The Flash: The Final Run

The first episode of the final season of The Flash premiered on Wednesday, February 8^th with an appropriate episode reminiscent of the classic Groundhog Day movie since Groundhog Day was literally a few days before.  Iris and Barry (Candice Patton and Grant Gustin) find themselves stuck in a time loop where they both relive the same day over and over.  Barry has compiled a book where his collective knowledge of the future forecasts their every life move, and Iris finds that disturbing, wanting to live in the moment and not have her future forecasted. As they repeat the same day over, Iris tries to convince Barry that knowing their future isn’t wise.  Can Team Flash figure a way to escape the never-ending Wednesday?  Of course, they can, otherwise this would be a very boring season, but you will have to watch to find out how!

I must be honest, I have not watched The Flash since the “Crisis” crossover in Season 6, so I am not up to speed (pun intended) on what happened in Season 7 or Season 8.  With that said, it didn’t take long for me to adjust to the new characters and how they interconnect with each other.  At first, the episode feels like a self-contained story, with some minor seeds being planted setting up the end of the series and the characters futures, but by the end, the episode makes the introduction of the seasons “Big Bad” and gives us a brief peak at who it is, and the seeds that are planted may not be so “minor” have much larger ramifications as the season progresses.

The thing I always liked about The Flash was the lighter more upbeat attitude and part of the reason why I stopped watching the show is I felt it got away from that aspect and was in a darker more serious place.  The opening episode of season 9, I was happy to see, regains some of it’s more upbeat optimistic vibe.  Grant Gustin plays a great Barry Allen with the ability to play a wide range of emotions while still being relatable.  He combines a great sense of comic timing with heartfelt emotional interpretation of the script.  Out of all the actors who have played the part in past incarnations, he is my favorite.  Candice Patton matches his energy and holds her own as an actress.  She is usually a bit more serious but is also the ray of hope and the voice of reason that keeps Barry sane.  Even though I have been away from the series for a while, coming back to these characters was like connecting with old friends you haven’t seen in a while.  It felt like no time has passed between us. The production value on the show is good, but with nothing we haven’t already seen on the CW.  The storyline for a first episode of a final season, was well conceived, not being too heavy, giving us some drama and nuggets of intrigue to keep the audience guessing and interested, but also adequately setting events that will happen over the rest of the season.  I am excited by the promise that in future episodes, Some other Arrowverse actors will be reprising their roles or even playing new characters, so I will have to try to find the time to actually watch the final run of the season.