The Flash (4×14) – “Subject 9” Written by:         Mike Alber & Gabe Snyder Directed by:       Ralph Hemecker We open at the Police Station and it doesn’t take too long before we deal with the biggest long term problem of Barry being framed for murder.  People will still think Barry murdered DaVoe and that makes him a liability to the Central City Police.  So Singh has suspended him indefinitely. Good thing Iris still has a job… I think. Here’s a preview of this week’s Unanswered Questions: When was the last time Iris did anything journalism related on the show? But Team Flash have bigger fish to fry, namely DaVoe…

The Flash (4×13) – “True Colors” Written by:         Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza Directed by:       Tara Nicole Weyr OKAY!  So, Barry’s still in jail and I checked with my handy-dandy “TV Tropes for Idiots” guide and went through the checklist: 1)      Barry’s “seen life on the inside.” 2)      He’s “been bullied and made friends with the gruff inmate with a heart of gold.” 3)      He’s helped “free an innocent man.” That means it’s time to: 4)      “Make a failed escape attempt but you’re friends get you out on an appeal.” I know I’m simplifying the plot to some tropes and clichés but TV is built on tropes and…

Captain America: Civil War (2016) Written By:         Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely Directed By:       Anthony and Joe Russo Let’s start with a question: How do you follow a movie that was both satisfying and successful? Plenty of directors or studios have had to ask themselves this over the years.  Even the Russos themselves when they made Captain America: Winter Soldier. (For the record, the best Marvel Studios movie. Period. There hasn’t been a movie in the MCU that handled source material, the constraints of the ongoing storyline and character development as well as that movie.)  So how do you tackle that challenge? Do you try to bring things to a…

The Flash (4×12) – “Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash” Written by:         Sam Chalsen & Judalina Neira Directed by:       Chris Peppe Back again with Barry still in prison, but it’s not all bad considering the rest of Team Flash is getting on with their lives as best they can. Especially Joe and Cecile, since they’ve got a baby on the way. It’s all very domestic, that is until Cecile goes from just a lawyer with a baby on the way to a telepathic lawyer with a baby on the way. Could’ve used those powers a couple of weeks ago, might have kept our title character out of prison. Caitlin…

The Flash (4×11) – “The Elongated Knight Rises” Written by:         Sterling Gates & Thomas Pound Directed by:       Alexandra La Roche Okay, last week the producers made the bold choice to put Barry in jail so I guess it’s time to start dealing with that.  We start off with pretty typical TV prison stuff since Barry’s been in the hole exactly a week and there’s already a prison riot. Barry takes care of that which is good because Joe’s taking care of a hostage situation with the help of Ralph.  It’s okay, Ralph since this guy learned about hostage negotiations by watching the original Robocop. Unfortunately, Ralph and Cisco…

The Flash (4×10) – “The Trial of the Flash” Written by:         Lauren Certo & Kristen Kim Directed by:       Phil Chipera Pretty much picking up where we left off, Barry’s about to go on trial for murder and quite frankly it doesn’t look good.  DaVoe’s covered the bases so well that they find DNA evidence on him and that’s just impressive. So after a montage showing us exactly how screwed Barry actually is, the gang gathers at STAR Labs and tries to figure things out when Barry… kicks off the first in a line of dominoes that I’m going to call “The gang is noble beyond the point of…

The Flash (4×09) – “Don’t Run” Written by:         Sam Chalsen & Judalina Neira Directed by:       Stefan Pleszczynski With the Flash returning next week, what better way to catch back up than to catch back up? It’s the winter finale which means two things: plenty of Christmas stuff and the villain steps up his plan.  We open on Cisco and Harry putting up the tree in the lab and bickering only for Ralph to arrive and ratchet up the bickering before Caitlin settles everyone down but it seems that in the last few weeks that Killer Frost has won the rest of the gang over to the point of…

The Flash (4×08) – “Crisis on Earth X” Written by:         Todd Helbing Story by:              Andrew Kreisberg & Marc Guggenheim Directed by:       Dermott Downs Please note: I am not review the crossover as whole, this is a review of the Flash episode. As usual when the crossover comes around I find myself in an intellectual quandary and as a result I’ve put off this week’s review until now but it’s time to just rip off the band-aid. I am going to keep this short this week.  I think we’ve had this discussion every season since Flash vs Arrow.  I am not a big fan of the crossovers and as…

The Flash (4×07) – “Therefore I Am” Written by:         Eric Wallace & Thomas Pound Directed by:       David McWhirter Okay, so last week ended with Barry meeting DeVoe but it doesn’t seem like they got their right guy.  What with him being a pretty ordinary college history professor in a wheelchair.  There’s even a flashback to when he was lust a regular college history with a noble plan to help the world expand their minds that could be easily corrupted by human nature and circumstance but only the audience knows that part.  Barry and Joe only know that this seems like a bust… Well Joe knows it, Barry seems…

The Flash (4×06) – “When Harry met Harry” Written by:         Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza Directed by:       Brent Crowell So, while our main plot for the season is still in the opening stages (read that as they don’t really want to go all-in until after the obnoxious fan-favorite four-night crossover is done.  They’re fighting Nazis guys, because that hasn’t been done to death in 2017!) it’s best to just take things slowly.  Barry and Ralph agree that’s why they’re getting a cup of coffee at Jitters.  Of course, since they’re two superheroes they accosted by a mugger with a gun and Barry takes this as a teachable moment…