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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 03 Episode 03: Magenta

October 19th, 2016 by Todd Black Comments

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After a lukewarm introduction into the “new” universe, Flash went back to basics with “Magenta” which introduced a new Meta, all the while bringing back some old friends.

While Season 02 of Flash was very inconsistent, easily one of the best parts all season was Harrison Wells E2 and his daughter Jesse. They were consistently good, and added some great dynamics to the season despite everything that was wrong with the season in general. So for them to come back, and now to see Jesse with powers, it was very cool.

What really sold it though was that they didn’t have any memory of the “new” timeline, which made sense because they aren’t a part of their world, so it honestly wouldn’t affect them. Hearing Wells chastise Barry for going back in time (again) was very fun. Then, to see the effects of Jesse’s power reveal on the cast was also cool…more or less.

On the positive, seeing Wells almost beside himself with fear about Jesse being a speedster was very true to character. As has wanted nothing more than to protect Jesse, and now that she has powers, and will be throwing herself into danger at the drop of a hat, that’s going to be hard to do. So to see him try and get everyone to stop Jesse from using her powers was very powerful stuff, especially when it backfired and he realized that he’s holding her back from her true potential.

On the flipside, this new storyline that’s developing with Wally is very concerning. While its fair to think that Wally wants powers, and seeing Jesse with them and him not so much might make him feel left out or angry…for him to jump out into the street to try and “jump start” his powers? That’s just dumb! While we may not know everything about the “new” universe in terms of everything that happened, it’s unreasonable to think that Wally is now near suicidal in regards to getting powers. And did you see that look on his face when it was revealed to him that Alchemy can give people powers? Please don’t do it CW…

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Getting back on track, Magneta herself was actually a pretty cool villain here, easily one of the more in-depth “villain of the week” we’ve ever gotten on Flash. Her split personality was really well done, and the fact that we got to see more or less what caused her to do what she did was very nice. Even Alchemy got to benefit from it, as he got to be a kind of “mentor” of sorts by guiding Magenta on what she needed to do to get control.

The final battle scene was really well done, the tanker hovering over the hospital, and Magneta ensuring that no one left was very dark and menacing. As was Barry’s very calm talking her down. You truly believed her when she said she just didn’t want to be hurt anymore, and that she was sorry for not being in control. Also, her not going to jail, and being given a better life was a nice twist on things.

Two final notes before I give my verdict. One, I’m still not sold on Julian. In fact, his calling out Magneta was very stupid. She caused the near death of her foster father, what did he think would happen when he called out as being a metahuman?!?

Finally, the big “date” storyline for Barry and Iris was actually very, very, nice. It started off predictably, and kind of ended predictably, but at least it didn’t go the Supergirl route and end it quickly. Instead, they allowed the two to admit who they were, and that they shouldn’t be anything other than that. I hope they continue this trend.

“Magenta” was a solid episode for Season 03, and with the upcoming arrival of Mirror Master, things might just be back on track for the series.

4 out of 5 nerds

4 out of 5 nerds

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!