The Flash, Season 1, Episode 7: Power Outage
I think this is the first episode of the Flash that doesn't feel like a standard season-one 'villain of the day' and 'moral of the day' thing. I mean, in a sense it still is... this villain Blackout (who's some dude I've never heard of before, and apparently only shows up in Flashpoint, which came out after I don't read comics anymore) shows up, Flash defeats him, end of episode. And in a nice change of pace, the police department has to deal with their own villain, Clock King, who returns from his onetime appearance in Arrow. Both the Flash and Iris learn something in this episode... but in a sense I felt truly tense while watching this episode. I mean, I know it's episode 7 and they're not going to kill off the main character, but several -- Eddie, Wells and Joe -- come pretty close to dying, and I was tense for them if nothing else. And there's a couple of nice little arguments between Barry and Wells.
Let's talk about the police station cast plot, because it's shorter and less people are involved in it. I do like how it's handled, how these secondary characters can actually stand up on their own and carry smaller mini-arcs by themselves and not have to be saved by Barry all the time.
Iris manages to be likable now that she's doing other stuff other than be a friendzoning love interest and BLOG BLOG BLOG, the latter wearing absolutely thin. She's still doing that naive cartoony Lois Lane esque thing where she goes 'the Flash will kick your ass' but, of course, this time that doesn't happen. And while Iris doesn't get a whole ton of screentime, she does manage to take down the Clock King by using the Oliver/Felicity/Slade bait and switch thing. There's also a couple funny moments with her kind of blushing over meeting the Flash, and the mug joke.
William Tockman, the Clock King, shows up again and it's a wholly unexpected return for him! I do like how he's a bit of an amalgamation between the two Clock Kings (Temple Fugate and William Tockman, owing more to the former for the looks). Clock King is wonderfully, deliciously neurotic and posh and everything, and he's easily one of my favourite villains in the CW Arrow-Flash continuity. He's so much fun! And so tragic, too, because as he reveals this time, his sister ended up dying from McGregor's Syndrome and he was denied the opportunity to even say goodbye to her. Man, what a douchebag DA. Almost makes me want to root for him if he's not shooting people left and right. I do really like him just swaggering out and shooting everybody, and I do like the more tender moments when he lets Iris say goodbye to the 'dying' Eddie. There's also a nice moment where he respects Joe enough to apply a tourniquet to Eddie's arm and do this little 'time of shot' thing, which in retrospect is absolutely appropriate for the Clock King.
What more can I say? The Clock King is freaking awesome, even if he doesn't come to blows with the Flash and kind of gets taken out like a bitch, it's still awesome to see him swagger around and do his wacky antics.
Joe has apparently come to support Barry Allen being the Flash and protecting people from the metahumans, and goes 'you need to get your powers back' and all that... though the encounter with the Reverse-Flash last episode might be a major contributing factor to that. Joe gets some nice funny moments with throwing stuff so Barry can (fail to) catch them, and there's the nice little back-and-forth negotiation with the Clock King that shows that Joe isn't just a cop. He's also pretty well-versed in literature, and that little gambit where he lets Iris get the gun... possibly for self-protection, because sending his untrained daughter to shoot a terrorist is kind of dark. But, y'know, Iris did that. I do really like that heartbreaking scene when Joe just struggles to his feet shouting IRIS when we hear a gunshot and we're not sure if it's Iris or Clock King that pulled the trigger. (From the viewer standpoint it's obviously Iris, but still)
Also I do like how Barry tries to call Joe for backup, whereas Joe/Iris is hoping that the Flash will show up. It's a nice little thing.
Eddie is high on pain meds and he's just all high and happy and absolutely hilarious. Before that he gets minimal screentime up until the Clock King shoots him a couple of times, and thanks to the ambiguous nature of Eddie Thawne's role, I was actually expecting him to maybe die or get crippled (a la the comics' Hunter Zolomon) or something. I certainly didn't dismiss his death out of hand, and I thought that was a good way to increase tension. Ever since the last episode Eddie's been relatively likable.
I think that's about it for the secondary cast, so now let's talk about the main Barry plot. I'm saving all the Wells stuff until the end because there's a fair bit to talk about him.
Anyway, the main plot is this new metahuman, Blackout, who initially seems to be this lightning-based villain... like his Marvel namesake, except instead of just shutting off lamps, this Blackout can also do Palpatine force lightning things. That is, until Blackout reveals that he can suck the lightning-speed thing right off of Barry. There's a distinct feel of Speed Force foreshadowing all around this, which is all great. And I do like how Barry looks just so miserable and weak and generally nearly-useless without his speed, and how everyone from Caitlin to Joe to Harrison Wells to some degree is all trying to cheer him up for him to get his speed back. We see just how much helping people means to Barry and how, speed or no speed, Barry keeps trying to help people.
Wells also brings up one of the things I really like about this show, just how much the Flash really enjoys being the Flash. With heroes like Batman or CW's version of Green Arrow, not to mention basically all DC superheroes adapted to the big screen recently, their heroism is really treated as a burden and an obligation, which to a sense it is... and it does work with the more somber and gritty feel of Batman and Green Arrow, but with someone like the Flash? He really really enjoys his work, and I do like how it is a stark contrast with the newest episode of Arrow I just watched, intentional or not.
Wells also brings up how Barry is using his speed for menial tasks like dressing up early or to give people in line fast coffees, or to fuck around with a mugger which was hilarious. It's another aspect of Flash that I like, how he's using his powers for relatively petty and practical things which is totally something that I would do.
And the show treats Barry losing his speed like someone losing a limb or whatever, and to an extend it must be true -- if Barry is forced to live without his speed, it isn't just like taking a thing away from someone, it would be paramount to amputating someone's leg. And I can see why he's so desperate to get his powers back even if it involves electrocuting himself with the
Man, that thing is definitely going to be the Cosmic Treadmill. I've been rereading some old Flash comics and Cisco's special treadmill is so obviously designed after the Cosmic Treadmill.
Barry's borderline-naive optimism really shows when he tries to talk down Farooq, and gets shot with electricity for his troubles. I do like how he tries to at least mediate a situation first, how he isn't immediately resorting to murder. And I thought the argument between Barry and Wells about sending Girder to battle Blackout is pretty well scripted as well. Great stuff. Also he seems to have gotten a boost to his speed, which is nice, showing how Barry Allen's powers are still developing. Last episode we had the supersonic mach punch, and now we've got more glowing red blood cells.
I don't think Cisco does anything in this episode that's noteworthy other than to bounce dialogue off of, but Caitlin gets some nice moments, being the one who ended up having to 'believe' and activate the big power generator thing to jumpstart Barry. Considering how she's lost Ronnie and everything, I do think that it's a pretty nice little character growth for her. Even if the 'I believe lightning chose me for a reason' lines are pretty narmy but Barry Allen's face looks kind of, y'know, nerdy? Naive? Earnest? It just works on him, I dunno.
I think there was a Felicity reference, she upgraded their system or something. Yay Felicity, I guess? She's been a wee bit too prominent recently, and I'd prefer they dial it down a bit. As much as I like her, she's veering dangerously close to Sue territory.
Also in the Farooq flashback we see the Mardons' airplane blown off the sky, which is a nice little continuity nod.
The main villain here, Farooq Jabron (otherwise known as Blackout) is a pretty crazy-terrifying dude. It's amazing what a few layers of makeup around the eyes and making those see-through electricity lines fizzle in and out, and some great acting, can make this dude really look like a tragic, hungry psychopath. I do like his backstory, too. We're shown that he's just climbing on this electrical pole and all excited about seeing Wells' machine get activated, and getting electrocuted from there... and his friends apparently died giving him CPR. It's pretty tragic, and he's forced to go around feeding from power plants and whatnot, having to live with the knowledge that he killed his friends... who probably wouldn't be there if he didn't ask for them to accompany him. Farooq looks like the only one out of the group who's really excited about seeing the activation.
And, well, from his appearance to his behaviour it's easy to see just how crazy and deranged he is from his condition, and rightfully so.
Farooq's a pretty threatening villain, too. I'm not sure just how he knows how much electricity a human body gives out, but seeing this random nice dude get transformed into this rage-fueled energy vampire... it really makes him stand out from the evil dudes who get their powers and use them for evil (Mist, Girder, Multiplex, Weather Wizard) or Barry and Plastique, whose powers aren't forcing them to drain energy to keep alive... or being tormented by, y'know, the whole killing-friends thing. And the fact that he's out for blood, out for revenge on Wells, as well as being able to siphon off Barry's powers... I thought the final battle between the two of them were a bit m'eh, though Barry does some nice electrical dodging stuff, but that's okay. Farooq's more of a psychologically impressive villain than being really showy.
Also, Girder makes a surprise appearance! And, well, he dies, poor sod. Granted, this is a world based on DC comics and people never really stay dead for long, but I dunno. Girder gets released by Wells to fight Farooq, and for whatever reason he complies without going off after Barry or whatever. Maybe he just wants to punch things, I dunno. He seems to be able to take a hit from Farooq, blocking that electrical blast with a manly 'ouch', but soon afterwards he gets defeated off-screen and dies in Barry's arms, telling him to 'run', so at least this version of Girder isn't really that evil. I thought it was an odd decision to kill Girder off just like that, especially when Wells and Barry make it clear that Girder didn't buy that much time for them, but I guess it's to illustrate just how much of a chessmaster Wells can be? It's odd, though.
Harrison Wells, on the other hand, is certainly not reduced to a minor character. This episode shows a great deal of focus about him, painting him as a chessmaster. There's the whole Girder thing up above, and I do agree with Wells -- I'd choose the lives of my friends (who also happen to be useful) over the life of this crazy psychopath in my basement that I can manipulate. It's a nice little argument between ideals and pragmatism. And on the flip side we do get some nice moments that make Harrison Wells feel a lot more human and not just this super-evil chessmaster. He reveals that he remembers the names of every single person who died thanks to the explosion, and offers himself to Farooq to let everyone else be sapred, and it's a very poignant and powerful scene. It actually reminds me of a very similar scene from the manga D.Gray-Man, and I think that humanizes Wells pretty well. Also the scenes when he goes 'I care about you, Barry', even if the feeling is probably not just because he thinks that Barry is a swell guy. He's still a massive chessmastering prick, but he's also still human I guess?
Also to note are the names that Wells rattles off! Those are all the names of DC superheroes. Ronnie Raymond is, of course, Firestorm. Ralph Dibny is a relatively major character, the Elongated Man. Bea DaCosta is Fire, Grant Emerson is Damage and Al Rothstein is the Atom Smasher. (Also, Will Everett is the 'Amazing Man', who I've never heard before) It brought a massive smile to my face when these names are rattled off. I doubt any of them will show up other than Firestorm, but still, I do like these DC references that aren't as in-your-face like how Gotham sometimes can be.
Also, we get more scenes about Wells that seems to function to make you be confused as of what his alignment is. We get him talking to Gideon, an AI that apparently can search the future's news records and allow Wells to affirm if the timeline is damaged or not. It's a nice little time-travel gimmick that I like, which reminds me of the Golden Discs from Beast Wars (I'm just comparing everything to a bunch of other things here). And Wells wants to preserve a future in which the Flash exists and manages to make the red skies disappear. I do like how Wells makes these logs and gets quite disappointed with Barry's heroics, and his rage when Gideon fails to return any references to the Flash is pretty well-acted as well.
And the final scene where he talks to Gideon about how Barry's caring for other people is the key to unlock his potential seems to imply that all the sappy talk he had that humanizes him might just all be an act... or, on the same token, his observation might be just that. Wells is an extremely intriguing character, and extracting Farooq's blood... what is he trying to do? Is he trying to take down Barry, which doesn't make sense because he wants Barry to survive... or is he trying to force Barry to grow through tragedy or something along those lines? Or is he not evil at all, and he's been doing all this to take down the Reverse-Flash?
Absolutely intrigued, absolutely interested to find out more. The next episode is the Arrow/Flash crossover. Me excited.
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