The Flash The Flash Season 2 Episode 1: "The Man Who Saved Central City"

The worst CGI for me came when Atom Smasher grabbed Barry by the neck. The hand couldn't've looked more fake.
 
For most of Atom Smasher's scenes, I wonder if they really needed a CGI model. Couldn't they just have used a green screen? Why did they need to animate an actual giant? Seemed just like waste of money to me.
 
It's so ironic when I think that this episode had some of the major WTH moments that Arrow's Season 3 was infamous for.

I'm talking about how they just had team flash kill Atomic Smasher without giving it an second thought and how they just had Henry leave Barry like that. He may actually take away the title of "Worst Fatherly Decision " from Malcolm.
 
The worst CGI for me came when Atom Smasher grabbed Barry by the neck. The hand couldn't've looked more fake.

Idk... I think this shot takes the title of worst CGI shot for the series. I can't believe any professional approved the usage of this shot, even for TV show standards.

2D28096500000578-0-image-a-102_1444195074329.jpg
 
Eh, the shot lasted a second. Thankfully we didn't have to look at it any longer.
 
Jay is gonna be so bad ass in the next episode.
 
I really enjoyed the premiere. The best parts of the episode were the parts where the whole team was getting back together. The characters are fun, and the actors work really well with one another. Seeing them all rebuild the team reminded me just what a great job Season 1 did of establishing the main cast and making them work as a team. The character dynamics among the cast are very strong in this show, and it's what helped make the show so good right from the start.

So it's great to see Team Flash back in business. I especially liked how this episode integrated both Iris and Stein into the team very seamlessly. They both feel like they belong in the group, and I'm eager to see more of them. Also, I'm glad that the episode managed to both address and then move beyond Barry's guilt and sullenness following the events of the singularity. We needed to see his gloominess, but we also needed to see him come out of that gloominess and get back into action with a positive attitude. I'm glad they handled this in one episode rather than letting it drag over several episodes.

Of course, getting his father out of jail really helped brighten Barry's mood. It was a great moment to see Henry receive justice, as Barry had always wanted, and to see that whole arc involving Henry's jailtime resolved in a satisfying way. The scenes between Henry and Barry were nicely done as always.

The only real problem I had with the episode was that I wish they could have given Henry a stronger reason for leaving. I understand why the writers would want to move Henry out of the spotlight, because there probably wouldn't be a lot they could do with his character if he just hung around with Team Flash all the time. It's better to get him out of the spotlight than to keep him around not doing anything. But Henry's reasoning for leaving seemed kind of dubious and weak. I was hoping there would be a more compelling reason for his departure.

But regardless, the reunion between father and son was nice, and hopefully Henry will be used again in some future episodes. Overall, the premiere did a good job setting things up for our heroes to go on their new adventures. I'm looking forward to their first encounter with Jay Garrick next week.
 
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]
 
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]

I liked it. Why did barry's dad bugger off? If i had been locked up in prison for 20 years i know what i would do when i got released. Thailand baby!!!

Seriously there will probably be a story in there somewhere. But do you really want barry's white dad hanging around when we already have his black dad giving him fatherly advice?
 
For the people that voted 10 in the poll could i ask, do you really think that there were no other episodes of flash or any other shows that were better than this one?
Not knocking this episode or your choice to give it a 10, i just see it all the time on here and it confuses me. Decent episode but not one of the best episodes ever made.

Oh well back to flash.
 
I liked it. Why did barry's dad bugger off? If i had been locked up in prison for 20 years i know what i would do when i got released. Thailand baby!!!

Seriously there will probably be a story in there somewhere. But do you really want barry's white dad hanging around when we already have his black dad giving him fatherly advice?

I think that with the entirety of last season we got invested in Barry's quest to get his dad out of prison and back into his everyday life...[BLACKOUT] And in less than five minutes... POOF. His dear old dad is packed off on a bus somewhere on some pretty specious writing under girding the decision. And having Joe and Henry does add some tension and conflict if indeed the two have opposing advice to give Barry or the both of them have to adjust to Barry now spending time with Henry and eschewing Joe. Again... Seems like a missed opportunity. [/BLACKOUT]
 
Well, Barry dedicated his life to freeing his father, and his father felt like he wasn't really living his life because of it. Now that he got his father out, Barry's life would revolve even more around his father, and I think Henry just wants Barry to finally live his life, and not have him be the center of it. It's not like Henry never wants to see Barry again. And Barry can still visit him any time he wants for dinner, fatherly advice etc.

Henry could move to China, and Barry could still see and visit him on a regular basis.
 
Well, Barry dedicated his life to freeing his father, and his father felt like he wasn't really living his life because of it. Now that he got his father out, Barry's life would revolve even more around his father, and I think Henry just wants Barry to finally live his life, and not have him be the center of it. It's not like Henry never wants to see Barry again. And Barry can still visit him any time he wants for dinner, fatherly advice etc.

Henry could move to China, and Barry could still see and visit him on a regular basis.

That's sort of what makes it a head scratcher though.
 
That's sort of what makes it a head scratcher though.

I would've preferred another explanation as well, could've been as simple as Henry simply saying too many bad memories in Central City and wanting to live somewhere else where nobody would know what he'd been through and stare at him skeptically, suspiciously, or with pity.

Though I do think people are making the whole thing into a bigger deal than it is, it's not like they wrote him off the show, we'll still see him about as often as we did last season.
 
I would've preferred another explanation as well, could've been as simple as Henry simply saying too many bad memories in Central City and wanting to live somewhere else where nobody would know what he'd been through and stare at him skeptically, suspiciously, or with pity.

Though I do think people are making the whole thing into a bigger deal than it is, it's not like they wrote him off the show, we'll still see him about as often as we did last season.

That's just it... It essentially relegates him to the exact status as the previous season in many ways. The relationship and story of Barry and his dad should have moved further or they should at least have given us, to my mind, a few episodes before Henry's departure. I think a lot of fans are going "WTF" because it's all so abrupt and under cooked, narrative-wise. And again... There would have been great character stuff to mine, with some real meat. But nope... He's on a bus to... somewhere.
 
Though I do think people are making the whole thing into a bigger deal than it is, it's not like they wrote him off the show, we'll still see him about as often as we did last season.

And I really prefer that. I was never really looking forward to him becoming part of team Flash. There are too many people as is, and Barry already barely does any thinking for himself.
 
Atom Smasher made me think of Juggernaut in X-Men 3.
 
It was an ok episode. I didn't like the time jump to 6 months down the line. I would've preferred they resolved it at the beginning and then had a time jump of 6 months instead of showing via flashback.

Also Henry's departure was abrupt and unrealistic as many have said. He should've stuck around and then maybe later come to the realisation that he needs to move elsewhere, but not decided that on the day of his homecoming. If he knew that he was going to do that (which it obviously seems he did), he should've warned Barry of that even while he was in prison that if he did get out he'd take off immediately.

I thought Atom Smasher was Batman and Robin Bane at first. That's what he kind of looked like.
 
His volume change did remind me of Bane as well.
Not the Batman & Robin version.
 
Here's alternative explanations for Henry leaving, that would have worked so much better:

-He found a decent job, but it's in another city.
-He has some kind of health issue, and needs to seek treatment in another city.
-Make it more clear that Barry could still visit him very easily (because that's NOT how the episode played it).
-Etc.

And most of all, don't have him leave THE NEXT DAY!! Jeez dude, your son has gotten to have a proper relationship with you in over 15 years. At least stick around for a little while to spend some time with him. Basically, they picked pretty much the lames/most nonsensical way possible to write him out (for now anyway).
 
That's just it... It essentially relegates him to the exact status as the previous season in many ways. The relationship and story of Barry and his dad should have moved further or they should at least have given us, to my mind, a few episodes before Henry's departure. I think a lot of fans are going "WTF" because it's all so abrupt and under cooked, narrative-wise. And again... There would have been great character stuff to mine, with some real meat. But nope... He's on a bus to... somewhere.

Is it sad that my immediate reaction was "oh look, we're doing the whole heroes must have miserable/crappy personal lives in some way in order to really be heroes cliché?" Because comic book writers seem obsessed with that idea.
 
Idk... I think this shot takes the title of worst CGI shot for the series. I can't believe any professional approved the usage of this shot, even for TV show standards.

2D28096500000578-0-image-a-102_1444195074329.jpg

Like seriously, worst ~48 frames ever. Absolutely awful. I laughed a lot when I saw that thing.

EDIT: everything else was ok, though
 
JWS is still going to be a recurring guest star... same as last season. Only difference is he won't be locked up. I understand why he did what he did. I mean I'm in a similar position to Barry now in fact, but it was a mutual understanding between me and my father. But they could have stretched that out a bit more. They could have showed Henry struggling to adapt to civilian life or Barry juggling between his responsibility to his father and his responsibility to Central City. It would have made the "not-goodbye; see you later" more poignant and better earned.
 

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