It’s now an Arrowverse that is Post-Crisis, it’s now an Arrowverse that has no Arrow (but maybe a Green Arrow and a few Canaries…), and now…the rest of the CW shows have to adapt to the new changes. While we’ve touched on some of these with Black Lightning, Batwoman, and talked about what’s happening in Supergirl, it’s The Flash (who arrived late…classic Barry…) that shows us just how deep this rabbit hole goes in terms of what Earth Prime is…and isn’t.
For example, while we the viewer know that the Multiverse lives, they don’t. And as Cisco has noted, the breaching technology that they used before no longer works because of the universe version of the Multiverse. I bet that’ll get fixed though. Anyway, as Cisco notes, because of Black Lightning and Supergirls’ worlds (among others…) being merged to make Earth-Prime, the timeline has been rewritten, new threats are everywhere, and old threats might just be coming back. “Marathon” laid out the future, and it’s terrifying. Unlike like this episode which was easily one of the best midseason premieres The Flash has ever done.
Which I kind of find surprising because of the very limited use of Barry in the episode. This was likely due to Crisis but we can’t be sure. Barry was given the mask that he gave Oliver back in Arrow Season 2 as a part of Ollie’s will. And Barry, desperate to continue to honor his fallen friend found a “mission” that Oliver left him. Dig went along for the ride, and it was revealed that there was no mission, just a desperate Barry trying to reconcile what Oliver did for him and Multiverse at large. It was a touching scene when Dig noted that for all the good Oliver did, he made mistakes, and realized to late that there were things more important than the mission.
Speaking of missions, I’m very happy to report that Iris is now officially a boss character. She was great before at times don’t get me wrong. But “Marathon” showed the fiery reporter that fans fell in love with in DC Comics and it showed here as she found out about the new “Big Bad” in Flash Season 6 via Black Hole, and the very real and dangerous threat that they posed.
Seeing Iris so gung-ho about this mystery was very cool, especially as she had her own team, “Team Citizen” to back her up and get her the stuff she needed. The mystery isn’t over yet, and it’s clear that Mirror Master is going to be the true villain of this piece, but it’s still cool nonetheless. And the way they cut together the mystery of what was going on was very well done.
Finally, Cisco was yet another member of Team Flash suffering from survivor’s guilt. He feels that if he hadn’t given up the Vibe powers (which are still gone in this rebooted multiverse) he might have gotten a warning of what was coming and might have been able to save everyone. Or at least warn them. Now, he’s about to become a “Monitor” of his own as he tries to figure out all the changes on Earth Prime. I hope he’s back soon because Nash…is still annoying.
Seriously, he’s STILL annoying!!! WHY?!?!?! I forgave the change in personality when the rebooted universe happened, but the moment that J’onn reminded him of what he did, he should’ve reverted back to Pariah mode, but he didn’t! He’s STILL Nash!!! Why…
Also, while I loved the Iris mystery, that ending with the reflection clue was a bit of a stretch, and I wish we got a little more closure with Diggle since it’s unclear when or if we’ll see Diggle again…even after his “green tease”.
In the end though, “Marathon” was a brilliant episode that welcomed back was is now…*puts on shades*…frontrunner…of the Arrowverse. Let’s see where this leads.
4.5 out of 5 nerds
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
Nerd Comments