The Flash Mid-Season Review

The Flash, DC's second series to enter their expanding CW universe and much like Arrow, The Flash is off to an excellent start.

After witnessing his mother being murdered by a strange yellow lightning as a child, Barry Allen's father is wrongly imprisoned, and Barry is then taken in by Detective Joe West and his family. Years later, Allen becomes a criminal investigator working with Detective West in the Central City Police Department. When a failed science experiment exposed Central City and its inhabitants to an unknown radiation, Barry is also struck by lightning, which puts him in a coma for months and when he wakes up, he has incredible speed.

Plot: 7.5/10- Much like Arrow, most episodes of The Flash features moments of really poor writing among great overall content. The overall storylines are a lot of fun and manage to capture the superhero vibe sorely missing from DC's films. 

Tonally, the series is almost always fun, but still containing heart, another thing missing from the films. Most episodes consist of Barry battling new super villains with an over arching plot being hinted at throughout the series, and thus far, it works. However, the biggest flaw is how absurdly overpowered The Flash's powers are compared to normal crooks. While battling more superpowered foes, there are rarely any issues, but since he can go faster than the speed of sound and is shown to almost stop time, why can't he easily grab the gun out of the villain's hand before anyone realizes it? It is an annoyance that is a common occurrence.

Characterization: 8.7/10- The Flash's best aspect is the characters. Barry Allen, aka The Flash, is a very likable guy. Instead of the dark and brooding archetype DC has seemed to trademark in their films, Barry is almost like Marvel's heroes in the sense that he does not hate having powers or complain about it. 

Detective Joe West is the man who essentially adopted Barry when Barry’s father was sent to prison and the bond between Barry and Joe is a very well executed surrogate father-figure. Since he knows of Barry's secret identity from early on in the series, there are no annoying "Just tell him already!" moment, and Joe actually works with Berry to stop the bad guys, so their dynamic works. 

Iris West is Joe's daughter and Barry's romantic interest. Barry's unrequited love towards Iris is nothing original, but it is effective enough in the series. 

Dr. Harrison Wells, Cisco Ramon, and Dr. Caitlin Snow are Barry's support-team of geniuses that provide Barry with tech and other help. So far, the series has done some interesting things with the characters, and it makes me interested to know where the series is going next with them.

The biggest problem with the characters is the villains, who range from not bad to painfully corny. However, they are rarely a big enough issue to drag down the series.

Action: 7.7/10- Since The Flash's powers are not particularly conducive to stunning action sequences, the action is nowhere near the quality of Arrow, but it is still entertaining to watch.

Acting: 7.9/10- Grant Gustin's performance is a large part as to why Barry is such a likable character, and I doubt anyone else could have done a better job for a TV salary. The rest of the main cast is generally good with some of the villains being decent to bad at times.

Special effects: 8.5/10- For network television, the FXs look very convincing most of the time. Of course, there are moments when the effects are rather mediocre, but as a whole, they are surprisingly high quality for television.

Humor: 8.3/10- As expected with a series about The Flash, there is some great moments of humor throughout, especially how Barry uses his powers for everyday tasks.

Entertainment Value: 8.7/10- The series is just fun almost all of the time. It delivers weekly superhero fun and adventure, while not going campy or comical. 

Overall: 8.5/10- About halfway into the series, The Flash is a very fun and entertaining series with very likable characters. If you enjoy superhero stories, The Flash and Arrow should be towards the top of your watch-list!

Update: After reading some of the comments, maybe my opinion of the series is not clear enough because I am absolutely love this series. It is so fun and one of the highlights every week. For a first season, it is easily one of the best, and my rating of 8.5/10 is incredibly high for a first season. To compare, Arrow's first season received an 8.1/10 and that was great television. The Flash is already in my Top 3 Shows on Television right now.

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