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I loved 2x08 "The Scientist." I love Grant Gustin's take on Barry Allen, who's such a lovable geeky dork but also really earnest. You get the feeling that a lot of his smiling and awkward joke attempts are used to bandage his childhood trauma and cover up the fact that though he's highly intelligent, he's a little insecure and uncomfortable in his skin.
For the most part, internet reaction to Grant Gustin!Barry Allen seems to be positive, though of course there are still people who are like "HE'S NOT THE BARRY ALLEN I KNOW." Which, on the one hand, I'm always puzzled by the fact that people hate different interpretations of an established character. It's one thing if a version is inferior to the original (for example, TMNT 2012 compared to TMNT 2003 is kind of sexist, has the turtles being arrogant and not at all brotherly with each other); it's another thing if it's just different.
On the other hand, I'm kind of laughing because no one in their right minds should expect the Arrow-verse to stick closely to DC canon by now. Arrow...
- turned Green Arrow from a kind of lighthearted Batman to a super-serious, very Batman-esque hero with PTSD and a tortured past.
- did not have Dinah Laurel Lance become the Black Canary; instead, her sister is, and Arrow!Black Canary is also an ex-League of Assassins assassin, oh, and she also has PTSD now and is kind of a Broken Bird (no pun intended). And, Black Canary uses a sonic-pulse-emitting iPod instead of having her "Canary Scream."
- Dinah Laurel Lance's mother wasn't ever the Black Canary, either.
- gave Roy Harper a completely different backstory from his comic one (he has no archery training in Arrow).
- has "Speedy" who is Oliver's sister instead of Roy's nickname.
- has a daughter of Ra's al-Ghul who isn't Talia al-Ghul.
- changed Huntress from seeking vengeance for her family's murder to seeking vengeance on her father for her fiancé's murder. And she dated Oliver for a little bit and Oliver was the one who designed her costume. (Blegh.)
And, you know, this is far from an exhaustive list.
Although Arrow-verse's tendency to "rework" DC canon has made it really surprising when episode 2x08 revealed that...
...apparently Barry's mother was killed by Reverse-Flash, just like in the pre-New 52 comics. Yes, I am legitimately shocked that they kept this bit in, since I thought they would've gone for a more "realistic" route. I wonder whether they're keeping the idea from the comics that Reverse-Flash actually traveled back in time to kill Barry's mom and frame his dad, since this seems pretty random for this to just be a random crime. But that would bring all sorts of icky implications...
To get back to the original topic, I can't wait for next week's episode and I'm dying to see the Flash TV series. Speaking of which, the rumor going around is that the Iris West to Grant Gustin's Barry Allen is going to be cast as African-American, which, if true—AMAZING! And all the more reason to watch the hell out of that show when it airs!
Of course...the rumor was immediately met by racist comments like "Why are they making her black?", but oddly, the most vitriolic reactions were "Oh no that means Wally West is going to be black OH THE HORROR" and "Oh no that means Bart Allen is going to be black and so are the Tornado Twins OH THE HORROR!" (I mean, chances of Wally or Bart appearing in the new series are pretty slim at this point anyways. If Wally is even mentioned as being alive as Iris's nephew, he's sure as hell not going to become Kid Flash unless Iris's older sibling is much older than her. And the Arrow-verse might be starting to introduce the idea of superpowers, but I find it really unlikely that they're going to make the jump to time travel.)
More weird is the fact that a bunch of people seem to be taking issue with the fact that Iris is described as a psychology grad student instead of a reporter. (1) She could become a reporter when she graduates; there's such a thing called changing career ideas. (2) People say having her be a psychologist is cliché...but how exactly is this cliché? I can't recall a single major superhero's love interest who is a psychologist.
The only thing that bothers me is that her dad is now "Detective West," and I'm worried it'll repeat Green Arrow & Detective Lance's relationship, or even Spider-Man & Officer Stacy's relationship from The Amazing Spider-Man. Having the male superhero's love interest's dad be a police officer isn't exactly original by this point.
Otherwise, I'm so stoked for the Flash TV series, and I'm going to watch Barry Allen 20 more times now.
For the most part, internet reaction to Grant Gustin!Barry Allen seems to be positive, though of course there are still people who are like "HE'S NOT THE BARRY ALLEN I KNOW." Which, on the one hand, I'm always puzzled by the fact that people hate different interpretations of an established character. It's one thing if a version is inferior to the original (for example, TMNT 2012 compared to TMNT 2003 is kind of sexist, has the turtles being arrogant and not at all brotherly with each other); it's another thing if it's just different.
On the other hand, I'm kind of laughing because no one in their right minds should expect the Arrow-verse to stick closely to DC canon by now. Arrow...
- turned Green Arrow from a kind of lighthearted Batman to a super-serious, very Batman-esque hero with PTSD and a tortured past.
- did not have Dinah Laurel Lance become the Black Canary; instead, her sister is, and Arrow!Black Canary is also an ex-League of Assassins assassin, oh, and she also has PTSD now and is kind of a Broken Bird (no pun intended). And, Black Canary uses a sonic-pulse-emitting iPod instead of having her "Canary Scream."
- Dinah Laurel Lance's mother wasn't ever the Black Canary, either.
- gave Roy Harper a completely different backstory from his comic one (he has no archery training in Arrow).
- has "Speedy" who is Oliver's sister instead of Roy's nickname.
- has a daughter of Ra's al-Ghul who isn't Talia al-Ghul.
- changed Huntress from seeking vengeance for her family's murder to seeking vengeance on her father for her fiancé's murder. And she dated Oliver for a little bit and Oliver was the one who designed her costume. (Blegh.)
And, you know, this is far from an exhaustive list.
Although Arrow-verse's tendency to "rework" DC canon has made it really surprising when episode 2x08 revealed that...
...apparently Barry's mother was killed by Reverse-Flash, just like in the pre-New 52 comics. Yes, I am legitimately shocked that they kept this bit in, since I thought they would've gone for a more "realistic" route. I wonder whether they're keeping the idea from the comics that Reverse-Flash actually traveled back in time to kill Barry's mom and frame his dad, since this seems pretty random for this to just be a random crime. But that would bring all sorts of icky implications...
To get back to the original topic, I can't wait for next week's episode and I'm dying to see the Flash TV series. Speaking of which, the rumor going around is that the Iris West to Grant Gustin's Barry Allen is going to be cast as African-American, which, if true—AMAZING! And all the more reason to watch the hell out of that show when it airs!
Of course...the rumor was immediately met by racist comments like "Why are they making her black?", but oddly, the most vitriolic reactions were "Oh no that means Wally West is going to be black OH THE HORROR" and "Oh no that means Bart Allen is going to be black and so are the Tornado Twins OH THE HORROR!" (I mean, chances of Wally or Bart appearing in the new series are pretty slim at this point anyways. If Wally is even mentioned as being alive as Iris's nephew, he's sure as hell not going to become Kid Flash unless Iris's older sibling is much older than her. And the Arrow-verse might be starting to introduce the idea of superpowers, but I find it really unlikely that they're going to make the jump to time travel.)
More weird is the fact that a bunch of people seem to be taking issue with the fact that Iris is described as a psychology grad student instead of a reporter. (1) She could become a reporter when she graduates; there's such a thing called changing career ideas. (2) People say having her be a psychologist is cliché...but how exactly is this cliché? I can't recall a single major superhero's love interest who is a psychologist.
The only thing that bothers me is that her dad is now "Detective West," and I'm worried it'll repeat Green Arrow & Detective Lance's relationship, or even Spider-Man & Officer Stacy's relationship from The Amazing Spider-Man. Having the male superhero's love interest's dad be a police officer isn't exactly original by this point.
Otherwise, I'm so stoked for the Flash TV series, and I'm going to watch Barry Allen 20 more times now.
