The Flash, Season 3, Episode 3: Magenta
For the past, oh, ten to fifteen years, I've always thought that Magenta's name was Magneta. Like, y'know, she's got magnetic powers, like, y'know, magnet? Like Magneto? It was not until thirty minutes ago that I realized her name was magenta. Like the colour.
Bit of a hilarious moment for me personally, also probably a lot of you think I'm a huge geek for even knowing who Magenta is. Oh well.
It's a bit of a simpler episode for this week, a simple fight-an-enemy with a new guest star, and the little fanboy in me is on the moon for seeing Jesse Quick literally run back into this show with super-speed. After the show having pussyfooting around the fact that Wally and Jesse are going to be speedsters, it's a very, very welcome moment of vindication when Jesse Quick's first act in returning to the show is to zoom around in yellow lightning. Bringing in a relatively faithful adaptation of a Flash antagonist I really like is also very welcome.
And honestly, after so many episodes of either card-carrying villains with convoluted plans (Zoom, Alchemy) or simple one-dimensional enemies (Rupture, Black Siren, Geomancer) it's nice to have some depth to one of the villains. I dunno. Maybe it's just because I like Magenta, but it's nice to see her story unfold, from being treated like shit by her asshat foster father, to her confusion as the Frankie and Magenta personas clash in their heads, to the absolutely awesome visual image of dropping a goddamned cruise liner on top of a hospital... yeah, the split personality is a bit hackneyed, and the conclusion was a bit too obvious, but it was a lot more fun than Alchemy skulking in the background or Rival being a douche.
Also, Alchemy is a lot effective here spending 100% of the episode off-screen and just being this mysterious corruptor that fucked Magenta up, and is implying that he'll gun for Wally soon (which, by the way, is a huge dick and moronic move on Barry's part not to tell Wally or Joe about this). Certainly far more impressive than his underwhelming one-note appearance last episode.
Plus the lack of angsty drama and the focus mostly on Magenta's personal problems, as well as Harrison having to accept that Jesse Wells is now Jesse Quick is a lot more relatable and interesting than Barry moping because he fucks up the timeline. And the return of Harrison Wells is just a huge blessing as he brings back an ample amount of snark (including at Barry's moronic decision to incite Flashpoint in the first place) and some daddy issues with Jesse. Harry and Jesse are basically top-notch this episode.
And I do love the scene of Jesse Quick creating a huge vortex to lift up the tanker while Barry talks Magenta down, a nice unique show of how the Flash can't just speed down and punch a non-speedster villain in the face -- the tanker hanging over the hospital is kind of the unique problem superheroes need to deal with, plus justifies the fact that Barry needs a second speedster to help him out.
Plus Jesse Quick is awesomesauce. Can't deny that.
Barry and Iris's constantly-interrupted dates were whatever, but fortunately, y'know, they were constantly-interrupted. Still not sold on Draco Malfoy (whose name in this show I literally forgot and can't be bothered to look up before next week), who seemed to be Mr. Exposition and a British Eddie Thawne, as much as I love Tom Felton. Which, by the way... Draco's totally Alchemy, right? He's the obvious choice, but I really don't want the "ally character turns out to be the secret identity of the mysterious villain" the way we had Harrison Wells/Reverse-Flash in season one and Fake!Jay Garrick/Zoom in season two. It's honestly gotten very, very tiresome, and if Draco turns out to be Alchemy it would be monumentally dumb.
Joe got a couple of great lines (including the "second daughter" line which made me laugh so hard), and Wally got a short but important moment of trying to trigger his speed by walking in front of a car. Again, very dickish of Barry not to tell anyone what Wally was in the Flashpoint, but at least the borderline-suicidal hero complex and the fact that Wally died in Flashpoint are somewhat believable reasons... but Wally was being kind of an idiot in that scene even if Jesse was literally a second away from saving him. I dunno. That felt a bit forced, though Wally talking and being buddies with Jesse was a really great scene.
Caitlin gets a lot of screentime here, too, where he tries to talk to Jesse about taking powers slow, a reflection of how she's in denial about her Killer Frost powers, and her exploding at Harrison Wells for not being accepting and treating powers like a curse that will kill Jesse is very, very melancholic considering the sudden in-universe retcon to Caitlin's being. Caitlin Snow is a character that was easily one of the best supporting characters in the show's first season, only really facing competition from Joe West, Evil!Harrison Wells and Martin Stein... but was supremely butchered in the show's second season. Here's hoping she'll get a lot more relevance and great lines in this one.
Overall, it's definitely a step in the right direction after the huge, long-winded Flashpoint nonsense. Really hoping to see more of Jesse Quick and Magenta in future episodes, really hoping Wally and Caitlin become Flash and Killer Frost quickly, and, of course, Harrison Wells.
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