Welcome to the DC/CW game Barry Allen. For the last two years Arrow has paved the way for bringing a successful small screen adaptation of a super hero. Sure the WB/CW had Smallville, and it was entertaining, but in this new universe creator Greg Berlanti balances the human nature, and the team behind these shows have taken this to brand new levels. The premiere of The Flash is proof.
After witnessing the death of his mother as a small child, and his father being taken away for that murder, Barry Allen is raised by Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). As a grown up Allen (Grant Gustin) works as a crime scene investigator, but is haunted by his mother’s death; he believes he saw another figure commit the murder.
Allen becomes obsessed with Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) particle accelerator. On the night accelerator is about to be tested, something goes wrong, causing an explosion and Allen to be struck by lightening. 9 months after the lightening strike Allen wakes up in S.T.A.R. Labs, run by Dr. Wells and his team of awkward science geeks Dr. Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes). Allen soon realizes his heart is beating much fast, he suddenly has abs (I’m not complaining), and one other small thing; he has super speed.
The Flash is easily the best premiere of the fall, its clever, has a great cast, action packed, and has heart. I was hesitant about Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, but he pulls off the role nicely. I am an avid comic book reader, but I have never followed The Flash other than issues of the Justice League, and I thought he was great.
One the ways this show will be a success is that explores the opposite spectrum of Arrow. Arrow has always been more about the plausible realistic vigilante, while The Flash will seemingly explore the more super human aspects of the DC world. This was a great start to this series.
Two Great Comic Book Nuggets
1-Having Barry race to Starling City to speak with Oliver (Arrow) about his new -found powers was smart. The line of the night was also, “take your own advice wear a mask.”
*mild spoiler alert*
2-At the end of the episode Dr. Harrison Wells (who is in a wheelchair) enters a secret room, stands up, and accesses a newspaper with a headline ten years in the future that states “Flash Vanishes Missing in Crisis.” For comic book fans this is a possible allusion to the 1980s story arc entitled Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Barry Allen actually dies. Is this happening, maybe, but and this would amp up the DC game.