The death of Iris West continues to be the engine that drives the second half of this season, and tonight, both Joe and Barry don’t exactly think through their decisions to try to get answers.
1. Kadabra
I’ll give a bit of weird praise here: at least Abra Kadabra is as obnoxious on the show as he currently is in ‘Rebirth.’ He’s a bad parody of a magician, and strutted around like the cock of the walk, just annoying me with every step he took. Every second he was on screen, I wanted Barry to punch him in the face, which makes him a great bad guy, but not a very compelling character.
This also seems like a missed opportunity to do some really fun future shit – he’s from the 64th century, which means he is essentially as far from us right now as the invention of glass. Let that sink in for a second. Are you trying to tell me that since the Bronze Age, all we’ve done is figured out stuff that would make folks of that era think we are magic?
He should be able to do things that we can’t even imagine, so go nuts. He’s essentially David Blaine with less of a dead stare and a hologram machine.
2. Killer Frost
So, the episode was preparing us for Caitlin’s transformation to Killer Frost the entire hour, and the moment that it happened lived up to the hype. Seeing HR, Julian, and Cisco do all they can for her, and then see Julian’s love move into Republican, “I will make decisions for her health/body” territory, was truly moving. I mean, you knew how it was going to end from the second the idea of removing her necklace was floated, but it still worked.
Caitlin is a wild card on the show, because she gets to have it both ways: she can both be the evil meta and the sweet team member at the same time. The vacillation between the two can grow a little tiresome, so I’m happy to know that, most likely, she’s Killer Frost until the season finale.
3. Earth-1 is just as Hamilton obsessed as we are
This isn’t quite as bad as “I usually don’t like alternative music, but these guys rock,” but is there any quicker way to date a show to 2016/17 than a Hamilton reference? The scene was all about the Wests and Barry being nervous about making plans past Iris’s ‘death,’ so why not just have them planning to attend a Fourth of July party? Why have to bring Lin Manuel-Miranda into this?
4. HsavitaR
So, this episode teased lots about Savitar’s identity, but didn’t actually reveal anything. However, there were two clues that, perhaps point to HR as potentially the man under the mask. Personally, I don’t actually think it is him, but the clues were there:
– He was nowhere near Kadabra all episode. It was chalked up to HR getting laid (side note: that’s weird), but if Kadabra knows who Savitar is, that would give HR reason to conveniently not be around when Kadabra is hanging out.
– Kadabra spent a lot of time on Earth-19, where Gypsy and HR are from. So, it makes sense that, if Kadabra knows who Savitar is, there’s a good chance he’s from Earth-19.
Like I said, I’m not putting my eggs in this basket (I still say its future Wally somehow), but it is a possibility I never considered until recently.
5. DeVoe
When Kadabra was laying out some of Barry’s biggest foes, he hit the three season bads so far: Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, and then he said DeVoe. Now, unless he’s talking about poiiiiisoooooooon, but might be giving us a clue as to next season’s big bad. So, who is a DC villain with the name DeVoe? If you didn’t immediately say “Thinker!” well…you’re pretty normal.
To be honest, I had to look it up, too, and while I’m vaguely familiar with the Thinker, it is an odd choice for a season’s big bad, especially as the show hasn’t ever really focused on the Rogues as serious threats. The fact that Legends of Tomorrow has far more Rogues action than The Flash is a demerit against the CWverse. Sure, we all associate the Flash with speedsters, but also, at least as much, with the Rogues. The Rogues are fun – let the show be more fun and Rogue-centric!
This is my plea.
