Source: CW.
That’s it then – the season finale of the Flash.
Corrina: How about we divide this up into The Awesome, The Terrible, the Timey-Wimey and the Fan Squee, Mordechai?
I’ll start:
The Awesome:
Corrina: Eddie. A million times Eddie. He did the most heroic thing anyone has done on this show. Apparently, he’s gone for good too.
This was, hands down, the moment that truly surprised me in the finale, and, well, the feels.
Source: CW.
Mordechai: Agreed. In fact, I was in the middle of typing up a long rant about how great Eddie was and how all he has to do to stop Eobard is never have kids and then…BOOM!
It was great. Obvious, but the kind of storytelling we have not come to expect from the show (how backhanded was that compliment? Sorry).
Corrina: The conversations that Barry and Cisco had with Wells. Intense and creepy at the same time. Tom Cavanaugh, you magnificent bastard.
Mordechai: In every episode, every time Wells says “Run, Barry, Run” I get the chills. Cavanaugh’s Wells is perfect, and will be hard to top. Cisco geeking over the costume ring was great, as was “Remember who gave you your gift and that it was given out of love.” That was perfectly creepy.
Source: CW.
Also? I did love how the narration at the beginning is revealed to have been taking place “now”. It reminds me of the comic where Flash scribe Mark Waid originated the “My name is [name]. I’m [hero name]” as a framing sequence. It’s eventually revealed that it’s being said at a set, pivotal moment. For me, that added to the episode.
(I also chose to believe that “I wouldn’t be turning time back, I’d be going back” is a direct shot at every single person who has ever missed the point of the last scene in Superman: The Motion Picture)
Corrina: Okay, now you’ll ask me what I think of Barry’s decision to let his mom die.
Source: CW.
I have no objectivity on this because my father died in an accident when I was the same age as little Barry. Would I go back and save him if I could? Abso-freakin’–lutely.
That Barry even thought about it bothered me. I get what the writers wanted to show, that people recover from tragedy and go on to have lives they love. That’s all true. But the flipside of Barry saying “I have the life I want,” is that Nora Allen never gets her own life. She’s perhaps 40 years old, tops, when she dies.
That’s a tragedy that probably affected her parents, her friends, her co-workers and left a hole in many lives. I can’t get past the fact the show never even addressed this aspect of it. Yeah, great, Barry, You get to live your life. Don’t worry about Mom having to live hers. I’m sure that one glimpse of you when she was dying made it all worthwhile.
Source: CW.
As I said, I have no objectivity on this one, so that’s all I have to say.
Mordechai: You put this better than I could ever, but I’d like to add two thoughts:
Firstly, Barry’s dad’s thing about a “Natural order” of things? Nonsense logic. Because if we follow that, then Barry should absolutely save his mom. That was the natural order, which Eobard perverted. Barry would be setting things right.
Source: CW.
In the comics, Zoom kills Barry’s mom to motivate him to be a “better” Flash. In the show, it’s to devastate him and stop him from becoming the Flash. As I’m sick of “tragedy as a motivator”, it’s good to know at least one version of Barry did this out of altruism..only we then see that Barry waive our Barry off. Which means at some point, he did save his mother, and that the universe was worse for it.
Which means we still may get Flashpoint, and that is very much not awesome.
Corrina: Just once, I want to see a time travel story in which someone saves their loved one and it’s all okay. Happy, even. Yes, I’m looking at you, too, Doctor Who. I suppose the point here is that Barry listened to his older self. I’m don’t want a hero who lets someone else murder anyone in front of him, even for the fate of the universe. (Hello, again, Doctor Who, in the form of Torchwood.)
Next up: Victor Garber as science exposition dude. If you need one, he’s an excellent choice and his scene with Eddie was terrific.
Mordechai: Although, you know, the “Oh yeah, Stein is TOTALLY a Rabbi” thing was weird. SIgh.
Source: CW.
Corrina: Yes. Yes it was. I wondered why they didn’t make him some other kind of minister.
Mordechai: Well, Stein is established as Jewish, I believe.
And how about Ronnie and Caitlin anyway? They get married, then they get to replay the tragedy that “killed” Ronnie. Only this time, Caitlin is there and manages to pull it off. YAY!
Corrina: I give the show credit, I expected one of them to get zapped. I thought maybe Ronnie, which would eventually lead to a Jason/Stein Firestorm.
Source: CW.
Mordechai: I think Ronnie did get a little zap there, and Jason got a mention.
The Timey-Wimey
Corrina: If Eddie kills himself, making Eobard never exist, then Eobard can never go back in time to kill Nora Allen, and Barry never becomes the Flash, and everything around them should have vanished completely with a time reset.
Source: CW.
Mordechai: Well, not entirely. We know some version of Barry became the Flash without Eobard’s influence; remember, originally the accelerator accident happens ten years later. So there’d still be something, but absolutely, the time reset should be instant, just like it was last time Barry did it.
Corrina: I’ll go for the No-Prize and say that because Eddie’s death happened with all those timey-wimey particules around, Eddie created a parodox that created the singularity, so the reset didn’t fully happen.
Mordechai: Ooh! Or maybe if you’re not a speedster, this is what happens?
Corrina: What happens? If you’re not a speedster and you mess with time, you create black holes? Uh, okay, that makes as much sense as any other comic book science.
Source: CW.
The Terrible:
Corrina: The women. Again. Caitlin doesn’t get a heart-to-heart with Wells because, hey, she doesn’t matter except in relation to wanting to be married to Ronnie. Apparently, the upcoming marriage sent every thought out of her silly little head because she forgot what a singularity is, despite, you know, being a scientist and all.
Mordechai: In defense of Caitlin, she’s a biologist/doctor. Not sure singularities would be in her wheelhouse. Also, as noted above, she does have a pretty big moment by saving Ronnie/everyone.
Corrina: Iris? Um? She exists now as Barry’s reflection, to pump him up and show him his soul. What does Iris want? Okay, Eddie. So other than her relationship to men, she has no personality.
Source: CW.
Where’s the budding reporter, taking furious notes about this science stuff for perhaps a future book or story? Where’s the person questioning authority, perhaps poking holes into the plan?
All that would require an independent personality, which the writers have rarely given Iris.
Mordechai: So well said that I have nothing to add.
Oh, except to ick at Iris and Barry’s confab on the roof. “Gosh, do you think we got together in the other universe because we didn’t grow up in the same household?”
Well, yeah, since that means Other-Barry wasn’t creeping on his foster-sister, that could have been a factor.
Source: CW.
Fan SQUEE:
Corrina: Jay Garrick’s helmet. Speed Force. Time Bubble.
Source: CW.
Mordechai: Flash museum! Killer Frost! Rip Hunter name drop. Also, they call it a time sphere, not a bubble.
Corrina: Eh, okay. I see it and think the Legion of Super-Heroes time machine. Maybe that was a bubble? Or else age is messing with my memory.
Source: CW.
I would be more excited about these thing if I wasn’t so worried about sloppy plotting, especially with the possibility that any and all plot issues will be solved by a ‘time travel’ handwave.
Mordechai: At least they made time travel hard to do. Even though it wasn’t before. Um, weird.
Corrina: Which leads us to why, when the group trusted Wells, didn’t he ask them to build the Time Bubble so he could go back and Barry could save his mom. Wells could just say he’s a stranded time traveler and they’d have believed him. However, that would have taken away a villain, so, no, that doesn’t really bother me.
Mordechai: I think some of that has to do with Eobard being just a little bit past insane.
Speaking of insane, let’s look at this again:
Source: CW.
Corrina: As for Hawkgirl, okay, nice she’s there but I remain skeptical that she’ll have much personality. Perhaps she’ll be the first women on this show who does.
Mordechai: We don’t even know if she’ll debut on Flash or on the other show, so no way of knowing. Since the Legends show is a mid-season, I suspect we’ll see her, but that does leave us with a heck of a cliffhanger.
How will Barry survive the singularity?
Corrina: Timey-wimey Speed Force, naturally.
Mordechai: And what domino effect will Eddie shooting himself have on the show?
Source: CW.
It’s been an interesting first season, with more issues than I like. But these last two episodes have absolutely upped the action ante. If they can keep a second season like this, and not get bogged down in the relationship slog, that would be awesome.
Going to be a heck of a wait.
Meanwhile, I’ll go watch the Supergirl trailer again.
“Who wants to hug Uncle Evil” is the best caption ever.
Thanks! I worked up a few variations, but that was the best, to me.
And now I’m fighting the urge to write a children’s book.
I had similar reservations about Barry not saving his mom. But I interpreted that scene as Barry trusting himself rather than Thawne. As future Barry waved him off, I think Barry remembered his outing with Captain Cold last episode and what he learned, i.e. never trust the bad guy. If Thawne wanted him to save Nora but “he” didn’t, who should he listen to? My sense is he listened to himself and maybe what his dad told him.
I agree with you on all the questions about what happens after Eddie erases Thawne from the future. One would think that Eddie’s sacrifice saves Nora by default, but I suppose nothing’s that easy.
I thought I read that that was Killer Frost, not Hawk Girl.
We see Hawkgirl out of costume, looking up at the singularity.
Okay… Didn’t realize that and for some reason the text didn’t load up under the Killer Frost pic.
I feel like I missed this crucial plot point –
If Eddie killed himself and Eobard never existed, what happens to everyone else right now to date.
Or is that what set off the black hole? /That’s what next season will deal with?
“Corrina: Just once, I want to see a time travel story in which someone saves their loved one and it’s all okay.”
I thought despite some of its irrationality, “Frequency” starring Dennis Quad and Jim Caviezel did this pretty well. Their bodies weren’t time traveling (well, no more than ours are right now anyway), but their voices were and they changed the future in way that seemed pretty ok. It’s a great flick imho if you haven’t seen it.