The Flash Episode 201: "The Man Who Saved Central City"

We have a spoiler-filled post-mortem right HERE!

The Flash is back. When we left off last season, Central City was about to be destroyed by the Singularity event. We were left hanging all these months, wondering how Barry was going to save the city. The season starts out with a bit of confusion as it appears everything is back to normal. What we find out is time has passed. Things have changed and life in Central City is far from perfect.

Normally when we have a show filled with a large ensemble cast, there's sometimes a feeling of clutter. That isn't the case in this episode. Because of the events of the Singularity, Barry has decided to separate himself from his former allies. They're still on speaking terms but the actors do a superb job playing off each other in this new situation. You can feel the tension and suffering they're going through. As the story progresses, we start to see the bigger picture and discover what happened.

For a show that's built around the superhero lore, a lot of the enjoyment does come from the characters and their personalities and their relationships with each other. Seeing characters like Cisco and Joe spend more time together is pretty great.

Another aspect where the show changes is Flash has become a bigger presence in the city. You can imagine with a gigantic event like the Singularity occurring, if people didn't know about the Flash before, they sure do now.

There may be some wanting to celebrate the fact that not everyone has been completely wiped off the face of the planet, it's not like Barry will be making plans to party. Not only was there some loss, we also have the debut of Atom Smasher.

The effects used for Atom Smasher vary. Overall, he makes a great new foe for Flash to deal with. It's just too bad he feels he needs to take him on on his own.

The show set a pretty high bar with the first season finale. The second season premiere continues to maintain the level of excitement and emotion we've come to expect. The action is mixed throughout at different levels but what will knock you off your feet is the emotions thrown in your face. Life isn't perfect and having superpowers doesn't guarantee a perfect life either. You'll be happy and sad at different moments. This is what pushes the show forward.

As we find out everything that's happened since the first season finale along with the repercussions of those events, you can see how ambitious the show is. It feels like a lot has happened with the characters over the course of one season and you have to admire the risks the showrunners are willing to take. And since this is the first episode of the season, you can bet there'll be some interesting twists and set up for what's coming in the next episode.

Giving viewers flashy special effects (no pun intended) will only get you so far. It's the story and the characters that make you want to come back for more. The Flash is off to a fantastic start.

Damn already? Cool though

I thought it was on Tuesday

Lol this scared me

@staphin said:

It still is. I think they just got to see it early.

Wonder if there's any appearacne of Zoom in this one

I thought Tuesday passed for a second,

~MiB

No word on whether Star Labs replaced the locks on their doors?

@lurkero: Another question could be, what's become of Star Labs since everything went down last season?

Hype rises!

The Man Who Saved Central City

...after almost singly-handedly dooming it in the first place through his own incompetence

I can't Wait!!

@amazingwebhead: Hey now, c'mon. Let's be fair if Eeobard hadn't already screwed up the timeline/reality Barry going through wouldn't have been such a big deal.

@guardiandevil83: i did say "almost"

I NEED IT ! I NEED IT NOW !!! GAAAAAHHHHH ! 6. MORE. HOURS. !

Wait atom smasher lives?

@amazingwebhead: Lol true dat, true dat.

I'll check chins about my homie Barry.

I order a pizza pie just for this :) Can't wait.

Not surprised at all that Flash was amazing. The series has been incredible thus far.

@staphin: It is

I'm ready to watch this. I know Edge is going to knock this role out of the park. Hope he becomes a recurring character

Where did Henry go?

A completely awesome episode!

I liked this episode, but felt they may have tried to pack in too much. I felt that Henry leaving so fast seemed a little premature, I can understand why he would have a hard time adjusting, but he left too fast. I also thought the fate of atom smasher was a little bit too up in the air of whether he died or not.

I think the emotional scenes, the music and Professor Stein's dialouge really stood out in this episode. I am excited for the team up next episode.

A little disappointed in the episode. Wished we got more about Jay Garrick and Earth 2. Barry being angsty and the team broken up was not going to last and that plot was unnecessary.

the feels this episode gave

i did understand how Ronnie Died. It just doesn't make sense.

5 stars? this episode was GARBAGE. wow. i'm stunned that you gave this 5 stars guys. i guess it was in return for the advance screening favour?

the performances in this episode were fantastic as usual, but the writing was a total mess. it's all over the place. characters are doing things that make no sense. they're dropping serial story threads on the floor and letting them die. most of the plot pieces didn't even make sense. the dramatic interactions are the only thing well written. the actual plot and events are ridiculous and stupid as hell. the show has totally swung into a creature of the week/name drop of the week platform. that's mostly it. Definitely not looking forward to seeing "Wally West" appear. after having such a fantastic first season with very few problems, to start this season like this is hugely disappointing. the weak writing also happened to Arrow when they started splitting time to launching Flash. guess this is because of Legends of Tomorrow?

meanwhile over at Marvel AoS had a fantastic premiere last week and is keeping up the pace it set mid season last year, and has almost made us all forget how awful the first season was.

The Flash has been dethroned and AoS is officially the best superhero show on TV now.

I wasnt crying during that scene with with little barry and joe, no someone just gut punched me ... in the feels.

Spoilers: This episode felt rushed with the Atom-Smasher subplot, which didn't even develop until the very end. Also, Ronnie died? He already vanished once and now he's gone again? What? It just feels so...needless. So...tasteless. Like I said, he already died (apparently) once, and now they kill him off again? For what? Wasn't Eddie's death enough of a motivator for Flash and Caitlin's guilt? It's so disrespectful to Team Flash and what they went through to get him back. Like I said, a needless and tasteless death. And the Henry-leaving-Barry reveal came completely out of nowhere, though I understand why he did it. He'd probably have a difficult time adjusting to a life with Barry after all those years and establishing a functional relationship outside of prison visits. He also might have realized that Barry has more of a relationship with Joe and doesn't want to get in the way of that, which was evidenced in this episode. And he probably knew that him being with Barry would just distract him from being the Flash and helping his friends and a city that desperately needs him. So it was most likely a mix of conflicting emotions and doubtful thoughts that drove him away from Barry. I have to admit, though. At first, I thought Henry was being selfish and heartless for not wanting to spend more time with Barry. But after some thinking, I realized that he did it out of love, knowing Barry didn't need him in his life at that point in time. Still, I felt bad for Barry. All that work, all that build-up and he still doesn't get his dad back. Like Barry said, even when he wins, he still loses. The good ol' Parker (I mean, Allen) luck hard at work, eh? But enough on the depressing. I liked the Flash Day subplot, which reminded me of the "Flash and Substance" episode from Justice League Unlimited, how Barry's been rebuilding the city in secret and not wanting credit and Martin Stein is always a delight. All in all, not a perfect episode by any means, but an enjoyable one and, albeit a tad scrambled, overall, a satisfying start to the second season.

Harrison Wells confessed!!!

@innovationincarnate:

Dude. I can see the spoilers, even when they are not covered in spoiler block. I've seen the episode before posting this. Just a reminder that other people, who haven't seen the Season 2 premiere might be able to see it.

SPOILERS!

@ips: I agree AOS is the best superhero show on right now, but I still like Flash

You know what sucks? Henry leaving COULD HAVE BEEN a really cool, touching plot point. Like in Supernatural after Bobby died when he continued to stick around as a ghost. There was that incredibly touching story about how he and the boys were glad he was back, but slowly realizing that he just didn't fit in that world with them anymore. If they had just spread Henry's departure out over a few episodes (like Bobby's stint as a ghost), and showed us that he doesn't fit (for any number of reasons: he's living in a city that used to be familiar to him but no longer is, he has to watch his son continually endanger itself, he needs a fresh start etc), his leaving really could have packed a huge emotional punch. But no.

Timing in general was very off this episode. Ronnie's death was poorly scripted AND timed. And a lot of dialogue just felt out of place (Stein's forward speech, Caitlin talking about Ronnie etc.)

Atom Smasher was okay. He was a believable threat, and the effects on him were decent most of the time. But there wasn't enough to him to make me upset at his death. Although I did find it bizarre that Team Flash decided to kill him instead of just trapping him. If he'd actually done more serious damage on-screen, I might have accepted that. But not with what we were given.

Barry's angst was unnecessary. Does it make sense from a storytelling perspective? Yes. BUT WE'VE SEEN THIS EXACT SAME THING 1,000,000 TIMES ALREADY! If the writers had found a new way to tackle the "survivor's guilt makes the hero push away his allies" kind of story, I would have been on board. But as it was presented here, it just felt like writers going through the motions of a typical telling of that kind of story.

Highlights of the episode:
- Cisco and Joe.
- Stein's inclusion with the team (despite that out of place speech)
- Wells' tape (AWESOME. That one scene single-handedly raised this episode from "meh" to "decent" for me. I did not see that coming)
- The Flash Day celebration. It's nice to see a city embrace its hero in live action. Hoping to see a bit more of that in the future.

6/10. Disappointing, in my opinion, but not without redeeming qualities. Now that we're past the point of needless exposition, bizarre character exits, and Barry's angst, I'm very hopeful for the coming episodes though.

Iiiihoppeezzzzzoooommdoessn'tdissapppoiiintttmeeee <3

I hope they acknowledge the whole paradox thing. Eddy killing himself should have resulted in NONE of that happening. Thawne was never born and Nora shouldn't be dead I think they will touch up on it more. Seems like defeating him was just too easy

This episode was really good. The only issue I found with this episode was the special effects. Some of the effects looked unfinished, it really brought down the quality of this episode.

Great show as always loved how Flash and Firestorm helped but I don't think Ronnie is dead, if you guys remember LOT one of the producers confirmed he may show up at some point, I think he may be on Earth 2 possibly or just MIA at the moment....

@ips: lol no this episode wasn't garbage it was great, what was garbage was your GL movie...go away hater.

@currentthor2015:AOS is crap, has nothing on Flash......not even remotely comparable.

Flash>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>A.OS.

Good episode, solid but c'mon not kill so easy the characters

Atom Smasher died?

The way they presented Atom Smasher was just poorly done. They could've done more with him but due to television budget, I guess not. Wish they'd have not killed him off already because I mean practically we have Jay Garrick coming in, Wildcat from Arrow, Hawkman coming in later on in Legends of Tomorrow, and etc. so I thought they would've at least introduce the JSA at some point

This episode was so so cheesy. I was cringing most of the way through.

@supbatz: agree with everything you've said

@fallingcliffs: AOS doesnt have terrible romance becoming a main plot (Love triangle between Barry, Iris and Eddie) doesnt have a repeating formula, which is Barry goes to fight the villain, gets beaten, retreats and team flash tell him how to win and then he does. That happens pretty much all the time except for Eobard and Grodd. Also for people that dont care about Arrow like me all the tie ins are really annoying, AOS doesnt do any of these things.

How Earth does the fastest man alive ever get hit and grappled? The fight sequences really need work.

@CurrentThor2015: lol what are you talking about? Theres no romance, the only romance was Ronnie and Cait which we rarely see, Barry and iris pretty much rarely happens and there's relationships in agents of shield too.

That was season one which mind you was million times better then a.o.s. ask anyone. Eddie's dead now so who cares.

A.o.s. tried to piggyback off avenger success and just can't compete with dc in tv. It's a miracle Carter got renewed because the show is dull.

Barry's still learning and that's not the case every show, got six months he was riding solo.....if you watched the premiere, he'll be learning two new powers this year and unlike a.o.s.which has sub par fx, average story and chasing down things all the time it's just boring.

Sidenote the acting is also a lot better in flash the a.o.s, flash doesn't have these things. Give me flash, arrow any day. Tie ins? Umm the marvel movies do that, sounds like a dumb reason to HATE something...the flash vs arrow was one of the highest rated shows last year. Nuff said.

Earthsmightiest: inexperience, fladh gets tagged in the comics too from time to time too..

Finally got to watch it and it was incredible.

Loved ever moment of it. Really sounds like they are going for a story loosely based on Blitz where Flash had to absorb powers from 3 speedsters to match Hunter.

weak premiere man

~MiB

Weak? ppftt my @ss lol

Flash was awesome and the ratings back it up mind you.

did anybody catch the batman reference by cisco? lmao

Ehh it had its moments. I'd give it a 7/10

Arrow's was way better though.