'The Flash' Season Premiere Recap: 'Your World Is In Danger'

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for tonight’s Season 2 premiere of The Flash.

The Flash is back to remind everybody that you can still do child-like wonder without insulting everybody’s intelligence. From the opening fantasy team-up to the much-anticipated appearance of Jay Garrick at the very end, tonight’s Season 2 premiere hit all the sweet spots of the show and is also a great jumping-on point for new viewers.

What We Liked:

Flash and Firestorm taking out Captain Cold and Heatwave. Barry’s guilt over Ronnie’s death. Joe’s line, “I got you.” Dr. Stein stealing Cisco’s villain-naming thunder. Cisco hugging him after. Dr. Wells’s posthumous dig, “You’ll never truly be happy, Barry Allen. Trust me.” The team reconvening to take down a villain Barry can’t beat alone. “Zoom.”

The show bounces from super-powered action to heartfelt moments of a father/son connection without missing a beat. Like Atom Smasher (Adam Copeland, looking much heavier than his days as a wrestler in the WWE), the show goes from huge, insurmountable obstacles to tiny emotional victories in the blink of an eye.

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What We Didn’t Like:

The Flash has set a nearly impossible standard for giving us completely believable superhero effects on a weekly TV show budget. The embiggening (gratuitous Simpsons reference) power of Atom Smasher didn’t really look cheap so much as cartoony. Given 23 straight episodes where this has never been a problem, this is probably just a fluke. Hopefully.

Related: ‘The Flash’ Season 2 Preview: What It Takes to Be a Hero

Burning Questions:

Jay Garrick is the tip of a massive iceberg of confusion. Earth-2 is one of dozens of alternate universes, which could lead to all sorts of strange mirror-universe mashups. We already know that this season will see another version of Reverse Flash (Hunter Zolomon), another version of Dr. Wells (still played by Tom Cavanagh), and a third incarnation of Flash — though whether or not Wally West actually dons the cowl is still in question.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.