The Hype
The Flash is doing pretty good so far, but has yet to really wow me. This week we get a sort of crossover with the appearance of Arrow's Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). We also get our first life action appearance of one of my all time favorite secondary villains, Captain Cold, Not to mention some excellent casting with TV veteran Wentworth Miller. I was none too impressed with last weeks episode and may have reviewed it a little unfairly due to my disappointment but I guess every series needs it's lackluster episodes so the good ones can really shine.
The Review
We start with a mice little intro showing ow Berry's life has changed and how hes adapting to his new superhero responsibilities. The introduction of Leonard Snart (Captain Cold) was well done and was accented by an outstanding super speed action sequence. With the temporary name "the streak" and Berry's love interest now investigating and reporting on him It seems like Flash is taking as many pointers from Arrow as it can, and hey, why mess with success.
This episode really stands out to me, there's a certain charm that wasn't present in the preceding entries. It really feels like a comic book come to life. We get a perfect balance between action and story with Berry's personal life really becoming the strong suit of the series. The series seems to really be finding it's footing and going on to bigger and better thing. The inclusion of Felicity added a lot this week and this love triangle (or square if you include Ray Palmer) between Berry, Oliver, and Felicity should come to a very interesting head this season.
Captain Cold was handled perfectly, his costume was grounded and real but still a little reminiscent of the comics. It was great to see him feel like a real threat to the Flash and lead to a very emotional moment with Berry not being fast enough to save one of Cold's victims i'm sure this will have a big effect on the series in the long term. On top of that it turns out that Cisco had invented the "cold gun" that was used against Berry and this made for some very tense moments among the main cast. Obviously im very happy and relieved that Snark wasn't dispatched right away, and as the episode title and cliffhanger introducing Heat Wave suggests, it looks like were building up to
The Rogues.
The action and effects we're absolutely outstanding and i'm very exiting to see where the series goes from here. Although it still had a few stiff moments this episode manages to surpass the premiere and rivals even the best episodes of Arrow. Hopefully The Flash can keep this up as we delve deeper into it's freshmen season.
The Verdict
The best episode in the series so far, and a must watch if your unsure on the series
8.8/10