TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 8 Episode 11: Resurrection

Tonight’s episode of The Flash focused on the theme of “you can’t resurrect the past”…and yet…that’s honestly what this show has been trying to do for a while with very mixed results. Time travel with characters from seasons (which was very weird), delving into storylines that were honestly best in Season 1, team trust at odds, etc. And now, apparently, this “dark fire” incident was Ronnie Raymond all along! Oh, but we can’t resurrect the past, right?

“Resurrection” was a very odd episode from start to finish and that was sad because it did have some good elements. Not the least of which was the “origin story” of Ronnie and Caitlin and the scenes between Panabaker and Amell were honestly really great. I honestly wish we got more of this instead of sacrificing Amell’s character at the end of Season 1 (yes, I know it was a contract thing due to Amell being on another show, but they could’ve brought him back since then).

The rest of the episode though was odd, contradictory, and repeated storylines that we JUST HAD! Including one of the Snow’s (and then both) rushing forward with a plan that would backfire on them (literally and metaphorically). Team trust not being in sync (including Barry once again “not trusting” a teammate…which was the plot of LAST EPISODE!!!), and so on. Do recall that in this episode Caitlin said that “we’ve stuck our necks out for you and Iris plenty of times…” and yet two or three episodes ago, Frost, Chester, AND Cecil refused to believe Barry on how that one fire meta wasn’t guilty of the murders!

On the topic of it being Ronnie, I was honestly fine with the “we need to let him die” storyline because that could’ve been a closure of sorts that we never truly got. Was it random that he showed up after 7 years? Yes, and even Barry noted that (and we likely won’t get an answer for the long delay…) but the point would’ve been moot if it was Ronnie’s consciousness begging for release. But instead, it wasn’t Ronnie, it was never Ronnie, Ronnie’s now officially dead, and…Deathstorm is here. I honestly like Deathstorm as a character (we got a tease of him from Earth-2 if you recall) and he could be a good villain, but the buildup to him was wrong.

Including how Caitlin only NOW is figuring out that it was always after her? And if that was the case, then the grief stuff doesn’t make sense at all despite what they said. Not to mention, they confirmed last episode that it WASN’T after grief in full. It was all very contradictory despite their attempts to “make it make sense”.

And then Cecil’s thing about him “asking for release” was that just a lie from Deathstorm? Or something else entirely? We likely won’t know. But once “Ronnie returned” and Cecil mentioned that her “powers were never that wrong before” and that something was wrong with Ronnie’s amygdala, you knew the shoe was about to drop.

And that was just the MAIN storyline! Iris’ and the “time sickness” stuff continues to weigh the show down, and I still hate that she accidentally killed Tenya’s mother, which led to Tenya “killing” Iris? Ok…

Oh, and what was with that Chester stream bit? That was so dumb on various levels (and remember, he’s supposed to be a genius) and then when Allegra called him out on it, he immediately went to “because you see the worst in people” with a straight face. Are you kidding me, Chester?!?!? This is how he gets. When someone doesn’t agree with him, he goes super negative in a way that doesn’t make sense at all.

In the end, “Resurrection” did deliver one big answer, but the cost of getting that answer was high, too high in my mind. And given the news that Flash is losing Jesse Martin and likely is getting a shortened ending via Season 9 (if it officially happens with all that’s going on BTS right now…) this episode does not deliver on what this show needs to keep running forward.

2.5/5