- Title: The Flash – The Man Who Saved Central City
- wiki: link
Picking up six months after the cliffhanger ending to The Flash‘s First Season the show’s sophomore year begins with the Flash (Grant Gustin) keeping his former support system and arms length unwilling to put the lives of any his friends in further danger. That type of decision making nearly gets our hero killed by the arrival of a meta-human from another world when the radiation-eating Atom-Smasher (Adam Copeland) disrupts Central City’s first Flash Day with plans with plans of flattening the Scarlet Speedster.
“The Man Who Saved Central City” has several surprises including a pair of cameos from Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), the first being a dream sequence and the second being an unexpected gift Barry’s friend/nemesis decides to leave behind following his death. Along with the Atom-Smasher the premiere also delivers Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick, although we have to wait until the end of the episode for the character to step out of the shadows and until at least next week for the show to explain the DC Multiverse and just where this other Flash came from.
Given the show’s need to help set-up the new mid-season spin-off Legends of Tomorrow and the appearance of two characters from Earth-2 in the season premiere it appears the show’s Second Season will be about enlarging the Flash’s world. I also like the idea of Barry struggling to deal with the city’s outpouring of love for their hero and spending his nights secretly rebuilding the damaged buildings in Central City (plot threads that feels very true to the comics character). The loss of Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) is surprising, as is the sudden freedom and departure of Henry Allen (John Wesley Shipp). The first gives extra weight to the Flash’s battle with the Reverse-Flash and the singularity while the second allows the show to wrap-up a long-running subplot from the show’s First Season and allow Shipp to leave (at least for now) on a positive note.
