THE FLASH “Into the Speed Force” Review

By Justin Carter

Into the Speed Force

Depending on how you view the world, you may on occasion find yourself in the lonely position of taking a completely different stance on something to most people. This week’s episode of The Flash plays around with that concept or about an hour, positing that our titular hero is a big old jerk who runs around ruining people’s lives.

With saving Wally from the Speed Force on his mind, Barry jumps into the speedster zone and encountersthe manifestations of both Eddie and Ronnie from before they died. Speed Force Eddie rightly blames him for Flashpoint and “stealing” the life that Eddie could’ve had were he alive (basically, being married to Iris) while Speed Force Ronnie grills Barry for killing any chances of happiness and a child the real Ronnie could have had with Caitlin. It’s fairly unnerving to watch characters Barry used to be on good terms with becoming increasingly more hostile with him to the point where a Time Wraith and Black Flash (Zoom after he got Time Wraith’d at the end of last season) show up to chase Barry around. And then there’s Captain Cold, the final Speed Force ghost that Barry comes across.

The DCCW universe has been sorely lacking a Leonard Snart since his sacrifice nearly a year ago at the end of Legends of Tomorrow’s debut season. It’s been known that Thawne will pull him from an earlier timeline for that show’s second season (he’s set to finally arrive in next week’s Legends), but it’s been a long time since we’ve gotten to see Wentworth Miller snark his way through an episode. If nothing else, the levity that he provides is very much needed, and his offhand mentioning of Barry inspiring the real Snart to be a hero makes plenty of sense considering his character development.

Jay Garrick later shows up in the Speed Force to save Barry, and also to trade places with Wally, who’s forced to live in the Speed Force watching his mother die over and over. (man, that is dark.) Jay offers to take Wally’s place in Speed Force Hell, and combined with the words from Ronnie, Snart, and Eddie, Barry realizes what he has to do with Savitar going forward: save Iris himself instead of using Wally in his stead.

Speaking of Savitar, Jesse’s on the hunt for him since he trapped her boyfriend in another dimension. Even with everyone stalling her from going after him, intentionally or otherwise, she gets in a punch on HR and later comes across the Speed God himself. Using the piece of armor Barry snapped off last week, she stabs him in the neck with it and turns out that, surprise, he can bleed! After the musical episode next week, I fully expect his identity to be revealed. But Jesse won’t be around for it, since she flees to Earth-3 to both protect Jay’s city and also to avoid whatever plans Savitar has for her.

Upon returning to Earth-1, Wally is understandably out of commission. Barry, meanwhile, decides to break things off with Iris in order to protect her. The logic there is more than a little flawed, considering how much of a death grip he wanted to have on her before, not to mention the fact that Savitar likely doesn’t care if they’re together or not — if he wants to kill Iris to hurt Barry, he’ll do it. Still, Barry’s convinced it’s the right thing to do, so we’ll see how that all shakes out after he’s done us a little song and dance.

Additional Notes

• “Multiverses, breaches…easy bloody peasy.”
• So while Jesse’s saving the day in Earth-3, who the heck is dealing with her earth’s pretty sizable gorilla problem? Or any crime, for that matter?
• The way their current relationship is going, I honestly can’t imagine Barry and Iris having a long lasting marriage unless he’s really committed to telling the truth at all times.