There is a LOT to be excited about with this pilot. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
Arrow, for my money, was the best show on television last year. It's production value, writing, acting, direction, every single aspect was so much higher than anything else I watched that was a full season-length show. And when the Flash show was announced, I was incredibly excited. And when the backdoor pilot introducing Barry Allen, played by the already superhero identity named Grant Gustin, aired in the middle of Arrow, I was sold. He is perfectly cast. And they hid the origin, at least the superheroic part, in the Arrow episodes, which was fantastic! So yeah, I was chomping at the bit waiting. I didn't download the pilot when it was put online early. I wanted to watch it live. And ...
Me. After having watched. And thinking about the next episode maybe! And all the cool stuff and hints and ... oh man, did you see the Grodd sign?! I'm EXCITED!
Ok, so what is the Flash? A crime scene investigator for the Central City police is a young man named Barry. He is a little Sherlockian (maybe, they only did it once, but I think it would be perfectly fine to keep it and do it more during the show) in his ability to analyze the scene of the crime, though he can sometimes jump to conclusions. He is a man who hopes. He hopes that every lead he finds leads to something bigger. He hopes he can help those around him. He hopes he can do MORE. And when the accident happened that seemed to set off a chance reaction in Central City that created Metahumans and sent Barry in a coma, it put him on a new track. He was reborn 9 months later, now the Fastest Man Alive.
The show delves into the true superheroics aspects of a superhero show. Arrow subverts many of those tropes, but Flash immediately uses most of them. Super science, super powers, bright colors, clear good guys and bad guys. Flash has plenty to offer fans as it is a ... ok, I'm going to sidetrack for a second.
During my RPM review, I talked about being too cool and pretending to be dark and serious when in fact you are just using those tones and tropes to hide your silly nonsensical childish and immature writing, characters, plotting, and ideas. Yeah, I didn't like RPM. I wanted to touch on it there, but it was just too big. I also wanted to touch on it in my One Piece review, which is a very opposite show. A cartoon with cartoon logic, tropes, humor, and silliness. But all of that belays the truly mature writing, plotting, and characters within the show. Sometimes, looking mature just hides your garbage. And sometimes, looking immature does the same. But I find that many of the best shows that look silly and immature actually have an amazing strength of writing and maturity. Any book by A. Lee Martinez, the Spectacular Spider-Man, One Piece, the Super Sentai Series that a lot of the Power Rangers are based on.
Flash is a show that looks like it could just be silly fun. But there could be a hidden maturity there. I suspect there will be. Bad news, it doesn't show up in the pilot. The pilot has a lot of good stuff, and some real cheesy stuff. Love interest/friendzone stuff, rushing through the plot to get to the action, having to retell the origin already shown in the Arrow episodes, lots of big paintbrush strokes of plot to set the show up to where it needs to be to begin. I think this show could be amazing. The pilot itself is really really good. I'm a little worried about the writing and some of the acting, but no matter what, I bet the show will be a wild, fantastical superhero ride. I definitely ask everyone give it a chance. I bet you can watch it on the CW's site right now. Watch it, especially on their site or on their app. That let's them know that you watched, and makes them happier to continue to push the show in a good direction.
Hopefully.
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