Review by CJ

Director:
David Nutter, Jesse Warn, Glen Winter, Dermott Downs, Millicent Shelton, Larry Shaw, Ralph Hemecker, Nick Copus, John F. Showalter, Rob Hardy, Steve Surjik, Thor Freudenthal, John Behring, Kevin Tancharoen, Wendey Stanzler, Steve Shill, Doug Aarniokoski

Starring:
Grant Gustin, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin, Rick Cosnett

Other notable appearances:
John Wesley Shipp, Stephen Amell, William Sadler, Robbie Amell, Anthony Carrigan, Wentworth Miller, Emily Bett Rickards, David Ramsey, Amanda Pays, Victor Garber, Matt Letscher, Mark Hamill, Brandon Routh, Emily Kinney, Peyton List

Running time:
42-44 minutes per episode

Number of episodes:
23

When S.T.A.R. Labs has a catastrophic particle accelerator accident, forensic scientist Barry Allen (Gustin) is working in his lab. Nine months later, Barry wakes up to discover he has developed super speed and healing abilities. With the help of S.T.A.R. Labs’ Harrison Wells (Cavanagh), Caitlin Snow (Panabaker) and Cisco Ramon (Valdes), Barry starts using his powers to stop crime in his hometown, Central City. Team Flash quickly realises that Barry was not the only person affected by the particle accelerator explosion as meta-human villains start to emerge from the woodworks.

I loved the first season of The Flash as a great start to what will hopefully become an even greater series. There is a fair amount of set-up — how Barry got his powers, who everyone is, their stories etc — which does weaken the season overall, but I feel this is the case for most network television shows in their first season. The cast are getting to know each other and their characters. Uninitiated viewers need to be introduced to these characters and fans need to be introduced to this incarnation of beloved characters. The writers and directors are still trying to get a feel for everything. Even the networks involved don’t yet know how much money to throw at the shows.

Because The Flash is similar to Arrow in that it is a bit over the top, the acting can be a bit over dramatic. It’s not quite on the same level of soap operas but there is some definite overacting.

I find most of the characters in season one of The Flash to be incredibly likeable. This is despite the fact that so many of them make painfully stupid decisions and overreact to things they themselves have done only a couple of episodes ago.

The one exception I have found so far to the characters being likeable is Iris West. I’m not at the ‘wanting her to be eaten by a zombie’ stage yet, but I do find her to be quite grating.

I love the crossover episodes between The Flash and Arrow. Any episode with Emily Bett Rickards’ Felicity Smoak is awesome. The dynamic between Gustin’s Flash and Amell’s Arrow is very fun to watch.

Equally enjoyable are the episodes in which Wentworth Miller portrays Captain Cold who quickly became my favourite villain in the series. The ice-cold way in which Miller portrays the chilling personality of the Arrowverse’s Captain Cold is very cool. (Not even sorry.)

I enjoyed the tried and true story format used in season one of The Flash. One main plot line that extends throughout the first season with a ‘monster of the week’ to battle each episode. Sometimes the monsters reappeared and sometimes they were new but they were usually entertaining with only a couple of weak links in the 23 episodes.

Despite enjoying most aspects of The Flash in season one, I found that it felt like a very long season. I could only watch a few episodes at a time before needing a break. An entire 23 episodes season, while more bang for your buck, can start to require padding out in order to fill. In the case of The Flash this padding came in the form of long D&Ms (deep and meaningful conversations) and countless apologies for fairly minor slights. To be fair though, there was also a lot of amusing and witty banter.

Season one of The Flash is a fun superhero TV show that has started off well. I suspect it will mainly appeal to fans of The Flash from the comic books, various Justice League cartoon series or films. Also suitable for viewers who love their action shows with a lot of cheese, a hint of the absurd, a bit of silliness and a lot of science defying heroics.

Rating:

“You were struck by lightning, dude.”
“What? Lightning gave me abs?”