#damien darkh

[so-far-frogs-and-oscar]

Nobody will ever understand how much comfort DC's Legends of Tomorrow gave me...

[sarawritestories]

can I be terrible and ask for thea queen angst, only if you have the time honestly pls don't pressure yourself to write, there is already plenty of work in your masterlist for me to enjoy!, I am so glad someone still writes for arrowverse characters! ❤💚💙

Reader and Thea used to date back in s1 in Thea's party girl days but you split because she cheated. Cut to s4 where Damien Darkh is in town and Reader is working as his lackey. Green Arrow and co get in an altercation with Reader and Thea's mask comes off and Reader sees. The team expect her to kill Thea given that she's a villain now and has a bad past with Thea. But reader still loves Thea and so changes tactic and works to help them escape before Damien comes and kills them all. Thea asks why she would help them after what Thea did and Reader confesses that she'll always help Thea cuz she still loves her even though Thea didn't even love her enough to not cheat. 💔😢

(Sorry but I adore angst lol)

Ooo, i love the angst im all in. I ask for patience. i have a few requests to still work on and a few other writing things. have a deadline(that i gave myself) to get some writing done, but im all in for this prompt! Its beeing added to the list!

[p-taryn-dactyl]

Orchid and palm tree for the ask game

orchid: what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

ahh, I love the fruits by Paris Paloma!! I would 100% consider that song perfect!!

palm tree: do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?

katherine pierce from tvd, agatha harkness from the mcu, (I personally don't think she's a villian but some people do) rhaenyra the cruel from HotD and GoT, damien darkh from the arrowverse, captain cold from the flash, Baal from Stargate, and Darth Vader from Star Wars

thank you so much for the ask! these are fun lol

[wildflowerswildhorses]

Honestly I don’t trust this cop just because was Damien Darkh on Arrow

[theweekinarrowfic]

Completed Arrow Multichapters on AO3, June 2022

NOTE: I’m now crossposting to https://theweekinarrowfic.dreamwidth.org. Also, I'm looking for volunteers to test out my fic recommender! Need more Arrow in your life? Why not try one of the multchapter fanfics recently completed by our talented fic writers?

Olicity

Daughter of the Demon by Dweb08, laxit21 (Oliver/Felicity, 120/120, 2022-06-02) - What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra's al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter's existence.

Love is above all things. by aphrodite161701 (Oliver/Felicity, 30/30, 2022-06-18) - Oliver Queen is with the Argus Agency. Five years ago, during a assigment, her partner, Felicity Smoak, was killed by the Hive Group. Now he must protect Meghan Kutler, an amnesiac woman, that Damien Darkh wants back. Who is this woman? What exactly does Darkh want. Why is he pursuing her ? Follow me through that story and get answers. Oliver is not the arrow... Tommy’s alive.

Love Never Dies by SG1Lover14 (Oliver/Felicity, 5/5, 2022-06-13) - Felicity has a secret. Multiple secrets. Will Oliver and the team find out? What will their reactions be?

Other Arrow Ships

Making A Better Future by ArrowverseFan833 (Laurel/Oliver, 72/72, 2022-06-28) - This is the sequel to Specter of Oliver Queen. Oliver is now on his way home from his five years in hell to protect his city. Little does he know that all of his friends know his secret and are going to be there to help him with his mission. Hopefully his friends can help him change things for the better of his city and his life as well.

unravel me by Bekka911 (Oliver/OFC (Tommy's sister), 36/36, 2022-06-20) - ""...and she knew that the Oliver that had come home to them was not the same Oliver that had gotten on that damned boat."" Cali Merlyn had a rough five years after the death of her best friend. Now, she works in the Starling Public Library and lives in a quaint little apartment she can easily call her own. She's getting better, she knows she is, but then Oliver returns and things spiral once more. Now, she has to deal with a new vigilante who uses arrows, her brother chasing after Laurel Lance, and her own suspicions of Moira Queen. All because Oliver Queen got on that goddamned boat five years ago.

New Earth: Arrow by DarkShado (Laurel/Oliver, 49/49, 2022-06-25) - My name is Oliver Queen. After giving my life to create a new multiverse, I was given a second chance, not only at life, but to correct my mistakes and save those I lost before. I am the Paragon of life and the Spectre, but most importantly, I am once again, the Green Arrow. Lauriver pairing. part one of New Earth saga. *Adopted from Lauriverfanboy1*

The Beginning of the Age of Heroes by ArrowverseFan833 (Laurel/Oliver, 32/32, 2022-06-09) - Oliver, Barry, Kara, Laurel, Sara, and Thea are all trapped on Lian after going on the Queen's Gambit to have a celebration. See how the team becomes the heroes that the world will need them to be in the future. (The group is all from Starling City. Kara is taken in by the Queens and Barry is taken in by the Lances.)

Karry Universe: Aquawar- Stuck in the Flux by KarryCoMaster, KarryMaster (Barry Allen/Kara Danvers, Laurel/Oliver as side pairing, 12/12, 2022-06-19) - Kara Allen is finally pregnant with Kent, but unfortunately for Rip she's now pregnant during the Aquawar. A war with Atlantis and time is now in flux and Rip and family are stuck in the flux

A Selective Gathering: Legend by ArlyssTolero, Nyame (Moira/Walter, 93/93, 2022-06-06) - A select group of individuals are brought to the Vanishing Point by The Spectre to learn how the future will unfold with Oliver Queen being sent back in time to prepare the world for the Crisis on Infinite Earths by reading "The Legend of the Green Arrow."

Strong by lilbluednacer (Roy/Thea, 4/4, 2022-06-13) - Thea isn’t weak anymore. But when she starts working for Team Arrow she learns how strong she really is.

The Hot Mess That is the Doctor’s Family by Lupin_and_Tonks_Forever (Malcolm-centric, 13/13, 2022-06-27) - What if Malcom Merlyn was actually Jack Harkness? And Rip Hunter was Rory Williams? And Sara Lance’s mom was really River Song? Well you’re about to find out. This started as a fix-it fic where Amy and Rory and Ianto live. And then it just spiraled from there. And I’m just ignoring that Lenny also died. Of course trouble ensues and where there’s trouble there’s the Doctor. There shouldn’t be any spoilers for Thirteen or the end of Twelve’s season. Also I literally stopped watching Arrow after season 5 and all of the other DC tv shows at that time too. So like I literally have no idea what is going on in canon there so I am just ignoring literally everything beyond that point. I do know that Constantine comes back at some point and so does Hartley. Also if you haven’t watched the Doctor Who episodes “World Enough and Time” and “The Doctor Falls” I would recommend you do that. There aren’t any spoilers but it would definitely add a lot more context to my fic.

Green Arrow: Full Circle by DarkShado (Laurel/Oliver, 4/4, 2022-06-25) - Team Arrow is Back in Buisness! After the Thanagarian Invasion, Team Arrow is back in Star City dealing with the everlasting crime and insane criminals

Free Game, Fun For Some But Not For All. by Acernusaurus (Sara/Ava Sharpe, 21/21, 2022-06-22) - No one knows what happened that night in the Queen family manor. And, cool as it might be, Ava Sharpe doesn't really expect to find out when her friend Nate buys the place. Who would have thought that game night would have the answer to one of Starling City's weirdest mysteries. A Jumanji (1995) AU

A Selective Gathering: Dawn by ArlyssTolero, Nyame (Moira/Walter, 75/75, 2022-06-21) - Those brought to the Vanishing Point by The Spectre to read the future decide to continue reading, beginning to read "The Dawn of the Golden Age."

Weak by lilbluednacer (Roy/Thea, 4/4, 2022-06-12) - When Thea can’t handle the guilt of what she did, it’s up to Team Arrow to save her from herself.

Black Canary: Rebirth by ArlyssTolero, Nyame (Laurel/Oliver, 19/19, 2022-06-21) - One moment, Laurel Lance is seizing on her hospital room bed, the next instant, she’s falling out of bed in her apartment eight years in the past. How is this possible? Who has done this to her? Laurel doesn’t know, but after taking stock of her life, both as it was in the future and as it is now, Laurel decides she doesn’t want to continue down the same path as before, a path that led to her death at the hands of a deluded man-child. With nothing but her clothes and a few personal belongings, Laurel flees Starling City and the coming years of supervillains, heading for her hometown of Gotham City, unaware that Gotham could now easily be considered the Supervillain Capital of the World. There, Laurel learns who she truly is, and the Black Canary shall rise from the ashes to make criminals everywhere tremble in fear of her name.

Dream Walker a Tale of Adventure and Sex by AvengingMikaelsonsLover (Original Female Character/Various, including Ricardo Diaz/OFC, 23/23, 2022-06-20) - Okay so.... this is an Old story off my hard drive it was written 5-14-2019. A Dream walker story this is the first of this type of story

United we stand, divided we fall by Bl4ckHunter (Oliver/Natasha Romanoff, 9/9, 2022-06-11) - An attempt of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner at creating a peacekeeping program Ultron backfires, so the Avengers, Oliver Queen and Barry Allen have to stand together against Ultron, despite the struggles that threaten to divide the entire group as they also face new enemies and find new allies.

Second Try by Linzero (Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, Oliver/Felicity as side pairing, 20/20, 2022-06-10) - After Barry is sentenced to imprisonment in the Speed Force, he is able to see how his life might have played out if he'd just made a few different choices. When Team Flash opens a portal to help him escape, Barry just can't resist the temptation to try a do-over. The starting point to fix Barry's mistakes? Ferris Air. If Barry can make the tiniest change to how it all went down, maybe he can save his loved ones and his future. But tiny changes can snowball, and there might be room in his definition of loved ones for a few enemies too.

Desperation. by Batwoman2019 (Kate Kane/Reagan, Oliver listed as character, 3/3, 2022-06-09) - There's so much some people can do when it comes around to being jealous. But what happens when Sophie shows she's jealous of not just Reagan but also her's and Kate's little girl. Will Sophie get what she wants or will she lose it all in the end.

Called Out In The Dark by SevenMinutesToMidnight (Barry Allen/Oliver, 14/14, 2022-06-09) - It starts when a green hooded vigilante appears. It's clear that he's targeting the corrupt upper echelons of Starling City and righting the wrongs Barry knows that the SCPD have failed to. From there, Barry is not sure if his life is going up or down hill, but it's certainly going somewhere even if it’s not really making sense anymore.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

The Flash Season 8 Thoughts

So I finished late but finally finished the two parter finale for the season. I know there are many online who are now habitual haters of everything Flash does these days, but I honestly feel season 8 was the strongest the show has been since season 3. I liked all the arcs for the season. I enjoyed Armageddon with all the cameos from Ray Palmer, Alex, Batwoman, Ryan Choi, and especially Damien Darkh. Deathstorm arc was probably my favorite arc since Bloodwork. The design for Deathstorm was excellent and I feel they did a nice job giving Frost a proper death. The Negative Forces arc was also overall pretty good. Does it all make sense? No, obviously not. But I feel this was handled a lot better than the season 7 Forces arc. I think the return of Eobard, both Tom's and Matt's, helped it significantly. It was cool to see Meena Dhawan. I feel the actress cast did a pretty good job. Also nice to see Nora and Bart back as well. Also, I feel the interlude episodes were much better this season. Not only were most of them not filler, but they were largely pretty entertaining. I actually quite liked the Allegra interlude episode, which was much better than last season's. Last season, the only interlude which worked for me was Cisco's farewell episode. But this season, I enjoyed pretty much all of them. And I enjoyed that we went a whole season with Barry being pretty powerful. There were some pretty cool uses of his abilities this season.

That being said, still many issues. The show has not figured out what to do with Iris. At this point, I don't know if there is a solution. I think thee mistake with the character was made several seasons ago and nobody seems to be able to figure out the solution as to figure out something for Iris to do other than to have her suffer as a victim of the villains. The most interesting thing Candace Patton has gotten to do for a while is play Mirror Iris. Also, the Cecile Horton stuff is getting out of hand. She's far too involved in everything. There are times where she is effective, like in the episode when Barry was aging. But overall, it just feels like a character whose presence is getting overexposed. I have started to enjoy Allegra and Chester, even though I miss the Cisco and Caitlin dynamic. Speaking of, I am curious what direction they will go with Caitlin next season. We were told pretty definitively that our Frost isn't coming back. Which gets me wondering as to what the new being will be.

Anyways, overall quite enjoyed season 8. Long gap before season 9, which will likely be the last.

[loptrlab]

LockStar Boutique Salon - Minneapolis

In my version of Darhk Harley Quinn, due to society, she’s the side piece of Thomas Wayne. Furious, her father Damien Darkh, banishes her from the family. Fortunately for her she finds sanctuary at her best friend’s home.

Pamela Isley is a trust fund child and HATES IT! But her father LOVES the influence Harleen has on his daughter so much. He creates a scholarship for students like her to attend Gotham Preparatory Academy.

After Bruce is killed. Martha comes to Pamela for help with some biochemistry issues concerning genetic engineering. Harleen asks, “Martha has a gardener. What could she REALLY do with the information you just gave her?”

Make her dead son’s twin brother.

[star-labs-intern]

My parents are watching just shoot me & just made me come to the tv bc it's fckin Damien darkh guest starring lmaoo

[lgbtqforeverything]

i forgot that we we’ve been stuck with damien darkh since episode two. truly we can never escape him

[aidanwaynealghul]

Pariah Dark was definitely an ancestor of Damien Darkh in DP x DC crossover and I'll be taking no commentary on it.

[ashthehermit]

Legends of Tomorrow: A Retrospective 2.2

I know this one is a big part of DC lore, though I don't know the context.  I didn't know that when I first watched it, so I spent the whole time being like 'who is that?  What is this?  Why is any of this important?'.  I also didn't know who Vixen was (another plight of not watching Arrow).  Damien Darkh was fairly easy to pick up on.  He's an evil magic man!  Oh no!  Vixen/Amaya was harder to figure out, especially as she's introduced along with a whole heap of distracting characters.  This episode, while better than anything season one had to offer, is just more proof to me that Legends was better when it was separated from the shows it spun off from.

THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

We start off where we left them, with the JSA capturing the legends, with the change that Nate recognises his own grandfather.  They explain their whole bit (time travel) to the JSA, which is a bit wild,  but entirely in character.  Then there's a punch up, where I'm sure there were a series of cool characters, but I lost track of every single one of them, especially as most of it happened in near darkness.  There's a new musical theme, as if to signal that these guys will be a big deal moving forward.  They will and they won't.  As a concept, the JSA lore will be shuffled over to CW's Star Girl while Legends does its own thing.

In my first viewing, I didn't even realise that Rex had powers.  Apparently he does, and a superhero name to boot.  All of this passed me by.  While I know that I'm prone to missing details in initial viewings, I truly think that this episode is just trying to juggle more balls than it can handle.  We still haven't gotten to grips with who Nate is, what the main plot of the season will be, and now there are a heap of new characters to get through.

Nate knows all about the JSA, which is apparently wild, even for a historian, because Commander Steel is his grandfather!  It's pretty neat.  I don't hate this element.  The JSA are giving us an opportunity to learn about our new boy Nate.  Huzzah.

'You'll find that I have an entirely different concept of time than most.'

Thawne gives the Nazis a serum to make a super soldier.  Now this sounds familiar.  I don't care much.  Rex claims he doesn't know any of the legends, which they really should have expected, as time travellers.  They assume that Stein is the leader, because Rex is presumably a misogynist.  Or at least, he's a 1940s man.  Even retrospectively, I'm not certain how Rex warned the legends not to go to 1942, or what would even happen if they stayed.  It seems like their actions don't even result in his death, seeing as Thawne was behind it.  This plot point smacks a little of an ending stinger that was not thought through, and then not woven well into the plot of the season that followed.

Nate is all excited to meet his Pops, but tells him that he's dead a little too excitedly.  Does Commander Steel have powers?  I couldn't tell you.  The JSA go off to fight Nazis and tell the legends they can't come.  They board the Waverider and sod off.  The legends commiserate on how they aren't up to scratch in comparison to the JSA.  Stein and Ray argue over who should be leader.  Jax lampshades what we all know; that Rex picked Stein as leader because he's white and male and old.  Legends did end up becoming a show that was very political, but season one doesn't really lean into it, beyond saying that dictators are evil.  Jax's line is a sign of things to come, where Sara will refer to being straight and white and male as Nate's 'other superpower'.  Legends becomes a show that wants to change history to favour the people it has overlooked, or save people who deserve it.  It's on its way there, in a sense, albeit slowly.

'With Rip gone, we could use some adult supervision.'

Nate claims that meeting his grandfather felt rather empty.  Sara says that they're going to drop him off in 2016 because he's essentially a civilian.  I'm laughing because of how in the future, Nate will be one of the most seasoned legends, with many of the others possessing even less fight training.  The team really cuts down on how many fighters it has in the future.  Zari 2.0 and Behrad, while having superpowers, never throw a real punch.  Neither does human Gideon.  Anyway,  that's not relevant to this episode.  Nate realises that his grandfather's dog tags are gone, meaning that they've changed history again.  Or Thawne has.  It's one of the two.

Nate picks up a notebook to review his notes, but the only page we get a flash of is a drawing of a woman.  Great notes, Nate.  They head back to 1942 to make sure that the plucky superheroes don't get offed by the Nazis.  I love Nate not being able to do basic things sometimes.  He doesn't know how to operate the screens on the bridge and Jax has to help him.  I love that little character moment.  I can't say why.  I love when the legends are a bit hapless rather than being straight up incompetent.  

Jax questions Stein's plans to infiltrate a Nazi nightclub, and Stein mostly just insults everyone else.  Nate claims that he speaks six different languages, which makes him far more cool than his demeanour would imply.  What a nerd.

'Very popular in Austria, where the hills are alive with the sound of music.'

Legends never has a great devotion to historical accuracy in its costuming.  I would assume they never had the budget anyway.  This club scene in 1942 is where it really bugged me.  Amaya is wearing a dress that I truly believe I saw on ASOS.  I have a lot of thoughts on Amaya's character, which I won't put here.  The lack of period costuming for her is a sign for me, about how lost they are with her character.  I'll come back to that.  This whole scene is an excuse to have Victor Garber sing, which I can't fault.

Nate learns the baron's plan from just standing close to his table, which isn't a good sign for any real spies nearby.  The gang doesn't salute, which is a classic way to get them spotted.  It's more proof that they're good people, and terrible spies.  It becomes a punch up, which we all saw coming.  The JSA save them, and Stein gets to look like an idiot in claiming that the legends were trying to save the JSA.

It's all sort of fine.  There are more jokes than there used to be.  Nothing particularly quotable, but nothing horrible either.  You can tell that this is an episode where the show is still stretching its new tone.  

'Does your team ever stop arguing?'

There is a cute bit where the legends try to vote on whether they can help the JSA, and Rex just stares them down.  Sara gets suspicious over Nate's cuts and bruises.  He has hemophilia.  Nate is reckless because he's been coddled his whole life.  I liked this character element, and always felt that it worked for Nate, but the show always seemed to forget about it.  They remembered it only at opportune moments, and never quite added enough texture into Nate's life with the condition to make it convincing.  It's one of those disappointing elements that never quite gets ironed out.

Amaya talks to Ray, seemingly only to shame him for not having superpowers.  Why not shame Rory, or Sara, while you're at it?  I know that this is for Ray's arc this season, but it's a little forced.  

'If it's any consolation Dr Palmer, you're not really a hero.'

They find the baron and have a nice old punch up.  The baron rushes off to use the super serum, which is an opportunity for some questionable special effects.  Stein fails as a leader, which we all expected, but I understand that it's part of the arc.  God, this CG is terrible.  Sara orders them to retreat, while Stein flounders.  They leave Ray and Amaya behind, even though it seems as if they aren't particularly far away.  It seems to be another excuse for Ray to get captured and tied up.  Watch out, because it will happen again.

Ray agrees to help the enemy to save the nice woman he's with.  Watch out, because this will happen again.  Nate has a chat with his grandfather in the med bay, which makes me once again appreciate how it looks like the least comfortable medical facility in the universe.  Commander Steel doesn't enjoy being Nate's hero, because he thinks that it will get Nate killed.  Nate reveals that he always wanted to be a soldier, which aligns with everything else we know about him.  Steel assures him that he doesn't need to be a soldier, which is good, because Nate would make a very bad one.  Look at him, he's followed no orders since he arrived.

Rex is ready to leave Ray and Amaya for dead.  Later, we will be told of a connection between Rex and Amaya that I simply don't believe in, mostly because of moments like this.  They don't interact much while he is alive anyhow.  I have more qualms about Amaya's character, but I'll save those for later.  Stein hands over leadership to Sara, which is a great character choice, and even better for the show.  It was the first choice that convinced me that this show really was trying to change from what it was.  Good bye Rip!  It's Sara's turn.

'What do you think?  I'm going to escape using a microscope?'

Amaya and Ray get out and discover that the suit is bust.  Ray takes the super serum, which he has tampered with, to give himself super powers.  The gang are all here for another punch up.  It's mercifully short.  The fight sequence at least has more variety, with gun fights as well as punch ups, and even chase elements.  I don't hate fight scenes.  I hate visually boring fight scenes.  It's not boring when Nate appears on a motorcycle to save his Pops.  They still both get hit by a bomb, which is pretty dire for someone with hemophilia.  Apparently Gideon can't even help.  Gideon's medical ability is plot dependent.  Although, hemophilia is something that I could reasonably believe that she wouldn't be able to handle.  At least we know that we can regrow limbs.

Ray saves Nate by using his special serum, which is the start of a beautiful friendship.  Amaya praises Ray for it, which was nice of her.  Commander Steel and Nate have a real nice moment.  My favourite season, season four, plays off Nate's relationship with his dad so well.  They build off this relationship so nicely.

Anyway, Thawne arrives to kill Rex.  He says that he and Rex have been in battle for some time, and Rex at some point discovered his plan and stole the Waverider to stop the legends from coming.  That doesn't make a lick of sense to me.  Rex dies and only gets to warn Amaya that a time traveller did it.  Now the story really begins!  

I'm not that sad to see Rex go, which is the real shame.  His death propels Amaya for the whole season, and we barely knew him, or their relationship.  

[llamakween]

The cutest thing about this episode was how Brandon and Courtney got to marry each other twice

[cabernet-franc]

The nerve of this motherfucker

[searchingforbellarke]

We all know JRoth is... well. But I was unaware we were turning The 100 into Arrow.

Example A: Bardo Dude V Damien Darkh

Example B: The Queens Gambit

A.K.A. The ship Oliver and company wrecked on

A.K.A. The title of 707 of the 100

[autisticfunfact]

Am I the only one

Who thinks that Damien Darkh is legit hilarious in legends of tomorrow

[ultrahpfan5blog]

The Flash Season 8 - Retrospective Review

So I'm finally done with my Flash rewatch and am now ready to start watching the new season. Season 8 often gets grouped with Season 7 as among the worst seasons of the show, but I honestly think its a far superior season overall. I felt the same on rewatch as I did when I watched it initially. While I would still rank the first 3 seasons above season 8, I feel this is on par with season 5 and 6, better than season 4, and way better than season 7.

For one thing, I feel the divisions between the various arcs worked quite well. There is the 5 episode Armageddon arc, followed by a couple of interlude episodes, followed by a 6 episode Deathstorm arc, followed 3 more Interlude episodes, finally followed by the Negative Forces arc. Its a much more fair division of storylines. Even the interlude episodes are overall much better quality this season than last season.

I feel Armageddon is pretty fun overall. This is the closest the show has gotten to a genuine crossover since COIE. This event gets to have some pulpy fun and have some new character dynamics. It was great to have Ray Palmer appear in the premiere. Even though Barry and Ray have shared screen space before, we haven't really seen them interact one on one all that much and the episode allows for a genuine team up. Additionally, we get to see Barry and Jefferson interact as well, extending their relationship from where we saw it in COIE. There is a warmth in those interactions which feels surprisingly natural. Its shame that we never got to see more of it. Episode 4 is the obvious highlight of the event where we really get to see the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline with Thawne engaged to Iris, Barry being RF, and Alex, Batwoman, Ryan Choi all involved with team Flash. On top of that, we get Damien Darkh and Barry interacting, which is a new character dynamic that ends up being quite fun and surprisingly heartwarming as they manage to pick up some character beats from Legends, which eventually leads to a payoff for Damien Darkh and Nora Darkh, I was surprised that they decided to have that on The Flash but it worked out quite well. Despero and Thawne work well as the villains of the event. Despero is the more eminent physical threat while Thawne is the real threat. There are a few cool action sequences, especially in episode 5, where Barry takes on Despero and gets his golden boots. When it comes to weaknesses, episode 3 is a bit of a drag, mainly because we get far too much of Cecile, which is an ongoing problem throughout the season. Danielle Nicolet just overacts when she is acting overwhelmed with emotion and Cecile is fairly insufferable in episode 3. We also get a fairly needless appearance of Mia Queen, who doesn't add too much to the finale of Armageddon and we don't even get any answers for the cliffhanger of William's disappearance since Arrow backdoor pilot.

The Deathstorm arc is also pretty solid. This is really an arc which gives Caitlin and Frost the focus, which was honestly pretty refreshing. One of my favorite episodes of this though was focusing on Barry's grief over his father and his belief in a recently released prisoner's love for his son. I think its a moving episode with a very effective performance from Grant Gustin. I do like that this arc delves into Caitlin's grief that has never really gone. We see her and Frost making some very questionable decisions and what I liked is that the show delivered on consequences for those bad decisions. I was very surprised when Frost was killed off at the end of the arc but it was a bold choice. It was nice to see Robbie Amell back during this arc, and it was a reminder as to how cute Ronnie and Caitlin were together. I did like Frost's development and how she goes out protecting Caitlin, which was the purpose for which she was born. The weakness during this arc comes from the Iris side story with Sue Dearborn in Coast City. The time sickness story in general isn't great, but this subplot feels a lot like inventing a subplot because they need to give the character something to do. It really adds nothing other than just showing that Iris was being really reckless and basically almost erases someone's mother accidentally. It is nice to see Sue, but it is again a reminder of Ralph being missing and not having been even mentioned for a long time.

The Negative Forces arc in a way is a sequel arc to the Forces arc from season 7. Now I hated The Forces arc, so I was surprised that I ended up liking this arc. For one thing, it helps that Thawne is at the center of it. We get both versions of Thawne, with Matt Lescher and Tom Cavanaugh. The relationship between Barry and Thawne is consistently the strongest adversarial relationship on the show. And it works here as well. One more thing that was a step up is that they did not neuter Barry during this arc. Whereas in season 7 he was completely ineffective against the Forces, here at least he is able to deal some damage. Also, wisely, they realized that they did not have the budget to show Fuerza so we did not get the cringeworthy CGI version and just got the actress instead. We also get the resolution of the resolution of the long gestating John Diggle arc. Now, I know most people hated this because we basically have John rejecting the GL ring, though we never see the ring itself. But John becoming a GL never made sense to me at all given his entire arc on Arrow was about reuniting with his family, and then he got his daughter back after Crisis along with his son. I just didn't see how it made sense that the character would choose to become a space cop after all that. I quite liked the Diggle and Thawne interactions. I also quite liked how we saw some good Barry and Thawne interactions that was almost Hannibal Lecter like when trying to figure out the appearance of Meena Dhawan and Letscher's Thawne. I also liked that we got a genuinely good version of Thawne, which made the scene of Tom Thawne rebirthing after ripping off Letcher Thawne's face all the more effective. It was a cool little body horror moment. The final showdown between Barry and Thawne is also pretty cool, although not long enough, but I liked that Barry becomes so powerful that he doesn't even need to physically fight to eventually beat Thawne. When it comes to weaknesses, the time sickness arc still felt like it victimized Iris. She was basically just a pawn in a game being played by the forces. We again get far too much of Cecile. I don't know how many times we see Cecile telling us what people are feeling but it gets incredibly annoying real fast. Also, because of her pregnancy, Danielle Panabaker is not around much. The show essentially kills off Caitlin offscreen, which is pretty ridiculous but I need to see season 9 to finally make an assessment of how I feel about it.

The interlude episodes are much better than season 7. The Bart and Nora episode is a pretty fun one and we get to see Eddie again. The Goldface episode is also surprisingly enjoyable and we get to see a Barry and Kramer team up episode which works quite well and it goes a long way in helping Kramer become a lot more likable. The Still force episode again brings back Nora. The Barry and Nora interactions are always welcome. They also do a surprisingly good job at giving an entire episode for all character to process their grief over the death of Frost. One of my favorite episodes though is 'the Curious Case of Bartholomew Allen' which again has another stellar performance from Grant. This is also an episode which knows how to use Cecile in a correct manner and shows how the character can be likable.

The season isn't without issues. Like I mentioned, the overuse of Cecile in the wrong way grates. It is very apparent that the show has no idea what to do with Joe at this point. Quite frankly, as much Kramer is an improved character, Joe could have been in her place. There is an appearance of David Singh and his interactions with Joe are nice and allow a little explorations of Joe struggling to adapt to retirement and change. But overall, he just doesn't have enough of a presence in the season. Show struggles on what to do with Iris and 2 episode break late in the season is handled a little awkwardly. We get more of Chester and Allegra and they continue to improve as characters, though their romantic subtext doesn't really do much. I do think that Allegra's episode where she fights off last year's light villains is a lot more effective than last season's solo episode. But you do miss Cisco and Ralph at various stages of the season. This season also goes back to the well of Thawne for 2 of the arcs to get an effective villain. In the end, the individual arcs are enjoyable but they largely rely on some of the effective arcs and characters of the past to get emotional depth.

The performances are strong, with Grant Gustin really leading from the front. While Grant has always been an actor who is great at showing emotion, season 8 he delivered performances where he delivered emotion with a maturity and restraint which showed the maturity of the character and him as a performer. He is excellent throughout but 'The Curious Case of Bartholemew Allen' and 'The Fire Next Time' are two standouts. Danielle Panabaker gets to stretch during the Deathstorm arc as both Frost and Caitlin and she's great. Candice Patton is solid as always as is Jesse L. Martin. As I mentioned, Danielle Nicolet definitely overdoes parts of her performance, but she is fine when in a supportive role. Kayla Compton and Brandon McKnight are both appealing. Tom Cavanaugh is always great as Thawne. Carmen Moore as Kramer is a lot more appealing this season. Tony Curran enjoys hamming it up a little as Despero. Jon Cor gets a much expanded role as Chillblaine. While I still don't like the romance with him and Frost, he's much more tolerable this season. Natalie Dreyfuss, Jessica Parker Kennedy, JWS, Michelle Harrison, Jordan Fisher, Brandon Routh, Chyler Leigh, Javicia Leslie, Cress Williams, Osric Chau, Neal McDonough, Rick Cosnett, Katherine McNamara, Courtney Ford, Susan Walter, David Ramsey, and Rick Cosnett all make welcome appearances during the season. Its definitely a season that felt more packed with guest stars than previous seasons.

Overall, a major step up from season 7. I would give season 8 a 7.5/10. Looking forward to catching up with season 9.