OK, this episode got real in a bunch of ways. After last week’s Arrow felt the most significant of the season, The Flash follows suit. Every character is put through the ringer one way or another, and things look pretty fucking bleak right now. Obviously, spoilers follow.
1. Barry’s proposal
Last week’s episode ended on a cliffhanger – will Iris say yes to Barry? – and this episode confirms that, yup, she said yes. But Barry’s reasoning, besides being in love, is that in the future, Iris isn’t wearing a ring, so he thinks that proposing will change the future again. This is called out by Wally, who makes Cisco vibe him to the moment of Iris’s death so he can be more prepared, which is morbid, but smart.
But here is where this plot thread starts to fall apart: there is no fucking way that Wally would notice her ring, or lack thereof. First of all, he is watching his sister be gutted by a monster, there’s no way he is noticing her accessories, or even her outfit, or if she was wearing clown shoes. Secondly, and not to stereotype here, but young men are not exactly the most observant jewelry noticers on the block. If Wally is there to gather intel to help them stop Savitar, then why is he focusing on her left ring finger?
2. Joe really wants to be involved, huh?
I know that asking permission for a wedding is a nice tradition – hell, I did it myself – but I think that Joe (and Iris, for that matter) is a little hung up on the idea that Barry didn’t ask permission. Everything Joe does vis a vis Iris and Barry is essentially pushing them towards marriage. He loves them, and wants Barry to be both his surrogate son and his son-in-law, because Joe can’t get enough of being a dad.
The show needed to introduce something ‘off’ about the proposal so that they could give extra ammunition to Wally’s ring comment. And while I’m sure that Iris is a little upset that the proposal, while genuine, was timed due not just for love, it was timed to save your goddamn life, Iris. Everyone is all “Barry is a jerk,” but the dude clearly loves you, and is doing everything in his power to, again, save your goddamn life, Iris,.
Sure, his proposal isn’t so purely love focused that all else falls to the wayside, but let’s be real – are any? Don’t people always propose based on when things line up – finances, living situations, etc? Why is lining up his proposal to save your goddamn life, Iris any different?
3.Caitlin’s betrayal
Caitlin is said to have betrayed the team and while, yes, her actions led to some serious shit, I think the entire crew needs a refresher course on what ‘betrayal’ means. Caitlin didn’t make a decision to purposely fuck over Team Flash, which would clearly be a betrayal. She made a decision to try to help herself, and that would, in a roundabout way, help the team, too. No one wants a supervillain hanging around, do they?
In fact, it was her keeping a piece of the stone that allowed Savitar to remain locked in the speedforce which, if Wally didn’t go rogue, would have kept him trapped forever. So, from a certain perspective, Caitlin saved the day.
4.Wally in the Speed Force
Of course, Caitlin’s ‘betrayal’ led to Wally being trapped in the Speed Force, and freed Savitar. But that has more to do with Wally’s youthful impulsiveness than anything else. In some ways, Wally has become the emotional center of the show, as nearly every character has a unique relationship with him: Jesse loves him, Joe and Iris have a new West that they are now losing, H.R. has a protege, Barry has a partner. Wally’s disappearance is also problematic, because he was the one who was being trained to stop Savitar – if he’s gone, who can save his sister?
5. Who is Savitar?
OK, so here is what we know so far: Barry will be there when Savitar is ‘created,’ Savitar is a speedster, and Savitar believes that he and Barry can’t co-exist.
Continued belowIf that’s the case, doesn’t it make sense that we just saw Wally become Savitar?
It makes sense to me – Savitar is a time traveler, yes, but he’s also a speedster. With Wally in the Speed Force, he can continue to harness his power. Savitar says, through puppet Julian, that he was in there long enough to ‘lose his mind’ – if Wally lost his, couldn’t he turn his rage to Barry, who “didn’t save him” as he was being pulled into the Speed Force? Sure, killing his sister is a big step, but it’s not so nuts that Wally couldn’t have snapped and blamed Iris for Barry ‘losing his way’ or some shit.
The show loves mysteries, and yet they haven’t been so focused on Savitar’s identity. Could it be that they fear that if they said to much, we would all know it is Wally?
I’m most likely wrong, but I like this theory, and I’m sticking with it.
Do you think I’m correct? Nuts? Let me know in the comments!
