Heroes are not born they are made in a Flash - Review of The Flash pilot

I've been particularly excited about this show since around the middle of the second season of 'Arrow', where we were introduced to Barry Allen(plated by Grant Gustin), the forensic crime scene assistent from Central City Police Department. DC Universe fans were aware, that Barry Allen is the name of the man who would eventually become The Flash, and shortly after the episodes of 'Arrow' showcased the incident that would create The Flash, a pilot was ordered for a Flash serie. The serie was finally picked up by CW (same network as Arrow) at the start of summer, and so DC Universe now has two series that will intertwine with one another in Arrow and The Flash.
But enough about that, onwards with the review!

The pilot of The Flash felt really familiar to Arrow fans such as myself, as it bears the same watermarks of the creaters of both of the series. The episode managed to convey the personality of Barry Allen to both new viewers as well as the people who were already familiar with him from his appearence on Arrow. Grant Gustin quirkiness really underlines the performance as Flash, as he is also known in the comics to be ready with a snappy comeback.
As with many other superheroes, Barry Allens past is also one of tragedy, and the murder of his mother by the strange lightning sets the show up in such a way, that you'd want to see Barry using his newfound abilities to solve the mystery of his mother's murder, and somehow manage to free his father from prison, because he was wrongfully accused of the murder.

Speaking of the powers, the Speed Force (what his powers are known as in the DC Universe) translates well to television, and it flows really well into the cinematography. And so far, I feel his current control of his powers seems to be at a realistic level, considering the time he has had to get used to them. I found it a bit weird, that he could just get up and walk after his 9 months in a coma, but in later parts of the episode, his cells were showed to regenerate at an abnormal fast speed, so I supposed that would be an explanation.

The supporting cast of the show has yet to impress me. There are some good characters like Iris West(played by Candice Patton), who's Barry's childhood friend and obvious love interest (from his
point anyway). It is very clear that the two of them share a chemestry, and it both warms and breaks our hearts when we see them interact, as their relationship is very asymmetric with Barry loving Iris as a girlfriend, while Iris' love for Barry is the same as the love for a brother/best friend. So this complicated relationship creates excellent television romantic drama, that will no doubt be an undergoing subplot of the show. My only problem with this relationship, is that Barry's short but intimate relationship with Felicity Smoak from Starling City ( she is part of the supporting cast of Arrow as part of Oliver Queens team), is not even mentioned, because it is my understanding, that alot of fans wanted that thing to be somehow handled by either shows, but so far nothing is set up to be resolved there. Oh well...
Her father, Detective Joe West(played by Jesse L. Martin) is another well-played role, with him being a character who has to balance alot of stuff. He has to juggle being both Barry's boss, his surogate father after the incident with Barry's mother, and by the end of the episode, being the only one of Barry's closest people who knows about his powers.
Then we come to Dr. Harrison Wells(played by Tom Cavanagh) who's expriment with Central City's S.T.A.R Labs Particle Accelerator was the catalyst to the creation of The Flash. From the get-go it is clear that this guy is a bad buy, and by the very end we see that he is up to something menacing, we just don't know what yet. His labpartners, who currently is the also Barry's team lacks character and seems very one-dimensional in the pilot. Caitlin Snow (played by Danielle Panabaker) just seems like a moody, brooding over her lost fiancé. On the other hand we have Cisco Ramon(played by Carlos Valdes) who's just overly excited about everything, and it seemed very convinient that he had a suit that managed to fit Barry, when the suit was designed for firefighters, who is usually more buffed than what Barry is. But on a side note, these two characters might become interesting, as their characters names in the comic books both become villains (Killer Frost and Vibe respectively), so we might see some changes towards those characters later on - it is the pilot, so everything is up for grabs.

And now to the villain! Clyde Mardon, a common criminal that also got affected by the explosion of the Particle Accelerator and becomes able to control winds. This character is losely based on the DC villain of Weather Wizard. Besides some problems with certain CGI effects while he robs a bank, I also felt like his powers managed to be greatly expressed on the small screen. As a first villain for Flash to deal with, I felt he served his purpose, without being too much of a pushover - he did manage to kill Detective West's partner before the accident.
And speaking of the accident, it shows a certain genius to the showrunners handling of people with super powers (mentioned in the show as meta-humans), by letting them be created by the explosion at S.T.A.R Labs. I don't know yet if they are going beyond Central City, but if they stay within the city, it's a great plot point to use.

To end this review, I have great faith in the serie's creator to make an awesome show, that might not rival Arrow, but that they will empower one another as part of a bigger DC Universe on the small screen. And with the upcoming crossover episodes between them, I am more than confident in their abilities to make it work. They also showcased this in the pilot already by having  Barry run to Starling City to meet with Oliver Queen. Just as with Gotham, this fall seem to get better and better when it comes to the series for comic book/super hero fans!