From Pilot To Midseason Finale, THE FLASH Has Been Better Than ARROW

From beginning to end, The Flash has secured its spot as the best superhero series on television, and I strongly stand by that. Last night sealed it with two showdowns between the "man in the yellow suit," the official appearance of another hero, and a twist that threw both casual and comic fans of the series. It was crazy. It was awesome. And it left me wanting more all at the same time. Unfortunately, many of you were probably too busy watching the finale of Sons of Anarchy to notice, and that's cool, but you should watch it now before I spoil anything.

It's hard to mention Flash, however, without bringing up the big brother series that led to it, Arrow. At the beginning of both seasons I would've said Flash would eventually reach Arrow's quality. Now, the day of the Arrow finale, I would say the quality is better on The Flash, if not dead even in the eyes of most fans. Why is that though? I believe Oliver Queen said it best in the crossover episode when he said to Barry Allen, "This isn't Central City".

It's true the shows are in some different places. Starling has had two terrorist attacks in the past three years on its people, while Central City is largely unaware of the super humans spiraling through their city. That being said, I love the direction the writers have taken The Flash so far. It's a breath of fresh air to be introduced to a hero who truly believes in hope and isn't shrouded in darkness like the past 15 years have shown us. Barry Allen is the first hero we've seen in 20 years to wear the darkness of his past with everything but a scowl on his face. He laughs, he cries, and he's just as much himself outside the suit as he is in. Hats off to Grant Gustin for revealing a lingering problem I've had with all actors playing heroes over the years.

It's a bad trait that when the mask goes on actors jump into a different persona. Gustin doesn't Jekyll and Hyde the role like other actors have done with their heroes. Whatever Barry Allen is feeling The Flash is feeling, and that to me really helps with the immersion of the show. It's a strength that Arrow has lacked in this season. This is in no way a slam on Stephen Amell (I love him as the Arrow) but rather on the writing staff. Arrow has always had a strange disconnect between plot and action. Between flashbacks, current bad guy, and side story element. I feel the show has struggled to find a blend due to the fact that there is just so much going on.

Remember that the writers of Arrow are trying to blend all these elements together:

  • Sarah is dead
  • Diggle is a dad
  • Brandon Routh is going to be the Atom
  • Laurel is training with Wildcat to become Black Canary
  • The League of Assassins is coming
  • Thea is a bad ass and dating a club DJ
  • Malcolm Merlyn is still around

And let's not forget we still have to cover Hong Kong flashbacks, villain of the week, and whatever romantic tension is going on between Oliver and Felicity. It's a full story with a lot to go on, but it needs to be better organized. I feel like this season I've been thrown a lot of open doors with not a lot of closing going on.

The Flash, on the other hand, literally closed out every mystery the show had to that point in the mid season finale. It answered everything at once and then basically said "now that you know what's happening, we know you'll come back." Instead of a cliffhanger it was like they led us to the cliff and then told us we need to jump if we want more.

In my mind, Flash won the superhero series this round. I know I'm being completely unfair, as I am writing this hours before the Arrow mid season finale. I just have this intuitive confidence that it won't outshine The Flash. But if it does, expect a full retraction of my above statement.

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