The Flash S7 Ep. 1 Highlights

The Flash kicks off its 7th season with a pretty solid start both entertainment-wise with some traditional action-spectacle elements as well as some surprisingly high stakes storytelling. Despite having a few nitpicks here and there regarding some of the tonal direction, this episode has given me a sense of optimism for what this season can be in terms of quality. That is to say, if we keep things flowing strongly with the storytelling, dramatic stakes, and hopefully a new season villain coming in that'll take the series back to its high standards roots, Season 7 might just be a winner worthy of the title "redemption season". I still feel as though this series hasn't had its redemption season yet much like Arrow did with its 5th season then eventually final season reminding audiences of the show's heyday. The Flash just hasn't quite stick the landing as strongly post-Season 2 (in my humble opinion), so perhaps seven time's the charm here and we get an unforgettably awesome return to form for the Arrowverse's flagship series. As for right now, let's check out some highlights from the premiere.

-We got a new reveal that the old Mirror Master (Sam Scudder) and the Top was working for Blackhole. It's interesting how they've taken this once secretive mysterious company and now fitted in previous villains of the week into its rogues gallery. Although Blackhole hasn't really done anything to particularly impress me, I did find it pretty intriguing when Eva revealed to have created Sam Scudder's Mirror Master this whole time. Aside from the quick death scene of a villain that hardly had much of an impact on the show, my focus here is the question of whether or not this was a post-Crisis change to the character's origin. I'd be curious to see them dive into this a little more since we have the Top in prison. Also, on a side note, speaking of the Top, it was pretty cool to see Cecile getting to expand her powers a bit more via confronting the Top. This is the first time we've seen Cecile in a more offensive role with her empath abilities which makes me wonder if the writers are planning on doing more with the character as a member of Team Flash's power based heroes. Hmmmm.

-In the beginning of the episode, we see Chester having to wake up Barry by activating an alarm within his Cryostasis chamber. Just the idea and imagery of Barry having to be in Cryosleep in order to keep his speed from diminishing then waking up like a robotic superhero being activated for duty was both a brilliant and honestly badass scene. One of the biggest new obstacles that the show introduced recently was the Speed Force’s death leading to Barry slowly losing what’s left of his power resulting in one giant countdown to the Flash being no more. There was also the obstacle of building an artificial speed force (something that I’ve been pretty intrigued about honestly) which this episode finally put into place in the end. So the added detail of having the screens in Team Flash’s HQ showing what’s left of Barry's speed level in the beginning (while also showing the wristband's alerting red hue) gave both the team and the audience a sense of tension and pacing with the overall “superhero journey” (albeit not as extensive into the season's beginnings as I thought it would be).

On a minor side note, the new self forming mask idea was…interesting? Not to sound snobby here, but I did feel it to be a little gimmicky at first. Ever since the MCU kickstarted showing their heroes with self forming suits and helmets of sorts, several other properties have been jumping on the bandwagon to where it’s now become a bit of a cliche to see. However, in the case of this show, perhaps it’ll be something that will fit perfectly within the story down the line. Or maybe this was just a one-off visual bit for the fans to enjoy? Either way, it did look kinda cool in the way that the energy traced down the mask's line designs.

-Watching Barry running up buildings has always been one of the show's center piece action elements since the earlier seasons, and the particular chase scene in the premiere's intro was pretty interesting. The idea of him having to chase what is essentially a glimmer of sorts in the reflective exteriors of buildings identifying it as Eva was interesting both conceptually and visually. Seeing Eva leaping from building to building as Barry chases her was something that I honestly never considered during last season as being a possible directional route to show these characters in a confrontation. There's also a pretty cool scene where Barry tries to attack Eva but Eva somehow dodges him through some reflective capability allowing her to move faster than the speed of light (I guess that works?). This was another one of those “Huh, that’s actually a pretty cool idea” type of moment coming from this episode that I admired.

Later on in the episode, there's another cool action bit where Barry, after acquiring his new speed, chases after one of Blackhole's jets to disarm an attached bomb. It may not be a series highlight or anything, but I did enjoy the bit where he slides under a truck in slow motion with the energy surging around him as well as the added detail of showing him constantly glancing towards the jet's direction while running. My hopes is that we get more set piece moments like these ramping up the show's entertainment value. 

-One of the things that stood out to me during the Season 6 finale was the scene where Carver looked at Eva right before he died telling her that she wasn’t his wife nor was she even human. This planted a speculation seed of intrigue for me with Mirror Mistress to which this episode completely confirmed at the end. Eva finding out that she’s a mirror duplicate all along was predictable however I did like the imagery of her discovering her own death through the security footage as the reflection in the footage shows the split taking place (kinda creepy actually). Will the season explore some sort of sinister force behind the Mirrorverse expanding on the mythology of the Arrowverse? Or am I just making it sound cooler than it really is? Either way, despite me still not being entirely sold on this villain yet, I will say that she’s not as extremely boring or poorly written as say Cicada or Devoe. I just hope that a certain evil speedster shows up soon as possible to kick things up a notch for the series once more.

-The council of Wells make a grand return here by continuing to be a part of Nash’s conscience, ever so expanding its library (Orson Wells?), and now trying something new by funneling through Barry with the effect of a glowing orange halo(?). I do have to say that, even though it’s great to see Harry back as a supporting character as well as the other Wells, I did think that some of the comedy during these interaction scenes felt a little too “fillery” for my taste. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the balancing of funny exchanges and high stakes storytelling could've been a tad bit more fine-tuned and is hopefully not a glimpse of what's to come for future episodes. Nitpicks aside regarding the episode simply giving Grant Gustin and Tom Cavanagh a prop case to have fun with, I do have to say…I did like the “Oh my God, do you know Gandalf?” line from Chester once Barry was taken over by Wells the Grey. That honestly got a chuckle out of me being a Lord of the Rings fan.

On the more serious spectrum of the Wells subplot, Nash hesitating to be the ultimate sacrifice needed to both power the artificial speed force as well as save Barry’s life was quite the unexpected emotional twist. I remember thinking to myself “Alright Flash writers, let’s just skip the whole Council of Wells Happy Funtime show and get to some serious….oh…damn...you went there”. Especially during Harry’s takeover of Barry scene when he explains to Nash that all of the Wells that joined Team Flash had their own flaws before the team reshaped them into becoming better people (was nice to get a Zoom namedrop in there). How all of this lead to the eventual highlight point of the episode being the death of the Harrison Wells character honestly felt pretty early into the season for such a major character exit. However, I will say that it was specifically Harry’s goodbye towards Barry that strummed a few heart strings within me considering their history. This coupled with Barry saying that he could somehow feel the love coming from their spirits when they were connected to his conscience as well as Allegra posing the idea that the Wells would forever run along with him as a result, had me a little choked up.

What does this mean for the series moving forward if one of their greatest assets casting-wise and character-wise for the show's formula is seemingly gone?

-Wasn’t sure how to feel about Iris still being trapped in the Mirrorverse or the whole “Iris vs. Mirror Iris” conflict that was teased during the Season 7 trailers. Surprisingly enough, what I will say about this specific subplot is that I actually enjoyed how we’re basically getting Iris’s version of Barry’s speed force character journey episode(s). If I’m remembering correctly, there’s about 2 or 3 episodes where Barry navigated the speed force confronting psychological and emotional obstacles within himself which can be paralleled here with Iris in the Mirroverse confronting her “damsel in distress dilemma”. I do like the idea of the hero’s love interest who constantly gets thrown into trouble now having her own story where she has to face said cliche in what is assumingely a journey of empowerment.

There’s even a direct nod to Savitar which I thought was great (despite never liking the writing behind that villain’s story) as it showed us the tragedy and horror of Iris’s story dying a helpless death by one of the bigger threats. We even get to see the much older and stricter version of herself popping up from Nora’s future timeline reminding her of her failure as a parent in another era. This whole thing leads to the reveal of Eva (or whatever force is behind Eva) messing with Iris's mind, but what I'm more curious about is whether or not this means that the Post-Crisis’ timeline played out the same with Nora and Savitar as we saw it prior. Or are these attacks on Iris’s pre-Crisis mind that she got awakened to via J’onn J’onzz power (assuming all of our heroes are fully aware of their pre-Crisis life). Just a thought.

Overall Thoughts

I’m still not entirely sold on this villain, but at the very least, she’s not as extremely boring or poorly written like some of the previous season villains. I just hope a certain evil speedster shows up soon to kick things up a notch for the series once more. One would assume that Mirror Mistress won't be a season long villain, so I'm more excited as to what Season 7 will bring forth in its rogues gallery. Something new? A familiar face returning with a bigger role? A post-Crisis specific threat? So many possibilities. Also, on a side note, I wonder how the show will address Ralph and Sue's storyline considering the behind the scenes debacle. While we're on the subject of missing characters, Cisco's absence here was very much felt and I'm starting to get nervous with the thought of him being possibly replaced by Chester (who isn't too bad really so far) if the show is starting to get rid of some of its major cast members. Let's hope that with Wells gone that at the very least we get to keep Cisco. 

Bonus Thoughts

1. Clark Reference

During one of Iris's Mirrorverse illusions, she is shown spending time with Barry at a restaurant where Barry tells her that "the funnel cake was Clark's recommendation" which is of course referencing Superman. Considering that the Superman & Lois series is currently out, I wonder if we'll be getting more shared continuity references that perhaps may go beyond a few name drops. More importantly, and excitingly, when will we return to the Hall of Justice set?

Episode Rating: 8/10