It's been more than 20 years since The Flash, "the fastest man alive," was actually on television. I remember snippets of the previous show. Mainly, the hero's bulked-up muscular suit and the odd-looking special effects. The television landscape has changed since then. The fastest man alive is now a part of a universe that can be integrated (in fact, the crux of the episode's plot is a conversation between Barry Allen and Oliver Queen as the Arrow) and used at any time.



The Flash benefits from this synergy in giving weight to Allen's origin story. Like the usual pilot episodes, the story is the very beginning of the main character's journey. So there has to be the requisite setups of the character types and the relationships. There's very little time devoted to the actual thrust of the main plot, which is focused on making Barry the new hero of Central City.


Watching the whole episode, there seems to be a conscious effort from everyone involved to bring a levity and certain level of corniness to the dialogue in particular to everything. This is to distinguish it from Arrow, which is darker, grittier, and more melodramatic. If many can compare Arrow's tone to the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight movie trilogy, then I would offer the comparison of The Flash to the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. The beats are somewhat similar. Barry Allen is the nerdy outcast as a forensic analyst for the Central City Police Department who gets struck by a bolt of lightning created from an explosion of the STAR Labs particle accelerator. The lightning strike electrified Allen's cells to allow him to run at near-supersonic land speeds.



Like Peter Parker in the movie, he has the requisite love interest that he regularly pines for in Iris West (who becomes his future wife in the comics) and a surrogate parental figure in Iris' father Joe. Allen spends some time discovering what his powers are (which are basically limited to just running very fast) and battling any of the bad guys that are in Central City. The show at least fills out more of its world with the introduction of Harrison Wells, former CEO of STAR Labs and primary person responsible for what happened with the particle accelerator. He fills the classic mentor figure for Barry. The sidekick roles come in the form of Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon. Both of those characters along with Barry were introduced in the show's backdoor pilot episode from the previous season of Arrow ("The Scientist").




The supporting characters are what make the pilot episode better than what can be put in the plot description. Barry Allen is rather vanilla despite enormous efforts to have him stand out. He witnesses the death of his mother and mourns the fact that his father (played, in a rather inspired form of casting, by John Wesley Shipp, who was Barry Allen in the prior TV version of The Flash) is in jail. That feels like the usual family tragedy stuff to put in a hero's origin story. Caitlin and Ramon add some much-needed humor to the proceedings, especially when they work with Barry to figure out his strengths and weaknesses while donning the (sleeker, streamlined) suit and using his powers. Harrison Wells is the classic tortured figure in that he feels responsible for the particle accelerator explosion and the resulting mess that came from that event. Barry is Wells' guilt personified so that bonds them in his responsibility to guide the youngster through this trauma. Joe West is a stern substitute father figure for Barry.


There's a sense that he both loves and resents the fact that he has to play that role for Barry. If Henry Allen gets released from prison, there could be issues that crop up down the line. I think fans will have a love-hate relationship with Iris. Her role as the principal love interest for Barry could potentially be like the beginnings of Smallville and the Lana Lang character. There's chemistry present between Barry and Iris, but that doesn't last very long after Barry gets struck by lightning and is left in a nine month-long coma. The fact that she moves on to "Detective Pretty Boy" so quickly can be seen as an easy ploy to put an obstacle between the two main characters. That can only last for so long, although the writers could certainly take their cues from what is being done over at Arrow with Laurel and Oliver.




I like this first episode. It has its dramatic moments, but very few. Mostly, it's lots of fun. I think that's crucial because comic book movies and TV shows need that if it's a suitable tone. For a TV show, it's especially necessary because viewers are invested for the long haul. I'm genuinely surprised that I do like this because I had doubts that it could match Arrow in terms of quality. A lot of that has to do with my impressions of "The Scientist" episode of Arrow (which was mediocre in terms of story and awkward in introducing these characters) and the suspicion that Grant Gustin is little more than a handsome face playing superhero. That criticism was levied at Stephen Amell for Arrow and that show was allowed to develop into possibly the best superhero show currently on television.

The Flash deserves time to get to that same level. The show has a lot of things going for it so that alleviates many of my concerns. There's even the suggestion of a larger world out there with the Easter egg mentions of Ferris Air in both shows, for example. That's an indicator that we could see the Green Lantern at a later time. If the writers can get a good handle on things, it might be a very exciting ride.