Well, I actually didn't want to watch "The Flash" anymore and skipped episode 22. Just out of curiosity how all the mystery around Wells/Thawne and the Flash is resolved I tuned in for the season finale. Was it worth to watch? In a word: NO! It started OK. The conversation between Wells and Barry was quite cool actually and Wells's offer to give Barry the opportunity to save his mother by going back to the past was interesting. Barry's dilemma of changing the timeline by going back and saving his mother and losing everything he gained and achieved in the alternate (actual) timeline was promising. But the problem with time travelling stories is, they can become very illogical and inconsistent. And that is exactly what happened in this finale. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge SciFi fan and I like the idea of time travelling and if the story is carried out in a movie properly, they really can be fun. A few examples where it worked nicely are "Back to the Future", "Terminator", "Twelve Monkeys", or "Donnie Darko" (okay, this one is not really about time travelling, but more about an alternate timeline, but I liked it).
So, what was wrong in this finale then? In my opinion the following issues made the plot less enjoyable for me:
1. Alternate Timeline-Flash goes back in time to the event when his mother was killed and then has a non-verbal communication with Future-Flash which prevents him to save his mother. Well, as I said time travel stories are difficult to handle, because of all this time paradox thing going on, but how this twist was handled doesn't work for me. The issue I have with it is: How does Future-Flash know that Alternate Timeline-Flash is there to rescue his mother? I mean, the alternate timeline hasn't been created yet, because the event, which caused the alternate timeline hasn't taken place yet. Hence, as far as I can see, there is no way Future-Flash would know why Alternate Timeline-Flash appears and what his intention is.
2. Alternate Timeline-Flash comes back to his timeline, destroys Thawne's/Reverse Flash's "time machine", is beaten by mad Reverse Flash who proclaims to kill everybody Alternate Timeline-Flash cares about. Eddie Thawne wants to become a hero and shoots himself to save everyone. Oh boy, I don't even know where to start and what to say to that.
3. With the death of Eddie Thawne the Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) is erased of existence and this causes a singularity which will destroy the earth. Well, this is not illogical, but the problem I have here is, it was never clearly explained how Eddie Thawne and Eobard Thawne are related. If you go down the genealogical tree of the Thawne family is there a direct link between Eddie and Eobard? If not, then it would be very difficult to explain why Eobard Thawne was erased of existence.
One other thing that bothered me was the way how Flash goes back in time: He has to run with the speed Mach 2 (twice as fast as speed of sound) and then collide with a Hydrogen particle to create a wormhole. Okay, just to be clear. I am aware of that this is not a SciFi show, but a comic book adaption. Despite I am aware of this fact, it bothered me.
There were few other things that ticked me off, but I don't think it is necessary to go into any further detail. After this finale I am certain, I won't watch "The Flash" anymore. There are too many plot holes for my taste and this hinders me to enjoy the show. Thank you for reading my last review of this show.
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P.S.: To the user of the review "Season 1 Has Officially Proved the Critics Wrong!" who made a reference to my review:
A review always expresses a personal opinion. I am okay with it, if you don't agree with my opinion and if all the things happened in the show made perfect sense to you. But stop dissing somebody and making assumptions just because he/she has a different opinion than yours. This is just low!
Except for episode 22, I watched the entire season one. I don't know the DC Universe comic books and just watched the show to entertain myself. The problem with the "The Flash" so far was, that to people who doesn't have the background knowledge of the comic books, some things happened in the show didn't make any sense (e.g. inconsistencies in the use of time traveling).
So what clientèle are the writers aiming for then? To viewers who know the comic books and can fill up the gaps/plot holes with their knowledge of the DC Universe comic books or also to viewers who are not familiar with the comic books? My personal view on this matter is, a show must stand for its own and has to make sense to all viewers. That this can work for shows and movies based on comic books hasbeenproven by shows like Arrow, Daredevil, etc. or movies like Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Begins etc.
So, what was wrong in this finale then? In my opinion the following issues made the plot less enjoyable for me:
1. Alternate Timeline-Flash goes back in time to the event when his mother was killed and then has a non-verbal communication with Future-Flash which prevents him to save his mother. Well, as I said time travel stories are difficult to handle, because of all this time paradox thing going on, but how this twist was handled doesn't work for me. The issue I have with it is: How does Future-Flash know that Alternate Timeline-Flash is there to rescue his mother? I mean, the alternate timeline hasn't been created yet, because the event, which caused the alternate timeline hasn't taken place yet. Hence, as far as I can see, there is no way Future-Flash would know why Alternate Timeline-Flash appears and what his intention is.
2. Alternate Timeline-Flash comes back to his timeline, destroys Thawne's/Reverse Flash's "time machine", is beaten by mad Reverse Flash who proclaims to kill everybody Alternate Timeline-Flash cares about. Eddie Thawne wants to become a hero and shoots himself to save everyone. Oh boy, I don't even know where to start and what to say to that.
3. With the death of Eddie Thawne the Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) is erased of existence and this causes a singularity which will destroy the earth. Well, this is not illogical, but the problem I have here is, it was never clearly explained how Eddie Thawne and Eobard Thawne are related. If you go down the genealogical tree of the Thawne family is there a direct link between Eddie and Eobard? If not, then it would be very difficult to explain why Eobard Thawne was erased of existence.
One other thing that bothered me was the way how Flash goes back in time: He has to run with the speed Mach 2 (twice as fast as speed of sound) and then collide with a Hydrogen particle to create a wormhole. Okay, just to be clear. I am aware of that this is not a SciFi show, but a comic book adaption. Despite I am aware of this fact, it bothered me.
There were few other things that ticked me off, but I don't think it is necessary to go into any further detail. After this finale I am certain, I won't watch "The Flash" anymore. There are too many plot holes for my taste and this hinders me to enjoy the show. Thank you for reading my last review of this show.
-
P.S.: To the user of the review "Season 1 Has Officially Proved the Critics Wrong!" who made a reference to my review:
A review always expresses a personal opinion. I am okay with it, if you don't agree with my opinion and if all the things happened in the show made perfect sense to you. But stop dissing somebody and making assumptions just because he/she has a different opinion than yours. This is just low!
Except for episode 22, I watched the entire season one. I don't know the DC Universe comic books and just watched the show to entertain myself. The problem with the "The Flash" so far was, that to people who doesn't have the background knowledge of the comic books, some things happened in the show didn't make any sense (e.g. inconsistencies in the use of time traveling).
So what clientèle are the writers aiming for then? To viewers who know the comic books and can fill up the gaps/plot holes with their knowledge of the DC Universe comic books or also to viewers who are not familiar with the comic books? My personal view on this matter is, a show must stand for its own and has to make sense to all viewers. That this can work for shows and movies based on comic books hasbeenproven by shows like Arrow, Daredevil, etc. or movies like Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Begins etc.