Superhero series hits small screen with lightning speed

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This article was published 07/10/2014 (4198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Things move quickly during the annual fall frenzy of new-show premières — networks barrage viewers with non-stop promotion of new-season arrivals; series debuts arrive in rapid-fire succession; the audience decides quickly what’s worth watching and what doesn’t merit a second glance; and the cancellation clock begins to tick loudly for more than half of the rookie dramas and comedies.

In that context, it’s a good thing that The Flash hits the ground running — fast — and immediately gives fans of comic-book adaptations and heightened cop-procedural heroics something to cheer for, to invest in and to add to the list of PVR-worthy new programs.

The Flash, which blazes into prime time tonight at 7 p.m. on CTV and its U.S.-network home, the CW, is different in tone and attitude from its adapted D.C.-Comics stablemate, Arrow. Its pilot episode, though, is sufficiently strong that it will likely convince most of that show’s audience to cross over, while also attracting its own legion of fans who prefer The Flash’s lighter tone and more relatable characters and storylines.

The Flash, which, other than Superman, probably ranks as D.C.’s most enduring and familiar superhero character, presents an interesting challenge to those seeking to adapt it for TV purposes — the success or failure of any such venture rests almost completely on the quality of the special effects used to bring the Flash’s simple but unique set of super-abilities to life.

And in the case of the CW’s version of The Flash — at least, in the pilot, which must be viewed with some caution because first episodes always have bigger production budgets than continuing-series instalments — the super-speed gimmick is done quite convincingly.

As for the rest of the story, it’s pretty standard superhero-adventure stuff: Barry Allen (played by former Glee semi-regular Grant Gustin) is a whip-smart young crime-scene investigator whose life is changed forever after a freak scientific-experiment mishap (this time around, a particle-accelerator malfunction) puts him in a coma for several weeks; when he awakens, he finds that his metabolism is functioning at an accelerated pace and that he’s capable of doing everything very, very quickly.

Barry, who was introduced to CW viewers last season during a couple of storyline-establishing meetings with Arrow’s Oliver Queen, experiences only a few of the usual out-of-control-superpowers mishaps before learning to harness his new abilities; by the end of the rather busy series première, he seems fully prepared to embark on his new secret career as a crime-fighter.

The cast of supporting characters, while a bit predictable, serves the narrative pretty well. Veteran Canadian actor Tom Cavanagh is pivotal as Harrison Wells, the S.T.A.R. Labs scientist responsible for the accelerator meltdown. He becomes Barry/Flash’s mentor and support-team leader once the nature of his abilities becomes evident.

What’s also clear, in the pilot, is that the mega-pulse-producing accident has also created an as-yet-undetermined number of super-baddies who will be able to challenge the Flash on a weekly basis.

Of course, nerdy-scientist Barry has an unrequited crush on a pretty girl — in this case, Iris West (Candice Patton), whose father, Joe (Jesse L. Martin), happens to be the detective who vowed to protect Barry after his mother was killed 13 years earlier and his father was (wrongfully) arrested and convicted.

(TV-trivia fans will undoubtedly get a kick out of seeing John Wesley Shipp, who played the Flash in the short-lived 1990 attempt at a TV-series adaptation, cast as Barry’s father.)

The Flash’s pilot episode feels a bit unwieldy at times because its producers are trying to jam a whole lot of storyline establishment and character introduction into 44 minutes. But the action sequences are sufficiently frequent and entertaining to keep the première from ever bogging down, and there’s reason to hope that less-encumbered subsequent instalments will move along at a satisfying pace.

There’s a lot to like about The Flash; at a time when new TV shows must move quickly and decisively to grab a big chunk of an overwhelmed viewing public, this one has all the speed it needs.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @BradOswald