THE FLASH S02: GOOD BUT NOT GREAT

In the first season of The Flash, Barry Allen "found who killed his mother and got justice for his father". With both of his missions accomplished, it was really exciting to see what was next for the speedster.

The second season starts off six months after the events of the season finale of the first season. Barry is running solo to protect his friends from harm. When attacked and overwhelmed by Al Rothstein, Barry realises that he cannot do the job alone. Upon defeating Al Rothstein, Barry comes to know that an evil speedster from Earth-2 by the name of Zoom wants him dead. The entirety of the season deals with The Flash taking on Zoom.

The cast of season two remains essentially the same as the previous season. Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, Violett Beane as Jesse Wells, and Teddy Sears as Hunter Zolomon are the only new inclusions. Most of the cast do an okay job. The performances by Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells and Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, however, are noteworthy. The version of Harrison Wells we see this season is even more arrogant and is overprotective of his daughter. Danielle Panabaker, on the other hand, had to portray three different personas. She had to play her usual part, her evil doppelganger from Earth-2 (Killer Frost) and also the role of a woman traumatised by Zoom's actions. 

What made the first season of The Flash so great was its plot. The second season started off sort of tame and tepid in comparison. The plot was getting somewhat more intense in the middle but the twists were quite predictable. The Flash is also doing a lot more crossover episodes with the other Arrowverse shows. So, those who watch only The Flash but not the other CW shows will be confused a lot. 

Any comic book based movie/TV series requires a lot of visual effects. While the same goes for The Flash, the visual effects are seemingly outdated by at least a decade. Granted, the budgets for CW shows are not nearly as big as the Hollywood action flicks that we are used to seeing, but even then the CGI is a massive disappointment. 

With a comparatively mundane plot, slow pacing and poor CGI, The Flash Season 2 fell quite short of its predecessor. Here's hoping the third season can bring back the magic of the first. 

Nony Khondaker is an introvert with immense passion for tech and music. Feel free to send your constructive feedback at nonykhondaker@live.com or follow him on twitter.com/NonyKhondaker