FLASH LEVELS UP [Why The Flash part 6 of 5]

  

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I’m not one to watch things in a timely fashion.  Family (being a father and a husband) and writing come first.  And reading, that’s ahead of watching TV and movies.  This means I am rarely “in the loop” with what’s happening.  But the launch of Daredevil on Netflix spurred me to go back and catch up on some recent Flash episodes. 

Okay, let’s backtrack.  [apologies: wordy bitch ahead]

The rush of adulation for Daredevil on Netflix, at least in my little corner of the internet, has been overwhelming.  Marvel does it again!  That hallway fight scene is the best in a decade!  I can’t wait for more!  Got the character right!  And, according to some (okay, one person), Daredevil is the best show since “The Wire.”  Yes, I heard that on a podcast I enjoy listening to.  I watched the first episode.  It took me four nights.  And I was not engaged to watch anymore after that.  Nothing against the creators—I think they did a fine job translating the grim ‘n gritty Daredevil to television, though there were some campy-feeling moments, particularly with the brooooaaaaadddd villains.  These are not nuanced characters, ala The Wire.  But it’s a comic book adaptation, we don’t need nuance.  Anyway.  I’m not here to hate on the thing.  It is well done, and it is “real.”  But it’s not what I want in my superheroes right now.  Grim ‘n gritty is fine, but remember, there are other tones and palettes available to you as a creator. 

Which brings me to the CW’s Flash. 

I watched the first four episodes and enjoyed them, but as I state above, my time is limited and I fell off that train.  [full disclosure time, if you didn’t know this, the Flash is my favorite all-time  superhero].  But I read about the Flash’s recent travails and travels through time, and that piqued my interest.  Then all of this gushing over DD, and my lack of interest in it, got me to casting my eye back across the spectrum to the Flash.  So, I dove back in with those time travel episodes:  “Out of Time” and “Rogue Time.” 

Wow!  They leveled up with these two episodes.  I’m impressed with how much of the comic book mythology the creators and the network have been willing to include in this series.  We have the rogues, with their crazy costumes and powers, a villain from the future secretly hiding in their midst, the promise (possibly) of other lesser-known superheroes like Firestorm and Vibe, and now we finally see the Flash manage to go back in time.  This is some fun stuff ß emphasis on “FUN.” 

“Out of Time”
I loved this episode.  The way things played out did not feel forced at all.  The threat of Mark Mardon [the Weather Wizard “been waitin’ to use that since week one”], the investigation into Harrison Wells at Iris’s newspaper, the devastation wreaked by Mardon, the death of Cisco at Wells’s hand, it all held my interest, and the pain suffered by Joe West and Captain Singh felt real.  Then, when we got to the end and Barry had to stop the tidal wave by running back and forth so fast that he would create a wind that would dissipate the wave’s energy and he ended up rushing through a wormhole to twenty-four hours in the past—that was pretty great.  But the best moment of the entire episode, for me, was when he revealed his heroic identity to Iris. That moment hit me right in the gut.  His line [paraphrased] “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this,” and the reaction shot as Barry quick-changed and rushed to save the city…beautiful. 

“Rogue Time”

So, now that Barry has rushed back, a day into the past, he feels he must try to head off all the destruction he knows is coming.  He throws Mark Mardon into the “prison” they’ve set up at S.T.A.R. Labs and figures all is good.  Dr. Wells warns him that time will find a way to set things right.  And he is correct.  Heat Wave and Captain Cold return, bringing along Leonard Snart’s little sister, who becomes the Golden Glider—or a replica thereof as she’s not properly named in this episode and does not come with ice skates as her counterpart did in the comics.  And things do not go well.  Barry manages to save many from the physical harm they encountered the last time he ran through this day, but he is not safe from the emotional fallout of restating his affection for Iris—who admitted her own love for him when her father’s life and the lives of all of Central City were at stake the “previous day” but did not feel similarly in this renewed day.  It’s an interesting look at the consequences of mucking with the timeline, in this reality, as well as a fix for the death of Cisco and other bits of collateral damage from the previous episode that works perfectly in this context.  Oh, and we get Captain Cold and Heat Wave with new guns, thanks to their kidnapping of Cisco, along with the Golden Glider’s gun as well.  And the Rogues Gallery gets named.  Yeah, I’m geeking out.  But this show is so damn fun. 

The difference between Flash and Daredevil comes down to the tone of the show, really.  And right now, I’m looking for something other than what has become the default for many, many superhero comics of the past couple decades.  I love how bright this show is, how ebullient a character Barry Allen is.  There are still serious things happening, but it’s all coated with the wonder and excitement of a superhero comic book.  And that, to me, makes all the difference in the world.