The past few years of "what is keeping them apart" was wearing very thin. I thought it was a good choice to drop that, and focus on how the couple reacts to external threats instead.

(smoke comes out of Garcia's tracheotomy breathing hole)
"No thanks, I just quit smoking."

Dammit, you made me look it up.
Yeah, "Doug" was played by Campbell Scott.

Williams was hilarious by playing it serious and (somewhat) restrained. One of his better performances.

I've always like Xander (2nd after Buffy), but it also helps I gave less weight for episodes written by Marti Nixon.

After he is vamped, does he sparkle?

I was distracted for a few seconds between his run to Starling City and his conversation with Queen, so I missed the coat fire.

Okay, more of a reinterpretation of the character, rather than it being exactly the same character. (Like Amanda Waller changing from a hefty bad-ass to a skinny supermodel when the DC comics did their reboot.)

Really? (One of the reasons I watched the previous Flash series was to see the lovely Amanda Pays.) I could see making her a senior Star Labs scientist, but the same character is something different.

Doh! It was "meteor freaks".

Eh, I can see why you feel that way (Elfman has a sound distinctive to his work compared to other composers, but most of his work shares it), but I'll disagree.

Do their own thing? Like recasting Shipp as an Allen, or Martin as a cop?

This man is no ordinary man.
This is Mr. F G Superman.
To all appearances…
no different than any other law-abiding citizen.
But Mr F G Superman has a secret identity.
When trouble strikes at any time, at any place, he is ready to become…
Bicycle Repair Man!

Happy Invention Guy was making a big deal about his special suit which could withstand the shock and stress of Flash speeds (as opposed to his regular clothing which weren't even wrinkled), so the writers don't appear to be using the Speed Force (yet).

Considering the show began with his narration (and running fast), the show's "now" (accelerator explosion) should have been "9 months ago", and "9 months later" (Barry wakes up) should have been "now".

I hope they avoid some of the pitfalls that befell Smallville.
Weekly "metahumans" is awfully close to weekly "kryptonite freaks".

One thing the old CBS series got right was that normal clothing would shred when Barry is running that fast. For this series, he must have some extremely powerful hair gel.

The score is good.
But they need to somehow bring back the Danny Elfman theme from the old series. That is one of the all-time great music bits. (I have it as a ringtone on my phone.)

Birds also like to keep shiny metal objects (like gold rings).

"she’s simply fallen for a guy she barely knows"??
It has been 20 years since I've seen movie, but I thought Marion and Robin grew up together. So except for the war years, they know each other really well.