Pilot (The Flash)

Plot

Barry Allen, a forensic crime scene assistant for Central City Police Department under Detective Joe West, is struck by lightning during a storm created by the explosion of a particle accelerator from S.T.A.R. Labs. His idol Dr. Harrison Wells is injured and in a wheelchair, while many others are injured or killed. After being in a coma for nine months, Barry awakens in S.T.A.R. Labs, having been placed in the care of Dr. Harrison Wells and his assistants Dr. Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon. Barry learns that he can move at extraordinary speeds and heal extremely fast, and that there were other "metahumans" created from the explosion. One of them, Clyde Mardon, is robbing banks with his ability to control the weather. Barry saves Iris, Joe's daughter, and confronts him when he spots Mardon in a car, resulting in the death of an innocent blinded by summoned fog, and Barry to realize that neither Joe or Wells believes him to be capable of seeing things as they are. Hurt, he pays a visit to Starling City's Oliver Queen, or Green Arrow, who tells him that he believes in him, and his potential to be a hero, and Barry returns to Central City and convinces Caitlin and Cisco to help him. In order to stop Mardon, Barry is outfitted with a suit, designed by Cisco, that can withstand his high speed. He tracks down Mardon, who had been tracked down by both Joe and a partner and Caitlin. The metahuman creates a tornado, which Barry runs against but does not defeat until Wells appears and encourages him. Mardon is shot and killed by Joe, who apologizes but asks him to keep this knowledge from Iris. With his new powers, Barry vows to exonerate his father, Henry, who is incarcerated for the false accusation of murdering his wife, Nora, whom eleven-year-old Barry witnessed being killed by another metahuman described as a "ball of lightning with a man inside of it". He visits him in prison, and his father tells him to live his life and Barry replies that he's never felt more alive. He chooses the alias "Flash" for his alter ego and is shown to save people from accidents and fighting crimes. Wells, revealed to be neither paraplegic nor myopic as claimed, reads a newspaper from April 2024 stating the missing status of the Flash.

Development

On July 30, 2013, it was announced that Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow pilot director David Nutter, and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns would develop a television series based on the Flash for The CW, and it would detail Barry Allen's origin. This also led to an announcement stating that Barry will appear for 3 multi-arc episodes in the second season of Arrow, with the last part serving as a backdoor pilot.

Barry ultimately appeared in two episodes on Arrow's second season, with the planned backdoor pilot cancelled in favor of a traditional pilot by The CW executives, who had been impressed by early cuts of Barry's first two episodes on Arrow. This allowed the creative team to flesh out Barry's story and his world on a bigger budget, as opposed to a backdoor pilot's constraint of incorporating characters from the parent show. The pilot was officially ordered on January 29, 2014, and was written by Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Johns, and directed by Nutter.

On May 8, 2014, The Flash was officially picked up as a series, with an initial order of 13 episodes. Three more scripts were ordered in September 2014 following a positive response to newly completed episodes by executives,

Costume design

The costume was designed by Colleen Atwood, who also designed the costumes for Arrow. It features a burgundy color scheme, a masked helmet, and gold accents throughout, and went through multiple adjustments from the moment it was placed in computer renderings to the day of filming the pilot. Primarily made of leather, the suit contains areas with a stretchable material to allow Gustin room to bend. According to Atwood "It was all about a costume that could sell speed, Grant [Gustin] was continually moving in the suit, so it had to be designed to make that all happen visually and functionally."

Casting

Jesse L. Martin was the first new addition to the series, cast in the role of Joe West, Barry's adoptive father and police detective in January 21, 2014. 3 days later, Rick Cosnett and Danielle Panabaker were cast in the roles of Detective Eddie Thawne and Caitlin Snow. Carlos Valdes was cast in February 4, 2014 as Cisco Ramon. The announcement also informed that he and Panabaker would first appear in an episode of the second season of Arrow. The same day, Candice Patton was cast for the role of Iris West, Barry's love interest in the series. Tom Cavanagh also joined the cast 6 days later as Harrison Wells, with his role described as "a rock star in the world of physics and the mind and money behind Central City's S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator". John Wesley Shipp, the actor who played Barry in the 1990 series was cast the next day in an unspecified recurring role. In May 2014, his role was revealed to be Henry Allen, Barry's father. Berlanti stated that he was cast because "given his history with The Flash, Andrew [Kreisberg], Geoff [Johns] and I could only think of one person we wanted to play Barry's father and that was John Wesley Shipp. He gives a fantastic and emotional performance in the pilot, and we are looking forward to his presence in many more episodes."

Music

Arrow composer Blake Neely is the primary composer of the series, and was selected to score the pilot. He previously composed a theme song for Barry during his two appearances in the second season of Arrow but he noted that "It had to be different... but it also couldn't be so different that it couldn't fit in the Arrow universe, ... it had to be in a style that could hold hands with Arrow."

Viewers

The pilot debuted at The CW on October 7, 2014. It was watched by 4.83 million viewers with a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographics. These ratings were higher than any episode of Arrow, the highest ratings the CW achieved in 5 years since the debut of The Vampire Diaries and is the second highest ratings in the 18-49 demographics. Factoring Live + 7 day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 6.8 million viewers, becoming The CW's most-watched telecast and the highest-rated premiere among men 18–34 (2.5 rating). Additionally, across all platforms, including initiated streams on digital platforms and total unduplicated viewers on-air over two airings the week of October 7, 2014, the premiere was seen more than 13 million times.

Critical reviews

Besides the strong debut, the pilot received critical acclaim from critics. Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.4 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "After one episode, it's already clear that The CW's first Arrow spinoff is more than capable of standing on its own. The prior buildup in Arrow's second season really helps this new series start off on the right foot and rapidly build Barry Allen's new status quo. Gustin is quickly coming into his own, and the supporting cast is solid as well. But hopefully we can look forward to more complex villains as time goes on, as well as a series mythology that can subvert expectations as much as Arrow has."

The A.V. Club's Scott Von Doviak gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "The DC Universe may be lagging far behind Marvel on the big screen, but television is another matter entirely. Prime time has become a veritable comic book store this fall, with The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine all premiering within weeks of each other and Arrow launching its third season. (Aquaman is still waiting for his agent to call.) It makes a lot of sense because television's serial nature comes closer to replicating the comic book experience than movie franchises with years between each installment, but that's not to say all comics-based TV shows are created equal. While Gotham has struggled to find a consistent tone, early indications are that The Flash is perfectly suited to the small-screen environment."

Andy Behbakht of TV Overmind wrote positive about the pilot, "Overall, The Flash pilot wins as this year's best new drama for me as it sets up another cool mythology and universe (which is connected with Arrow) with a rich cast of characters who have phenomenal actors portraying them. David Nutter (the king of pilots) has given birth to another legend as his directing for the pilot was outstanding. Having writers/show-runners like Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and Geoff Johns, made this first chapter of the fastest man alive, the best pilot of 2014."

Chancellor Agard of EW stated: "The Flash shows a lot promise in this pilot, and it'll be great to see where it goes from here. However, the show does have a long way to go to reach Arrow status. For one thing, most of the younger supporting cast needs to fleshed out a lot more, especially Iris. At the moment, Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin feel less like characters and more like placeholders for characters. Furthermore, Jesse L. Martin needs to be given more to do because his role feels a bit too Law & Order. Then again, he might be this show's grounding force. What's great about the pilot is how it readily embraces some of the most out - there parts of the Flash's mythology — I'm looking at you, time travel." In another review for the same article, Jeff Jensen gave the episode a "B+", writing, "The series inspires more hope than fear. It vibrates with big-picture vision and has smart fun with its premise, like locating the Flash's weakness: accelerated hypoglycemia. He needs to eat 850 tacos to replenish himself. 850! How delightfully specific! More delightful is the show's best relationship: that between Barry and his stand-in dad and police ally, Joe West, played by Jesse L. Martin in a performance both appealingly flinty and deeply felt. The rest of the supporting cast is good, and the commitment to fleshing out their characters is impressive, though the romance between Joe's daughter (and Barry's secret crush) and his partner feels superfluous. With sustained energy and careful modifications, The Flash should be a long-run kick."

Carissa Pavlica from TV Fanatic, gave a perfect 5 star rating out of 5, stating: "Heck, everything about this new world is exciting. While Arrow is about a man who is rediscovering his humanity and becoming a hero, The Flash is about a very human young man choosing heroic ways after a freak accident. Oliver was right, The Flash will be inspirational. How many people will he touch and change? Who can wait to find out? Next episode please."

Noel Kirkpatrick of TV.com wrote positive about the episode, stating "With its lighthearted tone and 'sci-fi lite' feel thanks to its mumbo-jumbo justification of powers — dark matter! Antimatter! Time travel! — The Flash is poised to fill a gap in the TV comic book superhero landscape. It's a landscape that's getting increasingly cluttered this fall, between the returns of Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the debuts of Gotham and Constantine (and that's not even counting iZombie, which is on deck for the midseason). Arrow sorted itself out nicely in its sophomore run, S.H.I.E.L.D. is currently staking out a sort of darker vibe, and Gotham still doesn't know what it really wants to be, but no matter what The Flash has in store for us, it seems primed to be the most fun show in its class, so I'm eager to see what's next."

Katie Kilkenny of The Atlantic wrote, "It's a welcome return to the civic hero for DC. In this era of selfish men in tights, The Flash's total difference from other protagonists currently onscreen (including DC's forthcoming Constantine) raises the question of why some of the most popular heroes are violent self-aggrandizers—instead of those selfless few whose personalities always had the makings of a hero." Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Bottom line, though, is if you can't smash something like the Hulk does or be a badass in the mold of Batman, you're going to need to make that 'I run fast' thing the basis of jokes and endearment rather than fear and awe. In that sense, The Flash ends up being entertaining because it knows precisely the right mood, which is especially good to see in a pilot."

Mary McNamara from Los Angeles Times wrote, "Enter (and exit and enter again) 'The Flash,' an effervescent and super-engaging addition to television's increasingly grim comic-book wars in which Our Hero is both smart and loved, before and after his transformation, providing further proof that the geek has inherited the earth."

Matt Roush of TV Guide wrote, "The CW's The Flash is one of the most enjoyable, agreeable and infectiously exuberant new shows of the fall, a welcome respite from the angst-heavy gloom that burdens so many comics-inspired superhero action shows these days (including Arrow and Fox's Gotham). While there are significant storm clouds in this lavishly produced pilot — a lightning bolt, after all, helps transform perpetually tardy Barry (the charming Grant Gustin) into The Flash — the overall mood is one of gee-whiz heroism and optimism." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix gave the episode a "B+" and wrote, "I like 'The Flash' at this stage a lot more than I did 'Arrow' after its solid but unremarkable pilot episode. It helps that many of the key creative people worked together on the previous show and have learned some lessons about what does and doesn't work in a superhero TV show. But the lighter and more optimistic tone is unexplored territory that could be tough to navigate at any speed. For the first hour, anyway, 'The Flash' makes it look easy."

Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote positively about the episode, "If the show can maintain the quality of the pilot, that might be quite some time. Luckily, it's in good hands: Producer Greg Berlanti and director David Nutter have done an excellent job of shepherding Arrow, pleasing comic book fans while inviting in newcomers. That alone makes Flash seem like a safer bet." Brian Lowry of Variety wrote, "The disclaimer would be that the further the show has to dig into the character's playbook, the more opportunities there are for it to trip up. As we've seen in the past with superhero fare, what appears destined to survive for the long run, based on a pricey premiere, can indeed be finished in a flash."

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote positively about the episode, "This superhero reboot is from the guys who did Arrow, so expect the same with this breezy spinoff. (It couldn't be more different from the CW's other debut, the maudlin Jane the Virgin.) The Flash won't be confused with Gotham – instead of gloomy atmosphere, it moves as fast as its namesake, with Grant Gustin adding the right touch of hyperactive studliness." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe gave the episode a "B+" and wrote, "All the potential here is in the show's resistance to the joyless atmospherics that have become the bane of comic-book shows and movies. Let's see if they can keep the broodiness at bay and come up with plots that have more than good vs. evil at stake."