Given what is happening with the OTHER Flash right now, it’s arguably more important than ever that The Flash on CW does everything right. And yet sadly…it’s not. In more ways than one.
Last week I honestly didn’t talk about the big “blackfire mystery” outside of what it was doing to Chester because I figured we’d learn more about it over time. But with “Reckless” all we got were more questions, few answers, and the answers we did get were as maddening as the plot itself.
This time around, the “black flame” went after Frost. Why? We don’t know! But it did, and she got the “brilliant idea” to use herself as bait to try and trap it, which naturally caused a lot of problems for Team Flash and beyond.
On the whole, this wasn’t too bad a plan, especially when they brought in Caitlin/Frost’s mom (whom I had forgotten about, which says a lot) to help make this happen. And they HAVE used people as bait before. But what followed was a series of “Season 1” plotlines in Season 8. Barry “struggling as team leader” to make the right decision, Frost being literally reckless with her life and using the cliche of “it’s saving lives!” over and over again, it was nuts. And then, Caitlin’s mom went cold equations, Caitlin had to call her and Frost out, and then their mom said “it’s ok to sacrifice me” even though she should KNOW that would not be true in the slightest.
Why does Frost not care about her life? Why did she say she was “born to be Caitlin’s bodyguard” when Caitlin has been doing her best for a while now to get Frost her own life and feelings? Also, if she is so “careless with her life”, why is she dating Chillblaine? Still hate that couple FTR, but they’re not getting rid of it, so whatever. None of it made sense.
Which went double for the blackfire. Because first it attacked Frost, but only slightly singed her, didn’t kill her. Then, it “knew their plan” and didn’t fall for it, but fell for it later, only for it to escape (because of course it did) and now suddenly it’s Ronnie? None of this makes sense, and even the TEAM is stating that this doesn’t make sense. So this is either a puzzle missing some key pieces…or they’re going to contrive together an explanation…and that’s just sad. Plus, given what we JUST HAD with Chester, there is no reason that any of them should believe it’s Ronnie. Except, as the preview shows, Caitlin wholeheartedly believes it. Le sigh.
As for Iris, her Time Sickness (or whatever it really is) is just as maddening because this has been going on for two seasons now…it really sucks. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, and it literally ruined the best scene in the episode by KILLING TENYA’S MOM!!! Her having an episode during that bit? Sure, why not? But killing Tenya’s mom? That was just sad, and if they don’t undo it? That’s just wrong.
In the end, “Reckless” was…well…reckless. With the plot, with its characters, how they’re being used. This is Season 8, we should be getting truly advanced stories her (see: Tenya and her mother’s chat), and instead, we’re getting basic stories that don’t really mean anything in the overall and that’s sad.
2.5/5
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!
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