Jim’s Thoughts

“Into the Speed Force” gave us a glorified clip show and a lot more contrived nonsense. There’s probably a nicer way to put that, but I’m disinclined to grasp for it.

I can only imagine the producers thought we’d enjoy Barry’s encounter with the speed force ghosts of Christmases past. Maybe some fans enjoyed seeing those actors again, but I was bored because their conversations were full of a lot of things we’ve heard before.

Jay coming back to save Barry was explained by an off-screen move by Cisco, but I just didn’t care. It came off as a Deus Ex Machina, and him needing to stay to take Wally’s place in the speed force made no sense to me. They may have explained at some point why that was, but it seemed to me like manufactured drama.

Speaking of manufactured drama, there was plenty more of that. HR made a stupid comment that offended Jesse and gave them an excuse to eat up more screen time. Barry broke up with Iris for reasons that don’t make any sense. How he thinks he’s going to protect her and have “space” from her, I’ll never know, but I’m so far gone from rooting for that relationship I don’t care. To me, the logic of the show reads something like this: I can’t wear green because it’s Tuesday and dogs can’t do long division.

Speaking of terrible relationships, Wally and Jesse love each other now. They said so, and I’m pretty sure they mean it because they’ve known each other a couple weeks now, and they’re about to update Facebook relationship status, like, any minute, guys.

Oh, yeah, and apparently the key to stopping Savitar is striking at the gaps in his armor. Let’s hope he doesn’t find a caulking gun or we may resort to saying his name backward to see if that works.

On the bright side, next week is a musical episode. Wait, that’s not really a bright side. Okay, on the bright side, the Milky Way is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy, so in a few hundred billion years, all evidence of this episode’s existence will be lost to oblivion.

Kyle’s Take

Rativas. Nope, didn’t work. How about saying it three times? Rativas-Rativas-Rativas! No. Flash is still circling the drain.

How many times must Cisco fix things off-screen? Why must Flash do the speedster shuffle among its many Earths? Why must Barry save Iris? Why would the Speed Force give a crap whether Iris is saved or who does the deed?

Cisco has had several good character moments over the past year but this week didn’t include one and he’s lost what made him fun. HR doesn’t just replace Earth-2 Harrison Wells, he’s the only one cracking jokes. Remember when Cisco and Barry used to do that? It differentiated Flash from Arrow. Caitlin joined in every once and a while too. The only levity this season comes from HR and he doesn’t have any social graces so we end up with moments like the one where HR offends Jessie. That’s not the fun that made Flash enjoyable. Cisco’s still upset about his brother’s death, and his brother died because of Flashpoint. Flash needs to remove that stick up his and everyone else’s ass by undoing Flashpoint.

Flash does its best panhandler impression by moving one speedster into the Speed Force so another can leave and moving another to Earth-3 to cover the absence of the missing speedster. That’s a lot of maneuvering so Barry’s the only capable speedster to take out Savitar. All “Into the Speed Force” needed was carnival music to a guy mixing up Flash playing cards on a street corner. Hint: Barry’s card is marked.

Haven’t Wally and Jessie proclaimed their love before this week? No. They just moved in with each other, committed to spending the rest of their lives together. Isn’t that the same as saying you love each other, if not a step beyond saying it? No. Well, maybe I should leave the house my wife and I share but I tell her I love her as I leave. I’m sure that’d further our relationship. Flash making a big deal out of them saying they love each other illustrates how much the CW doesn’t understand the working of relationships.

Speaking of not knowing how relationships work, enough with Baris (Barry and Iris). They’re step brother and sister. I don’t need to know Flash’s writers room porn site history.

This season might be worth it if I knew Flash would eventually do justice for Flashpoint. Like Arrow and gun control a few weeks ago, Flash wants credit for using the Flashpoint buzz word but it’s only lip service. Flash has taken the life from its characters for nothing. It’s subjected us to the New Coke of speedster villains Savitar for nothing. And that’s before next week’s musical episode. Thanks for nothing, Flash.

Thank you for reading.