The Flash Season 1 Character Review: Cisco Ramon

Now that the first season of The Flash is in the books, we’ll be spending our long, speedster-less summer taking a look at how each character developed over the course of the first 23 episodes. Unlike our Agents of SHIELD character reviews, there’s no real starting point for all of these characters, so we’ll mostly be talking about the journey they took and where they ended up. Ready? Let’s do this!

Where would Barry Allen be without his friends? The team behind The Flash did a nice job in Season 1 turning the series into more of an ensemble show rather than a solo tale by giving the Fastest Man Alive a strong group of supporting characters. Cisco Ramon was one of the most prominent, aiding Barry with his technical wizardry and offering plenty of laughs along the way.

Comic relief and tech support certainly made Cisco valuable on their own, but he also formed some surprising bonds with other members of the cast that weren’t obvious from the start. Plus he even found some time for some twisted romance along the way.

Cisco’s future might involve a more active role in keeping Central City safe from rogue meta-humans, but let’s see how he fared as a regular guy first.

The Positive: Since so many people lauded The Flash for its lighter tone compared to Arrow (and other super hero fare on TV in general, really), we should make sure Cisco gets his proper due in that respect. He got the funniest lines in the majority of the Season 1 episodes, either cracking wise about the Flash’s villains, most of whom he named, or making nervous quips in the face of danger. His enthusiasm for the ides of super heroes matched Barry’s own, making the viewer feel how cool it would be to have super powers.

Yet his late season subplot with Harrison Wells made sure he wasn’t just the court jester while also ensuring that his feelings about meta-humans weren’t as clear cut as they might have first appeared. Cisco proves his bravery by putting his neck on the line when necessary, going into the field to help the Flash on several occasions, but that doesn’t mean he’s just going to jump into a costume at the first opportunity.

The relationships Cisco formed with the other people in Barry’s life felt real. Caitlin Snow was like his sister, and he effectively teamed with Joe West to investigate Wells when it needed to be done in secret. We saw Cisco get lovestruck by Lisa Snart and starstruck by Black Canary, all in very natural and in-character fashion. I even found his explanation as to why he built a cold gun to counter the Flash’s powers believable.

The Negative: The episode that focused on Cisco’s brother was the weakest point in his personal journey during Season 1. The under-appreciated genius secretly being envied by his more outgoing and overtly successful sibling is such a cliche that it was hard to take seriously. We didn’t get into the families of many characters outside of Barry, the Wests and Thawnes, but maybe that’s a good thing considering how little we gained by delving into the Ramons.

There’s also a little question about how Cisco gained the meta-human abilities that Reverse-Flash seems sure he has, but I’ll assume that was left a mystery on purpose. Speaking of which …

Next Season: No supporting character had a bigger cliffhanger to discuss after the season finale than Cisco. Thawne pointed him on the path to possibly becoming a hero in his own right, but he’s going to have a lot to figure out.

That will probably be the bulk of his early Season 2 storyline, figuring out if Thawne was telling the truth, coming to grips with it if he was and trying to get some help determining the extent of his powers. The writers can do some nice stuff with Barry mentoring him, flipping the script from when he was advising his friend on how to best use his super-speed.

Hopefully he’ll have better luck with the ladies, because holding out for Golden Glider could be dangerous. Oh, and it goes without saying that he’ll have more jokes and more names for super villains. take that to the bank.

Overall Grade: A-. None of Barry Allen’s friends and family grew in as many intriguing directions as Cisco Ramon. Smart, funny, loyal and possibly super-powered … What wasn’t to like?

Next: The Flash: What Are Cisco Ramon's Powers?

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