So Arrow ended about 5 minutes ago and “wow”. Grant Gustin is definitely growing on me as Barry Allen and the show is amping up the tension with this Mid-Season Finale. Definitely ended on a very interesting and high note.
Luckily in this second part of the introduction of Barry Allen they managed to tone down the more heavy-handed elements of his character. Barry is still noticeably fanboyish and geeky but he has thankfully stopped mentioning it so much. Definitely still getting a bit of a Peter Parker vibe especially with his science geek mentality and inventiveness. Now I’m not saying that this isn’t a core element of Barry’s character either but coupled with the brown hair he really invites the comparison.
Still excellent episode and a show that has yet to disappoint me. Beyond this point be SPOILERS, so tread lightly.
****SPOILERS****
So we open after Barry has been kidnapped and brought to the Arrow Cave by Felicity and Diggle to save Oliver. If you remember Oliver was stabbed with two syringes of an unknown substance at the end of the last episode and Oliver looks to be close to death. Barry leaps into action and actually acts pretty fast when it comes down to it. He theorizes that Oliver has been injected with a substance that is acting as a micro-coagulant or…something and Barry uses rat poison as a blood thinner to save Oliver from certain death. After Oliver comes through he is none too grateful at first for Felicity and Diggle compromising his identity and argues back and forth with Felicity over it. Barry rebuffs Oliver for treating Felicity poorly and then assures Ollie that he has nothing to worry about.
Later when we see Barry again he is hanging with Felicity and Diggle and still marveling at all the stuff that Oliver has created and built up. He rattles off Oliver’s Rogue’s Gallery (confirming that he has definitely been keeping up with Oliver’s exploits) in a fanboyish manner. There is a great moment where Barry flat out asks Oliver why he doesn’t wear more of a mask than grease paint. Oliver says something about a mask limiting his vision and Barry, after suggesting compressible micro-fabric, says he will work on something.
The rest of the times we see Barry he is testing Oliver’s blood to see if all of the rat poison is out of his system (or something) and he is also working on a special project that is later on revealed to be a new micro-fabric mask (which we got a glimpse of last month).
Barry returns to Central City just in time to catch the Star Labs particle accelerator being turned on. He calls Felicity from his lab to let her know that if she ever gets over Oliver Queen that he is definitely interested and says something cheesy about not being slow. He hangs up and we not only get a good look at his lab but we also get to see the particle accelerator activate and explode in the background. A shockwave hits the lab creating a kind of null-gravity field and then particle accelerator-fueled lightning blasts through the roof striking Barry and sending him flying into chemicals. Awesome!
I can’t say that I was blown away (nyuk, nyuk) by this episode of Arrow but the parts with Barry were pretty solid and well…at this point any speedster on TV is a good speedster. I’m definitely warming up to Grant Gustin and his portrayal of the Scarlet Speedster, no matter how Peter Parker-like he may be. He definitely still strikes me as more of a Peter than a Barry but for now it works.Especially since I’m sure they want him around for a while. Plus the show hasn’t even officially began; that is when we will really see Barry come into his own.
***END SPOILERS***
So what did you all think of the full introduction to Barry Allen? Any further thoughts on Grant Gustin? Please let us know in the comments below.
I always saw Flash as sort of the Peter Parker of the DCU anyway, so Gustin’s portrayal actually pleased me.
I was VERY critical of both his appearance and his first few lines, but he grew on me rally quickly.
If they keep it humorous and he shows me he can quip with some authority and confidence? I’ll be happy to have him stick around.
PS: I’m notoriously easy to please. I love most things and hate very little.
Nope.
This is not working out for me at all. Grant Gustin is not Barry Allen or any of the men who have been The Flash. He’s Peter Parker. Barry has always been bookish and straight laced. But awkward and dweeby? No. He’s always been more confident and stable. I hope that when they get ready for the film treatment they hue closer to the historical Barry Allen from the book.
I thought he was more a Shaggy than a Peter or Barry. He seemed to be right at home in the mystery machine, trying to figure out who killed his mom. Just needed a large sandwhich and a “geez, Scoob.”
I’ll take any speedster, though.
Nice, that when I saw the news reporter, from Central City, I asked myself, I wonder if that’s Linda Park? Later in the episode, it was confirmed. Can you say Wally West, anyone?
Yeah I was pretty psyched until I realized that if Linda Park is already a news reporter then she is going to be pretty old in relation to the future/possible Wally West. Not that Linda wasn’t older than Wally in the comics, but not nearly by as much.
That lightening scene made me really happy. it was brilliantly done.
This young dude, hes no John Wesley Shipp though.
Fantastic episode. Loved the intro to The Flash. Can’t wait to see more.
I liked Gustin as Barry Allen in this episode. I hope he does well in the show and wish him the best.
Also caught Linda Park on tv! That was awesome to see! But at the same time I don’t really get how they can keep Linda Park as she is in the comics (tv reporter, etc) but have to go and change Iris West (I can always hope they’ll change their minds but whatever). Eh well…still cool to see though.
Good episode, overall. 🙂
It’s quite simple really. The upper management at DC, for some reason, despises everything about Wally West and all his fans and are doing everything in their power to make sure that not only do we never get to see our favorite red-headed, green-eyed Flash ever again (in any form), they’re also going to give Barry his love-interest, wife…just to rub it in our (the Wally fans) faces that “yeah, Wally COULD easily exist in the new52, and would have been EASILY integrated into the TV-series as well, but instead we re-structured the West family in a way that makes them having a red-headed nephew pretty much physically impossible and also decided to give Wally’s wife (and probably villains and supporting cast) to Barry Parker.”
I don’t know if anyone can tell, but I hated this episode. It wasn’t a bad episode, but it just kind of showed me that the direction their going with the Flash series isn’t one that I’ll enjoy. I also got another slap in the face for being a fan of Wally…and I’m getting pretty sick of that. I don’t like being slapped in the face.
Sorry…that should be “the direction THEY’RE going”.
(You know. “Rage typing”)
It’s not that they hate Wally. It’s the fact that the “powers that be” at DC and in Hollyweird are older, like I am. There’s an entire generation that grew up with Barry as the Flash, and he was in that role for almost 30 years. Wally was the Flash for a little over 20 years, so it’s natural that the older folks want to see Barry. Wally will have a comeback, once your generation is running things. Wait and see.
I would feel better about that if DC/Warner Bros hadn’t waited so long to do another live-action take on the Flash that they completely skipped Wally.
Oh I completely understand the age factor and totally respect the decision to make Barry THE Flash again. But why is Bart Kid Flash in the New 52, when Wally was The Kid Flash for the 30 years Barry was Flash (and Bart hadn’t even been created yet)? Why is the TV show looking to set up Linda Park (Wally’s girl) as Barry’s love interest, when Iris is apparently going to also be part of the show and Linda ALSO was created specifically for Wally?
At this point theyve gone beyond just reinstating Barry as the main Flash. They’re rewriting the Flash mythosas if Wally had never existed aand its a total slap in the face to all us Wally fans who just want to see him included in some way (preferably, some way better than just a civilian individual who gets murdered in an else world captain cold spinoff).
Realistically, I’m not even a wally or a Barry fan, I’m just a Flash fan, but if you want to focus on Barry then focus on Barry and the characters that were involved with him…don’t rewrite Barry to be Wally & Barry and just sweep Wally under a rug. That’s just disrespectful
“Why is the TV show looking to set up Linda Park (Wally’s girl) as Barry’s love interest”
Wait. Has there been any word on this, or are you jumping to that conclusion from the fact that she appeared at all?
No I’m not jumping to conclusions about Linda. In theepisode of Arrow, Barry tells Felicity he has some experience with having feelings for someone who ddoesn’t like him back, then he turns on the TV and shows her Linda. Seems like a pretty clear statement to me.
I think you’re reading something into that scene that wasn’t there. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I have to agree with your comments about Bart. I think they were of the opinion that Bart’s backstory was more unique. Although they could have given Wally a new way to get his speed powers. Damn, in the new 52, Vibe even has speed-based powers.VIBE! I have always been a fan of Wally’s Kid Flash, back when the Teen Titans were good and had Dick, Wally, Donna, Kory and Vic. So I’m totally with you about the way they’ve frozen Wally out.
well, She’s (http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz286/Lantern2814_20850/LindaParkNow_zps972fe82e.jpg) a lot better looking than the Last Linda Park we had on The FLASH (1990) http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz286/Lantern2814_20850/LindaParkThen_zps5c9d839a.jpg