What worked best about Season 1?
CRAIG: Obviously I’ve established that I’m a comic book fan, and a fan of comic book TV, but what I think really worked about The Flash is that it was a show that could appeal to non-comic book fans as well. A good friend of mine pointed out to me how he’d watch with his wife, who doesn’t know comics, and she saw how excited he’d get when Ronnie Raymond was first name-checked. Yet, being not so knowledged in comics lore, she STILL got that that name was a big deal and something important. A big part of that, I think, is the attempt more times than not to create the character before the gimmick. Yes, Firestorm is exciting, but the notion that the character was built on the show is what made him special. The same thing goes for the show’s regular cast, starting with Barry. This show would not be as good if we weren’t so invested in Barry.
MATT: What really worked is that they turned into the skid; they fully embraced being a science fiction show about people with extraordinary abilities. More than that, they went full-bore into the comic lore. Names, abilities, costumes. Sure, it bordered on kitschy at points, but it had enough sense to have fun with that. I mean, this is a series that not only had the audacity to bring Gorilla Grodd to live-action, but actually pulled it off in a plausible and relatable fashion. What’s more is they took their experience from two seasons of Arrow and didn’t hold back on letting the story go to places we never would’ve guessed they would attempt in the first season of a show. Time travel? Reverse Flash/Professor Zoom? Mentioning Crisis? They went for broke and it paid off immensely.
STEPHANIE: What worked best about this season was the instant team element that Barry, Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco created. It made it appear as if the writers knew what they were doing right off the bat, so they didn’t have to waste any time figuring out when and who to tell about Barry’s secret. It also helped that Barry learned about his ability alongside the audience.
DEREK: It was an exceptionally well-plotted season. Everything moved along quickly and naturally, but it never felt like they were burning through storylines too quickly. Characters who didn’t quite click at first very quickly fulfilled their potential — Cisco is a great example of a character growing without losing his initial appeal. And there’s remarkable consistency in the season, with a slew of great episodes, only a few that are less-than-good, and no outright bad ones. Lots of foresight, and no fear of holding back.
What didn’t work so well in Season 1?
CRAIG: Some of the one-off villains weren’t the greatest. I also hated waiting between episodes, but that’s the spoiled TV viewer in me who is jealous of those who are going to get to binge the DVD or on Netflix.
MATT: There are a lot of people who give her guff, for some reason, but I like Iris and I like Candice Patton in the part. She felt a bit superfluous throughout the season, and having her work at Picture News (a name I didn’t care for in the comics and certainly hate in live-action) didn’t really offer up a great media angle that it could have. I’ve never been completely keen on the Freak of the Week style storytelling, and the nature of the show kind of lends itself to that at points. Some end up great, others not so much. The one thing that worked in its favor is it did set up the Rogues as a group okay. I wouldn’t mind seeing less villains but have them around for two- or three-episode arcs to better tell their stories. I’ll always be a champion for more serialization in a show, though.
DEREK: Remember when The Flash was being called The Streak? That was terrible.
In all seriousness…like Matt, I really dig Iris as a character and think Candice Patton is lovely in the role, but there were problems integrating her. It seems like Iris was conceived to eschew problems other characters conceived as love interests like Lana Lang or season 1-era Laurel Lance had, as Iris was conceived more in line with season 1-era Felicity Smoak — spunky, youthful, funny, and ambitious. But even with those characterization adjustments, they still had the problem of competently fitting her into the plot. I don’t think she was ever written badly in any scene, but it was frustrating to basically see her get progressively more passive as the season went along; she suspected Harrison Wells of harboring secrets and her partner was killed, and she didn’t really do anything about either. Props that she wasn’t unnecessarily shoehorned into stories the way Lana often was in Smallville, but they went too far in the other direction here. Of all the things the season seemed to have mapped out, Iris tended to be thrown in to see where she’d stick, and it wasn’t until the tail end of the season that it finally worked. Luckily, I don’t think there will be the same problem in this next season with her in on the secret, not to mention plenty of emotional baggage to deal with.
STEPHANIE: Like Matt and Derek said, integrating Iris into the plot was the season’s biggest issue. While the journalism aspect is almost necessary in a story where there’s a new superhero in town, it didn’t add much to the series, cause many problems, or help solve the cases of the week.
Tatiana
September 30, 2015 at 5:24 pm
So many great points being made here. I love how close Flash sticks to the spirit of the comics, and the episodes where they parallel the personal relationships to the scifi elements are golden. I’m also so happy that Iris knows the truth now and can be integrated into the main plot. I feel like Westallen as the romantic backbone of the story can only get better from here, but like you said, it doesn’t overwhelm the plot of the story which is so important.
Craig Byrne
September 30, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Personally speaking, now that Iris knows what’s up, I think there’s nothing stopping that if that’s where they want to go… obviously being The Flash, it’ll happen eventually.
Rei
September 30, 2015 at 5:32 pm
This was a great round table. It’s awesome to see everyone’s opinions laid out. I’m all about Barry and his relationships with the Wests, so my favorite episodes are the usuals: 1.09, 1.15, 1.20, 1.21, 1.23. But if I had to pick an underrated episode… I know the crossover in 1.08 isn’t that exactly, but I think it was the best use of Arrow characters in The Flash all season long. The two worlds clashed beautifully and seeing some of Barry’s subconscious resentments (against Joe for ‘imprisoning’ Henry and against Eddie for ‘stealing’ Iris) was both enlightening and shocking. Even though his anger was unfair, of course, it helped to make him more well-rounded.
Halberdier17
October 1, 2015 at 9:02 pm
There was a point where Arrow got three weeks ahead of the Flash. The episode when Oliver joined the League of Assassins they did a three week time skip because Oliver was training.
Wintgster55
October 2, 2015 at 9:49 am
See, I think that some of the writing for Iris was off..and it would’ve been nice if they had her in the main plot more…but I liked that she had her own arc throughout the season with journalism. Showed character development which is more important. Plus if she was in the A plot more she would have been a supporter of Barry’s story instead of his equal