@Outerspec:
Yeah, I need to start back up on IZombie. It was one of the more enjoyable DC shows.
You know the most bothersome thing about Flash for me? It's not the story plot or any of that. It's actually pretty petty but it's the powers being nerfed. There are too many times where I'm saying 'That should never have hit Flash'. He's supposed to be so damn fast time is supposed to be going in slow motion for him when he's in danger at least. Yet, slow shit keeps hitting him. Anyway, it's really annoying.
Yeah this does get very annoying. I understand him getting hit by surprise in a situation where he wouldn't be on alert, but there are far too many times when the Flash could easily run behind someone and sucker punch them before they'd even be able to turn around.
The first time that really stuck out to me was in the first season when Barry had to trick Snart and Rory into "crossing streams". I understand not wanting to risk getting close to Cold's gun, but you're telling me he couldn't run one way, causing Rory to look in one direction, then run and grab the heat gun? It's just lazy writing.
I think a lot of these writers and showrunners have the mentality of "lets create a cool story, and exciting scenarios" and then worry about the science and physics of it all after the fact. Like come on, this is the Flash. What stuck out for me this season in particular is the tendency of the Flash to just let dangerous villains run away. In the Magenta episode we had that really awesome scene of him getting the cop out of the car as it was thrown in mid air, and it was really well done. And then Barry proceeds to say "she got away".
YOU HAVE SUPER SPEED. You can literally check the next 5 blocks over in a few seconds. Remember that whole part of the first Arrow/Flash crossover where Oliver chided Barry for not searching his environment beforehand when he can do it in seconds, being reckless etc. They talk about it, but when it comes to doing it, it never is done.
Arrow, while not having characters with superspeed, suffers from the same lazy story telling method to not have the villain caught in the first act. Somebody will make a distraction, create an explosion, let off a smoke grenade, and then dissapear in thin air. Green Arrow will tell the team "they got away" 5 seconds after they are out of sight. CHECK. Half of the time we see them ride in on motorcycles. Oliver has grappled with his trick Arrows multiple times. You're telling me he's gonna leave it at "they got away" without even grappling to the top of a building to get a birds eye view of the surrounding area? Come on.
Moments like these make me wish we had a Dan Harmon or Russo brothers on the TV level of superheroes. It's the small attention to detail that people like that would actively avoid because they acknowledge it's a stupid way to keep the story going. I get it, you want to introduce the villain somewhat early, have them be caught at the end of the episode, but there are other ways to do it.
With Flash there is a very simple way to make the non speedster villains an actual threat without nerfing Barry. HAVE THEM ACTUALLY BE THE ROGUES. We get these "Rogue" titles in the episode but usually it's Snart's gang which consist of all normal guys with themed guns, which as I pointed out Barry can easily avoid considering they need to aim and pull the trigger, which takes enough time for Barry to move to distract them. Now we've got Mirror Master and the Top(which are going to be in the future next episode), which do at least have powers that can effect Barry. But have them team up. Have Mirror Master act like Brulee in One Piece, using mirrors as an escape route. Have the Rogues set up a trap, have Barry acknowledge their inability to keep up, only to have them be standing on a mirror or something, trapping the Flash.
Aside from it being because of Mark Hammil's presence, the Trickster is the best villain on this show simply for the fact that he plays mind games. That's how you deal with an OP hero like the Flash. Instead we get "speed, speed, speed".