The Flash 1.09 “The Man in the Yellow Suit”

Hard to write this review with a mouthful of crow. Man, was I wrong about Reverse-Flash or what?

Good. Glad I got it wrong. It turned out better than I hoped. His reveal kept the show tight yet the story opened up in a way I hadn’t expected. I will be wrong like that any day.

All season long, Wells stole the show. Of course it was him. I must admit that I had always considered Wells and RF to be two different people who were working at cross purposes. I’m delighted to find out otherwise. Unless…

…ahh, I’m not even going to speculate. The writers did a fantastic job throughout the first half of the season and I trust where they’re headed. Tom Cavanagh has been superb as one character, I’m sure he’ll be doubly-superb as two. Now that that we know, comes the fun of finding out “how”? The second half of this season has much to live up to.

The effects in this mid-season finale were dizzying as they ran the razor’s edge of the Uncanny Valley. The uncomfortable moments are so brief that they barely register and the full body effects look so amazing that I just don’t care. I never knew how badly I wanted to see such a thing. Thanks, Flash!

Barry and Iris. They act like thirteen year olds, for God’s sake. Grow up. At this point, once the audience sees that something is obvious then it doesn’t make sense for the characters remain oblivious. If that’s even what’s happening. Look, if Iris knows (and she would have to by now) then they made her appear like an idiot for not knowing that Barry is covering his feelings. If she doesn’t know then she appears the even bigger idiot. They were doing so well for a few episodes, too. As for Barry. Grant Gustin’s appearance, his physicality, it just isn’t “superhero” and it’s perfect. He plays a vulnerable, likeable, intelligent person who has this one, ridiculous flaw, and it makes him look like an idiot, too. This isn’t Ross and Rachel. Come to think about it, Ross and Rachel were fairly pathetic, too. Let’s just stop. Keep twisting their relationship, keep them apart, that’s all fine, just don’t do it at the expense of your audience’s intelligence.

Firestorm! I got some Firestorm on TV and it was live-action! Hot Damn! I was pensive but excited to see this version of old flame-head. He’s one of my favorite superheroes and I was worried that many of the beats from the comics that made him such a unique character would be lost in the translation. Firestorm showed up exactly when I started paying attention to comics. He’s my hero the way Spider-Man is to the Sixties kids. I missed his first, short-lived, series but I discovered him as a backup feature in The Flash. See, the two have history.

Possible spoilers.

Firestorm isn’t just a version of the Human Torch and Robbie Amell was right when he said, “I’m not Ronnie Raymond.” Well, he isn’t just Ronnie Raymond. Inside Firestorm are two people. Not in a Sybil kind of way, but two actual people, fused into one being. Ronnie is one half while the other is Dr. Martin Stein. I don’t know how they will portray him in the series, but I know that he’s being played by Victor Garber so, I’m inclined to believe that it will live up to expectations.

Detective West and Eddie came to a new understanding that puts the two on more trusting ground. Cisco and Snow are still solid characters and still excellent as “hero support” (and if you haven’t seen Danielle Panabaker in Sky High then you should). Cisco gets the best lines of the show so everyone should be jealous.

So how do I feel about the first half of this inaugural season?

I feel entertained! I hope you do, too.