Spoilers, doh!
THE FLASH SEASON THREE EPISODE ONE – “FLASHPOINT”
At the end of the Season 2 finale, The Flash went back in time to prevent the Reverse-Flash from killing his mother and thereby, creating a new alternative timeline. This was, of course, the premise of the 2011 DC Comics event, Flashpoint, in which the DC universe was altered significantly and the resolution of which led to the New 52. But that’s another story.
In this first episode of Season Three (as ‘spoilt’ by trailers), Wally West is now (Kid) Flash, Cisco Ramon is a billionaire, Joe West is an alcoholic, Caitlyn Snow is a paediatric ophthalmologist and there is a villainous speedster called The Rival running around threatening Central City. Not as significant as making the Batman, Thomas Wayne but characters altered nonetheless.
The key question – would Flashpoint be a one-off or provide plot lines for the entire season? Sadly, it proved to be the former as The Flash producers/writers decided to play it safe and return the timeline back to normal.
Although, to be fair, as Barry Allen discovers, things are not really exactly the same as before (Iris West is now estranged from her father) and hopefully, this will provide the twists and turns needed to elevate The Flash back to the heights of Season One, after the disappointing conclusion to Season Two.
AND judging from the promo for episode two, it just might be …
ARROW SEASON FIVE EPISODE ONE
So … why isn’t Arrow affected by the events happening in The Flash? Mmm?
Moving along, judging from this first episode, it appears that Arrow is heading for even darker territory as Oliver Queen juggles being Mayor of Star City and leading a new team of vigilantes. Not only that but the Russian mafia chapter of Queen’s backstory gets spotlighted in the obligatory flashback sequences.
New baddie Tobias Church (The Walking Dead’s is introduced while an underlying story of police corruption brings Quintin Lance into a new partnership with Queen. We find out what Laurel Lance said to Queen before passing on – a desire for Queen to ensure that a new Black Canary is raised. All this and the fact that John Diggle and Red Arrow have ‘retired’ from crime-fighting pushes Queen to form a new team.
Sad to report it’s all rather perfunctionary and unexciting. Much depends on how interesting the new team of vigilante characters are and whether Arrow can exploit the darker themes and develop intriguing tales out of them. And oh wait! There’s even another masked archer in town! What could it all mean?
… still there’s more …