Season 6x14: Death of the Speed Force

Yeah, as much as I enjoy seeing the Reverse Flash, they really need to create another memorable villain that isnt a speedster.

I still wholeheartedly believe that they should have used Captain Cold leading the rogues (with Gorilla Grodd pulling the strings from the shadows) for a whole season before transferring him onto Legends.

Savitar should have also been portrayed more accurately as well where he didn't end up just being a time remnant of Barry's that went rogue.

The whole Flashpoint arc was good enough to be a crossover onto itself and was totally wasted. I mean who in their right mind uses Flashpint for the duration of just one episode?

The Thinker had potential until they squandered off his character with the whole body switching gag. And him looking like a reject power rangers villain didn't make things any better.

 

This is probably the most enjoyable Flash episode since Crisis. Its great to see the Reverse Flash again and judging by the next episode promo it seems like we're going to see him in action. I like that there was consequences in Barry using the Spectre to access the Speed Force. the Speed Force dying will probably raise the stakes up again as Barry was becoming op and the show really needed a excuse on why Barry couldn't just knock out some of the metahumans with ease so the Speed Force is dying is perfect.

I kinda like that the show has mutiple villains this season as it keeps things fresh and interesting.

 

They blew it with cold and grodd as season long villians. I believe the movie played a part is downgrading cold though. I would say ever since they got rid of the last show runner for meetoo issues the focus has taken a massive dip and been very chaotic with awful villians.

 

i like the multiple villians but none of them have been as interesting as reverse flash. Maybe its toms performance coupled with the richness of the character but every other villian except zoom is just not interesting.

 

An interesting statement (because of Laurel) but I presume his statement only applies if there’s more than one of the same living person on a single Earth, so when we met E2 Laurel she was on E1 after E1 Laurel had died, and thus isn’t effected.

I don’t watch Batwoman, but haven’t they recently introduced a doppelgänger into that show? Kate’s Sister?

Don’t expect to see Aquaman on the CW anytime soon.

Presumably Thawne is using Nash as a conduit.

He’s said that he’s coming, so presumably his consciousness has taken ahold of Nash, whereas a version of Thawne (or Thawne himself) is intending for another trip into the past.

Probably looking into it a bit too much too, but it doesn’t make any sense why Thawne can possess Nash any more than he could possess anyone else.

Thawne isn’t a Wells, he shares no biological genes with him. He could’ve just as easily been portrayed by someone else, though the role has reverted back to Tom (because of convenience?)

Also, I’m hoping Camilla(?) has just been moved to the mirror dimension alongside Iris, rather than killed.

 

maybe when thawne took over wells in the timline during season 1 his picked up some of his dna, cells etc being him for 15 years.

 

If his disguise machine rewrites a person's genetic code, I'm okay with that. (Did it shrivel the original Wells, as if it was extracting something from him? My memory is foggy on this point.) (*)

I suppose it could be easier for Thawne to visualize himself as Wells, too, if that's what he originally looked like (ie, if Letscher's wasn't his original face). There's nothing to suggest that that's what happened, but nothing to rule it out. (I'm trying to think in terms of comic book logic where telepathic gorillas and man-sharks are just another part of life.)

(*) Edited to add: Since we have the technology to do DNA identity tests in the present, a serious disguise machine from the future would need ways to fool even more sophisticated tests.

 

@Prettyricky & @Gaultheria , you make good points, but it still feels a little ... convenient. It really is a shame they couldn’t get Matt back for the role.

Another thing that I’d like to take issue with, costumes. Barry’s had how many now, and Wally is still wearing the same one? Even Thawne, in every occasion we’ve seen him, is wearing the same dated suit.

If anything, Thawne should be in different suits each time we’ve seen him, depending upon what point in the future he’s traveling back from. It’s something that could be rectified with the new Earth Prime drama, but I fear it’ll remain as before, similarity to Wally’s.

 

Ive said since season 1 tom was so phenomenal as RF its hard to give it to matt most of the time as tom owns the role but Matt does a great job too. As long as RF is played by one of those two I have zero issues when he appears because when RF is back the show just takes a tick upwards in quality.

I was hoping by now likewise thawne would have a new suit or something similar to barrys under armour like suit he has now. Maybe for thawne less leather and more yellow on the legs. Wally I get because the actor is barely on now.

 

So has Camilla joined the real Iris in the mirror world or is she dead? I'm hoping it's the former.

Where's Frost gone and why is she Caitlin for the moment? She seems inconsistent as to when she's one or the other. These days it's just like a different look for her because she's still pretty much Caitlin with all her scientific knowledge even as Frost.

So is the Speed Force gone permanently or will they find a way to bring it back?

 

I suppose bringing back Reverse-Flash was their attempt to make up for him not appearing in the Crisis.

 

Presumably what with the speed force playing a big part in the Flash mythos, by creating their own, they’ll actually reignite the spark of the speed force.

I do wonder whether Thawnes negative speed force has a consciousness too though. We don’t know nearly enough about these energies, but if the speedforce is (normally) a constant in the universe, and someone has practically made another version of it, the relationship between the two is something worth considering I think.

Im not entirely sure Thawnes motives currently make sense either. His whole quarrel with Barry stemmed from an encounter they’re yet to have, right? But Thawne is aware that Barry’s loosing his powers. From Thawnes perspective, Barry wouldn’t be the Flash come their mutual future because Barry’s speed would be gone by then.

 

Because of Thawne's deeply personal hatred of Barry, I sort of expect him to turn out to be Nora West-Allen, or something that split off from Nora when she was under the influence of the Negative Speed Force. That's not consistent with everything we know about Thawne from past seasons, but hey, Crisis.

Plus, there'd be a symmetry with Barry's mother and daughter representing the Positive and Negative Speed Forces. I guess that would make Barry the one to bring balance to the Force.

 

I wish this show would dive more into the speed force aspects and how it powers the speedsters throughout time. I always liked the speed force theory it was created the minute barry got his powers and he's the center of its power.

I hope the new force they create isn't some barely explained server cabinet or device in the basement.

 

Best episode of this season. It was wonderful to see Wally West back, he's matured and I love how they showcased his kinetic abilities to the Speed Force with constructs much like a Green Lantern. A nice nod to the comics.

Ohh man Tom Cavanaugh just kills it as Reverse Flash/Eobard Thawne, so great to have him back. It felt like classic season 1 . Can't wait for the next episode.

 

its amazing for a show in its 6th season that every time the villain from season 1 pops up it instantly feels like season 1 instantly.

 

using wells appearance instead of thawne's as RF could be due to availability OR the writers will explain how RF still looks like harrison wells.

as for the speedforce dying and barry suggesting they create there own device to generate the speedforce to get his speed the last time they used a device it was the tachyon device strappged to barry's chest they may resort to something similar.

however if they wanted to take it from the comics this could be a way in which one of the last lessons the speedforce was going to teach (she said that as she was passing), made reference yet again about the lightning choosing him....my thoughts are that maybe barry will realize that he is the speedforce and that he generates and creates it like in the comics.....in the tv series his powers aren't depicted like that as in the comics, so maybe it's a reboot for the writers to incorporate barry learning or discovering that he is and creates the speedforce for all speedsters, ect.

also thought the mention of the white lightning in the speedforce was foreshadowing for godspeed as his lightning is white but I could be reading into that too much. wells could've known about crisis because didn't he say to barry during the nora situation "i'll see you in the next crisis" or something like that???

maybe because he creates his own negative speedforce he was able to protect himself against crisis but is trapped and because nash looks like wells (maybe shares similar dna) that because the wells on earth 1 or any other earth is gone nash is the only one close enough to link RF to earth prime like another poster said nash is like a conduit for RF until he can get free.

 

Happy to see Wally back. He had a great entrance. Really like how he uses his powers now.

I sighed when Thawne showed up. Was waiting for Cisco to just blast him, but was not surprised he didn't.

I'm ready for this mirror Iris stuff to be done with, but I guess Thawne will take precedence.

 

Maybe Iris's mirror plot won't be done this season if production has halted. If they decide to call it a season where they are with about 20 episodes filmed, we could see her stuck in the mirror until next season.

 

I wouldn’t be totally against the real Iris staying in the mirror forever, and then the fake Iris being killed off.

Barry can then move on, and so can we.

 

They did, but she was only on for a few episodes. As soon as Cisco mentioned neurological degeneration, it meshed with Batwoman and what was happening with having two Beth's on the same Earth for more than a short duration. Now I need to know how SG is handling it as there is that entire bar full of doppelgangers.

As to episode, this is the best one so far this year! More than likely because it was Barry-centric. Of the cast, I prefer episodes to revolve around either Barry, Cisco or Caitlyn. All the rest just feel like filler. Sorry Joe...

Having Wally back was real nice! We need him back more as their dynamic is great. I will agree though that having him wander off at the end was weird, especially with everything going on. Did he even say goodbye to anyone else than Joe?

Thrawn being Thrawn is, of course, Thrawn. The man started out with an inferiority complex and just went further down the mad-hole. Tom's Thrawn is the best Thrawn though. Shame Cisco chose to forget that he still has powers from Crisis...

And I too really hope that Cisco's girl was only sent to the same mirror trap as Iris.

 

What happened with the doppelgänger in Batwoman then? It’s not as if they could return her to her Earth of origin.

 

SPOILER - if anyone is interested...




Alice and Beth were suffering terminal damage from both of them being on the same Earth. Kate and the others realized that if one died before the other, then that one would survive, and so Kate chose Good Beth over her Earth's Alice. They had a plan to help Beth outlive Alice, but the man who had kidnapped and twisted Alice was aiming to kill her. He just happened to shoot Beth instead, having mistaken her for Alice. Which meant that Alice recovered.