I’m kinda late to this game… I’m kinda late to catch up on all my shows actually. Dat grad school life has got me able to only follow one show consistently, and I chose Supergirl. Mostly because I don’t have anything going on Monday nights, and mostly because I knew as a fledgling show, it needed my view more. What I do is, since I work in a library, I wait for the DVD sets to come out and put holds on them so my boyfriend and I can binge-watch them. He did buy me the first season of Flash for Christmas, and we just finished it this weekend. And holy COW.
Barry Allen is a forensic scientist in the Central City Police Department. He’s excited for a gigantic scientific breakthrough happening in the city: Dr. Harrison Wells has built a particle accelerator at S.T.A.R. Labs. He is in his lab, watching it turn on on TV, when it explodes. The resulting storm creates a lightning bolt that strikes him and puts him in a coma for nine months. When he wakes up, he’s at S.T.A.R. Labs. Dr. Wells, Caitlyn Snow, and Cisco Ramone (two S.T.A.R. Labs employees) explain to Barry that they took him from the hospital in order to stabilize him, because the doctors at the hospital couldn’t figure out why he kept flatlining. It wasn’t that he kept dying – it was because Barry’s heart was beating too fast for the machines to keep up. The lightning strike left Barry with supernatural speed.
This leaves Barry excited – and scared. When he was eleven years old, he witnessed his mother’s murder, and his father was convicted and sent to prison. No one believed Barry when he said that his dad didn’t do it – it was the man in the lightning. Joe West, lead detective on the case, takes Barry in and raises him alongside Iris, Barry’s best friend. For his entire life, Barry has investigated cold cases and paranormal events, looking for any scrap of a clue that could lead to solving his mom’s murder and freeing his dad from prison. Now, he is paranormal. And he is dedicated to using his powers to help people and to find out who killed his mother.
The world is a little different, though, as he remembers it before the coma. The failure and explosion of the particle accelerator has left the reputation of Dr. Wells and S.T.A.R. Labs tarnished. His best friend, Iris, is dating Eddie Thawne, Detective West’s partner. Barry tries not to let it show how much it hurts, because he secretly loves Iris. And more and more, Barry and the others at S.T.A.R. Labs are finding out that he was not the only one affected by the dark matter the particle accelerator gave off when it exploded. There are others with powers running around Central City, and they’re not all as nice as Barry. Joe finds Barry’s secret out pretty quickly, and makes him promise not to tell Iris, to keep her safe from the metahumans.
Caitlyn, Cisco, and Dr. Wells help Barry learn to use his powers, and become his team to help him stop bad guys and save people. They all grow very close. But more and more it becomes apparent to Detective West that something isn’t right with Dr. Wells. Joe, convinced now that Barry was telling the truth about the night his mother was killed, starts investigating Dr. Wells. There are things about his story that don’t add up, and Joe is determined to find the truth and reveal it to Barry – no matter the cost.
My boyfriend and I really enjoyed it. When stuff gets real, it gets really real, but it never loses its fun or humanity. Flash doesn’t take itself as seriously as Arrow does. Even the crossover episodes were more fun because of the contrast between the feel of Arrow in Flash’s territory. Everyone feels real and goes through a lot of growth: Barry of course, but Caitlyn, Iris, Detective West, and even Dr. Wells, too. I adored that Barry was never afraid to admit when he was scared or to show his feelings. He cries when he is stressed, scared, or missing his mom. While I used to like my men dark and broody, I find that there is a real strength in showing your feelings and being vulnerable (speaking from experience). I loved that Barry did it too, and showed that it was okay. There are tons of villains and other characters from the comics that show up, and even more are hinted at.
After that doozy of a cliffhanger, we seriously can’t wait to watch Season 2. We have one tiny little bit of it figured out already just from me watching the crossover episode on Supergirl the other week. But there is so much more we can’t wait to see! Curse you, grad school life!!! After I graduate I will be able to watch shows actually on TV (or at least DVR them) and not wait an eternity for the DVD’s to come out!
– Kathleen
P.S. Please no spoilers in the comments! Thank you =D
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