"Armageddon, Part 2"
Well guys, here we are with Part 2 of the Armageddon crossover event as well as it being the 2nd episode of The Flash's 8th Season. Just from these two episodes alone, I've already grown a notable enough sense of optimism for the rest of the season following the major disappointment of Season 7. This episode continues to solidify the feeling that I got from the premiere being that the writers have finally learned their lessons regarding certain series elements and have went out of their way to implement those necessary improvements. But is it a little too late now or can this crossover event be just enough to launch the show back into the good graces of the fanbase? Well, its a bit too early to answer that, so in the meantime, here are my personal highlights from this episode.
1. Wait, How Did Despero Knock Down Barry?
During the opening of the episode, Despero attacks Barry so quickly that he’s not able to dodge or counter him and just takes the hit slamming down to the ground? Are the writers saying here that Despero is faster than Barry meaning that he’s faster than the fastest speedster on the show right now? Well, probably not. I immediately questioned this scene, but then I realized the logical options. One idea can be that Barry intentionally let him attack him in order to humble himself as proof that he isn’t the monster that Despero thinks he is. Another idea can be that Despero utilized his telepathy to momentarily freeze Barry in place allowing him to ambush him. So if this scene bothered you, I think we can actually explain it in a way that would makes sense versus other times non speedster villains were able to get the drop on the Flash.
2. All It Takes Is One Bad Day?
-So according to Despero, madness is what turns Barry in the future. Because his powers accelerated, so will his capability to turn insane…or…something like that. A tragedy causes him to be broken causing him to lash out on the world somehow. Now, I do like that the team does discuss Barry turning evil in the past due to a boost of speed like the artificial speed force giving him speed thinking but lacking emotions. Though I did think this was a missed opportunity to reference the other scenarios where Barry was the villain in previous seasons such as Bloodwork’s corruption, Savitar, and Rainbow Raider’s emotional spectrum shifting power. We learn later on, while Barry is investigating a bank robbery, that people in the city are being affected by someone causing them to lose their mind. Kramer then suspends him due to him being under investigation for a federal crime surrounding Carver and his goofy sunshine gang. I do like that they’re referencing an old story in order to enrich the current one but honestly referencing Sunshine and Carver just reminds me of how boring and terribly cheesy Season 6-7’s Mirror Monarch arc was.
Later on, the CCDBS pops up out of nowhere to shut down and demolish Star Labs due to some radiation leak causing more frustration for Barry to deal with. It is rather refreshing for one of the threats in a story to not just be a typical evil villain but a legitimate governmental legal policy regarding their HQ’s building condition which also causes a threat to their identity. You don’t often see that on these shows so kudos to the writing team on that. During the CCDBS’s time in Star Labs, team Flash makes every effort to acquire all of their secret super heroics as well as Barry being forced to shut down Gideon and wipe away all data in order to conceal everyone’s identity. This also allows for a nice change of pace from the highly utilized Star Labs setting giving characters like Chester a new playground to grow in. On a side note, the Gideon scenes made me remember that at some point, Barry is the one who supposedly creates her in the future. So it'd be interesting to see how the Flash series handles this character lore seed coupled with Gideon's transformation on Legends of Tomorrow. The big hope here is that all of this will eventually neatly tie together in the end.
Now admittedly, I did feel like all of this was happening way too fast, but eventually I started to think back on The Killing Joke graphic novel. That famous idea of someone turning insane after one bad day. Perhaps, I can give some leeway here with Barry just having a severely unlucky streak causing him to potentially tip over the edge? Well...it'd have to be a pretty crazy unlucky streak. I'm still sour over the horrendous writing surrounding Savitar's backstory so I'm not quite ready to just give into the idea. I do enjoy the basic concept of what’s taking place here with Barry struggling to deal with a stressful new meta threat while Despero’s watch over his mind intensifies. I think the overall conveyance of our hero feeling like he’s being trapped on both sides is coming across very well in this portion of the crossover. Speaking of which, there's a great scene where Cecile senses another presence in the room (invoking a psychic medium in a supernatural horror movie) revealing Despero sitting in the corner in a ghostly fashion. Kudos to the fun genre shifting direction there.
3. Meet Xotar
Speaking of the meta in question, here we have our introduction to Xotar (yet another mind controlling meta). I’m starting to think that we’ve reached that point in the Flash series where villain types will start going into the recycle phase which is sad. That being said, the hope is that each villain, despite having similar power sets, will feel unique and individually awesome in their presentation and story. Xotar here sadly just didn’t work for me. Her design and performance came off like a typical highly forgettable villain of the week. That being said, I did love the editing of Barry chasing after her directly only to slam into his loft’s interior wall as Team Flash surrounds him in fear and confusion. It’s a brilliant way of conveying the idea of Barry doing something terrible without immediate context thereby placing us in his shoes. When Barry finally confronts Xotar again, I absolutely loved how, with quick thinking, he was able to efficiently take her down in total badass fashion despite her psychic hold on him.
Again, following up on the first episode this season, the writers seem to have finally realize after all these years that Barry on his own should be able to defeat most of these weekly villains with both his powers and intellect. As Xotar traps and lifts Barry in the air bending his bones with her powers, he tells the team that he just needs to generate enough lightning to stop her. Keep in mind that he says this immediately as a response to Caitlin saying that Frost was on the way. Hmmm. Perhaps this is the show’s way of saying “We get it! He doesn’t constantly need his team to help in with battles. This leads to an absolutely epic and badass show of power as Barry vibrates his molecules as a means to create enough friction to cause a speed force energy explosion. Visually speaking, it’s a fantastic scene of superhero spectacle, but I also love the thinking behind it with Flash improvising in order to build up enough electricity within to use as a weapon. This people…this is the Barry Allen that we’ve been waiting to see for what feels like 7 seasons now.
4. Alex Being Our Supergirl Crossover
-Alex gives Team Flash the DEO’s entire database on aliens living on Earth (something I thought the heroes would’ve already done in the past as protectors of the planet). Alex connected Caitlin with a guy named Marcus who designed the algorithm. Is that someone that we already know? I’m blanking on who Marcus is from either shows. Another Supergirl crossover element is that it’s through The Flash’s encounter with Despero that the DEO is able to update their archives with him now being identified. Caitlin also mentions that Despero has a strength and invulnerability that rivals Kryptonians (interesting to see if this is tested with Superman or Supergirl maybe showing up despite them being currently off world or busy).
5. Whose Ready To Level Up?!!
-Killer Frost saying “We need to level up our offense” felt like the show officially going into Arrow Season 4 levels of theme repetition via dialogue. For anyone who remembers, Season of Arrow’s main theme was our heroes facing their “inner darkness” and the way that the writers wanted the audience to know that is by having the word “darkness” be mouthed like 50 times every other episode. It was hilariously cringeworthy and now I’m wondering if Season 8 of Flash will be leaning in on that with everyone talking about “leveling up”.
6. Chester’s Character Highlight
-To say that Season 6-7 wasn't the best introduction for Chester’s character as Cisco’s replacement would be an understatement. However, I think Season 8 has helped me warm up to him much more. Perfect example being his pacifist outlook getting explored. I like the idea of Chester being conflicted in building a weapon against Despero after Frost suggests it to him. There’s an interesting conversation to have about heroes having to go against their morale code to damage the villain. I wasn’t so sure if the writers would know how to tackle this in a compelling fashion, but to my surprise, they handled it pretty decently. Chester talks about his choice to become a pacifist coming from his childhood trauma of accidentally burning down his friend’s home nearly killing his family with an experimental gun.
I thought this was a nice piece of character development and really helped shined a light on his non-violent sensibility now going forward. Now when I look at him, I won't be seeing the forceful feeling Cisco replacement, but a brilliant engineer who has been deeply influenced by his childhood experiences. Thank you writers.
7. Barry’s Discovery of Joe’s Passing
Okay, so this one came flying at me pretty hard (despite the previous episode having an odd feeling line exchange that may have set it up). Barry suggests after their victory on Xotar that they meet up with Joe to eat only for everyone to react to him like he just made a terribly distasteful joke. Something that positively stood out to me with this episode is its manner of putting the audience in Barry’s shoes via strong situational immersion. Much like his first encounter with Xotar leading to a cleverly editing transition allowing the audience to experience his off kilter shift in setting losing time and memory in the process, the same thing happens with Barry’s discovery of Joe’s death. It’s being shown and told through him having anxiety induced run-ins with the team perfectly building things up like a ticking time bomb.
I loved how he completely flips out rushing to and through his home yelling at Iris about Joe’s whereabouts. Cecile and and Iris’s upset and confused reactions telling him that he was the one who said the eulogy at the funeral was both heart shattering and shocking. Both the audience and Barry gets to experience what is an absolutely insane revelation for a pivotal and beloved character lost.
8. The Flash’s Destroyed Public Image
Just when we thought Joe’s passing reveal would be the big tipping point and cliffhanger of drama for the episode, things ramp up even higher. Breaking news reveal footage of the Flash openly attacking civilians on the street and it doesn’t appear to just be “another speedster being mistaken for the Flash” but Barry himself. It’s a pretty messed up and dramatically impactful thing to see our hero just randomly attacking innocent people so I’m glad the show didn’t shy away from the imagery too much. This leads to Despero showing up to fulfill his promise by attacking Barry with fatal intent. He mentions using fire from his home world in his attack (which we learned earlier that he was casted out of to Earth by a mad ruler whose life he regretfully spared). Many of you will know that I’m a sucker for lore building so dialogue like that is always a treat for me.
Chester and Allegra then shows up with a device that is able to counter the second fire blast just in time to knock back Despero giving Barry the opening to escape. What’s interesting here is that Despero doesn’t attack them as a result but instead responds with frustration that he’s the only one trying to kill who he knows is a destructive force of nature to the planet. Him letting them go proves that this isn’t your typical “everyone must die” bad guy but someone a little more three dimensional”.
8. Injustice Requires The Justice League
This leads to what I like to call the “geek out worthy crossover moment” as Barry runs to the Hall of Justice (they’re finally using this set!!). I love the little subtle detail of Barry first looking at the burning arrow symbol and costume mantelpiece of Oliver’s memorial. It’s a nice reminder to fans of Arrow’s impact on the overall shared TV franchise as well as Barry’ life. We then get this fantastic scene where Barry takes his gloves off and rests his hands on his chair while the camera pans to the other empty hero chairs leading to Black Lightning’s. Jefferson Pierce then shows up and rests his hands on his chair in a similar fashion (an unspoken traditional gesture of the Hall of Justice?) which immediately made me smile. If that wasn’t enough, Jefferson asks what’s happening to which Barry simply responds “Injustice” leading to Black Lightning looking both concerned and amped up.
We then get this great epic score ending things off as if implying that something big is coming on the horizon for the crossover event. Guys, I must say…I’m kinda hyped now. You have no idea how great it is to finally utter those words with this show and not have it feel so…desperate. I am legitimately psyched to see what happens next with this not just from a crossover perspective but from a Flash Season 8 story angle. Barry being both publicly and privately shattered to come off as a villain without his consent and knowledge is pretty damn compelling.
Where do we go from here? How does Black Lightning factor into the story? Did the other League members get notified or just Jefferson specifically? How do they stop Despero and fix Barry’s image? So many great questions to watch unfold with hopefully more than satisfying answers. I can’t believe I’m saying this but Season 8 of The Flash has been a success so far almost redeeming the mess of recent seasons. Will it remain consistent? It’s hard to tell considering how early we are, but no matter what, I’ll always say that Season 8 at the very least started off really strong.
Episode Rating: 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment