Tales From the Citadel (Episode 7): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

A two week break from Rick and Morty is, quite frankly, evil. However, in the context of this episode, that might have been intentional.

Tales From the Citadel is the strangest episode of Rick and Morty we’ve ever seen. It follows not the Rick and Morty we all know (C-137), but various Ricks and Mortys, and their lives, in the Citadel of Ricks.

At this point, I’m going to attach a spoiler warning, because even though I try as hard as possible to not have spoilers in any of my articles, I simply cannot resist in this.

When the title of this episode was revealed a while back, there was tremendous speculation regarding what it might mean. The majority suspected it would be linked to the season one episode Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind, in which the most prominent development is the character of Evil (Eye patch) Morty. He has been unheard of since.

The biggest plus of this episode is its ability to showcase the fact that even though this is a society compromising entirely of Ricks and Mortys, issues that exist in the real world are just as prominent in the Citadel. We follow a group of school Mortys, a factory worker Rick who’s sick of working under another Rick, a Rick and Morty police duo and a Morty who is running for president despite being considered a joke candidate in a world dominated by Ricks.

Even though the Rick we know has always been vocal about his opinion of the Council of Ricks, we have never truly seen what life is like in the Citadel, until now. And it is exquisite.

The most important story of all four of those is the last. After the presidential candidate Morty’s campaign manager loses faith in him and is fired, he comes across some information about the Morty running for president and tries to assassinate him. While the viewers are fooled into thinking he’s doing this out of jealousy, it is later revealed (quite brilliantly), that we have been fooled.

In the final scene of the episode, the Morty who is now president orders the killing of any Rick who does not take him seriously, which is a drastic change in character considering he was the perfect candidate for president. Then the same music from the episode with Evil Morty starts playing, and everything makes sense. Evil Morty is now president of the Citadel of Ricks. And as if the music wasn’t confirmation enough, this is the last shot of the episode.

This is magnificent storytelling. With three episodes to go this season, anything can happen. Or anything can’t, and this will be explored further in another season. Who knows? This concept was only revisited a whole two seasons after it was first introduced.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Tales From the Citadel: MIHIR

Where were the regular Rick and Morty in all of this? They were in Atlantis, having fun with mermaids. They have no idea about what’s happened.

I will finish with this shot of an extensive number of Ricks and Mortys. It’s incredible.

 

Narcos (season 3) Doesn’t Need Pablo Escobar After All

When Netflix announced that it had renewed Narcos for a third and fourth season after the end of season two, I thought they were beating on a (quite literally) dead horse. Perhaps that’s why they have made it clear in their marketing for the third season that the show is called ‘Narcos’ and not ‘Pablo’ or ‘Escobar’.

In doing this, however, I’ve come to think that they’ve marketed this season all wrong and too on-the-nose. All they needed to do was cut out a two minute clip from anywhere in the whole season and call it a trailer. Everyone would be lining up left and right to watch the show.

Following the death of Pablo Escobar at the culmination of season two, season three shifts the entire focus of the show to the Cali drug cartel, who were introduced in the middle of the second season and are based in a different part of Colombia, Cali. There are significant changes to this season, including Boyd Holbrook not returning as Steve Murphy, and Pedro Pascal stepping up to fill the shoes of the main protagonist single-handedly. This is a welcome change, because Pascal’s performance (not taking anything away from Holbrook) and character have always been more intriguing. His character this season is no different, and he is definitely able to step up and carry his own.

The antagonist dynamic also changes drastically. While Pablo Escobar was the sole head of the Medellin cartel, the Cali cartel was run by four leaders: Gilberto Rodriguez, Miguel Rodriguez, Helmer “Pacho” Herrera and Jose “Chepe” Santacruz.

What this results in is a more compact and complex Narcos. This show does a good job of understanding all its characters, and doesn’t shy away from internal conflict or anything as such.

Another character in the show, who probably gets the most screen time, is Jorge Salcedo, who is the Cali cartel’s head of security. The importance and depth given to his character is the strongest selling point of season three, as it highlights the effects of working for a drug cartel and trying to keep your family safe at the same time. The directions his character goes is truly gripping (this is praise despite it being historical fact), and you care about him so much that (no spoilers) in episode nine, you are biting your nails and on the very edge of a heart attack. Matias Varela delivers a performance that stands out.

As much as I think this season is better than the previous two overall, there is one particular aspect in which it is noticeably weaker, and this is to do with the four leaders of the Cali cartel. There is substantially more importance given to some than others, and even for the more important ones, there is simply an inability to care for them like one did for the portrayal of Pablo Escobar in the first two seasons. This is not to say that they are bad – they are in fact excellent – and it is possible that the point of humanizing these characters less is to paint them as simply bad people, but for a show that was able to make you feel bad in the season two finale to see the most famous drug lord of all time die, it is a bit of a letdown that as a viewer, one wouldn’t really feel so bad when anything negative happens to a leader of the Cali cartel.

On that note, however, it should be noted that the way this series is written is spectacular. Suspense is the key and there is not a single filler episode in all ten. The progression of the story is smart and always has a viewer on the edge of their seat.

Season three of Narcos is the best season of the show so far, even if only marginally. It manages to stand on its own two feet, even with the missing Pablo Escobar, whose absence isn’t even noticeable. It is as addictive as it is excellent.

At the end of season two, I was skeptical for season three. At the end of season three, I can’t wait for season four.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Narcos (season 3): MIHIR

Rest and Ricklaxation (Episode 6): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

There is a hint of sorrow associated with the knowledge that we are now into the second half of the third season of Rick and Morty, especially considering it’s been such an incredible season so far.

While every episode this season has had a mixed bag of characters, mostly Beth and Summer, once Jerry and once a bunch of intergalactic superheroes (most importantly Noob-Noob), this episode is just Rick and Morty. And that actually means more than it implies.

Rest and Ricklaxation begins with Rick and Morty going on an adventure that tires them out so much that they need to go to a spa, where they step into a machine that ‘removes their toxins’. Their toxins turn out to be the worst parts of themselves, and what is in store is an episode of self-reflection for both titular characters.

Toxic Rick and Toxic Morty (literally sentient beings that have been removed from Morty and Rick) represent the worst parts of Rick and Morty, and in reality, Rick has lost his rudeness, profanity and narcissism while Morty is more confident and quickly becomes the most popular kid in school. However, when Toxic Rick is able to escape into the real world, things go very wrong.

What we see in this episode is our characters without flaws and yet, having flaws. It’s a paradox, and this becomes especially clear with Morty. It’s a commentary, really, about how both Rick and Morty are very far from perfect, but they need every part of themselves. This is more evident with Rick than Morty, and at the same time it’s highlighted that Morty’s flaws bring him down more than Rick’s flaws do to him.

Morty’s crush Jessica is back in the spotlight in this episode, and there is some considerable development on that front. This is more of a Morty episode than a Rick episode, but in quite a few ways it showcases how far both characters have come since the first season.

Rest and Ricklaxation takes season 3 of the show along smoothly in its complex motifs, and could possibly be the best episode of the season so far. Knowing this show, though, it could still be topped in the remaining four episodes.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Rest and Ricklaxation: MIHIR

The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy (Episode 5): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

Season three of Rick and Morty appears to have come full circle midway through the season.

Having the first episode focus on Rick, the second on Summer, the third on Beth and the fourth on Morty, The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy is a Jerry-centric Rick and Jerry adventure, in which Jerry gets involved in a bit of a mess, and Summer turns into a giant version of herself with Beth refusing to call Rick for help.

Having Jerry back in such an important role is refreshing and nice to see, as he’s been largely absent this season. Having the focus of the season be the impact of Jerry and Beth’s divorce is a smart move on the part of the creators, because it’s the cause of some wonderful story-telling. On this occasion, we see Jerry and Rick go to heads with each other about Beth and Jerry’s marriage, Beth trying to cope by trying to accomplish something big without Rick, Summer going to extreme lengths to try and deal with a teenage girl problem and Morty simply trying to hold everyone together.

I do, however, feel that this is the weakest episode of the season so far, because there are a couple of lazy areas when it comes to the writing, once in the middle (what really sets off the dispute between Rick and Jerry) and towards the end (the culmination of the giant Summer story).

Having said that, it should be known that this is an episode in which the characters really open up about themselves, and that is truly something great to see. There are two conversations in particular that stand out, and those are between Morty and Beth, and Jerry and Rick. It also feels like an old episode of the show, in which the five main characters are divided into two equally important stories. That hasn’t really existed this season.

Ultimately, this is an episode about Jerry Smith and the growth of his character, which is displayed quite well. Jerry says things and learns things through this episode that do change him a little bit, but in the end he is still Jerry. And that’s not a bad thing. It really highlights how much heart is in this show, hidden under the strange humour, dark humour, crazy stories and every other insane thing that goes into the Rick and Morty formula.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy: MIHIR

I hoped I would go through the whole season giving every episode a full rating, and this episode really does deserve it, but I can’t ignore the plot conveniences I mentioned.

Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender (Episode 4): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

Taking a serious jab at superheroes this week, Rick and Morty’s third season rolls on in spectacular and emotional highs.

Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender sees Rick and Morty travel to a gathering of superheroes known as the Vindicators, who Morty idolises and Rick hates. While the intention is to stop the villainous Worldender from… Ending stuff… Things take a rather awkward turn thanks to Rick’s alcoholism.

No matter what the online Rick and Morty community seems to think (I will talk a little bit about them later), this season has been one home run after the other. Episode four is no different. The episode is a series of events that ultimately highlights a clash of mindsets between Morty and Rick, and is yet another deep episode in this third season. And of course, it’s cleverly hilarious.

There is really nothing else to say. When a show is this consistent, you could have an episode a day and never get tired of it. However, having come four episodes into this season, I would like to talk a little bit about the Rick and Morty fandom, who have seemingly had a problem with this season, without real reason.

Apparently the idea of Summer being a little more important this season (even though she has about one line in this episode) is a bad one. There’s been a wave of negativity towards the show’s new female writers, for some reason, and honestly, it’s stupid. The only thing different about this season is that it’s been more emotionally-driven than the previous two, and that only makes it better. Having watched the first two seasons a few too many times to be proud of, there is nothing so different about this season that automatically turns it into a worse show. If Pickle Rick was something existed in the last season, it wouldn’t have received as much criticism as it did, for reasons that aren’t exactly justified. If you don’t want the show to progress and to just be stuck where it was, don’t watch anything past the first two seasons. Stop trying to ruin what the rest of us love. Rant over.

Also, I swear Noobnoob, a character in this episode, is the same species as Mr Poopie Butthole from season two. He even sounds like him.

On a scale where M is the lowest, and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender: MIHIR

Pickle Rick (Episode 3): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

It’s amazing that we live in a world where this exists. 

Rick and Morty’s third season rolls on with Pickle Rick, an episode in which Beth, Summer and Morty all go to family therapy to deal with Beth and Jerry’s divorce, and Rick turns himself into a pickle to get out of going with them. 

Off the bat, let me just say that this season of Rick and Morty has been surprisingly deep, and it’s no different with this episode. 

While the family sits through therapy, a series of events leads Rick through a gory action adventure of survival as a pickle, through the sewers and then trying to escape some sort of high security action movie clichéd villain’s headquarters. 

The only thing I knew about this episode was that Rick was going to be a pickle (let’s be honest, that’s all you need to know), but I certainly did not expect it to be as awesome as it was. I did not think it possible to centre a hardcore action story around a pickle, but I was wrong. 

Ultimately, the episode is about Rick’s ability to be open with his daughter Beth and how much he really loves her. Sure, it is told in the most Rick and Morty way possible, but it is still great to see how this season is more than just out-of-this-world weirdness (although, of course, that is still there). 

Pickle Rick is as weird as it is brilliant. If you told me a half hour was ever going to be focused on a sentient scientist pickle, I’d call you insane. But something like this could only be a result of insanity, so I’m not complaining.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Pickle Rick: MIHIR

Rickmancing the Stone (Episode 2): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

Rick and Morty season 3 is back, and the first episode to air upon its return is Rickmancing the Stone, set immediately after Beth and Jerry’s divorce from the first episode of the season.

Inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road, this episode takes Summer, Morty and Rick to a post-apocalyptic Earth in which people scavenge for food and basically exist the same way as the characters in the aforementioned film. Summer displays a new aggressiveness to her character and falls for one of the scavengers, while Rick gives Morty a severed arm which has a mind of its own. Back home, Rick creates cyborg versions of himself, Morty and Summer so that Beth thinks they are all still there.

Usually, a synopsis like that is reserved for the weirdest of things, and this is Rick and Morty after all.

Following in the footsteps of the opening episode of the season, this is a surprisingly heartfelt episode, and what’s most striking is that the events that occur are all metaphors for Morty and Summer trying to deal with their parents’ divorce. As wildly entertaining as everything is, there are layers to this episode, and we may even see more of this to come over the course of the next eight episodes.

The biggest takeaway I have from Rickmancing the Stone is how much it caught me off guard with its oddly poetic nature. Sure, it’s still as insane and cleverly stupid as this show is meant to be, but it’s a nice touch, seeing that there are human consequences among everything as well.

I don’t think there’s ever been an episode of Rick and Morty that hasn’t been entertaining, but there haven’t been that many that have been this deep.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

Rickmancing the Stone: MIHIR

The Rickshank Rickdemption (Episode 1): Rick and Morty Season 3 Review Run

I usually make a pun out of my post titles, but given that every episode of Rick and Morty does that already, I decided to be a little generic.

Rick and Morty, undeniably, is freaking awesome. Season three has been a long time coming, and given that the second episode of the season airs tonight (after the first aired exclusively on April Fools’ Day), I decided to review that first episode, and every episode of the season as we go along. Why? Because I want to. And also because a prominent feature on my homepage banner is Rick and Morty, and, well… I’ve never talked about it.

The Rickshank Rickdemption kicks off where season two left off, and is (as the title suggests), centred around Rick Sanchez’s escape from Intergalactic Prison after he turned himself in at the end of the last season. On Earth, the Intergalactic Empire has invaded, and life is very different.

The first time I watched this episode, I thought it was the best one so far, and I still hold that judgement. The Rickshank Rickdemption is intriguing in a number of ways. First, we see a glimpse of Rick’s possible past. This hadn’t been seen before, and adds a rather dark element to Rick’s character. Everyone in the Smith family has given up on Rick – even Morty – except Summer, because she hasn’t seen much of Rick’s bad side. Therefore Morty takes it upon himself to show his sister this side – including a trip to the original world that Rick and Morty abandoned back in season one – and is really a strong episode for the bond between them.

Beyond the deep significance of this episode, it is also extremely entertaining. Rick escaping and then working his way through the Citadel of Ricks is watchable over and over again forever, and as usual with this show, it is unbelievably clever.

The end of this sequence is something that hit me in the face, because Morty does something that says a lot about his character that we haven’t seen before.

The very end of the episode, of course, is a parallel to the first ever episode, and really, it shows a side to Rick that we’ve seen before, but never to that scale.

And it goes without saying that the episode is hilarious.

The second episode of the season, very clearly inspired by one Mad Max: Fury Road, a film I love, looks great, and I can’t wait to review it tomorrow.

On a scale where M is the lowest and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

The Rickshank Rickdemption: MIHIR

 

Hopefully, Season 3 of The Flash Will Be Remembered As the Worst in the Series

That title shouldn’t mislead you into thinking this season of The Flash was utterly terrible. It was just much worse than the previous two.

Also, what’s conventional for a weekly show is to review every episode as it goes by, but I’m reviewing the season as a whole, so this will be pretty long.

And for the first time ever, I’m writing a review without any care for spoilers, so you’ve been warned.

The Flash is a DC television show that airs on the CW Network, and is a part of the larger ‘Arrowverse’ that dominates the same network. After two great seasons, the finale of season two promised Flashpoint in the third season, so naturally, there was a lot of excitement.

So… Flashpoint. Kind of.

Look, nobody expected a Thomas Wayne Batman or a world war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but having Flashpoint basically last one episode was rather disappointing. Sure, the effects of it were felt throughout the season, particularly (and thankfully) bringing Tom Felton’s Julian Albert into existence. Tom Felton was a very welcome addition to Team Flash, and I hope he remains for season four.

When Barry returns to the normal timeline, things look great… And then they don’t.

The false flag for the big bad of this season, Alchemy, was bland but could have been potentially great. After only a few episodes, he is revealed to be Julian (big surprise), and to be a puppet of a bigger threat, Savitar… Another speedster.

After two seasons of having speedster villains, it was absolutely time for a break, and who the actual villain should have been will be discussed in a little bit. I don’t think Savitar was the right villain for this season, because tonally and narratively, he took the season down the wrong path.

The villains of seasons one and two were great. The Reverse Flash being hidden in plain sight for most of season one, and Zoom being there simply to test Barry’s abilities provided for interesting angles for the first two seasons of the show.

Savitar made it very difficult to effectively deliver on a hero-villain juxtaposition, 1: because the speedster-speedster clash has been seen twice before and 2: because Savitar’s own character was so uncertain until the very end of the season.

More on that later.

The real big bad of this season should have been Killer Frost, who was also created as an aftermath of Flashpoint. She does become the secondary villain, but the scenes that she’s in only serve as teasers for what could have been. Kaitlyn Snow, being the goody-two-shoes she was in the first two seasons, becoming a cold (no pun intended) villain provided great personal moments between her and Cisco, and between her and Julian. This is what the third season of this show needed. It needed to flesh out Team Flash and make them all as important as Barry Allen. Sadly, it did not.

Let’s talk about Team Flash for a second. Candice Patton’s Iris West served one purpose this entire season: Being the biggest plot device. The mid-season finale teased that she will die in Savitar’s hands, and immediately, one could see where the season was going. Not only did this make Iris a completely uninteresting character for the whole season, but it made the rest of the season very predictable.

Wally West. What in the world were they thinking with this character? This is his entire season arc.

• Wanting to be a speedster despite everyone not wanting him to be.
• Being gifted powers by Savitar.
• Becoming Kid Flash but wanting to prove himself.
• Finding love and having it taken away from him for nothing.
• Stupidly helping Savitar.
• Being trapped in the Speedforce.
• Escaping the Speedforce, and then being sidelined for the rest of the season.

The biggest reason I’m upset about this is that it appeared as if the writers didn’t even care about him after he got out of the Speedforce. They didn’t care about the effect it had on him, or how he was going to do anything at all to help Iris not die. It looks like he’ll have a bigger role in season four, but in this season, his writing was atrocious.

Cisco is only anything more than the geeky tech guy when he has encounters with Killer Frost. Other than that, he’s just Cisco who mopes around for half the season because Flashpoint killed his brother, and then becomes normal loveable Cisco again. He has a romantic arc this season with Gipsy (a character that I won’t bother explaining), and it’s… Okay, I guess.

Joe West does nothing except worry about his children and have a new relationship with a colleague in the police department. That’s it. However, Jesse L Martin never fails to amaze with his performances.

My favourite character this season has to be the new Harrison Wells (or HR, from Earth 19). Having a new Wells every season is weird, yes, but this particular one was not a science geek. He was more of an artist, coffee lover and team cheerleader, and he was so much fun to have on screen. I’ll explain more about that in a bit. Tom Cavanagh proves his amazing talent once again, this time even directing an episode.

Now let’s get back to the story. Unlike the first two seasons, the third season of The Flash is a drag. Savitar gets supposedly taken care of pretty quick, and later comes back through some magic time blah blah that the writers never truly bother to explain properly, and even then the season doesn’t kick into gear as well as it should.

There is a lot of filler this season, which is really saying something for a show that spent a lot of its first two seasons using one-episode-only disposable villains. Jesse Quick is in this for some time… For some reason. There’s an episode dedicated to Gorilla City and Gorilla Grodd. There’s a musical crossover with Supergirl. The third last episode of the season had Barry Allen lose his memory and spend the whole episode like that.

Savitar’s identity reveal takes a long, long time to arrive. Speculation on the internet led everyone in a few different directions, but when it was actually revealed, it was kind of a letdown because it was so late, and by then everyone had pretty much figured it out. Barry Allen himself (a time remnant from the future; some more magic time blah blah) being revealed as Savitar somewhere around episode sixteen or seventeen would have made for a much more intense, compelling season. But episode twenty? There was no reason for it to be held back that long. And even after this, the writing was horrible. There were virtually no effects of Savitar being Barry to all of Team Flash. They just ran with it. Perhaps this is why the reveal was held back so long, so that they wouldn’t have to use time to have Team Flash cope with this idea.

On that note, however, let’s just talk about the absolutely bizarre last few episodes of the season. These are the things that happen:

• Barry Allen decides to ignore the consequences he has learned of time travel to go to the future, to learn nothing except that a few years after 2017, a scientist develops something to trap Savitar in the Speedforce.
• When he comes back, they find this scientist to get her to develop this device ahead of time.
• Savitar’s identity is revealed.
• Barry loses his memory.
• They need a power source for this ‘Speedforce bazuka’, and so the penultimate episode is about a break in to ARGUS with the help of Captain Cold from the past showing Barry is still an idiot.
• Iris actually dies.
• Wait, she doesn’t. HR was in her place, and his death is quickly forgotten about to stop Savitar.
• Savitar doesn’t kill Iris so technically he shouldn’t exist, but apparently he will be erased from existence in a few hours rather than instantly… For no reason other than magic time blah blah to not have the season finale end abruptly.
• Barry decides to try and help Evil Barry, and actually believes that it’s working.
• Instead, Evil Barry just uses STAR Labs as his starting point to literally becoming immortal by being fragmented across time (it’s at this point that you wonder if the team of writers for this show are on acid when they’re thinking of where the story should go).
• Barry defeats Savitar with the help of Wally and Jay Garrick, who was placed in the Speedforce prison earlier in the series and was just forgotten about.
• Killer Frost isn’t so evil, but doesn’t give up her powers, which is a good thing for the show going forward.
• The Speedforce needs a prisoner now that Jay is out, and Barry voluntarily goes in, ending the season, as usual, on a cliffhanger. Sure, whatever. He’s going to get out in the first or first few episodes of season four, so this was entirely unnecessary, but sure, if it’ll help a few people keep interest.

All of these things just sum up what was wrong with this season. It was all over the place. There was barely any focus for the majority of it, and most of the time I was hoping something of substance would happen. But it just didn’t.

But that’s not it. The biggest reason this season pales in comparison to the first two is its tone.

Arrow is supposed to be mature. It’s supposed to be gritty and dark. When The Flash came around, the best thing about the show was how fun it was. There were dark elements to the show, but at its heart, it was so much fun. This season takes itself way too seriously, and it was a bad decision. It’s so sappy and depressing and tiring.

I mentioned that the episode in Gorilla City, the musical and the amnesia episode were fillers, but the truth is, they were the best episodes of the season, because they were reminders of how awesome this show can actually be. The episode in Gorilla City is so insane, but that’s what this show is about. The musical episode was just magnificent. And despite how late into the season the amnesia episode was, it displayed Barry Allen with such a sweet innocence to him. The purpose of the episode was to contrast how Barry was to how he is, and it’s pretty clear. Barry became so… Sad. In this episode he was so loveable, throwing smiles around everywhere and making everyone around him happier. One of the biggest reasons HR Wells seemed so great is because he was the only member of Team Flash who seemed to have a real spirit to him, and his death was pretty much a perfect character arc, despite the fact that there seemed to be almost no emotional impact to it.

Those were the highest points of the season, when it became more lighthearted. Sure, it should be more mature at this point, but not this much. The last episode of season two was titled ‘The Race of My Life’, and just the title itself is so much fun. That’s supposed to be the point of this show and it’s what made it so popular in the first place.

The biggest plus point about this season, though, is Grant Gustin, who has proven how versatile he can be with one character. In this one season, he had to be Barry Allen, Future Barry Allen, Evil Barry Allen and Memory-less Barry Allen, and he managed to make them all distinct characters. I like Ezra Miller, but I don’t think he’ll be able to top what Gustin has done with this character.

It actually hurts to give this season the rating I am going to give it, but I do it with the hope that the writers will learn from their mistakes and make the series better going forward. I really do love this show, and I want it to be as great as it can be.

The third season of The Flash is by far the worst of the lot. I maintain that season two is the best. This season was an overflowing cauldron of elements that just didn’t mix well to make an effective potion. I commend the writers for being ambitious with this season, but it really did not work. I hope the show become lighter, makes more sense and is a lot more fun going forward. And I hope it learns to handle its characters better. It really needs to.

On a scale where M is the lowest, and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:

The Flash season 3: MIHIR

My review for the fifth season of Arrow will arrive tomorrow, and it will be a lot more positive than this one.