Daredevil S02E13 Review: Elektra Wants A Billy Club

Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 13: A Cold Day In Hell's Kitchen

Finale! It's... a serviceable season finale, I guess. It's a far less formulaic story compared to season one, with so many players running through the season -- Matt, Frank, Elektra and Karen are really well done with their own personal character arcs working really well. The Hand plot is kind of the messiest, really, because beyond them wanting to catch Elektra and turn her into their queen we really have no idea what the hell they are up to. What's that big hole for? What was the blood-draining kid all about? How does Nobu and other Hand ninjas cheat death? What is the meaning of Elektra being the Black Sky if we've seen other Black Skies before? So many questions unanswered, and Nobu's dead again so we can't really ask him.

But no, instead of giving us some payoff for one of the wacky doomsday cult plots the Hand had engaged earlier in the season, they just borrowed a page off Fisk's playbook and kidnapped everyone Daredevil has ever saved. They also threaten poor Mahooney's mother to get that list, which is probably another reason as to why a nameless vigilante is far more effective in fighting the forces of evil. While thematically fitting with the whole Matt/Daredevil schism, it doesn't really make sense from a storytelling perspective. Why not use the blood-drained kids in the final fight or something?

It's still a really engaging episode, though, so despite limping in the final three or four episodes, Daredevil's second season is still one of the most solid live-action superhero adaptations out there.

Elektra's death was definitely telegraphed out loud, and I felt that they could've avoided that a bit. Her conversation with Matt as they approach that threshold were a bit obvious, but they were at least quite well-written, with Matt seemingly embracing Elektra as being the same with him and ready to run away with her if that's what it takes. It's a nice little payoff to Elektra's season-long arc of seeking acceptance and trying to see herself within Matt Murdock. But alas, in that final rooftop fight Nobu kills Elektra, and then Daredevil throws Nobu off that rooftop. Nobu gets back up from the fall only for Stick to slice his head off in one of the most hilarious deus ex machinas out there. I legit laughed so hard at that.

Oh, and Elektra's definitely not going to die permanently, because the Hand members stuck her in that giant... teapot... thing. For Matt and Stick, though, Elektra's dead. And, well, it's something that's associated with her character from the comics, so I really hope this is just them getting the death scene over and done with without involving Bullseye before they're ready to use him.

Frank, surprisingly got a fair amount of screentime in this episode as well, when I was doubtful if he'll show up after having his story tied up last episode. But he showed up to snipe off a couple of Nobu's bodyguards to assist Daredevil, in full skull-vest no less! Also a powerful moment for Frank is finally having the courage to confront his family's home, and then setting it on fire like a glorious funeral pyre near the end... though he does take a little disc labelled 'Micro', who I think is a plot hook for Punisher's own series. As I am told, Micro is a supporting character for Punisher. 

Oh, and Melvin "Gladiator" Potter shows up to outfit Daredevil with his iconic billy clubs, which are holy shit really awesome. We only see them in this episode but considering the sheer versatility and the awesomeness of the multi-purpose melee/ranged/grapple line weapon thing is, man, the episode certainly really sold on how awesome those sticks are. Even Elektra wants one!

Meanwhile, Foggy is visited by Jeri Hogarth, hailing from Jessica Jones, who offers Foggy a job at her law firm! That was an unexpected but well-done crossover. Shame that they didn't really let Foggy do much beyond argue with Matt this season, though -- he's easily the weakest-written one out of the main cast.

This episode ends in a far more somber note than the first season. Nelson and Murdock is closed and a ghostly shell of its former glory, Nobu is dead but the Hand is still out there, Elektra is dead, and Daredevil burnt his bridges with Karen and Foggy in favour of being Daredevil full-time. Plus Kingpin is poised to unleash hell upon Hell's Kitchen after breaking free. Granted, there's the dual cliffhanger of Elektra in the teapot and Matt finally pulling out the Daredevil mask and telling Karen who he is... but we don't really see the resolutions to those until the next show, I'd wager. 

So yeah, still a pretty awesome season nonetheless, even if it all kinda got rushed near the end. And I think that's simply because neither Nobu nor Blacksmith felt like actual compelling antagonists the way Wilson Fisk or Killgrave (or even the Punisher earlier this season) were. But definitely a very enjoyable and well-done season. More Netflix series for me, please. And hopefully Daredevil's third season will answer a lot of the questions raised by the Hand in this one.

Daredevil S02E12 Review: Elektra's Daddy Issues and Identity Crises

Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 12: The Dark At The End of the Tunnel

The Blacksmith's real identity is revealed as Colonel Schoonover, and, well, as awesome his portrayal by Clancy Brown is, it really isn't that much of a satisfying answer. Yeah, he showed up before for like two minutes so it didn't really came out of the left field, but it really felt unsatisfying. The way it was handled was mostly procedural as well, with the Punisher just tracking Schoonover down, ignoring Karen's pleas for finding another way and executing the motherfucker. Schoonover is portrayed to be quite unhinged, but having all this twelve-episode-long buildup hinting at a larger conspiracy involving the government and whatnot ended up being nothing but, well, just a drug boss whose drug deal went south and Frank's unfortunate family just got caught up in the middle.

Considering how great the writing has been in this series, I really hoped for something that ties in to the other plotlines more. Maybe Blacksmith is a member of either the Chaste or the Hand, planning to use those drugs for... something, I'm sure they can find a plausible reason (it's not like that big hole in the building really ended up amounting to anything but look creepy-cool). It could be Stick, it could be Nobu, it could be that Hirochi fellow who seemed to seem to have all but disappeared... hell, having it Wilson Fisk or hell, even one of Fisk's already-slain associates would make more sense. How awesome would it be if it turned out that the Blacksmith was in reality Wesley, Fisk's right-hand-man who Karen shot for entirely unrelated reasons a season ago? That would be far more satisfying. How great would it be if it was Stick who used the drug thing to bait the Hand, and Frank's family was a wholly unintentional casualty in some kind of greater good argument?

But no, like a fucking episode of Scooby Doo, the ghost turns out to be this one guy we saw halfway through the episode and then forgot about.

There is some nice writing in weaving Karen into the story, with her newfound passion for journalism thanks to Ellison being a great supporting figure to her ending up leading her to interview Frank's old commanding officer, but at the same time that also felt way too contrived a coincidence. Oh well. I guess Frank's season-long plotline is finished. Maybe he can show up and shoot up a bunch of ninjas next episode. It's not badly done, certainly, and there were worse ways this could've been done, but there definitely could've been a lot of better alternatives.

What was satisfying, however, was how this Punisher seemed to be built up to be a more rounded version of the character. And having him spare this one life, the one most responsible for the deaths of his families would be a great redemption arc, and a nice echo to how Daredevil was all like 'just this one life' last episode. But nah. Punisher blew his head up. Also found a crapton of guns. Yay for Punisher's new armoury!

Meanwhile, we get flashbacks for Elektra where we learn how she was oh-so-much-more-talented than the other kids in the Chaste, how no killing was from the get-go difficult for her to do... and how Stick is a shitty father figure. Okay, granted, Stick probably does care a fair bit for Elektra, even killing a fellow Chaste member to protect Elektra, but like what Matt points out, Stick's passion for grooming people to fight for his war without confiding reasons in them, and his assholishness in general, ends up kinda backfiring. Stick caring for Elektra and trying to steer her away from her destiny as the Hand's weapon is definitely there, though.

Alas, as entertaining as Elektra and Stick's fight is, it is immediately interrupted by Nobu... who claims that Elektra is Black Sky. Even though we've already seen a Black Sky in season one, and the blood-drained kids are implied to be prototype Black Skies or something. I honestly still don't understand what the meaning of Elektra-is-Black-Sky thing really is. Was she the original that the others are a mere pale imitation of? She's definitely special, but nowhere as indestructible as the prophecy makes her out to be -- the Hand certainly nearly killed her with that poisoned blade that one time.

I think they're trying way too hard to show how Elektra fighting against her "Black Sky" destiny is a parallel to Matt Murdock abandoning Matt Murdock and becoming Daredevil full-time, and I don't really think it worked well at all. For one thing, well, Elektra was conflicted for a bit but considering she has been fighting the Hand for her entire life and as much as she's ready to stab Stick through the face... she knew Stick and Matt far longer than these strange Japanese men. Matt being conflicted between one set of friends and the other is hardly as easy a choice to make.

Also a weak scene was the drawn-out cliche of Elektra going 'you were my mission, but I fell in love for reals'. That was kinda badly done, I think. Thankfully the more important Stick/Elektra/Matt three-way fucked-up family spat was far more entertaining and well-written. 

This episode does have great moments, but some of it is kinda marred by hurriedly giving Frank and Elektra a nice conclusion to both their season-long character plotlines so that next episode can be Matt-centric, and it kinda shows. It's not a bad episode, and it's definitely entertaining and great to watch on several levels, but the Black Sky and Blacksmith reveal really felt like they came straight out of nowhere, and could've used a far more satisfying alternative. 

The Flash S02E19 Review: Fillerific Filler

The Flash, Season 2, Episode 19: Back to Normal

Did we not already have a 'how would the Flash fight crime if he is powerless' episode? We had it when his speed is shorting out and he's semi-crippled after his first fight with Zoom and had to fight Grodd. We had it with Jay Garrick (as much as he's apparently faking it) fighting the Geomancer. And this episode, well... really felt like a filler episode. From the slow, melancholic opening comparing Barry's superspeed morning to his now-normal morning, 'slow' is what describes this episode. Which, perhaps, might be thematically appropriate with a now powerless Barry Allen, but it's definitely not conducive to an episode in the final stretch.

And it's a filler episode too! Last season, the final four or five episodes are all either filled with Reverse-Flash or time travel related plot, or a gauntlet of powerful recurring enemies like Grodd or the Rogues. This episode just introduces a very boring villain and some 'how will Barry defeat this without his speed', a convoluted side-plot involving Caitlin Snow and Killer Frost which ends up ultimately revealing nor developing anything, a boring side-plot with Wally wanting to meet the Flash, and the whole Jesse-goes-away thing ends up being resolved almost immediately.

At least Barry isn't wallowing in self-pity like the last time he lost his powers. Some self-deprecation jokes are in order, but he's still mostly functioning as a hero without a power. Which is decent. But it's just kind of bad pacing after the event-filled (if badly written) last episode to transition to this really uninspired and boring filler episode.

We get some great moments from Earth-2 Harrison Wells, where he is kidnapped by this metahuman, Griffin Grey, who is blessed with superstrength except he ages every time he uses it. Sucks to be him, but he confronts Wells for making his life hell. And, well, he's a pretty sympathetic villain who only wants to return to his normal life, and his aggression really is expected from someone with his affliction. I'm not sure if he died in the end and then reverted to his original young form, or if he somehow randomly recovered and reverted to his younger self for no real reason.

Wrong Wells or not, though, both Griffin Grey's accusations and Jesse condemning him for murdering a man ends up causing Wells to, well, kinda develop more into a less overprotective father and to atone for his sins of manipulating everyone around him and being an overtly ambitious man with the particle accelerator on his home universe.

Though honestly a lot of the 'you went too far in protecting me' bit still kinda feels moot considering Jesse doesn't know that Wells killed the Turtle while he was imprisoned. For all she knew, Wells is fighting for his life trying his hardest to save Jesse from Zoom -- and honestly from Wells' point of view it could be taken as such -- and it's highly stupidly naive for Jesse to think that her rescue from Zoom was done without blood.

And the whole 'I need to be more responsible with science' bit that Wells learned about building a particle accelerator that inadvertently harmed random civilians ends up... kinda feeling hypocritical when his lesson at the end of the episode ended up being... 'I'm going to rebuild the particle accelerator!' To give Barry his powers back, and presumably he's not going to detonate it in the city. But hey.

Also, Jesse stood in for Caitlin this week as the resident science girl, showing how utterly replaceable Caitlin Snow has became in season two. Jesse doesn't get a lot to do this episode, honestly. She is angry with her daddy at the beginning, then reconciles with her daddy at the end. It's honestly too quick (no pun intended), and felt like, once more, a rehash of Iris and Joe's fight and reconciling after the father got kidnapped by a villain (Grodd instead of Griffin in this case) from last episode.

Caitlin finally gets a proper subplot this episode, I think having more dedicated screentime in this episode alone than the previous eighteen episodes combined. She has to deal with being Zoom's prisoner, and then she finds out that her Earth-2 doppelganger, Killer Frost, wasn't actually dead but was imprisoned. The two Caitlins took the entire episode to work to spring Killer Frost from her prison, and then Killer Frost tries to kill Caitlin and then Zoom kills Killer Frost. And Caitlin is still Zoom's prisoner.

So the character we all thought was dead was revealed to be alive, and then gets herself killed off for real. For no reason at all -- she didn't even facilitate Caitlin's escape, or wound Zoom, or anything. From a literary standpoint, I do believe this is called 'filler'.

We did get some hints of something interesting with Caitlin, far overdue considering we spent the entirety of season two with her fawning over Jay and nothing else. Something about an overbearing mother and... a missing brother? Also, apparently Zoom kept Killer Frost around because she looks like Caitlin. Which... raises... some disturbing implications. The show doesn't go anywhere with it, thankfully.

Zoom-Jay-Hunter is just crazy. He's just this crazy psycho who wants to conquer everything and wants to have Caitlin fall in love with him just because. And what, really, is he doing running off leaving his base? What does Zoom do in his spare time when he's not lurking around his base? Is he off terrorizing Earth-2's population? Are there other superheroes for him to fight? I honestly want some explanation on this front, but I highly doubt we'll get them because Zoom is more plot device than character.

Oh and we have this random plotline of Wally wanting to meet Flash. Even though he knows that Flash is speedless at that point. I thought that particular bit was pointless, heartwarming as it ended up being.

It's just, well, a filler episode. There isn't anything wrong with this episode, but there really isn't anything necessary in here that it needed to be put in the end stretch of the season. We could've had something cool and have Jesse Quick, Vibe or Wally-Flash embrace their comic book counterpart and be the superhero of the day while Barry is out, but that would require good pacing and writing, of which the last few episodes are sorely lacking. I just hope the season doesn't flop the finale too much. 

Daredevil S02E11 Review: Frank Gives Relationship Advice

Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 11: .380

Another busy episode. The second half of this season is, well, nowhere as strong as the first half, and is honestly a bit messier, but it's still an entertaining and well-written mess nonetheless. 

We start this episode off with the Hand army charging the hospital and springing the brainwashed kids free. Stan Gibson's son kills him off-screen in the process, which is a small, heartbreaking moment. Poor Stan Gibson is so afraid of all this insane vigilante ninja thing going on around him and all he wants is for his son to be safe, but not only is the poor kid probably never going to be normal ever again, he's also his killer. It's entertaining to see Daredevil just fight a ninja army in the hospital, and it ended up leading to a bit of a character plotline with Claire. One of her nurse friends was killed by the ninja assault, and the hospital wants to cover it up -- though in the hospital's defense they really can't afford such simple naivety because they can really get shut down if it's found out that two nurses stole supplies to treat a bunch of unregistered patients under orders from a vigilante. Which, by the way, was what painted the hospital as a target in the first place. Plus the Hand probably threatened that hospital as well. As awesome as the spirit of that 'NO HIDE THE TRUTH I QUIT' scene is, Clair really came off as stupidly unreasonable.

Oh, and in addition to having creepy brainwashed blood-bank psychotic child soldiers, the Hand also have bodies with clear autopsy marks, which again ties in to the whole 'come back from the dead' thing. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the episode delves into Daredevil and the Punisher going off on their own personal quests for answers regarding the Hand and the Blacksmith respectively. This features the welcome return of another season one antagonist, Madame Gao, the mysterious Chinese lady who definitely has more to her than meets the eye. It's a great, fun scene, with Gao having enough charisma and mystique to carry the scene by herself, but I really don't know if having her show up really is all that necessary other than to peg her as a possible supporting character for the upcoming Iron Fist show.

Meanwhile, Frank and Karen sit in a diner talking about love, and telling Karen to hold on to 'those who are close enough to hurt you', because if you don't really love someone then they can't hurt you. It's actually some sage advice from someone who lost his entire family with regrets for not spending enough time with them, and over the time of eleven episodes Frank and Karen have grown close enough that this heart-to-heart relationship advice actually makes sense. As much as 'the Punisher gives dating advice' might sound stupid on paper, it's a scene that really works.

It's followed quite brutally by an awesome diner shootout against a couple of the Blacksmith's men, upon which Karen is reminded with the stark horror that is the Punisher's roaring rampage of death. Yeah, talking about how you agree with the Punisher murdering people is one thing -- being present while said bad guys are begging for their lives as the Punisher fills them with bullets is another. They're giving the Punisher a soft side, but make no mistake. He is the Punisher and he will punish you.

Both Daredevil and the Punisher find their way to the docks, where they find a huge shipment of the Blacksmith's narcotics, and are assaulted by a bunch of people that Frank knew from before, apparently. After going through the hell that he did (probably helped by the fact that Kingpin was not stopped by simple incarceration), Daredevil was ready to make a single exception to his 'no killing' rule with regards to the Blacksmith... which the Punisher tells him to really think hard about, because once the line is crossed there's no going back. It's a great moment for both characters, with each of them respecting the other's methods and code of honour, and the Punisher recognizing the need for, well, a more optimistic hero. Or something. It's just a cool moment and I'm kinda tired to make detailed character analyses okay.

(And, no, the Punisher's not dead in that ship explosion. That's not how this works.)

This episode really works well in bringing the Punisher and Daredevil arcs together after the initial Punisher arc, with great scenes for Frank in particular. Sadly, the Hand/Elektra/Chaste arcs really felt to be relegated to just filler, because, well, as awesome as the hospital scene was, ultimately that was just a bit of filler that really didn't feel like progressing the Hand-Chaste war. Stick is kept mysterious with him sending a hitman to kill Elektra for abandoning the cause, and we seem to be building up to a Stick-Elektra showdown. To truly bring this to a climatic ending we really need either Fisk, Stick or Nobu to be the Blacksmith, to show that, yeah, there is one person pulling all the strings behind all the happenings in the city, how this untouchable mob boss is actually connected to one of the big secret ninja organizations. Otherwise any reveal on who the Blacksmith's identity is will kinda be m'eh considering the dude has been a phantom for nearly the entirety of the show. With a couple episodes more to go, though, we'll see how neatly this series ties up. 

Legends of Tomorrow S01E09 Review: Secret Identites & Past Lives

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1, Episode 9: Left Behind

Legends of Tomorrow hasn't really been good ever since... well, episode seven. I'm caught up with it, and it's a fun show, but no good reviewer would look at this show, especially from episode, oh, 10 onwards, and say 'damn, it's a damn good show'. Because it's not. And it's a shame, because I really loved Legends of Tomorrow in spirit and concept if not in execution. But, hey, I think I'll get caught up to all the superhero shows this month, so let's add Legends of Tomorrow into my retinue of overdue reviews. I'll try to be more concise.

This episode was half-decent, thankfully.  The odd twist that Ray, Kendra and Sara were stranded for two years in 1958 because time travel... doesn't... allow the Waverider team to appear two hours after they left... because of reasons? Well, at least they attempted to brush it over with some time travel rules, unlike previous (or future) inconsistencies. We get some rather... odd but rather heartwarming relationship building between Ray and Kendra, who lived together for two years. Kendra is more than eager to go back to fighting Vandal Savage, but Ray's just being kinda sad that he didn't get to propose. Is there a point to all this stupid Ray/Kendra shipping? No, not really. I would've rather the show left it at that, but sadly this would get explored even further in future episodes to be a love triangle when Carter inevitably returns, much to my chagrin... it isn't helped by the fact that Ray and Kendra doesn't really have that much of a chemistry going on between them. 

Sara, meanwhile, rejoins the League of Assassins, um... because? I dunno, we've already went through Sara trying to escape her nature as a killer both in Arrow and in Legends of Tomorrow, and there really wasn't a big tension to whether Sara will choose the League or the Legends. It does allow Sara to deliver an ass-kicking to Kendra, which is welcome to see.

Ra's Al Ghul's role was built up in promotional material, but ultimately he didn't get to do much other than deliver some dialogue and nod sagely, so pretty much daily business as his ultimately disappointing role in Arrow. He was surprisingly chill and played a good game for the time-travelers, though, and while I expected his appearance to be more related to being the episode's weekly villain, I can appreciate his more passive role here. Though I'm curious if Ra's meeting Sara in the past was what made him so edgy and eager to write Sara off during the events of Arrow's third season?

Also, Talia Al Ghul shows up! As a child, yes, but hey, Talia! Talia was always the more prominent Al Ghul daughter (Nyssa showed up very recently compared to Talia in the comics) but her closer ties as a Batman character probably prevented CW from ever using her in their works. Until now. 

Other than the slight disappointment with Ra's passive role, though this week is full of nice swerving plot twists. Well, only the one, really, with the revelation that Chronos, who has been uninterestingly bland and a walking plot device for the past eight episodes, reveals his secret identity not as David Clinton, the classic comic-book alter ego of Chronos, but rather... Mick Rory! No one believes that Snart killed Mick, of course, so the twist that he would be alive would not be interesting. The fact that the time masters got to him, brainwashed him and made him work for them, though, is a different twist. 

It's a great moment as this faceless plot device turned out not to be a character we already know, but rather one of the main characters. It's a bold move to be taken, but one that works wonders for the show. Heat Wave's been gradually developed from just Snart's pyro buddy into something more, and this burning (pun fully intended) resentment against the perceived betrayal is a nice angle to explore. It's a great episode for both Rory and Snart, as the latter tries his best to stop Rory and his new friends from killing each other. The two have been the best parts of the show without question, and seeing this relationship get torn apart is really great to watch.

Not so great is Snart freezing his own arm and shattering it in an attempt to break free from those handcuffs. I mean, yeah, Gideon regrew Snart's arm later, but it's still quite cringe-inducing to watch. Kudos for the visual effects there.

Overall, a relatively strong episode, with a welcome cameo from Ra's Al Ghul and some great moments for the Captain Cold/Heat Wave relationship. The show's sadly about to enter a bit of a rough patch starting in the next few episodes, though. 

Daredevil S02E10 Review: Matt Meets Wilson

Daredevil, Season 2, Episode 10: The Man In The Box

This season of Daredevil certainly puts more emphasis on the character development arcs as compared to the general plotline of the big Punisher/Hand/Blacksmith three-way war over Hell's Kitchen. Because, well, after the initial Elektra episodes there has always been this sense of uneven pacing hanging over this show's head. The show just barely passes the threshold for being messy, but that's mostly due to the great character work and the amount of interesting things going on on all fronts. This episode is definitely weaker than a lot of prior Daredevil episodes, though, mostly due to the lack of a proper unifying theme throughout the episode that makes it feel like a bunch of scenes just happening all over the place. It's great... it just felt like there really could've been a bunch of smoother editing in this episode, maybe transplant a couple of scenes to other episodes or whatever.

Reyes dies this episode. She finally gives in and requests the aid of Foggy and Karen. Her bitchy veneer has entirely broken down and she looks utterly flustered... but before anyone can do anything she gets gunned down in her office. Foggy gets shot too! And goes off to the hospital. Also dead is the doctor that Karen finally managed to make an ally of. Now the fact that the Punisher is conspicuously off-screen throughout all this really should be a clear indication that despite Fisk springing him loose last episode, it isn't him behind the trigger. Also, the fact that despite Punisher's vaunted precision and credo never to shoot an innocent person, Foggy gets shot anyway. This is revealed later quite quickly with Frank protecting Karen from attackers as well.

So, yeah. Reyes reveals a bit that the Castle family was caught up in a drug sting operation gone south, expanding on what we learned from Dutton last episode. The three gangs (working for the still-unseen Blacksmith) that the Punisher wiped out over the first four episodes ended up freaking out and shooting each other, and Frank's family ended up being collateral. So, um, no super-soldier program using a John Doe or whatever, which was what I thought was going to be the origin story... hey, I know very little about Marvel comics that's not in live-action format, okay? That was a nice bit of development, and Frank's definitely entering a redemption arc and Karen's down for the ride. Now the question is whether it's Wilson Fisk, the Hand or the Blacksmith that's going around framing the Punisher, though I'm pretty sure it's the latter -- dude's been a non-entity and having him be responsible for something in the present day certainly will help to make him relevant. 

Meanwhile, we get a great Matt/Fisk scene, which was unexpected! Of course Matt would follow up on the fact that Wilson Fisk and Frank Castle got sent to the same prison. It's a wonderful prison, and seems to set up for Wilson Fisk breaking out and getting revenge on everyone Matt Murdock loves come season three. Fisk promises to make Matt and Foggy's life hell when (not if) he gets out of prison, basically murdering everyone they love -- an occupational hazard for someone whose name you can search on the phone book. Matt tries to threaten Fisk by threatening to stop Vanessa from ever returning to America, causing Fisk to deliver an awesome physical beatdown onto Matt -- forced to hide his identity as Daredevil -- and Fisk's control over the prison is really shown to be absolute because none of the guards even reacted when Fisk is beating Matt up. It's a great scene, showing how ultimately helpless the blind lawyer civilian is against the Kingpin. It's yet another nail in the coffin of the civilian identity that is Matt Murdock, and the optimism that he brings in that even normal lawyers can make a difference. With all the Elektra, Punisher and Stick speeches going on throughout this season telling Matt Murdock to embrace his true self -- the Daredevil -- it can't be healthy on Matt's psyche.

Meanwhile, the kids from last episode's Hand plot with the horrifying blood-draining ritual thing are brought to Claire's hospital on the down-low. Which naturally coincidentally happens to be the same hospital Foggy was taken to. We get a pretty great scene with Matt and Claire discussing the same Matt-vs-Daredevil-life argument, which again, as much as Claire is a fun character, ended up feeling kinda superfluous. Meanwhile, the tortured kids are carrying like pathogens and have no fingerprints and are basically possessed or brainwashed or something... they're creepy as fuck and I don't think they're just there as something for Daredevil to protect. New Black Skies, maybe? Black Sky, who we saw in season one, was an emancipated kid. Are they making mystical child soldiers or some shit? Meanwhile Hand ninjas are very very slowly climbing up the side of the hospital.

Oh, all throughout this, we have a sub-plot with Karen still playing reporter after being mostly estranged from Matt and with Foggy being hospitalized. It's okay and necessary, I guess, but nowhere that interesting. Also Elektra wants to go off and leave New York, but gets into a deathmatch with a French assassin and kills him after a long fight. And apparently Stick sent the dude. Yeah, they're going for a Chaste Civil War with this aren't they? Oh, and Elektra gets her signature comic weapons -- the twin sai.

This episode probably plays on two themes in general -- Matt being pressured to finally embrace Daredevil full-time, as well as the Punisher being framed for a string of murders he didn't commit, plus a bunch of other sub-plots going on, but the execution of the scenes ended up feeling like a series of well-written yet ultimately disconnected scenes from each other. And considering how closely well-knit previous Daredevil episodes have been, it's a noticeable decline in quality. It really speaks to how well-written this series is in general, though, if this is considered a subpar episode.

The Flash S02E18 Review: Zoom Origins

The Flash, Season 2, Episode 18: Versus Zoom

I wouldn't say that the second season of the Flash is bad. It had a lot of great promise and a lot of great potential in the first half, even with a shake-up of the status quo thanks to several characters moving away and the introduction of several new ones. But it's this episode that really solidified how utterly messy the season has been. I could look over the odd time travel episode from last week as it just not confirming to my expectations of what a Flash time-travel episode should be. But this one? It's just, well, badly written. And it's not just about Jay Garrick being written out almost entirely, or about the utterly horrible way they handled Caitlin Snow for the entire season that came to a head.

No, it's simply the utterly baffling way that they recycled the premise for Reverse-Flash and copy-pasted it almost entirely for Zoom in here, despite the two characters being quite different in the comics. But if I wanted to talk about the injustice that Show!Zoom did to Comics!Zoom (and Comics!Jay) I could probably churn out three articles on it, so I'll save that for a later episode.

See, the concept for this episode is that all throughout season 1 2, the evil speedster Reverse-Flash Zoom, whose identity is shrouded in mystery and is revealed to have come from the future an alternate Earth, is actually masquerading as the Flash's older mentor/ally figure Harrison Wells Jay Garrick, having assumed that identity, which doesn't exist. He is actually the villainous and utterly psychotic Eobard Thawne Hunter Zolomon, and any good qualities he might have had are all just fabrications. When Barry discovers this treachery, the villain manages to beat Flash up to a pulp steal Flash's speed, and then kidnap Flash's ally Eddie Caitlin and escape, setting up several episodes' worth of buildup for the finale.

Except, y'know, Reverse-Flash's identity being Harrison Wells is a big surprise and a great shock considering how it's been established before that Wells and Reverse-Flash could appear in the same room together. And both Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne and Reverse-Flash have been greatly influential characters in Barry's life throughout season one. Here? Zoom's a cipher, just this arc villain whose deal is 'rawr me steal speed' and being mosntrously scary strong. He just barely beats out Doomsday for lack of proper motivation. Jay Garrick? I complained about him being left out of a huge chunk of the season, and honestly as a mentor he gets overshadowed by Earth-2 Harrison Wells and Joe. Now, if Jay had actually had proper scenes instead of him just complaining about how life sucks and how he's dying and having a nonsense romance subplot with Caitlin (which I'll talk about later)...

It's not the fault of the actor, of course, who did his best with this inconsistently-written role he got. Jay-Zoom still delivered a pretty menacing vibe even unmasked, but any tension that scene where the prisoner exchange went was just ruined by them just... standing there and not doing anything after Zoom let Wally go. They had guns pointed at Zoom, Barry still had his speed, and has proven to be able to at least give Zoom a fair fight earlier in the episode. But they just stand there. The least the writers could do is have Zoom hold Wally or someone else hostage so it doesn't look like an utterly bafflingly stupid moment as everyone stood in place, even Earth-2 Wells, while Zoom does his thing. No contingencies, no sabotage of the speed extractor, no shooting those funky guns, no usage of the Turtle speed-draining serum. And, yeah, for the second time this season, Zoom steals the Flash's speed. Again. Thanks to shitty writing. It's just flimsy writing for the sake of getting characters in place, and it doesn't work at all.

Thankfully, Enter Zoom does have its share of great moments, it's just not great moments that help elevate Zoom up as a proper nemesis-style villain. Compared to his predecessor, Reverse-Flash, Zoom just felt really weak in comparison. 

The messiness of this episode is compounded by how horrible Caitlin was handled this episode. In season one, Caitlin got as much screentime as Joe or Cisco did, with her own little subplot regarding chasing Ronnie Raymond and him being unstable, as well as her development into the 'heart' of the team despite her initial clinical iciness. I've mentioned it before, but Caitlin has really been shafted throughout this season so much that I don't think I can really name a standout scene for her. All her scenes revolve around being Jay Garrick's girlfriend, and Jay Garrick isn't a well-written character in the first place. She's stuck in the periphery for most of the season. And this episode shows that, well, apparently despite learning that Jay is Zoom, Caitlin neglected to consider that, hey, that information she learned about Jay's Earth-1 counterpart being called Hunter Zolomon might be, oh, I dunno, fucking important?

But no. All she has time is to talk about boys and destiny and Earth-2 Barry/Iris shipping with Iris. The writers totally did not do her justice.

Also I'm wholly pissed about Jay Garrick being wiped out as a character, being a fan of his comic-book incarnation where he's not a badly-written shoehorned-in character, but Jay Garrick in this show has been such an uninteresting and a pale shadow of his inspiration that I honestly don't care. Still pissed on principle, though this means that we might get a proper Jay Garrick next season Or maybe the real Jay Garrick is the man in the iron mask.

That's not saying that this episode didn't have its great moments, though, because it did, in spite of the horribleness surrounding Zoom, Caitlin and Barry being an utter dumbass. Zoom's origin scenes are decently written to add some trauma to the crazy fucker's past. It's painted as the dark reverse of Barry's past, where Zolomon's father actually did kill his mother. But painting Zoom as just this psychopath from the get-go really felt like a really lazy way considering how much more tragic and conflicted Comics!Zoom was in comparison -- a former ally of the Flash who wanted nothing more than to be a good cop, was crippled and lost his wife in a Flash-Grodd fight, and begged Flash to change the timeline, and when Flash refused Zolomon obtained speed and resolved to get Flash to experience tragedy to properly 'mature', and starts targeting Flash's loved ones. Far, far more interesting than 'psycho man who got speed and wants to steal more speed', innit?

Credit where credit's due and let me praise the standout scenes here.

Cisco as Vibe was really impressive this episode, though, and that scene where he confides in Barry and has a huge lack of confidence in his own abilities could've been really cheesy and badly written, except that it's not, and it's a great example of how Flash's more optimistic tone really carries over well to heartwarming moments. Barry talking about how he's going to be there every step of Cisco's transition into Vibe by telling Cisco how they've always been there as Barry keeps discovering new powers as the Flash is really nice. They easily stole the show.

Joe and Wally coming into understanding as father and child worked pretty well too, mostly due to Joe's superb performance, but really felt superfluous in the face of the huge stakes going on in the rest of the episode with the coming of Zoom. It's mostly decent fun, though. And kinda builds up how soul-crushingly horrified Joe would be when Wally is kidnapped. The rest of our heroes really haven't interacted all that much with Wally, but Joe has considered Wally to be his son, and we (and Barry) are sad for Joe if nothing else. 

Barry also gets a power-up thanks to Eobard Thawne last episode, and with the wacky chest device he went so fast he randomly zipped into a different universe (a.k.a. Supergirl crossover) but returns within like a second. It's a nice way to facilitate that crossover, and it doesn't really break the show's progression. Barry's power upgrade allows him to fight Zoom on equal footing and actually outrun him on one point, and thanks to using, um, cardboard cutouts of Hunter Zolomon's parents... okay... yeah, that was kinda dumb and cool at the same time. They actually got Zoom nailed down, which is cool!

Less cool is Barry Allen pulling a Blofeld and ranting about how Zolomon has lost instead of knocking the fucker out and putting him in a cell. That was just dumb.

So yeah, other than those last couple of scenes that I mentioned -- Zoom's origin flashbacks, everything about Cisco, Joe and Wally, Barry vs Zoom round one -- this episode is messy, a bad retread and mostly just disappointing.