THE FLASH 8.20

RECAP - THE FLASH  8.20:  "Negative - Part 2" 

We have reached the end of what can only be called a very tumultuous season of The Flash, as we see the return of Eobard Thawne in a huge way, and discover that both the Speed Force and it's Negative counterpart, have avatars that they pick to harness the speed...which, in this case, are Barry and Eobard.  And now they're looking to get back at the Scarlet Speedster for having taken away their avatar in Eobard previously by disconnecting him from the Negative Speed Force, they put their plan into place to kill him by killing Iris to resurrect Eobard, and to upset the balance of nature by tipping the scales in their favor---all the while laying the blame at Flash's feet. Meanwhile, it's up to Cecile to see if she can find the positive Forces, and rescue them from certain doom.  

So...when last we left Flash...he, just saw Iris die in part to his lightning bolt, which the evil Dion had snapped his fingers to put her in the path of.  On top of that, the Eobard from the Legends' timeline, had been destroyed by the rebirth of the original Eobard Thawne, and killing the Thawne that had been loved by Fast Track.  Eobard goes on to gloat to Flash about how he felt Iris truly served her purpose, and Barry gets pissed off enough to attack him, wanting revenge.  The kids witness this back at STAR Labs, as Cecile can sense his anger---they race to stop him before he kills Thawne, and says that he's not that way, and if he kills Eobard, he'll be no different than him. Eobard, now full of power, is determined to destroy the Flash...as it is his life's purpose.  The kids try to convince their father that Iris truly isn't dead yet, but he's not convinced...he saw her die in his arms.  He wants to stop Thawne AND the Negative Forces once and for all, but to do that, they need to get into the Negative Speed Force.  Nora and Bart feel it's too dangerous, but Barry says they're out of time and ideas.  Chuck gets cracking on devices that'll help the speedsters tap into the Negative Speed Force, but Cecile can sense the anger in Barry....and his thirst for revenge.  She is deeply concerned.  However...Bashir...the good one, appears and requires Cecile's help in freeing the positive Forces before they're destroyed for good.  

We see Iris appear, but in the Time Stone that Damian Dhark occupies, and says that she's not dead, but what's happened to her is far more interesting:  she still has much to do on Earth, so it's not her time yet.  But only SHE can free herself from the Stone that Damian left Joe.  She's not sure how she can get back, since her connection to Barry was lost, but he says she's stronger than that...and when she figures out that she can re-establish the connection, she'll be back on Earth. Damian tells her she was an incubator for the Negative Forces to bring their avatar back. Meanwhile, Bashir brings Rosa Dillon with her to get Mona Taylor to assist in freeing the other forces.  We find out that Bashir opened up Cecile's mind, and expanded her powers, which allowed her to steal Dillon and Taylor's powers.  But combined, they manage to get the Forces free.  Meanwhile, Jay Garrick appears at Joe's, and they find out that Iris is trapped in the Time Stone that Damian gave him.  They traced Iris' signature to the house, and she manages to free herself from the Stone.  

The speedsters managed to get hooked up with enhancers to go into the Negative Speed Force, but the idea fails.  Meena is upset that the machine she created caused all of this, and she goes to destroy it, but Flash tells her not to.  He understands her pain, but there is a way.  By sharing HER Negative Speed Force energy with them, they can make it into the Negative Force.  As for Thawne, he's in his now-erased timeline, and Dion and the other forces tell him that they CHOSE him to be their avatar, it wasn't his machine that gave him super speed.  They then decide to give him a makeover.  Once Meena powers the trio of speedsters, and Barry manages to get into the Negative Speed Force, where he meets up with the evil forces, and he sees that Thawne is in the process of an upgrade.  Evil Dion says that it's Flash's fault that all of this occurred, because HE upset the cosmic balance.  They're going to "right the wrong" by not only getting their evil  Speed Force back, but tip the scales in their favor.  He snaps Barry back to Earth, and then Eobard is back...with a black suit upgrade, and using his Negative lightning to kill people.  He goes out to battle Thawne, and their final race begins.  They battle all over the city, but their fight is leaving destruction in their wake.  The news reports tell of this epic fight, but the citizens are frightened for their lives as the two speedsters wage a deadly war in the streets.  Iris tells Jay to get her to the town square in a hurry before Barry and Thawne destroy the town...causing Armageddon.  

Iris and Jay arrive and Iris convinces Barry to stop.  She says that killing him is not the way to end this...there's no way to stop him.  Thawne agrees, and says they'll keep fighting until one or the other is dead.  Iris tells Barry there's another way.  Barry sees that she's right.  The city can't take anymore destruction.  So, Flash decides to stop fighting, and meditate, as Thawne draws upon the Negative Forces for more power to tip the scales...which Flash warns him they're not supposed to do.  So he manages to use the power of the positive Forces to turn back time and reset the timeline, thus causing Thawne to overload his power, and be zapped out of existence.  This also brings back the kids and Meena, who had been zapped out by Thawne.  The universe resets itself, and all is right again.

Jay, Joan, and the Allen kids head back to 2049, after finding NO trace of Eobard Thawne ANYWHERE in the timeline.  Meena has lost her powers, but she's okay with that.  Iris managed to find her Eobard's yellow tie back at the lab, and gave it to her.  Barry says that if she ever needs them...or technical help.  They'll be there.  Once alone, Barry and Iris talk about their connection being broken, but she jump-started it again. But they also realize that with Thawne gone, the Negative Forces will look for another avatar.  But Barry knows they'll be ready.  

Meanwhile, at Caitlin's apartment, Mark wakes up when there's an alarm on the chamber that says there's a system failure.  The chamber opens, and Mark asks if it's Frost....but she says she's not sure...but she THINKS she's a friend.  

Well...for what I felt was a VERY up-and-down season, we finally got the Forces story finally finished, and hope we really don't tap into THAT aspect again.  Fast Track's career ended before it started, but I have a feeling this is NOT the last time we see Meena, as she might end up becoming the new avatar for the Negative Speed Force.  We got Damian Dhark giving  pep talk to Iris, and saying that the Time Stone spared her because she had more to do...which she did.  She stopped Barry and Thawne from creating Armageddon, which was predicted at the beginning of the season by Despero, and he was nearly right.  It was always great to see Jay, Joan, and the kids.  And Jessie L. Martain's last full-time appearance on the show goes out with him glad to have Iris back.  As for whether or not we still get more Cecile is hard to say.  But we did find out the reason for HER power upgrade:  Bashir.  But with the Forces finally back, I am not sure her powers will remain that way.  And for Caitllin and Mark...who KNOWS what she has become thanks to her little experiment, and whether or not she'll be a threat to The Flash next season. 

What bummed me out about this whole speed thing was the fact that we had ZERO Wally West in this storyline AT ALL.  After all, wouldn't HE be affected by all this Speed Force war stuff?  They missed out on that, and it bums me out, because there's literally NO mention of him AT ALL this season.  But hopefully, with Iris illness gone, and her back to normal...MAYBE we can finally have her get pregnant, so she can have those future kids she and Barry's spent time with.  With the revelation that Superman & Lois does NOT take place in the Arrowverse, and there's rumors of a "Super-Verse" coming, once The Flash goes off the air this next season....the Arrowverse will die.  It's been an interesting ride, with the 1st spinoff show being the lone survivor.  But we have some time to rest our feet, as the Scarlet Speedster will not run HIS final race until 2023.  So, we get a bit of a breather between now and then, and I HOPE that they take the time to plot out a good final season---the show deserves to go out on a high.  

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Until Season 9....keep on running!