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The Flash 1.7 Blog: Power Outage Review [Contains Spoilers]

The Flash..

Director: Larry Shaw

Writers: Alison Schapker & Grainne Godfree

Cast: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh, Carlos Valdes, Rick Cosnett, Jesse L. Martin and guest star Robert Knepper.

Synopsis: The Flash goes up against Farooq aka Blackout, a metahuman who can harness electricity. 

Verdict:

After six weeks of super-powered action on the small screen, episode seven of The Flash‘s first season actually gives audiences something a little bit different from what they were perhaps expecting. ‘Power Outage’ utilises some very familiar plot lines and narrative devices, that will no doubt seem slightly overused to casual viewers of past superhero exploits on the big screen. The episode focuseson the cliched idea of our central protagonist (in this case Barry), losing his powers for a short period of time before learning something new and regaining his abilities. This Smallville-esque story may feel like a re-tread of one that viewers have previously laid eyes on in past, largely due to the fact that they have in quite a few superhero blockbusters such as SUPERMAN II and SPIDER-MAN 2 (just to name a few). However, this isn’t to say that the story is handled badly by the show’s writers, and in fact it may be one of the most enjoyable episodes of the series thus far. This is largely due to Grant Gustin’s brilliant handle on the character, and his incredibly convincing portrayal of a genuinely normal individual who wants to help the world after receiving his gift. Again, this helps ‘Power Outage’ in successfully reiterating the increasingly confident Barry’s humanity to audiences, even though the young forensic scientist basically possesses the power of a god.

The central villain of the episode is essentially a far less expensive iteration of Jamie Foxx’s Electro from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, however he does actually present Barry and the gang with their most dangerous threat the show has seen to date. Driven by desperation, the shocked and electricity-ridden Farooq Gibran provides The Flash with his most  terrifying enemy yet, largely due to the fact that he can absorb energy from an individual before harnessing it as raw power. This brings me to my next point regarding the shocking twist that Dr. Wells manipulated the imprisoned Tony Woodward (from episode 6), into fighting Farooq in order to buy them more time. The heroic end for Woodward was not only successful in reinforcing the kind-hearted nature of Barry (by showing genuine remorse over the death of his school bully), but also bringing the ruthless and calculating nature of Wells to light a little but more. Having said that, the sudden transformation for Tony from villain to ani-hero within one week was slightly sudden, but nonetheless an effective moment of the story.

The Flash 7

The appearance of the Clock King once more (crossing over from his parent show of Arrow), could also be argued as an unnecessary addition to the story, however it did allow Iris to demonstrate that she may one day be capable of becoming something other than a damsel in distress. Although, with that in mind it should be mentioned that the fantastic Robert Knepper was a pleasure to watch as always, and succeeded in stealing each and every scene he was part of. In terms of future antagonists though, I am becoming increasingly sure that Wells is in fact the Reverse-Flash (after his mystery interest in discovering how Farooq was able to steal The Flash’s powers), however that may seem like the rather obvious choice. Also, one has to wonder when the writers will begin to stop killing off the inmates of their particle accelerator prison, if they are indeed hoping to build a large rogues gallery for the future. With only Barry’s gassy second episode villain left, there is only one question remaining…how are S.T.A.R. Labs feeding their prisoners without escape?

One final geek nugget of geek information that readers may also be interested in, is that the voice of Wells’ AI computer intelligence ‘Gideon’ is in fact none other than Morena Baccarin, the brilliant actress soon to be seen on Fox’s Gotham as Dr. Leslie Thomkins! Next up is the epic two hour crossover event for The Flash and Arrow, for which I will be reviewing both parts.

[usr=4] The Flash airs on Sky One every Tuesday night at 8pm. Check out the official website.

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