THE FLASH 8.4

 

RECAP - THE FLASH  8.4:  "Armageddon Part 4"  

Well...Barry got to the crux of HIS issues this week, as we continue the fallout from LAST episode, when everything in his life went upside down.  Losing his job, being framed for being Carver's mole in the CCPD, not having ANY knowledge of the fact Joe was killed in a train accident, and now he's completely convinced that he's been losing pockets of time, and that he's been indiscriminately attacking people..."snapping" as Despero said he would before he destroys the world in 2031.  So, he seeks out Jefferson Pearce to help him initiate the "Injustice Protocol", which will take away his powers forever, in order to save everyone from this "Armageddon" that Despero says he's responsible for.  Plus, now that they've lost STAR Labs, and Despero's tapped into the nuclear energy stored there, things are about to get a lot worse.  Black Lightning refuses to help Flash take away his powers, even though he and the rest of the League members agreed to this protocol for everyone.  Meanwhile, Iris and Allegra investigate her father's death, as she and Cecile disagree on how to help Barry.  So, Cecile takes her initiative and nabs Rosa Dillon - The Top - for her plan to help Barry, but she ends up tapping into Despero's mind, and she's unable to deal with the grief of losing Joe until she's face with no other alternative...thus "powering up" in her own way.  By the time Iris and Allegra reach Barry at the Hall of Justice, Despero is there ready to kill him.  Black Lightning holds him off long enough for Barry to make a beeline for the future...but what he finds when he gets there....messes him up big time.  

This week, Barry gets the shock of his life as he lands in 2031---he stumbles upon an engagement party----featuring some of his friends:  Chunk, Allegra, Caitlin, Cecile, as well as Ryan Choi, Alex Danvers, and Ryan Wilder.  But the engagement party, however, is for Iris....and Eobard Thawne.  And when he stumbles upon the gathering...NO ONE is pleased to see him.  And...despite his trying to reason with Iris, he's met with disdain from everyone.  And as he tries to prove to Iris and everyone who he his---he changes into his Flash outfit....so he thinks.  Turns out---THAT suit has gone though a HUGE metamorphosis...into a yellow Reverse Flash outfit.  Much to his chagrin---Thawne informs him that he isn't the Flash---but Thawne---after a quick change---IS the Flash himself.  He orders his team to suit up, and they attack.  After getting battered around by the team a little bit, Barry races off with Iris.  He takes her back to their loft, and tries to explain to her what Thawne did...and that they were married and had kids...and that she was his lightning rod.  She said only Thawne said that, and before Barry could get more out, Thawne nabs him and drags him out into the street.  It's here the Thawne has revealed his big master plan to Barry:  That HE changed the timeline, by going back and becoming the one who got struck by lightning, and became The Flash.  It was he, who had caused Barry to lose his job, and it was him that had killed Joe. He felt he finally got his revenge, because he made Barry into the Reverse Flash.  He took Barry's life, and that included Iris.  Barry tries striking him, but Barry's hand phases through him.  Thawne says that he then did the ultimate:  he went back and killed Barry as a child, thus ensuring that the timeline would stick, and that Barry will die in only a matter of hours.  He finally won, and said who was the fastest now?  He zaps Barry, and knocks him out.

Barry awakes, and takes off before the cops can catch him.  He disguises himself, and sees a news report about how Damien Dhark was released from Iron Heights after evidence went missing in his case.  People are protesting, and it turns out that Barry was his partner in crime, and they had killed the Legends, Ray Palmer, Cisco, Sara Lance, and many others.  Barry knows he needs Damien's help to reset the timeline.  So, he races to Damien, explaining how the Flash ruined his life, and needs his help in fixing things.  Damien likes the plan, since Flash created an anachronism, therefore making things different.  So, they need this machine and his time stone to help reset the timeline.  As for this Team Flash, Thawne has them trying to find Barry, but he's gone into hiding.  Thawne is not happy he's missing, but knows he's running on limited speed.  After Thawne and Iris leave, we have Alex trying to figure out the awkwardness between Chunk and Allegra, and they both reveal stories about the one night stand they had, and that the relationship fell apart after that, and Allegra left town.  But soon, Dhark and Barry invade STAR Labs, and get the device they needed.  But before Damien gets a chance to kill them off, Barry races him out of there, saying they have plenty of time for that.  But Damien sees through the ruse, and sees that Barry isn't the villain he thought he was.  So, Barry gives him the soliloquy about a different time where Norah Dhark lives and his happy, and that he sacrificed his life to save her from being merged a demon.  Thawne took that all away.  So, Damien agrees to help Barry, but says that he'll need to achieve Mach 12 to get back into the time stream.  However, Barry knows what that entails, and that means actually causing Armageddon to achieve his goal.  He's not ready to destroy millions of lives, and isn't even sure he can reach that speed.  Dhark says of course he can do it, because he's the Paragon of Love, and he can make it happen.  So...with that speech, they put their plan to work.

After Alex gets to the truth about what went down between Allegra and Chester, and after much negative comments from Ryan Choi, they get an alert that Reverse Flash has reappeared.  Meanwhile, Ryan talks to Iris about her and Sophie looking to adopt after having doubts.  She also notices that Iris can't finish her vows, because of what Barry said.  Ryan said that if Iris needs to get out of town, she'll get her out of there in the Batmobile really quick.  She leaves Iris a gun to stop Barry should he show up again, but she has to head back to Gotham.  Not long after, Barry shows up, and he makes one last plea to Iris, to let her know that he loves her.  But she notices that he's fading out, and wonders if he's dying---which he is.  Before he can say more, but Thawne shows up, and orders Iris to shoot him.  But instead, she shoots Thawne, and tells Barry to beat it before she changes her mind.  Barry races off to meet Dhark.  Dhark says he's going to hold off the cavalry, while Barry takes off.  Barry and Dhark shake hands, and Barry is off and running.  Chillblaine and Frost show up to do battle with Dhark, and he does what he can to keep them at bay, but the problem is---they used a spell Constantine gave them in order to prevent him from using his magic.  They then engages in battle with them.  And as he takes them down, he's going to kill them with a sword, but the new Atom...Ryan Choi...manages to make the sword heavy, and he can't lift it, allowing Sentinel to shock him, and knock him out.  But they're afraid they're too late to stop Barry from finishing his mission.  Thawne is hot on his tail, trying to catch him, as Chester, Allegra, and Caitlin monitor from STAR Labs.  As Barry continues racing, Allegra finally fesses up to Chester that she loves him.  As Barry keeps racing, and Thawne is closer to catching him, he starts thinking of Iris...and at the same time, Iris is at home, looking out the window and in with tears in her eyes, her eyes spark up, and she says she loves Barry too.  It's just what he needs to open up the time stream, and outrace Thawne back to 2021.

Back in 2021, Despero has seemingly killed everyone on Team Flash, and is about to polish off Cecile when she gets a mental feeling about Barry, as Despero is mentally attacked.  We see this wave of energy hit STAR Labs, as time is reset back to normal, as Barry arrives back home, in his normal Flash costume.  He then faces Despero, and tells him that 2031 is reset---because Thawne had changed the timeline, and caused everything to go haywire.  He told him to go and check 2031...because he left before it got bad.  He set things right by actually causing Armageddon.  Despero says that he'll go check things out, but IF the finds that things aren't right, he'll come back to kill Flash where he stands.  He disappears, and Barry goes and sees everyone having food and talking.  Iris sees him and he races to her, overjoyed to see things back to normal.  Cecile senses something wrong, and Iris says something happened.  He tells her he'll talk about it later....he just wants to spend time with his friends.  Iris offers to call Joe, and Barry actually wants to talk to him...feeling emotional that he has his father back.  In the extra credits scene, we see Thawne arrive in 2021...in the Reverse Flash outfit...and he's in the Time Vault, and says he's not done yet---he's going to get his revenge, and he's going to have them help him...meaning Gideon.  

This was a cool episode, as we got to see an alternate reality where Thawne had stolen Barry's life...which was, in fact, a story from the comics (although, in the comics version, Thawne had actually trapped Barry in the future, and taken over Barry's life AS Barry, having disguised his face).  We see that HIS Team Flash consisted of not just our regulars, but Batwoman, Chillblaine, and the new Atom, Ryan Choi himself.  We got to see what a relationship between Allegra and Chester might've been like (they're too awkward around each other now), but we see that they MIGHT go that direction in present time somewhere down the road.  We also see that Ryan and Sophie do hook up later on, also giving us some forsadowing down the road for Batwoman.  But this hopefully means that somewhere IN the future, Ray Palmer turns over the role of The Atom to Ryan Choi.  I'm just hoping that our batch of heroes here team up against Thawne and Despero in 2021 to finish off this crossover next week.  We KNOW Thawne hasn't played his final card yet, and I WONDER whether or not the show runners will harken back to Barry Allen's FINAL storyline from his original comic run, where Thawne goes to try and kill Iris for spurning him, and Barry ends up killing him in the process.  We can only ponder until Tuesday to see what happens.  But what I DO know...is that we BETTER get a Joe sighting next week, and we get a Justice League battle out of it.  I think it's time to expand the roster, and I would give ANYTHING to see these people team up outside of what we hear about them speaking of that happens off camera.  

Anyone here TOTALLY stoked about the new Reverse Flash outfit?  I am FINALLY happy that they have it RIGHT.  I find it ironic and a tad funny that it was Barry that got to be the first one to wear it, and that Thawne looked SOOOOO out of place in the Flash outfit?    But either way, it looked GREAT.  Now....I'm just hoping that this final episode of this story arc, we FINALLY get Barry in the gold boots.  We're tired of the tease...just give it to us!  

And one more thing---despite all his machinations, Thawne didn't take into account the ONE thing that has transcended time and reality---and it's something that Iris herself said at the end of the first episode of Season 3 when Barry had reset time after creating Flashpoint:  No matter where they are...Barry will always be Barry, and she'll always be Iris---and they'll always find each other.  No matter WHAT Thawne has tried to do to destroy Barry's life, he could NEVER take away the one thing that has driven Barry moreso than the death of his mother Nora:  his eternal love for Iris.  Their bond...in ANY reality...cannot be taken away.  They will ALWAYS connect.  It's one of the main driving points of this show...that even though Barry is the hero---he's only that hero because his love for Iris drives him and motivates him to be that hero...because she believes in him, and their love for one another is unwavering.  

So...how does this all play out this next week?  Subscribe to the blog, and let me know YOUR theories....wild as they may be.  We're all in this together---so, looking forward to hearing YOUR thoughts on how this plays out.

Until next week....keep on running!