After months and months of agonizing over the cliffhanger ending from last season’s finale, new episodes of THE FLASH has finally sped back onto TV screens. Although the episode starts with a dream sequence that segues into a time skip, viewers don’t have to wait long to see the fallout from the giant singularity that threatened to destroy Central City at the end of the last episode. As it turns out, it was vanquished through the combined efforts of Flash and Firestorm, though at what seemed to be cost of Ronnie’s life.
Barely any time at all is spent trying to explain the science or logic of it, which isn’t overly distracting while watching, but it might leave some of the more devoted fans who’ve spent a lot of their time coming up with detailed theories feeling a little let down. One also can’t help but feel this is a somewhat of a repetitive conclusion considering Ronnie turns out to be only mostly dead after a seemingly final heroic sacrifice was a main subplot last season (the cast and crew have been pretty candid about the fact Ronnie did not actually die and will be returning later this season), but hopefully the aftermath will take an unexpected turn or two.
His death, along with Eddie’s, convinces Barry that bringing other people into his world will only hurt them and so he has decided to go solo. But after six months Team Flash (now officially including Iris and Professor Stein!) have decided enough is enough and it’s time to step in. It’s a bit of a cliché storyline for a superhero series but it’s a testament to the strength of the supporting cast that none of their attempts to reconnect with Barry feel trite or overly corny. Special mention goes to Jesse L. Martin, who plays Joe’s scenes with both young Barry and adult Barry beautifully.
The episode isn’t all emotional moments, however, as Central City’s Flash Day celebration is crashed by the violent Atom-Smasher, played by Adam Copeland of WWE fame. Atom-Smasher is a bit of an odd choice for the villain of the week, since he’s a hero and a long-standing member of the Justice Society in the comics, but Copeland certainly doesn’t have to work hard to seem imposing and he seems to be having fun. The special effects used for his powers seem oddly rubbery at times, but are nonetheless fairly impressive by TV standards. Still, the Atom-Smasher subplot was probably the episode’s weakest as he served as little more than a plot device to bring Team Flash back together and provide the first ominous mention of Zoom... this season’s main villain.
Of course before we can welcome in a new big bad we have to give a proper send-off to the old one. Barry, it turns out, has been left at Star Labs in Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne’s will, but in order to keep it, he has to watch a video message left on a flash-drive. He understandably struggles with whether or not to watch it after all Wells put him through, but inevitably gives in by the episode’s end only to find the video is in fact a full confession of his mother’s murder, and exactly what Barry needs to get his father Henry out of prison. It was a fun twist, and a nice way of acknowledging that in spite of their long-standing animosity, Wells still had some twisted form of affection for Barry after all they’d been through.
Henry’s welcome home party was easily the highlight of the episode. After the recent onslaught of Jeep commercials, I didn’t think “Renegades” had the ability to make me emotional anymore, but boy was I wrong. The X Ambassadors song plays over a truly beautiful reunion scene where the characters reflect on all they’ve lost but strive to move forward as a team and as a family.
The only thing that slightly marred this ending was Henry’s decision to leave Central City, which felt awkward and a bit forced. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for him want to move somewhere else—Henry has no shortage of bad memories taking place in Central City, and it may be that after fifteen years in prison he needs to readjust to civilian life on his own for a while. But bizarrely, the only justification we are given is that Barry can’t reach his full potential with his dad around, which seems pretty out of place in an episode that went out of its way to emphasize that Barry is at his best when he’s surrounded by his loved ones.
In spite of this slight misstep, the premiere still does a solid job of re-establishing Team Flash and the new status quo before the main plot of this season kicks off—which looks like it’ll be soon given Jay Garrick’s sudden appearance in the episode’s final moments!
His death, along with Eddie’s, convinces Barry that bringing other people into his world will only hurt them and so he has decided to go solo. But after six months Team Flash (now officially including Iris and Professor Stein!) have decided enough is enough and it’s time to step in. It’s a bit of a cliché storyline for a superhero series but it’s a testament to the strength of the supporting cast that none of their attempts to reconnect with Barry feel trite or overly corny. Special mention goes to Jesse L. Martin, who plays Joe’s scenes with both young Barry and adult Barry beautifully.
The episode isn’t all emotional moments, however, as Central City’s Flash Day celebration is crashed by the violent Atom-Smasher, played by Adam Copeland of WWE fame. Atom-Smasher is a bit of an odd choice for the villain of the week, since he’s a hero and a long-standing member of the Justice Society in the comics, but Copeland certainly doesn’t have to work hard to seem imposing and he seems to be having fun. The special effects used for his powers seem oddly rubbery at times, but are nonetheless fairly impressive by TV standards. Still, the Atom-Smasher subplot was probably the episode’s weakest as he served as little more than a plot device to bring Team Flash back together and provide the first ominous mention of Zoom... this season’s main villain.
Of course before we can welcome in a new big bad we have to give a proper send-off to the old one. Barry, it turns out, has been left at Star Labs in Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne’s will, but in order to keep it, he has to watch a video message left on a flash-drive. He understandably struggles with whether or not to watch it after all Wells put him through, but inevitably gives in by the episode’s end only to find the video is in fact a full confession of his mother’s murder, and exactly what Barry needs to get his father Henry out of prison. It was a fun twist, and a nice way of acknowledging that in spite of their long-standing animosity, Wells still had some twisted form of affection for Barry after all they’d been through.
Henry’s welcome home party was easily the highlight of the episode. After the recent onslaught of Jeep commercials, I didn’t think “Renegades” had the ability to make me emotional anymore, but boy was I wrong. The X Ambassadors song plays over a truly beautiful reunion scene where the characters reflect on all they’ve lost but strive to move forward as a team and as a family.
The only thing that slightly marred this ending was Henry’s decision to leave Central City, which felt awkward and a bit forced. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for him want to move somewhere else—Henry has no shortage of bad memories taking place in Central City, and it may be that after fifteen years in prison he needs to readjust to civilian life on his own for a while. But bizarrely, the only justification we are given is that Barry can’t reach his full potential with his dad around, which seems pretty out of place in an episode that went out of its way to emphasize that Barry is at his best when he’s surrounded by his loved ones.
In spite of this slight misstep, the premiere still does a solid job of re-establishing Team Flash and the new status quo before the main plot of this season kicks off—which looks like it’ll be soon given Jay Garrick’s sudden appearance in the episode’s final moments!
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer