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The Flash S01E14 Post-Game Report – Fallout

I’m still in total shock! After 37 years in comic books and a handful of appearances in animation, we finally got a proper Firestorm in live action!

This week’s episode of The Flash was more than I could of hoped for! I’m not going to spend time recapping the story. You either saw it, or can find a zillion recaps on the web. We’re going to look at the Firestorm-centric elements of the episode. Not surprisingly this article will feature SPOILERS for episode 14 of The Flash!

Robbie Amell and Victor Garber as Firestorm on The Flash

The creators of this television series continue to impress me. Every time I convince myself they will stray from the comic book version of Firestorm, they come right back and give us faithful Firestorm!!! I was floored when Ronnie & the Professor merged to form Firestorm and they were in the classic configuration (Ronnie controlling the body with the Professor as a disembodied voice).

I really enjoyed the emotional scenes with Ronnie & Caitlin, and later with Professor Stein & Clarissa. It was interesting to explore how these characters have changed over the past year and where that may take them going forward. These writers always know exactly which strings to pull to hit you in the feels.

The highlight of the episode for me was seeing a fully-realized and properly-merged Firestorm! Ronnie and the Professor working together as a team was fantastic! When we first heard the disembodied voice of Professor Stein, and then him quickly shouting a warning to “Ronald” about an imminent attack, I got happy-chills. Seriously. I felt the familiar echoes of the old Super Friends cartoon when the Professor would interact with Ronnie (that’s a good thing if you are unfamiliar with the classic cartoon). And the special effects… wow! The FX team on The Flash are astonishingly talented!

Some die-hard fans have expressed concern over Firestorm’s costume (or lack of a costume). Personally, I’m okay with the televised look. While I love the classic Firestorm costume, I’m not sure puffy sleeves and bright yellow would work on television. Robbie Amell said in an interview, “It would be really hard to pull off. Even the Flash costume is a much darker red than it is in the comics. The worry of the Firestorm costume is if it goes the Ronald McDonald route, especially with the puffy sleeves.” Ouch, but I see his point. Additionally, having Firestorm in black makes the fire special effect really pop off the screen. If his costume was lighter in color, it would detract from the impressive fire effect. With the dark colors and “splicer”, I’m good.

Some additional random thoughts:

  • Mental Connection – I loved the mental connection between Ronnie & the Professor. There was always a minor psychic link in the classic comics so this was an exaggeration, but it worked well for the episode.
  • Jason Rusch – We got another mention of Jason Rusch from the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project. Hopefully we’ll see more of him interacting with Firestorm in future episodes.
  • Alcohol – Harrison Wells drugged Professor Stein through an alcoholic drink.  In the comics, Stein is a reformed alcoholic. His battle with alcoholism began because Stein struggled with the after-effects of unknowingly being part of Firestorm (gaps in memory, waking up in strange places, etc). I’m not sure if the alcoholic drink was intended as an nod to Stein’s comic book troubles, but it made this old fan happy.
  • White eyes – Even though the white eyes (lack of pupil or iris) is faithful to the comics, I found it a bit unsettling on-screen. Not sure if it was the special effect, or simply the weirdness of white eyes. Maybe they just need to darken the area around the eyeball and enhance the glowing eyes to stand out more (like in the comics).
  • “Ronald” – Having Professor Stein refer to Ronnie as “Ronald” is very faithful to the comics. Love this!
  • Victor Garber IS Professor Martin Stein – We already knew Garber was an excellent actor, but he really nailed the character of Martin Stein! There were minor personality differences, but the spirit and essence was spot-on. That’s quite impressive considering Garber admitted to not reading any of the comic book source material. He wanted to gleam the character solely from the script. My compliments to the script writers and Mr. Garber! Stein is my favorite character in the Firestorm mythos so getting him just right was very important to me.
  • Pittsburgh – So Ronnie and the Professor are heading to Pittsburgh? Nice touch because in the comics they lived in Pittsburgh while Ronnie was going to college. I wonder if that’s a reference to a Pittsburgh-based character or just a throw away nod to the comics. Since they are heading to Pittsburgh, anyone think we might see The Weasel or Moonbow? LOL!
  • Merging – How about that gorgeous special effect of them fusing into Firestorm?!?! Great job by the special effects team!!!

Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein and Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond fusing to form Firestorm on The Flash

Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein and Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond fusing to form Firestorm on The Flash

Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein and Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond fusing to form Firestorm on The Flash

Victor Garber as Professor Martin Stein and Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond fusing to form Firestorm on The Flash

What’s in store for the future of Firestorm? We know Robbie Amell & Victor Garber are scheduled to appear again in the season finale. Can’t wait to see how Firestorm fits into that episode. Beyond that, Firestorm’s future on television is unknown.

In many ways, this week’s episode felt like a back door pilot for a potential Firestorm series. Tons of folks on the interwebs are speculating whether Firestorm will get his own spin-off series. We know there is a spin-off from the Arrow/The Flash universe being discussed, but no other details (lots of murmurs about a possible Atom spin-off from Arrow). It seems unlikely to me that Firestorm will receive his own series, but the show’s creators continue to surprise me. Here’s hoping I’m wrong!

Support Firestorm (and The Flash)! Fan the flame!

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11 Comments

  1. Jeph says:

    I’m still wondering what happens with the quantum splicer when they separate – does it just fall off? When they showed them actually separating, it just seemed to disappear – I don’t think Ronnie was wearing it, and his hands were empty. Perhaps that was just a goof in the editing. And what would happen if they merged without the quantum splicer. I guess the only problem with involving such a gadget is now it has to be explained into the workings of the character, but at the same time, it could make for a good weakness/plot point in the future.

    Although I have to say that I’m with you – I LOVE the classic costume in the comics, but I just don’t know that it would work for TV. And the eyes….as cool as those eyes are in the comics, that’s something else that’s a little difficult to transition to live action. It makes me overthink the comics…are those supposed to be scorch marks around his eyes?

    All that aside, I loved the episode, and suspect I’ll have to watch it again sometime soon – probably to fill the gap between now and the next episode that’s soooo far off.

  2. Jeph, the Quantum splicer is there, you can see Ronnie holding it in one of the scenes.

    Shag, you going to add a new, LIVE ACTION FIRESTORM! banner to the website soon?

    Oh! and for those curious. From what I’ve heard, there is going to be a Vixen series on CW seed which is animated, but will (in canon) be a part of the Arrow/Flash verse and will be able to cross over with it now and then (with actresses showing up on Arrow/Flash and I believe the Arrow/Flash stars voicing their characters on the show).

    Obviously we’re all thinking such would be PERFECT for a Firestorm show too! 😀

  3. This was a real treat, and I too, was surprised how “classic” (or CAL-LASSIC, as Rob would say) they got with Firestorm. As we were watching the episode I kept making cracks about how it would be cool if they merged like they did on Super Friends, and how Ronnie had to run off and buy a poofy Flamenco shirt. We didn’t get the shirt, but we DID get that classic transformation. No floating Victor Garber head, but that would probably be a bit dopey, honestly.

    I hope we see a lot more of Firestorm, if not in his own series, than as a recurring guest star on Flash and Arrow!

    Chris

  4. Only thing missing. NEED to see Firestorm transmute something! It’s his signature power!

  5. Airsay says:

    Great article! I’ll just add one little info: Robbie Amell will also be in episode 1.18 “All-Stars team up”. ATOM will also be on the Flash for this episode. This is gonna be huge, awesome, no matter what they tell in this episode, it’s gonna be great.

    Same feeling about the white eyes.

    But if they do a Firestorm series, do you think Caitlin will go with Ronnie? I don’t see her character leaving Central City and Team Flash, and I don’t also don’t see a show about Firestorm without her, you know? And they couldn’t keep the relationship with two shows because, come on, it’s the CW and the main character will need its love interest in every episodes. In any case, I’m very happy with the way they’re telling Firestorm story in Flash right now and if they keep developing it in over the seasons, even if it’s only in 2 or 3 episodes, it will be so cool.

    Last thing, do you think Firestorm will really be in Arrow? Cf that pic with the cousins in their costumes posted yesterday. I don’t know, I don’t really see how Firestorm would fit in Starling City right away. Cisco and Joe are coming in the episode 3X19 though. But I don’t know, I think it was just a little teasing when the Amell cousins were hanging out together in set…

  6. James Guertin says:

    I hate to admit this but I would have been totally lost with this story arc, if not for the F/W Podcast.

    As Shagg and Rob are the new Hollywood Powerhouse Couple, can a live action “Legion” series be far off???

  7. Aaron Moss says:

    Thought it was a fantastic show. Firestorm was WONDERFUL. Hopefully he does use his transmutation powers soon.

    But otherwise SUPERFANTASTIC!!!!!!!

  8. Ken says:

    I agree 100%! I loved it!
    When they merged, it was Awesome!
    Still in Geek Awe of how well they really did!

  9. Spinks says:

    It was great! Loved it!

  10. A.J. Chwaster says:

    I’m surprised so many people didn’t like the white eyes…. that was a detail I really liked!
    As far as costuming goes, I understand bright red and yellow won’t really work… but then again, Flash is in red, and Reverse Flash at least 1/2 yellow, so given a steamlined costume (no puffy sleeves, sigh) in dark red with a bit of DARK yellow (add a tiny bit of black paint to yellow to get the effect) could work…I envision something like the early nu52 Jason/Ronnie half Firestorm mostly red suit… but I imagine the Flash producers don’t want to create confusion with 2 guys in red suits.
    I’m with many others in wanting transmute powers… it’s what distinguishes Firestorm from the MANY fire-based comic characters. I also need to see those signature atomic/electron-like “rings” around his hands and fired upon objects when using transmute power, and maybe around body when merging/fissioning in & out of Firestorm persona (although the effect they used for merging WAS pretty cool).

    Sorry if I sound too whiney… given the greatness that they did accomplish (perfect casting of Stein & Ronnie, the disembodied Stein voice in Ronnie’s head, the flying, etc, etc.) just makes me want MORE….c’mon CW… I know you can do it!

  11. […] You can check out Shag’s reviews of these two episodes at part 1 and part 2. […]

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