The Flash Pilot Review: "Whipflash"

 

With The Flash television show leaking online before the air date, we wanted to cover the show regardless of whether or not it was legal to do so. If you want to know whether or not to tune in during the initial debut October 7th the answer is yes. We said the following in the last paragraph of this spoiler-free review excerpt: “This is one of if not the best pilots that I have ever seen in the context of a superhero television show. It is refreshing to watch something that is completely confident in being humorous and able to really bet on itself. Those that can divorce themselves from the image of dark superheroes should really take a look at what The Flash has to offer.”

So without further ado, here is our *SPOILER* filled review of The Flash pilot.

Gustin's voice over starts off the first episode. He has a fun aside, even if the initial voice-over is a little bit cheesy. The dialogue towards the beginning is slightly too on the nose which looks even less inspired with a scene between the younger version of Allen and his dad.

The hero does not expect his mom to disappear and die so soon after the initial disappearance. The Reverse-Flash makes a lovely first appearance The several policeman fit stereotypes well enough with suitable acting. Barry Allen is always late to his job, the shtick is wonderfully executed.

The tires inched with symmetrical thread text appearing across the screen works very well in context, hopefully this will be explored deeper into subsequent episodes, as it is just a tiny throwaway moment here.

Barry is a forensic scientist working at the Central City Police Department, which works well in the context of the show, and is already strong pre-established material. I would be remiss without mentioning the fact that our hero seems to have Dexter’s job.

 

The new version of Iris is electric on the screen, and is just cheesy enough to play off of Gustin’s lovely performance. This show needs to take enough risks, but retain the very fun tone that it has already been hinting at. Unfortunately, the opening Iris scene and the full setup of the storyline falls into the CW cheese camp.

Love the Shelby Motors references; this gives the show some interesting humor.

The Iris & Barry chemistry is not working at the moment, hopefully this will not continue anytime soon, as the relationship needs to be established a little better.

As pointed out by Mark Waid on Twitter, Tom Cavanagh is fun as Harrison Wells. The character has a really strong arc that bleeds through the full hour.

The dissertation reasoning for Ms. West being so upset about the laptop is filled with plot holes and annoyances. In 2014 somebody must have access to Google Docs. 

Allen is starting to get his powers, but there seems to be more sinister machinations at foot, more on that later. The scene where he gets struck with lightning is very active and enjoyable in the context of The Flash as opposed to Arrow. Although, it worked for me in both contexts.

For the sake of the plot, we head into a nine month time skip. We open up in Star Labs, exactly as we should. Allen has been in a coma for all that time. Cisco Ramone and Dr. Snow are both very fun members of the supporting case that play off each other like they have filmed dozens of episodes already. If you liked their appearance during Arrow, there is a lot to love here.

 

 

The particle accelerator went online for 45 minutes and an anomaly from the engine created a storm cloud via a lightning bolt that struck Barry. His heartbeat sped up considerably, so did everything else. Comic Book science everybody!

The moment where Allen reunites with Iris is touching.

we get the first glimpse of the speed force at work with Barry seeing time slow down. A mysterious villain summons a storm cloud at a local bank that he plans to rob.

This could be the Weather Wizard at work.

An arrested man draws a policeman's gun at the danger of another officer; Barry stops him just in time. He immediately gets a smile on his face after he learns how his powers work. The show gambles on a lighter tone, and it works exceedingly well. The initial testing costume from the laboratory is silly in just the right way.

We learn that Dr. Snow’s fiancés just died and her career went up in flames after following the scientist.

The speed force is in lovely display, covering the flashes of red and black zipping across the screen. Barry starts to see glimpses of the Reverse-Flash when he runs too fast. These moments are so lovingly implemented into the new origin of The Flash. Hopefully the team will get a chance to streamline the origin of the Reverse-Flash in order to make his motivations more nuanced than the typical “I hate Barry Allen for no reason” mentality.

The Police catch the Weather Wizard briefly. The mentioning of Iron Heights is also quite wonderful on that same note. The Wizard’s initial smoke appearance is a creepy moment that burns into Clyde Martin’s plot thread, and is added to the overall aspects of the plot to enhance the situation.

The particle accelerator explosion also introduced other metahumans to Keystone City.

The Flash meets up with Arrow at the back half of the initial pilot which shows off the announcement of what was happening at the original moments of the voice over towards the beginning. The two of them have a really strong scene together showing off the acting chops of both of them. Ollie tells Barry to be better than he is; this is another really strong brutally honest moment.

Cisco has been working on the suit filled with lots of futuristic scientific technology enabling him to create The Flash suit.

The two cops from before find Martin, who is revealed to be the Weather Wizard.  His slightly comical demeanor ushers in a worthy adversary of Allen. Every Time Martin is onscreen his gusto makes him at least seem like a tough opponent.

He races a tornado in order to disarm the Wizard; it’s pretty freakin’ cool and silly at the same time. The effects are quite good considering the budget and limited time that the team had for the pilot.

Wells, who created the particle accelerator in the first place, finally accepts Barry being a hero. The entire team has a quiet moment where they all share their success. The Detective West’s moment with Barry in the suit is another wonderful touch.

Barry takes a moment to go see his Dad, as if the episode couldn’t end on a better emotional note. All the soap opera elements condensed into this show work so well.

Cisco comes up with The Flash emblem.  What will he come up with next?

The episode loops into the narrative at the beginning.

There is one last tease towards the back half of the episode showing the secrets that Wells is keeping from the rest of the team.

We get our first glimpse of what could possibly be the origin of the Reverse Flash.

This is one of, if not the best pilots that I have ever seen in the context of a superhero television show. It is refreshing to watch something that is completely confident in being humorous and able to really bet on itself. Those that can divorce themselves from the image of dark superheroes should really take a look at what The Flash has to offer.

The Flash pilot gets a 9 out of 10 for functioning like a great serialized television show establishing itself so wonderfully in the span of only one episode.