The Flash Season 7, Episode 7: Growing Pains

This week on The Flash we get a reasonably decent episode, as it sets up a potential new villain and ties up a plot hole that's been dangling for several seasons now.

Growing Pains introduces us to Chillblaine, a villain from the comics who has icy powers just like Frost. Based on the amount of time the writers spend setting him up, there's no way he's gonna be just a one-off villain. We'll definitely see more of him later in the season, as it looks like they're grooming to become a love interest for Frost!

Speaking of her, this week the writers finally deal with Frost's legal situation. As we all know she started out on the show as a villain (in Season 3's Monster, I believe?), and committed various crimes over the years.

At some point in the past couple seasons though she redeemed herself, and became a valuable member of Team Flash. Thanks to her newfound heroic status, Barry & the Gang forgave her past crimes and welcomed her to the family.

Unfortunately things don't work that way in the eyes of the law. Despite the fact that she's now a superhero, Frost is still a criminal with a violent past. The creators finally seemed to realize that this week, as her bill's come due and she's being made to pay for her past crimes.

Of course the writers are only doing this because it's convenient to the plot, but hey, I'll take it.

Finally, this episode deals with the Barry/Speed Force situation— specifically, his visible discomfort at having an energy zombie of his late Mother bunking with him and Iris. Amazingly, the writers actually take a surprisingly subtle look at how the Speed Force's new human form  affects Barry, which I wasn't expecting. Well done, guys!

Unfortunately they botch it at the end of the episode by forcing him to have a change of heart and fully accept the Speed Force's appearance and presence in his life, but... eh. I appreciated the effort.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Barry returns to his apartment after some Flash business, and finds the Speed Force has cooked an elaborate breakfast for him and Iris. Suddenly his hand begins vibrating uncontrollably as his speed glitches. Barry worries that something's wrong with his speed after finally getting it back. The Speed Force says it's probably her fault, as she's been slowly increasing his powers in case the other three Forces return.

Barry gets an actual CSI call and says he has to go. Of course the Speed Force wants to come with and help. Attempting to get away from the overly clingy force of nature, Barry tells it to stay put. When she insists, he says it probably wouldn't be a good idea to show up a crime scene with someone who looks exactly like his late mother. The Speed Force reluctantly agrees to stay behind, but says she'll be there in a flash (heh) if he gets in trouble. Iris looks concerned as she watches this unfold. Which she should, since she's the one who invited the Speed Force to stay with them in the first place.

At STAR Labs, Cecile meets with Frost and reviews all the criminal cases against her. Cecile says even though CCPD dropped all the charges, the State didn't— so Kristen Kramer can still come after her. Frost insists she's grown and is now a good person, which she seems to think makes a difference. Cecile begs her to lay low for a while, reasoning that if Kristen doesn't get results in a week or so she'll get bored and go back to the Capitol (???).

Cisco apparently has the week off, so Barry calls Chester to the crime scene. There they find an Ivo Labs van that's frozen solid, and missing an experimental cryogenic microchip. Chester asks what happened to the driver, and Barry points out a pile of bloody ice chunks.

Just then Kristen arrives, sees the frigid crime scene and jumps to the conclusion that Killer Frost is the culprit. Joe points out that there are other ice-powered metas in town, and it wasn't necessarily her. Chester scans the area and detects tons of dark matter particles, which isn't what fuels Frost's powers. Barry also notes that the ice patterns are different from Frost's.

Kristen doesn't care about any of this, and orders Joe to issue a warrant for Frost's arrest. Joe realizes his hands are tied and reluctantly agrees. Barry tells Chester they need to find out who killed the guard in order to clear Frost's name.

Chester returns to STAR and tells Frost about the new ice-powered meta, and how Kristen thinks she's responsible. Frost promises him she'll stay put. Allegra, who was also a former criminal, recognizes that's she's lying. Later Frost tells Allegra she's secretly going after the meta to clear her name, and orders to shut up about it.

Barry's still analyzing the crime scene when the Speed Force shows up. She says she's been monitoring him somehow, and that Kristen admires him. He tells her to go wait back at the apartment.

That night Frost sneaks out to O'Shaughnessy's Pub in Keystone City (where she used to work). She tells the bartender, Mark Blaine, that she's looking for a new ice meta who's trying to frame her. Mark pours her a cocktail and says he might know something. Frost is distracted by his smoldering good looks.

Just then she sees a news report on the bar's TV, in which Kristen offers a $100,000 reward for Frost's capture. She looks around the bar and sees the other patrons converging on her. She manages to beat them senseless (without even using her powers!). She's attacked by one last thug, but Mark knocks him out with a bottle of booze.

Mark then gives her the info, saying there's a new meta who uses experimental tech, and keeps it in a secret lair outside of town. Frost asks what this will cost her, and he suggestively tells her to come back and ask for him sometime.

Cut to CCPD, where Barry's in his lab analyzing the ice samples he took from the crime scene. The Speed Force appears and asks again if she can help. Chester (who's there for some reason) says she could use her Universal Force powers to help speed up the process and crunch the data. Barry says no, insisting on doing things the "right" way.

Suddenly he loses control of his powers again, and begins speeding uncontrollably around the lab. He inadvertently destroys the computer, losing all the his data. He blames the Speed Force and tells her to get lost. Hurt & angry, she zooms off.

Elsewhere, Frost breaks into the ice meta's lair. As she walks around the place, she's scanned by a high tech device. She turns on the lights, sees the place is empty and realizes she's been duped.

Meanwhile, Kristen and her SWAT team show up at Caitlin's apartment. Assuming she's Frost, she tells Caitlin she's under arrest. Joe's forced to put meta-dampening cuffs on Caitlin and haul her off to jail.

At CCPD, Cecile meets with Caitlin in the interrogation room. She says Kristen didn't find any incriminating evidence in Caitlin's apartment (???), and as soon as her blood test reveals she's not a meta she'll be free to go. Joe says someone who knows Caitlin used to be Killer Frost must have tipped off Kristen.

Just then Frost calls Cecile and tells her and Caitlin to back away from the wall. Realizing she's going to try to break her out of "jail," Caitlin pleads with Frost to stand down. Frost says it's not fair that Caitlin's been incarcerated because of her. Suddenly Frost has an epiphany, figures out who's framing her and takes off after them.

Joe confronts Kristen and tells her she's harassing an innocent person in Caitlin. He also says Frost is innocent, as she's saved his life many times while working with Team Flash. Quite rightly, Kristen tells him he needs to honor his badge and bring Frost in.

Back at the apartment, Iris tells Barry the Speed Force is pouting in her room. She says she's new to the whole "Existing As A Person" thing, and he needs to go easy on her. He says Iris doesn't understand what it's like to see something that looks like his dead Mother walking around and having breakfast with them. Iris says he & the Speed Force will just have to figure out their new relationship. Thanks for being so understanding, Iris!

Barry gets a text from Chester and speeds to STAR. Once there, Chester says he salvaged some of the computer data, and has a lead on the new ice meta. He says the suspect used synthetic dark matter (?), and is a scientist who knows Caitlin & Frost used to be one person.

Barry notices Frost isn't there, and Allegra sheepishly says she went off by herself to catch the new meta. Barry forgives her for lying (?), and says they need to find Frost pronto.

Frost returns to the bar, where she reveals she knows Mark's the one who framed her. GASP! She asks how he knew she & Caitlin were connected, and why she shouldn't just kill him and be done with it. He begins monologuing, saying when he was a kid he went skating and fell through the ice. He froze to death, but was revived by paramedics, and realized in that moment that ice holds the power of life & death.

Mark then began stalking Frost, admiring her powers from afar. He became a cryo-geneticist at Ivo, where he tried to replicate her powers by creating a special microchip. His superiors thought he went too far and had him arrested. Once he served his time, he attacked the Ivo truck and took back the chip he'd created. He then arranged for Frost to visit his lair, where he scanned her body. Thanks to that data, he's now as powerful as she is.

Mark then activates a pair of gauntlets, and tells Frost she can call him "Chillblaine." Oy.

The two then have a big setpiece battle (something that hasn't happened on the show for weeks), as they fire away at one another with icy blasts. Back at STAR, Chester detects their meta signatures. Barry grabs Allegra and speeds off.

Chillblaine gets the upper hand and fires a blast of ice at Frost's eyes, temporarily blinding her. He taunts her, as she fires wildly around the bar. Suddenly he grabs Frost from behind, intending to snap her neck or something. Frost forms an ice dagger and says she has one thing Chillblaine can't copy— ice healing. She then stabs herself through the chest and impales him as well.

Chillblaine collapses to the floor. Suddenly Barry swoops in and patches him up so he doesn't die. Allegra uses her powers to melt the ice from Frost's eyes.

Just then Kristen arrives with an army of police, and tells Frost she has two minutes to surrender. Barry says they have enough evidence now to prove Chillblaine was the killer. Frost sensibly says she didn't commit THIS particular crime, but she's guilty of many others, and it's time to pay for them. FINALLY, someone actually understands the law on this show! She walks out of the bar and surrenders to Kristen.

The next day Caitlin's been released, but Frost is being arraigned in court. Barry apologizes to the Speed Force, saying he'd like to get to know her better and she's welcome to stay with him and Iris. She says she's fully healed, and is confident that together they can take on the other three Forces.

Thoughts:
• Still no Tom Cavanagh in the opening titles this week. I'm telling you, he's coming back— most likely as Eobard Thawne. Just have patience.

• Last week the Speed Force wondered if she was causing Barry pain by taking the form of his dead mother. At the time, Iris said, "Nah, it's fine," and said "Nora" was a pleasant reminder to him. I said it sounded to me like Iris was projecting her own feelings onto the situation, as it was clearly weirding out Barry to have his dead mom prancing around.

Turns out I was right! This week Barry confesses to Iris that he's uncomfortable having the Speed Force living with them. Amazingly Iris seems genuinely surprised by this, as if it never occurred to her that seeing what amounts to the ghost of his mother might unnerve him.

This points out just how insensitive Iris has been throughout this whole situation. Jesus, at one point when they're eating breakfast Iris even tells the Speed Force, "You know, in a weird way it's like you've been a part of this family all along." This causes a near-spit take from Barry.

And rightly so! How the frak does Iris not understand how hard this is for Barry? When he was a kid he watched helplessly as Eobard Thawne murdered his mother Nora right before his very eyes! Now in effect an energy zombie of his mother is living with them, and Iris is either oblivious or indifferent to how that makes him feel.

Amazingly, this isn't even the worst time Iris has been dismissive of Barry's emotions regarding his mother. Back in Season 5's Snow Pack, Barry became upset when he found out their future daughter Nora was working with Thawne. Rather offer her support and empathy to him, she accused Barry of becoming "overly emotional" about the situation! What the hell?

Then to top it all off, she told Barry it didn't bother her in the least that her daughter teamed up with the man who murdered his mother! Jesus Jetskiing Christ, Iris! You're supposed to be one of the heroes, right? Not an evil villain from some alternate dimension where everyone's an asshole?

This highlights something I've noticed on the show for years, but never really brought up till now— Barry and Iris have little or no chemistry together. There. I said it. Ever since the series began the wruters been telling us that Iris is Barry's lightning rod, and their love is the most powerful force in the universe and some such hooey.

But that's the trouble— it's always been a case of tell, not show, as their love for one another is an "informed attribute." Iris in particular has always seemed stiff and informal around Barry, as if she's his ACTUAL sister, not just an adoptive one. Maybe there's just no physical spark between the two actors. Or maybe they secretly can't stand one another in real life, and their animosity leaks onto the screen. Whatever the reason, it's a problem the show's always had.

• As the episode begins, the Speed Force is still staying with Barry & Iris, and cooks them a comically massive breakfast. Note that the producers very obviously have Iris call her "Nora," while Barry distantly refers to their new boarder as "Speed Force."

This perfectly and cleverly highlights the fact that Barry's still uncomfortable having an entity that looks exactly like his late mother stay with them. Well done, writers!

• When the Speed Force first appeared many seasons ago (in The Runaway Dinosaur, I think?), it was a cold, logical and omniscient entity, and was always attempting to teach Barry lessons about being a hero.

Now it's become a clingy and overly emotional codependent, who becomes visibly distraught when it's separated from Barry for more than a few minutes. So why such a big change?

Actually I think this is a pretty cool little touch. The Speed Force was an omniscient entity, but it's now found itself in a human body for the first time in its existence. In essence it's become a child (albeit in the form of a woman), and doesn't know how to handle complex human emotions. That's a surprisingly deep dive for this show!

• At STAR Labs, Cecile meets with Frost and lists the various crimes she committed over the years, including aggravated assault, attempted murder and two counts of kidnapping (the exact ones I listed last week!). She then points out that even though CCPD dropped their investigation into Frost (?), the State didn't, so she still has numerous charges against her.

Go Cecile! For once someone on this show actually understands how the law works! 

• Cecile begs Frost to lay low for a while, saying, "You're an artist, okay? Just take some time off, chase those canvasses, create... just do it all here at STAR Labs where you're safe."

Wait... what? Artist? Since when? Yes, technically it's true that last week we saw Frost creating a truly dreadful collage that looked like it was literally made of garbage. 

But need I remind everyone that in last season's A Flash Of The Lightning, Ralph (remember him?) took Frost to an art gallery to inspire her. After the trip, she attempted to create some art of her own, and came up with this. Yikes!

I suppose it's possible she realized she had no talent for drawing, so she switched to collage at some point in the last year. Trouble is, she's terrible at both!

• Caitlin also pleads with Frost to lay low until Kristen gets bored with the investigation and goes home. Frost eventually gives in and says, "Fine. I'll quarantine here."

I see what you did there, The Flash writers!

• Chester tells Frost that he and Caitlin are trying to fix one of HR's transmorgifiers so she can go out in public.

The transmorgifier first appeared back in Season 3's Shade, where HR used it to alter his appearance, since he looked exactly like mass murderer Eobard Thawne. He brought it from his homeworld of Earth-19, which apparently had slightly more advanced tech.

• Cisco sits out this episode due to The CW's strict Covid restrictions (I'm assuming), so Barry calls Chester to help assist him. Chester's overjoyed at the chance to prove himself, shouting, "Blazing Bessie Blount, I just got my first solo crime scene call!"

Once again I had to look up one of Chester's references. Bessie Blount was a mistress of King Henry VIII of England in the early 1500s. I've no idea how she might be relevant to this scene though.

• When Chester gets the call from Barry, he excitedly wonders what kind of crime scene he'll be investigating and says, "Maybe it's a 10-90. Maybe it's a 10-11." His phone then dweedles and he exclaims, "Oh, snap! It's a 10-35!"

So what's a 10-35, and why's it got Chester so pumped? Welp, in police code, a 10-35 means... "General Crime Alert." Wha...? So is that the joke? That he's giddy over a vague and generic message? Or did the writers not bother to look up what the code meant?

• Wow, for the second time this season, Barry actually performs his day job! Glad to see the writers are finally remembering he's a CSI.

• When Barry investigates the crime scene, he finds an Ivo Labs van that's been completely encased in ice— along with the hapless driver, who was frozen solid and shattered. Naturally Kristen Kramer takes one look at the situation and assumes Frost is responsible.

Later on we find out that Chillblaine attacked the van and driver in order to frame Frost. It's all part of his convoluted plan to get her to come to his lair, where he can scan her body and somehow replicate her powers.

Wait a minute... if Chillblaine needed Frost's powers, that would imply he didn't have any of his own, right? So how'd he freeze the van and driver? Did he maybe have some ice powers, but wasn't as strong as her? Did he use a freeze gun like Captain Cold? I'm confused.

Even stranger, a bit later Kristen states that the Ivo van is covered with Frost's fingerprints, proving she's the culprit. So... how did Chillblaine manage THAT?!?!? How'd he figure out a way to duplicate her prints before he ever met her? Whoops!

• Chester sees a small pile of maroon colored ice on the floor, and asks what it is. Barry informs him it's what's left of the Ivo van driver, who was apparently frozen solid and then shattered. Did Chillblaine cut the guy in half before he froze him? Because there's no way in hell that's the remains of an entire adult.

• Chester scans the crime scene and says the dark matter readings are off the charts. Barry & Joe then look uncomfortable, as if that proves Frost's involvement. 

But... Frost didn't get her powers from dark matter. Caitlin's father Thomas Snow discovered that she had the gene for ALS, so he used experimental cryogenic therapy on her to prevent the disease from ever manifesting. These experiments resulted in Caitlin developing super powers, along with a dual personality (that eventually became Frost).

So why's everyone linking Frost & dark matter here?

• A couple weeks ago when Kristen first appeared, I said the writers were doing everything in their power to make us hate her, and think she's a big old meanie for wanting to arrest sweet little old Frost.

I also pointed out that Kristen wasn't wrong, as Frost IS a criminal and SHOULD have to pay for her past crimes. That's kind of how the law works. 

Of course the other characters disagree, believing the fact since Frost is now "good," that somehow clears her of her past actions. Sorry, gang. Feeling bad about your crimes doesn't let you off the hook. Kristen's just doing her job here.

Technically Kramer could probably go after Caitlin and the rest of Team Flash as well! They could all be charged as accomplices, since they knew of Frost's past crimes and her whereabouts, and never turned her in. At the least they could all be charged with aiding and abetting a felon or harboring a fugitive!

Even though I think Kristen is one hundred percent right, I'll admit that her fervor in this episode seems to go wayyyy above & beyond simply seeing justice served. It's almost like she has a genuine vendetta against Frost. I'm wondering if at some point we'll find out that her life was affected by her at some point? Like maybe Frost inadvertently caused the death of someone close to Kristen or something?

• Barry & Chester vow to find out who killed the Ivo guard to clear Frost's name. Once again, that would exonerate her of THIS particular crime, but not any of the others. It's amazing how none of the characters on this show seem to understand how the law.

• At one point the Speed Force appears at the crime scene in order to "help" Barry. Note that her lightning looks completely different from Barry's or any other speedsters' we've seen before. Her lightning seems much more... violent, for want of a better word, as it actually seems to distort space as she appears. It even causes the air around her to smoke for a few seconds after she zooms to the scene.

So does this mean anything, or is it just a flashy visual effect? 

It's possible this different effect is due to her being a universal force of nature crammed into the body of a middle-aged woman. Or it may be a subtle clue that the Speed Force isn't actually the Speed Force after all. It could mean that it's actually Thawne in disguise, as so many fans have been speculating.

• Frost pays a visit to her old job, O'Shaughnessy's Pub in nearby Keystone City.

Turns out this pub looks a LOT like the alien bar seen in the first several seasons of Supergirl. It would not surprise me if this was just a redress of that same set.

• While at the bar, Frost sees a news report in which Kristen offers a $100,000 reward for any info on Killer Frost. Note that once again, Channel 52 appears to be the only TV station in the Central City area. And like I point out every time it appears, this is a reference to the New 52, one of DC's many, many attempts at rebooting their comic universe.

• Immediately after Kristen offers the reward, the episode veers straight into John Wick territory, as the other bar patrons all turn on Frost, determined to take her in. We then get what I believe is the first actual fight scene so far this season! It only lasts a scant few seconds, but it was amazing to see some actual superheroics on this superhero show, rather than watch the characters defeat the villain of the week with the Power Of Friendship.

• All through Frost's brief fight with the thugs, Mark stands behind the bar, sipping a beer as he idly watches. When one of the patrons sneaks up behind Frost with a knife, Mark saves her by knocking him out cold with a bottle to the head.

Immediately after this we cut to a wide shot of Mark, as his hair's plastered to his forehead with sweat, and he pants as if he's been fighting as well. But... he literally just sat there and watched. His only involvement was the one second it took to knock out the thug. So why the hell's he sweating so profusely? Did they cut out a scene where he joined in the fight?

• The Flash is one of the wokest shows out there, as it prides itself on its diversity, inclusivity and any other "ivity" you can think of. That's why I was surprised by this scene, in which Mark whips off his shirt for the flimsiest of reasons and exposes his admittedly impressive physique.

We then get a long, slow pan up his tanned torso, as the camera give us a lingering look at his sculpted abs and chiseled pecs— accompanied by Nelly's Hot In Here on the soundtrack! It was one of the most blatant and obvious things I've ever seen, as he stopped just short of oiling himself up and staring intently into the camera.

Now just imagine if the roles were reversed, and this scene featured Frost stripping down to her skivvies instead of Mark. The SJW crowd would take to Twitter in a nanosecond, where they'd howl up a storm and shriek accusations of sexism and exploitation. 

I guess the lesson here is cheesecake bad, beefcake good.

• The Speed Force shows up at Barry's lab, where he's analyzing data that could clear Frost. Unfortunately her presence causes his powers to glitch again, causing him to zoom uncontrollably around the lab and inadvertently destroy the place.

Once it's over, Chester says, "Anybody else taste pennies? It tastes like there's seventy eight cents in my mouth!" OK, that was pretty funny, and probably the best line of the episode.

The Speed Force then notices that Barry's glitching accidentally fried his computer, and remarks that all the data he was working on is lost for good. Um... why would that be? Do they not have servers or flash drives in the Arrowverse? 

• Cecile tells Caitlin she's in the clear, as Kristen couldn't find any incriminating evidence in her apartment. Wha...? Frost has been LIVING in Caitlin's apartment for the past couple weeks! How could there be no evidence of her presence there? Did she really not bring a single piece of clothing or even one personal item with her? What about the collage she was working in the previous episode? Or her costume?

Cecile also says Caitlin will be released when her blood test doesn't show the meta gene. I thought Caitlin wasn't a meta in the first place, as she got her powers from her Dad's experiments. Maybe she is and I just forgot, I dunno. It's hard keeping seven years of convoluted continuity straight in my head.

If Frost IS a meta, then I guess that means when she got her own body she drained every genetic trace of it from Caitlin? That was certainly convenient!

• Acting on a tip from Mark, Frost pays a visit to Wieringo Mills, where she hopes to find the secret hideout of the new ice meta in town.

This is a VERY obvious nod to artist Mike Wieringo, who drew The Flash comic in the early 1990s. I liked Wieringo's art quite a bit, as it had a bold and unusual quality to it that was somehow realistic and yet cartoonish at the same time.

He and writer Mark Waid also co-created Impulse, aka Bart Allen. He's a popular young speedster character, who's rumored to be appearing on the show sometime this season. 

Sadly, Wieringo died in 2007 at the much too young age of just forty four.

• Joe apologizes to Caitlin for being forced to arrest her, and says, "This ain't how law enforcement's supposed to work. I'm gonna go talk to Kramer."

Uh, yeah Joe, this is EXACTLY how law enforcement's supposed to work. Caitlin looks just like Killer Frost, so in the eyes of the law there was probable cause to arrest her and bring her in for questioning.

Joe then confronts Kristen and tries to convince her Frost is innocent:

Joe: "This evidence, this anonymous phone call? It's like someone is trying to frame Frost." Kristen: "Okay, then who?"

Joe: "I don't know, but Frost helps keep this city safe. Hell, she's saved my life... more than once."

Kristen: "She's still a criminal. Captain, you seem like a good cop, and I know that Dr. Snow is a friend of your family. But if you really want to honor your badge, you need to think about what is truly best for the public good."

Once again the writers are bending over backwards in an attempt to make us hate Kristen, but like I keep saying— she's not wrong here! And as a POLICE CAPTAIN, Joe should know that.

• When Frost finds out Caitlin's been arrested, she plans to bust her out of CCPD. She calls Cecile and tells her and Caitlin to get away from the North wall of the room— presumably so she can knock it down with an ice blast. Cecile then does this adorable little motion as she tries to figure out which is the North wall! Haw!

• Note that when Frost is planning to free Caitlin, we see she's taken drastic measures to camouflage her appearance by... placing a baseball cap on her head.

She's in good company here, as this is the standard "Impenetrable Superhero Disguise" that was worn by virtually every major character over in the MCU.

• Caitlin tries to convince Frost not to break her out of jail, as that'll only make things worse for the both of them. She tells her, "When Kramer looks at you, all she sees are the mistakes you've made. She doesn't see how much pain you've gone through, or how much you've grown because of it. You're a good person, Frost, and human or meta-human, you deserve the chance to prove it."

First of all, I know I'm senselessly beating a long-deceased equine carcass at this point, but one more time— none of these characters seem to comprehend how the law works! It doesn't matter how much "pain" Frost's gone through or how much she's "grown" since committing her crimes. SHE'S STILL A CRIMINAL! Feeling bad about what she's done won't exonerate her. At best her extenuating circumstances MIGHT get her a lesser sentence, but she's still gonna be convicted if caught.

Secondly, Caitlin's "Human or meta-human" line somehow causes Frost to figure out that Mark's the one who's framing her. How she came to that preposterous and unlikely conclusion from simply haring the word "human" is apparently none of our business, as it's never addressed.

• At STAR Labs, Chester works on the computer Barry fried, and says, "Okay, so I somehow managed to salvage some of the ice data that we lost."

Well THAT'S certainly an interesting creative solution! If you've written yourself into a corner, just have your characters say they "somehow" did something.

• Frost returns to the pub, where she tells Mark she knows he framed her, and demands he tell her why. Turns out that Mark is actually Chillblaine, the new ice meta in town and this week's Big Bad. Several things here:

So Chillblaine, huh? Cool name for a cold-powered supervillain, right? Wrong!

According to the internet, chilblains (the proper spelling) are sores or bumps on the skin that occur after exposure to cold temperatures. So yeah. He named himself after a gross skin condition.

Chillblain's from the comics, where there've been a whopping FOUR different versions of him! It seems that Golden Glider (the sister of Captain Cold) was fond of recruiting handsome but less than intelligent men to act as her sidekick. She'd give each of them a freeze gun and a costume, and they'd commit various crimes together.

When one Chillblaine was killed, she'd simply seek out a replacement. The first three had fairly short lived criminal careers, while the fourth one ended up killing Glider herself.

TV Chillblaine differs quite a bit from his comic brethren, as he's a disgraced genetic scientist rather than a muscle-headed jock. His origin story did involve skating and falling through the ice to his death. Golden Glider typically used skates to get around, so maybe that's a subtle nod to the her?

As is typical for this show, they didn't bother with a costume for Chillblaine, as he's decked out in a t-shirt and jeans.

• When I was about thirteen, I wrote my very first mystery story. I won't bore you with the details, except to say the main character was a ghost detective. Hey, I was a kid, what can I say? Anyway, I showed this fiendishly clever whodunnit to my best friend, confident he'd never figure out the killer's identity. Instead he pointed him out about two pages in. I was gobsmacked! When I asked how he solved the mystery so easily, he pointed out that that my story only had three characters— the Detective, the Victim and Other Guy. He said the Detective probably wasn't the murderer, and it's unlikely the Victim killed himself, so that left Other Guy.

I learned a valuable lesson that day that's stuck with me my entire life: If you're writing a murder mystery, make sure you have more than ONE suspect.

Which brings us to this episode. Frost discovers someone's trying to frame her for murder, and sets out to discover who's responsible. Who could it possibly be? I assume we're all supposed to gasp in utter shock and amazement when we find out the culprit is Mark. Unfortunately this wasn't much of a surprise, as HE'S THE ONLY CHARACTER ON THE SHOW THIS WEEK WHO ISN'T A REGULAR!!!

To be fair, I can't fault the producers too much here. The CW's implemented very strict Covid protocols on all their shows, which limits the number of actors and guest stars who're allowed to appear in a given episode. I'm sure the writers would have loved to have brought in half a dozen additional suspects to complicate the mystery, but circumstances forced them to settle for one.

• I'm struggling with Chillblaine's convoluted master plan here. As I understand it, he wants ice powers just like Frost's, but can't figure out a way to duplicate them exactly. In order to get them, he somehow commits an ice-themed murder, knowing she'll be blamed for it. He then counts on her showing up at his bar, looking for info on the new ice meta in town. He then gives her the new meta's address—which is really his own secret lair— betting she'll check it out so he can take a neurogenic scan of her and use the info to allow him to fully replicate her powers.  

That all seems needlessly complicated, as the entire plan would have collapsed if even one thing went wrong or happened in a different way.

• There's some time/editing weirdness going on when Frost returns to the bar to confront Mark. As she walks in, he looks up and says, "That was fast," implying that she just left.

In reality she's been gone for hours— long enough to leave Keystone City, find Chillblaine's fake lair and check it out, go to CCPD to try & break Caitlin out of jail and then finally return to Mark's bar. So why's he acting like she's only been gone a few minutes? 

Even stranger, he's sweeping up the broken glass from their earlier fight, which would indeed indicate little or no time has passed. But he's also wearing a different outfit than he was in his previous scene, suggesting it's the next day!

It feels like they shot a lot more stuff with Mark, but huge chunks got cut for time, leaving his scenes choppy and fragmented.

• Believe it or not we actually get a SECOND fight scene in this episode— this time between Frost and Chillblaine. It's pretty cool (heh) too— especially the part where Frost is thrown backward through the air and stops herself with ice blasts that act as retro rockets.

Once again, it was awesome to see an actual fight scene on the show after so many episodes without one. I have to assume this is another result of the Covid precautions— the actors probably aren't allowed to touch one another for the duration of the pandemic, which would make close quarter fighting a bit difficult. Looks like they threw caution to the wind this week and went for it anyway!

• As fun as the fight scene was, I could have done without all the flirty, smoldering looks between Frost and Chillblaine as they grappled. It's a perfect example of the "Belligerent Sexual Tension Trope," in which two enemies have a brawl and inadvertently become attracted to one another. THAT'S certainly never been done before!

I'm calling it right now— Chillblaine's gonna get thrown into Iron Heights, and then an episode or two later Frost will end up there as well. The two of them will then set aside their differences and work together to escape, and eventually become a couple, despite their mutual animosity. You heard it here first!

• During their battle, Chillblaine shoots a blast of ice into Frost's face, effectively blinding her. She then staggers around the bar, firing wildly as she tries to blast him back.

It's really too bad she never thought to... I don't know, reach up and wipe the ice away from her eyes. Or maybe hit it lightly with her fists to shatter it.

Is there something abnormal about the ice he shoots in her eyes? Like is it some special, super dense variety of ice? Because she eventually has to get Allegra to use her infrared powers to melt it off her face.

• Frost eventually defeats Chillblaine by shoving an icicle through her body and into his. Ouch! Several things here:

First, Frost is able to survive having a jagged shard pierce her body because she has "ice healing," which is similar to Barry's speed healing. This has been a thing on the show for several seasons now, and I've never understood it. How does ice heal anything? Extreme cold slows down molecular activity— which is kind of the opposite of how healing works!

Secondly, once Chillblaine's run through with the icicle, he instantly drops to the floor— where Frost literally leaves him for dead! This is odd, as in just a few seconds she's gonna give Team Flash a big, heartfelt speech about how how much she's changed for the better and yadda yadda. 

I dunno... DID she change? She just mortally wounded a guy and walked away! Fortunately for her Barry swooped in and patched up Chillblaine so he didn't die.

• I get that this is a comic book show, and the producers are trying to tell a story without getting bogged down with real world details. That said, Frost and Chillblaine are fighting inside O'Shaughnessy's Pub in Keystone City. Once their battle's over, Kristen shows up with the Central City Meta-Human Task Force. Yeah, that wouldn't be allowed. They'd be out of their jurisdiction in Keystone, and Kristen would have to coordinate with the cops there in order to arrest Frost.

• When Barry sees that Kristen's there to arrest Frost, he tries to think of a way to save her.

Barry: "Chillblaine here is the real killer. So I'll go out. I'll hand him over. I'll let them know you're innocent."

Frost: "Guys, I may not have killed that person today, but I'm not innocent. I have to go out there myself."

Allegra: "What?"

Barry: "Frost, Kramer has a warrant for all the crimes you committed before joining Team Flash. You get arrested, you're facing hard time, if there's a conviction."

Allegra: "Uh-uh, that ain't happening. We can hide you somewhere while we figure this out." Frost: "Right, then you're harboring a fugitive. I can't let you do that. Guys, before today, I never paid for any of the bad things I did."

Allegra: "Because you were out saving the world!"

Frost: "And I thought that was enough too. But, if I'm gonna prove that I've really changed, then I have to own up to it, as... painful as that might be."

YES! FINALLY, someone on this show understands how crime and punishment works. Everything Frost said about her criminal past and guilt is one hundred percent true. For the record, I don't want to see her go to prison either, but that's the way it has to be.

• At the end of the episode, Barry apologizes to the Speed Force— whose presence and resemblance to his dead Mom made him uncomfortable— and says he'd like to get to know it better.

I suppose this was the mature thing to do, but I was still disappointed by his sudden change of heart. It felt unearned, like the writers forced him to change way too soon— especially after they spend two episode showing how upset he was by the whole situation. It felt distrespectful to him, like they weren't taking his feelings seriously. Who do they think they are, Iris?

Arrow Season 8, Episode 8: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Part Four

It's Part Four of the big Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover!

This week's episode was written by Marc Guggenheim and Marv Wolfman. Guggenheim is a prolific comic book writer, screenwriter and producer. He's also quite a prominent figure in the Arrowverse, as he created both Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow. More on him in a bit.

Wolfman is a comic book writer who's worked for both Marvel and DC over the years. His presence here is significant because he wrote the Crisis On Infinite Earth comic miniseries back in 1985. He and artist George Perez, who pencilled Crisis, also co-created the characters who debuted in the miniseries— including The Monitor, The Anti-Monitor, Harginger and Pariah. So it's pretty cool that they brought Wolfman in for this.

Overall it's an OK episode, and a decent ending to the crossover. Yep, that's right, I said ending! Despite the fact that this is only the fourth of five parts, the big cosmic battle wraps up in this episode, as the Multiverse is rebooted!

I have to admit I wasn't expecting such an early finale. I have to assume Part Five will focus on the fallout from the restored and merged Earths.

I was also surprised by just how much of the episode involved pointless flashbacks, as we see Speed Force visions of how the various characters met and became allies. OK, so I didn't expect a literal adaptation from the comic, but what the hell were these scenes doing in the crossover? 

I couldn't help but resent these flashbacks, as they told us nothing we didn't already know about the characters, and worst of all, took up valuable screentime that should have been devoted to resolving the actual plot. I have to assume they were inserted as a money-saving measure, since it's cheaper to point a camera at two people talking than it is to film a cosmic battle.

I also didn't expect so many parallels and similarities to Avengers: Endgame. Granted, Crisis and Infinity War/Endgame are fairly similar stories to begin with. But there were numerous scenes here that were virtually copied and pasted directly from Endgame! I guess if you're gonna steal, might as well do it from the most successful movie of all time!

Despite these hiccups, the episode still had its moments and I enjoyed it for the most part. The final battle with The Anti-Monitor was decent, if short and scaled way, way down from the comic. I've always been a sucker for "Villain Teaming Up With The Heroes" stories, so I liked Lex Luthor's inclusion here. It was also nice to see Mar Novu before he became The Monitor, and get a look at his origin story. I was also pleased by the VERY unexpected cameo from a certain speedster, which I'll mention in more detail below.

Lastly, we come to this.

You know, the famous newspaper headline that first appeared in Season 1 of The Flash. The newspaper headline from the future that screams, "FLASH MISSING! VANISHES IN CRISIS!" THAT newspaper headline.

If you've made it this far through the crossover, you've probably figured out by now that the Flash does NOT vanish in the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover.

So what the hell happened?

First of all, let's take a closer look at the actual newspaper article. The text reads:

"After an extreme street battle with the Reverse-Flash, our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light. The cause of the fight is currently unknown. According to witnesses, The Flash, with help from Starling City's Green Arrow, The Atom, and Hawkgirl, began fighting the Reverse-Flash around midnight last night. The sky took on a deep crimson color as the ensuing battle created the most destruction this city has seen since The Flash first arrived in Central City."

There're several more paragraphs, but the gist of the article is that the Flash fought the Reverse-Flash, the skies turned red and then both vanished in a flash of light. Obviously nothing even remotely like that happened in the crossover.

I could overlook the article's inclusion of Hawkgirl, as she hasn't been a thing in the Arrowverse for a good four or five years now. It's a bit harder to excuse the absence of the Reverse-Flash though. Or the whole, you know, not vanishing thing.

Especially when, in the Season 5 finale, Eobard Thawne, aka the Reverse-Flash, looks Barry square in the eye and says, "See you in our next crisis." The Flash writers were clearly setting up the events from the headline here, expecting to see it play out in the Crisis crossover.

Unfortunately none of it came to pass.

The Flash has been building up to this moment for the past six years, as this headline has popped up numerous times in every season. Fans have been worrying about Barry's fate for years, wondering what would actually happen to him when the moment finally arrived.

Hell, the entirety of Season 5 was based on this headline! Barry vanishes in the Crisis, leaving his newborn daughter Nora to grow up without him. Once she becomes an adult, she travels from the 2040s to the present day to finally get to know the father she never met.

Then much of Season 6 concerned the headline as well, as The Monitor straight up told Barry than "The Flash must die in the Crisis." Barry then spent the past several episodes grimly awaiting his fate.

So as you can see, this headline was a HUGE deal. Then the Crisis finally arrived and the writers ignored Barry's destiny and handwaved it all away. They get around it by overlooking the headline altogether and saying The Monitor's prophecy referred to the Flash from Earth-90, and was never about Barry in the first place.

That was such a boneheaded and insulting resolution to the matter that I was sure it wouldn't stand. In fact in Part 3 I said there was no way the writers would possibly the situation like that, as it was far too easy and anticlimactic. I said there were still two episodes to go, and predicted Barry would indeed vanish, but end up resurrected when the universe was rebooted.

Welp, obviously I was wrong about that. The headline was resolved in the stupidest way possible, leaving fans feeling betrayed and angry. I can't say I blame them. It was a cheap tactic on the part of the writers, and almost feels like they're laughing at us for becoming invested in the goddamned show in the first place.

OK, obviously Barry was never going to disappear forever from his own show. But I thought we might get a few episodes in which he was missing, and then a storyline where Team Flash goes looking for him. Instead we got nothing.

So how could something like this happen? How could the writers ignore such a fundamental part of The Flash's lore? According to Marc Guggenheim, who oversaw the crossover, he "didn't feel beholden" to include it (!). Said Guggenheim:

"I guess what it really comes down to is not being beholden to a headline from six years ago that was not written by any of the showrunners involved in the crossover. A lot of things drive our stories, and a lot of things determine what choices we make… To me, tracking toward a headline written six years ago is literally the definition of 'the cart driving the horse.' We’ve had Reverse-Flash so prominent in the Arrowverse over the years, including in last year’s crossover and the crossover before that… I love the character and I love Tom [Cavanagh] as a person, and I certainly love Matt Letscher’s version, but you have to make choices."

Jesus Christ! So basically he didn't pay homage to the headline because he didn't write it. Talk about unprofessional!

You can't just ignore something that's had six years of setup just because it doesn't fit into your story. That's why you're the writer! You find a way to make it work! If you can throw out something as major as that, what else doesn't matter on the show?

To illustrate why this is such a huge deal, pretend it happened in the MCU. Imagine how, over the course of ten years, Marvel carefully and deliberately set up the Infinity Stones, the Gauntlet and Thanos. Then imagine that after those ten years of buildup we get to Infinity War and Iron Man says, "Oh, by the way— Thanos slipped in the shower this morning and broke his neck. He's gone."

See how ridiculous that is? It's exactly the same on The Flash. We were promised something epic for six years and were denied at the last second.
This feels a huge misstep to me. Worst of all, they could have still addressed the vanishing incident with just a bit of planning, coordination and forethought. The writers could have wrapped up the dull and plodding Bloodwork storyline a bit early, then given us an episode in which Barry & Thawne fought, the skies turned red and they both vanished. Then we could have seen their struggle instead of the pointless flashbacks in this episode.

So what's going to happen now on The Flash? Will the Crisis cause all the characters to conveniently forget about the headline and never mention it again?

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD, INCLUDING THE DEATH OF A MAJOR CHARACTER AND AN AMAZING SURPRISE CAMEO! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The Plot:
We begin 10,000 years ago on the planet Maltus. Prominent scientist Mar Novu and his wife Xneen are in the middle of an experiment to travel back to the Dawn Of Time and take a look around. Novu dons a protective suit (that looks suspiciously like The Monitor's armor) and enters the temporal chamber. He opens a portal into the past as Xneen monitors (heh) him.

Nova steps through the portal and finds himself in a void filled with swirling green energy. Suddenly an alarm goes off, and Xneen detects high levels of antimatter. She yells for Novu to return. There's a flash of light, and Novu finds himself in the middle of a desolate, green-tinted quarry. Xneen tells him he's somehow opened a rift into the Antimatter Universe.

He looks up and sees The Anti-Monitor standing above him. Novu radios Xneen and tells her that his ambition has doomed them all.

In the present day, the seven Paragons are still in the Vanishing Point. Ryan Choi, the Paragon Of Humanity, writes a letter to his wife (who no longer exists). He explains that after several months of chilling in the void, the Paragons are having trouble accepting the fact that everyone else in the entire Multiverse is dead. Barry Allen, aka the Flash, has even somehow gone missing. The rest are unsure how to escape, or even what to do next.

Ryan and Lex Luthor scavenge some Time Master tech and attempt to make a teleportation device. Supergirl orders Luthor to text it on himself, since he killed Superman-96 to take his place here. Luthor steps into the chamber and Ryan activates it, but nothing happens.

Just then Barry appears and streaks across the plain, crashing into a wall of rubble. The others ask where he's been the past few months. Barry says he went into the Speed Force to look for a way out, but was only inside for a few seconds (from his point of view).

In Purgatory, Oliver Queen— who's now the Spectre— relives his entire life, with emphasis on all his battles. He wakes up and sees Jim Corrigan (the former Spectre) sitting across from him. Corrigan asks what he saw, and Oliver says everything. Corrigan tells him he's ready, and that all his battles have prepared him for one last fight with The Anti-Monitor.

Back in the Vanishing Point, Barry says he has to enter the Speed Force again to look for a way out. The others try to stop him, as he's obviously in no condition to try. Just then Spectre Oliver (Spoliver?) appears, and says the Speed Force is the key to saving everyone. He tells them the Multiverse is gone, and has been replaced with the Antimatter Universe. The Anti-Monitor is at the Dawn Of Time, trying to make the change permanent.

Spectre Oliver orders Barry, Batwoman, White Canary and J'onn J'onzz to go to the Dawn Of Time to battle the Anti-Monitor, while Supergirl, Ryan and Luthor travel to Maltus in the past to prevent Mar Novu from opening his portal in the first place.

Barry says the Speed Force is blocking him for some reason, and he's not fast enough to break through. Spectre Oliver then touches Barry's forehead, "unlocking his potential," whatever that means.

Barry somehow grabs all six Paragons at the same time and whooshes them into the Speed Force. He drops Supergirl, Luthor and Ryan on Maltus in the past. As he takes the others to the Dawn Of Time, The Anti-Monitor appears and attacks. Barry and the others are then scattered throughout the Speed Force.

On Maltus, Supergirl and Ryan see a futuristic city in the distance. As they head for it, Supergirl realizes Luthor's slipped away.

In the Speed Force, Barry finds himself inside a replica or memory or something of Queen Consolidated (confusing!). Oliver appears and explains that he and the others were lost in the Speed Force after The Anti-Monitor attacked. He says Barry needs to hurry and collect Canary, J'onn and Batwoman before they fall out of the force and are destroyed. Hooray! A pointless quest to eat up some screen time! He tells Barry he can find the others by "remembering the moments when their bonds were forged."

Oliver disappears, and Barry finds himself in a vision of STAR Labs for some reason. Suddenly a different Barry Allen appears before him— the version from the Justice League movie. The two chat a bit and admire one another's costumes, and are surprised to find they both have the same name. Justice League Flash then promptly disappears.

On Maltus, Supergirl finds Luthor and asks him what he's up to. He says world domination of course, and fires energy rays from his hands, knocking her for a loop. He tells her he used the Book Of Destiny to "upgrade" himself, and blasts her unconscious. Ryan arrives and Lex blasts him as well.

Back in the Speed Force, the Paragons find themselves in "memories" from past episodes. Batwoman wakes inside Palmer Tech, where Ray Palmer, aka the Atom, is arguing with Oliver. J'onn lands in the Invasion! crossover, as Oliver tells Supergirl he doesn't trust aliens. Canary finds herself at the moment she died, as Laurel Lance and John Diggle stare at her body, which is laid out on a slab.

Ryan wakes and finds Supergirl. He wonders why he was chosen to be a Paragon, since he has no special powers. Supergirl gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk®, saying the fact that he was brave enough to leave his family and fight against The Anti-Monitor makes him special. As they head for the nearby city, Supergirl fears that Luthor will try to change history to his advantage.

Barry arrives in a memory of the Elseworlds crossover, as Superman fights John Deegan, who's used the Book Of Destiny to turn himself into an Evil Superman. Barry sees Oliver fire a special arrow at Deegan, which neutralizes his power. Barry approaches Oliver and asks what kind of Devil's bargain he made with The Monitor. Oliver says that Barry and Supergirl were destined to die saving the world, so he arranged to take their place. He tells Barry that dying's easy, as the real heroes have to keep going and fighting.

On Maltus, Mar Novu's about to open the portal and perform his experiment. Luthor enters and orders him to stop. He tells Novu his experiment will destroy the Multiverse, and offers to share his knowledge of the future with him. In return, Luthor wants the powers that Novu will soon acquire (?).

Supergirl and Ryan enter Novu's lab, and tell him not to trust Luthor. Ryan ushers Novu out of the chamber, while Supergirl and Luthor battle it out. Ryan begs Novu not to go through with his experiment, as it will cause an infinite number of lives to be lost. Novu agrees, and says Ryan's a remarkable individual.

Barry then zips around the Speed Force, collecting the Paragons from the various memories. He appears on Maltus as well, where he grabs Supergirl, Luthor and Ryan and takes everyone to the Dawn Of Time.

The Paragons are all shocked to see The Anti-Monitor waiting there for them. Ryan says that's impossible, as he convinced Novu not to conduct the experiment that set the whole Crisis in motion. The Anti-Monitor explains that there are an infinite number of Mar Novus in the Multiverse (!!!), and one will always be arrogant enough to go through with the experiment. Cue sound of falling slide whistle!

Spectre Oliver appears and tells them they're strong enough to hold the line while he "rebirths the Universe." He says the Dawn Of Time is the only place it can happen, and he'll "light the spark while they fan the flame." When they ask what the hell he's talking about, he tells them they'll know when it's time.

The Anti-Monitor summons his Shadow Demons, who attack the Paragons. Spectre Oliver stands on a cliff above, watching. The Anti-Monitor appears and says he's eternal, and it's too late for them to win. Spectre Olivers says, "We'll see," and the two engage in an epic battle. The Anti-Monitor fires a mighty blast of fire and energy at Spectre Oliver, who barely manages to hold his ground. He then rallies and pins The Anti-Monitor and grabs him by the lapels. Spectre Oliver growls a variation of his famous catchphrase, saying, "You. Have. Failed. This. Universe!"

Spectre Oliver then tilts his head back, as a beam of blue energy shoots from his eyes and into the sky. The Shadow Demons vanish. The Paragons see what's happening on the cliff, and wonder what they're supposed to do next. Luthor says maybe they can use his page from the Book Of Destiny to do what Oliver said and "fan the flames."

Supergirl suggests they each concentrate on the virtues they represent as Paragons. The seven of them line up, face Spectre Oliver and The Anti-Monitor, and grimace as they think good thoughts toward them.

The Anti-Monitor screams in pain, and there's a massive explosion of energy. As it dissipates, they see Spectre Oliver's the only one left. He falls to the ground, and Barry races Canary to the top of the cliff.

Barry and Canary find a weakened Oliver dying on the ground. He says they did it, and points to the sky above. They look and see a new universe forming. He says his end is also the beginning, and that he's at peace. He tells them to keep going and never stop, as this new world will need heroes like them.

Oliver then dies for a SECOND time in this crossover, as Barry and Canary comfort one another.

Thoughts:
• This episode begins with the origin of The Monitor, and the accidental creation of his counterpart The Anti-Monitor. As you might expect, it's all a lot different from how it happened in the Crisis On Infinite Earths comic. Get comfortable, it's complicated!

In the comic, there was originally only one Universe. Among the worlds it contained was the overpopulated planet Maltus, home of the first intelligent lifeforms in the galaxy. Thirteen billion years ago, a scientist named Krona conducted an experiment to peer back to the Dawn Of Time and witness the birth of the universe. Unfortunately the universe doesn't take kindly to being spied on, and reacted violently. Krona's experiment was a disaster, splintering reality and creating the Multiverse and the Antimatter Universe.

Feeling guilty for what Krona had done, half the Maltusian race relocated to the planet Oa, where they eventually founded the Green Lantern Corps. The other, evil half set up house on the planet Qward.

The Monitor was born on a moon of Oa, and was the living embodiment of all the positive matter universes. At the same time, The Anti-Monitor sprang from the soil on Qward. The two cosmic beings began battling across the universes, in a war that lasted a million years. 

Eventually they both blasted one another at the same time, which rendered each unconscious. They both laid dormant for nine billion years. Now that's a nap!

Then on an unnamed world, a scientist named Kell Mossa performed the exact same experiment as Krona, and tried to look back at the Dawn Of Time. Again, there were disastrous consequences, as his experiment woke the two Monitors. The Anti-Monitor got busy and began destroying the Multiverse with a wave of antimatter. Mossa's world was the first to be annihilated, and as a result he was somehow transformed into Pariah, a cosmic being who was doomed to witness the death of each world.

The Monitor then began studying and cataloging the Multiverse, hoping to find beings who could defeat his evil counterpart.

I could write another fifty thousand words about all this, but that'll do for now.

Here in the Arrowverse, it looks like they took the origins of Krona and Pariah, mashed them together and grafted them onto Mar Novu to explain how he became The Monitor.

I can see why they did this. The events in the comic were overly complicated and complex. Krona accidentally creates the Multiverse, the Monitors spring into being for vague reasons, and then Pariah's thrown into the mix as well. 

I approve of this new, streamlined Arrowverse origin of the Monitors. It's simple, to the point and much less confusing than the one in the comic. 

• More differences from the source material: In the Crisis comic, the antimatter wave threatened Earth-1 in ALL time periods, simultaneously. It affected characters living in prehistoric times, in WWII, in 1985 (the year the comic was published) and even in the 30th Century (where the Legion Of Superheroes lived).

I'm OK with them changing this for TV. I never understood how the antimatter wave could be in all time periods in the first place. If it destroyed Earth in WWII, then how would the planet still be around to get destroyed in 1985?

The only reason they did this in the comic is because at the time, DC had books set in various time periods, and they wanted all their characters to join in the Crisis fun.

• Pariah doesn't appear in this episode, but I forgot to mention something about him when I reviewed the previous parts. In the comic, Pariah was immune to antimatter. In fact that was kind of his shtick— he was doomed to "bear witness" to the destruction of other worlds by the antimatter wave. Once a world was annihilated, he was pulled to the next and had to do it all over again.

Here in the crossover, the antimatter wave destroyed Pariah along with everyone and everything else. In fact once Earth-1 is destroyed, Pariah completely disappears from the story! Not sure why they made this particular change, but there you go.

• The name "Maltus" likely derives from economist Thomas Malthus. He posited that Earth's population would increase exponentially, while the resources to support them would grow linearly. This would result in a massive catastrophe, which would wipe out the majority of the population and return it to sustainable levels.

In the comics, the planet Maltus suffered from massive overpopulation.

• When we first see Mar Novu he's got his weird cornrow hairstyle, that I assume was the height of fashion ten thousand years ago on Maltus. Oddly enough, his wife Xneen has a normal, contemporary Earth cut.

Are men the only ones allowed to have flamboyant dos on Maltus? Or did the makeup department not have enough money to give Xneen a similar Maltusian hairstyle?

• In Crisis On Infinite Earths: Part Three, I noted that The Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon— which he used to destroy the entire Multiverse, mind you— was housed in an hilariously tiny chamber that looked like it was built by a high school drama department. It was a perfect example of how this "Discount Crisis" was woefully under-budgeted.

Welp, it looks like the set department was saving up their money for this episode. Mar Novu's lab is sleek, futuristic and suitably awesome.

The temporal chamber is even more impressive. It actually contains two levels!

And it's also pretty darned big. At least two or three hundred feet long. Now this is what a scifi set should look like! Amazing what you can do when you actually spend some money!

Also, take a good look at the round control console in Novu's temporal chamber...

It reminds me a LOT of the one seen inside the TARDIS on Doctor Who. Not exact, but pretty darned close. There's no way this was a coincidence— I'm convinced it was a deliberate shoutout on the part of the set designer.

• When Novu first enters the temporal chamber, he's wearing a protective suit that will eventually become his Monitor costume. He looks at the suit with disdain and tells Xneen he looks ridiculous. She says the suit will protect him from coronal radiation. He reples, "Yes, yes, yes, I'm familiar with the jingle."

So... apparently they had advertising jingles ten thousand years ago on Maltus!

 • One last thing about Novu's lab set. It's filled with a dozen or so transparent monitors that display animated graphics. I don't think the readouts are being projected onto the glass, as they're pretty bright. Are these some sort of real, cutting edge clear monitors they're using? Or did they just hang up blank panes of glass and CGI the graphics onto them in post?

• When Novu steps through the portal to the Dawn Of Time, it looks like a vast dimension filled with roiling green energy. In fact it looks identical to the time stream that the Waverider routinely travels through over on Legends Of Tomorrow.

• In the early days of Doctor Who (another Who reference!), critics and fans alike often ridiculed the show for filming in the same local quarry and trying to pass it off as various alien planets.

In this episode, Mar Novu is accidentally transported to the Antimatter Universe. As the camera dramatically pulls back, we see this terrifying, otherworldly realm looks for all the world like... a quarry! In Vancouver, yet!

• When Oliver was recruited as the new Spectre in Part 3, I said it was unlikely that he'd look like the comic book version. I said there was no way his skin would turn bone white, or that he'd don a pair of green Speedos and a green cloak. I said he also probably wouldn't grow to five hundred feet tall and punch the equally giant Anti-Monitor in the nose.

Of course I was right about most of that. They did give him a cloak of sorts though. It's a bit different from that of the comic book Spectre, but I'll allow it.

It also looks like they made his face a bit paler too. Fortunately they passed on the green Speedos.

Neither Spectre Oliver or The Anti-Monitor grew to giant size (in this episode, at least), but they did battle one another kind of like they did in the comic.

• Interesting that the Paragons were stuck in the Vanishing Point for months before Spectre Oliver returned. How'd they survive all that time? I assume they must have found the remains of a Time Masters grocery store? Or at the very least an abandoned vending machine?

• Speaking of this... Barry tries to enter the Speed Force, but is spat back out by it. From his perspective he was only inside it for a few seconds, but months went by for the other Paragons. Yet Barry looks pale, weak and malnourished. In fact he looks like he was inside it for weeks— maybe even months!

Why's he look like he's in such bad shape if he was only in it for five seconds? Did he look like that BEFORE he tried to enter the Speed Force? If so, why's he look so ragged, when none of the others do? It's almost like the writers forgot they just said a few seconds passed for him.

• Now's a good a time as any to mention this— there are no Paragons in the Crisis On Infinite Earths comic. The concept of seven exceptional beings who are destined to defeat The Anti-Monitor was created specifically for the crossover. 

The comic did have Harbinger gather seven superheroes (Firestorm, Blue Beetle, Firebrand, Dawstar, King Solivar, Arion and Psycho Pirate) to protect the Quantum Towers from an initial wave of Shadow Demons. They were never called Paragons though, and were obviously not the same thing.

• I honestly expected the Paragons would be a lot more upset with Luthor. After all, he erased Superman-96 from existence (which is another way of saying killed) and seriously lessened the strength of the team in order to save his own skin. That seems like it'd be worth at least a couple severe beatings.

Instead, they all just act slightly annoyed by him. Like you would with someone who invited themselves to your party and started eating all the food.

To be fair though, we join them several months after they've been stuck in the Vanishing Point, so maybe they got most of their hatred and resentment out of their systems while we weren't looking.

• Spectre Oliver shows up in the Vanishing Point, and tells them the only way out is through the Speed Force. Barry says he tried to enter it, but just wasn't fast enough. Spectre Oliver touches Barry's forehead, and "unlocks his potential."

So what the hell does that mean? Can Barry now move at lightspeed, as he did in the comic? And will his potential remain unlocked once the Universe is rebooted?

• Once his potential's unlocked, Spectre Oliver says, "Run, Barry... Run!"

A year or so ago I started a "Run, Barry, Run" counter, to see how many times someone in the Arrowverse says it. I think I may have missed one or two instances last year, but as near as I can tell this is at LEAST the ninth time it's been uttered.

• Barry then somehow grabs the other six Paragons— all at the same time, mind you— and whooshes them into the Speed Force.

How in the name of Superman's Red Trunks did he do that? His power is running really fast! That's it! He doesn't have super strength! There's no way in hell he could pick up six adults, pile them all on his back and run off with them!

• For some reason, any time a character is inside the Speed Force in this episode the aspect ratio changes, becoming more movie-like. Hmm... I've no problem with this— it's actually a nice little visual cue to let us know where we are. It's just that Barry's visited the Speed Force many, many times over on The Flash, and I don't ever remember that happening before. 

By the way, is Spectre Oliver doing his impression of Rod Serling here? He looks— and even sounds— very much like him!

• And then we get the most shocking and surprising moment of the entire five part crossover! After entering the Speed Force, Barry finds himself inside a vision of STAR Labs. He hears a nasally voice behind him, and when he whips around he sees... Barry Allen from the DCEU Justice League movie! Holy Sh*tballs!

For the record, I hated Warner's awful and incoherent Justice League movie, and I thought actor Ezra Miller made a pretty poor Flash. All that said... this scene was awesome! I actually uttered an audible "Wow!" when I saw it.

Of all the cameos I expected to see in this crossover, this one was definitely at the bottom of the list. Heck, who am I kidding— it wasn't on the list at all! I'm amazed that Miller agreed to appear here, as he generally doesn't do a lot of TV. Good for him for agreeing to it though, in an effort to promote the DCEU and unite the fans.

I'm also absolutely gobsmacked that the producers managed to keep this a secret— especially in the age of social media. Kudos!

• When Barry meets DCEU Barry, they have the following conversation:

Barry: "I'm also the Flash."
DCEU Barry: "You're also the what?"
Barry: "The Flash."
DCEU Barry: "The Flash? The Flash..."

DCEU Barry doesn't recognize the name, because as amazing as it seems, I don't think anyone ever actually called him "The Flash" in the Justice League movie. I'd have to watch it again to be 100% certain though, and that ain't happening.

• I'm not gonna spend much time on the Speed Force part of the episode, as I thought the scenes were all pointless and boring as hell. They ate up valuable screentime that could have been used to flesh out the actual story, and the only reason they were included was because they were cheaper to film than epic, Endgame-style battle scenes.

Since these scenes were all flashbacks, I'll list where they came from:

— The scene at Queen Consolidated was the first time Oliver and Barry ever met, and came from the Arrow Season 2 episode The Scientist. 

— Oliver and Ray arguing at Palmer Tech came from the Arrow Season 3 episode Suicidal Tendencies. 

— Oliver and Supergirl arguing over aliens came from Season 2 of Legends Of Tomorrow, specifically the Invasion! Part 3 episode.

— Barry watching Oliver shoot the magic arrow at John Deegan/Evil Superman was from Supergirl Season 4 episode Elseworlds, Part 3.

— Diggle and Laurel hovering over White Canary's corpse is from the Arrow Season 3 episode Sara.

• I can see now that Ryan Choi's gonna give Cisco a run for his money when he joins the cast of Legends. He's quite the quipster here, tossing out one liners left and right all through this episode.

— When Spectre Oliver first appears in the Vanishing Point, Ryan says, "Nice outfit. Very... Sith."

— When he, Supergirl and Luthor are dropped off on Maltus, Ryan looks around and says, "Why doesn't this alien forest look more alien?" Way to point out the budget shortfalls, Ryan!

— When Ryan frets that he's not a Paragon because he doesn't have powers, Supergirl says he has more worth than he knows. He says, "I don't know about hope, but you're definitely the Paragon Of Pep Talks." 

That last one's pretty meta, as I'm constantly ragging the writers of The Flash for filling their scripts with countless maudlin Patented The CW Pep Talks®. Is... is it possible they've read my blog, and are aware that the audience is onto them here, and they decided to comment on it?

Anyway, I'm torn about Ryan Choi. He's very likable here, as the producers are doing everything in their power to endear him to us. But they're also forcibly removing Brandon Routh, aka Atom (along with his real life wife Courtney Ford) from Legends in order to replace him with Osric Chau as Ryan. Part of me can't help but resent Ryan because of that.

• In Crisis Part 3 I noted that since Luthor used the Book Of Destiny to replace Superman-96, the Paragons were now gonna be seriously under-powered. Replacing a Kryptonian with a normal, middle-aged human? How the hell were they supposed to beat The Anti-Monitor now?

Apparently the writers realized that as well, so they had Luthor use the Book to "give himself a few upgrades." He can now fire powerful energy beams from his hands. He's nowhere near as strong as Superman of course, but at least now he's a somewhat formidable threat. Kudos to the writers for coming up with this little fix.

I'm assuming that once the Universe is reset, Luthor will no longer have these newfound powers?

• Luthor breaks into Novu's lab, seconds before he begins his temporal experiment. Novu asks what he wants. Luthor says, "You will soon have certain abilities that I will need in order to deal with some, shall we say, super problems popping up in my world."

I guess Luthor's implying that he wants The Monitor's powers in order to kill the Super Cousins on his Earth. So is he going to try and steal The Monitor's powers? Or is he going to take his place and go back to the Dawn Of Time himself? It's not quite clear what his plan is here.

• Let's talk about Batwoman's costume during Crisis, shall we? In Part One, she's fighting crime in her Batsuit when Harbinger appears and teleports her to Earth-38. So far so good.

She spends the entirety of Part Two wearing perfectly fitting street clothes. I kinda doubt she brought 'em with her, so maybe she asked Leonard, the Earth-74 Waverider's AI, to replicate some for her (something that we've seen the Earth-1 ship do on Legends).

She then wears her costume all through Part Three, but without the mask and bright red clown wig. Note that her mask & wig are most definitely absent when Pariah teleports her and the other Paragons to the Vanishing Point.

Then in Part Four, Barry takes her and the others into the Speed Force, and exits into the Antimatter Universe. Suddenly Batwoman's mask and wig are back! WHOOOPS!

So where the hell did these items come from? I suppose I could be generous here and say she might have rolled up her mask and tucked it into a hidden compartment in her suit. Maybe. But there's no way in hell she stuffed that bulky wig in any pocket!

Even more amazing, the second the Pargons arrived in the quarry, er, I mean Antimatter Universe, Batwoman quickly applied the black makeup around her eyes to blend them in with her mask while we weren't looking!

• So Ryan talks Novu out of performing his experiment, meaning the Antimatter Universe is never formed, nor is The Anti-Monitor created. Barry then whisks all the Paragons out of the Speed Force and back to the Dawn Of Time... where the Antimatter Universe exists again! Wait, what? And to make it even more confounding, The Anti-Monitor's there waiting for them when they arrive. What the hell?

The writers make a very lame attempt to justify this incongruity:

Supergirl: "Where are we?"

Barry: "The Antimatter Universe."

Canary: "At the Dawn of Time."

J'onn: "We arrived, and he was already here... The Anti-Monitor."

Ryan: "That's impossible. I got through to him. I know I did."

The Anti-Monitor: "Some fates are inescapable. You spoke to one man across countless universes. But within the tapestry of the Multiverse, there will always be one Mar Novu who cannot turn from his towering ambition, and in that inevitability, there is destiny. Welcome to mine!"

Cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme.

So apparently, despite the fact that we were never given the most microscopic hint that this was the case, there are an infinite number of Mar Novus in the Multiverse. And each one is capable of building a portal and traveling to the Dawn Of Time, where he accidentally allows the antimatter universe to pour in, transforming him into The Monitor and creating The Anti-Monitor.

This is an extremely objectionable and unsatisfactory plot development. It basically negates EVERYTHING the heroes have done up to this point. No matter what they do, no matter how hard they fight, it doesn't matter because there will always be an Anti-Monitor in the end. They all might as well have stayed home and relaxed as each of their respective Earths were wiped out by the antimatter wave. 

The only hero who escapes unscathed here is Oliver. His sacrifice is the only one that actually made any difference, since it allowed him to become the Spectre and kill The Anti-Monitor.

• Back in Part One I complained that we never got a good look at the Shadow Demons' faces, as they were always filmed from several hundred feet away. In this episode we finally get a closeup view of one of them. 

Meh... their faces just look like generic ghouls or zombies with glowing red eyes. Maybe that's why they were trying to keep 'em as far from the camera as possible!

• My favorite moment from the episode: "YOU. HAVE. FAILED. THIS. UNIVERSE!!!"

• It's good to see the Blue Laser That Fires Up Into The Sky getting work again! Good for you! I've really missed you, man.

• I brought this up in my reviews of the previous Crisis episodes, but I still feel it's worth a repeat: What good are The Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons? 

They're presented as a legitimate threat, but in reality they're little more than a slight nuisance. They can literally be destroyed by a light tap! Hell, even Ryan Choi, the normal guy with no powers, is shown destroying dozens of them with nothing but his bare fists!

Look, I get it— the Shadow Demons' fragility is a storytelling conceit, designed to give the good guys a fighting chance. There are thousands of the things, and if it took a huge amount of power, effort and time to kill even one, the heroes would all be doomed. So I understand why the writers gave them a weakness.

It's just that it makes it hard to take the Demons seriously when they can be defeated so easily.

• Once they see Spectre Oliver shooting the blue laser out of his eyes, the Paragons realize this is the moment for which they were chosen. They all line up, as each concentrates on his or her defining quality. 

Note that Lex Luthor is in the lineup. You know, the guy who murdered Superman-96 in order to take his place and not be destroyed by the antimatter wave. He's there. As the Paragon Of Truth. HAW!

Honestly I'm not sure I'd want Lex there thinking good thoughts at Spectre Oliver. How do any of the others know he won't try and somehow alter this new universe to his own advantage?

Also, this was one of the most important moments of the entire crossover. As such it needed to be suitably epic. Instead, the Paragons just line up and stare calmly into the distance. 

This scene definitely needed some sort of special effects. Like some sort of beams emerging from everyone's chests, to indicate they were sending positive energy toward the new universe. Or a glowing aura around each of the Paragons. They could have at least made their eyes all glow, for corn's sake. Something, anything besides just standing there like lumps.

• I forgot to bring this up in the previous episode, so now's as good a time as any to mention it. We know that in Part 3, Luthor used a single page from the Book Of Destiny to overwrite Superman-96 and take his place as the Paragon Of Truth. If you're like me, you're probably wondering how he got ahold of the page in the first place. The answer was right under our noses the whole time!

In Part 2, The Monitor resurrects Luthor, saying he has a role to play in the Crisis. A bit later we see him in the Waverider's library, leafing through the Book Of Destiny. Later on he steals the book and uses it to try and kill the Superman of every Earth in the Multiverse. Eventually he's defeated and taken back to the Waverider, where he's tossed into the Med Bay, behind a forcefield.

Inside the forcefield, we see he's now casually reading The Count Of Monte Cristo. Tucked into the middle of the book is a suspiciously ancient looking piece of paper he's using as a bookmark. Hmm...

At the end of the episode Luthor replaces Superman. When the others ask how he did it, he pulls the bookmark from his book. He then unfolds it and reveals it's a page from the Book Of Destiny— that he no doubt ripped out when he was using it to kill Supermen.

See? It's right there in the open, but so subtle most people probably didn't even notice it. I know I didn't until I watched the episode a second time. Well done!

By the way, Luthor's choice of reading material is fairly apt. The Count Of Monte Cristo concerns a man who's wrongly accused of a crime by several others, and locked up in an island prison. He eventually escapes, assumes the identity of a wealthy Count, and exacts revenge on the men who ruined his life.

No doubt Luthor sees himself in the story, believing himself wrongly accused and seeking vengeance on the capes who locked him up.

• Kudos to Caity Lotz, Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell for their fantastic performances during Oliver's (second) death scene. If Ollie's (second) death didn't at least bring a tear to your eye, you're already dead.

It was also nice to see Barry and Canary together so much in this episode. We don't get to see nearly enough of these two interacting, and they're great together!

Kind of wondering why Supergirl wasn't there with them. After all, Oliver gave his life to save her too, so it seems like she should have at least been standing behind the other two...

• I'm having trouble understanding why it was necessary to kill Oliver TWICE in this crossover event. He died at the end of Part One, the heroes resurrected him, and now he does it again at the end of this episode. 

But why? Why do the same death scene a second time? Did they not want a major character like Oliver dying on someone else's show (he died the first time on Supergirl), so they killed him again so he could go out with a bang (literally!) on his own series?

Who knows? All I know is that offing him twice felt cheap and manipulative.

Here's a quick fix for the writers. At the end of Part One, Oliver's defending Earth-38. At the last second, Jim Corrigan appears and says, "Oliver Queen! I'm hear to help you fulfill your destiny!" He'd then grab Oliver and the two would disappear. Then we'd get occasional "training scenes" in Parts Two and Three, and he'd finally return as the Spectre in this episode.

That way we wouldn't have had to sit through the dull Lazarus Pit and Purgatory scenes, and everything would still play out the same in this episode. Of course no Purgatory would mean we'd have lost the Lucifer cameo, but... eh, you can't have everything.

• In my reviews of Part One and Part Three I pointed out how much this Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover resembles Marvel's Infinity War and Endgame. Welp, you ain't seen nothing' yet— they go all out and reeeeally double down on the Endgame parallels here in Part Four!

— In Endgame, Ant-Man escapes from the Quantum Realm. He was only inside the otherworldly void for five hours, but five years passed in the outside world.

In Crisis Part Four, the Paragons are stuck in the Vanishing Point. Barry enters the Speed Force to try and escape. He's only inside it a few seconds before it ejects him, but several months pass for the others.

— In Endgame, the heroes use the Quantum Realm to travel back in time, where they can defeat Thanos before he collects all the Infinity Stones.

In Part Four, the heroes use the Speed Force to go back in time to Maltus, and stop Mar Novu before he conducts his experiment that creates the Antimatter Universe and The Anti-Monitor.

— In Endgame, the heroes go back in time to several specific periods.

In Part Four, the heroes enter the Speed Force, which recreates several specific periods in the past.

— In Endgame, the heroes kill Thanos in the present day. Unfortunately things don't end there, as a version of Thanos from the past comes to the present and battles the heroes.

In Part Four, the heroes successfully prevent The Anti-Monitor from being created. Unfortunately when they return to the Dawn Of Time, they find an alternate universe version of him waiting for them.

— And once again, Endgame features the death of the major character who kicked off the entire MCU.

Part Four features the death of the major character who kicked off the entire Arrowverse.

There're so many parallels and outright swipes that it wouldn't surprise me if Marvel's lawyers come a knockin' on The CW's door!

It's actually kind of murky as to who's aping who here. As I said in Part One, the Crisis On Infinite Earths comic came out in 1985, predating Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet (basis of Infinity War) by six years. But Infinity War beat Crisis to the screen. So even though Crisis came first, it feels like it's copying Infinity War. And based on this episode, there's no "feel" about it. They literally are copying huge swathes of Endgame here!

• This Week's Best Lines:

I didn't do this for any of the previous Crisis episodes, because frankly there just weren't any that stood out. Part Four finally had a few though— most of them from Luthor.

(In the Vanishing Point, Ryan and Lex cobble together a teleporation device.)
Canary: "So we send somebody to test it."
J'onn: "I'll go."
Supergirl: "No. We've lost too many good people already. Thanks for volunteering, Lex."

(Supergirl, Ryan and Lex are transported to the planet Maltus, ten thousand years in the past.)

Supergirl: "What do you think you're doing?"

Luthor: "What you should have done the moment fleet feet dropped us off here— checked out the lay of the land, looked for hidden dangers. We are on an alien world. Any number of chest busters or predators could be lying in wait. Don't you capes ever watch a movie?"

Supergirl: "I'm guessing you haven't flown on an alien planet either."

Ryan: "I've never flown."

Supergirl: "No, but it's okay, Dr. Choi. You don't have to be nervous. It's just up, up, and away."

Oliver: "You and Kara, Barry, you were fated to die trying to save the world."

Barry: "Right before you died, you said you'd given up everything for me and Kara. You made some kind of Devil's Bargain with The Monitor to save us, didn't you?"

Oliver: "No. It wasn't a Devil's Bargain, Barry, and I'd make it again in a second."

Barry: "It cost you your family, Oliver. It cost you your life."

Oliver: "Dying's the easy part. The dead are at peace, but the real heroes are the ones who have to keep going."

(Luthor surprises Mar Novu in his lab.)

Luthor: "Hi. Lex Luthor. I'm here to make you an offer I won't let you refuse."

(Luthor makes Mar Novu an offer he won't let him refuse and makes a comic book reference while he's at it.)

Luthor: "So what do you say? Team up? The Brave and the Bald?"

Supergirl: "Mar Novu, do not trust this man with anything! Give him a knife for his food, and no matter how much he thanks you for the dinner, he'll stab you right in the back with it!"

Luthor: "Or the front. I'm not choosy."

Spectre Oliver: "I'll light the spark, you fan the flame."
Luthor: "And how do we do that?"
Spectre Oliver: "You'll know when it's time."
Luthor: "Why do you cosmic types always have to be so obtuse?"
Spectre Oliver: "If I knew, I'd tell you."

(Spectre Oliver attacks The Anti-Monitor.)

Spectre Oliver: "You. Have. Failed. This. Universe!"

(Oliver sacrifices his life for a second time, as Barry and Canary rush to his side.)

Oliver: "There was an end. And there's a beginning. You remember what I told you?"

Barry: "Dying is the easy part."

Oliver: "I'm at peace. The real heroes..."

Barry: "They're the ones that have to keep going."

Oliver: "So. Keep. Going. And don't ever stop. This world, this new world. It needs both of you."

Canary: (looking up at the new universe forming) "Barry..."
Barry: "An end."

Canary: "And a beginning."