I don't think that I've felt this strongly about an episode of the Flash in years. I just said I was gonna review this show less, but I can't not gush about this episode!
No bingo this week though. I guess this puts me at 2 and 6 now, and the only things I was able to cross off this week were the obligatory ones that always seem to show up: Iris, Cecile, Allegra, and Bad CGI. Looks like straying away from the show's typical tropes makes for better episode. Who'd have thought?
Let me start by talking about my favorite thing about the episode. Jaco Birch. Holy crap did the writers go overboard with the character surgery! He's not screaming. He's not overacting. He's not yelling "MONAAY!!!" in every single scene! No, he's treated like a real character here, and it's great! What could've come off as an overly hammy performance, not unlike Max Adler's last stint as The Hotness, instead feels like a tragically desperate man that just wants to see his son, and is trying to turn his life around! So every single time that Team Flash goes against Barry or reminds him about the insurmountable evidence against him, you genuinely feel bad for the guy! And let me remind everyone that the last time we saw The Hotness was in the absolute atrocity that was season 4's "Run Iris, Run"! How they managed to make a character introduced in that garbage fire of an episode into one of the most sympathetic one-off villains in this entire show blows my mind!
And I thought that Barry's reaction to Birch's situation was very human, grounded, and realistic for the character. Barry's feelings aren't sidelined, everyone on Team Flash goes out of their way to help Barry despite the odds, and it feels really great to see Barry reacting so strongly to something small scale. Barry's dealt with so many big threats recently what with the Force Storm, a Power Rangers' villain come to life, Thawne sticking his you-know-what in the timeline, and literal Armageddon, that it's good to see Barry standing up for someone in a smaller sense!
I especially like how Barry put Birch's case on the same corkboard that his dad's was on. And yeah, he did the same with DeVoe in season 4, but if this episode proves anything, it's that season 4 was a bizarre fever dream that it's best we all forget. In season 4, Barry's use of the board was stupid and out of character, but here it feels right because the situation matches, calls for it, and is personal enough for it to be believable.
Heck, when Joe and Barry talked about how Barry's dad had to miss his own birthday party that Barry'd been planning for for months, I almost cried! This show hasn't made me feel like that in years! And then finding out that that was the last birthday party he could've had before Barry went to prison was genuinely heartbreaking, and it almost pushed me over the edge! The writers finally found out where to hit me! It's right in the feels, man! They got me in the feels!
And this was probably Allegra's best episode since season 6 too! Yeah, it means that her and Iris ended up butting heads, but that's a good thing. Allegra is a reporter, and seemingly a good one, so she should be able to use her talents to tell the stories that matter. It's like Allegra said in "Armageddon, Part 1", "It's right there in the name: Central City *Citizen*. Yeah, you guys landed some pretty major interviews, but every person's voice in this city deserves to be heard; not just the most famous or high profile ones." Yeah, Allegra's boss tasked her with a project and she failed to deliver, but Iris recognized that Allegra did quality work. Iris may have wanted to drive more eyes to the site, but there needs to be some more quality work done on the team, and Allegra right now appears to be the only one that wants to do it. Heck, that's the whole reason *why* Iris promoted Allegra in the first place! Did I just side with Allegra when she got into an argument in an episode? Yeah, I did. I'll own it. Like I said, this was her best episode in a long time!
You want me to call out some genuine flaws with the episode? Fine. The third act where Birch's powers cause a volcano to erupt under Central City was hilariously dumb! The drama near the end with Allegra and... That other reporter who's so unimportant that I literally can't remember her name, was absurd! Allegra did something wrong and apologized for it! Just accept the apology and move on you b--
Outside of those two things though... That's really the only issues I had with the episode. Remove those things, improve the show's CGI budget for the third act, and I'd put this on par with some of the episodes from season 1! Yeah, I'm serious about that! And this is coming from the guy that hated Reverse Flashpoint back in "Armageddon, Part 4"! All things considered, this was probably the show's best episode in a long time! And that can only mean one thing.
Buckle up, guys! Because we're about to witness the show's worst storyline yet!
If you think I'm joking about that, I'm not. Every time we get a remotely good episode, one of the show's worst storylines ever follows. "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Part 1" was followed by the Mirrorverse Arc. I was a fan of it until the writers ruined it in season 7, but I know a lot of other people weren't. "Fear Me"? Force Quest. "Good-Bye Vibrations"? Power Rangers' putties meets "Spaceballs"! I'm only trying to point out that there's a precedent set for good episodes preceding awful storylines recently, so I hope everyone's ready for a bumpy end of the season.
9 / 10.
No bingo this week though. I guess this puts me at 2 and 6 now, and the only things I was able to cross off this week were the obligatory ones that always seem to show up: Iris, Cecile, Allegra, and Bad CGI. Looks like straying away from the show's typical tropes makes for better episode. Who'd have thought?
Let me start by talking about my favorite thing about the episode. Jaco Birch. Holy crap did the writers go overboard with the character surgery! He's not screaming. He's not overacting. He's not yelling "MONAAY!!!" in every single scene! No, he's treated like a real character here, and it's great! What could've come off as an overly hammy performance, not unlike Max Adler's last stint as The Hotness, instead feels like a tragically desperate man that just wants to see his son, and is trying to turn his life around! So every single time that Team Flash goes against Barry or reminds him about the insurmountable evidence against him, you genuinely feel bad for the guy! And let me remind everyone that the last time we saw The Hotness was in the absolute atrocity that was season 4's "Run Iris, Run"! How they managed to make a character introduced in that garbage fire of an episode into one of the most sympathetic one-off villains in this entire show blows my mind!
And I thought that Barry's reaction to Birch's situation was very human, grounded, and realistic for the character. Barry's feelings aren't sidelined, everyone on Team Flash goes out of their way to help Barry despite the odds, and it feels really great to see Barry reacting so strongly to something small scale. Barry's dealt with so many big threats recently what with the Force Storm, a Power Rangers' villain come to life, Thawne sticking his you-know-what in the timeline, and literal Armageddon, that it's good to see Barry standing up for someone in a smaller sense!
I especially like how Barry put Birch's case on the same corkboard that his dad's was on. And yeah, he did the same with DeVoe in season 4, but if this episode proves anything, it's that season 4 was a bizarre fever dream that it's best we all forget. In season 4, Barry's use of the board was stupid and out of character, but here it feels right because the situation matches, calls for it, and is personal enough for it to be believable.
Heck, when Joe and Barry talked about how Barry's dad had to miss his own birthday party that Barry'd been planning for for months, I almost cried! This show hasn't made me feel like that in years! And then finding out that that was the last birthday party he could've had before Barry went to prison was genuinely heartbreaking, and it almost pushed me over the edge! The writers finally found out where to hit me! It's right in the feels, man! They got me in the feels!
And this was probably Allegra's best episode since season 6 too! Yeah, it means that her and Iris ended up butting heads, but that's a good thing. Allegra is a reporter, and seemingly a good one, so she should be able to use her talents to tell the stories that matter. It's like Allegra said in "Armageddon, Part 1", "It's right there in the name: Central City *Citizen*. Yeah, you guys landed some pretty major interviews, but every person's voice in this city deserves to be heard; not just the most famous or high profile ones." Yeah, Allegra's boss tasked her with a project and she failed to deliver, but Iris recognized that Allegra did quality work. Iris may have wanted to drive more eyes to the site, but there needs to be some more quality work done on the team, and Allegra right now appears to be the only one that wants to do it. Heck, that's the whole reason *why* Iris promoted Allegra in the first place! Did I just side with Allegra when she got into an argument in an episode? Yeah, I did. I'll own it. Like I said, this was her best episode in a long time!
You want me to call out some genuine flaws with the episode? Fine. The third act where Birch's powers cause a volcano to erupt under Central City was hilariously dumb! The drama near the end with Allegra and... That other reporter who's so unimportant that I literally can't remember her name, was absurd! Allegra did something wrong and apologized for it! Just accept the apology and move on you b--
Outside of those two things though... That's really the only issues I had with the episode. Remove those things, improve the show's CGI budget for the third act, and I'd put this on par with some of the episodes from season 1! Yeah, I'm serious about that! And this is coming from the guy that hated Reverse Flashpoint back in "Armageddon, Part 4"! All things considered, this was probably the show's best episode in a long time! And that can only mean one thing.
Buckle up, guys! Because we're about to witness the show's worst storyline yet!
If you think I'm joking about that, I'm not. Every time we get a remotely good episode, one of the show's worst storylines ever follows. "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Part 1" was followed by the Mirrorverse Arc. I was a fan of it until the writers ruined it in season 7, but I know a lot of other people weren't. "Fear Me"? Force Quest. "Good-Bye Vibrations"? Power Rangers' putties meets "Spaceballs"! I'm only trying to point out that there's a precedent set for good episodes preceding awful storylines recently, so I hope everyone's ready for a bumpy end of the season.
9 / 10.