TV’s The Flash “The Race of His Life” Season Finale Review

Is Barry Allen still Flash after the season finale?

Is Barry Allen still Flash after the season finale?

The sophomore season of The Flash has had its ups and downs this season but that was to be expected.  After a stellar first season it was going to be really hard for the producers and writers to match the level of expectations everyone going into the season.  Ultimately every show is judged by how well the finale ties all the conflicts up at the end and where our heroes will go next.  Last night’s finale for The Flash had some minor flaws but overall was a great ending to this story.  Grant Gustin has become a phenomenal actor as he has grown into the role of Barry/Flash.  Except for about 5 minutes of this show it was jammed with intense emotions mainly set off from the death of Henry Allen.

One of the issues I had with last weeks episode was howquickly Henry was killed off, something I thought could’ve have been saved for the end of the finale episode.  Now I understand why the writers worked it out this way.  Barry had just been able to get over the death of his mother that the death of Henry Allen puts Barry right back to his mental state when facing Reverse Flash.  It seemed that Barry held more guilt and anger for his father’s death over his mother because this time he had his powers and still couldn’t save his father.  This moment was the driving force for the rest of the episode.

With Barry in such an unstable mind frame to go up against Zoom it was the rest of the team’s decision to lock Barry away and take on Zoom themselves.  The team’s decision to take on Zoom without Barry almost worked but saw Joe West get taken to a different universe. Earth 2 Harrison Wells continues to show off his amazing collection of high powered guns. Only this time the gun he gave to Joe jammed up and saw Joe have to inject Zoom with a tranquilizer up close. This allowed Zoom to bring Joe back to Earth 2 and discover what Zoom’s actual plan was.

 

Finally understanding what Zoom’s motive of destroying the multi-verse seemed to be something I would’ve thought the higher ups would have wanted to save for a massive crossover with Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl?  Understandably this story line was mapped out way before the knowledge of Legends of Tomorrow being greenlit for a second season and the transition of Supergirl to the CW.  Zoom’s plot to destroy the multi-verse by using the speed force from Barry and himself was really the only issue I had with the episode.  This seemed like it should’ve have played out over multiple episodes.  Although the evil plot had something lacking what rescued it was the team willing to see things through to the end together.  Ultimately it was Barry’s intellect that saved the day using Zoom’s trick of Time Remnants to stop Zoom in his tracks literally and figuratively.  

The big reveal of the man in the iron mask was kind of lack luster because most people figured out through previous clues that it was Henry Allen’s doppelganger from another universe.  The twist that may have surprised some people was that Jay Garrick was actually from Earth 3.  Although most people figured out that the man in the Iron Mask was Henry Allen’s doppelganger it was still great to see John Wesley Shipp in the Flash suit one last time.  It was tough to see Tom Cavanagh give his goodbyes as Earth 2 Harrison Wells as his character has been one of the strongest in the show.

We end the season with a distraught Barry Allen.  The traumatic events in Barry’s life has finally caught to his psyche that he couldn’t even be happy that he stopped Zoom or commit himself to Iris.  This will lead to Barry going back in time to alter the timeline once more to save his mother.  Barry finishes what he started at the end of last season and stops Reverse Flash before he kills his mother.  The effect of saving Nora Allen already took effect when Flash from Season 1 standing in his bedroom disappeared. Now the question for Season 3 is how much of an effect did Barry do to the timeline?  As we have seen on this show and Legends of Tomorrow is that time continues to fix itself even when someone alters with it.

Overall this season of The Flash maintained the greatness it had from season 1.  Although Zoom’s character didn’t live up to the bar that Reverse Flash, I thought Teddy Sears did some great acting playing Hunter Zolomon/Zoom.  The hope for next season is that whoever the main antagonist is for the season it is not another speedster.  With two speedsters being the main villain and we will probably see Wally as a speedster soon it would be a nice break to add some of Flashes other villains into the mix.  It will be interesting to see how the Arrowverse is now set up with Barry not being Flash anymore.

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