"Meet Captain Clone."
The Hype
The Flash had a surprisingly good pilot, and I enjoyed it a lot despite my ground level expectations. Arrow still managed to blow it out of the water, but it was good none the less. We're being teased with some big and interesting villains this season, and we all have our fingers crossed that it wont be come campy or overstuffed, so here is Flash's chance to prove if it has legs (heh heh...legs). Sorry.
The Review
The beginning of episode 2 almost played out like a parody of itself. We get some really cheesy voice over from Barrry Allen explaining that he wont use his narration powers to explain everything to us, yet the first 10 minutes are so jam packed with clunky exposition that anyone who hasn't seen the hour long pilot is almost completely caught up. it's like CW thought everyone would pick up the series at episode 2.
Next, we're assaulted with rapid fire speed puns, that we're so frequent and bad I half expected Grant Gustin to just look at the camera and wink. The dialogue was laughable and it feels like they are trying to rush the series into big time superhero business. Now that i got most of my gripes out, I feel I need to clarify this was not a bad episode, It certainly had its moments.
There were some emotional scenes between Allen and his father figure Joe. It was cool to see Multiplex show up, but i wasn't crazy about the actor. Over all he worked very well as a weekly villain and I wish it was more likely for him to return, maybe as part of the rogues? We get a pretty good explanation for all the sudden "Meta Humans" with the particle accelerator explosion, but it's still very frustrating to go from zero super powers, in two seasons of Arrow to seemingly getting a new one every week.
The action and visual effects we're well done, and very pleased to see the series didn't suffer due to the lower budget from the premiere. The resolution was dramatic and satisfying albeit a tad cliche. Towards the end of the episode Barry says something to the effect of "I get it now, That lightening struck all of us". This line and its delivery was so incredible cheesy i almost wanted to turn my TV off. I'll forgive this one Flash, just don't let it happen again. Finally we get great cliffhanger similar to last weeks twist ending that added a lot of mystery to the series and not only excites me for the next episode but the rest of the season as well.
The Verdict
The Flash's second episode definitely had its fair share of flaws, but redeemed itself as a solid episode by the end.
6.8/10