"They were completely blindsided by their popularity; they expected Kylo
Ren to be the favorite. Which is so baffling that, if true, renders me
speechless."

Agreed. A Flash villain with decidedly less resources already pulled the same thing. Instead, though, this makes Max look naive; 'oh, you're abducting me? Well, after you let me go, I'll make you sorry…'

Would that work? I just thought that would deny him an additional power-up, and then they'd start over somewhere else…

Wow. Kinda surprised by your lukewarm take- I thought this was one of their better episodes. Iris felt like annoying season one Iris for a few scenes near the beginning (and her death-wish scene; agree with you there), but I felt like everything with the family dynamic was well and realistically-handled. Joe's…

This is a bit redundant to Claude's post, and not to be ghoulish, but… this episode was extremely frustrating in its wasted opportunity. The Vandal Savage problem should've been solved here. Leaving aside 'travel the whole team back to 1 hour after you left ancient Egypt in your first failed attempt (probably wouldn't…

I found the White Martian pretty dang memorable- but otherwise, I take your point.

That's exactly what I thought- a very subtle attempt to use the lesser-known subtitle.

I… kinda loathed this one, as I thought it made River a thoroughly repugnant character (I'd much rather have left her much-better ending in Name of the Doctor)- and the guy opening his head is a little more gruesome than I tend to watch Who for.

Although, he seemed as if he needed some help for that one…? And those ashes would get PRETTY scattered.

Uh-oh- the Evil overlord list and TV tropes have cross-pollinated? That will form some sort of super-massive internet black hole, sucking in all attention and free time, from which there is no escape! :-)

"The show completely ignores the horrible things Martin did"
Um, actually, they didn't. They very specifically address it at the end, having Martin defer to Jax on the decision of what they'll do, and offering a tacit apology.

Just stopping myself from commenting on Legends of Tomorrow, where the same thing is happening. It's kinda like there's a pet complaint for each series, and if it isn't in an episode, their imagination just supplies it there anyway. :-)

"but this slow crawl to diversity in the MCU is becoming more and more tedious"
No, what is becoming tedious is this endless inane commentary on gender and race for paragraph after paragraph over analyzing and over reaching the content by a mile, that opens every agent Carter review. We get your opinion on the…

It's not just the AV Club. it's kinda becoming the internet norm. But thank you for calling that out and helping me to feel sane for not being the only one that notices. :-)

'snide attitude and snark about being bossed around by a woman'
Oh my word- what is it at the AV Club with seeing feminist issues where none exist? Sorry guys- but between this and the Agent Carter reviews, I think you're seeing sexism where none exists.

Although at least Iris has actually become likable enough for that to be a decent alternative. But, yeah- this was NOT the way to do this. I assume the actress wanted to leave? Because otherwise… introducing a new main character for 2/3 of a season? Who does that?

Congratulations, Flash- you have managed to make your time travel make even less sense than it did before.

Do you think the enthusiasm is more for her as a character, based on past viewings, or more for her performance in this particular episode? I read it as the latter (which I didn't see; though others may just be seeing things that I'm not), though the former I would understand a lot more.

Even from just reading synopses of Arrow, I can understand the appeal of #2. :-)

No, I am in the rare viewing segments that only cares for the Flash, and wishes they'd stop putting in Arrow scenes in Flash and Legends. :-)