With the new season starting up, I thought I’d rank the various shows that originated from comic books, and give some of my random thoughts about each series. They’re mostly about superheroes, but not necessarily so (unless you count the Lord of the Flies as a superhero). I haven’t watched Daredevil or Jessica Jones and so can’t speak to their qualities.
1. Gotham
The first season gave us a stylish, eclectic aesthetic combined with impeccable cinematography for a twisted sort of buddy-cop show. It was hampered by sticking too closely to the villain-of-the-week premise (albeit deliciously twisted villains) as well as not knowing what to do with certain characters, notably Barbara, Fish Mooney after about mid-season, and even Bruce Wayne himself. The second season dispensed with the villain of the week in favor of multi-episode villain arcs, giving each character more room to breathe. With Barbara coming out of the funny farm, the rise of the Riddler, and Bruce showing flashes of becoming Batman, the whole thing just clicked into something glorious.
2. The Flash
The Flash is my favorite superhero and Barry Allen is my favorite version of the superhero. The death of Barry’s mother drives the character’s motivations without the series becoming too maudlin and most importantly without it losing its sense of fun. This is a show that, after all, has done justice to King Shark and Gorilla Grodd. This has become the premier series of the entire Berlantiverse.
3. iZombie
I think zombies have become overplayed, overexposed, and ovesaturated. (Note that The Walking Dead isn’t even on this list.) And yet I like this show for its rather fresh take on the whole zombies-eating-brains concept. Rose McIver plays the different brain-personas to almost Orphan Black levels of aplomb.
4. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
While being part of the MCU seems to be good idea, I think this show is actually hindered by having to keep in step with the movies. Case in point: The first season was a bit lackluster until The Winter Soldier, where it was revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated to the highest levels by Hydra; the show got a lot better having to deal with the consequences of this. The show maintained the conceit of calling in the Avengers as a setup for Age of Ultron, yet we’ve never seen an actual Avenger on the show. Plus the movies never seem to acknowledge that the TV show exists. Where are all the Inhumans that S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be tracking? Still, the show is good enough for what it is.
5. Supergirl
The first few episodes were a bit too heavy-handed on the grrl power and got by pretty much on the sheer charisma of the lead character alone. The show really found its groove after the writers toned down the feminist screeds and let the characters’ actions speak for themselves. Cat’s quips were always full of snarky goodness and I’m sad that she’s going to have a reduced role in the upcoming season. (Now if only Jimmy Olsen were to have a reduced role.)
6. Legends of Tomorrow
Rip Hunter made it clear in the first episode that this is a team of inconsequentials, the second-stringers of the Berlantiverse. So I tune in every week just to see how hilariously the “Legends” are going to frak up this time around. Which is good as the main villain was seriously underwhelming, after such a big buildup in The Flash/Arrow crossover. The standalone episodes like Jonah Hex and future Star City were much better, and show the future potential of the series. Captain Cold’s character arc is probably one of the best ones across the entire Berlantiverse.
7. Agent Carter
Being a prequel of sorts to the MCU, the show had possibly freer reign to develop independent storylines than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They squandered the opportunity, alas, in the second and last season with a lackluster Big Bad and a storyline that meandered hither and yon, never actually going anywhere. I would have liked to have seen SSR transition to S.H.I.E.L.D.; I guess we’ll never get to see that now.
8. Lucifer
For all that the eponymous character is the actual Prince of Darkness, this boils down to yet another police procedural with an eccentric male lead and a straight-laced female partner. This isn’t a bad show, but I’ve seen this setup before.
9. Arrow
How the mighty have fallen. The show that kicked off the DC-Berlantiverse is now but a sad shell of its former self. What was once a quirky, likeable secondary character has turned into an irrational shrew who inhabits every other scene and whose only purpose seems to be to drive Oliver’s decisions about vigilantism. One would think that detonating a nuke on the continental United States would far have greater repercussions on the milieu. After killing several characters only to bring them back from the dead, they finally killed off Black Canary (for realsies this time!) just because they had set up the season to have someone in a grave. The last season was such a waste of a good villain (Damien Darhk) and the actor playing that villain (Neal McDonough) that they’re apparently bringing him back on Legends of Tomorrow. Can the next season recover from the missteps of the past couple of seasons?