What I Saw: Arrowverse

It seems strange that I post less during my days off than when I actually work. Maybe it’s laziness, maybe its because I push myself with no sleep so then I don’t feel like I’m in the right mindset to write on my blog or even creatively. All I know is I gotta keep posting whenever I get the opportunity! (The funny thing is, I wrote this post on a workday but I was too sleepy to post until my day off.)

What I Watched:

The Flash S3.E11 “Dead or Alive”
Arrow S5.E11 “Second Chances”

What I Saw:

Starting with The Flash. This episode was really entertaining, which I may be biased because to me any episode that focuses on Cisco is pretty awesome (like the webisodes that were focused on him). The premise of this episode had a multiverse police officer from Earth-19 named Gypsy who was coming to collect H.R. Wells. Earth-19 had come under attack from another world which breached into their universe and so all multiverse travel was banned to prevent anything like that from happening again. The penalty for breaking the ban is punishable by death. Gypsy has the same powers as Cisco, where she can vibe into other universes and use frequencies to attack. Cisco is instantly attracted to her since she has the sort of bad-girl attitude that is just his type, and wastes no time in hitting on her even as she is attacking them. Earth-19 has a trial by combat alternative to facing regular trial, and Cisco volunteers to fight; even though it I a fight to the death.

Throughout the episode Cisco is uncertain about himself; he has not fully mastered his powers while Gypsy has never lost a battle and even knows how to use her powers to disconnect a speedster from the speed-force. Not only that, but his friends also doubt that he will be able to win, with the newest addition to the team, Julian Albert, just hitting Cisco with logical reasons as to why he will lose. Even Barry and H.R. try to take on Gypsy before the big fight because they don’t think he will win.
The episode was all about Cisco’s journey to believing in himself, even when others may think he can’t do it. Now of course in real life there is an actual limit and sometimes the stakes are too high. It’s easy in a TV show where there is always a way around the whole “fight to the death” that they had set up. That being said, a person never knows what they are capable of until they push themselves past what they believe to be their limit.
I really liked Gypsy as a character, she wasn’t really a bad guy, she was just someone following her Earth’s sense of justice. I really liked the fight between Cisco and Gypsy, as they breached into different universes including Supergirl’s Earth.

 
If you want to know more about her origin and the role she plays in the comics, check out this YouTube channel Emergency Awesome for all the background information on the Arrowverse.
Meanwhile, Iris has a story arch of her own where she is investigating a criminal organization, which everyone tells her is really dangerous and she should leave it to the police. Naturally, she investigates anyways and has Wally help her in her investigation. She runs into one of the criminals, and she dared him to shoot her, knowing she lives for at least the next 4 months. Wally saves her, and then asks why would she risk her life like that. Her answer: "I want to do something that matters." She wants to leave a legacy behind since she may die four months from now.
This is the heart of existentialism. We only have so long to live, so people want to choose something that matters and will help them be remembered. That is why the rich donate money to fund a new building that will bear their name, and that is why the poor have kids: to be remembered and leave something behind when we die. People are terrified that they will have lived for no reason and simply be forgotten once they die. 
Albert Camus wrote about the existential "absurd," living our lives is meaningless and yet we spend our lives trying to fill it with meaning. He uses the myth of Sisyphus as an example: Sisyphus is cursed to push a rock up an almost seemingly infinite hill, and then when he reaches the top the rock slides down the other side and he has to push it up another hill all over again forever. Humanity is Sisyphus, and our lives are just our constant struggle to survive or find meaning, just to do it all over again tomorrow. There is no end, no answer, no grand purpose.
However, as depressing as that sounds there is hope and beauty in it. Now, in The Flash Barry just tells Iris her legacy is not only her work but in her family and friends. But I'm going to do a crossover of my own with a clip from the TV show Angel:

Since nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do! We choose what is important to us and just live our life freely because there is no answer. Instead of trying to answer a multiple choice question where there is a right or wrong answer, we have an open ended essay question. And so long as we can back up our reasoning then we get credit for it. That actually takes some of the pressure off because we don't have to worry about what's the right answer for the world, just what we feel is important to us and the ones we care about.
Now on to Arrow. The title of the episode captures the theme of the episode; it’s all about second chances. Team Arrow are on the search for a new Black Canary, after Black Siren takes a pass on being a hero. Instead they set their sights on a woman named Tina Boland who has the same screaming powers as Black Siren, a former police officer on a mission for revenge on a gang who killed her partner/lover. Meanwhile Felicity is trying to hack a file that would expose the corrupt general that is framing Diggle, and she comes across a hacktivist group who gives her what they call a Pandora’s Box of information that can take down a whole host of officials and corporations. And in the flashbacks Talia helps Oliver through a step on his own mission for revenge against Kovar, all the while pointing out he is using it as an excuse to not go home.
This season has done a really good job of having the flashbacks and the present day story reflect each other. Past Oliver and the present day Tina think they have become monsters, whose only use is to stay away from the world and seek their revenge. Neither of them think they can or even should be redeemed. However, Talia shows Oliver that Yao-Fei used the skills he learned to try and help other people. She convinces Oliver that his true mission is in the list his father gave him. Oliver has to be able to separate the monster from his human side, and Talia tells him he must “become someone else; become something else.”
Renee points out that everyone on the team has been given a second chance. He was without direction and taking anger out into the world. Curtis felt he was too weak and has gained strength and confidence while on the team. Ragman is using this opportunity to carry on his family’s legacy instead of smearing it with random attacks. Felicity is making up for her own hacktivist days. Diggle feels guilty over what he did to his brother. And of course Oliver for being such an American douchebag plus everything he did during those five years. No one can go back and change the past (except Barry of course, with severe consequences), but they can decide what they want to do with their future. You can make today your second chance and choose to be better from here on out.

Except for the case of Tina, who decides to take her revenge regardless of what Oliver was telling her. I actually really liked the fact that she killed her target. In most other shows or movies, the protagonist kills an army of underlings to get to the boss they really want to kill, and then choose that moment to have a conscious. What about all the other people who were killed? Shouldn’t the moment they realized they have to kill someone who was not involved been the moment to realize the person wasn’t worth it? It just makes more sense that she would kill the gang leader after everything she had already done. But she does feel empty afterwards, and she decides to join Team Arrow to channel her monster. She reveals her real name is Dinah Drake, which is actually the name of the original Black Canary before they changed the character to be Laurel Lance. If you want to learn more about that comic book background I again refer you to Emergency Awesome.
So that’s it for the Arrowverse shows that I watched. What’s your guys take on the protagonist on a revenge mission? Do you like to see them hold back because it’s the right thing to do, or do you like to savor the revenge along with them? Let me know in the comments!