The Flash, Season 3, Episode 19: The Once and Future Flash
Let's just take the time to point out that keeping Savitar's identity still a secret in the final five episodes of the season is really, really hurting the show. In CW history, the secret identity of the villain (Zoom, Reverse-Flash, Prometheus, Deathstroke) is generally uncovered by the heroes relatively around the halfway mark of a season, give or take a couple of episodes. Malcolm Merlyn was the only glaring exception to this, because IIRC Oliver doesn't discover the Dark Archer's real identity until like the last two episodes of the first season, but Oliver has a lot of meaningful interactions with Malcolm throughout the season and us, the audience, know that Malcolm is the Dark Archer relatively around the halfway mark as well. And as Prometheus proved over in Arrow, actually knowing who the enemy is, instead of literally every waking moment about Savitar being 'who dat?' is infinitely more engaging.
Because at this point, the Savitar mystery is easily the worst part of the show. Literally everything else that is going on -- Caitlin's transformation into Killer Frost in a more permanent basis; Barry going into the future to meet Emo Future Barry; the 'return' of Mirror Master and the Top -- are all just so much more interesting. Yes, even Mirror Master and the Top... they're only around for two episodes now, and I was wholly unimpressed with their first outing. Here they're honestly more or less just being generic showy supervillains, but they are still miles more fun and engaging than Savitar has ever been.
Anyway, the episode itself is... okay. The idea of Barry running into the future is a novel one for the purposes of the series, only done once before (when Barry saw Savitar turn Iris into a kebab) but the execution -- 'see how worse my friends' life is' felt nearly identical to the Flashpoint and Earth-2 storylines. Central City in 2024 (this apparently took place in February 2024, putting it two months before the 'Red Skies Crisis' in Eobard's newspaper) is dilapidated. Future!Flash is a broken shell of himself, an emo self-loathing kid with long bangs that would make Peter Parker blush. Joe is likewise broken, but instead of self-loathing, he lashes out at everyone else. Wally is brain-dead and crippled. Caitlin is permanently in Killer Frost mode. Julian and H.R. have somewhat moved on with their lives, though the former is still guarding Killer Frost's cell. Cisco's the only one helping Present!Barry (and his Vibe powers are lost due to losing his hands during a battle against Killer Frost), but he's so desperate to get a better life and he really, really wants to keep Present!Barry around.
It's more or less "Barry, get your shit together and defeat Savitar", but I thought that Emo Barry, as ridiculous as he looked, was a very well-acted role thanks to Grant Gustin's desperation and broken-ness being portrayed so well. Future Barry's anguish as he rants to Present Barry about how he/they will try everything to save Iris, from even doing something as desperate as create time remnants and all that to stop Savitar but nothing will stop that fateful night, breaking the man so much that he wasn't even there to comfort Joe.
Surprisingly, though, this episode ended in a positive note. With Present Barry running around as the Flash in the future to help at least stop a couple of villains -- regrouping the remaining four members of Team Flash (including H.R., even if his contributions still around to waving around drum sticks) and putting the team back in action as he goes up against the Bonnie-and-Clyde pair of Mirror Master and the Top. This inspires even Future Barry to finally get out of his funk and become the Flash again, leaving 2024 a better and more positive place than it was before Barry time-traveled, a literal first for the series.
Again, Mirror Master and the Top are pretty much generic villains, but at least they make it entertaining to watch, with some pretty trippy vertigo effects from Top. And Flash chasing Mirror Master into the mirror, a brief blur of fighting in the mirror before the mirror exploding into shards and the Flash emerging triumphant is just amazing and made me squee. The two are just so unashamedly hammy villains and their relatively reduced screentime actually helps out to make them ever so memorable.
Oh, and I dig the new, more thunderbolt-y costume, that's for sure.
Because at this point, the Savitar mystery is easily the worst part of the show. Literally everything else that is going on -- Caitlin's transformation into Killer Frost in a more permanent basis; Barry going into the future to meet Emo Future Barry; the 'return' of Mirror Master and the Top -- are all just so much more interesting. Yes, even Mirror Master and the Top... they're only around for two episodes now, and I was wholly unimpressed with their first outing. Here they're honestly more or less just being generic showy supervillains, but they are still miles more fun and engaging than Savitar has ever been.
Anyway, the episode itself is... okay. The idea of Barry running into the future is a novel one for the purposes of the series, only done once before (when Barry saw Savitar turn Iris into a kebab) but the execution -- 'see how worse my friends' life is' felt nearly identical to the Flashpoint and Earth-2 storylines. Central City in 2024 (this apparently took place in February 2024, putting it two months before the 'Red Skies Crisis' in Eobard's newspaper) is dilapidated. Future!Flash is a broken shell of himself, an emo self-loathing kid with long bangs that would make Peter Parker blush. Joe is likewise broken, but instead of self-loathing, he lashes out at everyone else. Wally is brain-dead and crippled. Caitlin is permanently in Killer Frost mode. Julian and H.R. have somewhat moved on with their lives, though the former is still guarding Killer Frost's cell. Cisco's the only one helping Present!Barry (and his Vibe powers are lost due to losing his hands during a battle against Killer Frost), but he's so desperate to get a better life and he really, really wants to keep Present!Barry around.
It's more or less "Barry, get your shit together and defeat Savitar", but I thought that Emo Barry, as ridiculous as he looked, was a very well-acted role thanks to Grant Gustin's desperation and broken-ness being portrayed so well. Future Barry's anguish as he rants to Present Barry about how he/they will try everything to save Iris, from even doing something as desperate as create time remnants and all that to stop Savitar but nothing will stop that fateful night, breaking the man so much that he wasn't even there to comfort Joe.
Surprisingly, though, this episode ended in a positive note. With Present Barry running around as the Flash in the future to help at least stop a couple of villains -- regrouping the remaining four members of Team Flash (including H.R., even if his contributions still around to waving around drum sticks) and putting the team back in action as he goes up against the Bonnie-and-Clyde pair of Mirror Master and the Top. This inspires even Future Barry to finally get out of his funk and become the Flash again, leaving 2024 a better and more positive place than it was before Barry time-traveled, a literal first for the series.
Again, Mirror Master and the Top are pretty much generic villains, but at least they make it entertaining to watch, with some pretty trippy vertigo effects from Top. And Flash chasing Mirror Master into the mirror, a brief blur of fighting in the mirror before the mirror exploding into shards and the Flash emerging triumphant is just amazing and made me squee. The two are just so unashamedly hammy villains and their relatively reduced screentime actually helps out to make them ever so memorable.
Oh, and I dig the new, more thunderbolt-y costume, that's for sure.
There's definitely a parallel to an episode of Teen Titans I reviewed a fair time ago -- How Long is Forever -- where a member of the main cast travels to the future to see the team split apart thanks to the loss of one of them. The other members of Team Flash were... okay, I guess? Cisco remains the main dude who receives the spotlight, but he portrays his part as a still-optimistic but evidently more weary man who's been dealt a lot of shit by the world is evident. H.R. doesn't get to do much, but his hilarious role as a successful author (yay dreams!) who's selling something that's basically Fifty Shades of Flash and getting threesome offers in book reading events is just hilarious.
Sadly, the present-day Killer Frost problem didn't amount to much beyond a bit of a chase scene between Killer Frost and the team, some angst on Julian's part both in the present day and the future, and as much as I wish Killer Frost would stab Savitar and take over as main villain of the rest of the season, that's not going to happen. Still, the split personality thing seems to be taking root, which is something I'm not completely onboard with because I like Killer Frost better when she was literally "Caitlin unleashing her dark impulses" instead of "evil personality just took over." Oh, and Savitar's Megatron form is actually just armour and he steps out of it... but we don't get to see who. God damn it.
It's Tommy Merlyn, isn't it?
Still, despite my gripes about the Savitar storyline, it's actually a pretty fun and enjoyable episode.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
Sadly, the present-day Killer Frost problem didn't amount to much beyond a bit of a chase scene between Killer Frost and the team, some angst on Julian's part both in the present day and the future, and as much as I wish Killer Frost would stab Savitar and take over as main villain of the rest of the season, that's not going to happen. Still, the split personality thing seems to be taking root, which is something I'm not completely onboard with because I like Killer Frost better when she was literally "Caitlin unleashing her dark impulses" instead of "evil personality just took over." Oh, and Savitar's Megatron form is actually just armour and he steps out of it... but we don't get to see who. God damn it.
It's Tommy Merlyn, isn't it?
Still, despite my gripes about the Savitar storyline, it's actually a pretty fun and enjoyable episode.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Future Barry's costume is based on the Pre-New-52 Wally West Flash/New 52 revamp of his classic costume, with a golden lightning belt, more lightning bolts on his sleeves and boots and gold earpieces. Definitely an improvement over the present-day costume, that's for sure.
- Cisco's robotic hands is a bit of a dark in-joke. In the comics, Vibe (this was way back before he was an actual character and more of a walking ethnic stereotype) died when he was strangled to death by a pair of jumping, detachable robotic hands courtesy of Professor Ivo.
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