The Flash Fast Lane Television 

Five Thoughts on The Flash’s “Fast Lane”

By | February 3rd, 2016
Posted in Television | % Comments

This week, The Flash lays a lot on the table – we get to see Wally develop into an actual character, Wells comes clean about his aspirations, and the show gets ready for its biggest journey yet.

1. But first, let’s talk about Iris

Last week, I praised the show for giving Iris something to do that wasn’t just be in the way. This week, it tried to go step further, and it fell flat on its face. Iris came off as shrill and stubborn, and seemed like the worst stereotypes of women in media – useful for sex appeal or nagging, but not much else.

Speaking of sex appeal, why in the holy hell was she all dolled up when going to the drag race? She was dressed far racier than she’s be in any scene in the show, and she was going to see her brother. Maybe she was trying to fit in, but I don’t think she’d be taunted for wearing her usual duds – it’s not like she’s showing up in Amish clothes or anything. It came off as weirdly flirty and creepy.

The problem with this episode, and all Iris episodes, is that she’s only really useful when either in distress or the object of a male character’s lust, and that’s just not good enough. This show has done some really great things for its characters, but Iris isn’t one of them. They are at least trying now, but c’mon folks – she deserves better.

Who did get better this week was Wally. We are starting to see an actual character emerge from the brashness and the speed obsession – I wish I had more to say about Wally each week, but this is the first week where that seems like something that’s possible in the future. I want to love him on the show, but it just hasn’t happened yet. At least by the end of this episode, I sort of liked him.

2. Tar Pit

For about half a second, I was hoping that they would give Tar Pit his comics origin – prisoner who gets into meditation, astral projects out of Iron Heights and into inanimate objects, gets his spirit trapped in tar, leaves his body in a coma in a prison cell – but that was never going to happen, which is probably all for the better. Instead, the show gave him a pretty standard Flash origin.

Which, sad to say, is that they made him sort of generic, and without real character depth. Sure, he had an arc – kill the dudes who tried to kill him and turned him into this monster – but the show has started to use the ‘freak of the week’ set up for different reasons than it initially did. Now, that is in the background, while the foreground is spent dealing with Earth 2, Zoom, Wells, etc.

If that’s the case, why not give a few weeks off from that formula – oh wait, that is exactly what they are doing. More on that in a bit.

3. “Metahuman Tinder”

While Cisco has been at the forefront of the show when using his powers, we haven’t seen as much of Cisco’s private life/personal stuff in the past few months at all. Remember when he had a budding romance, or a shithead brother? That stuff has somewhat been shoehorned out of the show in favor of him being Vibe + a scientific workaholic.

So, when the show does stuff like him creating a metahuman version of Tinder – his words, not mine – it seems appropriate for a dude with no social life to speak of to put all of his efforts into an app to help him connect with other people.

I get what the show is trying to do – it is trying to set up an easier/on the go way for calls to come in. This lets the show not have Cisco and Caitlin tethered to S.T.A.R. Labs, but it is also pretty silly, right?

4. Harry comes clean

Despite throwing some shade on the show in my first three points, the way they’ve handled Harry this season has been nothing short of masterful. This week was a perfect example of just how good Tom Cavanagh is on this show. He approaches the evil of last season frequently, without ever touching the warmth. That’s impressive, because this week was incredibly kind and fair to Barry (well, after stealing his speed), and was taking his sins on the chin. But he did so without ever reverting back to how the character was played last season. It was a pitch perfect acting choice by Cavanagh. I sort of hope each season we get a different Earth’s Wells, just to show off how great of an actor he is.

Continued below

5. Pack up the van, we’re going to Earth 2!

The show going to Earth 2 is something that would’ve been totally inconceivable when it was first announced, and yet now it feels totally, unbelievably, necessary that it does exactly that. It means Deathstorm and Killer Frost, and all other fun variations on characters we know and love.

Even when the show stumbles through the interpersonal stuff, it never fails to satisfy on a purely comics level. See ya on Earth 2 next week, folks! Next year, Earth S! (or so I hope)


//TAGS | The Flash

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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