SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
Team Flash’s defeat of Savitar was far too simple, quick and easy. Maybe I missed something, but I don’t recall them learning that they needed the put the philosopher’s stone in the box in order to trap Savitar. They learned of the philosopher’s stone itself and that it’s the source of his power, but I don’t remember them learning anything about the box.
That being said, I’m not that bothered by how easy it was but it left me very unsettled for the remainder of the episode because it was so easy. I kept expecting something to go terribly, terribly wrong. Technically it did when Barry was flung into the future accidentally and he saw Savitar kill Iris. What I was expecting, though, was something bad happening in the present. The very hopeful, cheerful and Christmas-y tone at the end didn’t ease that feeling either because we all know that as soon as characters are happy something goes awry. So I was very surprised when it ended and nothing bad happened.
I knew Savitar would be coming back in the next half of the season even before Barry was flung into the future. Simply because they defeated him too easily. Someone as powerful and as “godlike” as Savitar cannot be defeated just by putting him in a box and throwing it into the speed force. Not when there was a barely a struggle leading up to that. I never believed that would be a permanent solution.
As much as Jay wants to comfort Barry by telling him that the future isn’t set in stone, we all know it’s going to happen. That’s a given. Five months is a very short time, however, to escape from a prison that was meant to hold you for eternity. For him to get out that quickly is only a testament to his power.
The greatest evidence that Barry still has not learned from all of his time travelling mistakes, especially Flash Point (and the entire first half of the season was spent really driving home just how much he screwed up), is the fact that his very first thought after witnessing Iris die in the future was to time travel to fix it. How many times must you make the same mistake Barry?
Granted, he would be going to the future instead of going to the past and, arguably, doing things in the future may not affect the timeline in the catastrophic ways that changing the past would, but the fact is that he defaulted to his solution for every problem; time travel. As if doing so hasn’t caused enough problems already. Was very disappointed with Barry right then.
I do understand, though, that that was right after he saw his one true love die and he was in shock and all that, but still. I’m glad Jay talked him out of it.
I honestly did not expect that Cisco would open the box. I really didn’t think that he would have fallen for the illusion of Dante trick. I thought he would have seen through that. But grief is a powerful thing.
The scene in which Savitar spoke to Team Flash through Julian was enthralling and scary. The longer it went on, the scarier he became. I totally agree with HR on that point. Tom Felton’s acting was amazing in that scene.
Random thoughts:
- Is Julian Indiana Jones?
- The Harry Potterverse is Earth-4 confirmed!
- Joe and his girlfriend are so cute.
- Mark Hamill’s appearance was brief but worth it and hilarious.
- The CGI budget went up again.
- He time travelled again?!
- Why isn’t her daughter here? That’s fishy.
- Snow made it snow!
The Flash returns to the CW on Tuesday, January 24th at 8 PM.
