THE FLASH: SERIES 1

My name is Barry Allen and I’m the fastest man alive.

To be honest, I never really intended to watch The Flash. My rule was, that if the DC movies one day inter-twine with the TV shows, I’ll watch them. But then a friend recommended it so I gave it a go. It took a while to get into it, and I’ve got a feeling the second half of the series might be worth watching the first half.

The Flash tells the story of Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who gets struck by lightning, given special powers and becomes the hero known as The Flash. He goes around stopping other ‘Meta Humans’ like himself, in other words people in the same particle accelerator-related accident he was. Some have electric powers, some have explodey powers and some turn into Colossus from X-Men. While they make a good episode, the big bad of the series is The Reverse Flash. Don’t get fooled by the utterly stupid name. He’s pretty awesome. He’s also not a particularly nice guy. Bascially, he's The Flash's nemesis from the future, who comes back in time to kill Barry as a child. Nothing goes to plan, and...the rest unravells over the series. I will say this, his yellow suit looks awesome.

I didn’t really get into properly until episode nine, where The Flash and Reverse Flash first come face to face. The two speedsters going at each other made for the best episode I had seen at that point and hooked me to stay around. I’ve got so much catching up to do until I reach series two. And even when I do get there, that’s already under way.

Episode structure is very similar to Supergirl. Yes, I know this came out first, but I watched Supergirl first, so screw you. There’s a bad guy, police can’t stop the bad guy, Flash loses the first part of the fight, then wins the second part. You seriously have to question why he doesn’t win first try every time, seeing as he can go about seven-hundred miles an hour. Y’know, like how Supergirl can get beaten down, despite the fact she’s as powerful as a god. These shows over-look a lot.

There are characters in the show that annoyed me from the off, namely Cisco. Most of his ‘funny’ moments are really cringy, and I’ve come to the conclusion he’s only around to name the villains. Apart from that, the characters are actually really well done. I really like the fact that the guy who played Flash in the 90’s series plays Flash’s dad in this one. There’s no connection made between the two, but I think it’s just a really nice nod to a guy who does a great job of playing Barry’s innocent but imprisoned Father.

I have to say, the weakest episode for me was the crossover with the other guy. If nothing else, it just confirmed to me that his show isn’t the show for me. Basically, Flash gets Jedi mind tricked and turns evil for a few minutes and starts throwing punches at Robin Hood. Not actually Robin Hood, but close enough.

The best moments in the series, Y’know, that aren’t to do with superhero stuff, are the moments between Barry and his kind of foster father Joe. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re sad. They’re the kind of moments you might expect from Alfred and Bruce, just with a few more speed related jokes.

On one final note about the series overall, the final four or five episodes are utterly brilliant. The finale in particular, which sees Barry access the Speedforce to travel back in time, is one of the best TV episodes I've ever watched. The black-hole cliffhanger at the end is clearly meant to be the highlight of the episode, but for me, Barry's final goodbye with his dying Mother was far more powerful. Plus, Y'know, you get to see the Speedforce.

On the whole, Series 1 of The Flash, while it definately took time to get going, was a really good watch. Lots of nods to DC lore, great story arcs, a brilliant villain and an utterly epic finale make for a great take on a great character, and from what I've seen of Series 2, things are only going to get better.

8-9/10

Can we all just appreciate the fact that Mark Hamill says the words “I am your Father” in this series.