After nearly a decade on the air, the CW's THE FLASH series wrapped up its run with "A New World, Part Four." It was the last show standing of the Arrowverse, the network's live action corner of the DC Comic universe carved out by producer Greg Berlanti. ARROW might have been the show that kicked it off, but THE FLASH was my favorite, if only because I thought Grant Gustin's Barry Allen was the definitive take on the character.
I've said in the past that I thought this show was past its prime, and should have come to an end several seasons ago, but I have few complaints against the 9th and final season with its 13 episode run. It had the kind of convoluted plotting we've come to expect, especially when it came to time travel, the Speed Force, and characters who continually returned from the dead. It was great to see Stephen Amell back one more time as Oliver Queen and David Ramsey's John Diggle made a final bow in earlier episodes from this season. We got all that in spades in the series final arc, which reached all the way back to Season 1 and resurrected Rick Cosnett's Eddie Thawne, and made him the Big Bad in the form of Cobalt Blue, the avatar of the Negative Speed Force. This made sense as Eddie had sacrificed his life to save Barry from the Reverse Flash, and in the process denied himself the life he would have had with Iris West, who married Barry instead. Eddie proceeds to bring back the Legion of Doom, who go up against Team Flash, and we are treated to some of the best super-speed street battles ever in the show. Talk about going out on a technical high note. Ultimately, the Barry/Eddie fight is resolved in a satisfying way, one that plays to the aspects of Barry's character which have always made him a true hero: his compassion and empathy and his ability to achieve the impossible. All of this revolves around the impending birth of Baby Nora, and I don't care what the show asserts, it has to be bending the laws of time travel until they break to have young adult Nora in the room with her infant self. If I could find any fault with this last season, it is that it felt rushed at only 13 episodes, the Eddie Thawne arc was worthy of the whole season, not just four episodes, and Team Flash deserved more character development.
The final episode brought back some familiar faces: always glad to see John Wesley Shipp (who played the first TV Flash decades ago) as Jay Garrick, and Tom Cavanaugh showed up as the Reverse Flash, and some version of Harrison Wells, one more time. It would have been nice to have seen Carlos Valdes as Cisco again, but the episode was probably too crowded as it is. Lots of plotlines were tied up (it was good to see Caitlin again), and they gave us an ending on a high note, with Barry and Iris, and everyone else in a good place with the introduction of some new speedsters. The finale left us with the implication that this corner of the DC Universe is continuing with new adventures, but with the wrapping up of the Arrowverse, they will likely be confined to the fans' imaginations or fanfiction sites. Maybe DC will give us some comics with this iteration of the speedster universe-that would be nice. SUPERMAN AND LOIS and GOTHAM KNIGHTS are still on the air, but they are not connected to this universe, and the future of those shows is very much up in the air. It was all good while it lasted, and maybe we'll see Grant Gustin do a cameo in Ezra Miller's THE FLASH movie. That would tie a nice bow on the whole thing.
I've said in the past that I thought this show was past its prime, and should have come to an end several seasons ago, but I have few complaints against the 9th and final season with its 13 episode run. It had the kind of convoluted plotting we've come to expect, especially when it came to time travel, the Speed Force, and characters who continually returned from the dead. It was great to see Stephen Amell back one more time as Oliver Queen and David Ramsey's John Diggle made a final bow in earlier episodes from this season. We got all that in spades in the series final arc, which reached all the way back to Season 1 and resurrected Rick Cosnett's Eddie Thawne, and made him the Big Bad in the form of Cobalt Blue, the avatar of the Negative Speed Force. This made sense as Eddie had sacrificed his life to save Barry from the Reverse Flash, and in the process denied himself the life he would have had with Iris West, who married Barry instead. Eddie proceeds to bring back the Legion of Doom, who go up against Team Flash, and we are treated to some of the best super-speed street battles ever in the show. Talk about going out on a technical high note. Ultimately, the Barry/Eddie fight is resolved in a satisfying way, one that plays to the aspects of Barry's character which have always made him a true hero: his compassion and empathy and his ability to achieve the impossible. All of this revolves around the impending birth of Baby Nora, and I don't care what the show asserts, it has to be bending the laws of time travel until they break to have young adult Nora in the room with her infant self. If I could find any fault with this last season, it is that it felt rushed at only 13 episodes, the Eddie Thawne arc was worthy of the whole season, not just four episodes, and Team Flash deserved more character development.
The final episode brought back some familiar faces: always glad to see John Wesley Shipp (who played the first TV Flash decades ago) as Jay Garrick, and Tom Cavanaugh showed up as the Reverse Flash, and some version of Harrison Wells, one more time. It would have been nice to have seen Carlos Valdes as Cisco again, but the episode was probably too crowded as it is. Lots of plotlines were tied up (it was good to see Caitlin again), and they gave us an ending on a high note, with Barry and Iris, and everyone else in a good place with the introduction of some new speedsters. The finale left us with the implication that this corner of the DC Universe is continuing with new adventures, but with the wrapping up of the Arrowverse, they will likely be confined to the fans' imaginations or fanfiction sites. Maybe DC will give us some comics with this iteration of the speedster universe-that would be nice. SUPERMAN AND LOIS and GOTHAM KNIGHTS are still on the air, but they are not connected to this universe, and the future of those shows is very much up in the air. It was all good while it lasted, and maybe we'll see Grant Gustin do a cameo in Ezra Miller's THE FLASH movie. That would tie a nice bow on the whole thing.