Okay, so we’ve gotten our mid-season/winter finale for the
Flash in “The Present”. I was actually
really impressed with this episode, and I can’t say that I’ve been terribly
impressed with a lot that has gone on this season. For the greater part of the last nine
episodes it feels like Barry has been doing a lot of apologizing, which is
fair. When he re-wrote time with
Flashpoint, he screwed up pretty big. Not
with the actual Flashpoint event itself, but in un-doing that event…that’s really
where he screwed up. He keeps
apologizing for making Flashpoint, but it’s really him trying to reset the
timeline that caused the problems.
Anyway, he’s done a lot of apologizing.
But you know what; I’m not going to recap everything that’s happened
to this point because this is about “The Present” not the past. See what I did there? WAIT DON’T GO! I promise no more puns.
Well, I’ll try anyway.
The episode opens with a flashback to Julian before his days
in Central City, where he discovers some ancient artifact and ends with him
screaming. The scene opens with voice
over narration from Tom Felton, and I have to say that I like hearing the man
do narration. That’s not an easy thing
to pull off, so hats off to him. We then
jump to a quick jaunt to Earth 3 where Barry assists Jay Garrick in apprehending
the Trickster, played beautifully by Mark Hamill. Mark really channels a cross between his
classic Trickster and his time as the Joker for this bit. It’s very brief but so welcomed. Mark Hamill and John Wesley Shipp returning
as “The Flash vs the Trickster” is certainly a call back to the 1990’s Flash TV
series, and Shipp even said in interviews that in his mind this Flash and
Trickster are the same as from the 1990’s, just so many years later.
Flash enlists Jay’s assistance with Savitar, with Jay
offering some exposition about the myth that surrounds the god of speed. Barry soon learns that Julian, who forced him
to resign as a CSI, is tied to research around this problem and confronts him,
getting a small amount of explanation. Deeper digging reveals that Julian is
more closely tied to the enemy as his research team was apparently wiped out
when they discovered the artifact, leaving him the sole survivor. Dr. Alchemy uses the Philosopher’s Stone to
try and create a massive amount of meta humans, but is interrupted by the Flashes. Savitar appears and takes Jay on a stomp
around the city while Barry apprehends Alchemy and captures the stone, only to
find that Julian is in fact Dr. Alchemy.
Closing the case around the stone apparently cuts Savitar’s
physical form out and Jay is taken back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco works on understanding the stone and is
freaked out by it because all the tests he runs on it say that it doesn’t
exist. At the same time he is also
seeing phantom visions of his dead brother Dante, whom he’d just come to grips
with loosing. Julian, while in custody,
claims no knowledge of being Alchemy and accuses Barry of being out to get
him. Cisco, meanwhile, opens the stone’s
case and unleashes Savitar who attacks the Flash. Wally launches to assist, and the two managed
to distract Savitar enough (by getting mercilessly pummeled by him) long enough
for Caitlin to convince Cisco to close the case, sending Savitar away. Julian is then brought in to serve as means
to talk to Savitar directly and the ancient being makes several prophecies that
spell the end of the team. Jay and Barry
agree to launch the stones into the Speed Force so it can’t harm anyone. While caught in the Speed Force, Barry finds
himself five months into the future and witnesses Savitar killing Iris. Jay pulls him out, and explains that what he
saw was one possible future, not set in stone, and that he needed to spend time
with the people he loves. The team
decides to take a Christmas break since there are no ancient gods, monsters,
aliens, or villains to deal with.
Julian takes Caitlin up on an offer to join the West
household for Christmas (do we see another potential romance?) and we see H.R.,
who’s a pretty loose guy get drunk. Joe
brings a date and the team seems oddly at peace. Carolers come and H.R. makes an off handed
comment about singing in the rain being kind of sad. Caitlin, much to Cisco’s surprise and
concern, removes one of her power inhibitors and turns the rain into snow,
pointing out that they can bring some joy to the world. Barry and Iris sneak off to see his present
to her, which is an apartment for them to share.
Overall this has been my favorite episode of the year, and a
strong stopping point for a series that probably won’t be back until late
January. Everyone brought their A-game,
and it didn’t feel like there were any phoned in performances. H.R. and Joe’s character arcs felt natural,
with H.R. getting some really solid “real world” truth to dealing with Wally’s
abilities. Julian has kind of become the
new Wells, in respect that you still aren’t sure what side of the good vs evil
line he sits on, though he did get Barry his job back. Julian, I think, is starting to get a good
understanding of what it’s like on Team Flash, racing around the city trying to
stop disasters, and that I think worked a lot to soften his hard heart. Julian’s backstory also comes better into
view, and Tom Felton brings a great, subtle performance to the character.
Jay’s inclusion in the roster was also fun, I love John
Wesley Shipp and I’m really glad to see him back on the series, with promises
of more Jay in the future. The do a nice
bit after the first battle with Savitar where Jay comments that Barry’s father
would have been proud of him with Barry quickly excusing him, indicating that
he’s still dealing with the fact that Jay is his father’s duplicate.
I know we aren’t done with Savitar by a long shot, but it
still felt a little phoned in, story wise that he appeared twice in the episode
and was beaten both times rather easily.
There aren’t any closeout stingers or bait for the next episode with is
both refreshing and a little disappointing at the same time. It’s refreshing since you pretty much expect
that kind of thing now, but also disappointing because I personally wanted
something sinister looming on the horizon to make me interested in coming back
after the break.
But that was the episode.
Check it out on the CW app, On Demand, or any of the streaming devices
that allow you to view CW shows.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
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