The Flash S9 Ep. 1 Personal Highlights

"Wednesday Ever After"

Kicking off the final season of The Flash (a bittersweet but long time coming statement) comes a solid premiere episode that sets up a few interesting ideas. Guys, I have to be honest. With The Last of Us being out now, I’d completely forgotten about the remaining CW DC Comics shows that were entering their new and likely final seasons, so this premiere a welcomed surprise for me. And right out of the gate, let me just say that I’m deeply relieved to have started Season 9 with an enjoyable and optimism imbuing episode. So without further ado, let’s get into my personal highlights of the episode in what is essentially the beginning of the end of an era.

The Opening Feels Like A Directional Expectation Setter

We open this episode with a returning villain of the week, Tar Pit, who is shown to be attacking a worksite before Team Flash shows up. What’s interesting to note here, whether it was intentional by the production team or not, is that the entire scene looked and felt like one of the more run of the mill, generic looking, and slightly cheesy weekly villain fight scenes on the show. However, after Killer Frost’s appearance tips Barry off that something isn’t right leading to each member being mysteriously killed, Barry wakes up to the realization that it was all just a nightmare. So why did I point out the more negatively perceived aesthetics of the nightmare bit? This is primarily because of how the scene is presented during Barry’s awakening. 

There's a strong sense of cinematic direction surrounding this bedroom setting from the cold blue color pallet to the beautiful atmospheric lighting washing through the windows. This quick scene, as brief as it may be, was is in such high contrast from the more visually flat presentation seen on the show that I couldn't help but see something metaphorical being stated here. Through the contrasting cinematography used in both the nightmare and the real world, it’s almost as if the show was telling us that the nightmare was “the old quality expectations” with us waking up into the new standard set for the show. 

Though I’d argue that Season 8 was a major step up in regards to visual scope, there were still several areas of the season that kept that underlying aforementioned flat looking direction. Now, this episode is by no means perfectly consistent in keeping some of its stylistic visuals intact from that bedroom opening scene. However,  there’s just enough effort seen through other shots and setting choices to make this longtime fan feel optimistic for this last season. Well, at the very least in regards to production values. 

A Time Loop Metaphorically Sets Up The Show’s Impending Ending

This week’s episode of The Flash centers around a time loop story which of course isn’t the first time that we've experimented with this plot format in the Arrowverse. However, what makes this particular time loop exploration special is what it does for The Flash’s final season in a very unintentionally self referential way. In this loop, we see Barry waking up with Iris in bed eagerly trying to get her to follow his safety guaranteed map book’s sequence of events for the day (I’ll cover this item later) which involves Iris having her own little dilemma at CCC Media and Barry facing off against a villain of the week only to repeat the day all over again. 

The fact that the time loop follows a typical Flash episode’s conventions (Iris's publication related subplot and the Flash taking on a weekly one dimensional villain) is interesting to me. Barry and Iris's eventual decision to do things differently while still facing each formulaic event in order to stop the loop almost speaks to the new season itself potentially “doing something different but familiar to create a more fulfilling outcome”. Now admittedly, I might be reading too much into this, but I can’t help but feel that this episode is one giant message to the fans that Season 9's final outing for the series will be an attentively crafted and effortful attempt to improve on things.

Well…there’s also the other very likely option being the fact that I’m just trying to stay optimistic for this final season and will grab hold of every positive sign that I possibly can. Guys, I really want this to work just as well as Arrow's final season did. I've always had the mindset that a strong ending can help smooth things over for a mixed reception heavy series and that's exactly what happened to Arrow. The Flash, also having a peaks and valleys track record can very much benefit from the same treatment. 

An Interesting Story About The Double Edge Sword of God-Like Power

During this episode, Barry is shown to be using a book the he cobbled together archiving future events that he uncovered surrounding his life. First off, let me say that I really appreciate the fact that his Still Force connection introduced in Season 8 is actually paying off and being addressed here instead of being sidelined. Secondly, Barry knowing the future and deciding not to change it due to previous timeline altering problems shows a nice consistent sense of maturity in his arc from where he used to be seasons ago. As for the story behind the catalog book itself, I think having him be desperate to follow a specific sequence of events in order to avoid the possible dangers from a recurring nightmare about Iris is an interesting new conflict to explore. 

The conflict here being in the form of a question asking "What would happen if a superhero knew the future and became obsessed with keeping to a specific pattern to make it happen?". How does that affect their relationships with the people in their life who would rather live a “normal” life of freedom and surprise. There’s an intriguing narrative element worth diving into here considering where Barry is currently positioned in his cosmically god-like state of power. A superhero becoming so powerful that he ironically and tragically ends up pushing people away (Dr. Manhattan comes to mind) would be a fascinating tale to see play out. Just like the time loop idea, this isn’t the first time that the show has approached a similar beat (remember Season 7’s intellect upgrade episode?) but the notable direction here makes the themes stand out more prominently.    

In previous seasons, showing Barry and Iris argue about their life decisions would’ve typically been a challenge to watch due to questionable writing decisions made. With this episode, their debate about the future wasn’t as tedious to get through as it could’ve been and actually made for an interesting dilemma due to both perspectives being understandable. However, there is one glaring issue here that puts Barry’s previously celebrated maturity building into question. The fact that he wasn’t able to patiently step back and see Iris’s point about not wanting to rushingly follow a written book to live out her life but instead have a sense of free will is a bit problematic. Considering what she’s been through with the whole time sickness thing, and being imprisoned, you’d think that he would show a bit more patience and consideration here.

Just the look of confusion on his face towards her response of essentially just wanting a breath of fresh air away from anything that’d make her feel imprisoned really didn't sit well with me. Thankfully, and as per usual, we have good old Joe stepping in yet again to solidify his position on the show as the voice of wisdom in Barry's life. There’s a great dialogue exchange between Barry and Joe alongside Cecile where Joe tells him that he’s mapped every detail out like a good detective but forgot to consider the emotions involved. Barry’s future map book is what I’d call a “god-like power” (knowing and following the future in a calculative fashion) that is more systemic than it is human. 

The freedom to feel, to take risks, and to be surprised are all essential emotional beats in life that allows us to naturally grow as human beings. What Barry’s god-like knowledge and power does here is strip these life essential elements away from his life and marriage which would become a huge problem in the long run. This is emphasized in another great exchange where Barry later tells Iris that the book is evidently just a love story whereas his life with her is something real and should be treated as such. That moment where he flicks his finger to zap the book on fire confirming his decision to lead a naturally progressive life without a supernaturally strategic safety net was one of my favorite moments with these two. 

It isn’t common that I get to celebrate a Barry-Iris centered story or moment, so I’m going to take this episode and put a figurative stamp of approval on it. We’re seeing this couple try to build a future maneuvering around the absolutely insane supernatural obstacles that challenges their relationship. Admittedly, for the first time on the show, I’m really loving the romantic-drama/love story element of a Flash episode. Or at the very least, thematically speaking which is a pretty big deal considering that this is the final season after all. Superman & Lois has been the only Arrowverse “related” show to make these types of stories work for me, so it's nice to finally give some props to The Flash in this regard. Better late than ever I suppose. 

Season 8 also took on a couple of other interesting ideas that were beyond just fighting the weekly villains such as Barry’s perspective changing rapid aging. I’m happy to see that the show is still willing to tackle more character centered multilayered stories keeping thing intriguing. 

Earth- Prime Connectivity 

During the time loop events, we had a few interesting  revelations, action heavy moments, and character inserts that stood out to me. First off on the list is the idea of Cat Grant wanting to buy Central City Citizen Media allowing Iris to potentially expand her publication empire. Allegra brings forth this news after apparently having an offscreen meeting with Cat Grant herself which I thought was a nice drop of Post-Crisis crossover storytelling. Considering the bittersweet possibility that we’ll never get to see the likes of the Arrowverse characters again, it’s just really nice to see The Flash taking the opportunity to keep its neighboring series alive in spirit. I’d be curious to see if we have anymore references or maybe even guest appearances before or during the finale. 

Oh, and on a little side note, I find it interesting that in the Supergirl finale, Cat was calling Kara with the job offer of a lifetime helping to run CATCO together. With her now offering Iris expansion for her publication, it paints an offscreen narrative for Supergirl fans of Cat Grant making big company moves behind the scenes. Again, it's just fun to see The Flash dipping its toes into crossover storytelling to keep the presence of other shows felt with the individual fanbases in mind. Black Lightning’s final season sort of did this with the inclusion of Arrow’s League of Assassins being utilized in one of the side villain sub plots. The Flash also kept an Arrow story alive (Mia Queen's hunt for William in Season 8) and now we can add Supergirl's CATCO narrative to that list. 

Meet The New Captain Boomerang

As for villains of the episode (not counting the ending tease which I’ll get to later), we have a new Captain Boomerang, Owen Mercer. In the comics, Owen was the son of the original Boomerang named Digger Harkness (who we saw briefly during Arrow Season 5 and one of the first crossover events between Arrow and The Flash). Right out of the gate, I’ll just say that Owen certainly doesn't have the same "badass presence" as the previous Boomerang, but I suppose it is kinda cool getting to see a slightly more comic accurate costume and personality. I’m actually kinda curious, since they never officially disclose his family connections, if he is indeed the son of the version seen on Arrow taking on the mantle or if he's actually an original new villain created via Crisis. 

Owen is seen attempting to rob a portable particle accelerator from Kord Industries. Actually, before I go on, I do have to ask, “How many times is this place gonna be referenced or robbed before Blue Beetle shows up?” Alright, back to the episode. Owen is confronted by the Flash who recognizes him to be a new Crisis villain and is able to successfully evade his boomerang barrage. And going along with my earlier comments about the show’s production values improving since Season 8, I thought the visuals during this scene was pretty awesome. Also, the fact that they’re electrical projectiles already sets up this version of Boomerang to be upgraded in regards to arsenal compared to Digger. 

This is confirmed further after Owen creates a force shield to deflect Barry’s lightning bolt towards the accelerator before teleporting away. Now in the comics, Captain Boomerang does have various different types of his signature weapon but teleportation and force fields is something that I’m not quite familiar with. Considering how the episode ends, I do have to wonder if Owen in the Arrowverse is only better equipped due to his assumed partner in crime as opposed to just having his own self engineered gear. After the particle accelerator explodes, this is where our time loop story begins. 

I do have to say that, despite the loop being fixed, just the mere fact that Barry dies fighting Captain Boomerang due to being duped with his own lightning bolt attack is kinda…well…lame. I'm just saying that of all the different times that we've seen some version of Barry dying on this show, this is by far the most embarrassing considering the villain involved. Thankfully, we do manage to fix this terrible fate. 

Other Fun & Interesting Details of the Time Loop

The moment where Barry and Iris realizes that they’re both stuck in a time loop and can’t escape was such a great scene comedically speaking. There’s a pretty entertaining montage showing Barry and Chester repeatedly failing to fix the accelerator from causing the loop resulting in Barry and Iris repeatedly waking up shocked in bed. Some of the different character reactions here is kinda hilarious and thankfully never goes against the tone of the dramatic stakes involved. This was another promising sign of the show’s improvement as far as tonal balancing goes considering some of the previous seasons. 

In the final day of the loop where Barry and Iris makes up and freely embraces their new life, we get some interesting tidbits thrown in about their future. Iris decides to expand CCC Media through a loan with Sue Dearbon (good old Sue who sadly never shows up with Ralph anymore) instead of being purchased by CATCO. In Barry’s map book, we learn that Sue apparently goes on to become the richest woman in the world and buys out Big Belly Burger which is a fun little Arrowverse Easter egg. To the uninitiated, this restaurant has shown up in just about every Arroweverse series in some way, shape, or form.

It’s interesting to note that she speaks about expanding in Coast City which is another Arrowverse connecting detail being that this setting has been referenced and utilized in both Arrow and Flash. However, just like the constant Kord Industries references, I’ve always found it interesting that we’ve yet to see the superhero that is connected to this part of the world or at least referenced. That of course being Hal Jordon’s Green Lantern, but I supposed this is simply just one of those characters and mythologies from DC Comics that CW can never openly adapt. 

Later on, Barry becomes the director of the Central City police CSI division which is a very natural progression for the character which that perfectly sets up his future just as Iris’s expansion does. I think what Season 9 is essentially doing is laying the bread crumbs down to get these characters to the place where they’ve been previously teased via Nora and Bart’s future timeline references. I think my only point of curiosity regarding this entire element of the season is whether or not we’ll get a tease or the Flash museum being set up. Other than that, I can’t think of any other future reveal that we’ve had on the show that they can possibly set up now (aside from Iris’s pregnancy of course). 

Barry Continues To Expand His Power Set

This being a Flash season premiere and all, one would expect some sort of giant spectacle to start us off on a high note. In the case of this episode, Barry’s final face off with Captain Boomerang certainly gives us the expected goods in terms of conceptual scope to enjoy. Only this time, it’s not so much a hero-villain battle, but what follows after a villain is seemingly defeated. Iris joins in to help Barry take down Owen together (which was a fun surprise that nicely connected to the carefree direction taken with the couple during their final time loop). The big spotlight moment comes where Owen Mercer reveals to have triggered a nuke in the particle accelerator resulting in Barry deciding to use his phasing power to stop the blast from wiping everyone out. 

The visuals of the explosion phasing through the city instead of obliterating it was a great showcase of Barry’s newly evolved capabilities. Remember in Season 4 where a nuke destroying Central City took an entire episode of flash time speed thinking and other speedster support just to figure out how to stop it? Count 4-5 seasons later and Barry now has the power to dissipate the entire fiery explosion rendering it almost nonexistent. This is by far one of the most incredible examples of what the Flash can do now after all the “leveling up” that was set up in Seasons 7 and 8. What this tells me is that Season 9 will nicely pick up where Season 8 left off in terms of building and expanding its titular hero through visually spectacular ways which is exactly what the series used to do back in its heyday. 

Revelations After The Time Loop Ends

With Barry stopping the particle accelerator, everything eventually goes back to normal, but the episode of course doesn't stop here. What follows the ending of the time loop conflict is a couple of interesting character decisions and major reveals being thrown on the audience. First, on a sweeter note, Barry tells Iris that they should have their own newlywed experience with a vacation allowing them to experience some semblance of a normal life outside of Central City. We can assume this to be something quick and temporary before they come back to face whatever new threats await them. However, on the other side of the spectrum, Joe decides that he wants to leave Central City permanently out of fear for his and Cecile’s family future. 

Fans of the show have always speculated on Joe's exit from the series for a few seasons in a row now and it looks like Season 9 (which funny enough literally has no choice but to be considered an exit point) is officially making that happen. I think with this particular approach to having him leave with Cecile due to wanting to build a more safer and secured family future is a nice parallel to Barry and Iris's situation. Only Joe and Cecile is a bit more theoretically free to leave the superhero life and world more so than Barry is. I'd be curious to see how this plays out with Cecile's psychic powers expanding even further building up her formidability as a member of Team Flash.

Ending off the episode comes two major character reveals in the form of both Caitlin (Frost?) returning and the tease of a new speedster villain. Let's get Caitlin out of the way first by just outwardly addressing how much I didn't care for her storyline in Season 8. As a matter of fact, I remember stating in my review that the entire Frost subplot was one of the weaker parts of the entire season and stuck out like a sore thumb for me. Who is this new Caitlin? I have no clue, and frankly unless they have something interesting up their sleeve, I sort of don't really care too much. We'll just have and see if they can redeem this character for me personally. If anything, I will say that I'm digging the new look. That's a good start I suppose. 

Now for the more interesting appearance, we see who I'll just safely assume to be Red Death show up speaking to Captain Boomerang. This was a villain that was previously teased during Season 5's Nora timeline as a Flash museum easter egg. But considering who this villain's identity is in the comics, I've always questioned if we'd actually ever get to see him appear due to how the studios have limited the freedom to use that particular character. Now, as to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the comics, I won't disclose who the Red Death is (and again this is me assuming that the episode is indeed introducing him). What I will say is that the visual FX surrounding his shadowy appearance and the shot of him randomly jumping off a wall towards the camera was a bit shaky for me.

As villain introductions go, this was definitely one of the weaker ones especially considering who this might be in the DC Comics lore that's being adapted for the show. The fact that he's working with Captain Boomerang supplying him with weapons leads me to believe that he's the reason why Owen is outfitted with formidable tech. There's so much to speculate over here like who the Read Death is and why he's going after the Flash. Is he from the future? Another Earth perhaps? Someone that we know from previous seasons or maybe even another Arrowverse series? We don't really have much to go on here, but count me as intrigued to see what they do with him.

I'm looking forward to seeing them gradually reveal his identity in anticipation for the conformation on whether or not the CW actually got the rights to fully utilize him or not. I'm also excited to see the costume design adaptation being done (as you guys may know by now that I'm an absolute nerd for great character design work). Considering that we haven't had a truly awesome speedster fight scene since Crisis on Earth-X's quick Thawne battle segment, I'm really hoping for this final season to truly deliver on its action potential. If they're pouring more into the production values, this would be the villain to pull off some absolutely insane speedster combat sequences with. Here's to hoping. 

Episode Rating: 8/10