Jessie Robertson reviews the first episode of the new season of The Flash…
Well, Summer’s over and it’s back to Central City for another season of The Flash– try to keep up it’s going to be a wild ride! And Again- like last season- these reviews are spoiler-heavy so here’s your season long warning: SPOILER ALERT!
Everything you loved about Season One is spread out in this opening episode, the action, the amazing effects, the family thread weaved through every episode and yes, the teasers! Six months after the “Singularity” Central City has officially anointed The Flash as their super-hero and throw a city-wide celebration for him. Barry is having mixed feelings because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only hero involved in keeping Central City a great tourist destination- Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein, if you missed Season 1) played a huge role in reversing the catastrophe but Barry was only able to save Stein. Barry becomes brooding, but in reality he’s just very sad and disappointed that no matter how many people he saved, the one he couldn’t (Two if you count Eddie) weigh on him heavily. This idea and the whole “Flash Day” are intrinsically linked the the Flash comic series as two huge motifs that I’m glad to see the series weave in so seamlessly. Because, honestly, SO MUCH happened in Season One, but the show picks up in full stride very seamlessly as Season 2 opens.
In Barry’s sad funk, he’s disbanded the team; but when a guy (played by former WWE star Adam “Edge” Copeland) in a leather suit and mask shows up during Flash Day looking to fight The Flash, the team (led by Iris) gives it to Barry straight; this is their city too and they are going to fight for it and he’s going to help them. We saw a much longer drawn out version of this idea in Arrow last season, but Barry’s a much more reasonable guy so it only took a few butt-whippings from Atom Smasher (named by Stein, Cisco-approved) to make him see the error in his judgment. Atom Smasher absorbs radiation and grows in size and strength, so they laced him up with more than he can handle and he presumably died…….(will finish this thought later)
To close out our opener, Barry receives Harrison Wells last will and testament- a video diary entry. In it, he relates that if he’s dead, all he did was for naught and taped a confession to the murder of Nora Allen in a pretty damn shocking turn of events. The confession freed Henry and a huge reunion was indulged in, only for Henry to give Barry some tough love and leave town, letting him know he’ll always be there for him but he can’t be his son right now when the city still so badly needs a hero. We see where Barry gets that selflessness from.
The Flash is back and moving not quite warp speed yet but they left us some tasty nuggets to chew on as the season moves forward and honestly, I can’t wait. It tags every single base to get the show back at his usual top speed without lingering to long on any one person (besides Barry). I felt Iris got short-changed but i’m sure there’s much more to come on what she’s going through. Chime in the comments and let me know what you liked and didn’t like from the season opener and see you next week!
Other Notes:
– Cisco Quote of the Week: Was going to be the line about how people last year waltzed in and out of Star Labs like it was nothing but Iris repeated exactly the same line right before we met Jay Garrick!!!!! Not just his helmet (and apparently he’s a photog-enthuisast!) but I think it’s “Fear the Beard” exclaimed when he saw Captain Singh’s new look.
– Dream Sequence with cool superhero team up battle!- Not fair Kreisberg, not fair
– Jesse L. Martin (Joe West) was a standout last year for his human, natural moments and he’s in top form again- the quick moment with Iris at the Police station and with young Barry were both sentimental and warm.
– Besides Atom Smasher (……..whispering the name Zoom (giddy comic-fan boy geek out)) he was pretty lame- he’s literally at one point waiting in his apartment for Flash to signal to come fight
– And Zoom!!!!!
OVERVIEW: 8.5/10 – Fun, light and action packed while still keying in on the core elements that make this show so darn likeable- mind-blowing effects, familial ties and light humor; we forgive deep characterization in season openers.
Jessie Robertson
Originally published October 7, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
