I really don't know where to begin with this, all i can really say is...wow. This is 'Fast Enough' the season one finale of The Flash, where Eobard Thawne convinces Barry that if he breaks through the time barrier once again, he can save his mother, and Thawne can go home, but they run the risk of destroying the entire timeline and the universe in doing so. After talking it over with everyone he knows, Barry agrees to do it, save his mother and get rid of Thawne, but, once he arrives back in his timeline, he chooses not to go through with it. Once returning, Barry fights against Thawne, until Eddie shoots himself in the chest, killing himself and thus Eobard. The episode ends with a singularity opening above the city and beginning to destroy the city, and eventually all of existence, Barry jumps in hoping to stop it and...cut to credits.A whole lot of this episode was build up, that's it, just people talking about what is right and what is wrong, the repercussions and implications caused with Barry's decision (Never actually diving into the paradox that it would cause, but hey, wibbly wobbly) and i couldn't have loved it more. The big argument for why Barry should do this is that he has saved so many people, yet the one person that he wants to save more than anyone is his mother, but he doesn't know if the risk is worth it, so he asks everyone he knows, he asks Joe, he asks Henry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Dr Stein, Ronnie, and everyone seems to be all for it, yet he still has that level of hesitation, and only one opinion matters, his own. In what may be the best exchange in the entire show, Barry locks eyes with his future version, and he simply shakes his head, asking him to not do it, and that's all you need. Who's going to know exactly how you feel and know better for you than yourself? But because it's a different version of you, they still have an exterior perspective, it's the best of both worlds, and you don't need them to have a long drawn out conversation about it, all Barry needs is that simple head movement to know what he needs to do.
Which then leads us to what could be the most emotional scene in the show, Barry comforting his dying mother, knowing he can do nothing for her except let her know that he's okay, that everything is going to be okay. The most emotional scenes in this episode, and the show overall, are Barry with his parents. His conversation with Henry about whether or not he should go through with it was incredible, Henry tells him it's a bad idea, yes he won't be in jail and his wife would still be alive, but if there is any possibility that Barry is going to become a different person, Henry wouldn't allow that for a second, he's the man he's supposed to be. Which is true, Barry Allen is a hero, not The Flash, Barry; saving people's lives is one thing, but that motivation and dedication is what makes it heroic, he has always put his life on the line, he is always thinking about other people first, always giving 100%, in truth you can see how proud Henry would be of him, how any father would be. Then there's Joe who looks at things from an equally valid perspective, he wants Barry to be happy more than anything, even if he's not his real son, that doesn't change the fact that he sees him as one, he understands that a life of being a hero often means sacrificing your own happiness, he's a cop, he's had to go through that, but that doesn't mean Barry has to.
Barry is everything Oliver Queen isn't, he listens to other people's opinions and knows that it's okay to rely on other people, but above all else, being a hero isn't about what you can do for yourself, but what you can do for others, no matter how big or small. The Flash is one of my favourite superheroes and this show has done a fantastic job portraying him, but of course none of it would work if it wasn't for Grant Gustin in the role. I've said before that i don't think Grant can do angry very well, even here, when he says the line "i want to kill you so much" i just don't buy it, i don't believe this man is capable of murder. But i've also never given him the credit he deserves for not only doing a great job in the role, but as an actor in general. He's able to pull off the quirky and boyish charm with ease, that seems to be his greatest strength, but where he really shines through with his acting is in the emotional moments, the scenes i just talked about are perfect examples of that, his conversations with his mother and father, you can see every emotion going through his head, the pain, love, anger and sadness that he's experiencing all at once, he completely makes me believe that this is a man going through unbelievable anguish. Grant Gustin to me is the best actor on any superhero show on television, he perfectly represents this character and makes his as dimensional and fully-rounded as a character should be.
Then there's the next big character pay-off, Eddie's death, which is both understandable yet predictable. Eddie is so far the most expendable character in the show, i mean i very much like him, but i've been expecting since episode one that he was going to die, but that doesn't mean they didn't handle it well. Thawne gets in his head that he's going to achieve nothing in life, and Dr Stein convinces him to take control of his own destiny, be the man he wants to be; and seeing as Barry isn't fast enough to beat Thawne, that leaves Eddie with all the power, one last fuck you to the man who said he'd be forgotten, he ends it all, kills himself and the entire Thawne timeline in the process, getting to be a hero and also taking control of his own destiny. But even with all that, my mind knows that they killed him off because they want to put Iris with Barry, and if Eddie isn't with Iris then let's face it, he has no real use in the show (Hm, just like Iris).
And seeing as he's dead and we're probably not going to be seeing much of him, let's talk about Tom Cavanaugh as Dr Harrison Wells A.K.A. Eobard Thawne A.K.A. The Reverse-Flash. I love this villain so much, Cavanaugh does an amazing job portraying him, able to play the sophisticated genius in the first half and then the diabolical and homicidal monster in the second half, beating Barry both physically and mentally, predicting his enemies moves before they've even made them, and unlike Ra's Al Ghul it makes sense here because he's a genius with cameras everywhere and he's from the future. But the reason why he's a good villain is because he always has a plan, all the way through, no matter what he was doing or what anyone else was doing, his threat was always present, even when he's in a jail cell. The Reverse Flash was an amazing villain, i hope they bring him back someday, even just for a cameo and i don't know how they're going to top it for next year.
But i'm not sure what the purpose was in ending it with the singularity and Barry trying to stop it, and granted we're not going to know until September so it's hard to judge it for now because it might end up having a great closure, but i just have a feeling that they're going to solve that problem in the first 5 minutes, Barry will be a little bit faster and then move on with the new story, but again, we'll have to wait until September to find out. Also they never actually acknowledge the whole paradox situation that would be caused with a lot of their decisions here, if Barry's mother never dies then all the events in motion here would never have happened thus he would never have the motive for travelling back in time, and the same with Thawne dying, if he never existed the Eddie would have never shot himself, yes time travel is confusing and almost no movie will get it right but still, at least try.
Finally there are the set ups for season two, the first one being Cisco is revealed to be a meta-human, speaking of which, finally! They gave a reason why he can see into the previous timeline! But that's really all we got for that, but hey, it's a set-up, i'm sure that we'll see the full extent of his powers in next season. Ronnie and Caitlin are married now and as far as i'm aware i believe Ronnie is now a main character for the next season meanwhile Dr Stein is going over to Legends of Tomorrow. Seeing as Eddie is out of the way i would imagine they're going to get to work on Iris and Barry...yay. Finally there was Eddie's corpse getting sucked into the singularity, so he's gonna come back somehow through the power of science, who knows, maybe they're make him the next Reverse-Flash.
This was an amazing season finale, the emotions drove the actions the way it should be, everyone gave their A-game for the acting and i was engaged from beginning to end, i'm giving the season finale of The Flash a 10/10.
The first season as a whole was excellent, they have done a really good job at writing these characters, the dialogue is entertaining and the main storyline was engaging all the way through, the only problem of course is Iris, so i'm giving the first season a 9/10.
-Danny
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