CW Flash Reviews

 The Flash: The Race of His Life Season 2, Episode 23 Promise of a GREAT Future  10/10

This story is brimming with potential and strangely enough it is Tom Cavanagh who seems to shine the brightest here. At least his versatility and emotional range is showcased brilliantly. One thing that season 1 Wells proved is that on the rare occasion Dr. Wells and Joe were together on a thing you snapped to and paid attention. And throughout most of this season Joe has treated Wells with more respect but they never saw eye to eye on anything. And this was a glorious moment where Joe and Harrison were literally telling Barry the exact same thing, a united front. But also when everyone was gathered at Barry's house trying to figure out what to do, and deal with what everyone (else) had jsut witnessed, we saw a new side of Wells. Harrison Wells being silent, stunned and emotional, almost subdued but there was more emotion on his face when he wasn't saying a word than anything other than talking about his daughter has ever brought to the surface. That was some stellar face acting. Having inhaled seasons 3 and 4, it seems almost like a promise of a new Wells to come...shadows or a precursor to H. R. Wells.
Joe West finally says out loud something he hasn't admitted to anyone but Barry. That he'd been wrong to assume Henry Allen's guilt. Even while rotting in prison for a crime he didn't commit Henry never lost his light. As the height of treats for comic fans we see the REAL Jay Garrick. And he actually is. Middle aged, silver age of heroism. Oh, and a doppelganger of Barry's father who was just murdered. Barry, having defeated Zoom simply by taking the villain's advice of being prepared to kill himself, runs broken back in time...and freaking breaks time. Up Next: Flashpoint!

The Flash: Armageddon, Part 1 (2021) Season 8, Episode 1 It's not an 'Error' It's a hint

I'm starting to think people are idiots. 

The history of the Royal Flush gang doesn't line up with season one, because it's not supposed to. It's a hint or a foreshadowing that the timeline is different. And it is a hint that things are screwed up more than would seem at first blush. But also a hint about more than the fact that Joe is dead and the Reverse-Flashpoint is going on. In the first episode after this Armageddon arc Bart and XS go back in time and change the history of the Royal Flush gang so that they showed up when Barry was still in his coma. In this episode people are already living in that altered timeline. The episodes are shown out of chronological order and this was nothing more or less than a clue that something had changed and that Bart and Nora accidentally changing things was coming. Also ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths they are living in a different timeline than the first 5 seasons anyway. Earth Prime is a post Crisis timeline with old world and new world differences. Season by season continuity is 'insufferably inconsistent'...because the timeline has undergone two major overhauls and been mildly changed twice. Ray Palmer shows up mostly to show that Brandon Routh didn't completely fall off the Arrow-verse map when he left the Legends. Which is nice to know. When Sarah and Ray left Arrow during season 4, it was easy to think they were no longer part of the show. Then in season 5 we learn "oh they've been having thier own adventures." Ray was here to prove that didn't happen. The inter-connectivity of these episodes, that is the connection and tying things together in a way that makes sense is actually pretty strong. Despite the Arrow verse being mostly shut down. It's nice to know leaving the show isn't leaving the franchise. And for never having been a member of Team Flash, Ray has always been one of Barry's closest friends and allies. Ultimately this entire arc proves one thing: that the Arrow-verse shrank...but is not gone. And some people display their ignorance when shredding the Flash for it's obvious inconsistencies. When literally any inconsistency except Thawne's timeline changing between season one and two of the show happens because the TIMELINE has changed and things are literally supposed to be different.

The Flash: A New World, Part 4: Finale (2023) Season 9, Episode 13

Finally someone stands up 7/10

First, season 8 was supposed to be the last season. That's why it had both Thawne and Damien return and be completely redeemed. And THAT is why season 9 was not an impressive final season but a lackluster rush job.  With 4 episodes left in the season, the writers were told it was coming back for a season 9. And they had to rewrite the ending. Until Letcher's Thawne was revealed to be a good guy,. the WRITERS thought season 8 would be the finale. Which is why that was such a hack job. That being said, the reason this finale didn't disappoint anyone, is because no one had any particular expectations for it. The season had been pretty hard to follow. And I don't mean twisted, I meant hard to just plough through and sit down with. A lot of this episode was a CGI battle full of the same nonsense of the last 3 years. But you can't be a series finale without culminating the last few seasons of the series. It is not the fault of anyone in charge of making this episode that she show lost any sense of itself somewhere in season 7. Personally I loved all the references to Harry Wells and  *his* main antagonist, the season 2 villain evil speedster Zoom. In fact, if Grant Gustin hadn't gotten co-vid and had to be isolated, there Would have been a huge pay-off/ final confrontation between Barry and Zoom. There are something's that are beyond literally anyone's control. Something Barry ahs been using as a crutch since Thawne Wells literally asked for hi9s help at the end of Armageddon... And is just as true for those behind the scenes.

For almost two years Barry has had a giving into darkness, hopelessness defeatism about the world. He has essentially become the very thing he taught Oliver Queen not to be: A man who uses his personal tragedies to justify every walk on the dark-side he ever takes. Philosophically this could be because the two people in his life who pulled him back from that darkness every time he started down this road who basically said 'You taught me to be better, so BE Better' shook him out of this despondency are now gone. Harry Wells and Oliver Queen. But considering how the Flash is supposed to be a symbol of hope and light and believing in a better future, it was scary and almost depressing how often and how quickly he assumed there was no other way. It's like as soon as it was confirmed he was the paragon of love not the paragon of hope, he no longer had to pretend to be hopeful OR full of light. The amount of time he spent marinating in how many people he's lost over the years was overdone. And felt more like a Bruce Wayne thing to do...dwelling on it so much I mean. Paradoxically it was like the more emotional heart to hearts he had to convince bad guys to find the goodness within, the less he believed people, normal people and meta-criminals that were not super villains were good. The less he actually believed anyone could change or that there was another way to fight darkness except to be darkness. Which is itself Oliver's statement to Felicity right before he decided to come back as the Green Arrow "The only way I know how to fight the darkness is to BE darkness and I don't want to be that person anymore."

Arrow: Elseworlds, Part 2 (2018) Season 7, Episode 9 Oliver finally figures it out! 10/10

Oliver wasn't around for most of Barry's adventures and he has always seen Barry as someone who laughs everything off running around without a care in the world. Here, after seeing RF's taunts for himself he finally realizes Barry's carefree attitude is a REJECTION of everything bad that's happened to him, not an *absence* of bad things happening to him. Barry's attitude is a refusal to live in darkness, not an absence of difficult circumstances or things to take seriously. Going all the way back to when The Flash first showed up in Starling City in season 3 of Arrow, Oliver always dismissed Barry as someone who could afford to be happy all the time because he never had anything that could bring him down. And while Oliver had walked in Barry's physical shoes in the Flash portion of the crossover, that probably only reinforced his belief that Barry's life is a sappy, emotional and smooth ride compared to his own. Everyone likes him and he has a team and family at his back. Now, walking a bit in Barry's Mental shoes, seeing Reverse Flash shred Flash for 'being so weak you couldn't stop me from killing your mom' Oliver FINALLY gets that Barry could have been...well more like himself actually and simply didn't let himself be dragged down into that darkness. He'd met Thawne briefly, fought against him at the end of Flash season 1 but never really understood who Thawne was to Barry. He'd heard, once that Barry was stuck in some personal issues having something to do with Dr. Wells, but that was it. And to hear Oliver *validate* him, rather than simply be there for him was probably the greatest compliment Barry could ever have been given. For Barry, that was paradise. Barry Allen in the Green Arrow get up looks and for a brief moment even sounds like Roy Harper. Which was a pretty amazing thing. Roy was at Oliver's side for 2 years, his only protégé on the team and died/disappeared to protect Oliver's secret. And after they got back from Arkham and were safe in A. R. G. U. S. Barry was the one giving the advice for a change. Which is always awesome.  --- 1 out of 1 found this helpful.