Well, another week, and another fantastic episode of "The Flash," currently my favorite comic book TV series period----and that covers alot of ground from the other DC shows and Marvel's "Agents Of Shield." Why do I think this show is so fantastic compared to other comic shows out today? Well, just read on.
First and foremost, it's so refreshing to have an upbeat series based on a superhero. While the dark tone works well with both "Arrow," and "Gotham," there's only so much gloom you can have in a genre. It's nice to spice things up and be a little different once in a while. Most of the main characters are interesting in their own way, and you get to see fun, human sides to them when they're not having to stop the latest meta-human. Grant Gustin plays a very likeable Barry Allen, finding that great middle ground between nerd and douchebag. The best parts of the show for me are any scenes between Barry and Detective Joe West, played by Jessie L Martin. They have a great father/son relationship (with Barry's real father in prison), and West has the most human reactions to everything superhuman that happens on the show. It's also nice knowing that he shares Barry's secret, and can help him out even more at work as a forensic scientist.
Second, and just as important as the first reason: this is a SUPERHERO show in every sense of the word. From the outfit, to all the meta-human power displays, references to other comic book characters, even down to the main character's name finally being uttered on the show, this program is completely proud of what it is. As much as I enjoyed parts of "Smallville," having names like "the blur" and "the streak" just made me grit my teeth a little. Even some of the metahuman (and non-metahuman) villains have been translated well for television. While I'm not familiar with alot of The Flash's villains, I was very impressed with their version of Captain Cold. They found ways to use both his name, and his parka outfit without making him look silly. It also helps that the actor who played him, Wentworth Miller, did a bang-up job. And how could I forget that this new Flash's imprisoned dad is played by John Wesley Shipp, who portrayed the scarlet speedster in the original CBS series back in 1990? It's great seeing him again, and he's aged well.
So here's to many more episodes and seasons of this exciting series. It's been a long time since I've watched a program that left me wanting more every time it ended, but it's so nice to have that feeling again.