‘The Flash’ Armageddon – Round-up & Review
Barry makes some Hard Choices
Hello everyone. Welcome back for another round of The Flash Armageddon or Barry Allen’s Very Bad Day: Bad to Worst. It’s not enough to think you’re going crazy. When we left off, Barry just found out his worst enemy has stolen his wife and friends.
Central City 2031
In short, Barry shows up to the party, everyone hates him, they suit up and fight. Barry realises even his ring has changed to hold the Reverse Flash suit.
Eobard Thawne tells Barry he has made a Reverse Flashpoint. He went back in time so he was the one struck by lightning. For good measure, he also went further back to kill child Barry. Barry only still exists because the timeline has not solidified, but Barry is already starting to fade in and out.
Here’s what happened in 2021 in this timeline:
- Allegra moved to London.
- She and Chester had a one night stand years ago but decided to remain friends, and now things are aWkward.
- Frost and ChillBlaine the Hunky Bartender are currently together. They missed the fighting because they were getting randy in a bathroom stall.
- Barry, as the Reverse Flash, teamed up with Damien Darhk. Together, they killed the Legends (including Ray) and Cisco (!!!!). Also, Nora Darhk is dead in this timeline, presumably because Damien failed to take her place as the vessel of the demon Mallus (see Legends of Tomorrow season 3 finale if you haven’t. It’s epic.) Damien still has his timestone.
- Ryan Choi has assumed the Atom mantle, and has a watch thingy that can shrink people without shrinking himself.
- Cecile sometimes uses the Psycho Pirate mask to amplify her abilities (YES THANK YOU. even if it was only for 2 seconds.)
In the melee, Barry managed to drop the lightning rod line to Iris, but it seems even Thawne co-opted that.
Partners in Crime
“Reverse Flash” Barry seeks out his old partner Damien, claiming revenge against “the Flash” Eobard Thawne. Damien says they need to steal this thingamabob called a Particle Eradication Distributor (PED) from Star Labs. (Sometimes I wonder how this show keeps coming up with random science-sounding names for completely made up things.)
Damien and Barry successfully steal the PED, but Damien figures out that Barry isn’t the Reverse Flash he knows. Under attack, Barry admits who he and Thawne really are. Damien can’t help be impressed with the roundabout levels of Thawne’s scheming. However, he still decides to keep helping Barry when he learns that in the original timeline, Nora got to live.
To restore the timeline, Barry calculates that he has to run around the world at an incredible speed. The pressure could mess up nature and destroy the earth. This is the Armageddon Despero saw.
Damien gives Barry a major pep talk in a way only Damien Darhk can. “LOVE, Barry. You’re the paragon of it. You restarted an entire universe with LOVE, this should be peanuts.” Even if Iris doesn’t remember their love, Barry does. Damien also mentions that he doesn’t want to die, but he would do it for Nora (oh, my heart.)
LOVE
Barry goes to see Iris one more time before he potentially destroys the world. Earlier, Iris had been having cold feet before the wedding. Batwoman advised her to “listen to her heart”.
She is still wary of Barry, but when faced with the choice, she shoots Thawne with Velocity Zero, letting Barry get away. Barry takes off on his big run.
Meanwhile, Alex Danvers learns that when morning after Chester and Allegra hooked up, Chester went to get breakfast. Allegra ran away before he got back as she was afraid of starting a relationship given her messy family background. She chose to believe he bailed on her and pushed him away. Ryan is a cynic when it comes to romance, but later admits he is just scared of expressing his feelings. He encourages Allegra to make up with Chester for Chester’s sake.
So as Barry triggers Armageddon, Ryan gives Allegra a *hint hint* in case it really is the end of the world. Poor Caitlin is still in the cortex as Allegra and Chester declare their love and kiss dramatically.
As Barry runs he starts to see the old timeline. Iris begins to remember. Barry hears her saying she loves him, and reconnects to the speedforce.
2021, the OG
Upon undoing Flashpoint, Barry returns to 2021 to find the team having lunch, none the wiser to the whole last two days or so. His relief is so sweet, more so when he finds out Joe is alive. He immediately runs to the West house.
Damien also shows up to ask for his time stone back so he can check on Nora before he gets erased. They actually have a nice moment. Barry tries to tell Damien he did the Right Thing, but Damien says “I’m no hero, Barry. I’m just a dad.”
Is every life worth saving?
Thawne is fading from the timeline, and asks the Flash to save him. Team Flash are obviously conflicted. Caitlin, Iris, and Barry all don’t want to risk more trouble and pain caused by him. Despero shows up. He’s checked and confirmed that okay, Armageddon 2031 is prevented. But he says they should let Thawne die to prevent another Armageddon.
The newer bunch – Allegra and Chester – worry that this goes against who Team Flash are as people. Iris and Barry shut them down, until Joe pulls them away for a very stern father lecture. Oh my god this scene was amazing. With Barry and Iris’ posture, it really looked like two kids getting a scolding from their dad.
Barry already knew if they take Thawne’s speed away it would stop him being erased (idk how that works but let’s just roll with it.) To avoid Joe’s Disappointment, Barry and Iris relent.
The Flash’s new digs
Of course, this angers Despero and he threatens to level Central City so Thawne can die.
Chester melted down the PED that Barry brought back from 2031 to make new boots for the Flash suit. The materials let him conduct energy?? I’m losing track of the fictional science on this show. The Flash runs fast enough to create mega vacuum that extinguishes Despero’s Flame of Pytar (the source of power on his homeworld). And the boots let him harness it?? to shoot Thawne with enough lightning to blowout his connection to the negative speedforce.
Thawne is LIVID. Life without his speed is nothing. Anyway, he’s sent to ARGUS.
Some well-deserved TLC
The team dress up and go to a swanky bar to celebrate not ending the world. Damien joins them to give Barry his final goodbye. Then he proceeds to wallflower as he counts down his time. The timeline should solidify soon and he will fade. He and Joe have a parental heart to heart. Damien gives Joe his time stone and says he has a feeling he would need it someday.
Then suddenly Damien disappears from the physical world. He finds himself in a time purgatory where he gets to talk to Nora before the timeline erases him for good. Nora appears in his place at the bar. She doesn’t seems to know what happened or that she was ever erased from the timeline. Poor girl.
At CCPD, we see Bart and Nora appear in an old photo from 2014.
Review
Okay, the Reverse Flashpoint was a lot of fun. Seeing Thawne in the red suit and Barry in the yellow was just so weird, like the suits didn’t really fit either of them.
Damien Darhk was such a joy (imagine telling me I would write this 8 years ago.) Despite his all-black getup, his personality lit up the overall darker aesthetic of Central City 2031. Yet there was still a balance between the jovial evil Darhk and Soft Dad Damien who just cares about his daughter. Like Jefferson in the previous instalment, his personality complemented Barry’s perfectly.
The final lap back in 2021 didn’t feel as exciting. However, the question of whether one should save their arch-enemy’s life was an interesting one. While the Flash is supposed to be virtuous and all, I can’t blame Barry, Iris, and Caitlin for wanting to let Thawne die. He killed their loved ones and tried to ruin their lives many times. Thawne even straight up told Barry that if he lived, he would just go on plotting to ruin Barry’s life again.
In the end though, they probably gave Thawne a punishment worse than death.
What’s coming for The Flash season 8 proper?
So now we’ll move on to a regular TV season. It seems the WestAllen twins have gotten up to some time-travelling shenanigans. I’m all in for that. The moment between Damien and Jow is intriguing. What did Damien mean by Joe might need the time stone some day? Plus, having a magic object in a show that tries to be science-y…things might get complicated.
Finally, some outstanding quotes:
- “You calling cookies ‘biscuits’ yet?”
- “I hate science.”
LOL, Damien. He never fails with his delivery.
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