Title: The Flash: “Into the Void” Review
Release Date: October 8th, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
The Flash has returned once again for its sixth season. Last season wasn’t necessarily terrible for the hit CW series. However, an unbearably boring main antagonist and a meandering main storyline left the series feeling more… let’s just say generic. “Into the Void” was an excellent first step in the right direction.
First off, you can already tell a difference with the new showrunner Eric Wallace. The show’s main arcs are actually progressing rather quickly. Obviously, the impending “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is one of the big reasons behind this (we’ll get to Crisis later, don’t worry). But, with this season practically split up like 2 mini-seasons, we’re going to be left with less filler.
Getting back to the episode itself, I liked how we were thrust right back into the aftermath of the awesome season 5 finale and we got to see how the West-Allen household was dealing with their loss. Candice Patton absolutely crushed it as we see more of her grieving process and how she almost made an insanely stupid decision at that junkyard due to the loss of Nora. Like Barry and Iris both said, they will see Nora again, which probably means Jessica Parker Kennedy is coming back down the line, but it won’t be the Nora we watched for the entirety of season 5. That version of Nora is essentially dead and gone, adding another layer into the Flash/Reverse-Flash feud.
The greatest strength of “Into the Void” is definitely all of the storylines they’ve set up. There are some very intriguing arcs to watch out for in the coming weeks. Godspeed has returned and he’s in 2019. Not only that, but the “fake speedster” has been using decoys throughout the city to avoid capture. I feel that if this were a past season of The Flash, Godspeed would have been our typical villain of the week and dispatched by the end of the episode. Instead of going down this generic and predictable path, we now have a compelling and mysterious side storyline to get invested in. Why is Godspeed in 2019? How did he get here? What the heck is going on with those decoys? They are all great questions and I’m pumped to see the series switching up its formula. Hopefully, the writers continue to trick us and change things up throughout the season.
Speaking of a villain of the week, we kinda didn’t have one for “Into the Void”. Chester was not an antagonist by any means but instead an tragic problem for our team to fix. This character himself is another example of this episode building up interesting storylines. There’s no way he was just a one-off character, especially with that ability and the crazy eyes he had at the end there. I’m curious to see if he eventually joins the team and if he has any impact on “Crisis on Infinite Earths” (again, we’ll get there).
The whole Caitlin/Killer Frost/Bloodwork thing was probably the least interesting aspect of the episode but that’s largely due to everything else popping on all cylinders. I’m actually way more excited to see Sendhil Ramamurthy’s Bloodwork in action than I was for Cicada. Again, with this season being split into 2 parts with 2 main antagonists, it will allow for Ramamurthy’s Bloodwork to avoid overexposure that has plagued many Arrowverse villains.
For what we saw from Bloodwork, it was okay. His motivation makes sense and Ramamurthy is great at getting sympathy out of a role. Still, it will all come down to how he plays out over the coming weeks.
Killer Frost’s entire storyline was fine too, it just reminded me a little too much of the Professor Hulk situation in Avengers: Endgame. It kinda feels that this is where Caitlin’s arc is going too, with both personalities merging together somehow by the season’s end.
Now, let’s all take a moment of silence for that abomination that was Barry’s season 5 suit.
Okay, maybe I was being too harsh with that one but Barry’s new suit is a major upgrade. Couple that with the Flash Gordon theme song playing as Barry is running into a black hole (which was really cool of itself) and we had a very entertaining conclusion to this week’s episode. However, The Flash didn’t end there because we finally have our first huge set-up to “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Speculation has been running rampant online for months now saying that Oliver Queen would take Barry’s place in the Crisis and the newspaper has already changed. Nope, all of those theories were proven wrong. As it stands now, this cataclysmic event is set to take out 2 out of the 3 members of our Arrowverse trinity. Real bummer.
What I don’t fully understand is The Monitor’s explanation for deleting Nora’s message. He said it was to take away Barry’s hope and the possibility of him running away from his destiny. He wants Barry as focused as possible. But, isn’t that what the past 5 seasons have set up for Barry Allen? That being Barry’s growth as a character as he learns that he can’t undo the past or run away from the terrible things that have/will happen to him. It was the whole point of Flashpoint. Again, it’s just a nitpick because this was a pretty awesome episode of The Flash.
Verdict: The Flash has returned and if “Into the Void” was any indicator, we are set up for a tremendous season of the flagship Arrowverse series. I actually didn’t get to talk about a few things in this review like Cisco’s hilarious one-liners, Killer Frost’s cool (no pun intended) new suit, or our first glimpse at Captain Joe West but I see that as a positive. There was just a ton of story and character arcs to discuss instead. The episode wasn’t perfect. It slowed down a little too much towards the end and some of the jokes didn’t land, especially with Ralph. Still, this is a promising start to The Flash season 6.
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