Keep in mind, whatever I say about this, The Flash is about 3/4 of the same problems, it just managed to do marginally better casting. I don't know if you want to call it a "problem" or just the "CW style," but it encapsulates this show. It feels very deliberately, and lazily, written for a pre-teen to teenage audience. The acting is like a soap opera. It's not even camp. The dialogue is redundant and cheesy and cringy. When the characters are speeding down a road with fire bursting out everywhere and boulders in the way "different color Arrow" pulls out his phone to be chastised by Arrow's sister "don't use your phone and drive, it's not worth it."
The first season I only remember by the phrases "I have to save this city" and "you've failed this city." Everyone has to become increasingly lamer versions of Arrow. I don't know if it's just a DC thing, but the names always ring like a little brother who's trying to create his own play area and characters that just don't live up to what the older kids can pull off. Tell me how anyone looks at Laurel screaming as Canary with her dorky posture and doesn't immediately bust out laughing like an awkward cosplayer wasn't unexpectedly put on camera.
I've just never cared about any character. There's no tension. There's no investment. The moments in which something could be compelling are completely overshadowed by rushed along "danger scene" that, there's not even a narrow escape from, it's just bad choreography and then cut to ever-implausible solution. It's like someone who was really enthusiastic got a big budget to throw together these characters that are seemingly supposed to be cool or mean something, but feel like a graduate student film project that's carried on for waaaay too long into spin-off shows and me losing respect for the handful of solid actors that get drawn to this. Captain Cold? Can you find me 4 lines where that joke of a character, and even concept of a character, belongs in the "superhero/villain" category? I have a gun that shoots coldness! It's like Dr. Horrible taking itself seriously.
I suppose my biggest problem with this show is that it's trained people to act like it isn't shit. Consider Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was pretty well sucking until around when it got tied to the larger movie universe. I was worried because even with my heavily biased preference towards Marvel, I wasn't sure I could stand by the show. I would still pit any one of those characters against one from Arrow and be able to write a paper on why they're superior. This is the shiniest, gleaming example of popularity meaning nothing about quality. It's like the Tea Party show. Super loud and obstructing everyone's view of good shit, and it just won't go away, and its crazy followers will berate you to the ends of the Earth or pick different spots to argue about "when it gets good" or "when it went bad" like there's really anything but a wanna-be tepid quivering leg that supported the show throughout.
It's not a guilty pleasure. It doesn't even feel honest or like true to its hollow nature. Blue Mountain State comes to mind. Cliche, bizarre, predictable in its humor, but so comfortable in its skin and knows what it is that you can laugh without guilt. I find this show so bad I approach like a research study. I need to be able to go toe to toe, like studying the bible to argue with creationists, so that I can put up horrible lines of dialogue, dropped scenes and story lines, awkward cuts and expository nonsense. I'm a person who regularly watches 50-60 shows spanning all kinds of "types" from different networks and countries. I can usually find the good in anything. Apparently, I like to be angry, so I watch this and The Flash. That's their value, to perhaps learn how you can get away with having a career writing and acting in something so poorly done as long as it garners attention and a budget.
But if you like it, and it makes you happy, just ignore everything I've said.
Review by dogg724VIP 3BlockedParent2016-01-30T14:23:13Z— updated 2017-01-08T09:27:33Z
Keep in mind, whatever I say about this, The Flash is about 3/4 of the same problems, it just managed to do marginally better casting. I don't know if you want to call it a "problem" or just the "CW style," but it encapsulates this show. It feels very deliberately, and lazily, written for a pre-teen to teenage audience. The acting is like a soap opera. It's not even camp. The dialogue is redundant and cheesy and cringy. When the characters are speeding down a road with fire bursting out everywhere and boulders in the way "different color Arrow" pulls out his phone to be chastised by Arrow's sister "don't use your phone and drive, it's not worth it."
The first season I only remember by the phrases "I have to save this city" and "you've failed this city." Everyone has to become increasingly lamer versions of Arrow. I don't know if it's just a DC thing, but the names always ring like a little brother who's trying to create his own play area and characters that just don't live up to what the older kids can pull off. Tell me how anyone looks at Laurel screaming as Canary with her dorky posture and doesn't immediately bust out laughing like an awkward cosplayer wasn't unexpectedly put on camera.
I've just never cared about any character. There's no tension. There's no investment. The moments in which something could be compelling are completely overshadowed by rushed along "danger scene" that, there's not even a narrow escape from, it's just bad choreography and then cut to ever-implausible solution. It's like someone who was really enthusiastic got a big budget to throw together these characters that are seemingly supposed to be cool or mean something, but feel like a graduate student film project that's carried on for waaaay too long into spin-off shows and me losing respect for the handful of solid actors that get drawn to this. Captain Cold? Can you find me 4 lines where that joke of a character, and even concept of a character, belongs in the "superhero/villain" category? I have a gun that shoots coldness! It's like Dr. Horrible taking itself seriously.
I suppose my biggest problem with this show is that it's trained people to act like it isn't shit. Consider Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was pretty well sucking until around when it got tied to the larger movie universe. I was worried because even with my heavily biased preference towards Marvel, I wasn't sure I could stand by the show. I would still pit any one of those characters against one from Arrow and be able to write a paper on why they're superior. This is the shiniest, gleaming example of popularity meaning nothing about quality. It's like the Tea Party show. Super loud and obstructing everyone's view of good shit, and it just won't go away, and its crazy followers will berate you to the ends of the Earth or pick different spots to argue about "when it gets good" or "when it went bad" like there's really anything but a wanna-be tepid quivering leg that supported the show throughout.
It's not a guilty pleasure. It doesn't even feel honest or like true to its hollow nature. Blue Mountain State comes to mind. Cliche, bizarre, predictable in its humor, but so comfortable in its skin and knows what it is that you can laugh without guilt. I find this show so bad I approach like a research study. I need to be able to go toe to toe, like studying the bible to argue with creationists, so that I can put up horrible lines of dialogue, dropped scenes and story lines, awkward cuts and expository nonsense. I'm a person who regularly watches 50-60 shows spanning all kinds of "types" from different networks and countries. I can usually find the good in anything. Apparently, I like to be angry, so I watch this and The Flash. That's their value, to perhaps learn how you can get away with having a career writing and acting in something so poorly done as long as it garners attention and a budget.
But if you like it, and it makes you happy, just ignore everything I've said.