The Flash - The Flash Is Born - Review

Another episode of The Flash, another one-dimensional villain. 'The Flash Is Born' debuted yet another generically evil villain that normally it would have left me concerned. However, with the amount of other material that occured during this episode I'm actual thankful for it this time. The overall story moved forward and we finally got some development for a character that really needed it.

Let's start by talking about the bad, namely Girder. There was an attempt to give Girder a more direct connection to Barry and build up that rivalry from an early stage, however it felt so much like a stereotypical TV show bully that it left me bored and uninterested. Last week had me far more interested in Plastique and her situation, but this didn't grab me. Enough foundation was placed however that if/when Girder does return they can actually build from this, but I would have liked something more to keep me hungry for a future appearance.

Another aspect I took issue with was Barry revealing his identity to Girder. Straight up...WHY?! Barry is meant to be intelligent and now he's given away his secret identity. Not only does he put Iris in worse danger should Girder escape, but now the others in his personal life become prime targets if/when Girder does escape.

An issue that I constantly see raised with Arrow is in regards to how bad Oliver is with keeping his secret. I was hoping the writers would have learnt their lesson since then, but apparently not. I really hope this is just a one off and potentially can be used to help Barry grow (keep that identity secret Barry!), but it still really concerns me.

Anyway moving on from the whole Barry/Girder scenario, Eddie Thawne finally had something to do! After weeks of just being...there, he finally got to develop a bit. The writers seem to be making it a point to build up that Barry/Eddie friendship after the events the befell Barry and Iris in past weeks. I personally look forward to seeing how the friendship grows further and what will eventually happen between them.

In regards to Iris too, I was happy to see that she can take care of herself (to a non-powered extent). She still feels like Chloe meets Lois Lane to me but at least she's making strides each episode to becoming the women she will one day be. My current concern with the character however is that it feels like they are opening the door to Iris being a damsel in distress with her blog putting her in harms way.

I did like hearing her drop a reference to 'The Burning Man' though and I hope the writers continue to have Iris drop these tidbits about other DC characters. Even if they don't end up appearing, these small comments do expand the world and open up a realm of possibilities.

Something else I was happy to see realized...Barry finally got his superhero name! This isn't Smallville with 10 years of 'The Red-Blue-Blur' or Arrow with many variations of 'The Vigilante', 'The Hood' and more. Barry IS 'The Flash'.

However I'm starting to get concerned with how quickly Barry is developing his powers. I really enjoy seeing Barry grow and learn with his new-found abilities but if he gets them all during the first season then he wont have any new powers to develop. I'm not normally one for a slow burn but in this case I actually think it would work better if Barry slowly discovered and developed his powers. There's a sense of enjoyment to watching characters grow and improve over time, but part of that will all be lost if Barry near reaches his peak by the end of the first season.

Moving on, Harrison Wells is getting much more mysterious each week. Jesse L. Martin and Tom Cavanagh play off each other really well and I hope to see more interaction between the two. That said, Harrison is reaching the point where he is becoming unpredictable. Was Joe right in regards to his suspicions on Harrison?

Also did anyone else really enjoy Joe teaching Barry how to box? It's such a small scene but it carries such power and such a humanizing element that it really stood out to me. Joe (and potentially Eddie) carry the humanizing ties for the show and so far, Jesse L. Martin is really able to pull it off.

Lastly, the Yellow Streak strikes again! Did anyone else jump in their seats when he/it growled at the screen? It's starting to seem more and more like Harrison is in fact the Yellow Streak, but are we being led astray? Who do you think it was? Have your thoughts changed since the first episode? Because I know mine have!

Overall Feelings:
While Girder was underwhelming and overall boring, the focus on Eddie and the overarching storyline really moved things forward. Seeing the Yellow Streak again was also an unexpected surprise and I'm really itching to find out who he/it is!

About the Author - Christopher DeBono

Australian Student. Addicted to TV, novels, comics and all things video games.

Watches everything on The CW and many Australian shows.

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