I woke up this morning to find a glowing review of the pilot episode of The Flash, written by our fearless G33kpod leader Paul. I agreed with almost everything he said, but one thing stood out and made me choke on my coffee.
“It has already surpassed Arrow”
Paul, did you take a fanboy pill last night? I have to know because I cannot agree with or let that comment go. Have you even seen Arrow? I am sure this new Flash series is going to be good, maybe even better someday than Arrow. Maybe we will even get to see this:
Ok, maybe not. Here is the thing. I am not going to get in a row about which superhero is better, because we all have opinions and we are all right. To say in one episode The Flash has out done two years of world building is ridiculous. Arrow has proven again and again to be an incredibly well done show. In fact the only issues any one ever has is generally is the girl who plays Laurel, and Stephen Amell’s acting. I have heard he is wooden and not very good. What I see is one man playing three different parts, The Arrow, the public face of Oliver Queen, and his true self. The true self certainly is wooden because he is a damaged person who can’t quite bring himself back in to the world he left when he was marooned on the island. That’s three parts, all different from each other. That is pretty good for CW show.
But this is not a review of Arrow, this is a statement. SOMEDAY The Flash may be better than Arrow. SOMEDAY we might be talking about how The Flash is the high point of comic based television. But I believe it is wrong and premature to make that statement right now. This year we have Ra’s Al’Ghul and Firestorm and The Atom coming to Arrow. This year we will have The Flash having his powers sputter out on him due to his confidence. You watch, bet ya ten bucks we get that in the first season. That is because that happens on every super hero show in the first year. The Flash will be great I think and hope. Just not yet. But that’s okay because this is how you build a world. You want an example of how good The Flash can be? Check out the last few seasons of Arrow…
As an aside, just so all the fanboys out there know, we will not be getting the Green Arrow and Flash team you all are expecting from the comics. This is the fault of both shows, but primarily Arrow because that is where the seeds were sown. In the comics they are good friends and ball busters. In these two shows I cannot see Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen ever having the confidence to riff on his mentor and all around scary guy Arrow. I also don’t see Stephen Amell’s Arrow ever being unbroody enough to make a joke or crack a real smile. Just the way they are written. It could be worse though, we could be getting this next week.