S07.E14: Rayo de Luz

[Trini]

When Ultraviolet (guest star Alexa Barajas) returns to Central City, Allegra is determined to find her cousin and change her heart, Meanwhile, Joe finds evidence that Kristen Kramer (guest star Carmen Moore) may not be the good cop she appears to be.

Danielle Panabaker directed the episode with story by Jess Carson and teleplay by Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza.

Airdate: 6/22/2021

[Trini]

Preview clip; Allegra, Caitlin, Chester, and Sue:

 

So now characters in the show are talking about how the Flash is talking down everyone lately. I don't think that's doing what the writers think that's doing.

[cambridgeguy]

Whomever decided to make Barry the Paragon of Love and then have the power of love forced in every damned episode, even when Barry is absent, needs to be drawn and quartered.  Hopefully GG and CP enjoyed their time off.

[thuganomics85]

Yep, this was definitely a "Grant Gustin and Candice Patton need a break" episode, which good for them considering how much they have to carry on this show (especially this season.)  Although, they at least got Barry to pop in for a few seconds and let Grant rock out with a sweet Hawaiian shirt!

Natalie Dreyfuss might still just be a guest star, but I'm so pulling for Sue to stick around even more, because her "Are you serious with this shit?!" reactions were slaying me.  Sure, they had to have her be wrong in the end, so that Allegra "You can't quit on family!" approach would win the day, but I'm glad there is at least one character who thinks hugging it out and pep talks won't always save the day (even though I'm at the point now where I feel like the eventual series finale will be Eobard/Reverse Flash making his grand return, only for Barry to defeat him with the power of a bro-hug!)

Nice to see Joe/Jesse L. Martin finally get to do more, although I'm still not sure what they are doing with Kramer.  It now looks like she wasn't the traitor, but her brother instead, and her anger was over not seeing it earlier.  But that still doesn't really explain her resentment towards metas, unless I'm just missing it.

I know a lot of it might be due to COVID or budget cuts, but judging from how empty Jitters is, I don't know how that place is surviving in this economy.  To be fair, considering it's only behind S.T.A.R. labs when it comes to random meta attacks, it might be wise to look elsewhere for your caffeinated needs.

Director Danielle Panabaker was really all about those slo-mo fight sequences, huh?

Oh, great!  Chillbane is now out and totally going to be more involved...

[bluemm]

40 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

Whomever decided to make Barry the Paragon of Love and then have the power of love forced in every damned episode, even when Barry is absent, needs to be drawn and quartered.  Hopefully GG and CP enjoyed their time off.

Move the show to the Hallmark channel.

[Lantern7]

Why this story? What could we get from tonight's episode, while Barry and Iris probably had more interesting stuff going on off-camera?

Oh, right. Sue Dearborn fighting in a catsuit. What? I'm only human! I'm expecting this to be ruined when Sue reveals she's been wearing Ralph this entire time.

Oh, and with Bishop off the board over on Legends (for now, anyway), Chillsblane is the most annoying asshole in the Arrowverse. So annoying.

[Bulldog]

There's a reason they are called supporting characters, show. 

[Misslindsey]

You all made it further than I did. I noped out pretty quickly after I realized Barry and Iris were not going to appear or appear in a extremely minimal capacity. Joe is pretty much the only one I actually care about in the supporting cast. The rest of the cast I am pretty indifferent to.

[Trini]

Wow -- the first episode with no Candice Patton/Iris. (Of course I'm not counting previous episode footage.) I knew beforehand this was going to be Barry/Iris -lite, but didn't think Iris would be completely absent. I was hoping for at least one scene of WestAllen's vacation. ::sigh::   Well, I hope Candice and Grant had a nice vacation in real life.

I skipped most scenes without Joe or Chester. So the plot thickens with this Kramer arc; but I'm still mostly uninterested. But again, I'm glad Joe/Jesse is getting something to do.

So it's confirmed that Kramer is Native; and Allegra and Esperanza can speak Spanish, but I'm still waiting for the Wests to get to say that they are Black.

Chester and Allegra make a good friendship pairing. I don't know if they have romantic chemistry; but I'm not opposed to that pairing.

 

1 hour ago, Bulldog said:

There's a reason they are called supporting characters, show. 

Supporting characters can carry an episode if they're developed properly. Does this show develop them properly? NO. No, they do not.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Trini

[tennisgurl]

So this was clearly made to give Candice and Grant a vacation, and I hope they're vacation was more fun than this episode was. It wasn't an awful one, it didn't make me want to smack my head against the nearest hard surface like some episodes this season have, but it was just so dull, especially without Grant and Candice there to anchor everything. I like Allegra, Chester, and Sue, but they are really not developed enough to carry an episode. Oh yeah, Caitlin was here too, but she didn't do a lot, this was clearly a B Squad episode that was made to develop the newer characters, but it just didn't do much to make them more interesting or complex. We didn't really learn much about them that we didn't already know, except we get more ship tease between Allegra and Chester, and I was just really struggling to get invested. 

I do really enjoy Sue as a guest party member, her snarky reactions to Team Flash's Care Bear approach to crime fighting are pretty awesome, its like she's speaking for the incredulous audience members. She and Allegra had some nice scenes, although her parents apparently going to the dark side offscreen seems pretty random. They seemed like perfectly nice people when we saw them, but now they went and joined the bad guys? Did I miss something? I kind of forgot a lot of the Black Hole stuff, it was all a bit of a blur. The whole "never give up on family" stuff is nice in concept and all, but its a pretty simplistic message to throw out there. There are times not to give up on family when they are struggling and clearly need support and patience, but there are also times when its better for everyone to cut ties. If that family member is abusive, unrepentantly murderous, tries to hurt you, its alright to be done with them, you are not required to forgive a person who hurt you just because you happen to be related and still try to "fix" them. I know that this season has all been about forgiving everyone for everything no matter how much murder and mayhem they have caused after one speech about how they should give peace a chance, especially when they're "family", but the show really needs to establish that there is a point where a line has been crossed. So no shock that Esperanza is already turning to the side of good and all those murders will be suspiciously rusty water under the bridge (thank you Trope Talk!) but at least Esperanza is Allegra's actual relative with an actual relationship with her and not some primordial force that possessed some random people that everyone has randomly decided are Barry and Iris's actual children. 

Its like they really cant decide is Kramer is evil or not, but at least Joe is getting something halfway decent to do. So the meta who betrayed them was her brother? Or he was killed on the mission by the meta? 

Oh joy, Chillblane is back again to continue to be the lamest person in this lame season. Don't we have enough random characters running around?

[Lady Calypso]

I think the episode was ok. I wasn't expecting for Barry to only make a one minute appearance, nor did I expect Iris to be completely absent, but other than that, the episode really was ok. I've seen way worse from this show. 

I do like Allegra as a character. I do like that she got a lot to do. I'm not a fan of her cousin, but they explained why she was the way that she was. Plus, Sue was a perfect foil to Allegra trying to take a Barry approach. 

I actually really loved Sue's role here. Quite honestly, she's one of the best leaders Team Flash has ever had. I thought Chester's attempts to lead last episode were not good, and other leaders have also failed, but I thought Sue did a pretty good job. She has the experience, the knowledge, and the ability to lead the team when Barry's not around. She impressed me in only one episode of her leading. I would very much like for her to stick around. Plus, her NOT being on board with Team Love and Hugs? This show has gone downhill BECAUSE it's all about the hugs so I love that Sue got to express her displeasure with that approach.

I think it was just weird because, besides Joe for about five minutes, and Caitlin for about two minutes, this was an episode filled with entire new characters that have only appeared in the last couple of seasons. It's just made so obvious with the cast changes if we're getting an episode with characters who not only don't get enough screentime or development in general, but also the fact that there aren't many original characters, or long standing characters that were needed here. 

So, when we see hints of Chester/Allegra probably becoming a couple this season, I find it hard to care for because we don't really know these two and have been given no reason to really care for them as a couple down the road. This episode certainly gave them some sweet moments and they've been giving them some development over the season, but still.

I can't say I care about Kramer's backstory. Sorry show, you haven't given me enough of a reason to sympathize with her Woe Is Me approach.

Chillblaine sucks. I hate that he's back and we're stuck with more forced ChillFrost "flirt-fighting".

[thuganomics85]

Quote

Supporting characters can carry an episode if they're developed properly. Does this show develop them properly? NO. No, they do not.

In comparison, the supporting crew for Supergirl had to be front and center a lot this season due to Kara's absence/Melissa Benoist needing time off, and I thought they were able to pull it off because while that show has it's own flaws, they have actually done a good job with developing the supporting cast and having them be able to carry an episode.

The sad thing is that it's not like the supporting crew here doesn't have that potential (and I certainly think the cast is mainly up for it), but they are not only underdeveloped, but are given very little to work with.

[tennisgurl]

6 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Chillblaine sucks. I hate that he's back and we're stuck with more forced ChillFrost "flirt-fighting".

Its like the writers saw other shows that did the "we bicker because we secretly like each other" romance arc so they tried to replicate that dynamic without understanding why those couples work, and forgetting to find an actor that had chemistry with the character they are getting put together with. Their "flirting" is so awkward and forced, I don't feel like they are into each other at all, especially Frost who just seems annoyed by him (which is her default personality to be fair), Frost and Chillblaine have no chemistry, Chillblaine is a mega loser, and I have no clue why Frost would be attracted to this sleazy asshole who set her up to go to jail for the pettiest reasons imaginable. Of course, everyone forgave Frost right away for far worst things, and forgiving everyone for anything ever is the theme of the season, so I guess its consistent at least. 

If Thawne showed up now, Barry would probably instantly forgive him for murdering his parents and countless other innocents and offer to give him a hug and his old job back at Star Labs. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Quark]

I quite like Allegra, so it was nice to see more of her. Chester annoys me though.

I find it amusing that the one episode Danielle Panabacker directs, is also the one episode that Candice Patton doesn't appear in at all. I suppose it's nice she got a break though.

Still feels like the show is drifting, where's the Big Bad?

[Trini]

6 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

... The whole "never give up on family" stuff is nice in concept and all, but its a pretty simplistic message to throw out there. There are times not to give up on family when they are struggling and clearly need support and patience, but there are also times when its better for everyone to cut ties. If that family member is abusive, unrepentantly murderous, tries to hurt you, its alright to be done with them, you are not required to forgive a person who hurt you just because you happen to be related and still try to "fix" them. I know that this season has all been about forgiving everyone for everything no matter how much murder and mayhem they have caused after one speech about how they should give peace a chance, especially when they're "family", but the show really needs to establish that there is a point where a line has been crossed. ...

I skipped most of Ultraviolet's scenes, so how did they justify her 'redemption'? Because she's a known assassin, I don't think they can hug that away.
 

6 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

In comparison, the supporting crew for Supergirl had to be front and center a lot this season due to Kara's absence/Melissa Benoist needing time off, and I thought they were able to pull it off because while that show has it's own flaws, they have actually done a good job with developing the supporting cast and having them be able to carry an episode.

Yes; Supergirl was what I was thinking of when I wrote that. In its current season (the first part, so far) it also helped that the main story for the supporting characters was directly related to the lead (Kara).

[Primal Slayer]

20 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Yep, this was definitely a "Grant Gustin and Candice Patton need a break" episode, which good for them considering how much they have to carry on this show (especially this season.)  Although, they at least got Barry to pop in for a few seconds and let Grant rock out with a sweet Hawaiian shirt!

 

Maybe I'm just heartless but I don't have that much sympathy for actors who make such good money to get vacation episodes. Of course they probably built it into their contract so more power to them....but Newbies 2.0 running the show for 40 mins? Woof, this was rough. This season is rough. 

[Terrafamilia]

What I got out of the episode is that sweet Jimmy Palmer's (NCIS) older brother is an evil surgeon.

[Trini]

8 hours ago, Quark said:

Still feels like the show is drifting, where's the Big Bad?

I guess Wallace decided to do all the filler episodes at once?

[comment about the next episode promo:]

Spoiler

Looks like the 'big bad' is coming next week.

 

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Its like the writers saw other shows that did the "we bicker because we secretly like each other" romance arc so they tried to replicate that dynamic without understanding why those couples work, and forgetting to find an actor that had chemistry with the character they are getting put together with. Their "flirting" is so awkward and forced, I don't feel like they are into each other at all, especially Frost who just seems annoyed by him (which is her default personality to be fair), Frost and Chillblaine have no chemistry, Chillblaine is a mega loser, and I have no clue why Frost would be attracted to this sleazy asshole who set her up to go to jail for the pettiest reasons imaginable. Of course, everyone forgave Frost right away for far worst things, and forgiving everyone for anything ever is the theme of the season, so I guess its consistent at least. 

I'm going to respond in the Relationships thread.

[Starry]

On 6/24/2021 at 1:58 AM, Primal Slayer said:

Maybe I'm just heartless but I don't have that much sympathy for actors who make such good money to get vacation episodes. Of course they probably built it into their contract so more power to them....but Newbies 2.0 running the show for 40 mins? Woof, this was rough. This season is rough. 

I couldn't care less about that either.

And I am starting to get really uncomfortable with the Candice/Danielle drama. Now Candice can't even show up for one brief scene in an episode directed by DP? Would some drop dead if that happened? These people are supposed to be adults! It's bad enough that Barry and Iris went on vacation off screen again but I really don't like that one of my favorite characters keeps getting the short end of the stick just because the actress and the director can't stand each other.

[BeautifulFlower]

7 hours ago, Starry said:

I couldn't care less about that either.

And I am starting to get really uncomfortable with the Candice/Danielle drama. Now Candice can't even show up for one brief scene in an episode directed by DP? Would some drop dead if that happened? These people are supposed to be adults! It's bad enough that Barry and Iris went on vacation off screen again but I really don't like that one of my favorite characters keeps getting the short end of the stick just because the actress and the director can't stand each other.

I doubt it is that. She has gotten directed twice before by Danielle. She knows she would get directed again. I think they are professional. Ever since Eric became showrunner, everybody has pretty much asked for more time off.

 

Plus, he's the one who planned for Allegra to have a centric episode. He had to give the writers a reason for why Barry wouldn't be there helping. It is similar to 6.05 with Cisco's centric episode. We all should've known that they will never show Barry and Iris on vacation. They don't want to. I wouldn't be surprised if Candice saw the script and decided not to film if she was only in one scene explaining her character is going to vacation. 

[Starry]

11 hours ago, BeautifulFlower said:

I doubt it is that. She has gotten directed twice before by Danielle. She knows she would get directed again. I think they are professional. Ever since Eric became showrunner, everybody has pretty much asked for more time off.

 

Plus, he's the one who planned for Allegra to have a centric episode. He had to give the writers a reason for why Barry wouldn't be there helping. It is similar to 6.05 with Cisco's centric episode. We all should've known that they will never show Barry and Iris on vacation. They don't want to. I wouldn't be surprised if Candice saw the script and decided not to film if she was only in one scene explaining her character is going to vacation. 

Just because she has been directed by Danielle before that doesn't mean she was happy about it. She got minimal screen time last year too and from what I have seen Eric is very accommodating. When you are accommodating, it happens that people ask for more and more because they know you wouldn't tell them NO. And that's how they went from "Candice shows up for one scene" to "Candice doesn't even bother". It's too much of a coincidence that the first episode she skips happens to be the one directed by Danielle. The problem is that we don't know what would have happened if Iris were in the episode, she could have been there to explain that they were going on vacation OR she could have gotten another solo scene with Barry in the hallway. There's no way of knowing.

I agree that they would never show them on vacation. Would that be too much work to redress one of the sets and make it look like they were at a bar on a tropical beach or something like that? This show is so boring with its locations. At least Arrow, Supergirl and Batwoman tried to show the characters leaving their cities. Flash only sent the team to Gorilla City and Caitlin's dad's lab in the Arctic. Boring.

It's true that Eric planned for Allegra to have a centric episode but it's fishy that Iris is the only character who didn't get one.

 

[Trini]

On 6/26/2021 at 6:18 AM, Starry said:

 

I agree that they would never show them on vacation. Would that be too much work to redress one of the sets and make it look like they were at a bar on a tropical beach or something like that?

I don't think it's too much to ask to show what the two leads (and the two most popular characters) are up to, if they're going to disappear for most of an episode. It's not surprising they didn't show anything considering the show's history with WestAllen scenes; but I still don't think it's unreasonable to have had a couple scenes of Barry & Iris. I would have loved a beach scene, but yes, they could have had an indoor scene.