Hi folks! Welcome back to our weekly recap of The Flash. We are celebrating the 150th episode with the introduction of a big new character to the show! This one is named “Heart of the Matter, Part 1” and it’s part of the seventh season’s finale, let’s dive right in!
1. Now presenting: Impulse!
The year is 2049, and Nora is fighting against August Heart, and when she is about to be defeated by him, Impulse runs right trough him, which partially incapacitates the villain, but Nora scolds him because what he did was very dangerous and could have died, and while they are arguing, Godspeed flees and escapes to the past with the Cosmic Treadmill, and that’s on Flash and the curators of his museum, who puts a functioning time machine as an exhibition? Every villainous speedster could use it!
When I first read 2049, I thought, “that’s to far in the future” but then I remembered we are already two decades in in the new millennium, so it made more sense. Bart is 19, which means he was born (will be born?) in 2030, and Nora is 26, so she will probably be conceived next year.
2. The new Nora
This Nora is more mature, and has been developing her abilities as a speedster, in her fight against Godspeed she used a Lighting Lasso to trap him, showing that her training is making her a better speedster.
Also, she is not like the version of Nora that we saw on season five, that Nora was more immature and made bad choices, but this one follows the rules and takes care of her brother, and when Barry mentions the previous Nora, both of his children are happy to talk about that version, after all, their parents told them stories about her.
I love how there’s not conflict here, I don’t know, it could be weird to talk about a past version of you, but instead, Nora is thrilled to learn about her older version, and she even takes those lessons learned as part of her.
3. Impulse is… impulsive
But, all that Nora isn’t anymore, Bart is. He doesn’t stop to think about consequences, he makes wrong choices that put him in danger and reacts violently to criticism. This is a concern for Barry and Iris, Godspeed is particularly interested on his “Adversary,” and they immediately react by putting him out of the field.
Impulse tells Barry that Godspeed is “his Thawne” but cannot reveal the reason because of the rules of the future, it is later revealed that Godspeed killed “uncle” Jay, the only one who saw his impulsiveness as a tool instead of a problem, he was the only one that understood him.
4. Ultraviolet rays
Meanwhile, Chester is trying to create a “Solar Encryption Energy” device, that could stop Godspeed’s artificial speed, but he needs Allegra’s abilities to charge it, the problem is that she is deeply affected by the death of her cousin Esperanza.
When she is unable to charge the S.E.E., Barry tries but it failed in the fight, and Chester talks to Allegra, she tells him that she feels guilty because she didn’t help Ultraviolet, and she basically blamed her before dying.
At the end, Chester is alone, not knowing what to do to help Allegra realize that her cousin chose that path, and she could have died with her, but it’s going to be hard convincing her.
5. Cisco ex machina
The final battle of the episode happens on Zauriel Cathedra, a shout out to Morrison’s JLA era, there, Jay Garrick is trapped by the Godspeeds and they try to kill Bart, and just when the speedsters are about to be killed, Cisco came back to save the day.
But this is not over, they will have to find a way to defeat the bad guys, and to do so, Barry choses to enter August Heart’s mind, if he defeats the original Godspeed in the present, maybe his children will be safer in the future, but the bad guy was expecting him, so the fight won’t be easy, sadly, we’ll have to wait a week to see the outcome.
BONUS: When Joe and Kramer handed over Adam Creyke to the authorities, she didn’t reveal to them what he said about her death, this will be a conflict for another day.
And that’s it for this episode, personally, I feel very proud to reach a new milestone, I reviewed the 100th episode three years ago and now we reached the 150th. Overall, it was a great episode, I am very impressed on how Impulse came and already had a whole mythology already built; although we don’t know his and Nora’s story, they felt like a matching piece of a puzzle for the show.
What did you think of this episode? Leave your comments below and join us next week for our take on episode 718, “Heart of the Matter, Part 2,” this is it people, the season finale of the “pandemic-filmed” season.
