller is having quite the presence on the show and definitely feels like his Captain Cold is going to be a real nemesis to The Flash (Well's words). Then there was the introduction of Heat Wave who is the complete opposite of Captain Cold which is why I felt the two worked well together. Captain Cold was a lot more calm and the one to come up with the plans while Heat Wave was a fire - obsessed hot head. I liked every scene they where in and their battle with The Flash at the end was just awesome; Flash running on the buildings while they're firing their heat and cold guns at him was just so cool. I have said before that I really enjoy villain team ups and this one was a great beginning to The Rouges and it definitely isn't over as the ending implies. It seems next time we see Captain Cold and Heat Wave they will be accompanied by Lisa Snart AKA Golden Glider who looks to be equipped with a grapple gun, so I am defiantly looking forward to seeing more of these characters.

"I owned you missile!"

As for the rest of the episode Barry had some really great character development where he was conflicted between the advice of his father figure West and his mentor Wells, all the while he had to deal with the defeat at the hands of Reverse Flash and confessing his love to Iris. I did really like that the defeat is still haunting Barry which is shown with his constant training and siding with Wells but I feel that the Iris subplot was brushed aside. I guess I am a bit glad they didn't linger too long on it but all they did was just not talk to each other all episode and then they seem to get over it at the end; felt like the writers was just rushing it. Two other characters who where great where Cisco and Caitlin; Cisco had some strong material when dealing with the police and handling the backlash from them for the S.T.A.R labs explosion and his shield design was cool. However the CCPD where kind of useless this episode because Eddie was the only one he did anything in the fight at the end. As for Caitlin her Firestorm subplot is really getting more interesting now and I hope we continue to find more information about it with every episode because this also gives her character a storyline of her own. Plus this also introduced the character Jason Rusch (Luc Roderique) who does play a significant role with Firestorm in the comics.

"Can I have your attention please"

Overall this was an awesome episode to have after such a long wait because of the mid season break and I am really looking forward to future episodes that involve more of the Rouges.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Captain Cold and Heat Wave
                   Barry's conflict
                   Strong Cisco and Caitlin subplots

Let - Downs: The awkwardness between Barry and Iris seems to be over completely now
                      The CCPD wasn't that effective this episode

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/  

Arrow Season Two: Streets of Fire

"Thea, I am your father"

The episode begins immediately after the last one however Arrow escapes the collapsed tunnel when Laurel uses an explosive arrow and Diggle and Felicity escape from Ravager when the latter runs into her with a truck, meanwhile the city is still being destroyed by the Mirakuru army. In a Flashback Oliver leaves to save Sara and tells Knyazev to escape if he is not back in time, in the present Thea is saved when Malcolm arrives as Dark Archer. The S.T.A.R labs truck is then destroyed in the chaos so Team Arrow races there to get the cure while at SCPD Quentin kills the solider then manages to convince the cops to work with Arrow and he is made a detective again. Laurel is then saved by Black Canary on her way to SCPD, Sebastian begins to have doubts after seeing so much death and when Malcolm kills the Mirakuru soldier so he asks Thea to come with him. Sebastian then visits Slade and says the plan was to make him Mayor so he can improve Starling after some destruction however Slade says the total destruction of Starling was his plan all along, meanwhile Laurel bonds more with Sara when she reassures her by saying she is a hero.

"I am altering our deal Blood, pray I don't alter it any further"

In a Flashback Oliver and Sara are captured by Slade and in the present the cure is stolen by a Mirakuru solider. At the clock tower where Roy is held Oliver says it is his fault this has happened however Felicity manages to give him confidence and says Slade is still out there meanwhile Sara saves a child from a burning building in front of Quentin who says she is a hero. Arrow and Diggle then go to Sebastian's office (after getting a call from him says he we give them the cure), there he says he made his skull mask because he feared his father as a child and that all he did he did for Starling City. He also says that he will still lead the city after this destruction and warns Oliver he will expose his secret if he exposes his however when Arrow and Diggle leave with the cure Isabel stabs Sebastian; Sebastian dies after declaring his love for the city and dropping his skull mask. Oliver injects Roy with the cure and then gets a call from Waller who says she will launch missile strikes on the city to stop Slade. The episode ends with Thea pointing a gun at Malcolm.

Someone should have told you; you don't mess with the Dark Archer!

This series sure knows how to make a great three part finale and there is still one more episode left! Firstly we got the return as Malcolm in his Dark Archer costume which was just awesome to see and his fight with the solider, where he used trick arrows now, was great. I thought he would appear sooner or later since Moira is now dead and it is to persuade the only family he has left to join him. Thea has got quite the dilemma here because Malcolm may have committed a few murderous acts but this may be her opportunity to really break free of the Queen Family which she has just became so tired of because of their lies. Unfortunately while the return of Malcolm was great he was so underused; his fight should have lasted longer and maybe he should have gone out into the city to confront Oliver. As for the events at the SCPD Quentin really had a moment to shine when he gave his speech to the cops about Arrow (great scene) and how he dispatched the solider. As for Quentin's daughter's Laurel was good because of how she used the bow and arrow to escape but I didn't get why she wandered the streets alone. As for Sara though she did fight and save people I am still not buying her whole "I'm a killer" mood she is in after being a hero already with helping Team Arrow.



If she spent long in there we could have had fried canary..........lol

The biggest highlight of the episode however was Sebastian who has been a great character since his debut and he went out a great character. Sebastian truly cared for the city more than anything else and in his own way try to help it - his intentions where good but he chose to do bad things to realize them. We also got some more backstory on the mask, which was good because he didn't wear it just because it's creepy, and the moment he threatened Oliver was great too. In the end it was a great way for his character to go because he did redeem himself slight because he wanted to save Starling City.

"I might not be a vigilante but I'm still taking you down!"

As for everything else the action was truly top notch in this; everything from how the destruction looks in Starling City to the fights with the Mirakuru army. Diggle and Felicity also where great as well such as their fight with Ravager (funny when Felicity hit her with the truck) to when Felicity gave her pep talk to Oliver in the clock tower. As for the Flashbacks they where way to short though Knyazev was good in it and I hope his relationship is expanded sometime in more Flashbacks since Oliver must have meet him again during the five years because of his tattoo and Russian connections. Finally there was the appearance of Waller who again I just do not like and I didn't like her missile strike at the end. So far she has just done some really stupid things in this series which just creates unnecessary problems.

Goodbye Sebastian

Overall this could have been worthy of being a finale episode by itself but we still have one more.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Return of Malcolm
                   Sebastian
                   Great action and character moments

Let - Downs: Waller and Sara
                       Malcolm was underused
                       Flashbacks

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/     

Arrow Season One: Burned

"I am The Fur-.....wait no"

The episode starts off during a huge fire and one fire fighter shoots accelerant at another one, causing that fire fighter to go up in flames. Meanwhile it has been six weeks since Walter's kidnapping and Diggle thinks that since there has been no updates he is most likely dead. He also wants Oliver to go back to the list but Oliver seems distracted and just wants to watch over his family, he then has a Flashback and he watches Yao Fei being dragged away. Later Quentin is the one who has to tell Laurel's friend Joanna that her brother died in the fire however Joanna later tells Laurel that she thinks her brother was murdered. Thea and Oliver are then seen watching TV and they notice that crime is on the rise thanks to the absence of The Hood.

Come on Oliver! This town needs a hero!

Laurel later brings Joanna's evidence to Quentin but he wants to leave the matter to the fire department after failing to analyse The Hood's phone, Laurel however takes it and asks The Hood for help. Oliver visits Laurel as The Hood but later tells Diggle to let the police handle it much to Diggle's annoyance. Later Tommy wants to raise a fundraiser for the fire department which impresses Oliver and Quentin confronts Laurel about the phone, meanwhile Moira is pressured in to becoming CEO of Queen's Consolidated but she doesn't think she is ready. Diggle then tells Oliver of a pickup truck linked to the fire deaths and Oliver follows it as The Hood to a fire but is too late to stop the killer murdering another fire fighter, during this he has a Flashback where he is chased by a commando. In the present the killer manages to escape but not before Oliver sees a fly tattoo and scars which he tells Laurel about, this angers Diggle who thinks Oliver is abandoning the case and thinks the Dark Archer has gotten to his head.

This fight would have been more epic if it was just a tad longer

Laurel speaks with Fire Chief Raines who tells her of a devastating fire that claimed the lives of many civilians and six fire fighters including Garfield Lynns who was a member of a fire fighter team that tattooed Fireflies onto their wrists. Laurel tells this to The Hood and we have another Flashback and Oliver has killed his purser and back in the present Diggle manages to snap Oliver out of his worries and come to the conclusion that Garfield is dead. At the fundraiser however Garfield arrives to kill Raines but The Hood arrives and offer to help him; though Garfield is thankful for this he kills himself in the end. Later The Hood is hailed as a hero on the news, Moira has accepted being CEO and Quentin bugs the phone Laurel uses to contact The Hood. In a Flashback Oliver has disguised himself as the commando and has found a key and map and the episode ends with Oliver telling Diggle it's time to return to the list.

Did a really good job on his burn make up

You know after the awesome events involving the Dark Archer last episode this felt like it kind of winded down a bit but I will first mention the good points in this episode. Firstly I really like how his run in with the Dark Archer last episode was still affecting Oliver; it was his first major loss and I'm glad they didn't just forget about it and how Oliver had to deal with basically his fear of another loss throughout this episode. This also proves again just how much Oliver needs Diggle (he mentioned this in episode four) because Diggle will always be the voice of reason to Oliver and provide support; he can't do this alone! I also liked the Flashback in this episode because it showed us Oliver's first kill; so far Oliver's just been focused on getting off the island but Yao Fei was right that the bird wasn't the only think he would have to kill.

Yep he isn't getting up from that

Now for what I really didn't like about this was that Firefly, like several other comic characters in this, bore little resemble to his comic counterpart and was really grounded as well. I don't know too much about Firefly but the version I am used to seeing is a pyromaniac equipped with a flamethrower and flying suit (Arkham Origins for example). I didn't like his tragic backstory and revenge plot they gave him; I know it was supposed to mirror Oliver's list but I just didn't buy it and it didn't seem the writers put much thought in to it. Plus we didn't get a real final showdown between Firefly and The Hood which was disappointing because I think it would have made for a great fight if Firefly was at least equipped with his flamethrower. My biggest criticism of this show is that it take a too realistic take on the comic book and characters, it tries to follow in the foot steps of Christopher Nolan's Batman too much. This of course is a strong point The Flash has over Arrow because it doesn't hold back with it's villains because they are Meta Humans and it truly feels like a comic book. However I do think Arrow is still better than The Flash right now for two reasons; The Flash has barely half a season aired so far and I know Arrow defiantly gets better and addressed these issues, especially the epic season two which felt more like a comic book.

"Knew this was going to be a bad idea"

Overall I didn't really like this episode too much because the events with Firefly felt like filler after last episode more than anything. Oliver's attitude and his Flashback was great though and I couldn't believe Quentin bugged the phone at the end, that is just really not going to end well. I know this review seemed short but I don't think too much stuff really happened in this.

SCORE: 5/10

Highlights: Oliver dealing with his defeat by the Dark Archer
                   Flashback

Let - Downs: Firefly was too grounded and I didn't much care for the events surrounding him which was the majority of the episode

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/

Arrow Season One: Muse of Fire



Didn't put much thought in to a costume

The episode begins with Oliver meeting his mother outside Queen Consolidated who is turning down a building contract offer from a man named Paul Copani. Shortly after this a helmeted person on a motorcycle shoots and kills Copani and speeds off, Oliver tries to give chase but is unable to catch the shooter. Quentin later concludes that Moira is not in any danger from the shooter since Copani had mob connections, elsewhere Tommy wants to start a proper relationship with Laurel. Later in his hideout Oliver discovers that Copani worked for a man named Frank Bertinelli who is head of a major construction company but also is part of Starling City Mafia, Oliver wants to investigate him. Somewhere unknown a dark haired women, who was driving the motorcycle, crosses off Copani's picture on a board full of them.

"No one gets away from me!"

Tommy then arrives at Queen Manor and tells Oliver he wants a relationship with Laurel, Oliver wishes the best for both of them. Thea takes her mother out and says she doesn't like Oliver's recent behaviour but Moira thinks they should be easier on Oliver because he spent 5 years on an island. Oliver then goes to Bertinelli manor to discuss business (while really investigating him) and meets his daughter Helena (Jessica De Gouw), Frank is busy however and asks Helena to take Oliver out to dinner. Frank then meets with the Chinese Triad enforcers Zhishan and China White to see if the Triad are responsible for several attacks on his people, they deny this but Frank does not believe them. Meanwhile Quentin has been listening in on this conversation and thinks that the Triad wasn't responsible for Copani's murder since it wasn't done by a pro.

"I knew me and my white hair would be back!"

At dinner Oliver and Helena are hitting it off and Oliver finds out that Helena had a late fiancé named Michael Staton but the dinner is cut short when Oliver gets a call from Diggle, another dinner has not ended well when Tommy finds out his credit card is declined while out with Laurel. Oliver goes to stop one of Frank's enforcers named Nick who is violently attacking a family for information on the recent murders but both Oliver and Helena, dressed in their disguises, arrive at the same time and fight Nick and this men. Nick escapes and Oliver and Helena fight but Oliver manages to get her helmet off and is surprised it's Helena, he lets her go. At the hideout Oliver wants to know the reason Helena is targeting her family but Diggle isn't interested because she is just a killer. Quentin later warns Oliver at Queen Manor to stay away from Helena because her family is dangerous.



I'm sure Oliver was going easy on her

Tommy later confronts his father about his being cut off and Malcolm, revealed as Tommy's father Malcolm Merlyn, says he is finally tired of his son's irresponsibility and laziness. At a cemetery Oliver and Helena are kidnapped by Nick shortly after Oliver meets Helena at Michael's grave. Nick has found out Helena is killing her father's men and her reason is because Michael was killed by Nick and her father for being an FBI informant. Oliver and Helena break free of their restraints and fight Nick and his men which ends with Helena snapping Nick's neck. Tommy then goes to see Laurel and admits he has no money and lost his apartment and car, Laurel says it will be alright. Walter has now come back to Starling City and Thea apologises to Oliver about her attitude earlier. The episode ends with Oliver visiting Helena's apartment, who has figured out he is The Hood based on his fighting style, and they kiss.

"Your wishing you made those restraints tighter, don't you b***h?"

SPOILERS FOR TWO COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS BELOW




We have two comic book character introductions this episode with the first being Helena Bertinelli who is The Huntress and if I am honest I was not very impressed by her. I am a big fan of The Huntress in the comics (one of my favourite appearances of her was the Hush storyline) and I do not think they have done her justice here. In the comics she is rash and violent to the point that even Batman rarely relies on her but I still considered her a hero; I hate in this that she is an unlikable anti - hero with one of the stupidest back stories ever. In the comics she does harbour a grudge against the mafia but that is because as a child she witnessed the slaughter of her mafia family at the hands of a rival, she then travels around the world while training with her bodyguard. I don't see how after the murder of her fiancé she could suddenly think "I'll ride on a bike, kill everyone all my father's men and then him", I am just not buying it; it is just like Diggle said she is just a plain murderer in this. Not to mention her methods are sloppy when she kills and there's no explanation to how she became so good a fighter. Lastly I just think the acting of Jessica De Gouw was just poor; her best moment was during the dinner with Oliver not when she is The Huntress because then she is melodramatic and too emotionless really.

Big epic reveal!!

Now Malcolm Merlyn is a comic character that has been done right and looks to be an intriguing villain this season. I won't say now who he will be (wait till future episodes) but lets just say it could have been him or Tommy however Malcolm has already been seen as being involved in a conspiracy with Moira and seems to have impressive fencing skills. I have already liked Malcolm since he has been introduced (knew he was Malcolm Merlyn then but didn't say) because the guy just seems like he is going to be a great villain and I hope he is revealed to be the main antagonist.

Yay Walter's back!

As for the rest of the episode because I have said already that I hate the version of The Huntress and the storyline involving her it was something I really didn't care for. If I am honest I found the subplot involving Tommy and his no money predicament more enjoyable to watch and that didn't include any fighting. I just really liked how the playboy Tommy now has absolutely nothing and I think this will really develop his character into more than just Oliver's friend. From this we can also see that the relationship between him and his father isn't on the best of terms and hopefully we'll find out more about it.

"So this is how the poor live.......I'm not going to make it"

Overall I am glad that we have the first two - parter in Arrow but I hate that they had to ruin The Huntress and the short re - appearance of China White didn't really do anything. The only things I liked about this episode was the scenes involving Tommy and his father and Walter coming back to Starling. Also they didn't have any Flashbacks in this which was quite the change but I kind of wished they did have some since they provide some of the best moments.

SCORE: 4/10

Highlights: Tommy's character development
                   Malcolm and the moment he had with Tommy

Let - Downs: The Huntress and the casting for her
                      Didn't really care for the anything else in this episode      

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;





http://screencapped.net/