The Flash Premiers!

The CW launched their expanded universe Tuesday with The Flash, and I think they are going to be very successful.  The pilot had its flaws, but I think it set up the show for success.  Much like Gotham and Arrow, I think this show will get better as it goes.

The show obviously introduces us to Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), and how he becomes the fastest man alive.  He is hit by lightning due to a particle accelerator malfunction.  I don’t know of a more comic-booky origin than that, and then by the end of the show he is wearing the suit and saving lives.

That is the big problem with this pilot, they rushed through it.  They knew that they had to tell an origin story, but they also knew that people are over origin stories, so they kind of just got it over with.  I think it was the right choice because now they are free to tell whatever Flash story they want without him having to decided to be a hero or not.  He can still struggle with it, but he is already wearing the suit, so it will mostly just be introspection.

Grant Gustin did a good job as Barry Allen.  It is not the Barry Allen from the comic books, but he is a good change of pace from other heroes.  He is a geeky happy mix of Peter Parker and Wally West (The Younger Flash), but that works well.  We don’t need any more brooding.  The rest of that cast I am not sure about yet, but that is mostly because of the quick pace of the episode we didn’t get a chance to see what they can do.

I have high hopes for this show, and it has the potential to be very good.  Now that they got this show out of the way I hope they can start cashing in some of that potential.  I will be tuning in every week to see how they are progressing, and for now I recommend you do too.