So... Eh... This had high highs and some low lows, that made it essentially a middle of the road type premiere for me, with some head scratching decisions on the part of the show runners.
[BLACKOUT]So we begin months later and that already was underwhelming. That brings us to a lame fake out "day dream" of Barry's. I don't keep up with all the behind the scenes stuff but it felt like they just wanted to write out Ronnie. I don't know... Then comes the sulking of Barry, which... I've seen this sort of thing a billion times in super heroic fiction... It felt forced. Sure, Barry could be seen as the sensitive type to feel guilty but... Yeah, been there done that and it was drama for drama's sake since it was solved in 45 minutes. Sorry, that's how it felt to me. Now, I did like them thinking about the nuts and bolts of how STAR could keep operating without Wells, though that still beckons who is paying for the electricity ect., but it shows that some writer was putting some thought into logistics, unlike last season when they were keeping prisoners in the pipeline without any thought for the long term realities of doing so. And of course we get Thawne's confession and it was a big moment. Gustin's reaction, the looks he gave, he really showed us the emotions Barry was going through. However... What was with that decision of Henry's? It really makes little sense. His son can basically see him whenever or where ever he goes in a... Well in a FLASH! So... It makes no difference where he goes. Seems this too might deal with some issue with keeping the actor. In any case it was a huge deflating moment after the emotional high point of Barry finally getting what he wanted most. Plus... I think there would have been TONS to mine in both humor and drama in having Barry, now a grown man, living with his father. A big missed opportunity.
As for the action and big bad... This felt like all set up, and frankly... Unnecessary set up. I would have liked it better if we just got right into Jay meeting up with Barry. This brings me to another head scratcher... Why end with a big DUN-DUN-DUHH! only to have all that mystery to the general audience revealed in the teaser? Jay Garrick is also called the Flash. They let the cat out of the bag already. This all felt like a mix of set up and wrap up with little meat in between. It wasn't poorly acted and there were some great moments. I like Cisco developing closer ties to Joe, and damned if Iris was actually used well here, but... It was a bit of a big meh to me. [/BLACKOUT]