The Flash Series Premiere Review: “City Of Heroes” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Perhaps the best thing about The Flash though is the man behind Barry Allen: Grant Gustin. By all accounts Gustin was just another teenage drama actor thrown into a genre series, but I would argue that he’s almost too good for television. Barry’s likability is almost palpable, and Gustin’s performance perfectly captures Barry’s geek and hero side. It helps that Barry is himself when suited up as the Flash, and not playing up some false sense of toughness. He’s simply having fun with the powers he’s been granted, which in turn makes watching him go from zero to hero that much more enthralling.

Gustin is surrounded by a strong supporting cast as well, who are all given well-rounded and interesting characters to play. Most pilots stumble with introducing and fleshing out characters in a short amount of time, but already The Flash has given us a group of characters to actually care about and who all have interesting and meaningful contributions to the surrounding events.

Iris West (Candice Patton) is not just an unrequited love interest for Barry, she’s the independent daughter of Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). Joe is himself more than your run-of-the-mill detective who finds out about Barry’s secret far earlier than I ever anticipated, which immediately makes the rest of his arc this season more exciting.

Then, of course, there’s Rick Cosnett as pretty boy detective Eddie Thawne, who by all accounts may become one of the Flash’s biggest adversaries, Professor Zoom a.k.a. Reverse-Flash, and John Wesley Shipp, who plays Barry’s father Henry and once played Barry himself on the 1990s Flash series. Both are strong, interesting side characters we’re already wanting to know more about.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Chad Rook, who plays Weather Wizard and took time to sit down for an interview with me earlier this week. He’s great as the series’ first villain and I like that they kept his fate ambiguous. Next stop, the Rogues?

I could go on and on about how much I loved The Flash pilot, but I think you get the idea. It perfectly conveyed the things we love most about the scarlet speedster, while placing him firmly in Arrow‘s universe. Yet, despite the connections, the two shows feel like they can exist independently of one another and are in no way hindered by their shared universe (see: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.LD.)

In the end, only three words can express my excitement to see The Flash on television: “Run, Barry, RUN!”