In which Shawn and Kim discuss the weekly DC Comics-based shows and shirtless heroes.
Shawn: I’ve caught up on most of my comic-based shows recently. One of the newest ones elicited quite a few opinions, so I thought we should touch base on where we’re at with these. For every Human Target that comes and goes without notice, there will be a Constantine that comes into our world and leaves far too early.
DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (CW)
The latest addition to the Arrowverse is a breath of fresh air. I am not going to deny I love this series after just two episodes – so take some of these points with a grain of salt.
Months ago, I thought this was going to mostly be a spinoff vehicle for The Atom (Brandon Routh). He’s an important part of this huge cast but he’s not the star by any means. I think that’s important. They built him up on Arrow as a bit of a goof / nerd / rich scientist. I hope that we see more interactions with him not being so naive.
The obvious Doctor Who comparisons gave me pause. For all of two seconds. It’s time travel. There are the equivalent of Time Lords. The machine they travel in breaks down. At least it isn’t bigger on the inside. The traveling through time to stop Vandal Savage allows for lots of cool stories and I hope we visit lots of historical time periods. The ’70s were a fun stop for two episodes but I need to see how this will work across other times that they aren’t so familiar with.
Red Tornado in a future episode? Yes please.
I was not a fan of Heat Wave and Captain Cold on The Flash but they are the early stars in this show. Their Butch and Sundance act is the best humor of the series. They are relatively useless as fighting members of the team but we are going to need them along to lighten up the show. And Wentworth Miller isn’t hard to look at weekly either.
I am not sold on the Hawk folk. Their fate in that second episode didn’t phase me because I’m pretty meh about their addition to the team. We didn’t have enough time to decide on them earlier in the Arrowverse. It feels like a real last second throw in.
Sara Lance / White Canary. Sigh. I thought we were done with you.
The quips kept this from being just another “generic” superhero show. The CW has a look for their shows and this fits right beside them. It’s a juggernaut of mid-week programming on my DVR. They aren’t trying to reinvent the genre and they are aiming for fun. That’s what I have been looking for.
Quick takes on the other DC TV:
ARROW
Stop with the flashbacks. They used to be interesting, then annoying, and now they just make me angry. I actually have hope that they can pull together this series the second half of this season. It’s been way too dark lately.
THE FLASH
This has continued to be the most consistent superhero show for me. This season has had a nice balance of keeping up the drama of Earth-2 along with keeping the personal relationships moving forward in a natural trajectory. Speaking of Trajectory – anxious to see her addition to the show this season!
GOTHAM
After a really solid start to the first half of the season, I’m actually disappointed to see that we might take a step back to Fish Mooney returning.
iZOMBIE
Liv Moore is a complex character and Rose McIver does the best acting in any show. Imagine being your character and a new twist on your character every week. I respect everything they are doing on this show. I just don’t think it gets enough love out there.
SUPERGIRL
When I said that Legends of Tomorrow sticks out, I’m specifically thinking of this show as the prime illustration of generic superhero show. It’s too bad. But my son likes it and I keep watching. I’m just never completely engaged in it the way I am in all the others that I’ve mentioned. In many ways, they are running up a hill that Smallville created. It’s hard to tell a new and interesting story in the Superman Universe that the other show didn’t do better. Curious what they can do with a Bizarro character.
LUCIFER
The newest addition to DC TV is one that I had some hope for but that I fear will burn out before the weather gets warm. The character is in the family of the excellent Constantine. But this setting is going to require some creativity to make it interesting over a long period of time. I really like Tom Ellis as the lead character – he was great in a small role in The Strain and he’s perfectly British here. The rest of the cast just might not support my weekly interest.
We’re living in the Golden Age of comic based TV shows. And we are still awaiting Preacher and Y: The Last Man. Does this mean I need to write up our Marvel Universe shows next?
Kim: Let me start with Legends of Tomorrow, because it’s on my mind. This show is so ridiculously fun and entertaining that I am struggling to wait a whole week in between episodes. I’ll just conveniently ignore what you have said because we all know I’m far more patient with attractive men than you are.
Wentworth Miller just keeps getting more and more attractive every time he opens his mouth and gets a haircut. I appreciate his charm and wit on this show. I think that the one to truly watch is going to be Heat Wave, as far as humorous one-liners. I actually really like these two and if they weren’t on the show, I’m not all that sure it’d be worth watching.
Having said that, I don’t hate any of the other characters. I’m indifferent towards most of them. I find them all to be pretty interchangeable. So, you could likely swap out Sarah for Laurel and I’d be just as entertained. Then again, I really dislike Laurel and wouldn’t want her to ruin this show for me, so leave Sarah. She’s darker anyway since she came back to life.
What I did like most was when Damien Darhk showed up in 1975. It made me giggle and snort, mostly because McDonough has long been a favorite of mine as well. It’s those eyes. Anyway, right down to the computer named Gideon, the slight references to the rest of the DC Universe that bore this show are appreciated fully. There are fun little things scattered about the show and when I watch, I just want to see more! I like the premise. I like that it’s related to the rest of the shows, yet independent. I’m going to struggle with altered timelines, because there’s already enough of that mess in The Flash, but through the first two episodes they’ve done a decent job explaining it. I just wonder what’s going to happen to the timeline if/when they kill Savage. No one thinks about that, do they?
Speaking of Flash, I’m going to lump it in with Arrow. I’m wholly unimpressed with these two shows this season. I’ll have you know I watched both episodes of Legends of Tomorrow before any of the second half of Flash or Arrow. Here’s the thing – Flash has gotten far too confusing for my liking. There are way too many characters and story lines. Earth-2 and Zoom and Reverse Flash and the Jay Flash and Harry and Dr. Wells and–just knock it off! I’m supposed to enjoy my Tuesday nights, not have to work for them. I didn’t watch this when it first came out because it seemed too goofy. Then, it seemed pretty decent, and now it’s just venturing into Mulhollond Drive kind of confusing. I think maybe if I watch both while drinking heavily, they may make more sense. Please take me back to simple. I want to be entertained, not test my knowledge of parallel universes and the like.
And then, there’s Arrow. I’m going to go way outside of the seemingly popular stream of thought and tell you that this show took a huge nose dive when they put Felicity and Oliver together. Part of the draw was the sexual tension. Part was Felicity trying to say something innocuous and dropping a fabulous inadvertent sexual innuendo. And just like every other show in existence – when you have the couple that everyone is waiting for and you actually put them together – your storyline suffers. You have changed Oliver and his demeanor. You have changed what Felicity brought to the show. It’s bad enough I have to see Laurel as a crime fighter, who suddenly can kick the asses of everyone she comes in contact with. It’s awful because I don’t care for what they’ve done with Thea’s character. But now you throw this Olicity thing at me, changing every single thing I previously loved about these characters, and I’m pretty sure this will be the last season I watch it. Which is a shame because Stephen Amell is still as hot as ever and I’ll miss that little piece of gorgeous on my TV screen. I’ll keep the flashbacks because, while annoying, they are apparently the only time we’re seeing Oliver shirtless anymore.
I still love iZombie, and if I had to pick two of these four shows to continue watching, it’d be Legends and iZombie, hands down. I’m always giggly and happy to see what kind of silliness Liv gets into each week. There have been some fantastic characters for her and I’m just as intrigued by them as Ravi is every week. I love these two as the dynamic duo and I swear to all that is right in this world if the writers put them as a couple for longer than an episode or two, I will be so over it, so quickly.
I don’t have the time nor desire to watch any other comic book shows. I’ll happily discuss Daredevil and Jessica Jones with you though if you’d like to dip your feet in on the Marvel side of life.
