The stakes are the biggest ever as Barry must choose the path of his life.
What They Say:
Fast Enough – Wells presents Barry with a life-changing choice. Dr. Martin Stein (guest star Victor Garber) and Ronnie Raymond (guest star Robbie Amell) return to help the S.T.A.R. Labs team with this final fight.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I had a number of reservations going into this series when it started, even after being mollified a bit after the guest appearances in Arrow, because I wasn’t truly sold on Grant Gustin as Barry Allen. Having grown up reading a lot of Barry Allen books and finding Wally West to be my Flash, I knew what they were doing here but I was skeptical – even after really enjoying Arrow – that they could pull it off here by going the metahuman route and making it feel legitimate with the powers, costumes and the lighter tone needed. But episode after episode, character layering and the story exposition that built a fascinating series of events, The Flash has proven itself to be one of the best comic book based series out there, and pretty much the best that’s family accessible as it’s one of the few that everyone in my household makes sure they sit down and watch live.
The opening to the show usually has a lot going on with it as it sets up the episode, but this time around it puts Barry and Wells together to talk as Barry wants to get the truths of what’s going on. It is, by its nature, very exposition heavy, but Cavanagh makes it work with his intensity and the nature of the relationship between him and Barry at this stage as it’s grown, making them far more than the rivals and enemies they were for so many years in the future. What it presents is an opportunity for Barry to be able to go back and fix things, if he gives Wells what he wants in being able to go back home to the future himself. With Martin and Ronnie there after to help talk it through with the paradoxes and all, the scope of what’s involved and what can be lost with the time travel and alternate timelines is made clear, as there are some significant things that would change if Barry’s able to pull it off since everything would be radically different.
And there are some serious stakes involved since we have Barry trying to make sure that Joe is okay with this since it would completely change their relationship. You can see how it does pain Joe, but also the fact that as a father he wants Barry to have a proper upbringing with his true parents. While we often get these kinds of situations done with a lot of tension to it within a small space of time to make a choice, here it gets to be talked out a bit, which is good to see, as Barry has to struggle with it and gets seriously competing views of what to do. While Joe is encouraging it, Barry’s father is against the whole thing because he knows that the man that Barry is now would be lost. He’d be someone else and he can’t bear to lose the man that his son has become. Henry really does it well here in making it an honest dialogue about it, one that’s heavy on the emotion, and one that really strikes hard at Barry because if he doesn’t go through with it, it means that he gives up on saving his mother.
With Barry making a decision, one that you have to wonder what background plan he’s formulating with it, the story takes an interesting turn as they work through the mechanics of what needs to be done and how to provide a device for Wells to survive his trip back to the future. There’s a lot of amusing jokes and references along the way, including the time sphere, and with all of this coming into play knowing that the Legends of Tomorrow is coming with Rip Hunter and the Time Masters, it feels properly layered in what’s being revealed. There’s also some good material between Cisco and Wells as Cisco tries to figure out what he needs to do and he reveals what he remembers of the other timeline where Wells killed him, which seeds a little more about Cisco and who he’s becoming. This was pretty much expected for awhile now and getting a little more coming out about it here in the finale is quite welcome to start him on that path.
A lot of little things are dealt with before the show moves into the big event itself, which is good because we get Eddie deciding to chart the course of his own life in a solid way, which ties in well with Iris and the fact that she does understand that the future is not written and is not bound by it. There’s also a really, really good scene with Barry and Joe over their relationship that hits some strong emotional notes from both. We also get a little impromptu wedding that has Martin officiating for Ronnie and Caitlin since they want to be able to get that followed through on before the world potentially ends in a singularity event because of what Barry is about to do. It brings some resolution and closure to smaller aspects of the season to date with the characters that have come into play, and while it may be a bit short when it comes to the wedding aspect itself, it feels appropriate for the two of them considering the way their relationship has gone.
The final act of the episode certainly ramps up all the emotion and action, and has most of the budget for the special effects for the episode, which is why so much of it was pretty much dialogue heavy. With Barry making the big play, the time in the past is very strong as he tries to save his mother but is warned off by his future self from doing so, and it’s great to see that he has faith in his future self being right about this. The time with his mother is brief, but it’s the right kind of piece that works well to establish some true emotion and actual closure for both of them in a way that really resonates. And at this point, it really is a necessity in order to allow Barry to move forward.
The rest of it… well, it’s a proper season finale in that it’s a big damned cliffhanger, something that I have to admit I didn’t expect to actually happen as I got used to the way Arrow largely closes its seasons as it does. With the way the fight goes out here, turning the singularity into a larger event, Eddie sacrificing himself to be the hero that he always wanted to be and Eobard Thawne being dismantled by time, there’s a lot of different factors at play here. And honestly, while talking about the episode afterwards with my significant other, I had so many variations on what they can do to make all of it work in so many ways – and to keep actors – based on thirty plus years of reading comics that I have little worries that they’ll find a way to make sense of it all. I did like the small nods with Hawkgirl showing up here in street clothes, I really liked the emotional tone of what unfolds here with Iris and Eddie, and as much as I wanted Cavanagh to close out his role this season in the final frames, I’m glad they did it legitimately by bringing in the actor who portrayed him prior to his Wells takeover.
In Summary:
The finale for the season went over with a huge “oh hell no!” from everyone in my family that watched it, which was a delight to see. They’ve become invested in this show unlike most others that it really is surprising. This season has been an utter delight from start to finish and while we’ve had a few breaks along the way, it’s going to be a painful couple of months until The Flash returns and we see what world Barry brings about with what’s going on – and who might actually survive it. This episode capitalizes on a lot of what it set about to do this season by really building some great family relationships and just putting it through a lot of difficult situations and it found a way to put them all in a good perspective here, making it clear to value what you have and not what you wish you had. I’m already looking forward to rewatching this season in a better marathon form, and I’m hopeful that the second season can really expand everything that they’re hinting at. It’s a golden age show for those who enjoy comic books being brought into live action on the small screen. Fantastic stuff.
Grade: A
