maxineofarc

Yes, but since Kevin's one personality trait is "gay," that encompasses all pop culture knowledge from 1955 until the present. That character is really, really getting on my nerves and it's not even his fault, he's just so underwritten there's nothing there. They're going to have to show us Polly sooner rather than later. I initially thought Polly might not exist and she was some kind of alter of Betty's, but there seems to be a lot of third party corroboration of her existence. Maybe she's dead?

What on earth is Val's endgame supposed to be here? Why does she care if these nitwits like her?

That's what's working about it for me. I think it's pretty successful at getting the Twin Peaks vibe across. As for Jughead, I actually like the update to his hat- back in the middle ages when the comic first came out, it was a beanie made out of an old fedora or similar, which was The Style At The Time, but over time as that fad died out it's come to look totally weird. The knitted beanie works for me. I'd like to hear more about Archie and Jughead's friendship up until now, since I have no idea how long they've been friends; Archie does have more chemistry with Jug than with Betty, his supposed lifelong best friend. In the comics, Archie's always been openly dating both Betty and Veronica, and B and V have always been best friends, so I suppose that is an example of a mostly successful polyamorous relationship- though an extremely chaste one because Archie comics. On the CW where they're allowed to have sex, who knows if it would work, but it might!

Jughead always was my favorite, and Broody Jughead Under The Bleachers is my extra favorite because that was always the kid I wanted to be in high school. Could they please give Kevin a personality trait other than "gay?" That's not actually a personality.

There is a lot of TV right now, but this is one show I never missed last season. I'm thrilled it's coming back!

Claire's lipstick is super distracting to me. I don't remember lining outside the lips being a thing after the 80s- honestly she is working a very 40s Joan Crawford upper lip shape there. Really a weird style choice, unless that is actually the shape of her lips? I can't be bothered to go back and check her other lewks to find out, but if it is, then I would have expected them to underline her to give her a narrower upper lip.

Yeah, I was going on the photo. That's somewhat reassuring.

Is the only prominent black character the villain?

Ugh ugh ugh ugh PEAK BABY VOICE.

I thought I remembered this whole cult nonsense going on for much longer. But that would have been interesting.

In his vision, he was in his full Vibe gear. In that scene, he was not.

I'm guessing if you held a writer at knifepoint and told them to explain, they'd say something like he followed Barry's trail through the speed force. The speed force has its own mythology, apparently, somehow; maybe it has Speedster GPS or something.

THANK YOU. I was wondering about so much of that while I was watching this. "I've read all these Hindu mythology books." OH REALLY, BARRY, you read Hindi now? Sanskrit? If not, I think you maybe have some gaps there.

I generally liked this episode. I enjoy a good old fashioned Christmas episode, so I liked the end scenes. But if I didn't have some weird nitpicks I wouldn't be me or on previously.tv, so let's go! A thing I literally yelled at my TV (I'm not proud): "Cisco, you dumbass!" This episode answered one question we've had: was Dante and Cisco's relationship so much better in this universe that it would drive his behavior over the season so far? Answer: eh, not really. I completely understand Cisco mourning what might have been, but it seemed SO OBVIOUS that fake-Dante was fake, I would have thought Cisco smarter than that. I kind of can't with this character this season. HOWEVER, that scene then raised the point that it seems Savitar can latch onto people who are grieving and exploit that? Savitar needs to have the box open in order to appear in a particular dimension, at least for now. He can't open it himself. Barry said something about him finding people who can draw followers, but... people like Julian, who spends all day in a lab? Cisco, who... spends all day in a lab? How old is Julian supposed to be? Savitar first calls to him when he's 20, he then goes and gets a doctorate in archaeology based on what we saw of his dissertation, he then spends however long looking for the stone, THEN flees to America and... becomes a forensic scientist specializing in metahumans? He'd need another degree for that, surely? Tom Felton is 29 but I'd buy him up through his 30s in this role. I really, really like him in this, by the way. He puts a lot of subtlety into what could go way over the top. I hope he sticks around a while. Superficially: Loved Julian's little Christmas boutonniere. Candice Patton is very beautiful, but damn, I would definitely not have worn Iris's dress to a family Christmas party. Barry/Iris does not currently actively annoy me but wow I do NOT need to see them getting busy as I still find that whole relationship squicky. HR annoys me less. You can't just put somebody else's name on a lease.

Everybody's already said everything I came here to say about my increasing over-it with Cisco (WHOM I LOVE, which makes it extra annoying) and with the "keep information from people in order to protect them" plot, which never ever EVER works, so I'll just ask: why exactly the everloving hell was Iris wearing a cocktail minidress with thigh high boots and a 2" choker around the lab? Love Felicity's coat. Want one.

He IS a different person, because this Cisco has only ever existed in the "corrected" universe. For all we know he's had entirely different experiences we never got to see and haven't heard anything about. That's why this season is making me crazy; I was a confirmed Cisco fangirl for two seasons and now I have no idea if I'm still supposed to be invested in him or not. I don't know, man, I really think there's something more going on here. Julian seemed VERY sincere when he chewed Barry out, and his rigid sense of morality has been a constant for him all season. He seemed more than a little upset to be hearing Savitar calling to him as Alchemy calls to nascent metas, even though Alchemy knelt to Savitar last episode. He might be projecting but I don't think he knows what he's doing.

Side note: I very nearly laughed out loud when Caitlin kidnapped Julian and was all "YOU, RANDOM CSI, MAKE AN ALGORITHM." Because "make an algorithm" is at this point the genre TV equivalent of "a wizard did it."

It looks to me like Julian is Alchemy but he's pretty upset about it. (Yes, yes, of course the new guy on the show was going to be a villain but I was still really hoping he wasn't because I really like Tom Felton on this show. At least I know he can pull off "morally conflicted." I think it's most of his resume by now.) Alchemy appeared to be a willing acolyte of Savitar, kneeling when he first appeared, so there is more than meets the eye going on here. Multiple Alchemys? Maybe he doesn't know what he's doing? Barry better not still be living at Cisco's. I was so glad somebody finally stopped babying him and laid it out for him how selfish his actions have been, and even though I miss chipper Cisco, I'm glad he isn't letting Barry off the hook. Which in turn makes me wonder if that will drive Cisco away from the team and possibly become the Vibe he saw fighting Caitlin. Power of friendship stabilizes Killer Frost? Really?

I appreciate this viewpoint, but I'm afraid I still think Barry and Iris have all the chemistry of a pile of wet leaves.

Good observation about Cisco. I wondered about that too, and whether what he was seeing was yet another doppelganger. With the whole flashpoint situation, I feel like everything I know about these characters I've gotten to like (or in some cases tolerate) over two seasons is totally in question. What happened that Cisco/Caitlin are so afraid? No idea! Whatever character development they've had has been effectively offscreen as these versions didn't exist for the viewers until Barry picked a timeline to go with, so I have no idea if I should still be invested in these people or not.

I'm really hoping it's just TOO obvious, because I really like Julian and I'm impressed with Tom Felton's performance. I've even stopped thinking of him as Malfoy. Mostly. I usually like Cisco and Caitlin scenes, but I'm still up in the air on whether he should have outed her. I'd wondered why she hadn't confided in him sooner, and I suppose that's the answer. On the one hand he's right that Team Flash doesn't work very well when people are keeping secrets, but on the other she forgave him awfully quickly. As for her power situation, I'm happy she's getting a storyline, but I'm also baffled as to why she thinks she's "turning evil." We have seen her lash out with her cold powers, but why does she feel they're taking her over? Are they? I need to see this examined in a little more depth. I still love TC, but I'm about done with HR. Even though Cisco vibed himself battling Killer Frost, he can only witness what's happening, he can't tell what his future-self is thinking or feeling, so I'm going along with the theory that it's Vibe who is the bad guy in this scenario. He looked good, though. That's not nothing.

Yes, I think she's the girl on the left.

Okay, I am Liz's father! There, now you know. Now can we get on with it?

Eden Wood always seemed to me to be a nice, very ordinary little girl. And I watched the first episode of her Logo series (yes, that was me, I was the one), which did nothing to make me think anything else: an unremarkable child whose full time job was pleasing her mother. I hope she can keep it together as she heads into her teen years... I have a feeling she might be in for some serious Mean Girls treatment from her peers and I wouldn't wish that on her. Or anyone.

I've been coloring my hair for as long as I can remember. Most people are surprised to learn I'm not a natural redhead. I used to do it at the salon, but for the past couple of years I've been doing it myself. I got one of those fancy dye brushes at Sally's with the metal rat-tail for parting your hair, and it's made all the difference. I've been using Vidal Sassoon's London Luxe line, first in Runway Red and then when I wanted something a little more natural in Carnaby Copper Red. They look great, and the Runway Red, which is a bright fashion-y true red, doesn't fade much; the Copper Red, like most red/brown dyes, does go brassy in a month or so.