The Arrow Season Four: Green Arrow

New season, new threads

Oliver and Felicity have been living a quiet life after leaving Starling City however Laurel and Thea arrive to ask for Oliver's help when a former League member Damien Darhk (Neal Mcdonough) shows up with his own HIVE forces.

 

I said that in my Flash review that while it's first episode of the new season was great it didn't have much of an impact however Arrow.......just WOW, it nailed it completely! I wondered how Oliver and Felicity where going to go back to the vigilante lifestyle after we spend the first five minutes with them in suburban paradise and I was surprised that it was mainly due to Felicity who has been secretly helping Team Arrow because she was bored. I liked that they didn't waste too much time bringing them back it was just like; "The city is worse than we thought and we miss the thrill, so lets get back into it.". It was enjoyable to see them come back where we see more of Felicity back to her old positive self and Oliver himself seems a lot more open and light - hearted which is a great change from the depressive tone of Season Three so good job to Amell. As for the rest of Team Arrow Diggle was a definite standout because after three seasons of being Oliver right hand man he is the most reluctant to accept him back because of how Oliver betrayed him; the bromance isn't completely back yet but we still see them working together (plus I like his costume and I don't care what anyone else says). The weak point with Team Arrow however was with Laurel and Thea and while I do really love seeing Laurel as Black Canary and Thea impressed me with her kicking ass during the truck chase they didn't leave much of an impression and felt like they where just there. We get only a one minute snippet of Thea losing control because of the Lazarus Pit but honestly I would have preferred for them to save it until it is the focus of a whole episode and not have been shoved into this one. I'm sure these two will be better when they both get an episode dedicated more to them but there just wasn't much for them in this premiere.

 



The Force is strong with this one

As for everything else the biggest standout was the introduction of Damien Darhk who was just perfectly, and I mean perfectly, cast. He had such a creepy and intimidating presence when he was on screen like his first scene where he comes out and says he is the bad guy and he wants Star City to die. Quickly want to mention Star City and they did an awesome job of making it seem worse than ever like the abandoned buildings, empty streets, the murders of leaders and the fact people just want to leave. This is of course helped by Damien and his HIVE forces who seem unstoppable and even the grunts put up a hell of a fight; they are like a high tech version of the League. Back to Damien his fight scene on the train was so damn cool and when he used his powers to catch arrows and kill with a touch it was just WTF! This is kind of explained with Damien performing a ritual near the end and I really don't know what it means yet but this is what I wanted in Arrow; more powers either through Meta Humans or the supernatural and I can't wait for more. Finally I will talk about the two biggest twists of the episode with the first one being Quentin working with Damien which is something I did not see coming. I liked Quentin in this even before that reveal because while he still doesn't support vigilantes he doesn't go overboard, its like he's "I'll do my thing, you'll do yours" but I think I am going to really like him working for Damien because this will give his character something completely new to work with than just being the cop (though I don't think he is evil or anything). Then there is the reveal that someone will die in six months which is more than a compelling reason to keep on watching. As for who it could be Felicity might seem too obvious and since Thea already died I think it could either be Quentin, Diggle or maybe even Felicity's mom? I know I haven't mentioned the Flashbacks yet but they didn't seem worth mentioning; His back on the island but we get no information as to why, I still don't like Waller and I hated she had to come back so soon and I would have preferred seeing a few episodes where the Flashbacks focus on Oliver being a rookie vigilante chasing criminals in Coast City like we saw for a bit.

 

"It's Team Diggle now, anyone have a problem with that?"

Overall Arrow was a far more impressive first episode than Flash for the new season by delivering lots of action, character development, introducing it's impressive new villain already and giving us two big twists that just hooks us into this new season straight away.            

 

 

SCORE: 9/10

 

Highlights: Oliver and Felicity's return to Team Arrow/Diggle and Oliver conflict

                   Neal Mcdonough as Damien and his mysterious powers

                   Two really big twists/Quentin was really good in this

 

Let - Downs: Laurel and Thea where the weak points in Team Arrow

                      The Flashbacks

 

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

 

 





http://screencapped.net/

The Flash Season Two: The Man Who Saved Central City

Strength vs. Speed

It has been six months since Barry closed the wormhole above Central City and has been hailed as a hero however new Meta Human Atom Smasher (Edge) arrives to wreck havoc.

You don't know how much I have been looking forward to the new season of Flash and how hard it was to avoid spoilers on the internet because the Americans get it a week before us! Anyway about the episode it really drew me in straight away with the cameos of Captain Cold and Heatwave; it was almost like a page out of a comic of the Flash battling those two foes but then it turned out to be a dream - like sequence. What surprised me was that the show jumped six months later and we don't see the aftermath of the damage the wormhole did (except in small Flashbacks). I actually really liked this decision because it skipped over a lot of unnecessary stuff like Iris and Caitlin moaning over Eddie and Ronnie; I mean they are of course still grieving but at least we don't have to go through some sort of depression that can just be a drag. As for the characters themselves this episode I liked that Barry was trying to do everything solo after being in a team all last season; it was almost like a dark tone they would have on Arrow of Barry blaming himself for the death of his friends but managing to overcome it. However if I am honest to me Barry took a backseat to episode compared to the good development we got from the secondary characters. Like Iris who actually was really helpful and supportive of Barry, trying to snap him out of his depression, than just the character whose about the relationships. Then there is the really great duo of Joe and Cisco who had a funny team up near the end of last season (uncovering Wells identity) and seem to be continuing that with Cisco helping the police. Then there is Stein who seems to have taken over the role Wells left behind as the kind of mentor/genius character and I loved the scene where he thought of the name Atom Smasher. Finally there is Caitlin and I liked how she is in a similar state kind of like Barry where she tried to distant herself from everyone then overcame it but I seriously doubt Ronnie is dead and probably ended up in Earth 2.

Can't wait to see these two return to fight the Flash

As for everything else the video message from Eobard was a surprise as well as the fact that he confessed to the murder of Nora. Now from what I know of Eobard from the comics he isn't doing this because he cared, no I my opinion he is like "I'm dead anyway so.....f**k it" lol. However the release of Henry was just handled so poorly because maybe they did this because the actor has other commitments and can't hang around for much put his excuse for leaving was so stupid, especially after everything Barry went through to free him. Then there is the debut of Atom Smasher and I always like seeing new Meta Humans on Flash and I think Edge did a really good job, I loved the action scenes and he had a kickass costume! Even the effects of him growing where really good for a TV show. However I just wish the character himself was developed a bit more because it felt like he was a one off villain; he is there just to fight the Flash because Zoom told him, that's all we know of him. Plus I really hope he isn't dead because I like Atom Smasher from the comics and his family plays a big role as well with the Justice Society of America. Finally the ending with Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) was awesome (and funny with them talking about security lol) and I am so looking forward to him working with Team Flash. In the comics he acts as a sort of mentor to Barry Allen because he has been the Flash for way longer and while he is younger in the show I can still see that happening, plus I can't wait for him to reveal more of his backstory and what Earth 2 is like.

"What where you saying Cisco about better security?"

Overall a highly enjoyable episode though probably not as mind-blowing as I thought a first episode of a season should be I think that is because there probably saving it for when Zoom gets properly introduced and like I said in my opinion it is also because the secondary characters got way more spotlight than Barry. Also thought I'd say that I will go over my thoughts on who Zoom is when we get an episode where he gets a lot of screen time, like when I did it for Reverse Flash when he fought Barry for the first time.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: Strong performances from the returning cast especially from the secondary characters
                   Debut of Atom Smasher
                   The six month time skip was handled really well
                   Jay Garrick at the end

Let - Downs: Atom Smasher could have been developed better
                      Henry's departure was not done well

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

 

 





http://screencapped.net/

The Strain Season Two: The Born

More backstory is revealed for Quinlan as he makes contact with Abraham meanwhile Eph still deals with the aftermath in Washington and Fet and Dutch are in for a surprise.

 

I got to say that with this episode Quinlan is turning into one of my favourite characters because he is such a damn badass! I mean we have got to give The Strain credit for it's really impressive intro with Quinlan as a Roman gladiator; the fighting, the costumes and the awesome setting. We also get some to see his enhanced strength and speed as well as the fact that he can survive in daylight which is because he is a half breed. I didn't expect that but it got me thinking that if he is a half - breed what did that make the commando vampires? He said he trained them but how did they retain their minds in the first place? Moving on we also get to see a second Flashback where it is revealed he has been after the Master for quite some time and gets an awesome confrontation with him alongside Abraham. Sure there was no fighting but the way they where staring each other down and mocking one another was cool but the comment about Quinlan's mother makes me think that his mother was human but is the Master his father? Besides that we also get a cool action sequence where he makes short work of the blind vampire children which was also really gory with the one that was sliced in half!

Unfortunately the other subplots wasn't as good starting with Eph who has seemingly teleported back to NY; I have got to mark it down for that because after all he went through to leave how the hell did he get back so easily? Luckily the rest of his subplot was good because he had a nice reunion with Zach and his determination to kill Palmer should give him a new darker storyline because he had never wanted to kill a human before. Speaking of Palmer he got a lot of screen time and I admit I am warming up to his relationship with Coco; maybe it's because of he said he has been distant from people all his life but now he is finally letting people in. If this subplot does redeem Palmer then fine by me now plus he is one sly dog for managing to romance Coco at the end lol. As for Coco I still think she needs more development because I just want it confirmed is she really who she seems to be or his there more to her? Finally the real let down was the Fet, Dutch and Nikki subplot because I just kept shaking my head; here we go I thought, just like Gotham we have to throw in a lesbian twist the show could have done without. After so much building Fet and Duth's relationship, which I think was done well, they had to throw Nikki into the mix which is just making all the scenes with them awkward to watch. Also Nikki just isn't a likeable character and probably is going to be a useless person I bet, and this is really going to annoy me, she is just going to be arguing with Fet over Dutch and justify their relationship with Dutch herself  trying to get Fet to sympathise with Nikki like she had already because of what she's been through, like abandoning everyone.        

Overall Quinlan was defiantly the biggest highlight of the episode but I am disappointed that they have to bring Nikki back who is just going to be an annoyance and a let down in every episode.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlights: Quinlan!/intro and Flashbacks
                   Palmer's relationship with Coco
                   Eph's new determination to kill Palmer

Let - Downs: We don't see Eph journey back into NY and it seemed too easy
                       Bringing Nikki back  

Bleach Review: The Second Eye

Which one is the real one?

Shunsui manages to catch Lille off guard with his shadows however that doesn't last when Lille reveals the true power of his X - Axis ability.

Now this chapter defiantly picks up the pace a lot more than the last one despite it wasting a bit of time in the beginning. To elaborate it's basically Shinji confirming that Shunsui is the type of person who fights alone and especially now that he is Captain Commander however despite that I would have preferred more Captains fighting Lille. Throughout all of Bleach the fights have mostly been one on one, even the Espada in FK fights that started off multiple Captains against them eventually became one on one so I wouldn't have minded if there was a bit of a change here. Moving on Lille confirms that his rifle is made out of Reishi and simply restores when it is sliced in half, though this was going to be obvious because he is a Qunicy. We also get some cool moves from the both of them as they try to land a blow on each other and then Shunsui getting the upper hand by creating shadow copies of himself which made for an awesome shot!



It's been too long since we've seen a Vollstandig

However just when things look bad for Lille he reveals that when he opens his left eye swords can just pass right through him just like how his bullets can pass through anything. Then we get some great backstory on Lille and that he was the last Quincy granted power by Yhwach and is the most powerful one because his god - like ability makes him closer to Yhwach. I don't know if this is actually true because while his ability is overpowered maybe Lille just has a bit of an ego lol. Finally the chapter ends on a really awesome few pages when Lille activates his Vollstandig Jilliel which, besides from looking freaking cool!, immobilizes Shunsui and then fires several shots into him. Now Lille's Vollstandig is one of the most unique I have seen and makes me look forward to the remaining Sternritter Vollstandig, Pernida didn't use one but then again it was a left arm. It's power to stop Shunsui along with the X - Axis ability makes me think that Shunsui will have to go Bankai to win, plus Lille looks like his in some sort of a cocoon so maybe we will see more forms?

"Ha! You missed my vital spots"

Overall a way better chapter than last time, besides from the beginning the fight is really looking like it can be just as good as the Pernida one. However unlike the Pernida one this one seems like it could be a lot more face paced since Lille is already in his Vollstandig

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Shunsui vs. Lille
                   More background on Lille and his power
                   Lille's cool Vollstandig

Let - Downs: The beginning with Shinji and the others was kind of irrelevant

Top 10 Flash Season One Episodes

I have done Arrow, now it's time for The Flash! SPOILERS

10. The Sound and the Fury




The first episode on my list introduces us Hartley Rathaway AKA Piped Piper and with the use of Flashbacks this character was woven perfectly into the storyline. I like villains with cool tech and the Piped Piper's sound based weapons was an interesting match for the Flash. It was also great how he tricked everyone by allowing himself to be caught however a let down is that his defeat was anti - climatic and felt rushed.

9. All Star Team Up




Ray Palmer is one of my favourite characters in the Arrow series so I really liked how he crossed over in to the Flash show. It is always great to see him in action in his ATOM suit and he and Felicity worked great with Team Flash, especially the funny scenes Ray has with Cisco. I also liked Emily Kinney who was great as the villain (liked her better in this than all her time in the Walking Dead) but just like Piped Piper I think her defeat could have been more dramatic. Plus this was also the episode where everyone agrees that Wells is the Reverse Flash which made the focus of the episodes afterwards trying to capture him.

8. Revenge of the Rogues




Captain Cold is one of my favourite Flash villains so it's always great to see more of him in the series and that this is the episode where he starts to build his Rouge Gallery. We also get the debut of Heatwave and it's entertaining see him work with Cold and we also get an epic showdown at the end with the two of them vs. the Flash.

7. Out of Time




I really liked this episode because it was a continuation of the Weather Wizard plot from the first episode; I knew this episode was coming (because from the comics I knew it was Mark not Clyde who was the real Weather Wizard) and it didn't disappoint! Mark was quite the match for the speedster and because of him we got to experience time travel for the first time. Of course the highlight of this episode was the biggest WTF moment for me in TV that year; Wells revealing himself to be Eobard Thawne AKA the Reverse Flash who is my favourite DC villain.

6. Rogue Air

Who doesn't like a whole bunch of Meta Humans fight the Flash at the same time? This episode was the perfect one for bringing back some Meta Humans we haven't seen in a while like The Mist who was captured early in the season. It was also good to see Cold get the drop on the Flash but I really didn't like that he had to kill Deathbolt; he was an awesome villain, Doug Jones was great as him and I really hope another version of him from Earth 2 arrives next season. Also if that wasn't enough the end of this episode had an awesome showdown between the Reserve Flash vs. the Flash, Arrow and Firestorm!

5. The Man in the Yellow Suit




I remember when I first watched this I enjoyed it so much I watched it again on catch up only a few hours later. This was the first episode that introduced us to the Reverse Flash in the present (not as a blur in Flashbacks) and he had two awesome fights with Barry. I mean the Reverse Flash was so cool with his deep voice and vibrating so we can't see him properly, the confrontation he had with Joe and the police was intense and the reveal of him being Wells was such a twist.

4. Fast Enough

Such a great finale for an epic season and one that focused more on the emotional scenes than action yet worked so well. Since they had the epic fight last episode this one focused more on Barry's decision to change the past and watching him struggling with the choice and then deciding to not save his mother so his present life won't be changed was such a great watch. Then if that much sad scenes wasn't enough they gave us Eddie sacrificing himself so Eobard will be erased from existence! Now I am positive either Tom Cavanagh or Matt Letscher's version of Eobard will reappear sometime in the futues because it's freaking Eobard Thawne, the Flash's greatest enemy who has done a lot of crazy stuff with the time stream in the comics. The only let down of this finale was that Caitlin and Ronnie's wedding just felt forced in and should have been saved for Season Two.

3. Flash vs. Arrow




The first crossover episode was such a huge success thanks to the great interactions between the cast of Team Flash and Team Arrow. The just looked so comfortable working with each other it didn't surprise me that they are going to make a crossover every year now. They also thought of such a smart way for Arrow and Flash to fight one another and it was a great fight. Only two things annoyed me and that was Cisco saying the fight was a draw when clearly Oliver won and Rainbow Raider was defeated off screen.

2. Grodd Lives

You know Grodd could have easily, and I mean easily, been a major disaster in the series. First off there is the fact of having the Flash fight a gorilla with the limited budget TV series have and then there was trying to make him (a gorilla) a serious threat. Well they nailed both of these targets because Grodd looked so awesome on screen and it was so damn creepy in those sewers when they where hunting Grodd. They went with a successful Jaws approach where you don't see much of the creature but the atmosphere they created made up for it. Then when Grodd did appear he was so intimidating like when Joe started to lose it or when he caught the Flash's punch and in the end the Flash didn't even win, he just got lucky.

1. Tricksters




So many episodes of the season deserve to have the number one spot but I just had to give it to this one because of Mark Hamill, Mark FREAKING Hamill!! It was so smart to have his portrayal as the Trickster in the 1990 Flash series still kind of counted in this series and we have lots of Easter Eggs showing us it e.g. his old costume and photographs. Loved Mark Hamill's performance on the episode because you can just tell he was having the time of his life and that besides from being a challenge for the Flash to defeat his character ties into the Axel Walker Trickster so we hopefully might see them again. Not only did we have that great plot but awesome Flashbacks showing how Eobard got stuck in the past and how he took Well's identity.

Picking a worst one was hard because I don't think there is a bad episode in the whole season but if I had no choice but to pick one I guess it would be.

Crazy for You

I guess I picked this one because while I liked Peek - A - Boo I think the way The Flash caught her in the end was lacklustre. I mean the rest of the episode was good with Cisco and Piped Piper and the ending with the sewer workers killed by Grodd but I guess Peek - A - Boo's plot wasn't too entertaining overall.


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

 

 





http://screencapped.net/

Bleach Review: Don't Chase a Shadow

"Can't believe I'm fighting someone with a gun again"

Shunsui and Lille begin their fight and while Shunsui is using his unique Zanpakuto abilities Lille is proving to be quite the match.

I guess I don't really have much to say about this chapter, I mean it was interesting and the artwork with it's use of shadows was great but all in all it was just one big explanation of powers. It's always great to see Shunsui's Zanpakuto in action because it is so unique with it's ability to turn children's games into reality but he went on such a long rant about his new game and maybe because of the translate errors but didn't get some of it. From what I can tell Shunsui's new ability is based on the Japanese game Darumasan ga Koronda (which is like Americana's Red light, Green light) and Lille was attack a fake doll of Shunsui because he keep his eyes and sense on that. We also get more on an explanation on sensing Reiatsu in the middle of battle which was what Shunsui was taking advantage of. We also then get Shunsui using Kageoni shadow ability which is always awesome to see but Lille still proves quite a match by saying he can even shoot through the shadows. Besides that there is not much else to talk about but I will mention the artwork again because it is great; Kubo does such a great job of making Shunsui laidback in one panel but then so menacing in the next. Also thought I'd mention that it is a shame Shunsui has told the rest of the Soul Reapers to go on a head because I would have really liked to have seen more try to take on Lille, plus there isn't that much Sternritter compared to the Soul Reapers so we can't just keep having these one on one fights.

Shunsui's shadow moves have always been awesome!

Overall the chapter was really long winded but hopefully that means we can just have some fighting next time and maybe Shunsui will release his Bankai soon.

SCORE: 5/10

Highlights: Awesome artwork
                   Lille vs. Shunsui has the makings to be a great fight

Let - Downs: Too much explaining of the new abilities
                      Barely anything really happened

The Strain Season Two: Identity

Eph begins to make contacts in Washington to get his bio - weapon ready meanwhile back in NY Gus helps out Angel when they encounter a vampire and Zach and Nora are confronted by Kelly.

The Strain continues with anther strong episode and I'll talk first about Eph's mission in Washington. Like I said about last episode I am liking this plot because it gives s something different in a new location and it also gave us two new characters; John and Lee. It was nice actually seeing that Eph's plan was being taken seriously by those two and that it looks like he would succeed and I admit I thought one of them was going to betray him, so it was a shock when they both ended up dead. I give Strain props because this was done really well; these two characters where built up really good (John being an old friend and Eph was getting close to Lee) that I felt really sorry when those two, who where just introduced, where mercilessly gunned down so the show did a good job of making me care for them. We also see how much influence Stoneheart has even outside of NY and I think that if Eph doesn't stay in Washington he will go back to NY in a revenge rage to get back at Palmer. Speaking of the bad guys the Master switches to a new body and while it isn't as imposing as his old one I'm glad Bolivar is getting a larger role than I thought (wish he kept the wig though). It was a cool scene; seeing Eichorst bowing down ready to accept being a host only for it to be Bolivar, I guess this will humble him a bit after all of his gloating.

As for everything else it is good to still see Gus hang out with the family at the restaurant and since he saved them from a vampire maybe they will trust him a bit more. I like the interaction between them with Gus being a bit of a fanboy over Angel's old films yet Angel himself just wants to forget them, I hope they continue to team up more in future fights. Another great moment was that Kelly finally tracked down her son with the Feelers which lead to a really intense chase through a church and I got to say it is good seeing Nora take more of an active role in the action this week. I am also liking the Feelers because it gives the good guys something new and different to fight because they have become used to normal vampires now, makes me hope we will get new types soon. However a real let down from this plot was the death of Fitzwilliams because he barely got a chance to do anything; unlike John and Lee who had there moment wrapped up in one episode I felt Fitzwilliams was built up for something more, something to last for the rest of the season at least and I really thought he would confront Palmer. Finally it is good to see more of that mysterious vampire Quinlan from last episode and I was right that he works for the Ancients but obviously has no trouble speaking his mind to them. Since he wants human allies I guess he might work with Abraham soon but I am curious about that woman who already works for him, hopefully we'll know more about her soon.

Overall another really strong episode but a major let down was the death of Fitzwilliams because we had no pay off from his character arc in Season Two.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Eph's time in Washington and brutal deaths of his friends
                   Gus and Angel team up
                   Nora and Zach confronted by Kelly
                   Interesting developments from both vampire teams

Let - Downs: Fitzwilliam's seemingly pointless death after so much build up