Flash TV pilot
So the Flash TV pilot has leaked online. I was going to wait until October to watch it because I bet the show creators are pretty angry about the leak, but EVERYBODY was spoiling it and I feared having the whole thing ruined by October anyway (as it was, I heard some pretty major spoilers in advance. Kind of annoying).
Anyway, the episode is not without its flaws, but I really enjoyed it and am definitely hyped for the rest of the series.
Spoilers behind a cut.
Everybody knew that Clyde Mardon appeared in the pilot and has weather-controlling powers, but there are in fact two Mardon brothers -- the other doesn't appear except in a photo, but is obviously Mark. Clyde is seemingly killed at the end of the episode, which paves the way for Mark to appear.
Clyde has metahuman powers, having gotten them from the same particle accelerator accident which gave Barry his powers. I'm guessing Mark will be the same. And most if not all the Rogues probably will have meta powers (rather than tech) too, as the episode indicates there are likely other people out there with new powers.
I wasn't all that happy with Clyde's southern accent, which doesn't really work for me. The actor is Canadian (I follow the guy on Twitter, he's pretty cool), so it's not his natural accent.
Fred Chyre dies, which annoys me. I wanted Morillo and Chyre to appear together.
Gorilla Grodd does not appear but his existence is very strongly implied, so he'll doubtlessly show up at some point.
There's a Gambi reference, which was already known about because Geoff Johns posted a photo on Twitter.
Reverse Flash appears in the flashback we already saw in the 5-minute series promo. Nothing new there.
Cisco Ramon is much less annoying than in his appearances on Arrow, which is a relief. I couldn't stand him on Arrow.
So far I think Iris and Caitlin (the only female characters so far, aside from Barry's dead mom) are the weakest points of the episode, unfortunately. I don't know whether the issue is the actors or the characters, but I hope they get better. Certainly it's not unusual for early episodes to have kinks to work out and actors needing to grow into their characters.
So far Iris' dad is one of my favourite characters (I'm a sucker for geeky Barry as well), and one of the strongest actors.
Barry's dad is played by John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry in the '90s Flash TV series. I bet nothing makes him feel older than playing his former character's dad. I personally wish Henry Allen looked more like he did during pre-Crisis Flash comics, but also recognize that ship has long since sailed and Henry canonically hasn't looked like that in a while.
Speaking of looks, it obviously isn't a deal-breaker for me that Barry has brown hair instead of blond, but I really wish they'd dyed his hair or something.
The big reveal is Harrison Wells -- he may be good and he may be bad, but he's leaning towards bad and is definitely lying to everyone. He's either from the future or has access to information from the future, which suggests he may actually be the Reverse Flash rather than Eddie Thawne. And he has a newspaper from 2024 which states that the Flash disappeared during a "Crisis" and also mentions red skies. Dun-dun-dun-duuuuun.
(The actor who plays Wells, Tom Cavanagh, appeared in a series of famous Canadian beer commercials during the early '90s. I know the guy starred in Ed, but I never watched that and all I keeping thinking of the Labatt's guy when I see him :> He's very good as Wells, though.)
Some bits of dialogue sucked every now and then (the line about twerking was pretty awful), and I hope the scriptwriters tighten up a bit.
Interestingly, the series doesn't really try to hide its Vancouver shooting locale, which is funny. I've been to some of the places that are visible :> Also, those mountains are not quite Kansas-Missouri -- although maybe Central City is located somewhere else in the series.
Anyway! The episode was very promising and I have great hopes for the rest of it.
Anyway, the episode is not without its flaws, but I really enjoyed it and am definitely hyped for the rest of the series.
Spoilers behind a cut.
Everybody knew that Clyde Mardon appeared in the pilot and has weather-controlling powers, but there are in fact two Mardon brothers -- the other doesn't appear except in a photo, but is obviously Mark. Clyde is seemingly killed at the end of the episode, which paves the way for Mark to appear.
Clyde has metahuman powers, having gotten them from the same particle accelerator accident which gave Barry his powers. I'm guessing Mark will be the same. And most if not all the Rogues probably will have meta powers (rather than tech) too, as the episode indicates there are likely other people out there with new powers.
I wasn't all that happy with Clyde's southern accent, which doesn't really work for me. The actor is Canadian (I follow the guy on Twitter, he's pretty cool), so it's not his natural accent.
Fred Chyre dies, which annoys me. I wanted Morillo and Chyre to appear together.
Gorilla Grodd does not appear but his existence is very strongly implied, so he'll doubtlessly show up at some point.
There's a Gambi reference, which was already known about because Geoff Johns posted a photo on Twitter.
Reverse Flash appears in the flashback we already saw in the 5-minute series promo. Nothing new there.
Cisco Ramon is much less annoying than in his appearances on Arrow, which is a relief. I couldn't stand him on Arrow.
So far I think Iris and Caitlin (the only female characters so far, aside from Barry's dead mom) are the weakest points of the episode, unfortunately. I don't know whether the issue is the actors or the characters, but I hope they get better. Certainly it's not unusual for early episodes to have kinks to work out and actors needing to grow into their characters.
So far Iris' dad is one of my favourite characters (I'm a sucker for geeky Barry as well), and one of the strongest actors.
Barry's dad is played by John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry in the '90s Flash TV series. I bet nothing makes him feel older than playing his former character's dad. I personally wish Henry Allen looked more like he did during pre-Crisis Flash comics, but also recognize that ship has long since sailed and Henry canonically hasn't looked like that in a while.
Speaking of looks, it obviously isn't a deal-breaker for me that Barry has brown hair instead of blond, but I really wish they'd dyed his hair or something.
The big reveal is Harrison Wells -- he may be good and he may be bad, but he's leaning towards bad and is definitely lying to everyone. He's either from the future or has access to information from the future, which suggests he may actually be the Reverse Flash rather than Eddie Thawne. And he has a newspaper from 2024 which states that the Flash disappeared during a "Crisis" and also mentions red skies. Dun-dun-dun-duuuuun.
(The actor who plays Wells, Tom Cavanagh, appeared in a series of famous Canadian beer commercials during the early '90s. I know the guy starred in Ed, but I never watched that and all I keeping thinking of the Labatt's guy when I see him :> He's very good as Wells, though.)
Some bits of dialogue sucked every now and then (the line about twerking was pretty awful), and I hope the scriptwriters tighten up a bit.
Interestingly, the series doesn't really try to hide its Vancouver shooting locale, which is funny. I've been to some of the places that are visible :> Also, those mountains are not quite Kansas-Missouri -- although maybe Central City is located somewhere else in the series.
Anyway! The episode was very promising and I have great hopes for the rest of it.