Every time that I review here I feel like parrot myself because the issue is ALWAYS the same thing. Ever since Eric Wallace and his army of Nickelodeon writers took over this show was been laughable in their best days. Out of this season the ONLY episode that holds it's own is the first one and it is because it was focused on Barry and the core of the show (of course it wasn't perfect cause it already had seeds of the clownery that came after).
If in the Red Death arc the problem was miscasting, pacing and the unbearably cringe writing the issue here was STILL the writing and forgeting who their characters are.
Because apart from the cartoon network superficial writing the issue is the characters from this bloated cast and most especially the lack of boundaries that this production has within itself be it having the showrunner self inserting all the bloody time with Chester and Allegra (who he created and brought to the show to have a relationship with the show's version of himself I guess - yes, it IS as creepy as it sounds) or the actors personal lives and whims bleeding into their characters.
Because make no mistake, what we saw there for 40 long excrutiating minutes was not Cecile and Allegra, it was Danielle Nicolet and Kayla Compton. Because they are "besties" in real life sharing tacos and being hermanas they decided that for some reason it would be interesting to put the 20 something year old "reporter" light meta and the 50 something meta "lawyer" "mother" on a girl badass team up because why not right? We all watch The Flash to see 2 women acting like teenagers in detriment of the story. That is the goal!
Just like we live to see Chester, Allegra and Cecile taking over the West house in what feels like the best representation of the replacement of the leads and Joe for the cheapest side character insert I have ever seen.
The writing was ridiculously inconsistent creating countless plotholes not only within the episode but also with the ones that came before. Hazard left in such a good note on season 4 after a rookie start that it was honestly sad seeing yet another weekly villain butchered by incompetent hacks.
Then as a cherry on top was we get even MORE character assassination for Cecile (though honestly is there anything else to assassinate? I think not) who was the world worst mother who already agreed to give up her child and baby daddy on work days and now is missing even the 2 days a week she should have AND her daughter's birthday to boot to play hero with the girlies. I am not even gonna comment anything more on that front... We also get a dragged down story of Khione's powers and Mark apparently having a budding romance with the woman he wanted to sacrifice after he already sacrificed another version of to get the dead girlfriend who had sacrificed herself for her sister back to live. As you can see super healthy non creepy non complicated normal stuff! And a reveal that Khione is not human nor meta and can make it snow.
And am I forgetting anyone? I covered everyone on The Cecile right? Oh no! Sorry... I forgot the unimportant recurrings Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen who no one cares about, right? Or that is what you would think when seeing them show for a whopping 1 minute and 20 seconds overall, 50 of which is dedicated to celebrating the not at all important coming birth of the resident hero's first child that everyone definitely has not been waiting for over 4 seasons now. After all why have Barry being a competent hero and starting his legacy of speedsters? When we can see Allegra and Chester going back and forth acting like children or smooching on 360 dramatic kisses no asked and Cecile debating if she is going to be the hero no one wants and continue to be the good mother she never was.
And don't get me wrong. I concept of filler episodes when you don't get the leads for as much time as you would like due to contractual reasons and has to make due with the regular cast. Even if I think an already shortened season should not include this sort of episodes I get that it was the way the dice roles. What don't get was the wasting and dragging of the stories from the last arc into this making it even more unnerving for those characters who spin their wheels being uninteresting and unengaging solely to waste our times. The writers have 8 seasons to learn from, there is already a CLEAR indicator that filler episodes focused on either of those characters flop hard (Rayo de Luz being the most egregious example of) and that that the nickelodeon cheap humor is hardly ever welcomed in this show (see girls night out or love is a battlefield). The fillers that have worked on the past were based on fan favorites like Cisco or Nora and Bart, not people who the audience barely tolerates on normal episodes.
It's the final season, "final run". You could have given us a Jay Garrick standalone episode or even kept Hartley for another episode. Hell even a Mark Khione in trouble episode would have been more interesting than that or tracking the Hacker Chester faced last season.
And if you have to have the leads away don't do a half assed reveal or celebration of one of the most important milestones of their lifes just to have pictures to bait the audience with!
The truth is the leads stole the show with one minute and Khione's last scene was the most interesting plotwise. And when the last minutes of the show are the only thing worth a damn you know you screwed up.
If in the Red Death arc the problem was miscasting, pacing and the unbearably cringe writing the issue here was STILL the writing and forgeting who their characters are.
Because apart from the cartoon network superficial writing the issue is the characters from this bloated cast and most especially the lack of boundaries that this production has within itself be it having the showrunner self inserting all the bloody time with Chester and Allegra (who he created and brought to the show to have a relationship with the show's version of himself I guess - yes, it IS as creepy as it sounds) or the actors personal lives and whims bleeding into their characters.
Because make no mistake, what we saw there for 40 long excrutiating minutes was not Cecile and Allegra, it was Danielle Nicolet and Kayla Compton. Because they are "besties" in real life sharing tacos and being hermanas they decided that for some reason it would be interesting to put the 20 something year old "reporter" light meta and the 50 something meta "lawyer" "mother" on a girl badass team up because why not right? We all watch The Flash to see 2 women acting like teenagers in detriment of the story. That is the goal!
Just like we live to see Chester, Allegra and Cecile taking over the West house in what feels like the best representation of the replacement of the leads and Joe for the cheapest side character insert I have ever seen.
The writing was ridiculously inconsistent creating countless plotholes not only within the episode but also with the ones that came before. Hazard left in such a good note on season 4 after a rookie start that it was honestly sad seeing yet another weekly villain butchered by incompetent hacks.
Then as a cherry on top was we get even MORE character assassination for Cecile (though honestly is there anything else to assassinate? I think not) who was the world worst mother who already agreed to give up her child and baby daddy on work days and now is missing even the 2 days a week she should have AND her daughter's birthday to boot to play hero with the girlies. I am not even gonna comment anything more on that front... We also get a dragged down story of Khione's powers and Mark apparently having a budding romance with the woman he wanted to sacrifice after he already sacrificed another version of to get the dead girlfriend who had sacrificed herself for her sister back to live. As you can see super healthy non creepy non complicated normal stuff! And a reveal that Khione is not human nor meta and can make it snow.
And am I forgetting anyone? I covered everyone on The Cecile right? Oh no! Sorry... I forgot the unimportant recurrings Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen who no one cares about, right? Or that is what you would think when seeing them show for a whopping 1 minute and 20 seconds overall, 50 of which is dedicated to celebrating the not at all important coming birth of the resident hero's first child that everyone definitely has not been waiting for over 4 seasons now. After all why have Barry being a competent hero and starting his legacy of speedsters? When we can see Allegra and Chester going back and forth acting like children or smooching on 360 dramatic kisses no asked and Cecile debating if she is going to be the hero no one wants and continue to be the good mother she never was.
And don't get me wrong. I concept of filler episodes when you don't get the leads for as much time as you would like due to contractual reasons and has to make due with the regular cast. Even if I think an already shortened season should not include this sort of episodes I get that it was the way the dice roles. What don't get was the wasting and dragging of the stories from the last arc into this making it even more unnerving for those characters who spin their wheels being uninteresting and unengaging solely to waste our times. The writers have 8 seasons to learn from, there is already a CLEAR indicator that filler episodes focused on either of those characters flop hard (Rayo de Luz being the most egregious example of) and that that the nickelodeon cheap humor is hardly ever welcomed in this show (see girls night out or love is a battlefield). The fillers that have worked on the past were based on fan favorites like Cisco or Nora and Bart, not people who the audience barely tolerates on normal episodes.
It's the final season, "final run". You could have given us a Jay Garrick standalone episode or even kept Hartley for another episode. Hell even a Mark Khione in trouble episode would have been more interesting than that or tracking the Hacker Chester faced last season.
And if you have to have the leads away don't do a half assed reveal or celebration of one of the most important milestones of their lifes just to have pictures to bait the audience with!
The truth is the leads stole the show with one minute and Khione's last scene was the most interesting plotwise. And when the last minutes of the show are the only thing worth a damn you know you screwed up.