Although the fate of the DC Cinematic Universe hangs in the balance, the company has a significant presence on the small screen this fall. Following the success of The CW’s Arrow, DC brings to life another of its iconic characters with its latest series The Flash.
The pilot details the journey of the show’s protagonist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) into becoming the Flash, as well as what he does after receiving unbelievable abilities. The audience is introduced to Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and his daughter, Iris (Candice Patton). Viewers see how the West family took Barry in after his mother was murdered.
The pilot is pretty stereotypical and tries to cover many elements quickly, which makes the episode seem fast-paced (pun intended). The writers tried to establish several relationships in a short amount of time, making them less meaningful.
The casting is spot on. At first I thought Gustin was a bit scrawny for the role. Most DC superheroes are built like inverted. triangles. Casting Gustin shows that not every hero is cut from the same mold. Barry’s abilities don’t rely on muscularity, making Gustin the perfect choice.
In the pilot the team from STAR labs helps Barry understand and gauge his abilities, establishing that he can run approximately 700 miles per hour. Although this is impressive, it is nothing compared to the Flash from the comics.
The decision to start Barry off as a weaker Flash makes sense. As the show develops, fans will be able to experience his journey toward becoming a superhero. No hero starts out with their best stats; even the early episodes of Arrow highlighted Oliver Queen’s blunders as he started his vigilante career. Plus the show would be boring if Barry was instantly faster than light.
One major flaw of the premiere is the presence of a stereotypical villain. Condensed to a couple brief scenes, the Weather Wizard is defeated almost as soon as he appears. Arrow has exhibited this problem all too many times, but hopefully this series will improve on this in the future.
During the summer the pilot leaked online, and within minutes, thousands of impatient fans downloaded the footage. The studio did its best to remove the footage, but details about the pilot still circulated the message boards.
This leak very well could have been planned to get an early opinion of the pilot. It allowed the studio to gauge fan reactions months before the official premiere. One issue that fans debated was the costume featured in the pilot. Although it is inspired by the original, not everyone was pleased. In fact, the studio announced after the leak that there would be another costume, supposedly due to fan reaction.
The West family is now biracial to keep in line with the changes from The New 52. One character to keep an eye out for is Wally West, Iris’ nephew. In the comics Wally repeats the accident that caused Barry to gain his abilities so he could help fight crime as Kid Flash. In that particular retelling Barry’s accident involved chemicals and a storm, not a particle accelerator.
Fans of the classic Justice League animated series might notice a few distinct differences between the Flash from the beloved cartoon and his recent adaptation for the small screen. A simple explanation is that they are, in fact, two separate characters.
The real potential behind The Flash is that it creates a shared universe for DC television, which already includes Arrow and potentially other DC shows. A crossover event has already been announced with Arrow, titled “The Brave and the Bold.” The pilot is riddled with Easter eggs for long-time fans, but it doesn’t require any foreknowledge of the characters’ comic book origins for it to be enjoyable.
