Title:Ā The Flash: āThe Exorcism of Nash WellsāĀ Review
Release Date: March 17th, 2020
Network:Ā The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
Well, life has gotten a little crazy since last week, hasn’t it?
The Flash has stopped production due to the chaos that is the coronavirus and there are rumors it could even impact the way this season ends. But, nothing has been confirmed one way or another. Let’s just enjoy the episodes that are ready to go and talk about “The Exorcism of Nash Wells”.
It’s hard to start this review off with anything other than talking about Tom Cavanagh’s awesome performance as Nash and more importantly, Eobard Thawne. As I said in the review for “Death of the Speed Force”, Cavanagh is quite good at this whole acting gig and there’s a huge reason why many fans believe this version of Reverse-Flash is one of the best DCTV comic-book villain adaptations yet. As much as Matt Letscher brought to the role in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, it doesn’t quite match up to the other iteration of the infamous man in yellow. Tom Cavanagh plays the character with just so much raw intensity. It’s that intensity and the emotion he conveys that keeps you drawn to the television screen each time the show wheels out Thawne for another appearance.
Cavanagh was also fantastic as this broken-down man who made a colossal mistake that cost him his surrogate daughter. While I think we all knew (somewhat) that Nash was responsible for the death of Allegra’s doppelganger, it was more impactful to actually have us see it on-screen and watch with Nash as he berates himself over not doing the right thing. It’s like everyone says about movies and TV shows, right? It’s always better to show us what happened rather than merely telling us.
So all the Wells of the former multiverse now live in Nash’s head? That’s… interesting. I actually don’t know how I feel about this yet. I guess we’ll have to wait to see how the show incorporates these personalities.
The story of Reverse-Flash is convoluted and, at this point, none of the timelines in The Flash make a lick of sense. I mean, this episode revolved around the Eobard Thawne getting trapped in the mind of Nash along with all the other Wells in the multiverse. If that’s not totally ridiculous, I don’t know what is. But somehow, this storyline worked. And that’s because of a few factors. Cavanagh’s performance led the pack this week but everyone really did a great job. Nash’s story was told wonderfully. The theme music for Reverse-Flash and overall score amplified those strong and emotional moments. There’s not much I can gripe about here, surprisingly. Nash is sticking around, Barry had an amazing moment telling off Thawne, and it led to Team Flash finding a new way to come up with their own speed force. They even left the door open for Thawne to take another body down the road and return.
Those sentiments continue with the other storylines that progressed this week. The show’s first original villain, Sunshine, didn’t overstay her welcome. She showed up, had some cool moments with her cool powers, and got defeated in a cool way. It didn’t take up the whole episode, which gave us ample time to enjoy the Mirror Master and Reverse-Flash storylines. My only blunder here is with Killer Frost at the beginning of the episode. Caitlin and Cisco both stressed to Barry that he shouldn’t use his speed and that Killer Frost will take care of Sunshine. But that raises a new question. How did Killer Frost get to Mercury Labs so quickly?
Season 6a thrived with Bloodwork as its antagonist. A sympathetic character turned to the dark side out of fear and stubbornness. This story worked because of its depth and the way The Flash handled the villain’s dilemma. That’s what season 6b has got to accomplish with Eva. So far, the character has been fantastic. Efrat Dor’s done a stellar job balancing the line of a calculated antagonist and a very fragile person on the verge of going full bat-#$!% crazy at any moment.
Let’s hope we aren’t heading towards a boring cookie-cutter villain situation when Eva eventually uses that device and gets out of her self-made prison. And by “cookie-cutter villain”, I mean her getting out of the mirror world just so she can trap everyone else in the mirror world because “EVIL!” or something along those lines.
https://youtu.be/xb23u_uVMq4
Verdict: I’ve rambled for weeks on end about season 6 being one of the show’s strongest seasons yet. An episode like “The Exorcism of Nash Wells” is a perfect example of why I’ve been praising this season so much. It had heart, comedy, and tense moments throughout. To be fair, adding in the Reverse-Flash certainly helped matters. No matter what happens, hopefully, the series will be able to continue this excellent run when it returns from its hiatus.Ā Ā
Were you a fan of this week’s The Flash? Let us know in the comments below!
[review]