Spoilers through Season 1 of ‘The Flash’ follow.
Tuesday night’s Season 1 finale of The Flash was surprisingly powerful, an emotionally poignant, no-nonsense episode that ended on a great cliff-hanger. It’s so good, they could just stop here and we’d always remember this as one of the best series finales of all time.
I’m glad that’s not the case, of course, and that we’ll all be treated to a Season 2.
Not everything about “Fast Enough” was surprising, though I admit I didn’t have a clue how it would all end. Time travel stories follow certain tropes and guidelines, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily predictable.
Eddie’s sacrifice, his moment of true heroism, was an emotionally stirring moment—even though it was straight out of Looper. (And I don’t mind that it wasn’t entirely original, it was still deeply effective.)
Of course, as one commenter said sometime back, all Eddie really needed to do was get a vasectomy. Oh well. Hindsight, 20/20 vision, all that jazz.
The conversations surrounding coincidence and destiny really set the tone for the episode, too, both for Eddie and Barry. Eddie’s first realization that he was destined to meet Iris, later supplanted by his realization that he was actually here to sacrifice himself for the greater good; Barry’s realization that he couldn’t save his mother.
The real star of the episode, however, was once again Harrison Wells. Eobard Thawne. The Reverse Flash.
Tom Cavanaugh is so unnervingly brilliant in this role, you can’t help but root for him on some level. I wanted him to escape through the wyrm-hole, a lot actually. He’s an evil villain, but he’s still so infuriatingly likable.
When he tells Barry that he hates him, but that he’s also come to admire and even love him, I for one never doubt his sincerity for a second. Sure, he’ll kill him in a flash, but that’s just his own, twisted brand of love.
Likewise, when he and Cisco talk you can sense his genuine, bizarre affection for the young prodigy. When he says he’s sorry to Cisco, it’s not for killing him in another timeline, but because Cisco is a meta-human, too.
One who can see through time, like an Oracle.
Will this figure in to Legends of Tomorrow, DC and the CW’s Flash/Arrow spin-off?
I hope so. Cisco is the second best part about The Flash.
Dr. Wells is the best part, which leads me to my biggest concern now that Season 1 is over:
How can any other season of this show possibly match the brilliance of its freshman effort? How can any villain live up to the terrifying, crazy-smart, ominous, strangely likable Dr. Harrison Wells?
When Barry goes back in time to save his mother, he ultimately chooses not to—he lets her die. He tells her he was given a chance to go back, not to save her, but to let her know that he and his father are okay. It’s a tear-inducing moment, not just for Barry and his mother but for your humble narrator as well. In fact, there’s still a little dust in the air or something, even as I type.
But he doesn’t just choose to stand idly by, not on his own—or, well, not really. He sees himself, another version of himself, battling with the Reverse Flash. He watches his other self grab his third, child-self and whoosh him away. But before that, Barry #2 looks over at him and shakes his head, motions for him to stop, to not intervene.
This tells me two things: First off, that the story of his mother’s death, of time-travel, and of Eobard Thawne is not over. Thawne is dead now, in the Flash’s reality, in his present, but he is still alive in Time. Somehow, even with Eddie’s sacrifice, Thawne is still alive somewhere. He still killed Barry’s mom. He still built the particle accelerator that made the Flash and the rest of the meta-humans who they all are. None of that has changed.
And no, it doesn’t make any sense. Time travel never makes any sense. There is always a failure of logic involved.
But it is good news, because it means we’re likely going to see more of Dr. Harrison Wells in the future. Or, er, the past? We’ll see more of him on the show, in any case. He’s simply eradicated from the present. With Legends of Tomorrowtaking place across epochs, who knows how time will work in future seasons of bothThe Flash and Arrow?
Meanwhile, Eddie’s death frees up Iris and Barry to finally hook up, if that’s what they decide. I’m not sure I like this. Like the Oliver/Felicity hook up, it feels a little forced. Just like with “Olicity” I don’t really see that special spark between Barry and Iris that means the two are meant to be. (Ironic as that statement may be given the way Iris learned the Flash’s true identity.)
Still, the season and its finale were so good, I can give the next season the benefit of the doubt. I can’t imagine trying to top what they’ve already achieved, but if they stay as focused and as restrained as they did this time around, we’re in for another treat when Season 2 airs.
Dr. Martin Stein, one half of the Ronnie/Stein Firestorm duo, will take on the new role of “old smart guy” I assume. I’m a little curious (perversely curious?) how relations between Ronnie and Caitlin will affect him, though I suppose that’s better left off the show. (I suppose they haven’t waited until marriage either, for that matter.)
Ultimately, this was a terrific episode in a terrific season that managed to unshackle itself from unnecessary character drama just in time. I’m a little sad that the Wells story was played out as quickly as it was—dragging it out over two or even three seasons could have been so fascinating—but overall this is one of the best comic book inspired shows I’ve ever watched, and that applies to movies as well.
Source:www.forbes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment