#I pretty much never rant like this but this episode truly agitated me

[condy-wants-a-cookie]

Helluva Boss Rant

The new Helluva Boss episode was truly wack in my opinion, because why the hell was this episode titled “Full Moon” and was supposed to be about the deal between Stolas and Blitzø just for the majority of the screen time be the Dhorks and the Cherubs being failures with no actual stakes for the main cast.

Like the majority of the episode had nothing to do with anything up until the last minute where Stolas and Blitzø have the same “miscommunication” as always and blow up at each other just for it to end with no resolution. Also, why is Stolas always treated like a victim in all of his conflicts? Stolas even acknowledges how wrong the basis of the deal with I.M.P. and Blitzø is in the song in the beginning of the episode just for him to be like “I can’t believe you think so low of me” when Blitzø points out that Stolas does, in fact, treat him like a peon.

There was so much build up and hype for this episode and I was disappointed. The animation is decent and the VAs are great (glad to have Erica back, too). But man, the writing does feel like bad fanfiction. I love Helluva Boss as a concept but I really don’t like the direction that several characters have gone in. Stolas being the biggest for me because he could’ve been something, you know? But he just comes across as pathetic and self-absorbed.

Idk man. I’m just tired of the same old song and dance with this show.

[cheryls-blossomed]

this is gonna be a mini-rant. while i love the flash so much, despite its occasional cheesiness and its tendency toward melodrama (but these aspects also make it really endearing to me) was i the only one that was like WTF to whatever 6b was. like the I/B storyline was the only thing interesting and keeping me watching even tho parts of it were really annoying. i could count 3-4 different b-plots and c-plots like it was honestly incoherent. there was no real story arc tbh {part 1}

{part 2} the first 3-4 seasons of the show were stronger storywise. even s5 had a good premise but maybe s6 was too ambitious while seemingly dropping important foundations of the show (i.e. the handling of the man in yellow, crisis). it's just lazy writing imo. what frustrates me the most tho, is that i feel like i care about these characters wayy more than the writers do as the show has become far less character driven and just seems to do stuff just to do it. i could go on but okay, rant over

Yeah, you make a lot of good points, especially about the earlier seasons of the show. Say what you will about how season 3 constructed the big bad arc (and yes it was very messy and very clear they were winging it where Savitar was concerned towards the end), but what it did extraordinarily well is that it honored the most important relationships on the show. There was no greater Team Flash; there was very little of what frustrates me most about later seasons, namely writing to a plot instead of writing for the characters. We got to see the West-Allen family at the heart of the show, whether it was in Flashpoint or otherwise. We saw the bonds between the Wests: between Joe and Iris, between Iris and Wally, and between Wally and Joe. Barry and Wally’s dynamic was fleshed our and better developed. Westallen’s love story was at the forefront of the season, and the writers made the effort to write them sweet, meaningful moments even when they’re relationship was not the focus of the episode. Even with regards to Caitlin and Cisco, as messy as the Killer Frost arc was, the show focused on Cisco and Caitlin’s relationship. And Julian was a solid addition to Team Flash, honestly. He was seamlessly written in; he didn’t overtake the narrative, and he simply enhanced the existing dynamic at STAR Labs. Truly, the back half of season 3 especially struck that balance perfectly, even though the season was messy in terms of plotting. However, I am of the opinion that messy plotting, but meaningful character development is far better than over-planning, writing to a plot, and neglecting the characters completely. When was the last time we had a a really nice Iris and Joe scene? I don’t even remember, quite frankly. 

Admittedly, season 5 is still my least favorite season, and the one I find the most boring. I agree with you, though, that season 6B was trying to do way too much, and it became frustrating very quickly. Season 6B is far better than season 6A, but I think the issue is that season 6B tried a new formula with the big bad. Eva is stuck in a mirror for a great part of the season, and while she does have Mirror Iris, Mirror Singh, and Mirror Kamilla working to liberate her, Team Flash isn’t focused on them, because they don’t even know that these mirror minions are not the real Iris, Singh, and Kamilla for most of season 6B.  And that, in itself, was not the issue. The issue is that because the plot necessitated that the reveal as to who Mirror Iris is needed to be dragged out, the writers needed to write plots for the rest of the characters, mostly Barry, to pass the time, essentially. So Barry gets this whole plot about losing his speed. As an isolated episode, “Death of the Speedforce” is great, but we subsequently have episodes with this whole creating an artificial speed force, which is still not even built by the end of the season. Meanwhile, Nash is possessed by Eobard, but this doesn’t exactly go anywhere, because he’s essentially exorcised. All of this just served as hints as to what’s to come for Thawne, but now we don’t even know what the original cliffhanger is. Carver and Black Hole serve as an interim hindrance to Team Flash until Eva is liberated, at which point Carver is killed, because he no longer serves his purpose. We also have three episodes of saying goodbye to Caitlin and dealing with Frost’s mommy issues. Then, there’s also Sue and Ralph, and the apparent necessity that Sue suddenly get a story-line connected to Black Hole. Cisco gets shipped offscreen frequently, because apparently the show doesn’t have a place for him despite the 5,000 ongoing story-lines. Add to this, Nash and Allegra’s pointless arc, and Chester being integrated into Team Flash in an episode.

And the fact of the matter is, nothing was accomplished by the time 6x19 aired. The only important plot developments were that Barry figured out Mirror Iris was not Iris and Eva was freed from the mirror. Iris is still stuck in the mirror with Kamilla and Singh; she’s undergoing extreme neural dissonance, and she vanished after pushing herself to locate Singh. The artificial speedforce is still not built. Team Flash went against former Black Hole agents and failed miserably; they also failed to protect the horrible, villainous white man they apparently chose to expend their energies protecting. Allegra still hates Nash. Eva frames Sue for Carver’s murder. Cisco isn’t back from Atlantis yet. Joe was sent to WitSec for two episodes, and he is now back (which tells you that the show wasted episodes on new story-lines for the sake of filling episode quotas, instead of advancing the plot of any of the 5,000 other ongoing story-lines). 

Everything I like about season 6B is pretty much relegated to Iris’s story-line, and the brief Barry vs. Thawne showdown tease we were promised, but which never came to pass. That’s why 6x10 and 6x17 are easily my favorite episodes of the season. I think there was an attempt to really give Iris a fascinating arc, but the show was doing way too much, and so Iris’s story in the mirror was heavily neglected. Indeed, Iris and Eva’s dynamic was also neglected, which is frustrating, because for the first time, we have a Big Bad who is Iris’s nemesis first and foremost. But instead of showing us Iris’s investigations in the mirror and showing us how Iris and Eva’s dynamic develops, the show focused on nonsensical side plots. 6x17 was obviously fantastic for the Barry vs Mirror Iris content and for the Westallen content, but also for Iris and Eva’s acquaintanceship and camaraderie disintegrating. Candice and Efrat have great chemistry: that scene where Iris realizes that Eva is losing control of Mirror Iris and she starts taunting her, and in turn Eva grows more and more agitated, losing complete control of Mirror Iris, was such a great scene. As was the portrayal of Iris’s fury at what Eva had done to her and to Barry. There was so much here: so much more potential that could’ve been tapped into. And that’s what’s perhaps most frustrating about season 6B: it had the potential to arguably be the show’s strongest run ever, but they completely dropped the ball, choosing to focus on nonsensical plots, and then they didn’t even resolve those plots, before they introduced even more side plots.