Barry re-enters the Speed Force, and engages in a sort of This Is Your Life of dead people en route to saving Wally. It made for an uneven episode with a few great moments.
1. The Flash does science better than Legends
One of my main complaints about Legends of Tomorrow is that all the science on the show seems to be totally illogical, and created only to solve these unbelievably complex situations the cast finds themselves in. The Flash probably isn’t Neil deGrasse Tyson approved (thankfully), but its science seems to have at least more of a tether to the show’s previously established pseudoscience.
The whole idea of giving Barry a tether in the Speed Force was one that was, of course, absurd, but it was played straight enough and given enough emotional weight, that it totally worked within the episode. Compare that to, oh, anything on Legends, and you’ll see a stark difference.
2. Greatest Hits (aka I wonder what Teddy Sears was doing?)
With Barry in the Speed Force, it was a chance for the show to trot out all the dead characters from seasons past: Eddie Thawne, Ronnie Raymond, Leonard Snart, and Zoom/Hunter Zolomon. However, Teddy Sears didn’t reprise his role as Zolomon, and so he was never shown unmasked. While, perhaps, his connection to Barry was the least developed of the characters shown, Zoom was the big bad of the second season, the first half of which he was Barry’s running buddy. It seems like a missed opportunity. I hope whatever you were doing was worth it, bro.
These types of scenes are less effective the more they’re done, and we’ve seen the Speed Force manipulate Barry this way before. When the show does time travel to reunite us with old characters, it feels earned and has some emotional heft behind it. When it does the same in the Speed Force, it feels forced (pardon the pun) and trite.
3. Jesse Quick: the show’s truest hero
Jesse isn’t the show’s fastest speedster, nor the most experienced, but damn it if she isn’t the truest hero the show has. Her first instinct is always the help; she goes after Savitar knowing it will probably be the end of her, she wants to go into the Speed Force to save Wally – she will likely die a young death acting that way, but there’s a purity to her character that is a nice change. Wally loves being a hero almost too much; he’s trying to showboat when he’s out there. Barry’s heart is in the right place, but he has too many people he cares about to ever act as impulsively as Jesse does.
And her leaving to protect Jay’s Earth while he is imprisoned is yet another sign of her unfailing heroism. she will be missed while on Earth-3.
4. Jay Garrick
Did I say Jesse is the purest hero on the show? I may be changing my answer to Jay Garrick. The show’s secret weapon is John Wesley Shipp, who has the benefits of a) having played the Flash in the 1990s, b) being Barry’s dad on this Earth, c) pulling off one of the great comic costumes of all time in Jay’s helmet, and d) he and Barry being, essentially, the age difference between the Golden Age and Silver Age Flashes. All of that combines to make Garrick’s appearances feel special, and this was no different.
Jay’s sacrifice feels so purely heroic, so poetic with how he was introduced to the show, and such a dad decision, that it worked perfectly. The scene was heartbreaking and beautiful and the show at its absolute best. I can’t wait until Barry puts Savitar back in there and we can see Jay again.
Also – with Jay and Jesse on Earth-3, we have to get a Justice Society soon, right? Just take the characters that Legends didn’t use: Alan Scott, alt-universe Wildcat, Atom Smasher, etc.
5. Barry breaking hearts for no dang reason
Explain to me exactly why Barry had to dump Iris? So he could focus better? That’s bullshit – if she’s going to potentially die, he needs to spend more, not less, time with her. I feel like Barry’s logic this season is all fucked up due to Flashpoint, and he’s not thinking with either his head or his heart. Maybe he’s using his spleen? Who knows.
Continued belowThe Iris relationship was a problem for the first two seasons – this year they finally get some chemistry, and bam, it’s all gone to hell. Come on, The Flash, get this relationship right.
Oh wait, next week is a weird musical crossover with Supergirl! I guess that means there will be no real developments for a few weeks. Sigh.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments!
