Almost two years after Arrowverse. Through the show, it has allowed Greg Berlanti’s DC TV Universe to tap into concepts such as meta-humans, the Multiverse and so much more.
The first season of the Barry Allen drama still holds as one of the top seasons amongst fans and critics. Season one centered on building up Barry as a hero while also telling the story of his greatest enemy in Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh.) These are the best and worst episodes of The Flash season one.
WORST: Things You Can’t Outrun (Episode 3)
For a big portion of the first season, we spent a lot of time with meta-humans of the week that were mostly one-offs. One that did recur in season one was Kyle Nimbus a.k.a. the Mist (Anthony Carrigan) who was one of the many minor foes that came off as one-dimensional.
While he was formidable for Barry at the get-go, it was only a matter of time before he was defeated. It doesn’t change the fact that it was a letdown to have a powerful meta-human like him with no depth.
BEST: Flash vs Arrow (Episode 8)
It didn’t take long before the fastest man alive crossed over with the Emerald Archer as it became the beginning of the annual Arrowverse crossovers. In their first event together across two nights, we saw the two heroes come together to take on a threat each in their respective city.
But like many superhero crossovers or team-ups, there had to be a little clash between them. Barry was hypnotized by the Rainbow Raider so it’s not like he wanted to fight his super-friend. Regardless, the first hour of their first crossover is unforgettable as it was genuinely fun to watch.
WORST: Power Outage (Episode 7)
It didn’t take long for the series to have an episode where Barry temporarily loses his powers. We meet the meta-human Blackout (Michael Reventar) who has electric-based powers. As he goes up against the Flash for the first time, he manages to zap Barry’s powers.
Not only did it feel weird to see Barry lose his powers so easily, but to have it this early in the series felt incredibly odd. Seeing a hero lose his powers should never happen within the first ten episodes of a new series, especially in such an easy way.
BEST: Pilot (Episode 1)
Most good shows always start off with a strong pilot and that was certainly the case for The Flash. The series premiere still remains one of the best episodes in the whole show’s history. The pilot makes it clear that you are in for a solid superhero drama with adventure, heart, and humor. We get introduced to all of the characters around Barry, many who are still with the series today. But they also make Barry’s early struggle believable once he wakes up from his nine-month-long coma.
In addition to that, Stephen Amell cameos as Oliver Queen to offer our young hero some advice before Barry decides to use his powers for good. In addition to that, they start off big in of the villain of the week with the first Weather Wizard (Chad Rook) while also teasing the season’s real big bad.
WORST: Plastique (Episode 5)
Out of the many one-off meta-humans that we got, the fifth episode did a misstep with one of the good ones. Kelly Frye guest stars as DC Comics’ Plastique who has a compelling backstory and someone who wasn’t entirely evil. Despite that, Plastique doesn’t last for long after an injury triggers her powers to blow her up.
It was disappointing to see the series waste her in this way when they could have done more with the character down the line. Even though the fifth episode was good, her death brings it all down.
BEST: The Man in the Yellow Suit (Episode 9)
After a strong start, we had one massive fall finale before The Flash went on its winter hiatus. As the season was slowly exploring the Reverse-Flash mystery, the character takes center stage in “The Man in the Yellow Suit” as Barry tries to take his mother’s murderer up. But there is a reason why Reverse-Flash is Barry’s greatest enemy and that’s because he can’t be defeated easily.
This is also where the connection between Harrison and Reverse-Flash is made even clearer. While all of that is going down, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) finds out that her fiancé Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) is actually alive, but with a twist that kicks off Firestorm’s arc.
WORST: Crazy for You (Episode 12)
The twelfth episode slows things down a bit in the first season. We get introduced to another familiar Flash character in Linda Park (Malese Jow) who becomes a love interest for Barry. Despite some good scenes between Linda and Barry, the episode doesn’t do much to progress the season further.
Then there is the meta-human of the week and this one is perhaps one of the show’s cheekier villains. Peek-a-Boo (Britne Oldford) is a teleporter whose villain name is as bad as the writing of her character.
BEST: Out of Time (Episode 15)
Flash is known for his time travel adventures and the first season made sure to include that aspect of the mythology. The fifteenth episode introduces Liam McIntyre as the real Weather Wizard, one of Flash’s famous Rogues and his debut is no joke. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) figures out that Harrison is Reverse-Flash which leads to Eobard Thawne killing in a horrific way.
As Mardon is putting the city through extreme danger, Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) end up declaring their feelings for one another as we get the first West-Allen kiss. But this all gets undone when Barry, in an attempt to stop Mardon’s tidal wave, he accidentally travels back in time to before all of this happened.
WORST: All-Star Team-Up (Episode 18)
The first season of The Flash actually had a few mini-crossovers with Arrow and one of them was in the eighteenth episode. In “All-Star Team-Up”, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) visit Team Flash which is a lot of fun.
But the weakness comes from the bee-villain Brie Larvan (Emily Kinney) as well as the drama between Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) and Iris. Those elements held the episode back despite the great guest spots by the Atom and Felicity.
BEST: Fast Enough (Episode 23)
Not only did the first season start off strong, but it also finished even stronger as it set up adventures for the second season. Barry travels back in time again, this time to the night his mom was murdered as he had the chance to save her at the cost of changing his present.
In a heartbreaking moment, Barry decides to not change the past as he stays with Nora (Michelle Harrison) in her final minutes. The showdown between Eobard and Barry concludes with a twist as Eddie shoots himself so that Eobard is never born. As if that wasn’t big enough, a wormhole begins to consume Central City as Barry attempts to stop it, which ends the finale on a big cliffhanger.
