With the return of Super Gorilla Grodd behind us and the infamous musical crossover episodes with Supergirl still ahead of us, it’s time to get back to business for The Flash. The specter of Savitar still haunts Team Flash, and the hope of changing the future gets dimmer and dimmer, what happens when the villain reaches out from the Speed Force at our heroes? Meet me after the super speed jump to find out what happens when Kid Flash faces “The Wrath of Savitar.”
The Ring
We were left with two cliffhangers in the last episode. One was Wally under attack by Savitar, which we’ll get to momentarily, and the other was Barry proposing to Iris. Their love is true here, maybe not the one that survives life and death and time and space as in the comics, but it’s pretty solid. Iris said yes of course and the two gather Team Flash to make their engagement known.
Joe is not happy. He’s disappointed in Barry, not just because of the weird Greg/Marcia family arrangement, but because Barry didn’t ask his permission. I was completely thrown by this. Didn’t Barry say last time that Joe had been holding on to that engagement ring for him? So wouldn’t Joe be the first person to know about this? It just doesn’t make sense.
Learning
I loved this week’s opening with the billboard proclaiming “Welcome to Central City Home of the Flash and Kid Flash.” Maybe with three Flashes racing through the city, they should leave room for one more name, Jesse Quick. The race is a test to see how fast Wally has become, and finally he’s made it – the speed needed to save Iris in the future from Savitar.
There’s not much room for celebration however, as at the end of the race, Wally sees Savitar watching, although no one else does. I guess Barry has trained Wally well, because our young speedster says nothing. He keeps it to himself. Like mentor, like student. The Wally-ism is as bad as a Barry-ism.
Savitar Seance Redux
When Flash and Kid Flash are called into action, Wally is again attacked by Savitar. With Barry witnessing the seemingly invisible attack, Wally has no choice but to come clean. It’s been going on for a week. The team comes down on him hard. This is a matter of life and death, Iris’ so Barry is agitated.
Barry wants to talk to Savitar again, so the team wants to hook Julian back up to Cisco’s Vibe machine to chat. Julian is of course hesitant, but does it anyway. Arrogant as ever, Savitar does narrow down his prophecy by saying H.R. lives. He also drops other clues, like he blames all of the team, and he and Barry haven’t met yet, but will soon. Savitar seems to know a lot of intimate details about the team, but of course, Barry pulls the plug – just like on the vision of the future – before they really learn anything, another Barry-ism.
Stones
The only thing really gained from the ‘seance’ is the doubt that the team got rid of all the Philosopher’s Stone. When searching for a second piece on a mountain outside the city, the Flash comes upon Savitar cultists, one of whom urges him to ‘move up the wedding.’ So we have a villain who knows far more than he should along with followers who do as well. Sounds like sloppy continuity to me.
Rather than following the dots that Julian, Caitlin, and Wally all are connected to Savitar through Flashpoint, the plot goes another way – that Caitlin is the traitor because she has the piece of the Stone. She kept it in hopes to learn to use it to control her powers. Weak. I read comics and I don’t buy that.
The Ring Redux
Needing something to drive him forward and to get him out of the funk he’s in since Barry chastised him for being like Barry, Wally wants to see the aforementioned future vision. He wants to see if there was anything that was missed. I note as I watch that Iris can’t be a hologram as I theorized because Barry holds her, but Wally notices something else – Iris isn’t wearing a ring.
Wally immediately confronts Barry about it, that his proposal was another step toward changing the future. TV Barry Allen is a real jerk, and it puts a definite crimp in their engagement. So much so, that Iris gives the ring back, jeopardizing their relationship and fulfilling the future vision in at least one way.
Free
In the meantime, Savitar still hasn’t stopped messing with Wally, appearing as his dead mom at one point. Again, Savitar displays knowledge that is difficult for him to know. In a bid to stop the villain once and for all, Wally steals the fragment of the Stone into the Speed Force – freeing Savitar. As I mentioned above, Barry is a good teacher, Wally has become him with these rash stupid decisions.
Savitar escapes once he traps Wally in the Speed Force, taking his place there. When Flash confronts Savitar, the god of speed again spouts stuff he shouldn’t know – the past, the future, Flashpoint, and more. Perhaps he is a god… The episode ends on a down note, Barry impaled on one of Savitar’s armored spikes, and Wally trapped in the Speed Force.
This wasn’t a bad episode per se, but it wasn’t a good one either. There was a lot of great character interaction, performances, special effects – but that was all counterbalanced by this plot that barely makes sense with what went before. Has The Flash jumped the shark?
Next: Into the Speed Force!
The eye-roll was strong with this one. 🙂