Saturday, May 22, 2021

The Flash Season 7, Episode 9: Timeless

This week on The Flash we get what may be the grandaddy of all filler episodes— one that literally makes itself moot by the end of the third act. More on that in a bit.

I hate to keep tearing the show a new asshole every week, I really do— but it's taken such a downward turn in the past two seasons that it's nigh impossible to find anything about it to praise.

The episode involves Barry & Iris suddenly believing that the Four Forces they created are their "children." While this is somewhat true in a metaphorical sense, the episode leans wayyyyyy to hard into this idea, to the point where our favorite speedster and his wife take it literally. 

The two of them honestly believe they somehow birthed these children and are now responsible for their upbringing. It's all very strange, and definitely not the direction I thought the show would take this season.

If that wasn't enough, this entire episode effectively nullifies itself, making the entire thing completely pointless. Barry decides the only way to stop the destructive Forces he created is to go back in time and prevent them from being "born." He does so, but at the last second he chickens out and says the Forces deserve to live just like everyone else, and aborts the mission.

The whole thing's a complete waste of time for everyone concerned— especially the audience who watched the damned thing! There was literally no reason for this episode to exist, other than to pad out the season count.

There was one bright spot this week though, as this episode featured the very welcome return of Tom Cavanagh. Even though his Timeless Wells isn't my favorite version of the character, it was still a joy to have him back— if only for one episode.

This week's episode also set up the departure of Cisco (and Kamilla as well), who sadly will be leaving the show soon— most likely in the season finale. As I said last week, with all these imminent departures of integral characters, it might be a good time for Barry to hang up his cowl.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Picking up right where we left off last week, Iris checks Alexa and confirms she's dead. She & Barry then scold the Speed Force for killing her. It tells them they're actually to blame, as THEY somehow willed the other three Universal Forces into existence (?).

She says Barry has to kill the other two Forces, because if he doesn't, they'll wipe out everyone he loves. When he refuses, the Speed Force flips a table and zips off.

Later Barry fills in the rest of Team Flash about the Speed Force's claim. Chester pulls up a satellite scan from the night that Barry got his speed back, and it reveals a massive energy discharge that split into four separate beams. Cisco says the beams must have been the other Forces, and hit random citizens in the area. Barry realizes the Speed Force was right.

The next day at Jitters, Kamilla (who we haven't seen in weeks) tells Cisco her photos are being featured in a gallery in San Francisco. She's thinking of attending the premiere, and makes a few subtle hints about possibly moving there (FORESHADOWING ALERT!). For some reason Cisco gives her a special camera lens that can detect the Universal Forces.

At STAR Labs, Barry gathers the gang and tells them he has an idea. Instead of destroying the other Forces, he'll go back in time and prevent them from being created in the first place— un-creating them. Cisco warns that'll create another Flashpoint, but Barry says it'll be OK as long as he's "careful."

Iris objects, saying he'll be wiping out Deon and Psych. Barry disagrees, claiming they'll just go on with their lives as if nothing ever happened. She asks what his plan will do to the Speed Force, and he angrily reminds her it's not a person (he ain't wrong!). Iris says he'll have to do it without her, and stalks off.

At the Citizen, Iris tells Kamilla and Allegra that she believes she can reason with the Speed Force and convince it not to kill the others. But she'll need to find it first. Kamilla fiddles with her camera, and notices that Iris has residual isotopic energy inside her (?), and it intensifies when she moves in a particular direction. She reasons they could use Iris as a Speed Force locator. Sure, why not?

Back at STAR, Barry, Cisco & Chester discuss their plan. They theorize if they can extract the elemental particles from the four energy beams, they'll erase the Forces from existence. They tweak their Tachyon Enhancer so it'll extract the particles. Cisco says he still doesn't get how they'll protect the timeline. Barry says he has an idea.

Cut to Starling City in 2000. The Original Harrison Wells (aka Timeless Wells) is watching TV. Barry zooms in from the future and says he needs his help. For absolutely no good reason, Timeless Wells agrees to go with him.

Back in the "present" (it's still 2020 at this point on the show), Team Flash explains the situation to Timeless Wells. He says he's confident he can create a "time bubble" that'll prevent Barry from screwing up the past again.

Meanwhile, Team Citizen wanders around the city, looking for the Speed Force. Unfortunately (I guess?) they can't seem to find it. Iris realizes it would have gone where the REAL Nora Allen would have— home.

Back at STAR, Chester finishes the collection disk that'll fit in the modified Tachyon Enhancer. Just then Deon, aka the Still Force, shows up out of nowhere. He says something drew him there, as Chester surreptitiously pockets the collection disk.

Deon wonders why they're all acting like they're afraid of him, and stops time for everyone except Barry. He says he senses that Barry's responsible for him becoming saddled with the Still Force, and Barry confirms it. He says he didn't mean for it to happen, and wants to fix things. Deon says he's not a mistake, as he's now a god.

Deon sees the Harness and somehow realizes what Barry's planning. He freezes him, ages the Harness a thousand years and disappears.

Once he's gone, the others can move again. They see the rusted remains of the Harness, and realize their plan is sunk. Chester reveals he still has the collection disk, and Barry says they can still use it.

Out of nowhere, Cisco changes his mind and says Iris was right. He says now that he's seen Deon again, he realizes it's wrong of them to uncreate the Forces. Chester says Cisco has a point, and wonders if Barry's thought this through. Cisco wishes Barry luck and leaves.

Iris and the others arrive at Barry's childhood home. They go into his old room and are immediately confronted by Psych. He greets Iris as "Mom," then uses his powers to incapacitate Kamilla and Allegra. Iris suddenly finds herself in an older version of Barry's room, where she sees his mom Nora tuck him in. Dream Nora turns to Iris and tells her she'll never measure up to her.

Back at STAR, Joe visits Barry in the Lounge. Barry tells him that he and Iris "birthed" the Forces, and he wants to uncreate them before they kill again. Joe tells Barry a story, saying when Wally showed up he was mad at the world and hated everything and everyone. But Joe was patient and treated him with love and kindness until he eventually came around. He suggests Barry do the same with his elemental "children."

Apparently Joe's story didn't stick, because Barry returns to the Lab and begins the procedure. Cisco arrives, saying he doesn't agree with what Barry's doing, but will always have his back. Chester gives Barry the disk, and says he'll have to get close to the energy discharge to extract all the particles.

Timeless Wells grabs Barry and takes him back in time seventeen days ago, to the night when the Forces were born. They watch as they see their past selves powering up the Enhancer. As the energy beam shoots up in the sky, Past Timeless Wells looks over and sees his present self. The two nod at one another, answering a burning internet question.

Barry & Timeless Wells speed to the roof of STAR, where Barry steps into the column of energy and begins collecting particles.

Elsewhere, Dream Nora's still taunting Iris about being a bad mother. Iris manages to throw off Psych's illusion, which surprises him. She tells him she knows he's hurting, and asks to let her help.

At STAR, Chester confirms the isotopic signatures are falling, meaning Barry's eliminating them in the past.

Psych begins writhing in pain as he's hit by lightning. The same happens to Deon in a park. Alexa's dead body is hit too. The three of them begin fading from existence.

In the past, Barry looks up and sees the four Forces are somehow still being created. He's so moved by the beautiful sight that actually sheds a tear (?). He remembers Joe's words about loving one's children, and comes to a decision. He takes the disk and throws it to the ground, smashing it. The particles leak out of the ruined disk and back into the energy beam.

Chester notes the isotopic energy is rising again. Barry retursn with 
Timeless Wells and says he couldn't go through with it, and admits Iris was right.

Later at STAR, Iris returns and talks with Barry. They both apologize, as each realizes the other was right. Iris says she couldn't get through to Psych, and Barry says the same happened with Deon. He says maybe they can change the Forces if they work together.

Just then the building shakes, and they rush to the Medlab. Caitlin says Alexa came back to life for a split second, but then died again. Barry gets an idea, and he and Iris hold hands (seriously, this sh*t again?). Their love generates a spark, which somehow brings Alexa back to life permanently. Yeah. That happens.

Meanwhile, Timeless Wells says he needs to get back to where his heart lies, and returns to the past. His words inspire both Cisco & Kamilla, and they simultaneously blurt out that they want to leave Central City.

Elsewhere, Deon's walking home late at night. The Speed Force appears before him, and he says she doesn't look so tough. She raises her hand and begins vibrating it, saying it's time for a reckoning.

Thoughts:
• First off, for the past few weeks I've been referring to the latest Wells as "OG Wells." According to the Official Arrowverse Wiki, his actual nickname is "Timeless Wells," since he has the ability to travel to any moment in his life. Whatever.

According to Timeless Wells, this episode takes place just seventeen days after Mirror Monarch's attack on Central City in the dismal and excruciating Mother. That means the show's still happening in 2020!

This is odd, as past seasons The Flash have always aired more or less in real time.

• At the end of the aforementioned and detestable Mother, Iris grabbed the Speed Force sphere and somehow recharged it with energy from her own body. This caused a massive column of energy to shoot into the sky, where it split into four different colored bolts of lightning.

These four bolts were the Speed Force (natch), the Strength Force, the Sage Force and the Still Force. The Speed Force energy somehow took on human form, while the other three bolts struck random Central City citizens and gave them godlike powers.

I was very puzzled by all this, and still am. I get that Iris' body contained residual Speed Force energy, which allowed her to recharge the sphere and Barry's powers. It's stupid, but I get it. But why the hell would she have the OTHER three Forces inside her too?

We don't get an explanation for it this week, but the Speed Force does confirm that Barry & Iris both somehow birthed the other Forces:

Speed Force: "The night you brought me back, you created these monsters. You and your lightning rod. When you regained your speed, I wasn’t the only thing you two willed into existence."

Well that cleared up nothing! It told us the what, but conveniently left out the how.

I suppose we're supposed to assume that Barry & Iris' love for one another is so powerful it contained the essence of all four of the Forces. Blech. I refuse to believe their love is Strong, Wise and Timeless.

• Last week I pointed out that actor Carlos Valdez, aka Cisco, was calling it quits after seven years on the show. I then predicted, "If I had to guess, I'm betting Cisco will decide to leave Central City, and he & Kamilla will ride off into the sunset after a tearful goodbye in the season finale."

Welp, based on this week's episode it looks like that's exactly what's going to happen. At the end of the episode, he & Kamilla both decide to leave town together, most likely heading for San Francisco.

• At Jitters, Kamilla tells Cisco, "My series of photos on Eva's attack on Central City was picked up by a gallery in San Francisco." A couple things about that:

First of all, Kamilla's a news photographer. Do art galleries regularly feature news photos?

Secondly, what photos? Kamilla spent the entirety of Mother passed out inside the Mirrorverse. At the end of the episode Eva returned her to the real world right before she fled back into her realm. So when the hell was she able to take photos of Eva's assault?

I guess it's possible she took some photos of the aftermath, but the attack didn't seem to cause much in the way of property damage.

• So this week Barry gets the bright idea to go back in time and uncreate the four Forces. Iris asks what that'll do to Alexa, Psych and Deon. Barry says they'll go on with their original lives as if nothing happened. 

Iris then points out that the Speed Force doesn't have a human avatar and is a pure Force Of Nature, which leads to this exchange:

Iris: "And what about the risk to Nora? Does her life not matter at all any…"
BARRY: "NORA'S NOT A PERSON, Iris! She never was."

THANK YOU, Barry, for loudly pointing that out! Somehow your dimwitted wife doesn't seem to understand that the Speed Force just looks human, but is actually a powerful mass of sentient energy.

• Once Barry decides to screw with time again to "uncreate" the Forces, we get this brief shot of some equations on one of STAR Labs' 
incredibly impractical "clear boards." 

The top of the board's labeled "Speed Force Rebirth." I'm betting that's a reference to DC Rebirth, yet another of the company's many, many attempts to relaunch their entire line of comics. Rebirth ran from 2016 to the end of 2017.

• Barry decides the only way he can time travel without destroying the past is with the help of the Original Harrison Wells. To that end, he pays a visit to Timeless Wells back in the year 2000.

Yes, you read that right. In order to prevent himself from negatively altering the past, Barry has to time travel to the past. Sure, why not?

• Timeless Wells apparently resides in an affluent beachfront (?) community in Star City.

Oddly enough, his neighborhood looks a LOT like this Shutterstock video clip! Identical, even!

• At the end of the oft-mentioned Mother, Timeless Wells said he was going to spend every second of his allotted time reliving his blissful marriage to his beloved wife Tess. Romantic!

Of course when we see him this week, he's in the year 2000 sitting on the couch alone, watching TV. What happened to all that hooey about spending every moment with Tess? I guess he can't gaze longingly at his wife EVERY single second for the next several decades!

For some reason Timeless Wells doesn't even blink when Barry shows up in his living room, and seems eager to go back to the future with him. One would think he'd be annoyed by Barry intruding on his marriage. Maybe he really is getting tired of living the same four years over and over with his wife!

By the way, when we see Timeless Wells parked in front of the tube, he says, "Oh no, Tess! President Bartlet just mixed up his meds. That's not gonna be good, but... great TV!"

Based on his comment, he's definitely watching The West Wing, which aired from 1999 to 2006. I'm assuming he must have TIVOed it, since it was a primetime series and didn't air during broad daylight.

• As Team Flash is preparing to send Barry back in time to undo the Forces, Deon appears in STAR Labs. He & Barry argue over removing his powers, prompting Deon to say, "Do you have any idea what it’s like to be told that you shouldn’t be here? I never asked to be born!"

Did... did Deon really just say he never asked to be born? What is he, a twelve year old girl?

• Barry tells Joe he thinks of the Forces as his "children," and now that they've become dangerous he wants to uncreate them.

Joe then tells him a long, rambling story about the time Wally first came into his life. He said his son was a miserable, moody teen who hated everything and everybody. But by being patient and understanding with him, he eventually came around.

Yeah, I get what Joe's trying to say, but I dunno if his metaphor applies here. Wally was just a typical teen asshole who had no superpowers and occasionally got into trouble. He certainly wasn't an elemental Force Of Nature that actively murdered people! So I'm not sure how apt his little story is.

• Apparently green is the universal color of time energy. We see it when Timeless Wells transports Barry and himself to the past...

And we see it again when Deon (aka the Still Force) materializes in STAR Labs

Heck, time energy's even green over in the MCU! Interesting!

• Iris goes to Barry's abandoned childhood home, hoping to find the Speed Force there so she can talk some sense into it. When she and her team arrive, they spot a vintage 1950s car parked out front. The writers clearly want us to notice the car, as all three of the ladies very deliberately comment on it.

When I first saw the car I thought maybe Deon had sent Team Citizen back in time for some reason. Apparently that wasn't the case though, as it was actually Psych who was waiting inside for them. Did the antique auto belong to him? Apparently it's none of our business, as it's never explained and nothing every comes of it. Weird.

Nice Attention To Detail: Inside the house, Psych makes Iris see a vision of Nora Allen/ The Speed Force tucking Young Barry into bed. As she says goodnight to "her beautiful boy," she sets a copy of The Runaway Dinosaur on the nightstand.

As all good fans of The Flash know, that was Barry's favorite book as a child, and played a major role in the Season 2 episode The Runaway Dinosaur.

By the way, don't run off to Amazon to find a copy— it isn't a real book, and was mocked up by the Prop Department.

• I hate to keep bringing up this atrocious episode, but in the third act of Mother there was a very odd moment during the "Barry Gets His Speed Back" scene. While Team Flash was gazing in awe at Iris supercharging Barry, Timeless Wells glanced over to his left. He did a little double take and even took off his glasses as he nodded to some unseen person.

Unfortunately there was no reverse angle to show us just who it was he saw. At the time I said this scene was likely setting up a future storyline and we'd eventually find out who it was he saw.

Looks like I totally called that one! That scene was indeed a setup, and this week we finally get to see just who it was that Timeless Wells saw. Turns out it was... his future self! Oh, and Barry too.

I guess since he can effortlessly travel back & forth through time, he's not surprised to see a future version of himself standing in the middle of STAR Labs, and figures his other self must have had a good reason for visiting the past.

• As the column of Force Lightning blasts straight up into the sky, Barry & Timeless Wells zoom up to the roof. We then get the most detailed look ever at the top of the STAR Labs building. Several things here:

First and most importantly— I've been watching this show for seven seasons now, and this is the first time I realized there's a massive... chasm (for want of a better word) in the center of the roof. Who knew?

Yes, there's always been visible indentation on the roof, but from a distance it doesn't look like it goes all the way down to the ground floor!

Secondly, back in Mother I said that if there wasn't already a big hole in the top of STAR Labs, there definitely was now, after that beam blasted through all the floors above it.

Turns out there really WAS a big hole in the top for the beam to shoot through! Again, who knew?

Lastly, what a lucky break that there just happened to be a walkway stretching across the top of the chasm, so Barry could stroll out onto it and jump into the energy beam. How implausibly convenient!

• I get that the blast is made of Speed Force lightning, which fuels Barry's powers. But can he really walk unaided into a massive column of intense energy like that and not be incinerated by it?

• Barry gazes up in awe as the blast splits into four separate beams of Universal Force energy. It's such a beautiful sight it literally brings him to tears.

I guess it's kind of pretty in an ethereal way. But whenever I look at it all I see is a bunch of AfterEffects plugins, and wonder what settings they used.

Also, note that the four energy beams we saw in Mother looked VERY different than the ones in this episode. They were originally quite plain and sparse.

• Late in the third act, Barry & Iris use the Power Of Their Infinite Love to somehow bring Alexa back to life. Jaysis. A few things here:

First off, I had a feeling we'd see Alexa again. It seemed odd that they'd go to the trouble of casting the character and give her a detailed backstory, only to kill her off fifteen minutes later.

Secondly, I was wondering what the hell Team Flash was gonna do about the corpse in the Lab, and what they'd tell the authorities. Fortunately they were able to resurrect her and avoid any awkward questions from her family or the authorities.

Thirdly, brain death typically occurs after just four to six minutes without oxygen. Alexa laid on that table for at least two full days. Yet once she comes back to life she's perfectly fine. I guess Barry & Iris' newfound godlike powers somehow reversed any permanent brain damage she surely suffered.

Lastly, but most importantly— I will be so frakin' glad when the writers finally get off this whole "Barry & Iris' Love Is The Most Powerful Force In The Universe" kick. IF they ever get off it. 

Jesus, first their love generated actual, physical sparks. Then it recharged Barry's speed. Then it somehow created four Universe Forces Of Nature. And now it's even resurrecting people! Make no mistake— their intense love has now made them into gods!

I dunno about anyone else, but I find that insulting. Not because of any personal religious beliefs (as I have none!), but because the writers expect us to accept that no other couple in the history of the world has or ever will have a love that comes anywhere close to Barry & Iris.' F*ck off with that already!

As I've pointed out many times before, we never see any visual or physical evidence of their cosmic romance. In fact the two of them have always seemed very cold and distant around one another, and have zero chemistry together. It's almost as if the actors can't stand to be around each other, but are forced to pretend they're a loving couple.

And to add insult to injury, this "Love Conquers All" crap seems to have replaced any sort of superhero action on the series. Because lord knows, people watch comic book shows for the LOVE, not the superheroics!

• At the end of the episode, Cisco and Timeless Wells share yet another loving goodbye. I honestly don't understand the deep emotional bond that Cisco seems to have with this particular Wells. Harry, definitely. HR, sure. Sherloque & Nash, maybe. But Timeless Wells? He's known him all of a couple hours! Why's he acting like they've been through so much together?

• In the tag scene, the Speed Force confronts Deon, tells him she's "a reckoning" and holds up her vibrating hand. If ever you needed another clue that the Speed Force is actually Thawne in disguise, then this is it. He invented the whole vibrating hand as a weapon thing!

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