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locker_monsterI was feeling a bit under the weather Tuesday, but "Duet" helped to cheer me up immensely. The Flash has been a bit dire this season, so this musical crossover was a well needed shot of levity. Because everything is better when Barry and Kara get to hang out. They are, after all, Super Friends. :-)
I really enjoyed the episode, and I'll get into what I thought was great about it, but I wanted to take a moment to mention the things that didn't work:
- Not enough songs. The episode had five song, three covers and two originals, and it just wasn't enough. I don't know if they ran out of time or they couldn't figure out a way to work more songs in, but you kind of feel cheated at the end. They brought together all of the cast members from across all four shows who can sing; you kind of expect wall to wall numbers.
- Pointless break-ups on both shows. I think the writers have admitted that the only reason Barry and Iris break off their engagement was so that Barry could propose a second time in song. Ugh. Why have them break up, even briefly, at all? Just have Barry screw up without proposing to Iris. This is Barry after all; he can easily screw up a lot of things in life. I think the proposal would have seemed more poignant that way. Meanwhile, Kara and Mon-El have their issues, with him lying to her. While I can understand that Kara would be upset, it did seem forced so that their issues could be resolved during the musical.
- Weak villain. I've never seen the episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that introduced Music Meister, but I was under the impression he just hypnotized people with song. Simple but efficient, right? Here on The Flash, it felt like they had no idea what to do with him. He can whammy people, he can steal people's powers, he wants to rob banks, no wait, maybe he's an inter-dimensional being who wants to use the power of love to help the main characters. It would have been much more straightforward if he had whammied Barry and Kara just to get them out of the picture while he robbed various places. In the end, it was like he was Cupid or something. I think it would have been even more fun if he had hypnotized Barry and Kara through song to rob banks. Maybe they can do that with his next appearance.
But that's it. Nothing else about the episode bothered me. It was easy to overlook any other flaws because it was a fun episode. Sometimes you just need to do fun and weird things in the middle of a season to take a break from the main arc. So, fun stuff I liked:
- Every actor who can sing was shoehorned in to the episode. I never realized just how many singers they have across the four shows. The whole musical dream thing seemed like a cop out when I first heard about it, but it made sense the more I thought about it. It's hard enough getting Barry and Kara together for an adventure. How do you justify having Malcolm Merlyn and Professor Stein and Winn along for the ride, too? By having them play other characters, you don't get bogged down with logistics. Plus, the dream world is like a super clichéd musical, so it's not weird to have gangsters and piano players and aspiring waiters.
- Kid Flash / Vibe/ Martian Manhunter team-up! J'onn got left out in the big crossover earlier in the season, so it was great that he got to go to Earth-1. Everyone's stunned reaction was great. I also love that Cisco is using his portals in a more offensive way this season. It was totally like something from the video game Portal, where you can also toss things through one portal and have them end up somewhere else.
- Barry and Kara's duet. Too bad there wasn't more of them singing together, the episode is called "Duet" after all, but it was good enough for a first time. The song is wonderfully joke-y and cheesy - they were singing about the power of friendship! - but it just fits with how bubbly and cute Barry and Kara are. And it showcased Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist's dancing skills, too.
- Random snowstorm during the Music Meister fight. It's been an unusually snowy winter in Vancouver this year, so you get glimpses of the white stuff on all four shows, but this time it was just crazy. So it was kind of cool that the production just embraced it instead of waiting it out. Though, they probably couldn't wait it out without throwing off their shooting schedule. Also, seeing snow in Vancouver just makes me laugh. It's probably just a Canadian thing.
Oh, and I totally thought that Barry had written a song for Iris during his break-up funk, but I guess the simpler explanation is that "Runnin' Home to You" is an actual song on Earth-1 and it was the perfect song for Barry to explain his feelings to Iris. Still, I like the image of Barry writing and scoring a song while sitting around in his sweats on Cisco's couch. ;-)
Should they do another musical after this one? I don't know if it should be an annual thing, but I won't say no to more crossovers. :-)
I really enjoyed the episode, and I'll get into what I thought was great about it, but I wanted to take a moment to mention the things that didn't work:
- Not enough songs. The episode had five song, three covers and two originals, and it just wasn't enough. I don't know if they ran out of time or they couldn't figure out a way to work more songs in, but you kind of feel cheated at the end. They brought together all of the cast members from across all four shows who can sing; you kind of expect wall to wall numbers.
- Pointless break-ups on both shows. I think the writers have admitted that the only reason Barry and Iris break off their engagement was so that Barry could propose a second time in song. Ugh. Why have them break up, even briefly, at all? Just have Barry screw up without proposing to Iris. This is Barry after all; he can easily screw up a lot of things in life. I think the proposal would have seemed more poignant that way. Meanwhile, Kara and Mon-El have their issues, with him lying to her. While I can understand that Kara would be upset, it did seem forced so that their issues could be resolved during the musical.
- Weak villain. I've never seen the episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that introduced Music Meister, but I was under the impression he just hypnotized people with song. Simple but efficient, right? Here on The Flash, it felt like they had no idea what to do with him. He can whammy people, he can steal people's powers, he wants to rob banks, no wait, maybe he's an inter-dimensional being who wants to use the power of love to help the main characters. It would have been much more straightforward if he had whammied Barry and Kara just to get them out of the picture while he robbed various places. In the end, it was like he was Cupid or something. I think it would have been even more fun if he had hypnotized Barry and Kara through song to rob banks. Maybe they can do that with his next appearance.
But that's it. Nothing else about the episode bothered me. It was easy to overlook any other flaws because it was a fun episode. Sometimes you just need to do fun and weird things in the middle of a season to take a break from the main arc. So, fun stuff I liked:
- Every actor who can sing was shoehorned in to the episode. I never realized just how many singers they have across the four shows. The whole musical dream thing seemed like a cop out when I first heard about it, but it made sense the more I thought about it. It's hard enough getting Barry and Kara together for an adventure. How do you justify having Malcolm Merlyn and Professor Stein and Winn along for the ride, too? By having them play other characters, you don't get bogged down with logistics. Plus, the dream world is like a super clichéd musical, so it's not weird to have gangsters and piano players and aspiring waiters.
- Kid Flash / Vibe/ Martian Manhunter team-up! J'onn got left out in the big crossover earlier in the season, so it was great that he got to go to Earth-1. Everyone's stunned reaction was great. I also love that Cisco is using his portals in a more offensive way this season. It was totally like something from the video game Portal, where you can also toss things through one portal and have them end up somewhere else.
- Barry and Kara's duet. Too bad there wasn't more of them singing together, the episode is called "Duet" after all, but it was good enough for a first time. The song is wonderfully joke-y and cheesy - they were singing about the power of friendship! - but it just fits with how bubbly and cute Barry and Kara are. And it showcased Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist's dancing skills, too.
- Random snowstorm during the Music Meister fight. It's been an unusually snowy winter in Vancouver this year, so you get glimpses of the white stuff on all four shows, but this time it was just crazy. So it was kind of cool that the production just embraced it instead of waiting it out. Though, they probably couldn't wait it out without throwing off their shooting schedule. Also, seeing snow in Vancouver just makes me laugh. It's probably just a Canadian thing.
Oh, and I totally thought that Barry had written a song for Iris during his break-up funk, but I guess the simpler explanation is that "Runnin' Home to You" is an actual song on Earth-1 and it was the perfect song for Barry to explain his feelings to Iris. Still, I like the image of Barry writing and scoring a song while sitting around in his sweats on Cisco's couch. ;-)
Should they do another musical after this one? I don't know if it should be an annual thing, but I won't say no to more crossovers. :-)
