Okay, let’s do something a little different.
I know I usually save this blog to write about the latest news in social media and entertainment, but to be frank with you, it’s getting more difficult to enjoy this current wave of content, and it’s been a pain in the ass to write lately. Ever since I started my new job last year, I have found so little time to focus on this grand “hall of mercs”, and I want to apologize for that, but my lack of blogging has solely been due to new entertainment sucking.
It’s almost as if nothing here in the western world is booming with passion anymore. The last thing I saw that was remotely amazing (and generated amazing memes) was the new Spider-Man movie, Across the Spider-Verse. A full review of that will be ready soon, I can promise you that, but other stuff has been pretty boring.
Take the final season of CW’s The Flash for example. The introduction of the Red Death villain was a rushed mess and didn’t exactly fit the show. The Red Death, in the comics, is an evil variant of Batman from a universe where he forcefully fused with Barry Allen to become a murderous speedster, who helped lead a group of other evil Batpeople (and Batcreatures) to conquer the multiverse. They were meant to be this intimidating force of nature, but CW gave left us with this:
Some “Dollar General” Power Ranger who acted more like a brat than a villain, who was played by an actress from a canceled show. Javicia Leslie did a good job as Ryan Wilder in Batwoman, but her performance here was severely sub-par.
Not only that, but after her short-lived villian arc, we were paraded with obnoxious filler episodes that made zero sense to the overall plot, with the one diamond-filler in the rough being the return of Oliver Queen to help fight Bloodwork. The final season didn’t get remotely entertaining until the final four episodes when they ressurected Eddie Thawne as Cobalt Blue, a villian I’ve been dreaming of being on the show.
Little backstory, Cobalt Blue was originally the twin brother of Barry Allen, Malcolm, who was separated at birth, and he was raised by the Thawne’s. The Thawne family had this artifact called the “blue flame”, which granted the user magical powers, one of the powers being Speed Force absorption. When Malcolm Thawne learned the truth about his heritage, he developed a major hatred for Barry because he felt that Barry’s life was meant to be his, and to make matters worse he knew that Barry was the Flash. He became Cobalt Blue to torment the Flash.
In the Arrowverse, Eddie Thawne killed himself in season one in order to erase Eobard Thawne from existence (which didn’t exactly work), but the final season revealed that the Negative Speed Force resurrected him to become its new avatar. The Nega Speed Force filled Eddie’s head with dark thoughts, convincing him that Barry stole a life with Iris that was meant for him, and promised that he’ll get that life back if he helps the Nega Speed Force kill the Flash Family. On the surface, this sounds like an epic story arc, and it went so far that the show even brought back the Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed. Unfortunately, this arc also felt rushed. All of these villains were defeated so easily as if they were just henchmen, and Cobalt Blue was defeated by the power of friendship. It was such a sappy ending.
Now the ending could have worked if this arc was a few episodes longer. You could’ve easily cut out three of the fillers and dedicate the newer episodes to build up the looming threat of Cobalt Blue by sending in the past evil speedsters to haunt Team Flash. We also could’ve had more interactions between the villains, such as an open-dialogue between Zoom and Savitar, which was revealed by Grant Gustin that a confrontation between the two speedsters was going to happen before it got cut. Why it got cut is beyond me, but it’s decisions like those that make me realize that studios would rather “phone it in” than put actual effort into their content.
No effort into premiere content leaves it—-soulless. Without passion and drive, a show and movie can only be described as “meh”. I hate how tv shows, movies, and comic books that I loved growing up are becoming so dull and corpo, it just makes it harder to find something to write about. I hate having slacked off on this blog, and I hate how I haven’t been posting more on my Instagram and TikTok.
What am I saying?
Maybe I’m falling victim to a creativity block due to the current wave of entertainment, or maybe I’m just feeling too strained from my new job to put in the effort to make content. Perhaps it’s a little bit of both, I’m not sure anymore.
Whatever this funk is, I’m forcing myself out of it starting now. I’m coming in hot with new vigor! I’m back and reloaded, so be expecting more of me on all my socials! This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying goodbye, and see you next time.
Hall of Mercs 