Even when they make no mention of it at all, the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover casts a shadow over all the CW DC shows. Arrow and The Flash have been tasked with most of the set-up work. Though the entire Arrowverse will be drawn into the event, it’s looking like it’ll center mostly on these two heroes. It inspires a sense of dread, even in lighter moments, which gives the pilot episode a ton of momentum to start out.
It also helps that the premiere drops us right in the middle of a mystery. The Flash is chasing down Godspeed and the two have an awesome fight scene up the side of a building. It’s a short one, but what a fantastic way to kick off the season. When The Flash knocks down the fake speedster, all that comes out of his mouth is a strange screeching noise. We learn he’s the fourth Godspeed to show up like this. If that wasn’t enough of a mystery, mysterious black holes are appearing all over Central City. The first happens when Iris is trying to retrieve her purple jacket, a reminder of Nora, from a junkyard after Joe accidentally threw it out. The second happens after Caitlin a friend for coffee. That time, she almost gets sucked, but The Flash saves her just in time. There’s a lot of good superhero stuff going on in this episode, guys.
Danielle Nicolet as Cecile Horton and Grant Gustin as The Flash — Photo: Jeff Weddell/The CW
Iris tracks down the source of the black holes. It’s a… whatever the DC universe’s version of a YouTuber is, named Chester. He built a quantum reactor in his bedroom using parts he stole from junkyards. The actor playing Chester is so much fun. He has the cadence of a streamer or YouTuber down perfectly. He turns his machine on, and accidentally creates a small black hole. When he touches it, he goes into a catatonic state, and that’s when the black holes started appearing. Complicating matters, Iris discovers that if Barry simply destroys the black hole, Chester will die too.
When a giant black hole opens up in the middle of the city, Cisco and Barry need to think of a plan fast. Conveniently, they do. Embedding the quantum computer from Nora’s old gauntlet into Barry’s suit, he’s able to run through the black hole and out the other side. The energy he brings with him can reset Chester, wake him up and stop the black holes. Watching this happen is just so cool. It’s like a celebration of everything good about The Flash. We have gorgeous slow motion shots of him running through space all set to the Flash Gordon theme song. Cisco puts that on. The show can only get away with using it once. It took them six seasons, but this was definitely the right moment for it. I couldn’t stop smiling for this moment. Like it did in Seasons One and Two, The Flash is embracing all that’s goofy and comic book-y about its premise and it’s glorious.
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow — Photo: Jeff Weddell/The CW
The show even has a great villain origin speech. That coffee date Catelyn had? It was with Ramsey Rosso, who comics readers might know better as Bloodwork. In the comics, Bloodwork develops the ability to control blood. He can turn his skin into a blood-like substance that makes him nearly invulnerable and seriously creepy-looking. He can also manipulate blood in others, causing it to boil. How many of these powers will make it into this show remains to be seen. He’s going to get at least a few of them though, and it probably has to do with his request for S.T.A.R. Labs’ dark matter. He wants to use it in his cancer cure research. Yeah, already this sounds like the origins of a supervillain. Caitlin refuses due to the risk of turning people into metahumans against their will. Ramsey storms out of the coffee shop with a speech that stops just short of “You’ll see! You’ll all see!”
We next see him buying a powerful sci-fi gun from an illegal weapons dealer, and then right at the end, he tests his cure on himself. It… doesn’t go well. It starts to turn him into something, but the episode cuts away before we see what. This is how you introduce a villain. The past few seasons struggled with this part, but The Flash really is going back to basics here. It established the character before he goes total supervillain, gives him a history with the main cast, a sympathetic motivation, and then lets us see him turn. Already, I’m way more invested than I ever was in Cicada or Thinker or Savitar. If he’s our big bad this season, he’s off to a strong start.
Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Hartley Sawyer as Dibney and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Jeff Weddell/The CW
The emotional stuff also hit all the right notes in this episode. Barry and Iris spend most of it pretending they’re okay about losing Nora. That they’ll see her again someday, so everything’s cool. Cecile sees right through that. We get some very sweet, genuinely touching moments from both Barry and Iris, without the need for drawn out deceptions and “can I talk to you for a second” confessions.
The writers of this show appear to know they’ve been going back to that particular well too much since… well, since the show began. It gets referenced in the Killer Frost-Ralph Dibny side story. Actually, my one problem with this episode was its criminal underuse of Dibny. He gets a grand entrance only to not help at all with the mystery at hand. Instead, he’s here to talk some sense into Killer Frost. She’s been refusing to come out lately and Dibny’s figured out why. Ever since she watched her/Caitlin’s dad die, she’s been afraid to come out. She’s afraid to die, but more than that, she wants to live her own life. She’s just afraid Caitlin won’t let her out to do so. Dibny convinces her there’s no harm in asking. Honestly, I can’t complain too much. Ralph Dibny as the emotionally healthy one to slap sense into the rest of Team Flash works for me. Hartley Sawyer plays the sweet sincerity well. It works in the show’s favor. And hey, if this means we get more Killer Frost, I’m all for it.
LaMonica Garrett as The Monitor — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW
The Flash came back really strong. This might have been its best episode in years. It’s just everything good about The Flash in one episode. It was exciting, goofy, earnest and heartfelt all at once. The direction was fantastic as well. From how the shots were set up to the camera movements, there were production highs here we don’t always see on The CW. And even with all this, it managed to do just a bit of Crisis on Infinite Earths set up. Right at the end, The Monitor from Elseworlds appears. He warns Barry that the Crisis is coming sooner than they expect. And The Flash will sacrifice himself to save everything. OK, but this show better not kill off its titular hero before he fights Bloodwork.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW
Previously on The Flash:
- The Flash Season 5 Finale Recap
- The Flash Season 5 Episode 21 Recap
- The Flash Season 5 Episode 20 Recap
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