First Impulse: CW's The Flash

Welcome to a series of posts in which I share my snap judgments after seeing trailers and clips hyping the upcoming slate of Fall network TV premieres. First up, we get a 5-mintue extended first look at "Arrow" spinoff "The Flash," coming to us from The CW (Motto: We are, too, a real network!)

I'm a Flash guy from way back. When I was growing up and devouring comics, he was my favorite character--well, right behind Superman. And Batman. And of course Spider-Man. Well, he was right up there, dadgum it! I enjoyed the underrated 1990s live action series on CBS. And while I haven't yet seen "Arrow," I've kind of been meaning to. Yes, folks, don't try to do the math on this yourselves: What this adds up to is, I'm looking forward to this new series.

This clip starts off in horrible fashion, though, and I'm not even counting the ad I have to sit through on Hulu before it starts--an ad before an ad! First we see the hero as a youngster witnessing his mother's murder in mysterious circumstances. That's not so bad in and of itself, but it instills some dread in me because I fear that the show will be saddled by some kind of ponderous mythology with Barry Allen trying to solve this mystery until the ratings start to sag. I don't even care about how faithful/unfaithful it is to the comic source material; I just don't want the show to go that route. We even get Jesse L. Martin telling an older Barry he can't keep chasing legends. This might make a great arc and something to come back to now and then, but please don't make it the driving force of the series.

That aspect is less evident as the trailer continues and Allen becomes Flash, so maybe it's just part of the build to his becoming a superhero. Let's back up to the one outright groaner in this thing: After young Barry gets beaten up by a group of bullies and bemoans that he "just wasn't fast enough," Flash-to-be's mother leans over and telling him, "It's better to have a good heart than fast legs."

Oh, brother! Talk about obvious. Viewers of course need to know that every hero's destiny is not only preordained, but foreshadowed by a sage piece of parental wisdom. Who can forget that classic moment when Mrs. Banner told Bruce, "It's better to have a good mind than invulnerable green skin and unimaginable super strength"? Or the time when Garrett Morris' mom said to her son, "It's better to have good comic timing than the proportionate strength of an ant?" The preview moves along quickly enough I can almost forget that clunker, but part of me still worries that line is indicative of the level of scripting on this show.

The good news is that soon enough TV's Ed, Tom Cavanaugh, shows up as a scientific genius of some sort, and Barry gets his powers and becomes really fast. The super speed effects look credible and actually kind of cool, even. Flash uses his speed to do a really cool speedy thing. Martin helps bring some gravitas to a series that will likely need it with such a young cast, none of whom really stand out in the trailer.

Best of all, it looks like we won't have to sit through an interminable artificial delay while the powers that be keep the superhero out of costume. Evidently, our guy dons his duds in the first episode and goes up against a genuine super villain. So this is a superhero show that isn't afraid to be a superhero show.

The first minute of this clip is not promising at all, but once things pick up, it looks promising enough. I can't say I'm super pumped up for it, but I am guardedly optimistic and will give "The Flash" a chance this Fall. I still might need some prodding to get on board "Arrow," (Green Arrow does make an appearance), but maybe this will be the push I need.