S06.E06: License to Elongate

[Trini]

Quote

RALPH GOES DEEP UNDERCOVER - Barry turns his attention to prepping Elongated Man for life after Crisis and without The Flash, but Ralph ultimately teaches Barry a lesson. Meanwhile, Cecile faces her own moment of self-discovery while helping a recuperated Chester P. Runk (guest star Brandon McKnight) reclaim his identity.

Danielle Panabaker directed the episode written by Thomas Pound & Jeff Hersh.

Airdate: 11/19/2019

[scarynikki12]

Credit where it’s due: Ralph no longer sucks. 

[shantown]

I liked that they mixed up the pairings a bit this week - Wells and Allegra, Ralph and Barry, Cecile and Chester. I like Allegra and Chester as new characters, I hope at least one of them sticks around beyond this season. 

I cracked up at Ralph's photo tie and the joke about 10 selfies up Barry's nose. I like when they have characters use their brains and human skills! I don't know what was up with the fight scene at the end though. Very choppy and confusing.

Where were Iris and Cisco? 

Edited November 20, 2019 by shantown

[BeautifulFlower]

Why was Iris not there for Barry's ceremony? If it was planned, it would have made sense for her to be there.

I didn't care for this episode at all though.

Allegra is so freakin entitled. She really thinks that she deserves to know everything? Wow. And really Nash? You just told her Barry's secret and the multiverse.

[bluemm]

The Chester story was a waste of good tv time. An episode without Cisco and only small amounts of Joe and Iris is somewhat of a letdown. The Ralph Dibny caricature of James Bond and the Bond storyline was fun. Haven't figured out Nash yet.

[adora721]

4 minutes ago, BeautifulFlower said:

Why was Iris not there for Barry's ceremony? If it was planned, it would have made sense for her to be there.

 I expected minimum Iris in the episode directed by DP; this happened last year, too. 

[bettername2come]

Well, this was the worst episode of the season thus far. And for a worst episode, well, it could have been worse. 

I like Ralph. There's a very sweet, sincere side to him that I love and it's coming out nicely with the credit he gave Barry, his dedication to this case and all his interactions with Iris.

43 minutes ago, BeautifulFlower said:

Why was Iris not there for Barry's ceremony? If it was planned, it would have made sense for her to be there.

I didn't even think of this specific aspect of it. I was just annoyed Iris wasn't getting in on the shenanigans with Ralph and Barry at the party. She could've worked a fancy dress and gotten some time with her hubby. 

Did they say the dress designer was Victoria Vale?

So I didn't care for Cecille's story or the guy she worked with. I don't want him on the team. I did like Nash and Allegra together and judging by their interaction I'm guessing Nash has a daughter her age, possibly a doppelganger. 

[Lantern7]

I like Chester. He's a doof, and he owns it. It took a while for Ralph to get cool. If Chester survives the Crisis, I hope we see more of him.

Fun little jaunt with Ralph getting his Bond on and Barry repeatedly wrecking the vibe. It's fluffy, but it was relatively angst-free. Well, until Rosso drops by at the end to reminds us he exists.

Wells reveals Barry's secret to Allegra. I mean . . . this is The Flash. If you don't know that Barry is the Flash . . . you might not be that important.

[SimoneS]

That was the worse episode of the season, just horrible. Three bad episodes in a row, not good at all.  Barry and Ralph's undercover stint was not nearly as fun as their first last year. I really like Chester, but I already can't stand Cecile having powers, to dedicate a whole story to her and to Allegra and Nash was a waste of airtime. And where were Iris and Cisco? Candice was probably thrilled to have a break from two episodes in a row.

Edited November 20, 2019 by SimoneS

[Lady Calypso]

I'll admit, I started fast forwarding through the Chester/Cecile scenes. Unfortunately for them, I couldn't get through much of the quirky from Chester. I like Cecile, but Chester was too much for me. I hope he doesn't join Star Labs.

Ralph/Barry had some good moments and I loved their fight sequence at the end. I love that Ralph convinced Barry to use something other than his powers. I feel like Barry's forgotten that there's more than one way to fight the bad guys, so I'm glad Ralph reminded Barry about that. 

So, the Nash/Allegra stuff was actually fun. I wonder who Allegra's doppelganger is, because she's clearly important to Nash. We've already done daughter with Jesse and Harry, and we've done love interest with some of our others. I GUESS we could have another daughter scenario....

Overall, it was...an episode. It had some good moments but I wouldn't say that I liked it. It was pretty much a filler episode.

[colorbars]

I assumed Nash just has his or, judging by his reserved sadness, possibly had, his own daughter and that it's a different version of Jesse, but Allegra is just around that age and reminds him a lot of her, so they might develop that kind of bond together.

Echoing the comments that this was not a good episode. It felt like a chore to get through, which granted, is sadly not that unusual for this show at this point, but I wasn't interested in a single storyline tonight and my two favorite characters were either not around at all (Cisco) or barely there (Iris).

[tennisgurl]

This was probably the worst episode of the season, but it was more boring than offensive or annoying, so its still better than some previous seasons. The Barry and Ralph plot was the only one I really liked, and I like Allegra and Chester alright as reoccurring characters, and I still like Nash, but it mostly felt like filler. 

Barry and Ralph and their James Bond story was fun, and Ralph has really come far as a character, so much that I am actually fine with him being Barry's successor post-crisis (I mean, if Barry really dies for real...) and he and Barry had both funny and heartfelt moments. Barry being awful at pretending to be rich was funny, especially as when he had to pretend to be a criminal with Snart a few seasons ago he was actually pretty good, and fake drunk Barry was almost as fun as actual drunk Barry. As was the one woman just sitting their watching the whole big fight with amusement like she is watching a WWE match with tuxedos. The James Bond stuff was pretty amusing too. I mean, the guy had an actual death ray! A freaking death ray! I also really liked Ralph reminding Barry that losing Barry is just as tragic as losing The Flash, and that both of his identities are equally important, especially to the people in his life, plus seeing Ralph in his element was another nice reminder of his growth. But then zombie science arrives! 

I cant imagine how disturbing watching Ragdoll eat would be. Two episodes in a row with very little Iris, and they were some of the worst of the season. Coincidence?! 

[Trini]

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

... Overall, it was...an episode. It had some good moments but I wouldn't say that I liked it. It was pretty much a filler episode.

Yeah, this pretty much. But Cisco's filler episode was better.

I'm not even mad that Cisco and Iris weren't a part of this. I hope Candice and Carlos enjoyed their time off.

Grant and Hartley have good chemistry together, so Barry and Ralph teaming up was good; but I feel like their subplot fell apart after they got captured. And it wasn't a good enough or funny enough Bond parody for me to enjoy it that way; it was mostly dumb.

Also Barry wanting to make Elongated Man the city's sole protector? As if! Hey, Ralph has grown, but I'd put at least Kid Flash and Vibe before him.

I did want to see Ultraviolet again, but she didn't use her powers at all (I think). But they gave another hint at the Post-Crisis story, so, yay?

Chester is a fun character; I liked seeing him again. But the subplot with Cecile was more silly, repetitive, filler. It was just stupid to have two characters who are on the lowest level of importance have their own subplot that added nothing to any ongoing storyline.

When will they realize that the show does NOT need a Wells anymore, and just let Cavanagh go?? Whatever his story is, I DO NOT CARE and it's wasting screentime and moving like molasses. All Wells #836 did here was inappropriately let Allegra in on Team Flash info -- when that should have been a recurring story for Iris and Allegra.

And Bloodwork only shows up for one jump scene? Why are they wasting Sendhil like this??

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

.. Two episodes in a row with very little Iris, and they were some of the worst of the season. Coincidence?! 

The best episodes of this show are always the ones with a West-Allen family focus. Always. They should know this by now.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Trini

[thuganomics85]

Yep, this was easily the worst episode of the season so far.  It just really gave off a "Well, we got to do something until we get to Crisis" vibe, and no one really seemed to be that invested here.  Not saying anything was flat-out horrid, but it just felt by the numbers and fillerish, to say the least.

That said, I will continue to be amazed over the turnaround they did with Ralph.  Two seasons ago, the idea of this particular story would have made me roll my eyes, but here I am actually enjoying Ralph taking front and center, and having him and Barry not only team up, but find a good way to have have Ralph be the one who helps Barry, by reminding him that there is more to him than "The Flash."  The overall story was still kind of weak, but at least Hartley Sawyer and Grant Gustin were fun to watch: especially at the end with the fake drunk acting and fight sequences.

On the other hand, yikes, the scenes with Cecile/Chester were cringeworthy as hell.  It almost felt like one of those fake sitcoms within the actual show that are suppose to be lame and bad on purpose.  Danielle Nicolet is generally very good and Brandon McKnight/Chester seems winning enough, but they were way too broad here.  I don't want to toss blame where it might not belong, but I do wonder if maybe part of it was Danielle Panabaker being in the director's chair, who is still relatively new, and might have let them go a bit too wild here.  Because someone really should have reeled them in a bit.

So, now Allegra of all people knows that Barry is The Flash.  Got to love how both Kara and Kate have main arcs on their respected shows about keeping their identity a secret, while I'm at the point where I think everyone in Central City actually knows Barry's identity, but they're just playing along in order to not hurt his feelings.

I can buy that maybe Cisco was taking a breather over the events that transpired last episode, but it really was noticeable that Iris wasn't at Barry's ceremony, despite it being clear that Ralph and Joe have had this planned out for some time.  Really put a dent on what should have been a powerful scene.

Sendhil Ramamurthy got an easy paycheck for this one!

[SimoneS]

Reflecting on the season, three of the last four episodes have been bad, the Cisco-focused episode was best of the four and I thought it was mediocre at best. 

I like Cecile, but she should not have powers (which I will never stop saying) and she shouldn't have such a prominent role, much less her own story. That story will Chester would have worked better if Joe was the lead. 

I have noticed the lack of Joe this season. Is Jesse still recovering? Otherwise there is no excuse for his diminished presence and the show is worse for off for it.

I really hope that these episodes are stumbles as Wallace tries to get to the crossover and not a sign of things to come. However, I can't help feeling like he is trying to give each character focus when they are all should not get so much airtime. Also, while at first I liked that he was teaming up different characters and taking them out of their comfort zone like Iris and Cisco, giving Cecil her own story, teaming up Nash with barely existing Allegra, and reinventing KillerFrost/Caitlin for the thrillionth time are not good ideas.

Edited November 20, 2019 by SimoneS

[Starry]

This episode bored me to tears. I haven't watched a single James Bond movie so some of the references were lost on me and I didn't laugh once. Actually, I did laugh one time. When fake drunk Barry showed up. That was it. They oversold the comedic aspect of the BarryRalph team up.

I find Chester fun but I am not sure I want him to join an overcrowded Team Flash unless he's there to replace someone else. Cisco used to be my third favorite character and I didn't even realize he wasn't in the episode. That sucks. Maybe I wouldn't be too upset at Chester possibly taking his place.

Iris should have been at the press conference. She's a reporter and her husband was being honored. The scene writes itself. They have been missing every beat with her lately.

At least Barry had the good sense to pass the torch to Ralph and not to Ralph AND Frost.

Bloodwork is disgusting but I missed him.

[adora721]

6 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Got to love how both Kara and Kate have main arcs on their respected shows about keeping their identity a secret, while I'm at the point where I think everyone in Central City actually knows Barry's identity, but they're just playing along in order to not hurt his feelings.

Why didn't the Flash scramble his voice as he's done in the past at the press conference? Everyone who works at CCPD must notice that Barry and the Flash have the same voice. Lame plot hole...

Edited November 20, 2019 by adora721

[jmonique]

I'm about a third of the way through, and I've never been so bored by a Flash episode.

[tennisgurl]

The writers just seem to be spinning their wheels until Crisis starts and they deal with the fall out afterwards, whatever it is, so we are getting a lot of these dull subplots and recycled ideas (especially Killer Frost learning the same lessons over and over) until we get started. Which is really weird to me, because there is a TON of compelling stories they could be doing right now on the way to Crisis, or with the story they already have. Barry being on a ticking clock should lead to huge dramatic stakes for everyone, especially his wife, and they should be dealing with that, not having wacky romance subplots with Cecile and minor characters! 

The best episodes so far this season have been focused on the West-Allen family, them dealing with what happened to Nora, with what will happen to Barry, so cant we lean more into that? Instead of having Barry and Iris just accept that Barry has to die because some douchy space man says so, why not have them trying to fight this more? Have the team looking for answers, have Iris desperately trying to convince Barry that he has to find other ways, and then maybe have him see the possible futures where everyone dies, and them dealing with their grief, or spending as much time together as possible? Have Iris railing against how unfair it is that the universe apparently demands that she lose her child AND her husband in such a short amount of time so young, or Barry dealing more with Barry having to die before even getting to really start his life with Iris or raise his daughter, there is so much here to explore, and while they have at least done some good things dealing with this, there is so much more that they could be doing instead of just wasting time waiting for shit to hit the fan! Having a villain obsessed with stopping death through mad science is a great idea for a season where Barry is dealing with his own mortality, learn more into that, have more really real conversations that the one that Iris and Barry had about Nora in the premiere and Barry and Joe had when he was crying about how unfair it was that Barry had to die after everything he has already done and gone through, there is so much to do here, just do it! 

[RedVitC]

Overall an ok episode. The plot with Barry and Ralph was fun. Barry's fish out of water -ness at the party was so funny. I do think they went a bit overboard with the clumsiness/incompetent-ness.

-The other plots were ok, but with there being such a shaky sense of what Iris is feeling and her not having talked about it with anyone I felt a bit incredulous with them exploring the emotions of 2 recurring characters (Chester and Allegra) to the point that it was hard to concentrate on what was being said. To be fair the Chester plot was there to explore Cecile's emotion and we also learned more about Nash through Allegra which might tie in to crisis.

I got a better sense of it when I rewatched, and I do like Allegra and Chester, but I still think the plot with Cecile and Chester could have waited until after crisis and they could have had the reveal that Nash probably knows/knew a doppelganger of Allegra in a plot that wasn't centered around her.

The Cecile and Chester plot wasn't bad, but it wasn't really needed now with crisis looming, even for levity since the A plot had funny elements as well. I know someone's own problems don't stop just because there are big problems elsewhere, so on an in-world level I get it (for the most part), but on a show level I don't understand why they're writing in a story about someone's fears about changing jobs when the main character might be dying in 3 weeks and they've barely explored the stories you could tell about that??? 

Though I guess they needed to explain that Chester got out of the MAC before crisis

-Speaking of, so team Flash really looked at each other and were like, should we tell Chester's grandmother (mentioned in the article Chester pulled up) he's alive?.....Nah

-It's almost funny how everyone was like, wow there's a potential way to save Barry if Nash finds this artifact....should we help him find it? Nah, let's just go back to our lives.

Even if they were accepting before, shouldn't the whole team rally now that they think there might be a chance?

It's especially weird that Iris wasn't involved, not just on an emotional level, but Nash was looking for something in her office. They could have at least made Iris' other scene at the end of the episode about trying to helps save Barry instead of her tracking yet another unrelated case. I already talked about how strange the writing for Iris (in particular, though not just her) has been after episode 2 in other threads, and I still don't fully understand it, but for her to now get a glimmer of hope that Barry might be saved and they again choose to have her focus on a random case instead? 

As with a lot of things, at any other time this focus on cases would have been awesome and it's still awesome to see Iris track down that mysterious organization, but if there's ever a time to have Iris focus on Barry it's 3 weeks before they think he's going to die. 

Barry himself was also not that interested in helping . As much as I talk about Iris, Barry himself hasn't had much voice either. Yes, we've seen him talk about it with a lot of different people, but a lot of that is filtered through their emotions and comforting them about his own potential disappearance.  It's one of the reasons I can appreciate him getting the medal because it was something being done for him.

- Iris not being at the press conference was weird and even weirder for Iris not to be there for Barry's shining moment (which admittedly was cute). But if she couldn't be there for some reason, one of team citizen should have been there. To have no central city citizen presence at all? If they want to make the central city citizen a legit news outlet that's taken seriously in their world I don't understand excluding them from big deal press conferences like this.

Reading this over it sounds so negative, I don't feel super negative, but there is just a lot to say about the issues I do have. Again I liked the episode fine, but the timing of some things is off

Edited November 20, 2019 by RedVitC

[phoenics]

Chester is a self-insert for Eric Wallace.

Yeah.  I said it.

I missed the first 10 mins because I forgot the show was coming on.  I don't even care anymore about this show.  

The writing for Iris makes ZERO sense - like Eric Wallace doesn't understand who she is.  Even the way Barry is being written makes no sense.  There is no emotional heft anymore to the script or the scenes - the heart of the show has been cut out in order to give Team Flash more spotlight and the show is worse off for it.

I don't know what the hell Eric Wallace thinks he's doing but he needs to do better.

Oh and the massive entitlement that Allegra has about knowing who the Flash is makes my blood boil.  WTF.  Nash needs to be slapped.  By Iris.  And Allegra needs a serious reality check.  The bratty entitlement she displayed makes me really dislike the character.

Cecile can go now.  Forever.  Let her go upstairs with the baby we never see and never come back down again.

[SimoneS]

Cecile was fine when she was just dating Joe and popped up occasionally. She should have never become a member of the main cast or even worse had that invisible kid. If the show had any backbone, it would have used the crossover as a twofer and kill off both Cecile and Jenna. The emotional fallout would give us some great performances from Jesse, Candice, and Grant.

[adora721]

19 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

The emotional fallout would give us some great performances from Jesse, Candice, and Grant.

I'm sure Team Flash will grieve for them, too, and will each need a special episode showing how deeply KF, Ralph, and Cisco are emotionally devastated by Joe's loss. Cause, ya know, Team Flash is a family. <insert sarcastic laugh>

Edited November 21, 2019 by adora721

[SevenStars]

21 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

Cecile was fine when she was just dating Joe and popped up occasionally. She should have never become a member of the main cast or even worse had that invisible kid. If the show had any backbone, it would have used the crossover as a twofer and kill off both Cecile and Jenna. The emotional fallout would give us some great performances from Jesse, Candice, and Grant.

There are so few main women character on the show that I can't advocate this, despite the fact that  I would have liked under different circumstances.

The main problem with Cecile is that the writers felt like she needed to be more than just a side character on team Flash. So they made her Joe's baby mama, to tie her to the family in the center of the show (suppose to be) , then gave her power to tie her into team Flash.  It just doesn't work because it feels like they are forcing her into the show. 

I wish the writers would sit down and really find a way to make her work without forcing it. 

As for the baby, they should have heroes do something to save Barry and all the world, that forces certain things to disapear/change, starting with the baby.

[adora721]

1 hour ago, SevenStars said:

As for the baby, they should have heroes do something to save Barry and all the world, that forces certain things to disapear/change, starting with the baby.

If they're going to make a baby disappear, which I don't like, then I hope they make sure no one remembers her. Look at the backlash that still exists from changing baby Sara to Diggle Jr.  It's not that John and Lyla lost a child; it was only a gender change and some fans are still salty about it. 

[SevenStars]

2 minutes ago, adora721 said:

If they're going to make a baby disappear, which I don't like, then I hope they make sure no one remembers her. Look at the backlash that still exists from changing baby Sara to Diggle Jr.  It's not that John and Lyla lost a child; it was only a gender change and some fans are still salty about it. 

I just don't like the idea of killing off a baby, even a fictional one, lol. I just want this baby gone. 

[phoenics]

I feel like both Joe, Barry and Cecile have been poorly served by erasing CCP from the canvas for the most part, except for "extra special" moments like the press conference.

In previous seasons, the show had a lovely sense of discovery with the episodes revolving more around CCP instead of Star Labs.  Barry's job as a CSI was a really grounding influence and gave Joe a lot to do.  And honestly, it's an easier tie in to Central City Citizen as well - this show is DYING because they are trying to force that Star Labs Team Flash dynamic.  Flash isn't Arrow.  He doesn't need all this.

I can't even remember the last time The Flash was "The Flash" and did something worthy of the name.

I get EW wanted to shake up the formula but it's not working.  The episodes aren't satisfying - at all - and everything just feels brand new.  And Jitters is destroyed?  For real?

So Star Labs gets extra sets, doubling/tripling down on a team dynamic that is literally killing the show and sucking the life and heart out of it and Jitters is just abandoned?

*sigh*

They deserve the crappy ratings.

[Trini]

They love Jitters; I'm hoping it's not completely gone.

But speaking of sets, it looks like Cecile has a set for her own office now?

Edited November 21, 2019 by Trini

[Featherhat]

I imagine that Cecile became a regular because DN wanted a contract if she was going to keep being on the show and they gave it to her. I really don't want them erasing Jenna to be another Sara Diggle. Having kids die (or be erased) is not something I think this show would handle very well, even if the actors could bring the grief. 

I watched the episode and it was OK. I was disappointed I didn't enjoy it more and that's something I never thought I'd say when Ralph first appeared in Season 4 and it wasn't an episode that featured his painful death, so kudos for that. 

I get the having a different TF centric in the lead up to COIE thing but I don't think it's working very well. The stakes don't feel there and it's like they know they have a 6B where it actually seems they might be hiding the meat of the season. I know they can't go all out there with a fanservice 8 episodes like Arrow is doing because it's actually ending but there are ways to up the emotions even if the characters are surviving. 

Barry and Iris especially are being short changed in the emotional and screentime department. I don't think they'd just accept this, or of they did then they'd be spending a lot more time together. And I don't think it's only because of the centrics or the Team Flash dynamic that it's not happening, that could be a source of additional emotional gut punch and it seems they're trying to do. But Barry might die and the team has to prepare for life without him and zzzzzzzzzzz.

[Proteus]

What's this about baby Jenna disappearing?

[Starry]

3 hours ago, Proteus said:

What's this about baby Jenna disappearing?

I don't get it either. I don't care one way or another about this invisible baby but since we never see her how could people be so upset at her existence? Unless the problem is exactly that. Maybe some would rather she didn't exist at all than be a non-factor.

I am fine with Jenna. She's there. She's sleeping soundly off screen. What I am not so fine with is Cecile's powers. I like Cecile as a working mom figuring out her next career move. Her powers are pointless and obnoxious.

Not everyone needs to have powers to have a storyline. Is that why Caitlin disappeared off screen, Joe and Iris are getting the short end of the stick and Barry only cares about what happens once Flash is gone? Because Wallace has reduced the characters to their powers?

I hope the mid-season finale brings back the humanity.

14 hours ago, RedVitC said:

As with a lot of things, at any other time this focus on cases would have been awesome and it's still awesome to see Iris track down that mysterious organization, but if there's ever a time to have Iris focus on Barry it's 3 weeks before they think he's going to die.

This. At the risk of being accused of only caring about a couple, this isn't the time for Iris The Reporter, this is the time for Iris The Wife. You can't sideline Iris' journalism for a stretch of episodes and two weeks before her husband dies you finally remember that she needs to do some serious reporting. This storyline should have taken place way earlier, around 6x03 and 6x04. Or they could have waited until the second half since this is a 6B story anyway. Of course they could have shown Iris The Reporter, Wife of Barry Allen at that damn press conference but what do I know? The writers' nonsensical priorities are hurting Iris as a character.

I forgot to mention this yesterday but I did laugh bitterly when Nash mentioned a way to save Barry and everyone forgot about it for the rest of the episode.

[Trini]

3 hours ago, Starry said:

17 hours ago, RedVitC said:

As with a lot of things, at any other time this focus on cases would have been awesome and it's still awesome to see Iris track down that mysterious organization, but if there's ever a time to have Iris focus on Barry it's 3 weeks before they think he's going to die.

This. At the risk of being accused of only caring about a couple, this isn't the time for Iris The Reporter, this is the time for Iris The Wife. You can't sideline Iris' journalism for a stretch of episodes and two weeks before her husband dies you finally remember that she needs to do some serious reporting. This storyline should have taken place way earlier, around 6x03 and 6x04. Or they could have waited until the second half since this is a 6B story anyway. Of course they could have shown Iris The Reporter, Wife of Barry Allen at that damn press conference but what do I know? The writers' nonsensical priorities are hurting Iris as a character.

I agree with all this. They had time to both, but the pacing of the storylines and emotional beats have been off.

--

I like Cecile for the most part, but I do think it was a mistake to give her powers so she could be a part of Team Flash. She's good as an extension of the West-Allen family, and as a connection to CCPD/law enforcement -- but they barely use her in those capacities.

[adora721]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

I like Cecile for the most part, but I do think it was a mistake to give her powers so she could be a part of Team Flash.

Giving Cecile powers just so she can be part of Team Flash is also hypocritical since they depowered Cisco and made statements that powers aren't what make you valuable to the team. If that's true, then why give Cecile powers? Who's next  to get powers? Joe? Iris? Baby Jenna?

[SimoneS]

I acknowledge the arguments for not killing Cecile and Jenna are persuasive. I would accept @SevenStars' suggestion about a change in reality. Both Cecile and Jenna can disappear or be erased and no one remember that they ever existed. Honestly, if Cecile was used better and wasn't meta, she would be an asset. Stop giving her so much airtime and her own story, Wallace!

18 hours ago, phoenics said:

In previous seasons, the show had a lovely sense of discovery with the episodes revolving more around CCP instead of Star Labs.  Barry's job as a CSI was a really grounding influence and gave Joe a lot to do.  And honestly, it's an easier tie in to Central City Citizen as well - this show is DYING because they are trying to force that Star Labs Team Flash dynamic.  Flash isn't Arrow.  He doesn't need all this.

I hoped that Joe's promotion to Captain was going to mean the return of the CCPD set, but that hasn't happened. Now I I think that elimination of the CCPD set and rarely using Jitters is budget cutting to hire new regular characters like Ralph. In the first couple seasons, Central City was a bustling city with people every where, now all the extras who appeared in almost every episode have been eliminated and the Star Labs set expanded.

11 hours ago, Starry said:

This. At the risk of being accused of only caring about a couple, this isn't the time for Iris The Reporter, this is the time for Iris The Wife. You can't sideline Iris' journalism for a stretch of episodes and two weeks before her husband dies you finally remember that she needs to do some serious reporting. This storyline should have taken place way earlier, around 6x03 and 6x04. Or they could have waited until the second half since this is a 6B story anyway. Of course they could have shown Iris The Reporter, Wife of Barry Allen at that damn press conference but what do I know? The writers' nonsensical priorities are hurting Iris as a character.

I actually think that Iris can be both a reporter and a wife. To me the episode 5 last season was the best episode because Barry went undercover with Iris. The season would have been stronger and more poignant if we were shown Barry and Iris working together on the criminal conspiracy story. We could see Barry determined to spend as much time with Iris, while he also works to help her build the Citizen so she would have something to hold onto after he is gone. But nope, none of that.

It is disappointing that the show continues to have same problems under the new showrunner.

Edited November 21, 2019 by SimoneS

[ketose]

On 11/20/2019 at 11:06 AM, adora721 said:

Why didn't the Flash scramble his voice as he's done in the past at the press conference? Everyone who works at CCPD must notice that Barry and the Flash have the same voice. Lame plot hole...

Don't tell Kara Danvers about that.

[phoenics]

3 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

It is disappointing that the show continues to have same problems under the new showrunner. 

DFa

Honestly this show feels worse with the new showrunner and I never thought I'd say that.  I don't think the Helbings were fired - I think they got rewarded with the new Superman show and EW was given The Flash as long as he kept the same crazy status quo - or makes it even worse. 

This season for me is worse than Season 2A simply because 2A still had heart.  It was trifling in a lot of ways (especially how Iris was treated), but Iris wasn't nearly as absent in the lead up to what is a cataclysmic event.  The show is really doing an awful job with the lead up to Crisis... like - the show is a complete and utter mess.  

[Featherhat]

I don't think anyone's wrong to have opinions of things being moved around for various reasons BTS.

I've no idea what goes on with the actresses. But if CP had that power to alter scripts for her own benefit with two different showrunners, couldn't she ask for better storylines for Iris? It's not certain they even know which she's going to direct when they write it. What if they need to shift things around and she's then suddenly in a lot of DP's and not in one with a director she likes, does she ask them to cut scenes in the script? She already has enough issues with many of her storylines being cut from episodes not directed by DP or not written in the first place, so I hope she didn't deliberately ask for minimal scenes, including not being in at least one that she absolutely should have this episode. There are a number of recurring directors that various actors may not like much that they have to work with. They shoot on too tight a schedule and budget to do otherwise, although they do also try and accommodate stuff sometimes. 

The nature of this part of the season it seems it was Iris lite anyway, so I suppose if there are actual big problems it could have been assigned to DP in that case. 

21 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

I acknowledge the arguments for not killing Cecile and Jenna are persuasive. I would accept @SevenStars' suggestion about a change in reality. Both Cecile and Jenna can disappear or be erased and no one remember that they ever existed. Honestly, if Cecile was used better and wasn't meta, she would be an asset. Stop giving her so much airtime and her own story, Wallace!

If the writers simply erased a black woman and her baby daughter so no one even remembered them there would be an even bigger fuss than there was over Baby Sara on Arrow. I think Cecile could certainly be better used or maybe "visiting her mother, working on a case out of town" for more episodes but using COIE to disappear them would cause a shitstorm and rightly so.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Featherhat

[phoenics]

29 minutes ago, Featherhat said:

If the writers simply erased a black woman and her baby daughter so no one even remembered them there would be an even bigger fuss than there was over Baby Sara on Arrow. I think Cecile could certainly be better used or maybe "visiting her mother, working on a case out of town" for more episodes but using COIE to disappear them would cause a shitstorm and rightly so.

I don't really want them to disappear Cecile or Jenna - I'm just irritated with how they are written.  Iris - who is the female lead - now has a baby sister and a stepmother and we never get anything really with them.  The pilot showed Cecile and Iris interacting and Cecile getting it - and since then?  Nothing?  Nothing with Joe and Cecile... nothing that re-centers the West family in any way... the cast seems fragmented and scattered and the story feels fragmented and scattered as a result.

It's like the show said, as it twirled its evil mustache, we will give you Iris and her reporter storyline, but we are gonna give EVERYONE ELSE a major storyline too and Iris really won't actually be doing anything but shuffling papers and rearranging pencils on her desk while her crew actually does more stuff than she's ever gotten to do.

I'm so mad at this show, lol.

I've never been this close to quitting before.

[Cthulhudrew]

Possibly the worst episode of Flash altogether, but that's all I have to say about that.

[adora721]

Iris was at the press conference; they just cut the scene:

[Trini]

49 minutes ago, adora721 said:

Iris was at the press conference; they just cut the scene:

Where is that from?

ETA: Looks like it could be fan art.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Trini

[Trini]

Looks like they pieced together several stills and recolored them. That necklace is from 3.11:

[Starry]

11 hours ago, SimoneS said:

I actually think that Iris can be both a reporter and a wife.

Iris needs to be both a reporter and a wife. But since they have one billion regulars and the ideal episode you mentioned wasn't going to happen the least they could have done is shift their priorities accordingly. Iris focusing on a random case two weeks before Crisis is bad timing. Especially when she could have done so in previous episodes. Instead of exploiting her character to introduce Nash and prop up Ralph and his plot, the writers should have shown her and her team investigate this case way earlier in the season.

[adora721]

10 hours ago, Trini said:

Where is that from?

ETA: Looks like it could be fan art.

I think it's legit. Barry is looking up and only the necklace and shirt on Iris are the same.

[Spaceman Spiff]

The one thing I got a hearty chuckle out of was when "drunk" Barry was fighting Ultra Violet and snarking about her outfit, 'I've always liked Mortal Combat." followed by "FINISH HIM"

[BeautifulFlower]

40 minutes ago, adora721 said:

I think it's legit. Barry is looking up and only the necklace and shirt on Iris are the same.

I have to find the tweet, but someone actually made that edit. I think this person didn't know. Sadly, it is an edit.

[phoenics]

15 hours ago, adora721 said:

Iris was at the press conference; they just cut the scene:

ETA:  Ah - it's an edit.

Sad that this is what fans have been reduced to - there is no reason why Iris shouldn't have been there.  Joe at the least should have told her he was giving her husband an award.

I hate how this show is written - it's like the showrunner has no understanding of how families work at all.  Everyone's all disjointed in the most unrealistic way.

Edited November 22, 2019 by phoenics

[Trini]

On 11/20/2019 at 5:00 PM, RedVitC said:

-Speaking of, so team Flash really looked at each other and were like, should we tell Chester's grandmother (mentioned in the article Chester pulled up) he's alive?.....Nah

Yeah, this didn't make sense.

But check out the last part of Chester's obituary, which was funny! :

Chester is survived by his grandmother, Gertrud Runk, who would like everyone to know that, while losing Chester is a great tragedy, she is comforted by the fact that being swallowed by a black hole is the way Chester would have wanted to go.

[adora721]

On 11/22/2019 at 12:35 PM, phoenics said:

ETA:  Ah - it's an edit.

I'm genuinely bummed it was fake.  I still can't believe the writers thought Iris' absence made sense.

[GHScorpiosRule]

BORRRRING. AS FUCK.

I was able to do work on my computer at home while I played this. And the fact that I didn't stop work to watch this--that it couldn't engage me--tells me I'm only in this to watch the Stupid-Ass-Crisis just to see how it's handled and them I'm out. of ALL of it.