Well…that went as well as could’ve been expected…and by that I mean…it didn’t do much, and when it did try to…it went in the wrong directions…again.
So, to recap, part 1 of “Negative” had Iris “die”, Thawne was “reborn” so that the Negative Forces could have their “final avatar” and the world was doomed…except we all knew it wouldn’t be… That’s the thing with season finales, you either have the “it’s all wrapped up in a bow” moment, or you showcase a loss in a victory and try to move on (see: Arrow Season 1, Legends of Tomorrow Season 7, and so on). For the second part of “Negative” they went for the former, ignored the intentions to do the latter, and the show ended up right where it started…running in place.
It also didn’t help that showrunner Eric Wallace did a bunch of interviews that released after the season finale and it basically “explained” all that happened in a way that…honestly mad the team look bad. Like how he acknowledged the “frustration” of fans in regards to Iris being missing (again…) and said that he “knew it would work out in the end” and that the “story of Iris would make it worth it”…except, it didn’t.
Because, SURPRISE! She wasn’t dead! In fact, at the moment of her “death”, she was teleported to the Time Stone…you know, the stone that is still in existence and was given to Joe in Armageddon? How many of you remembered that? Furthermore, the “special cameo” was none other than Damien Darhk…because of course it was. Who else would it be at this point? They can’t help but bring him back over ACTUAL beloved characters and give them meaningful storylines. What’s worse, all Iris needed to do to get out of the Time Stone and “save the day” was to just “reignite the spark” to Barry…because…reasons? Wallace said that this was intended to show that “Iris is the most powerful character without powers”…and yet…we already knew she was strong. We knew that BEFORE all the “hiatus” storylines. She was willing to let Barry go…twice…and move on in his stead, that’s true strength. But here, they went a WAY OVERCOMPLICATED route to try and reinforce something that we already knew. That Iris is the bomb.
It also didn’t help that the Forces/Negative Forces once again went in weird directions, like how this was ‘all Barry’s fault’ (even though we’ve had that storyline way too many times in this series), or how the reason Cecil was “all powerful” psychically was because of her “limitless potential”…due to Bashir “grounding himself” to her…and only NOW showing up to her because just so HAPPENED to have all that extra psychic power. …sure, Jan. Oh, and Cecil hasn’t lost all that power, and it’s…it’s just dumb.
Then there was Barry versus Reverse-Flash…again. And it didn’t go Thawne’s way…again… But the kicker here was that Barry was “ready to kill this time”, and Wallace noted that “he was finally ready to cross that line”…except…he’s done that before. He’s almost crossed that line with Zoom, with Savitar, and he was willing to kill Mirror Mistress to until…Iris talked him out of it. So once again…repeating storylines. Also, Wallace noted that “Flash cannot kill”, but remember when Iris killed Savitar with that gun? So she can do it…but not Flash. And then Thawne “accidentally” killed himself…really?
The point was apparently for Flash to “know his limits” and yet…he knew them! But once again, the show was literally forcing (no pun intended) to forget past mistakes and to rush into things. Remember, this was supposed to be the season that made Flash “the great leader” that inspires the future…did this really do that over all the other times? He almost lost everything in the Negative Speed Force, then he almost destroyed the city (and cost people their lives) in his fight with Thawne…but because Iris is back…let’s just forget all that, right?
Finally, and arguably most frustratingly. Wallace noted before the season finale that this would act as a “happy ending” as well as a “series finale”, except…we had not one, not two, but THREE major cliffhangers (I’m including Cecil because why not at this point?) that have to be solved, the dumbest of which is the Frost storyline making an unwelcome return at the last minute.
Look, Season 9 of Flash is coming, it’s inevitable, and while we won’t see it until 2023, I REALLY hope the team looks back at all that’s happened in this show and does its 110% best to make this a season to end all seasons. This show deserves the best storytelling it’s ever done…and it hasn’t had that in a long while.
2/5
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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