Flash S03E01 - Flashpoint
Ladies and gentleman, the premiere The Flash’s third season is behind us and I need to answer one simple question for you. Was it any good? Yes, yes it was.
Now, in case you need some convincing, I’m here to provide review for you people that are still undecided. This episode felt like it was at least twice the length of other episodes. And I’m saying that in the best way possible. Stuff was happening from start to finish and you felt like they stepped on the pedal after few couple of minutes and never slowed down. Although there is one flaw in this approach. The episode as whole was really good and fun to watch, but it felt a little rushed. They gave us Flashpoint but at the same time it felt like they didn’t want it to be a big thing. I don’t know why they didn’t take the chance to explore this opportunity, but we can be sure that it is only a matter of time before Barry messes with time again and we might get some other version of Flashpoint. For now, we might be left with at least some time-traveling consequences that will keep Barry busy.
There is one more thing that fans who also watch Arrow (and weren’t happy with what was crucial part of the plot in 4th season) will probably praise here but it left me kind of indifferent. I didn’t think it was bad but I also wasn’t the biggest fan of this. It is a moment between Iris and Barry that is important for plot but that’s all I’m going to say about it since this is non-spoiler review.
Now with these few negatives about this episode behind us, we can get to those exciting aspects that you all want to hear about. First of all: characters. Kid Flash was great. At first glance he might come across as a bit arrogant, but later when he interacts with other characters you can see he is actually really cool. Caitlyn Snow and Cisco Ramon are completely different people in this reality. We got a taste of Cisco’s life in teaser, but Caitlyn was surprise, what is more surprising is how similar and simultaneously different she is from the regular version of Caitlyn.
We also get a look at the Flash’s villains. There is new villain that calls himself Rival though wasn’t the strongest part of this episode. And there is one villain that we saw briefly during the last season. His name is Reverse-Flash and he was perfect in every scene he appeared in. The attitude he kept the entire episode really helped. As the episode progresses, he shows that he is probably the only person who really knows what is going on and he doesn’t want to let Barry live it down. And I know that I haven’t talked much about Barry yet. He created his alternate timeline and he has to deal with what he has done. Be it good or bad.
Performances were as we are used to, on point. But as I praised Reverse-Flash in last paragraph for his character it was really the actor (Matt Letscher) who portrayed it so well. As for the rest of the cast that we see regularly it was apparent that they had fun with their roles and got most out of it. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlyn (Danielle Panabaker) were interesting to watch but the strongest supporting role was Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) who we got to see in a way that none of us expected. Grant Gustin (Barry) also did really well and despite this episode’s heavy load, he still put out really good performance.
There is lot more to talk about but most of it would require a spoiler tag and I feel that what I have already said should convince you to watch the episode if you haven’t already. It really is great episode overall and that couple of nitpicks that I have with it should not discourage you in any way.
Now, in case you need some convincing, I’m here to provide review for you people that are still undecided. This episode felt like it was at least twice the length of other episodes. And I’m saying that in the best way possible. Stuff was happening from start to finish and you felt like they stepped on the pedal after few couple of minutes and never slowed down. Although there is one flaw in this approach. The episode as whole was really good and fun to watch, but it felt a little rushed. They gave us Flashpoint but at the same time it felt like they didn’t want it to be a big thing. I don’t know why they didn’t take the chance to explore this opportunity, but we can be sure that it is only a matter of time before Barry messes with time again and we might get some other version of Flashpoint. For now, we might be left with at least some time-traveling consequences that will keep Barry busy.
There is one more thing that fans who also watch Arrow (and weren’t happy with what was crucial part of the plot in 4th season) will probably praise here but it left me kind of indifferent. I didn’t think it was bad but I also wasn’t the biggest fan of this. It is a moment between Iris and Barry that is important for plot but that’s all I’m going to say about it since this is non-spoiler review.
Now with these few negatives about this episode behind us, we can get to those exciting aspects that you all want to hear about. First of all: characters. Kid Flash was great. At first glance he might come across as a bit arrogant, but later when he interacts with other characters you can see he is actually really cool. Caitlyn Snow and Cisco Ramon are completely different people in this reality. We got a taste of Cisco’s life in teaser, but Caitlyn was surprise, what is more surprising is how similar and simultaneously different she is from the regular version of Caitlyn.
We also get a look at the Flash’s villains. There is new villain that calls himself Rival though wasn’t the strongest part of this episode. And there is one villain that we saw briefly during the last season. His name is Reverse-Flash and he was perfect in every scene he appeared in. The attitude he kept the entire episode really helped. As the episode progresses, he shows that he is probably the only person who really knows what is going on and he doesn’t want to let Barry live it down. And I know that I haven’t talked much about Barry yet. He created his alternate timeline and he has to deal with what he has done. Be it good or bad.
Performances were as we are used to, on point. But as I praised Reverse-Flash in last paragraph for his character it was really the actor (Matt Letscher) who portrayed it so well. As for the rest of the cast that we see regularly it was apparent that they had fun with their roles and got most out of it. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlyn (Danielle Panabaker) were interesting to watch but the strongest supporting role was Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) who we got to see in a way that none of us expected. Grant Gustin (Barry) also did really well and despite this episode’s heavy load, he still put out really good performance.
There is lot more to talk about but most of it would require a spoiler tag and I feel that what I have already said should convince you to watch the episode if you haven’t already. It really is great episode overall and that couple of nitpicks that I have with it should not discourage you in any way.
A Look Inside
