Like my colleague Adam Chitwood, I am the very opposite of a fan ofKevin Smith’s latest feature,Yoga Hosers, which feels like the work of a creative director desperately grasping at random, vaguely provocative ideas to appear relevant, hip, and original. It’s the kind of movie that appeals to the very worst in mad, genre-based filmmaking, straining for a potent emotional reaction rather than expressing anything even remotely personal or intimate about the artist behind the camera. Compared to the director’s best work (Clerks,Mallrats), you wouldn’t even know that the same man was responsible for all three movies.
And yet, as good money and time have been wasted on something likeYoga Hosers, Smith has also quickly made himself known as a reliable, even deft director of television, specifically in his work onThe FlashSeason 2. “The Runaway Dinosaur” was one of the most purely enjoyable episodes ofThe Flashthis past season, and for the first time sinceClerks 2, one could notice Smith’s personality in the structure of the episode, the sense of humor coloring the dialogue, and the general pace of the episode. For thirty-somethings that grew up praisingClerks, it was a moment of tremendous relief, knowing that under all the attempts at horror shocks and overt gross-out humor, there was still a giddy pop-culture-obsessed artist waiting to express his love for comics, movies, and music underneath it all.
That’s why it’s such good news to hear, asDen of Geekreports, that Smith will be returning to direct the seventh episode ofThe FlashSeason 3. There’s no word as to when the episode will air or what will be involved in the episode as of yet, although we do know at this point that this season will deal with the famed Flashpoint storyline. DoG also revealed that Smith has shown interest in directing episodes ofArroworSupergirl, and would specifically like a crack at introducing the villain known as Onomatopoeia into theArrowTV universe. There’s good reason for his interest: he created the character in the run ofArrowcomics that he wrote in the aughts, which is considered one of the best runs of the title in the last few decades. The character is distinctly menacing and even kinda scary in the comics, so here’s hoping Smith gets his chance to show his chops again.
Here’s what Smith said in regards toArrow:
“I know I’m going back toThe Flash, first week of September, to direct episode 7 of season 3. Still haven’t heard anything back fromArrow. You know, I wish, it would be amazing because I would love to write and direct Onomatopoeia in the show. Um, but I know they’re doing – what is it? – Wild Dog this year, as well as Vigilante, so maybe they’re just like ‘we don’t need you’, or whatever. But, at the moment, anyone over there raises a flag; I’m like ‘please, let me in!’ That’d be fun as fuck.”
