{"id":1843,"date":"2015-06-10T12:44:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T16:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2015-06-10T12:44:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T16:44:16","slug":"the-flash-runs-away-with-tv-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/the-flash-runs-away-with-tv-greatness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flash Runs Away With TV Greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Channel Chaser! I\u2019ve been dying to do it for a while, but now that the season is over I can finally address it knowing everything I need to know. That\u2019s right: today I\u2019ll be talking about the CW\u2019s newest super-powered hit, The Flash<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\"TheFlash\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure anyone who knows even a little about comics doesn\u2019t really need to know the backstory of The Flash<\/em>, but for the benefit of those who don\u2019t, I\u2019ll do my best to keep it short. After his mother is murdered under mysterious circumstances during his childhood and his father unjustly arrested for it, Barry Allen grows up to be a shy, awkward, but normally happy-go-lucky forensic analyst for the Central City Police Department. But when a particle accelerator catastrophe puts him in a coma, he awakens to find that he can run at incredible speeds and has become \u201cthe fastest man alive.\u201d Teaming up with a support crew of scientists at Star Labs and a few of his in-the-know co-workers at the police department, Barry decides to use his new powers to take the streets and fight crime as the speedy superhero the Flash\u2026including a number of new villains who have gained powers of their own.<\/p>\n

First of all, if it\u2019s not already clear, I am completely and totally in love with The Flash<\/em>. The speedster has always been one of my favorite superheroes, and I\u2019m thrilled that such an awesome character was finally given his own show. It makes a great contrast and compliment to its parent show Arrow<\/em>, the series that started the CW\u2019s superhero universe. While Arrow<\/em> will always have a special place in my heart, and its dark and gritty overtones have made it incredibly intense and exciting to watch, I honestly believe that The Flash<\/em> has proven to be a better show even with just one season.<\/p>\n

In regards to the overall plot, Arrow<\/em> started a bit slow and took a while to pick up. The Flash<\/em> started moving at breakneck speed, and never once stopped to look back\u2013and I\u2019m not just talking about the lack of flashbacks, which is totally fine with me. I suppose some people could accuse the show of not really taking enough time to establish itself and give exposition, but there was already enough of that through Arrow<\/em>\u2019s introduction to Barry in my opinion. As a result, we get right into the action while boring explanations are kept to a minimum. As a veteran fan of all things sci-fi, I was also delighted with how the show gradually introduced a time-travel element into the plot, and a mystery surrounding both Barry\u2019s future and the motivations of Harrison Wells. While it\u2019s true that many of us probably saw the reveal of Wells as Reverse-Flash coming, the writers did a superb job in weaving it into the story organically and not just coming out and saying it.<\/p>\n

\"FlashWells\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For devotees of The Flash<\/em> in the comics, the show is also jam-packed with references, places, and characters that are iconic in the literature, from Captain Cold and the rest of the slowly forming Rogues to Gorilla Grodd, the aforementioned Reverse-Flash, heroes like Firestorm, and the other meta-humans that plague The Flash along the way. It\u2019s true that in some ways, The Flash<\/em>\u2019s first season was very monster-of-the-week in style as Barry fights a different super-powered villain in pretty much every episode, but in this case I think it actually helped keep things moving rather than hindered the plot at all. Each individual story was interwoven with the larger story of Wells and Barry so well that it never felt like there was really a stand-alone, filler kind of episode.<\/p>\n

I also enjoy The Flash<\/em> because it reminds me in some ways of Doctor Who<\/em>: the same sense of unparalleled adventure and fun, the joyous cheesiness, and the anarchic energy as it races along do a great job of pulling the audience into the story. Yes, that\u2019s right, I said cheesy. But while The Flash<\/em> is obviously a bit more bubblegum and sunshine that its parent show Arrow<\/em>, I think it\u2019s nice to see a superhero show come along once in a while that doesn\u2019t have to take itself too seriously and can just be straight-up fun. On that note, a Doctor Who<\/em> crossover with The Flash<\/em> would be amazing: it would never happen, but it would definitely be amazing. And with the direction the show is going in now with apparently the creation of multiple universes and travel through time, it seems The Flash<\/em> really is poised to become the new Doctor Who<\/em> of superhero shows, in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

\"FlashCold\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The characters also augment the sense of fun that is omnipresent in The Flash<\/em>, and great acting never hurts either. While I had my doubts initially about Grant Gustin as a leading man from his brief stint on Arrow<\/em>, he\u2019s really matured over the course of the show to becoming a more adult and responsible person, all while staying the just really cool guy he was before he got powers. It\u2019s refreshing to see a genuinely nice guy get to be a superhero for once rather than just some brooding, guilty playboy billionaires. Cisco and Caitlin are great partners and friends for Barry and each other, acting like a brother and sister for him much of the time.<\/p>\n

And of course Tom Cavanagh knocks it out of the park with Harrison Wells. Here\u2019s that best kind of villain who not only is understandable, but even likeable. Despite his undoubtedly evil deeds, it\u2019s clear that Wells actually cares for Barry and the other characters and has often provided sound, wise advice that has helped Barry mature into the hero he is now. I was pretty disappointed when Wells was killed off at the end of this season, but with all this multiple timelines stuff going on, I highly doubt we\u2019ve seen the last of the Reverse-Flash, especially seeing as he\u2019s The Flash\u2019s arch-nemesis.<\/p>\n

If the show has one weak point, it\u2019s probably Iris West. I feel like it\u2019s not Candice Patton\u2019s fault that Iris is sort of one-dimensional, but the writing so far hasn\u2019t really made me want to care about her, and she\u2019s really only here to be a love interest and motivation for Barry. She does, however, make a very good meta-point about how heroes shouldn\u2019t lie and hide their identities from the people they care about on the basis of keeping them safe. Seriously, when will these people learn the really tired clich\u00e9 of \u201cignorance is safety\u201d just doesn\u2019t work? If you don\u2019t believe it after watching it bite Barry week after week in The Flash<\/em>, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll ever be convinced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My Rating: 4.5\/5<\/h3>\n

I really wanted to give this a perfect score, but I\u2019m forced to admit that The Flash<\/em> isn\u2019t perfect, while it does come pretty close. Despite a few weaker characters, a bit of cheese, and a touch of annoying naivety once in a while (yes, I\u2019m looking at you, Barry. Did you really think you could make deals with the bad guys?), The Flash<\/em> is an incredible joyride that brings the zip back to the superhero genre: an epic, fantastical feeling that I think is sadly lacking in a lot of fiction today. The sole purpose of this show is to give people a good time watching it, and it most definitely succeeds. I for one can\u2019t wait to see Barry keep on running, and I hope he never stops.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Channel Chaser is written by Kyle Robertson. You can check out more of his work on his\u00a0<\/span>website<\/a>. Check back every Wednesday\u00a0for new articles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Channel Chaser! I\u2019ve been dying to do it for a while, but now that the season is over I can finally address it knowing everything I need to know. That\u2019s right: today I\u2019ll be talking about the CW\u2019s newest super-powered hit, The Flash! I\u2019m sure anyone who knows even a little about [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions\/1845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}