Credit – The CW
The Flash jumps the shark again with a new character infusion. The CW announced on Friday that it will be introducing Bart Allen into the Allen line of speedsters. It won’t be the same character from the comic book ‘Impulse'(1995-2002) who was from the 30th century and the grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West. This version of Impulse will be the future son of Barry and Iris’ and makes his debut in ‘Heart of the Matter, Pt 1.
The Future of the Flash
In an article I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I wrote that the future of The Flash was in trouble because of increasingly forced identity politics into its storytelling that has seen its ratings drop week after week and season after season. Ratings decreases were trickling in during season 4, but by season 5 took a dive with the introduction of their speedster daughter from the future Nora/XS. That could have been a good storyline but that season made it all about Nora and Iris and The Flash was all but an after thought with a season that lacked in storytelling and action that we expect from a Flash TV series. It was a soap opera of emotional dribble that saw a lot of fans just walk away.
Impulse Does not Look Like Impulse
Now, the CW announces Bart Allen will make his debut at the end of season 7 as Impulse in promotional marketing that made me
Credit – DC Comics
laugh when I first saw it. No offense to the actor playing the part because I blame this all on the CW, but that doesn’t look like Impulse at all from the comic book. I read the entire run of Impulse and enjoyed it thoroughly. Could the CW have at least referenced some of what Impulse looks like? I get the race swap because that’s the CW’s MO and Iris is black but come on, you couldn’t even get the hairstyle right. Impulse is a spontaneous, wild goofball of a kid that is always getting himself into trouble. The costume and look needs to reflect that spontaneity. The promo for Impulse looks like an advertisement for a quirky kids show on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr. In addition to that, with the announcement that the Flash’s Nora Allen/XS will be returning at the end of season 7, I can’t help but think that the CW must love low ratings and failure.
What Does The Flash do to Hold on to it’s Audience
Maybe this is CW’s way of trying to recapture some of the Flash’s lost audience and making up for the departures of the Wells and Cisco Ramon characters. Those two characters, for what it’s worth, were a key foundation to the Flash’s popularity. Now that you are losing two of your main characters, what does the Flash do to hold on to its audience? Flash is going into its 8th season and the ratings are abysmal. Bringing in a new character might bring the Flash a mild bump in the ratings in the short term, but the CW’s lack of faithfulness to DC’s characters and to the fans will continue to fuel the downward trajectory in the ratings. Fans are tired of the politics preached by their favorite superheroes episode to episode and just want some great old fashioned superhero fun and excitement. The CW had a great formula once with the first couple of seasons of Flash and Arrow that had fans glued week after week by great storytelling. But, the CW has decided that preachy identity politics are the way forward and continue to berate the fans with it while destroying characters we all once loved to watch. The CW has once again jumped the shark with a pathetic and weak looking Impulse that will only make the Flash a dim shadow of its former self.
