The Once And Future Flash is a nice way for the show to come
back from its spring hiatus. I didn't even realize how much I had missed
this season until things kicked off, when suddenly I was reminded that,
oh yes, The Flash Season 3 has been very good.
By this time last year, the warning signs were everywhere, and it was
right about now that I started to really skewer this show for what I
considered to be some cheap shots and easy ways out. With just a handful
of episodes to go until that May 23rd deadline (which also marks the
actual season finale date), I'm hard pressed at the moment to think of
ways this show could really blow it as monumentally as it did last year.
Every reveal, every twist, has been executed so well that I have no
choice but to put my absolute faith in everyone involved. The storyline has been holding up very firmly and the writers are paying up close attention to every detail which is going up in the season.
But with all that, and all the fireworks that we know are coming in the
final showdown with Savitar (and, it appears, with Killer Frost), The Once And Future Flash was
a surprisingly understated episode. The Top and Mirror Master were
almost set dressing, here to add a little Rogue-y flavour to the Central
City of the future (I really dug the special effects they used for them
this week, too), but this was purely character driven, with the bulk of
it falling on Grant Gustin (who was terrific as both regular Barry
and...ahem...Emo Barry, as Twitter has dubbed him) and Carlos Valdez
(who once again proves that he is this show's secret weapon).
When you go up and see the first episode you see how these two actors have grown and are one with their characters that they can pull off both hard hitting dialogues and showcasing the fun elements for which the show is hailed so highly.
Setting this episode seven years in the future not only makes sense from
a story standpoint (it's the date on the headline from the newspaper in
the first episode), it also frees the show up from having to do any
silly gymnastics to over-age its cast. Any of that would have just
distracted from a solid hour with (most) of the core cast, using their
future, broken selves to remind audiences why we love them so much when
they're fully functioning. The episode was not about Barry knowing about Savitar but about himself and knowing this will help him in keeping the team together.
So with that in mind, we know that even when Barry saves Iris on May
23rd, the universe is going to extract its toll. Somebody isn't making
it out of this season, and I'm more convinced than ever that it's Joe
West. Joe is, in fact, the last person I want to see take the ol'
Central City dirt nap, but I just feel like we're going to see some kind
of parallel via Iris with what we saw with the Joe of 2024.
Unfortunately, I also feel that the fate of Caitlin Snow that we saw
teased here is also set in stone. Perhaps we'll be starting The Flash season
four with a very different looking team. I think, overall, Caitlin's
heel turn has been handled brilliantly, but at some point it has to
stick. If they keep see-sawing her over the next few years, it's going
to lose its impact. If I'm wrong, and she is brought back from the brink
before season's end, they can't play that card again. I also hope that
when it does finally stick they find a better balance for her dialogue,
which veers a little too far into "I'm eeeeevil now" for my taste,
considering that the rest of this story has played out in such a
balanced fashion.
But that Caitlin/Savitar cliffhanger. Holy moley. This scene was
perhaps the best visual we've had on the show in a while. It really just
looked terrific, and Savitar's eerie blue glow against that snowscape
with Caitlin was a really nice touch. For a moment, I thought they were
gonna give us the "full Savitar reveal" but alas, I was wrong.
So who the hell is he?
Caitlin's reaction obviously indicates it's somebody she knows quite
well and would do anything for. That points the finger at Ronnie
Raymond, and considering how he croaked at the end of season one, I
suppose ending up with Speed Force armour isn't the most out there
possibility. But the problem is: why would the audience care that it's
Ronnie? But that whole death thing might explain why he needs this
armour. The other possibility is Eddie Thawne, who also vanished into
the Speed Force, albeit after he was already quite dead (or on his way
there).
I know there has been some speculation that it's Jay Garrick, which I
refuse to really get into, mostly because I can't be objective about
anything involving Jay Garrick and this would break my heart. And would
Caitlin really have that much reason to unquestioningly do whatever Jay
says? This may rule him out. I might also be in denial, but give me
this, please.
Of course, this leaves Julian... or some version of him. Or some
version of Wally. Or... version of Barry, I dunno. I'm out of ideas, and I'm sure
all of them are quite wrong
