Tag Archives: author: kevin o’shea

[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×07: “Power Outage”

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Bethany and Kevin are simply shocked at the content of this week’s episode. Dim the lights and check the time, because it’s time to take a look at CW’s The Flash.

BETHANY

Do you ever run into a situation where something you normally can do fairly well…and then suddenly you can’t anymore? It can be anything – you try to stand up after sitting in the wrong position for too long and your legs just won’t work right. For me, it’s whistling. When I got dentures, I had to relearn to do everything with my mouth. Chewing, biting, talking – I had to figure out where my new teeth were, and I still can’t whistle. It’s a kind of dumb thing to miss, and I was never particularly good at it, but it’s still something I can’t do anymore. (I still try because I’m stubborn.)

It’s easy to take certain things about ourselves, our abilities, for granted, and it’s really hard when those abilities fail us. When you reach for that tool in the toolbox and find yourself grasping air.

Barry Allen hasn’t had his powers for very long, but they have already become part of who he is, and how he identifies himself. We know how he reacts when he’s just not quite fast enough, what happens when he’s not fast at all?

As usual, spoilers under the cut.

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[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×06: “The Flash Is Born”

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This week, Kevin and Bethany are going old school. Put on some heavy metal for this one, because we’re taking a look at CW’s The Flash.

KEVIN

What do we remember the most about our childhoods? There are the exceptionally good moments that stand out – fun trips, close friends, memorable holidays – but usually those fade with time. I can remember with absolute clarity certain birthday presents, and a couple fun moments of a trip to the Wisconsin Dells1, but the rest are sort of a mishmash of scattered faces and songs and scenes that I can pick out with a minor amount of effort.

Stronger than that, however, are the bad memories. Broken bones, family difficulties. A lot of these are specific to the individual, but one thing that a majority of children have in common are the neighborhood and/or school bullies.

I don’t remember most of the people I went to school with, aside from a handful of friends (some of whom I still keep in contact with), but I can still describe the biggest bullies on our block with forensic detail.

Some things stick with you. Some things are hard to leave behind.

The episode may be old, but spoiler warnings are still in full effect after the cut.

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[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×04: “Going Rogue”

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Kevin and Bethany take a well-deserved prison break to talk about their new favorite show. Chill out and stick around for a while, ’cause we’re taking a look at CW’s The Flash.

This week, Barry and his team take on a new, more dangerous villain than they have faced so far, and an old friend from Barry’s (relatively recent past) comes to visit him in Central City.

Spoilers abound under the cut.

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[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×03: “Things You Can’t Outrun”

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Is it just me or is it getting a bit misty in here? Lock up your emotions tight, ’cause we’re taking a look at CW’s The Flash.

KEVIN

Barry Allen has a complicated relationship with the law, his fathers, and how the law interacts with his fathers. Jailbird Dad was arrested and incarcerated by Cop Dad, but then Barry was given powers by Science Dad1 and uses it in a way that makes both Jailbird Dad and Cop Dad proud of him, and then the skies turn red and the Crisis of Infinite Dads begins.

(The Flash Season One: The Flashpoint Pair-o-dads)

Hope you had a lovely Father’s Day, readers. Or, in Barry’s case, Fathers’ Day.2 I’ve had a tumultuous few weeks, which is why this episode is so late, but I’m back – and I’m not alone! Joining me in these Flash reviews is our friend Bethany, who will join us a little further down the post.

The episode may be old, but spoiler warnings are still in full effect after the cut.

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[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×02: “Fastest Man Alive”

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This week’s episode has Kevin beside himself with delight. Kick back and get yourself something filling, ’cause we’re taking a look at CW’s The Flash.

Last week’s post was more recappy and less analytical than I was originally intending. But that’s sort of the problem with first episodes – regardless of the usage of origin stories, there’s just way too much world-building and exposition that needs to happen before we get to the real dynamics.

But with the setup out of the way, it’s time to get down to business – which is something that Barry Allen fully agrees with, based on the opening narration of this week’s episode.

BARRY: “This is the part where I’m supposed to do the whole intro thingy. Barry Allen, Fastest Man Alive, but you know all that already. All right, let’s get to the good stuff.”

Far be it from me to argue with the protagonist.

The episode may be old, but spoiler warnings are still in full effect after the cut.

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[Review] The Flash (2014) – 1×01: “Pilot”

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Lightning may not have given him abs, but Kevin is here to talk about his new favorite show. Strap yourselves into your Cosmic Treadmills, ’cause we’re taking a look at CW’s The Flash.

I’ll start out by saying that I don’t really keep up with Arrow. I had seen a couple episodes before this, and I’ve gone back and watched the Flash crossover episodes (and then I went back to some of the rest on Netflix afterwards), but I have trouble really getting into it. It’s dark and melodramatic and I’m sure it’s very good, but it hasn’t been holding my interest nearly as much as it could be.

(I’ll probably watch it anyway, though. At some point.)

I also do not really read that many comics, not like some of the ladies here1 do. All I know about the Flash comes from the animated Bruce Timmverse (which is Wally West), Young Justice2 (which has all four Flashes at one point), the 1990 series that I used to watch with my mom, and a couple of friends who are really into speedsters so I’ve picked some stuff up from proximity.

(I also am caught up with the series, as well – as of this writing, the most recent episode was 2×23, “The Race of His Life”, so until my writing catches up with the airing, this is a rewatch, rather than a first-watch review.)

But! Anyway. Let’s talk about a show that’s been on for two years, but I’m only now3 starting to get into it. Let’s talk The Flash.

The episode may be old, but spoiler warnings are still in full effect after the cut.

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[News] Take The Fire From My Hand

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Hey, I’m bored. Want to start a podcast? I think it would be a lot of fun.

When Dayna and I started Made of Fail six years ago, we had no idea it would become what it is now. We recorded the first episode on my laptop, sitting on her living room floor, an audio splitter plugged into the microphone port so we could both use our gaming headsets. We didn’t do any editing, just immediately uploaded the finished show to LiveJournal so that our friends could download and listen to it.

Our first guests were our friends and family. Our first episodes were scattered and unfocused, as neither of us really knew what we were doing, but we learned as we went. We got better. We took advice. And through it all, we made new friends, gained new family.

Through it all, we’ve always maintained that This Should Be Fun. And to make sure it stays fun, we’ve made some changes over the years. We brought Devin on board as our dedicated audio editor, and he very quickly rose to the occasion. I retired from hosting three years ago in pursuit of my own projects, and George filled the role splendidly. The show has remained important to all of us, and we’ve always strived to keep it fun for you, our listeners.

This winter, we have another exciting change for all of you. Following our next episode, we’ll be passing the reins of the flagship podcast to new hosts. Fret not, for they’ve been part of the Made of Fail family almost since it began, and neither Dayna nor I could leave it in more capable hands.

Cleolinda Jones is a blogger and recapper that many of you may have known longer than we have. Emily Whitten has been all over fandom and has the con badges to show for it. We’re thrilled to have them on board, and we’ll be making the transition as smooth as possible for them.

Dayna will be taking my role as Executive Producer, and will be handling more of the back-end production duties, to leave Cleo and Emily free to make Made of Fail uniquely theirs.

As for me? I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be around anywhere you can find me – I just won’t be in charge anymore. And for that matter, I haven’t been for quite some time; the show has largely been self-sufficient, and I couldn’t possibly leave it in better hands.

The end of an era is always swiftly followed by the start of a new one, and I know I’m looking forward to see what happens as Made of Fail finds its way through the future.

We may be completely finished with Twilight…

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…to everyone’s relief. But still, though it was a grueling experience, there has been a lot of fun along the way. And as Cleolinda has said of herself, we’ve gotten way too much mileage out of the series as a whole to really begrudge it any more than we currently already do.

That’s why, for archival purposes, here is every episode we’ve done on Twilight. This does not account for every mention of the series, however, because for the longest stretch of time, Dayna mentioned it at least once per episode.

How It’s Made (Of Fail) – Star Trek: Galilea, Episode Five

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I do tend to get a lot of questions on how to set up podcasts and similar projects – it is, after all, why I made the podcasting tutorial that I’m proud to say still gets a lot of shares today – and with the positive feedback I’ve been getting for Star Trek: Galilea, I figured I’d go over the process of creating an episode!

The first step is the Writers’ Room Meetings. As I do not write Galilea on my own, I have multiple writer’s meetings with Noel, Alina, and Adam every month to make sure we’re on the same page in terms of not only the episode we’re working on, but the season as a whole.
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