Lord Kira

Can we please kill Abby now? What the heck was she even doing there in the first place? She's crashing a peace conference when she has no idea about anything on the ground. I do love Clark's development, and everything in Mt. Weather.

They don't know what to do with her. The writers experience the same problem with Laurel on Arrow. The truth is, they are only on these shows for one reason. They are the heroes' destined canon love-interests in the comics. The writers included them in these shows because they are well-liked and important characters in the comics and assume that will carry over into the tv shows. The problem is, the writers put zero effort into these two characters. They forget that they have to actually work to makes them important and likable.

There's going to be a Barry/Iris kiss? Ugh. I was hoping that Linda would be sticking around for a while. This whole thing feels like season 1 of Arrow all over again.

Nora Allen.

I wasn't singling Barry/Iris out with that chemistry line. I was just broadly covering the pairings I listed and the reasons why they aren't all widely loved in the fandoms. As for Lois & Clark, I never watched that show. (I never saw any of the shows you listed.) I was referring to Smallville when I named that pairing. Maybe Lois & Clark and the shows you listed did it right. If so, good for them. Genre fans are far pickier about this stuff than fans of other genres. Being in the age of social media only makes the audiences' voices louder. It was probably far easier back then to make a show without millions of screaming fans hounding your every move. lol

I think a very big problem may something else entirely. Something that all comic book shows and movies have to deal with. The "destined pairing." Clark/Lana and Clark/Lois, Oliver/Laurel, Peter/MJ, Thor/Jane, and now Barry/Iris. Because those are all canon relationships in comics, the writers are forced to give them a shot in tv/movies. Unfortunately, if the wrtiting, acting, and chemistry isn't there.... the audience isn't going to buy it. People don't like being told who to ship. Especially when it happens in the very first episode of a tv show. Instead, the audience will latch on to other alternatives. Clark/Chloe, Oliver/Felicity, Barry/Caitlyn or Barry/Linda, Thor/Sif, etc. They shouldn't have forced the Barry/Iris thing so hard and let the character breathe on her own. Her race and gender has nothing to do with it. People are more forgiving of Barry because we spend 30 minutes an episode with him every week. Compared to Iris getting about 4 minutes of screentime if she's lucky. We had plenty of time to get to know Barry and root for him. Not so much with Iris.

Speaking of silly fun, I loved the opening scene with Barry and Linda on the date and Barry making saves every time she wasn't looking. Grant Gustin is brilliant at doing the fun stuff.

People disliking Iris, especially during this episode, makes perfect sense to me. The writers are doing the same thing with her that they did with Laurel in Arrow season 1: not showing her doing her job, existing just to be a love interest, denying romantic interest in the lead while they are with someone else and getting jealous when that person tries to move on, lacking relevance to the A-Plot, etc. Some people think that letting Iris in on Barry's secret would help. I don't think I want that. Letting Laurel into the Arrow Cave ruined one of my favorite aspects of the show. I don't want Iris showing up at Star Labs and getting in the way of Barry/Caitlyn/Cisco/Wells interaction. Candice Patton is a billion times better than Katie Cassidy. The writers need to do something with her. I'm just not sure what.

The Laurel-ification of Iris begins. I never hated Iris until this episode. I never loved her, but she was never Laurel levels of annoying so I didn't have that much of a problem with her. But now? You had your chance, Iris. Let Barry move on. Besides, don't you have a boyfriend/fiance? I'm really liking Barry and Linda, even if it is a little rushed. And it being rushed is mentioned and played for laughs. They lay well off of each other. If anything, this episode confirmed to me that I'll take any pairing over Barry/Iris. Barry/Caitlyn and Barry/Linda interactions are always fun, I'd be fine if either of those pairings are chosen over Barry/Iris. I liked the plot with Detective West and Cisco. Flashpoint is going to be fun. They can have it play out over multiple episodes and even include Arrow in on the fun. The Firestorm stuff is pretty cool. I'm not sure I care about Caitlyn/Ronnie, though. We've only ever seen normal Ronnie once in flashback so I'm not that invested in the pairing at the moment. I'll need to see more of him. The whole triangle (or is it now a square?) reminds me of Oliver/Laurel/Tommy on Arrow. The triangle didn't do Laurel any favors, and it looks like they aim to repeat the same thing with Iris. On Arrow, I just ended up feeling bad for Tommy. If Iris continues to behave this way, I'll probably end up disliking her more and feeling bad for Eddie.

Instead of wasting an entire episode on Tyreese (even if it was a good send-off for the character), I would have rather seen Maggie and Daryl dealing with Beth's death. I'm glad Tyreese is finally dead. He was much too soft to survive that world. Always trying to look for the "nice" or "peaceful" solution to the situations the group gets in. This show has shown time and time again that preaching about morality drastically shortens your life-span. His death is his own fault. Taking the time to look at pictures instead of properly clearing the house? He's just made too many mistakes over the course of his run for me to be anything but thrilled that he's dead. Its a shame, because I remember him being cool in the comics.

Likes: *Maya's character *Shawn's character * Rider's and Sabrina's acting. *Cory putting his foot in his mouth when Shawn and Maya were behind him *Cory mentioning Shawn giving him a ring. LMFAO *The girl's being disgusted at Shawn falling in love with Angela by going through her purse. *Shawn thinking it was okay to immediately go into Caity's purse. lol *Maya destroying Farkle's watch * The Shawn/Caity confrontation *Maya showing how upset she was at the thought of Shawn leaving. *Maya being upset with Riley Dislikes: *Riley was intolerable. Her interfering in other people's lives comes across as annoying instead of funny or endearing. The actress can't sell it. Her smiling the whole time, even when her best friend is upset with her, made me want to slap her. Even when she is supposed to be upset she is always smiling. Who is she supposed to be, the Joker? *The whole scheme set-up. It didn't ad anything. It was just wasted screentime to get Farkle and Lucas in the episode. * Farkle was too creepy and stalker-ish. * The Maya/Shawn sub-plot, which I admittedly liked, felt way too heavy handed and rushed. After all, we only had one episode of them interacting previously. * The confrontation between Shawn and Cory/Topanga. While good, I can't help but feel that being on the Disney Channel neutered this scene some. Shawn would have been a lot more upset with Cory if he thought he wasn't looking out for Maya, given his own history. Instead Cory was played for comedy and Shawn's reaction felt kind of tame. Overall, I really liked the episode. But Riley is easily the worst thing about the series. Maya remains one of the best. I'm glad Shawn's going to have a bigger role because just like on BMW he really steals the show here.

That was the most likable Finn has been all series. In an episode where it was revealed he wasted 3 months of air and 17 grounders, I found that ironic. Maybe it was his willingness to admit his wrong and take responsibility for it. Raven kind of pissed me off when she turned on Murphy wanting to turn him over in Finn's place. Murphy was a huge douche, but if I remember correctly he only killed the people who tried to kill him. I can forgive that, more-so now that he seems to have mellowed out a bit. Finn killed 17 innocent villagers including children. Raven trying to make it sound like Murphy was worse than Finn was insane. I guess I can forgive her because she was emotional. Clarke being so hard on Murphy was baffling at first, before I realized that she really didn't have much contact with him this season. The last she saw of him he had murdered two people and tried to kill Bellamy. The only adult worth keeping around at this point is Marcus. I've been getting bad vibes from Jaha since he returned to camp, and Abbie is just plain insufferable. Clarke killing Finn was brilliant. All season long I felt like something was missing. The darkness that the show morphed into by the end of season one was erased by having the kids and adults reunite and the adults take control. So Clarke taking it upon herself to kill Finn to save him from being tortured was as dark as hell. This can only lead to some amzing character development. What I didn't like? Aside from Abbie, I disliked them trying to sell me that Clarke returned Finn's feelings. I haven't felt that from her since season 1. Her admitting that she loved him tonight had me going "Really?" Props to the writers for having the guts to kill off Finn. Many fans never gravitated to him, and he became increasingly unlikable over the course of the series. I don't think the writers realized how he was coming across to the audience, but its nice that they realized him dying wouldn't hinder the show.

I loved it! It was definitely the best episode of the season. Likes: *Shawn Hunter is back in all of his angsty glory. Man, I missed him. This show needs him, and he fits right in. *The Cory/Shawn bromance is still as hilariously awesome as ever. *This episode more than any other felt like BMW, with an equal amount of drama as well as comedy. *Shawn and Maya have great chemistry. I wish he'd stick around and be her Mr. Turner *The Cory/Shawn drama being just as attention-getting as the comedy. * Joshua was cool. He kind of reminded me a bit of Eric before he became so stupid. *It was nice seeing the parents again. * Shawn's reaction to Farkle was gold. Dislikes: *Riley. I don't like the way she treats the adults. She bosses everyone around (and not just in this episode) and they just go along with it. In addition to that, she is always smiling; usually even in scenes where she is supposed to be upset. * Are they not allowed to say the word 'Christmas' or something?

They should figure it out when the ratings go back down to 0.8 levels or lower for the 4-part Laurel-centered episodes in January.

I didn't like Barry's whole "My mother was murdered in front of me too, but I don't use that as an excuse to torture people that piss me off" line. Yes, what happened to Barry's mother was tragic as was the fact that he witnessed it..... that's basically it. That's all the trauma Barry has. We've seen the hell Oliver went through over the past 8 years, both on and off the island. So that line of Barry's might have had weight if I was only a fan of The Flash, but as it was I just felt that Barry didn't know what he was talking about comparing his personal tragedies with Oliver's. Barry has suffered, but Oliver's suffering has been on a whole different level.

I really loved it. It wasn't as good as the Flash episode last night, but that one is hard to beat/ However, it was the best episode of Arrow in a long time. Things I liked: *Oliver's development. Showing him finding the light in the present while succumbing to the darkness in the past was brilliant. *The Barry/Oliver relationship. Although their tactics are way different, they do care about each other. It's VERY much Superman/Batman. *The comparions between Central City and Starling City. Central does come across as sunny and bright whereas Starling is much more forboding. *Team Flash realizing that things aren't all fun and games and that lives are at stake. Caitlin and Cisco admitting that dealing with superpowers made the situations feel less real, less serious. *Roy. His reaction to seeing Barry use his powers, immediately appreciating Team Flash after Cisco complimented his suit, etc. *The Oliver/Lyla scene. *ARGUS getting some well-deserved comeuppance. Harkness was justified in his quest for vengeance. *Cisco's speech on metahumans *Cisco's reaction to Thea. lol *Barry's speech to Oliver. Things I didn't like: *Was there a point to the Laurel scene other than wasting valubale screen time that could have been better spent on the crossover? *Ditto the small Thea and Chase scene. Really, what was the point? Actually, what is the point to Chase in general.

He wasted a month's worth of air on the Ark because he wanted to do a spacewalk.

Clarke reuniting with Raven, Bellamy, and Octavia was great. I like how they didn't make it all about the Bellarke ship like I feared they might. Even after knowing how popular the pairing is, the writers aren't forcing it. Clarke hugging everyone was an emotional moment, but they didn't dwell on shipping and instead the first concern on the characters' minds were their fellow members of the 100. I like everybody ignoring Abby. These kids have survived more than she can even comprehend and she acts like she should be obeyed as if they were back on the Ark. She and all of the other adults need to learn that the kids have the knowledge and experience that the adults lack. I love the Bellamy/Octavia scenes. Their scenes together are pretty much the only time I care about Octavia. Finn is officially insane. Its not a good sign when even Murphy thingks you're crazy. I think the Finn/Clarke ship is dead. After tonight, I think Finn dies in the mid-season finale. But man, those Grounders sure are stupid. They pick the moment Finn was going to leave to be idiots and try to escape.

I think all of the OOC stuff was intentional. Make the other characters dumb or assholes, so Laurel looks better by default. They did it near the end of last season too, remember? All of the characterizations will go back to normal in episodes that don't exist to prop her up.

Likes: Lex Luthor The humor Joe Team Flash/Wells interation Plastique Dislikes: The Iris melodrama. I don't dislike Iris, but I don't particularly care about her either. The actress is good, but the character is so irrelevant to the show. She reminds me of season 1 Lana Lang; especially the way they are handling the Barry/Iris and him keeping her in the dark about his powers. This is more than played out in the superhero genre and I find that trope hard to care about anymore. The writers need to step it up, unlike with Laurel on Arrow, they have a good actress here.

Laurel flat out telling Ted she used to date the Arrow massively compromises Oliver's identity. Especially when one of those exes was already publicly suspected of being the vigilante in the past. How could she be so careless? These writers always give me new reasons to hate her.

Why can't Thea be Black Canary? It's already more believable than Laurel. Laurel is more like "Selfish Canary".

I agree. Oliver has been through so much more than she can even imagine. Hell, he's told her some of it. That was uncalled for and untrue to accuse him of not feeling anything, and I'm glad she realized it the second it left her mouth.

Oliver is under the impression that Laurel has told Quentin. He doesn't know that Laurel is a terrible person and would hide this from her own father.

The Good: * Tommy's appearance. Even young, less-dark Tommy was very likable. Keeping check on Oliver's e-mail account on the off chance that its touched. Now that right there is a dedicated friend. * Team Arrow interactions. * The Roy/Oliver scene. * Oliver admitting that he doesn't want to die down there. * Quentin * Thea The Bad: 1. Laurel. * Watching Katie Cassidy try to emote is such a pain in the ass when her face doesn't move and her voice barely changes pitch. * Laurel in the Arrow Cave. It felt wrong. Like a violation of Team Arrow. * Laurel ignoring Oliver's warning to stay behind, follows them, and somehow manages to be in exactly the right spot to find them even after they jump out a window and into another room. * The heavy-handed 'Laurel is going to be Black Canary' references * Laurel not telling Quentin that his own daughter is dead. What a bitch. That is unforgivable. 2. Ray came off way to stalker-ish in this one. I like the actor and the character, but they need to tone down everything about the Ray/Felicity interactions.