The Flash season 3 finale “Finish Line” aired 23 May, 2017.
What a roller coaster ride. In a season of ups and downs, “Finish Line” was 40 fast-paced minutes full of twists and turns, ultimately reminding everyone why Barry Allen is a hero.
The episode picks up where we left off, with Barry cradling Iris’ body on the steps. Joe drops his gun and collapses at his post. Tracy stands in shock. HR appears from wherever he has been, picks up Joe’s gun and takes aim, but he’s too late. Except…
HR’s drumsticks fall out of Iris’ coat. Iris gasps for breath and reveals herself as HR. He used the broken shard from Savitar’s suit to locate Savitar’s lair and free Iris. When they couldn’t escape, he used the facial transmodifier to swap their appearances, tricking Killer Frost into subduing him and leaving Iris. Thus, it was HR that Savitar stabbed.
“I couldn’t be a coward. I’m not a coward,” he explains. He tells Tracy he believes in her and asks Barry to pass Cisco a message. His last words are “Now, go stop Savitar.”
Easier said than done
The team catch Julian up and check that Iris’ name has been restored to the time vault article. Julian spent last week working with Caitlin’s mum to develop a serum that could overwrite Caitlin’s meta DNA, ridding her powers. They also talk about how by saving Iris, Barry never goes emo and create time remnants, meaning eventually SavitarBarry will eventually be erased.
Meanwhile, Savitar takes the bazooka and orders a captured Cisco to alter it into an interdimensional quantum splicer. His plan B is to scatter himself throughout the speedforce, allowing him to “rule time”. If Cisco doesn’t comply, he will kill Caitlin.
Barry reflects on anger and hate and realises that getting back at Savitar isn’t the way to go. He meets SavitarBarry and offers to help him not get erased. Everyone at Star Labs bar Iris and Barry are hostile towards SavitarBarry. Also, Tracy is the only one left who can help him, and she definitely doesn’t want to…until Iris gets Harry to convince her.
Redemption
It doesn’t matter though, because SavitarBarry’s change of heart was a premeditated act. He releases the philosopher’s stone’s power, destroying the Star Labs building. He heads back to his lair to finish Cisco off but Gypsy shows up to save him! She vibed his peril across the multiverse.
In a deserted park area, Savitar opens a breach, from which Black Flash appears. Killer Frost freezes him – her main purpose for Savitar – then delivers her best line: “See you later, Hunter.”
Savitar stands before the breach as Killer Frost fires the bazooka at him, but it doesn’t scatter him. Jay Garrick races out and whammies the evil speedster. Savitar should have made sure Cisco made the proper modifications to the bazooka.
The speedsters chase Savitar while the vibers face Killer Frost. Cisco knocks her down, but refuses to end her life despite her goading. He hands her the serum, giving her the choice to become Caitlin again. Savitar grabs Cisco and prepares to phase his hand through his heart (stop threatening Cisco’s life like that already!) but is thrown back by a blast of ice. Caitlin came through! Yay KillerVibe friendship!
The Flash resists the dark side
Barry goes hand to hand with Savitar. He phases into the suit, knocking SavitarBarry out. He makes to kill the remnant. “Kill me and you become me,” SavitarBarry taunts. Instead, Barry vibrates until the suit shatters. He is not a killer.
SavitarBarry scrambles towards Caitlin and Cisco, but Iris shoots him in the back before he reaches them. SavitarBarry gets erased from the timeline.
Team Flash bury HR. Half the team wear shades to the funeral for some reason, looking sharp as heck. Iris delivers HR’s eulogy, declaring him a hero. Cisco lays the man’s drumsticks at the grave. Barry relays HR’s message to Cisco – that Cisco gave HR strength.
Caitlin appears and returns Julian his cure. Her hair is still white and she still has her shimmery blue makeup, but her irises are normal. She says she is “no longer Caitlin” and has to figure out who she is on her own.
Happy never after
All seems well (ha, pun) in Central City…until the speedforce starts racks up an energy storm. Jay surmises the speedforce prison is unstable because it’s occupant was not replaced. Barry decides he must fill that vacancy as punishment for creating Flashpoint. He tells Wally to take care of the city as Kid Flash, and asks Harry to “stick around”, to which Harry answers “anything for you” (so I guess he will be our Wells of the season again in s4). Barry tells Cisco he is a hero that the team can look to (and don’t mess it up with Gypsy).
Barry thanks Joe for giving him a home and a family. “You saved me.” Lastly, he turns to Iris and asks her to keep living her life even though he won’t be around. Then he walks into the speedforce with the speedforce-personified Nora Allen.
We will get him back, right? It’s not The Flash without, well, the Flash.
Flashpoints:
- It was surreal seeing Tom Cavanagh and Candice Patton playing each other’s characters.
- The article Iris write in 2024 mentions Arrow and the Atom.
- Cisco to SavitarBarry: “That thin crust pizza you call a face.”
- SavitarBarry to Barry and Iris: “Do I sit brideside or groomside?”
- That whole conversation where SavitarBarry was wondering how he’s going to live with all of Barry’s memories could open up some interesting discussion about the treatment and use of time remnants.
- Barry to Cisco: “I know you’ve had a connection with every Wells…” How very meta.
Run to our Flash Zone if you can’t get enough of The Flash!
(featured image: the CW)
