Talk:Pilot (The Flash)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Bilorv (talk · contribs) 19:37, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

A well-developed article close to GA standard, with no major missing areas. I know nothing about superhero topics and I still found the article reasonably simple to follow, so it's written well for a general audience. I've still got a couple of things left to check—image use and spotchecks of sources—but here is my feedback (mostly nitpicks and copyedits):

On prose, I'm seeing some misuse of commas. A nested clause needs commas both at the start and end of the clause; comma splicing is when you join two independent clauses with a comma (they should be two different sentences, or joined with a semicolon); and commas are needed before verbs like "giving" or "describing". I'll point the issues I saw throughout.

Lead

• spin-off of Arrow, where many of the characters in The Flash were introduced during its second season – The "where ... its" construction reads a little oddly. Maybe "spin-off of Arrow; many of the characters ..." would work better.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• On the night of the launch of a particle accelerator would be simpler as "On the night that a particle accelerator launches".
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• A backdoor pilot was ordered in July 2013, however, The CW executives, impressed by early cuts ... – I think this is a comma splice, at the word "however". You could split into two sentences or use a different connective (e.g. ... in July 2013, but The CW executives, impressed by early cuts ...).
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• behind the pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries broadcast in 2009 – This nested clause should end in a comma.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• after a week of its release doesn't quite make sense: "a week after its release" would be better.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Plot

• MOS:TVPLOT gives a word limit of 400, whereas this is around 450, so it needs cutting down. If that makes some of the below redundant then ignore them.
  •  Reduced - Brojam (talk)
• ... specifically a lightning storm in which his mother was murdered by a yellow blur and his father falsely imprisoned for the crime – I presume that his father wasn't imprisoned in the lightning storm, so rephrasing may be needed. Maybe ... recounting his youth, in which his mother was murdered by a yellow blur in a lightning storm, and his father was wrongly imprisoned for the crime.
  •  Done - Brojam (talk)
• However, the particle accelerator explodes – I don't follow why this is a "However" (what does it clash with in the previous sentence?).
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk)
• Barry unsuccessfully tried to stop him, though he was able to identify him and his superhuman powers – Why is this bit in past tense? We should generally be in present tense for plot summaries.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk)
• The newspaper date of 2024 is mentioned, but it's not obvious to me when the rest of the episode is set.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk)

Production

• Barry ultimately appears in two episodes – There's a past/present tense conflict between "ultimately" and "appears". You could drop the "ultimately", or say "It was ultimately decided that Barry would appear in two episodes" or similar.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• Berlanti sees the latter ... – Past tense when describing someone's statement in an interview.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• ... with his role described as ... – Described by who?
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• John Wesley Shipp, the actor who played Barry in the 1990 series was cast ... – Needs a comma before "was cast" to end the nested clause.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• universe, ... it had to be – Comma not needed because of the ellipsis.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

(No issues with Release.)

Reception

• TV.com is red at WP:RSP (which matches what I would have expected), and there doesn't seem to be anything particularly exceptional about the reviewer. Even though it's only cited for opinion, since we're not lacking in reviews I'd prefer to avoid it.
  •  Removed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• episode a "B+" grade noting – Need a comma before "noting".
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• as Barry's dad calling it – Comma before "calling".
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• 5 star rating out of 5 describing – Comma before "describing", and write out "5" as "five".
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• Noel Kirkpatrick of TV.com wrote The Flash ... – Since the quote marks aren't immediately after "wrote", it needs to be "wrote that".
  •  Removed from above - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• Calling it "a welcome respite from the angst-heavy gloom" of shows like Arrow and Gotham. – This isn't a standalone sentence. We need "Roush called it ..." or similar.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone liked that Grant Gustin added "the right touch of hyperactive studliness", ... – The comma at the end creates a comma splice.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• giving the episode a "B+" is a nested clause and needs a comma at the end.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• praised in particular might sound better as "particularly praised".
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Optional comments

These aren't required for the GA criteria, but may improve the article.

• Refs #3, 9, 10 and 49–55 need "work"/"website" parameters ("Deadline Hollywood" etc.)
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• Website names in references should be consistently linked/unlinked in some pattern: common ones are linking everywhere, linking nowhere, or linking on the first occurrence of the website in the reference list.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• "The Sentinel ([[)" shouldn't have the region name in the parameter, as it's not part of the publication name.
  •  Fixed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
• The category Category:Television episodes about bank robbery is included, but I don't see anything about a bank robbery mentioned in the article.
  •  Removed - Brojam (talk) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

— Bilorv (talk) 19:37, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

• @Bilorv: Thanks for your review. I've addressed all your comments. - Brojam (talk) 08:24, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
  • Fantastic, thanks Brojam. That's a pass for GA then. — Bilorv (talk) 15:18, 28 February 2022 (UTC)