The setup for The Messengers is simple. Lucifer crash-lands on Earth, causing a shockwave that kills five people. Those five people are reborn as angels. It’s a superhero show with religious overtones. Heroes Reborn, get it?

The Messengers first calls Lucifer “The Man”. Sadly, The Man isn’t played by “Nature Boy” Ric Flair (wooo!), but Diogo Morgado. It’s a show where one sees the setup from space, which The Man hurtles to Earth from. The Man steals another man’s clothes, and has red glowing eyes on occasion. Yup, The Messengers takes cues from The Terminator.

The Peter character is a put-upon high school student with bully issues and a sucky life. He has no parents. I think this is a deliberate parallel. If it isn’t, then yikes.

The Messengers creator/co-executive producer Eoghan O’Donnell previously wrote for Teen Wolf. Personally, I feel The Messengers’ debut episode wants to get its origin stories over with. The overarching premise – five heroes fight great evil, while struggling to meet an angelic ideal – fits the basic superhero team template. The Messengers’ pilot is serviceable, yet it sometimes veers into self-parody, which isn’t a good sign.

Like Constantine, The Messengers might improve later on. I chalk The Messengers’ initial failure up to a new showrunner with few overall credits. The CW buries The Messengers in a Friday night death slot near the end of the 2014-15 season, so this show needs to get better in a hurry. iZombie has a month on The Messengers, a premise that’s actually fairly durable, and Rob Thomas. I don’t like The Messengers’ chances. I wonder how well The Messengers fares in the ratiOH SHIT!

As for The Flash, I don’t have much to say about it. The show proved its competence long ago. I want an interview with Tom Cavanagh, though. The Flash won’t be the same without him and Jesse L. Martin (Detective Joe West). If only Arrow hit the ground running (that’s not a Flash-based pun. SHUT UP) in its first season.

Live-tweet sessions:

The Flash (2014) 1.19 (“Who Is Harrison Wells?”)
The Messengers 1.1 (“Awakening”)

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