RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE FLASH AND ARROW SEASON PREMIERES!

By Jeff Burns

Hey fellow Flash and Arrow fans! Here are some random thoughts after watching the season premieres of both and on the series in general. If you're not up to date on either show, there are some slight spoilers in this.

The Flash has been my favorite show on TV the past two years. I can't imagine them doing a better job with that show. I am not totally sure if the whole Flashpoint changing timeline thing is going to work this year but I think the Flash writers are pretty much the best in the business right now so I have faith it will be another great season!

Tom Cavanagh is amazing as Harrison Wells, especially Earth 2 badass Wells!

What's not as amazing is The Rival's costume in the Season 3 premiere. It looks kind of like it was just purchased from Wal-Mart. Okay, I'm definitely exaggerating, but i just didn't dig it. And usually the costumes are spot-on and look kick-ass in the series.

TNT has been airing Seasons 1 and 2 of Arrow and I was reminded how damn good those seasons were. Especially Season 2. It's also a reminder that the series hasn't been as good since then. I haven't been down on it as much as a lot of people. I've still been enjoying it and was hoping the Season 5 premiere would be totally kick-ass!

Well the very beginning of the Season 5 premiere was kick-ass! The fight scene was awesome and intense: probably one of the best they've ever done and reflected the new intensity Oliver has. But overall the premiere didn't give me a ton of hope the show will get back to its earlier brilliance. And I'm not super-excited about the idea of bringing in this new ragtag band of heroes to be Oliver's new team but maybe it will work.

The one very good thing about the Season 5 premiere is that Felicity is finally getting back to how she used to be. Felicity used to be my favorite character. She was super-smart, quirky, funny, and her constant unintentional sexual innuendos were hilarious! But in the latter parts of Season 3 and pretty much all of Season 4, they totally destroyed her character. I can't remember the last time there was a character I liked that much that became so unlikeable. So I really hope they continue this trend from the premiere and get Felicity back to being awesome!

What I hope they don't get back to is having Oliver and Felicity together. I've never wanted them to get together and not sure why so may people wanted that relationship. It worked so much better when they were friends and colleagues.

Same with The Flash. I've never been a huge fan of Barry and Iris getting together, though I've come around to it now. Personally, Barry and Patty from last season were perfect. Patty Spivot was my favorite part of The Flash last season. But of course since Barry and Iris are destined to be together, they had to come up with some nonsensical reason for Patty to leave.

I'm glad to see that this season on Arrow so far that Oliver isn't apologizing for everything. He always puts the blame on himself (which is a very heroic thing to do) but last season I felt it got to a point where everyone was shitting on him for everything and he was just taking it. I kind of wanted Oliver to just tell them to fuck off and point out if it wasn't for him, the city would have gone to shit about a million times.

I think the Arrow flashbacks probably should have stopped a couple of seasons ago. For the first two seasons when the flashbacks were on the island, they totally worked. But after that, they just weren't working as well. I'd like to see everything focused on the present now. Based on the timeline, this should be the final year they can do the flashbacks.

Speaking of timelines, since The Flash and Arrow are both Earth 1, wouldn't the changes Barry is making also affect the timeline for Arrow? Well it should but they're pretending it isn't I guess because they obviously don't want to get into all those time travel shenanigans on Arrow. Though I will say I usually love time travel shenanigans!

Okay that's it! The Flash is still my favorite show. And I still dig Arrow, even though it's certainly had some flaws the past couple of seasons. I'll watch just for Stephen Amell's great portrayal of Oliver Queen!

What do you guys think of both shows? Sound off in the comments!