The Flash Season 2 Episodes 19-21 review

TV Shows are working towards their finales, and this is the penultimate time we look at the Flash (with this season's quality, it may well be for good)

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Funny thing, since my Death Note 2 review, when my first meme clip was used, I’ve been reluctant to use them in TV reviews. TV reviews despite usually a comedic opening and ranting occasionally tend to be more serious than my average Rage Issues or Guilty Pleasures reviews (and lord knows, I use them enough in those anyway). But once again, the episode puts it right out in front of me and Wells’ intentions to bring back Barry’s speed by causing another particle accelerator explosion is… take it away Batman

The rest of the episode is… serviceable. There’s nothing exceptionally bad about it but on the other hand it’s a big slow point at a time where the finale is fast approaching and it should be building on its momentum

However, given the subject matter of the episode, it probably wouldn’t have worked that way. Barry is without his speed and of course there are consequences to that, and it’s taking an emotional toll. It’s not really ground I haven’t seen covered before on this show, unfortunately and of course it leads to a motivational speech, which is the episode’s favourite tool.

But it’s time to give some closure to the Harrison Wells arc as he finally (rather easily for that matter, how come he didn’t find her sooner) manages to track down his daughter and after a brief kidnapping from some metahuman who has super-strength but the process of using it ages him (they thought he’d become weaker as he ages despite METAHUMAN SUPER-STRENGTH) they eventually reconcile. I’m glad this plot-line can be brought to rest as honestly, I don’t see need for it to continue any longer and hopefully with that out of the way.

That being said, the way the metahuman was being played out, I wish they’d been more thorough with the ultimate tragedy of his life. He couldn’t see his girlfriend because he looked so much older (remind you of anyone, Deadpool?) but there’s an ultimate tragedy to that that is seriously underdeveloped and could’ve made for some interesting and compelling drama.

Then we have the very low key sub-plot of Wally wanting to thank the Flash for saving his life… That’s pretty much all there is to that subplot

And we also have the bits on Earth-2. Hunter clearly does have feelings for Caitlin which is why Killer Frost was actually left alive after the Earth-2 story… I… Hunter, you’re a moron (that seems to be an infection of late) anyway, Caitlin for some reason helps Killer Frost to escape, she then turns on Caitlin to earn favour with Zoom. Yup, Killer Frost has caught the idiot bug too

So inclusion this was a serviceable, mediocre, average, not particularly interesting episode, which means it’s a vast improvement over the last episode which was just garbage.

Rating 6.5/10    

Rupture

I don’t have an opening joke for this one, here’s a Horse shark

You know the premise of this could’ve been compelling, the idea that the speed is kind of like a drug that Barry is trying to keep away from but eventually lives come under threat and he has to make the sacrifice to save people, as he always has.

The problem is that’s not what happened because the threat is already there. Barry’s indecisiveness goes from being a valiant fight against something that’s become a part of him and has ruined his social life to outright selfishness that puts the death of every cop that Zoom killed in his hands, and he eventually decides to do it out of guilt, that’s not selflessness in the same way.

I’ll grant you this. I said before that recreating the particular explosion, as a concept is terrible and credit where it’s due, they don’t shy away from the consequences. Again though, since Zoom is already an active threat, it’s a foregone conclusion that Barry will eventually step in. The other problem is they’re still very uninterested in having Barry benefit from leading a normal life. He still spends most of his time as Star Labs and they’re interested in keeping the Flash active using a stupid hologram thing which, as Harry makes clear, is never going to last.

The fact is Zoom being a threat now renders almost every argument against using the machine moot. So in that aspect it becomes entirely predictable.

So, what else is there to this episode? Iris confessing her feelings for Barry. Well, we’ve been leading up to this for a while but ultimately held no weight in the decision and could’ve easily been left out. I think the timing is only because of the ending.

We also have Caitlin trying valiantly to stop Zoom from killing and failing miserably. Well, she got a couple of shots in at least. We also have Cisco against his brother’s doppelganger who thinks he was the one his doppelganger (I’m sorry if you’re having trouble following this but in words Rupture thought Cisco killed Reverb) and it lead to reconciliation between Cisco and his brother, even if we have no evidence his brother’s still not a douchebag.

Oh and Barry’s father’s in this one, just to provide another naysayer to be ignored. Oh and I suppose we have Jesse and Wally get to know each other and possible tease to their super-speedy alter-egos. Cool

But overall this is poorly executed and my patience is wearing thin, you’ll have to pull out all the stops in the next 3 episodes or I’m out

Rating 4.5/10

The Runaway Dinosaur

Well, this episode started okay but then began to sink into its usual tropes and by god I’m fed up with this.

Honestly, the biggest issue with this episode is that it’s episode 21 of 23, the next is the penultimate episode in the season and instead of building momentum to a finale, they’re using it for a one-shot where Barry gets his powers back after him idiotically giving them up a few episodes back.

OK, so Barry’s alive (I know… what a shock) and of course he’s in the speed force because where else would he be, except this time the speed force segment he’s in is a kind of dimensional pocket where Barry must confront his fears and failures in order to regain his speed and save his friends.

It’s fine to have a character driven episode like this and honestly, earlier in the season this would’ve been acceptable or at least more acceptable than now but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems. It feels as if it treads a lot of ground we’ve already seen with Barry coming to terms with his Mother’s death and the ultimate consequences that has for him going forward.

Like I said though, this is old ground and we saw it before when Barry made a choice not to save his mother back in the season 1 finale, I know this is brought up here but having characters in a constant state of angst goes against the lighter tone this show is going for.

OK, I’ve little more to say, let’s look at the running B-plot of this episode, one of the dead metahumans has been reactivated by the incident with the particle accelerator and is wreaking havoc. It’s amazing how he wants Iris for the most of the episode but. literally in the first scene he’s in. walks right by her. Writers, double check your scripts, idiocies like these are easily avoided with getting someone to proof read (and before you attack spelling errors in my stuff, which I’ll acknowledge that there are, bear in mind that I proof read my own stuff and more importantly I’m not a professional company)

The reactions to Barry’s disappearance are largely simplistic and just serve for the rest of the story without much chance for any repercussions, particularly Iris trying to save Barry thinking he wanted to stay felt hollow given that at that point the job was done.

Oh and Zoom making a speech to his followers and offering Caitlin a chance to escape, it felt tacked on and the idea no-one’s making an effort to help her is sickening. Oh and Harrison’s daughter being put into the same kind of coma Barry was in, I sense a speedster coming up.

Rating 6/10

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Images used in this review are from The Flash and Justice League Unlimited and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.