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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 8 Episode 6: Impulsive Excessive Disorder

March 10th, 2022 by Todd Black Comments

So…it’s been a minute since The Flash was here, and that’s partially because of the shortened seasons for all the CW shows. And I was very eager to get this back half started off on the right foot because Armageddon…wasn’t the best. Which is why I feel I should say that while “Impulsive Excessive Disorder” was fine…it too wasn’t the best.

This episode apparently focused on the timeline section right after the end of Season 7, which thankfully gave us flashbacks to the Godspeed War because it’s been almost a year since that ended and…we tried to sleep since then. The war apparently caused fissures in time that changed things for both the better and the worse. Including Jay Garrick being alive in the future despite him dying via Godspeed previous as noted by Bart. But, he wasn’t married to Joan, and various other things happened as well. So…time travel trip!

The focus of this episode was by and large the dynamic between Nora and Bart. And I’ll be the first to admit these two really work well together, especially since their personalities clash (as most siblings do) and they had different ways of getting things done…for better or worse. And I would totally watch a series of them saving the day in the future. Though obviously, it’s hard to wish for such things given the state of the CW right now.

Anyway, it was interesting to go back to the time when Barry was still in a coma and things were much different, including the non-standard appearance of metahumans. And of course, no Flash/Flash Family time travel trip can happen without issues…so…there were issues. Not the least of which was them appearing as interns and getting caught by the returning Eddie Thawne (whom I honestly miss, he was a good character).

The use of the Royal Flush Gang (a version of them anyway) from Season 7 was a nice touch as well…though obviously this was one of many problems that I’ll get to.

Overall it was a fun episode anchored by the brother/sister duo and for the most part it worked and it was fun seeing them work through things one step at a time to try and ensure that they didn’t screw up the timeline even more.

But…when you really dig into the logic of it all…it doesn’t make sense. Especially with what happened with Armageddon. Because if we’re to take it at face value, that means that these two didn’t notice what happened in Armageddon…and yet realized what happened here? It’s really confusing. Also, while it’s true that the Royal Flush Gang was in Flash Season 1, it was the “street level” version from Arrow, not the ones we met in Season 7. Yes, we can consider that a change from Crisis, but there’s also the fact that they escaped while Barry was still in a coma so…who stopped them? We honestly don’t know, and we KNOW that this was a change in the timeline.

Another problem I had was that they went really hard in trying to connect Season 8 to Season 1 and…it only kind of worked out. For example, they made it seem that Joe and Cecil were destined to be together and that Joe had liked her for quite some time and yet…Cecil wasn’t in the Flash until LATE in Season 1, and they didn’t get together until much later. So…why make it seem like it was “always in the works”? Also, at that time (by Joe’s own admission) he wasn’t in the right headspace because of the loss of his partner and what was going on with Barry. Yet despite all that weight…he decided to go after Cecil? That doesn’t add up.

Furthermore, while I loved the Bart/Nora dynamic…they went really cheesy at times. Including the “Nora is perfect” bit, and “sorry dad, your son is a screw-up” bit and “dad would’ve gotten it first time” thing. Like, I know we don’t know everything that Barry/Iris told their kids but…between the events of Godspeed War (where Barry told Bart he wasn’t perfect, and even showed it by trying to hold him back too much) and the history they should know (see: Flashpoint), he should’ve known that it’s part of being a hero that you screw up at times. Just like Jay said.

Oh, and Jay Garrick pulling out that “I was back in WWII for 16 years” thing? That was awesome.

But the Bart/Avery thing? Eh…I hope we get more from that else it feels like a waste.

Still, overall, this was a fun episode that did feel like a “return to form” if you will, especially after Armageddon. We’ll have to see where it goes from here.

3.5/5

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!