The Flash (2014 Pilot)

Zoom! I mean Flash!

In today's world where the internet is the largest spoiler bucket we have at the touch of our fingers, The Flash Pilot, as expected, would leak some time near the official air date in October. However, the pilot leaked online earlier than expected, and since then, everyone’s been trying to get a glimpse of what DC's greatest superhero to not have his own movie so far looks like on the smaller screen.

There are a lot of talking points, regarding the shows structure and characters, and a lot of discussion has been going on regarding the effects that will go into making Flash’s running sequences look great. Well the effects are great, you can rest assured. A lot of thought seems to have gone into how Barry will look when he’s zipping around at hazardous speeds.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead! GTFOD if you don't wanna spoil the fun! 

The plot itself seemed rushed to me, with the creators trying to cover so many aspects of the story within the 45 minutes. So, let's take a quick look at what happened after the credits rolled:

1. Barry Allen dealing with his new powers and coming to terms with it (very quickly I might add but, since He's the fastest man alive, it adds up)

 
2. His back story before the lightning, along with some mystery to his mother death (Actually, if read comic books you will know what happened and what will happen in the not so distant future) If DC Comics did one thing good when they rebooted their universe into the "New 52 Universe", it definitely was the Flashpoint saga and the CW guys are aware of that, so expect huge surprises in the near future.

3. The supporting cast is introduced very quickly, and at this point they all seem like very weak characters with the exception of Barry's dad (played by the original series Flash, John Wesley Shipp) and detective Joe West (friend of the family who aided Barry after he lost his mother in the most Flashpoint scene possible) Hopefully this will be polished in later episodes, otherwise the show will suck badly.

4. The formation of the team that supports Barry on his crusade positively reminds you of the original 90s Flash Star Labs team. 

5. Taking down his very first bad guy with ease, you know Flash is super extra powerful and we actually, graphically see that happen and that is a good thing, aren't you tired of seeing the hero's journey being told over and over again?

6. Hell, they even made time for Oliver Queen’s arrow to throw Barry some advice "The lightning bolt chose You" and the superhero cliche "Wear a mask".

7. Like Arrow and Smallville, the series is filmed in Beautiful British Columbia, specifically in my city, gorgeous Vancouver.  You'd  be surprised to find out how many films and series have been filmed here. Don't believe me? check This list for movies and here for television series.

The Past will change the future.

Barry Allen on the job.

CW checked every formulaic element in the checklist with this pilot, from setting up potential episodic challenges for our hero and his new team to face every week, to a couple of underlying mysteries from Barry’s troubled past, and also secrets within the team itself. For sure, this TV show will give true comic book fans what they've been looking for for years. Definitely, this will be nothing like the ultimate piece of cock sucking crap Smallville was.

It really does feel like a case of running before you can walk, which is extremely ironic. They could easily have spent the pilot familiarizing the audience with the characters, and closing it out with Barry realizing what has happened to him, or even have Barry go up against some small time thug. Instead it seems more mechanical. The characters seem to be ‘in the way’ things that the producers wanted to get out of the way to get to the ‘fun stuff’.

And this is sad, because they’ve managed to assemble a great cast here. The acting is all around much better than Arrow, which let’s be honest, has cringe worthy acting ever so often. Grant Gustin is great in character, and far surpasses Stephen Amell's acting chops(fitness is another story). I already feel like I am going to enjoy watching this tea m more than Arrow’s, which is a huge plus point for the show.

The necessary cop sidekick.

Barry Allen meets the friend zone.

Sure, Seeing Barry suit up, and fight his first baddie (apparently the Weather Wizard) is great, and the climax is fitting, with some real scale to it as well. But I can’t help but wish there was more to it however, this is a pilot and there will be more for sure, so all we gotta do is to control our cravings and perhaps, re-watching the original 90's Flash series which was really really cool and still ranks amongst my all time favorites.

I’m certain we’re going to see a lot of fun moments in the coming episodes with Barry training and becoming adept with his powers, and that’s one thing to definitely look forward to. I’m also looking forward to seeing Barry interact with his team more, the chemistry between them looks great, and they seem to play off each other really well. In addition, the plot teases Flash's fans with some really interesting Easter eggs pointing out future appearances of super villains not only from the Flash universe but also, from the DC universe so we definitely want to see more of this new CW project.

One thing I particularly didn't enjoy that much was that Barry Allen's character looks and feels too young compared to the source material. Perhaps, the approach producers chose to take was to make Barry Allen more like his younger counterpart Wally West. Anyways, I'm getting old and the industry knows they need to appeal to younger audiences in order to succeed. Nevertheless, John Wesley Shipp's impersonation is (up to this point at least) way better as it depicts a more mature, self assured hero. 

Thank god this is a CGI explosion 'case we love BC Place.

Getting ready to kick some ass.

Given the familiarity the show has to its elder brother, this is that part where I inevitably compare Flash to Arrow, so here goes:

Everything that felt fresh about Arrow when it debuted, feels derivative here. The producers seemed to have adopted the approach that worked for Arrow too closely while creating Flash, which could lead to Flash seeming more like a spin off, or even a remake of sorts of Arrow. The elevator pitch for the show seems to have been “ ….Arrow, but lighter, with much better acting”.

I really hope that going forward the approach is markedly different, because where Oliver Queen’s Arrow has an array of weapons and skills at his disposal; Barry’s Flash is more like a one trick pony. Sure his speed itself sets up many interesting scenarios, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing Barry outrun sound, and who knows, maybe even touch light speeds on the show, but the onus is on the show runners to keep audiences interested like the original 90's Flash did for one excellent season, with an array of super criminals and excellent acting, plus a mind bending score composed by Danny Elfman.

The newly up to date Flash suit.

Gotta be faster!

Consider in contrast, a show like ‘Gotham’ set to debut later this year as well. Audiences are excited to see the origins of so many characters that they’ve come to know over the years. That itself is enough to keep audiences engaged for a few weeks at least. With Flash though, the next few episodes are going to play a very important role in determining whether audiences are going to be invested in the new set of characters here, or if they are content with ones they are already familiar with in Arrow. Fortunately, since the producers chose to tease us with the Flashpoint story arc plus the meta human incident we will for sure enjoy a great show that will finally put the Flash in the place he deserves because, he is truly an amazing comic book character that I urge film makers to do justice. Arrow & Gotham will never have the chance of doing as good as this show will.

Here's the pilot trailer:

And as a bonus a behind the scenes teaser: