What I’m Watching: The Flash (Season Premiere)

The Flash: Season 4, Episode 1 “The Flash Reborn” (B+)

I love this show, and it’s great to see it back in the air as part of the CW’s premiere week. It didn’t seem possible that this show could continue without Barry, though Team Flash, led by Iris, who described herself as running (the show) since Barry left, was pretty productive keeping things up and ensuring that Central City is safe from all those who seek to attack it. But this show isn’t one to be very dark, especially since Iris didn’t die, and instead we got a broken-down version of Barry, described as “A Beautiful Mind” by Cisco, who only took a few scenes to get fully repaired after Iris bravely handed herself over to the samurai, somehow knowing that Barry would be drawn to come save her. I’m not familiar enough with classic Flash villains to know who the mystery man is who created the samurai and is monitoring the time stream, but I can tell this is a new kind of enemy for the team, which is good since they’ve already conquered a lot, and having a non-speed-related nemesis is probably a positive step. I’m thrilled to see Caitlin back with a more relaxed personality, but it does seem that she still has some Killer Frost issues to keep under control. I don’t pretend to understand the speed force, but if Cisco and Caitlin did manage to trick it into believing that a speedster is still inside, I’m more than happy to never hear it mentioned again.