The Flash Season 3 has come to an end. The finale starts with Iris lying dead in Barry’s arms. Except it’s not actually Iris. “She” has enough energy left to use HR’s facial transmogrification device revealing that Iris switched places with HR, who felt guilty over letting Savitar find her last episode. HR gives Barry one last message to give to Cisco before he dies and the team regroups at STAR Labs. Barry follows the advice given to him by Captain Cold in the last episode and decides to deal with this as a hero and not out of vengeance.
Barry travels to Savitar’s hideout where the latter is forcing Cisco to work on the Speed Force Bazooka to change it into a quantum splicer. Savitar’s plan is to have Killer Frost shoot him with the device after opening a portal in order to split his existence across all time, becoming a god. Barry tries to stop this and convinces Savitar to come back to STAR Labs and work together. However, after the cold response he gets from most of the team and the logical questions he has about how he would even fit into their lives, Savitar gives up and leaves. Gypsy saves Cisco from Savitar, Cisco saves Jay from the Speed Force, and they all team up to fight. Killer Frost regains her sanity and Iris shoots Savitar before he can stab Barry in the back. The episode ends with Barry taking Jay’s place in the Speed Force Prison once things start going awry in Central City.
There were a lot of cool moments in this episode. The acting was on point from everyone, especially when Savitar arrives at STAR Labs and when Flash enters the Speed Force. Everyone’s reactions to Savitar being there are perfectly in line with their character, especially Tracy’s after the death of HR. At the end, I even got a little teary-eyed when Barry was saying goodbye to everyone, especially to Joe.
The final fight was the highlight of the episode. Not only was it great to see everyone team up to fight Savitar and Killer Frost, there were a lot of awesome moments. Black Flash got a really quick cameo, Killer Frost regains her sanity in the best way possible by saving Cisco from Savitar, the speedster chase sequence was exhilarating, Flash phasing in and controlling Savitar’s suit is now my favorite scene in the show, and Iris killing Savitar is poetic and satisfying.
That being said, this is far from a perfect episode. All these awesome things did happen and I loved seeing them, but the circumstances in which they happened were lackluster to say the least. Black Flash’s cameo especially bugged me since it looks like he was killed off not even ten seconds into the scene. I loved the fight sequence between the Flashes and Savitar but it was missing Jesse Quick, who had absolutely no mention this episode. It was great to see Harry again but his role was diminished to pep talks which is sad considering how great his character is. Also, why did Barry have to be the one to enter the Speed Force? Both Wally and Jay have been established as characters who would gladly sacrifice themselves for such a situation and neither spoke up. Jay didn’t even speak let alone say bye to Barry or thank him for taking his place.
The biggest issue bogging down this episode was the Iris bait and switch. I’m sad to say the writers didn’t stick to their guns here. I think Iris is honestly the best character in the show which is something that is highlighted in this episode. She not only ends up being the one killing Savitar in some marvelously poetic justice, she also spends a good chunk of this episode trying to save him, showing how she’s an even better hero than the main character. All that being said, the writers chickened out of what could’ve been a huge and emotional move for the show.
I think this episode is a perfect allegory for the rest of The Flash Season 3: a lot of cool moments and elements but each of those was hampered down by questionable writing and plot decisions. I did enjoy these moments on the surface, but they felt shallow and cheap. Here’s hoping Season 4 picks up in quality.
Generally, The Marvels is good. It has a 59 on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn’t great, but it’s better than Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Disney+’s Secret Invasion. Perhaps director Nia DaCosta’s video game inspirations contributed to that.
The American filmmaker said Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children influenced her latest film at a press junket with IGN. “It’s just an amazing movie, with great fight scenes and a great ending sequence with the main character being thrown into the sky by all the other characters,” she said.
Despite poor reviews upon release in 2005, Advent Children has become a Final Fantasy cult classic. DaCosta seems to agree that the film is a classic. PlayStation exclusives also influenced the Marvels.
In the interview, she said she didn’t want the superhero film to look “too much like a video game” but did draw from Sony’s biggest franchises, like The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. “For me, it was from the best games, the best stories that you get, that sort of inspires me to play, and I think inspires people to watch movies like this,” she said.
Since movies have shaped video games since their inception, it’s interesting to see the dynamic slowly changing. Now that technology and interactive storytelling are more complex, filmmakers are looking to PlayStation for inspiration.
Netflix reported third-quarter earnings and is doing well. Revenue increased as the company added 9 million subscribers worldwide.
Netflix is also using this opportunity to raise the prices of some of its U.S., U.K., and French plans to differentiate ad-free plans from its entry-level ad-supported plan. New subscribers to the most expensive plan will pay $22.99 per month.
Let’s step back and examine Netflix’s current situation. Netflix cracked down on password sharing in its home market and dozens of others in May. The third quarter is the first full quarter under the new rules, so we can see the effect of password sharing.
The company removed the basic tier in the U.S. and U.K. two months ago to simplify its offering. People must pay a lot to remove Netflix ads.
Reports suggest that many customers are experiencing subscription fatigue and considering canceling some streaming subscriptions, but Netflix still has room for growth, especially with advertising revenue.
The company has 247.15 million subscribers. The number of subscribers increased 8.76 million this quarter. Netflix subscribers haven’t grown that much since Q2 2020, when Covid lockdowns were enforced worldwide.
Netflix earned $3.73 per share on $8.5 billion in revenue this quarter. As ads plan subscribers rise almost 70% quarter-over-quarter, ads are contributing more to the bottom line. Nearly a third of new subscribers use ads.
Netflix shares are up 13.75% pre-market ($393.79 per share) on good news for shareholders. However, subscribers will be unhappy because the company will raise prices for some plans again in three key markets. Full breakdown here.
In the U.S.:
- Standard with ads: $6.99 per month (no change)
- Basic (no longer available): $11.99 per month (up from $9.99)
- Standard: $15.49 per month (no change)
- Premium (with 4K streaming): $22.99 per month (up from $19.99)
In the U.K.:
- Standard with ads: £4.99 per month (no change)
- Basic (no longer available): £7.99 per month (up from £6.99)
- Standard: £10.99 per month (no change)
- Premium (with 4K streaming): £17.99 per month (up from £15.99)
In France:
- Standard with ads: €5.99 per month (no change)
- Basic (still available in France for now): €10.99 per month (up from €8.99)
- Standard: €13.49 per month (no change)
- Premium (with 4K streaming): €19.99 per month (up from €17.99)
New subscriptions start at these prices today. Bills for existing subscribers will rise in the coming weeks.
When your writer—one of Hollywood’s hottest—tries to hide their involvement, it’s a bad sign. The Borderlands film’s original script was written by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us, Chernobyl), who recently asked the WGA to use the pseudonym “Joe Crombie” instead of his name.
We hope this means Mazin considers Joe Abercrombie, Lord Grimdark, the grittiness GOAT, but that theory is unproven. Since Mazin wrote the script in 2015 for Eli Roth to direct, a steady stream of writers has been brought in. Aaron Berg, Chris Bremner, Sam Levinson, Zak Olkewicz, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Oren Uziel have put around 70 fingers in the honey pot.
The name change likely avoids confusion. Mazin probably doesn’t want to be blamed for Jack Black/Claptrap madness, but he wants to keep his rights.
To clarify, the Borderlands film finished filming in 2021, but Roth was replaced by Tim Miller (Deadpool) in January.
When this surprising star-studded film (Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cate Blanchet) limps out, what are your expectations? We think this was supposed to coincide with Borderlands 3’s 2019 release, but it’s overshot the mark.
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