#and eddie was like one wind away from getting struck by lightning himself

[mid-knight-black]

Buck and Eddie, always having each other’s backs (even if it costs them their own lives) 🥹

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

There's Such a Sad Love (Deep in Your Eyes) - Prologue

it's finally time, friends!! here is the first part to my ghost!eddie fic! I am planning on getting the first real chapter up tomorrow, and the rest as they are done! I'd like to have this done by halloween but we'll see if i continue to have the spoons for this story thanks for reading! 🙌🥰👻

pairing: steddie | rated: M | on AO3

CWs for this chapter include: mentions of suicide/ideations as part of chrissy's backstory, and depictions of violence but nothing graphic!

He’s spoken with her a lot since he died, the Moon.

She’s lovely, beautiful, bright, and loves her monsters (Eddie still doesn’t quite know what that means, are monsters real? …Well…he is a ghost now…).

She was the first one he cried to when he realized what had happened to him, why it did.

Chrissy was his better half, his soulmate, his sister, his best friend.

He’d found her afterwards, his first thought being how could he have not known? He could understand anyone else not knowing, not knowing her like he did, but even he didn’t know.

He’d found her letter just as her boyfriend found him.

Eddie replays his last few minutes on the mortal plane over and over again in his head in the years afterwards, starting with the front door to his trailer being blown open in the wake of Jason Carver’s entrance…

“Carver! Jason, I–I’m so sorry…”

“What’d you do to her, freak?”

“What? Nothing! I’d never—I just found her letter—”

He can remember that he was hit in that moment, struck across the face lightning fast, but he can no longer remember the pain.

Probably a good thing too, for what was to come. 

“Oh yeah, sure, like anyone’s going to believe that.”

Another hit.

Another.

Another.

Over and over again until eventually, Eddie’s memory goes sideways; his sight is blurry, but clear enough to tell he was now on the floor.

He’s faced towards Jason’s legs, watches as they shuffle and bend to pick up something.

Wait, Eddie was holding something earlier wasn’t he? Something important?

His vision starts fading out, still watching as Jason’s legs back away from him, then turn sharply to run out the open door.

Tired, Eddie succumbs to the darkness; his last thought being that Wayne was going to be the one to find them both.

“A tale as old as time, I suppose.” he had told the moon one night of the thousands he must’ve been through at this point, “Blame the Freak, right?”

Her words of love and encouragement normally helped soothe his soul, but there were some nights where he just couldn’t let the injustice go, it wasn’t fucking fair!

In the end, Jason got second degree murder. Eddie got a plain wooden box.

His uncle was left alone and heartbroken.

Jason only served a fraction of the time he was supposed to.

Eddie never graduated high school, never got out of this shitty town, never got the chance to make something of himself.

He had never fallen in love.

Now, he was stuck in limbo. Stuck haunting the empty trailer (he doesn’t blame Wayne for leaving), then the empty plot where it’d had once been, and now he’s the new Forest Hills Estate’s resident poltergeist.

Admittedly, kinda metal. When he was alive, he might’ve thought it’d be badass to one of the tortured souls he used to enjoy reading about.

Now it’s just torturous. 

It’s been 38 years of hell.

Three of people breaking in and stealing mementos of the trailer ‘that poor girl’ died in.

They didn’t even say her name.

Ten of watching his home crumble around him before eventually getting torn down on purpose, to try and rid Hawkins of ‘that boy what did her in’.

They don’t dare say his name.

15 of watching the whole trailer park fall to disrepair; everyone else leaves, saying they hear sobs carried on the wind at night.

In 2001, the land the Forest Hills trailer park was on is sold off and construction starts.

Eddie laughs with the Moon when he sees walls start to go up around him, a moment of sardonic reprieve.

“Is the town’s memory that short? Don’t they know this is where it all happened?” he asks her, but she was just glad he’d have a roof over his head again.

Joke’s on him, though, it wasn’t the town that built there, it was some private company that didn’t know the history. The town knew. They remembered. And no one bought the place (even with as large and lovely as the home was).

In the 23 years it was left standing empty, he’d had loads of fun messing with the teens who’d come around every fall. Daring each other to just go up to the door, to ring the bell, even to just step up the first step. 

Sometimes they managed to get in, and those were the best times, especially on Halloween.

Eddie found himself corporeal every October 31st. Some years he’d just answer the door nonchalantly when someone knocked, knowing full well his bruised and bloody appearance really added to the effect.

Some years they’d come the day before, and those were the best. He wasn’t fully “a person” again yet, just a solid black shadow. 

His power grows in the months leading up to the 31st, and he uses the extra juice to scream and wail, to throw shit around…it adds to the story a bit, though he’s realized in the last few years that the kids who come around looking for thrills don’t even know what he and Chrissy went through.

The first time he’d heard that, he’d nearly thrown a couple kids out a second story window in his rage.

Finally, one day in late winter while wandering the grounds, testing the limits of his haunting range as if they’d suddenly expanded out any farther overnight, he sees the bright red SOLD sign at the end of the driveway.

next ->

[skyfallslayer]

🔥 = Smut 🧸= Fluff 💔= Angst (The Holy Trinity of Fanfics) || ⭐= Hiatus

Note: If two or more characters are marked for the same fic, then the emojis used to indicate above my vary depending on their part in the story. If they’re the love interest to the reader in their section, but the other person isn’t, then their emojis might be different.

REQUESTS ARE NOT OPEN RN!

-Main Masterlist Index-

•Eddie Munson

|| Series

The Black & White Lie - (xWheeler!Reader)🔥 🧸 💔⭐

Summary: Modern! AU - Country girl Y/N Wheeler has spent most of her life on a farm in Hawkins, Indiana, and, when she goes away to college in Los Angeles, she immediately feels out of place in the daunting urban setting. She is befriended by a savvy party animal named Eddie Munson, who convinces the ambivalent girl to stay in the city. When Thanksgiving break rolls around, Y/N, no longer an innocent farm girl, invites Eddie back to Hawkins, where he pretends to be her fiancé.

A Bloody Kiss Goodnight - Coming Soon (xSlow Burn! Harrington!OFC)🔥 🧸 💔

Summary: Fantasy! AU - On the night their family was supposed to make peace, Princess Jayden Harrington is suddenly separated from her brother and parents and winds up in a foreign land far, far away. From there, she meets a man that vows to help her get home and intact revenge, but in exchange for this, he demands that him and his kin get freedom and wealth. She accepts… not realizing that this journey will reveal the dark secrets about her life she never knew.

Rainbow In The Dark - Coming Soon (xFem!Reader)🔥 🧸 💔

Summary: Modern! AU - Stuck in a time loop, carefree rockstar Eddie and maid of honor Y/N develop a budding romance while living the same day over and over again – and they must figure out how to escape. (Based on the 2020 movie: “Palm Springs”)

Her Jaded Heart - Coming Soon (xHarrington!OFC) 🧸 💔

Summary: Deadpool! AU - She was expecting her brother to be home just like he always is every night, probably covered in cuts and a swollen eye, begging for her to play nurse again. She never expected someone other than him standing in her bedroom, with big pleading eyes as he tells you the unfortunate news. -- Or, Jayden Harrington’s vigilante brother, Steve, goes missing, and she has to team up with another “rouge” individual in order to save him and countless others.

|| One Shot

Of Lightning, Idiots, and Cosplay - Coming Soon (xHenderson!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: The Flash! AU -When your brother tells you that The Flash, Hawkins City’s local superhero, is his role model and wants to become just like him, you didn’t think he meant literally like him. -- Or, your brother Dustin decides to douse himself in chemicals and get struck by lightning to become just like his favorite hero, and you find yourself suddenly trying to find a way to contact the superhero who’s slightly responsible for this outcome.

Matchmaker - Coming Soon (xHenderson!Reader)

Summary: N/A

Sweet Girl, No Life - Coming Soon (xHarrington!Reader)

Summary: N/A

The Cool Dude - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

•Will Byers

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xPlatonic!Henderson!OFC; Slow burn!Byler) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

The Wizard's Ranger - Coming Soon (xPlatonic!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: When Will got taken into the Upside Down, he wasn’t the only one who happened to be there. In order to survive he must listen to his protector, a young girl who is packed with weapons and enough knowledge for him to escape the Demogorgon.

•Steve Harrington

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xSlow Burn! Henderson!OFC) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

A Bloody Kiss Goodnight - Coming Soon (xSister!OFC)🧸 💔

Summary: Fantasy! AU - On the night their family was supposed to make peace, Princess Jayden Harrington is suddenly separated from her brother and parents and winds up in a foreign land far, far away. From there, she meets a man that vows to help her get home and intact revenge, but in exchange for this, he demands that him and his kin get freedom and wealth. She accepts… not realizing that this journey will reveal the dark secrets about her life she never knew.

Her Jaded Heart - Coming Soon (xSister!OFC) 🧸 💔

Summary: Spiderman! AU - She was expecting her brother to be home just like he always is every night, probably covered in cuts and a swollen eye, begging for her to play nurse again. She never expected someone other than him standing in her bedroom, with big pleading eyes as he tells you the unfortunate news. -- Or, Jayden Harrington’s vigilante brother, Steve, goes missing, and she has to team up with another “rouge” individual in order to save him and countless others.

Underneath The Blood Orange Sun - Coming Soon (xFem!Reader)🔥🧸💔

Summary: Batman! AU - Desperately looking for a new job, you find yourself applying to work at Harrington Enterprises, and somehow end up as the big boss’ personal assistant/babysitter to his many kids. Little do they know is that you’re kind of a troublemaker in the streets at night. And little do you know is that they may or may not be the infamous “Bat-Family” everyone in Hawkins City knows about. Well… I guess the reveals will be a bit awkward.

|| One Shot

Sweet Girl, No Life - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

The Cool Dude - Coming Soon (xMunson!Reader)

Summary: N/A

•Dustin Henderson

|| Series

Should We Stay or Should We Go? - (xSister!OFC) 🧸💔

Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins.

|| One Shot

Of Lightning, Idiots, and Cosplay - Coming Soon (xSister!Reader) 🧸💔

Summary: (The Flash AU) When your brother tells you that The Flash, Hawkins City’s local superhero, is his role model and wants to become just like him, you didn’t think he meant literally like him. -- Or, your brother Dustin decides to douse himself in chemicals and get struck by lightning to become just like his favorite hero, and you find yourself suddenly trying to find a way to contact the superhero who’s slightly responsible for this outcome.

Matchmaker- Coming Soon (xSister!Reader)

Summary: N/A

-Taglist Is Open-

[andillwriteyouatragedy]

for your prompts maybe - miniseries eddie and richie in a storm or a flood or hurricane?? trapped together and maybe huddling for warmth or something??

Two hours ago, most of the Losers had just left Eddie’s apartment. It was while waving goodbye to Stan and Patty, the last to drive away, that Richie had noticed the dark clouds outside and turned on his television set to learn that a nasty storm was coming their way.

Richie whistles, leaning his head out Eddie’s kitchen window, while Eddie nervously sits himself on the edge of the coffee table in front of his television.

“Look at how fast it’s moving,” Eddie says. He has to resist the urge to lean in and grip the set with white knuckles. Behind him, he hears the window slide shut, then lock; after a moment, Richie’s hand comes to settle on his shoulder, then the back of his neck. He digs his fingertips in, and Eddie sighs, hanging his head.

“It’s going to be alright,” Richie tells him. “It’s just a storm. We can get up to all sorts of stuff in a storm.”

Eddie huffs a laugh, shoving his glasses up into his hair so he can scrub the back of his wrist against his eyes. He sighs, then wipes his palm flat down his face before clutching his throat. Tipping his head back, he makes eye contact with Richie.

“It’ll be okay,” Richie says again. He pulls Eddie’s glasses free of the tangles of his hair and slips them back into place.

“Should I call and make sure everyone got home okay?” Eddie asks.

“When there’s been enough time for them to get home,” Richie says, “you can do anything you want.”

Eddie breaks their eye contact to look down at the television again when the screen flashes. Frowning, he watches the stormfront move on the set just as a distant crack of thunder sounds, rattling him down to his bone marrow.

“I don’t think you should drive home in this,” Eddie says. Richie crouches beside him and takes Eddie’s chin in his hand, turning his face down so their eyes can meet.

“This is home,” Richie tells him firmly. Eddie’s chest tightens impossibly quickly, hearing something like that from Richie, out of nowhere; he thinks Richie can see it in his face, because he adds, “And, plus, I have no intention of leaving you here. I thought we had a date tonight.”

Eddie glances to the window again. Richie lets him, for a moment, before he uses his hold on his chin to tug his attention back down.

“I really don’t think we should be going out in this, Ri—”

“No, God, no,” Richie cuts him off, “I didn’t mean— No, I meant we should just have our date here.”

Eddie relaxes, feeling a little bit of the tension leech out of him. Richie smiles, and Eddie even feels better after that, knowing he’s not alone here, and that Richie isn’t angry with him, and that everything will probably, logically, be okay.

Thunder crashes again, making him jump and tense up again. Richie stands, kissing his cheek on the way up.

“Let’s see what I can scrounge up for food,” Richie says. Outside, the small, rapid patterings that bring the beginning of a storm start to sound, and Eddie’s skin crawls.

“I’m going to find candles,” Eddie tells him, shoving up from the coffee table.

He has more than candles in the emergency kit in his hall closet, but he tries not to dig it out all that often, so there’s no reason for Richie to know that. Eddie slides it out from the back of the closet and snaps it open, peering inside. For a moment, he can’t decide what to take, so he just drags the whole thing into the hallway.

“Packing up and heading out?” Richie asks. Eddie lifts his head to find Richie in the hall in front of him, holding— something. He offers the bag out to Eddie and asks, “Want a pretzel?”

“This is our emergency kit,” Eddie tells him, waving the pretzels off. He grabs the heavy kit by the handle again and drags it down to his living room.

“What, to revive us if one of us dies?” Richie asks. Eddie smiles, laying the kit on its side, snapping it open. “Oh, my God, Eds.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Eddie says defensively over his shoulder. He pulls a few of his candles out from underneath one of the first aid kits, passing them off for Richie to hold in the crook of his arm.

“Hey, Spaghetti Man, I’m gonna drop something,” Richie tells him, while Eddie’s still rooting for the matchbooks. Eddie’s only just lifted his head to reply when the lights flicker. They go in and out once, twice, and then stay on, but Eddie’s blood’s already turned to ice.

He feels frozen, crouched there on the floor of his living room, until Richie nudges him again. Terrified, heart pounding, he lifts his head so they can make eye contact.

“Hey,” Richie says, voice gone soft and genuine now. Eddie hides his face behind his hand, mortified when the backs of his eyes begin to burn, but Richie brushes his hand away easily, tips his face up to meet his eyes again. “You’re going to be okay, Eds.”

“But what if the building gets— I don’t know, what if it gets struck by lightning?” Eddie asks him, hand shaking. “Or if it floods, or— What if your house floods? Or it catches on fire, or— God, what if Bill’s—”

“Whoa, hey, no no no,” Richie interrupts him. He pulls Eddie to his feet and into a tight hug, letting him bury his face in Richie’s chest. He hides his face there instead, closing his eyes tight against the flickering lights and the rain darkening the entire world outside. Richie strokes his back slowly, up and down. “Everything’s going to be okay, Eddie, I swear. The odds of something bad happening are so astronomically low, and the odds of something good happening are so astronomically high—”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks.

Richie withdraws a bit, separating them just enough that he can cup Eddie’s face in his. After a moment, he leans in and kisses him. He doesn’t deepen the kiss at all, but he presses in hard, tips his face and grips Eddie tight, and Eddie starts to shake. He reaches up and wraps his fingers around Richie’s wrist, tilting his head. Richie makes a little sound, just catching his breath, and Eddie pushes in even closer, feeling like he wanted to climb under Richie’s skin.

When they pull apart, Richie cups Eddie’s chin in his hand and grins. “I mean, what’s a better way to spend a rainy night in than—”

A bolt of lightning illuminates Eddie’s apartment for one heart-stopping moment before the lights whine and all go out at once. Eddie can feel his spine stiffen before he can stop it.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Richie tells him. They can both hear the whine from the hallway as the building’s backup generators kick on. He knows that the hall must be bathed in blue light but, here in his apartment, all there is is darkness. “I’ve got your candles right behind me here. Did you find the matchbooks?”

Eddie nods. When Richie releases him, though, he still has a brief moment of panic where his breath catches.

“I’m right here,” Richie says. There’s another beat before Richie comes back to him, his hand landing on Eddie’s shoulder. “Right here. I got the candles for you, honey, give your matches here.”

Hand shaking, Eddie pushes the matchbook into Richie’s palm. There’s still blackness everywhere for another long moment before the match strikes and catches, illuminating Richie’s face with a dim orange glow. When he lights the candle, there’s enough light to see the whole of him by. Eddie grabs one of his candlesticks from the bookshelves beside the television for Richie to set the candle in.

“I told you we were gonna have our date here,” Richie reminds him. “What’s better than a candlelit evening at home, right, sweetheart?”

Eddie’s chest feels tight again, heart pounding. He can’t help but smile, tipping his face down. Another match strikes, and Richie sets up a second candle beside the first. His warm hand takes Eddie’s face and tips it closer. After a moment where all Eddie can see is Richie’s shadowed face in the flickering candlelight, Richie kisses him again.

“Do you think everyone got home okay?” Eddie asks, when they separate. Richie huffs a laugh.

“I think so,” Richie tells him. “They all had more than enough time to get home, baby. They would’ve come back here if they needed to.” Eddie hesitates, long enough that Richie adds, “Everything’s okay, I promise. What would make you feel better, hm?”

Eddie shakes his head. His heart’s still pounding, but he feels better for being able to see Richie, at least.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Richie suggests. “It’s a little chilly out here, I’d rather be somewhere nice and warm with you.”

Eddie yelps when Richie hauls him up and off his feet, throwing him over his shoulder. He grabs the candles with the hand not wrapped around Eddie’s waist, holding him secure. Even with all the blood rushing to Eddie’s head, he finds it in himself to wind his arm around Richie’s chest, burying his face in the small of his back.

“Hey, what’re you doing back there?” Richie asks, hauling him off down the hallway. Eddie slips his hand down the back of Richie’s pants, slipping his fingers just past his belt. Richie’s footsteps stutter, and he laughs. “Hey, you watch it—”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks.

“I mean—” Richie starts, but he cuts off when Eddie smacks him on the ass. Eddie’s laughing already before Richie is, indignantly exclaiming, “Hey—”

“You’re the one who kidnapped me,” Eddie reminds him. Richie kicks his bedroom door open.

“Is it a kidnapping if you come willingly?” Richie asks. Eddie hears the clatter of the candlesticks hitting his bedside table before Richie flings him backwards onto the bed, bouncing on the mattress. “Where’s all your extra blankets?”

“Top shelf in the hall closet,” Eddie says.

“You okay if I steal the candles for a sec?” Richie asks.

Eddie nods, and Richie kisses him on each cheek before vanishing into the hall with the candlelight. There’s not even enough time for Eddie to start being nervous in the darkness again before Richie’s coming jogging back in, blankets stacked in a pile so high they spill from his arms over the top of his head.

“Take this, please, honey,” Richie tells him. Eddie takes the candles from him and sets them back on the nightstand. A single drop of wax falls from one candlestick, and Eddie inhales sharply, yanking his hand back from the candles.

“Damn it,” Eddie hisses.

“Oh, baby, c’mere,” Richie coos. He sits on the edge of the bed beside Eddie, taking his hand carefully in both of his own. With one soft brush of his hand, he swipes the wax away; in its place, he kisses Eddie’s skin softly. Eddie laughs breathlessly.

“That’s much better,” he says, “thank you.”

“Mm,” Richie hums. He pulls away from Eddie to grab the blankets he’d retrieved from the hallway.

“What’re you doing with that?” Eddie asks. Richie spreads out blanket after blanket in bed; after those, he tugs Eddie’s spare pillows out from under his bed and props them up against the headboard, too.

“I’m keeping you warm,” Richie answers. He shucks his belt and pants so he can climb into bed beside Eddie comfortably, pulling him into his arms. Lightning fills the room again, briefly illuminating them both in blinding white light. The thunder that follows makes Eddie shake. “Oh, hey, baby, c’mere.”

Eddie tucks his head underneath Richie’s chin, wrapping his arm around his waist. Richie kisses the very top of his head. With his heart racing, Eddie asks, “Will you stay over here tonight?”

“In this weather?” Richie asks. “I have no plans to leave.” Richie tips Eddie’s chin up so he can kiss him again, nice and slow. Eddie can feel him start to smile just before they separate. “And with you here with me, honey, you couldn’t pay me to go.”

Eddie grins, and doesn’t even get to answer before Richie kisses him again. In the warm nest of blankets that Richie’s made for them in bed, candlelight flickering against the dark and pounding rain outside. The storm’s so loud that Eddie can hardly hear anything but that and Richie’s heart, when he rests his head back on his chest.

“I’m gonna keep you safe,” Richie murmurs to him. He smiles against Eddie’s temple when he kisses him there once, then twice. “No storm’s gonna get you while I’m here.”

Eddie pinches his side, laughing when Richie yelps, squirming into him. The two of them settle deeper into the bed, and Eddie yawns, relaxes. “Thank you.”

“Mm,” Richie murmurs, “thank you.”

comment on this story on ao3!!

[elizabethemerald]

Lighting Scars, Lighting Heals

An Azula redemption story. What if, during Zuko’s Agni Kai versus his father, Azula spoke up in defense of her brother, then was burned and then banished alongside him?

I could only watch in shame as Zuko begged his father for forgiveness. And when the blow itself was struck, I looked away. It is my greatest shame, that I could not even watch it happen, much less raise a hand to stop it. However beside me, someone else watched, someone else reacted. 

Before Zuko’s pained scream had even finished Azula jumped from the stands, her blue fire launching her to the grounds for the Agni Kai. She stood boldly before her father at only twelve, barely reaching his waist. 

“You always said family is the most important thing in the world and this is how you treat your family?” She screamed at her father. “You don’t get to hurt him any more!”

Azula stood in front of her brother, a talented firebender in her own right, but she was no match for Ozai. This time, I could bear my shame no longer, and I stopped the Agni Kai, if it could even be called that. I stopped her punishment at the hand of my brother, allowed him to banish both prince and princess and hustled the children aboard the ship and away from the Fire Nation. 

She cried for the first week we were at sea, I could not remember the last time she had cried. She cried for her brother, cried for her lost home, cried for what her father had done to her. Ozai’s punishment to her was in many ways worse than what her brother received. Her’s was not the careful branding of a child who refused to fight after speaking out of turn. Her’s was the punishment of a favored child who took a few too many lessons to heart. Her’s was a beating, and if I had not put a stop to it, could have been her death. 

Azula had identical hand prints burned into her wrists where her father had grabbed her. Another on her throat. She could barely breathe by the time we stepped on board. The burn rose up her cheek, almost blinding one eye like Ozai had done to Zuko. The worst was the lighting that arced across her back. Even now she still shivers when a storm approaches. 

When I got the children on board the ship that would be their home until they completed the impossible quest to find the Avatar, I immediately gave the order to cast off. We would sail under full steam away from the Fire Nation. They needed to heal, not just their bodies, but their minds from Ozai’s cruelty. 

During the following two years, they recovered, slowly. Zuko lost much of his depth perception and after seeing the strike against his sister, could not channel his fire bending into lightning. Azula, could not speak, her throat too damaged, however her bending remained as strong as ever, she gave up on bending fire, terrified of the force that had marked her and her brother, but put all of her effort into mastering lightning. She could do things with lighting that would have shocked even the most informed firebending sages. 

I found and brought aboard a teacher, who taught Azula how to speak with her hands, signing her intent. Zuko and I, and the rest of the crew learned these signs as well, so that Azula never wanted for someone to communicate with. Sometimes when she signed, lightning would crackle between her fingers, marking each word with flashes of light and the smell of ozone. 

In time we came across a village of the southern water tribe. There, as much to my surprise as anyone, we found the Avatar, an airbender, the last of his kind. He had been found by a young water bender, though truly, not so young, for she was the same age as Azula, and her brother. 

Zuko donned his armor, as the older brother he felt it was his duty to capture the Avatar. Not just to reclaim his honor, but to save his sister from being forced to live in exile. He was ready to fight the entire tribe and the Avatar in order to capture him and spare her any more pain. 

However it was Azula herself who tried convinced him otherwise. Her fingers sparked and crackled with electricity as she rapidly signed to him. The others could not understand what she was saying and would not for some time, but Zuko did, and so did I. 

Azula argued that it was complete nonsense that they still try and serve Ozai. He had banished them, burned them, scarred them. Left her mute, and him half blind in one eye. And still she was ambitious as ever. She argued that with the help of the Avatar they could unseat the Fire Lord and take his throne for themselves. 

I watched, my heart filled with trepidation as they talked. The waterbender, her brother and the Avatar watched as well, they had no way of knowing which way their fates would go, but knew that this conversation was important. 

What ended the argument was Zuko removing his helmet. From the long time I knew him and had been beside him on this voyage I knew he did it so he could see his sister better. Especially when she was excited, angry or scared her lightning would make it hard to read her signs, and the helmet limited his vision. 

When the waterbender saw his scar she gasped. And that seemed to break something in young Zuko. Even his enemies pitied him, could not believe that such a blow had been struck, so obviously by another firebender. They pitied him even without knowing that his own father had burned him. 

He made the offer of peace to the Avatar. He translated Azula’s terms, and after some more discussion the Avatar agreed, so long as the waterbender girl and her brother came with them. And so, the ship, crew now joined by two water tribe children, the last airbender and a skybison, departed once more. 

In time all of the children learned from each other. The Avatar learned to bend Water, Fire, Lightning, and in time Earth when they were joined by another talented young bender. 

Aang, watched as Azula’s hands and fingers flew and recognized the language his people had created. Though changed by their 100 year absence from the world, it was still the same tongue they had used to speak and be heard no matter how hard the wind blew. I watched as eddies of air blew between his fingers and heard the sound of his voice clear as day though he did not open his mouth. Azula who had mastered Lightning at only 14 watched as well and in time learned to make the lightning sing for her, speak for her. Now any who could hear, could understand her, as long as her hands were free, as the crackling lightning formed itself into words. 

Katara taught my nephew and niece that elements can change and can heal. Zuko learned how to warm another with his fire without burning them, he learned how to cook food and I helped him learn how to make tea. His fire didn’t have to burn with the pain and rage of what his father did to him. Azula learned how to wield her lightning with a precision I had never seen before. She learned that when someone was injured she could create the tiniest of sparks to close the wound, and then Katara could speed the healing. 

Sokka taught the others with his quick thinking wit, inventive nature and rapier tongue. He learned in turn to master his weapons like Zuko had done with his swords. He took Azula’s lightning and bottled it, creating weapons and tools that could release the lighting on command. 

When Aang had learned what he could of bending, mastering the different elements and their varied forms, it was time for action. They had managed to avoid or defeat the Fire Nation fleet again and again, but it was finally time to face Ozai himself. He was no match for the Avatar, two master firebenders, a master water bender, a master earth bender, who had created metal bending, and a lightning bender. He faced his mute daughter and his half blind son, and fell that day. 

Azula and Zuko worked together, to rebuild the Fire Nation, and make reparations to the other kingdoms. Aang focused on the Air Nomads, while Katara worked with unifying the Water Tribes. Sokka helped build a city where any person was welcome. Toph used her Metal bending to create an impressive police force. 

And for at least a little while there was peace, as the Fire Nation was ruled under the share throne of the Fire Lords Zuko and Azula.

[raging-violets]

Give me a rundown of the Flash! (I watched s1 and some of s2 but tbh I didn't really understand wtf was going on.)

Ok! *rubs hands together* Here we go!

Put under Read More because this is long and, technically, spoiler alert! If you’re still confused, feel free to send more asks. We love talking about the Flash.

Season 1: 11 year old Barry Allen, target of bullies, wakes up to the frightening sight of red and yellow lightning twist and turning his house, surrounding his mother, Nora Allen. His dad, Henry Allen, begs him to run leave the house and winds up miles away from home in a burst of light. Upon returning home, his dad is being arrested for the murder of his mother. 14 years later, he’s living with Iris West, and her dad, Joe West, and works with the Central City Police Department as a CSI as a means of learning all about crime scenes in the hope of being able to prove his dad was innocent and that there was a “man in the lightning” the night of his mother’s death. He and Iris make it to the particle accelerator event at S.T.A.R. Labs, and end up leaving before it’s turned on because Iris’s purse is stolen. Barry tries to get it back, but can’t and the robber is stopped by Eddie Thawne, Joe’s new partner. At the police station, Barry sees Iris’s attraction to Eddie and goes to work on the evidence for a case. The accelerator is turned on, malfunctions, and explodes, sending dark matter in to the air, and causing him to be struck by lightning. This puts him into a coma for 9 months. That lightning gave him his abilities and what doctors thought of him flat lining was actually his heart beating too fast for it to be recognized by EKG machines, so Dr. Wells gets him transferred to S.T.A.R. Labs so he and his team (Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon) could keep an eye on him. Wells, is actually Eobard Thawne, taking the identity of and impersonating the real Harrison Wells as part of his plan to get back to his time - the 22nd century. Thawne (also known as the Reverse Flash) got stuck in 2014 because he was in a fight with an older Barry in the future, and went back in time to try and kill Barry as a kid so he wouldn’t become the Flash. However, Barry had stopped his younger self from being killed by getting himself out of the house that night. In retaliation, the Thawne/Reverse Flash stabbed Nora in the heart, framing Henry for it. Upon killing Nora that night, Thawne became disconnected from the Speed Force and could no longer run as fast as the Flash, so he took to impersonating Wells to create the particle accelerator and making Barry the Flash earlier than he was supposed to. A new timeline was created when Barry had run back in time far enough to stop Central City from being wiped out by a tidal wave, this also erased Iris returning Barry’s feelings after he confessed, and Wells killing Cisco because Cisco had found out that Wells was actually an imposter. By the end of the season, Eddie kills himself to stop his blood line from continuing to create Eobard Thawne in the future. This causes a singularity to appear, opening their world to portals to connect to other versions of their world (known as Earth-2, Earth-3, etc)

Season 2: Jay Garrick from Earth-2 comes to Earth-1 to warn Barry that there was a speedster conquering different Earths and was currently on Earth-2 that wanted him killed so Zoom could become the fastest man alive (the moniquer that Barry went by) on any and all Earths. Zoom’s real name is Hunter Zolomon and he was created when he, years after witnessing his mother’s murder at the hands of his father, became a serial killer. While getting electroshock therapy, he was hit by a wave of dark matter from Earth-2′s particle accelerator explosion. Zoom would send meta humans from Earth-2 to Earth-1 (dopplegangers of Earth-1 people who may not necessarily be metas) to try and kill Barry. Cisco learned near the end of the last season that he, in fact, was a metahuman (because he had started having “dreams” about himself dying from the imposter Wells, from the timeline with the tidal wave that had become erased) and could “vibe” different Earths by touching the object of someone/person from another Earth. With the help of Earth-2 Harrison Wells (called Harry), who came to Earth-1 to try and steal Barry’s speed because it was the only way he could get his daughter back (she was kidnapped by Zoom on Earth-2 and used as bait to get one up on Barry), Cisco’s abilities are uncovered over the course of season, proving to be helpful in knowing what is happening on Earth-2. Jay Garrick turns out to really be Hunter Zolomon aka Zoom, using the Earth-3 Jay Garrick’s (whose doppleganger looks like Henry Allen, who he had defeated on Earth-3 and kept as prisoner) suit and name to get in close with Team Flash with the help of his ability of being able to create a time remnant (a version of himself plucked from the past that will still act like his real self). So there is, technically 3 Jays: 1. Hunter Zolomon!Zoom who is posing as Jay Garrick hero of Earth-2 and has lost his speed and integrates with Team Flash, and Jay Garrick from Earth-3 that looks like Henry - there is a moment where the third Jay comes in, the time remnant plucked from the past to be killed in front of Team Flash to manipulate them and their feelings. On a trip to Earth-2 in an attempt to help Harry get his daughter back, Barry and Cisco learn that Earth-2′s Caitlin is a metahuman named Killer Frost. To get to the point of Barry using his speed at the max speed he could reach, Zoom murders Henry in front of Barry, to try and get his grief and anger to push him to the next level of his speed. With that top speed, Zoom could steal it and become the fastest person alive. Zoom wants to steal Barry’s speed because he was dying (indicated by his blue lightning) and the velocity serums he had created to make him fast enough to go from Earth to Earth is failing - throughout the season, Caitlin and Harry and Jay were trying to create a new speed serum to help Jay get his own speed back. Barry was able to put two and two together after watching a speedster named Trajectory die in a burst of blue light after abusing the serum, Velocity 9, because she had too much speed. Also, it’s revealed that Joe has a son named Wally West - he and Jessie Chambers (Earth-2 Wells’s daughter) are in S.T.A.R. Labs when a second chemical reaction used to give Barry his powers the first time (created this time by Team Flash to give Barry his powers back after he gives them up - which results in his “death”) hits the two of them, leaving them to the journey of becoming speedsters all their own in season 3. By the end of the season, with Barry having defeated Zoom, and losing now both his parents, he goes back in time to save his mom, capturing the Reverse-Flash before he can kill Nora, and creates the next new timeline, Flashpoint.

[briangroth27]

The Flash Season 3 Review

The Flash is my favorite of The CW’s DC shows, and probably my favorite show on TV at the moment. Season 3 continued to thrill me with a terrifying villain and a great exploration of the Flash himself! It truly felt like Savitar helped close the book on a chapter of Barry’s life and I can’t wait to see him move forward.

Full Spoilers…

Barry Allen/The Flash I really enjoyed Barry’s (Grant Gustin) growth this season. He seemed to truly learn that he can’t be selfish and change time to suit his wishes or ease his sorrow after Jay (John Wesley Shipp) talked to him about how time can’t ever be perfectly restored, and I’m glad he stuck to his guns on that score. I was also pleasantly surprised that Barry was—for the most part, at least—up front with the rest of Team Flash about what he’d done in creating and undoing Flashpoint and what he saw of the future instead of dragging the reveals out for several weeks and straining his trustworthiness with the team. I liked that there was a concerted effort on Barry’s part to keep the family aspect of the team together, particularly after seeing what became of them in the potential future he visited. It was clever that this allowed him to finally figure out who Savitar was and I was happy that Barry got to decipher it out on his own.

I really like the metaphysics of the Speed Force and that the show often has it talk with Barry to guide him or, as was the case a few times this season, admonish him. The Speed Force being upset with Barry over Flashpoint was a great beat and a solid reinforcement of what Jay had told him. I felt like an unspoken lesson the Speed Force had for Barry when it spoke to him through Ronnie (Robbie Amell), Eddie (Rick Cosnett), and Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) was that all three of those people chose to sacrifice themselves and none of their deaths were Barry’s fault, so any guilt he felt over “causing” them was misplaced. Even if the Speed Force had to kick him into gear again, I loved Barry getting back into hopeful hero mode. This was taken to the extreme when he agreed to the brilliantly bonkers plan to wipe his memory so that Savitar’s would also vanish, and happy, blank-slate Barry was so good to see! Cisco (Carlos Valdez) coaching him through his statement in court was a fun scene that reminded me of Barry going on his literally blind date with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten) last year, and I loved that that aspect of his job came up.

I think the show should emphasize Barry’s scientific knowledge more at Star Labs—though I understand the rest of the team simply needs things to do too—and early episodes this year struck a good balance when it came to fighting crime. For example, Barry coming up with the idea to stop Magenta’s (Joey King) ship plan and Team Flash figuring out how to execute it was a pretty good compromise. On the other hand, I did think the show downplayed his CSI skills too much this year, particularly with Julian (Tom Felton) constantly showing him up at work. Barry doesn’t need to be the best CSI, but he shouldn’t be repeatedly shot down like he’s new to the job either. Similarly, adding Tracy (Anne Dudek) as yet another scientist at Star Labs—one who’d be working on manipulating the Speed Force, no less—felt like it was stepping on Barry’s toes; he could have at least helped her create the Speed Force Bazooka. As likable as Tracy and Julian were, I wish the writers had found a better balance between their skillsets and Barry’s.

I was happy to see that Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry didn’t treat Flash like distinct personality: Barry doesn’t have a divide in his persona like some heroes do; as we saw when he lost his memory, Flash is just his ability to do extraordinary things and Barry is the motivating factor behind his heroism. I’m also glad they dealt with the potential awkwardness of Barry and Iris having been raised together. I never thought it was weird since he loved her before he lived with the Wests, but I've seen that "incest" complaint online a few times. That Barry’s reluctance to move the relationship forward was fear of losing everything now that he finally had it was a great and natural place for his character to go, particularly right after losing his father after he’d just returned. As it turned out, this was also a clever way to foreshadow the end of the season: he almost lost Iris and then willingly entered the Speed Force—giving up his dream life—to save the city. I thought Barry’s first proposal to Iris was a little underwhelming, so I was glad that they played it as Barry getting ahead of himself and trying to change the future more than truly celebrating their relationship and wanting to move it forward. Barry breaking up with Iris to fully focus on Savitar is not the move I would’ve made, so when they got back together in the musical crossover with Supergirl, it felt like Barry fixing a mistake rather than a rushed plot reversal. Barry singing “Runnin’ Back to You” to propose the second time was much more romantic! That was a smart use of Gustin’s singing talent and a cool tie-in to the musical nature of the episode. When Barry erased his memories, I loved that it was Iris and their love that brought them back; she’s his lightning rod, after all. Her line about good memories getting you through the bad ones was great. I loved the couch moment at the end of the season with Barry and Iris, with their playful conversation about wedding invitations. I really wish we’d see more of them as a couple; it’s weird that we haven’t seen a lot of their dates or general relationship moments outside the big ones. Hopefully we’ll get that upon Barry’s return next season. Barry telling Iris to “remember to run” was a heartbreaking way to close this season and I can’t imagine it’ll be very easy for them to get through Barry choosing to walk away from her without a discussion.

I thought it would be far too soon for Barry to get sidekicks—it seemed like he hadn’t really had a chance to dig in as a solo Speed Force expert before becoming a mentor himself yet—but training both Jesse Wells (Violett Beane) and Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) worked out really well! I loved the callbacks to Barry being trained by Ollie (Stephen Amell), and once Barry really started teaching Wally, those scenes felt extremely iconic. “Run, Wally, run,” indeed! It was nice to see Barry’s reaction to hearing that Snart had died a hero too; it’s good to see he was right about Snart having good in him and to see that Barry can inspire people to be better. I was also happy that Barry’s morality triumphed in the Gorilla City invasion, though I think they needed to clarify a few things in the past regarding Barry being a killer. While he never did anything like Oliver, it looked for all the world like the first two metahumans in Season 2 were killed when Barry stopped them. Maybe they were Flashpointed back to life, but if they’re going to make a point about Barry not being a killer, I think they need to do more than just leave a vague possibility that a criminal didn’t die at his hands. I’m happy to see they want to play Barry as a hero who doesn’t kill—who’ll find the impossible answer no one else has time to think of—but I think they should also either clarify or deal with their continuity on that score. If he’s going to do it, he needs to deal with it.

That said, Barry had a number of fantastic superhero moments this year! Phasing an entire train was nothing short of astounding. Snapping his fingers into a stream of compressed gas to ignite it, creating a makeshift flame-thrower, was a cool way to vary his powers. He demonstrated a much greater control of time travel than he has in the past when he went to visit the future, leaving me legitimately shocked that he really did come back just a second after he’d left, as planned. It was slightly odd that he’d run off right when Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) had gone Killer Frost, but I get that his worry about saving Iris trumped that and he was right about his time travel capabilities. There are a few times where Barry could’ve used his speed more wisely, like unmasking Alchemy faster: they could've easily had Barry speed for his mask, then have Savitar catch his hand before he got to it and pin him against the wall. Another time he could’ve done more with his powers was during an otherwise show-stopping fight with an ice slide-creating Killer Frost. Barry could’ve thrown lightning at her or created wind tunnels to ground her; Cisco’s not the only one with ranged attacks. Aside from small moments like those, I never felt like Barry was going easy on criminals for the sake of the plot.

Finally resolving Barry being his own worst enemy felt like the natural close to this chapter of his story while also giving a really good reason why Flashes can't just use time travel to fix everything. Physicalizing Barry’s more selfish impulses in Savitar was brilliant and I love that these first three years built to Barry fighting the darkest version of himself. Barry voluntarily entering the Speed Force was sad, but it also felt like what a responsible, selfless hero would do and I like that he's grown to the point where he knows he can't control or change everything. Even though his progress will be a bit hampered by his time in the Speed Force, I can’t wait to see where he goes once he gets back!

Savitar At first I wanted Savitar to be an actual god of motion—that seemed like a good step up from Thawne (Matt Letscher/Tom Cavanaugh) and Zolomon (Teddy Sears)—then I wanted him to be just some random original speedster, so the season’s main enemy wouldn’t be the third traitorous member of Team Flash in as many years. But as the season continued, I came around to the idea of Savitar being Barry; it was the ultimate way to make Barry literally face his mistakes and his worst impulses; even Eobard pointed out that Barry had become the villain of the story. Savitar had a very impressive, scary introduction, and there was never a point where I thought he was needlessly going easy on the heroes. The only moment that came close to that was when he said he had plans for Jesse so he wouldn’t kill her, which were never brought up again but I assume were meant to go into motion after he had secured his origin. I briefly thought Savitar might be a resurrected Eddie Thawne (either via Flashpoint or Eobard bringing him back with the Spear of Destiny over on Legends of Tomorrow) or Barry from the original pre-show timeline gone insane, but I was sure early on that he was a Barry Time Remnant from the future. “I am the future, Flash” was a very cool clue and the fact that he knew the team sealed it for me. I saw a few tweets complaining that they had called Savitar’s identity as well, but I can't imagine a more impactful or satisfying reveal. I'd rather see it coming than have a crazy twist that has little impact. I didn't think Future Barry needed to omit the existence of a surviving damaged Time Remnant—they could've just as easily not known he survived—but that abandonment explains why Savitar went bad when the prime Future Barry didn't. I liked that they combined elements of the comics’ Savitar—a nobody (literally; we never learned his name!) obsessed with the Speed Force who had a long existence with a cult springing up around him—with Cobalt Blue—Barry’s evil twin, adopted by the Thawnes—and an evil future version of Barry Allen from the New 52 timeline—to improve on all three characters. Thanks to his terrifying power, personal tie to Barry, and the fact that he was a manifestation of so many of Barry’s issues, I definitely think Savitar topped Thawne as the best Flash villain so far!

I enjoyed the mythology Time Remnant Barry created around himself by going back in time to cement his place as the “first” metahuman with superspeed. I loved his increasing god complex and his use of Alchemy to lead his growing cult of followers. That he could be trapped within an Arc of the Covenant-style box was a perfect touch. I loved the origin of the Philosopher's Stone and the reason it allowed him to deflect the Speed Force Bazooka's blasts was pretty cool. “God feels no pain, so I had to become one" was a great line and cool motivation to reshape himself in the wake of Iris’ murder and his abandonment by Team Flash. Since Barry is so dependent on his familial connections, Savitar cutting them all off felt like a perfect direction for his character. At one point I wondered why Savitar wouldn’t just kill himself to save Iris (or give himself over to the Time Wraiths, as the Speed Force suggested Barry do), but I think in addition to completely losing his mind he wanted the power to fix everything…he is Barry, after all. He didn’t think his younger self was worthy of the life he led, so killing himself wouldn’t solve anything anyway. I would’ve liked clarification on his plans beyond recreating himself: my theory is he wanted to make another Flashpoint to create his perfect world; this could’ve grown into an attempt to control the Speed Force itself, since it was preventing Barry from further rewriting time (and I really like the idea of a “god” out to control/manipulate speedster Heaven). Like Barry trying to fix the past, Savitar may have been fully confident he could perfect time and make everything better once he’d secured his origin—including bringing Iris back to life—and it’d be like she never died…he just had to kill her first.

His successful attempts to mess with Wally’s head and orchestrate his escape from the Speed Force prison were a little similar to Eobard and Hunter manipulating Barry, but still felt fresh (and it makes sense that Barry would’ve learned tactics from those villains). Savitar’s seeming reluctance to kill the people close to Barry—besides Iris, who he needed to kill for his origin—despite claiming he didn’t need anyone, made sense given he was Barry, which eliminated what would’ve been a question about such an all-powerful supervillain’s restraint. I’d like to think that the moment Savitar was forced to relive over and over in the Speed Force prison was Iris’ death, with the additional knowledge that he did it. I didn’t see Savitar pretending to be Barry to discover Iris’ location; they could’ve had Savitar replace Barry at any moment, but that was absolutely perfect and crushing. It doesn’t (necessarily) refer to that moment exactly, but the message in the Invasion Crossover directing the heroes not to “trust Barry” was a cool bit of foreshadowing and another neat clue to Savitar’s identity that seemed to refer to Barry’s Flashpoint shenanigans. The gimmick of Savitar having all the new memories Barry creates as time changes was a great way to let him stay ahead of our heroes; literally anything Barry did, Savitar would remember.

I hadn’t expected the kind of vengeance that created Savitar to be lying deep within Barry, but after its reveal I could see where it comes from. I really liked how they balanced the anger in Barry to establish the potential for Savitar without wrecking Barry as a hero. The idea that Barry's lack of hope and mercy is the wellspring Savitar comes from is a cool way to dramatize the importance of him remaining an optimistic hero. Even though Barry came to terms with the idea that the darkness can drive him to better himself after making mistakes, his memory loss proved heroes don't need tragedy to be heroes. Barry’s attempt to save Savitar by helping him and bringing him back to the light side was unexpected and really well done; too bad the thought of living without Iris and the appeal of being an unfeeling god was too much for Savitar. Gustin did great playing both sides of this section of Barry’s arc (as well as the broken potential future Barry)! I thought Savitar’s plan B for godhood—splintering himself into every microsecond of time to evade the paradox coming for him—was even cooler than his plan to simply recreate himself. It would’ve been awesome to see him succeed and the heroes have to undo that, but I loved the Savitar arc overall and it truly felt like his defeat signaled the end to this chapter of Barry’s life. And what a defeat it was! The forest fight with Savitar vs. Barry, Wally, and Jay was incredible!  

Iris West I love Candice Patton’s Iris, but I’m frequently left wishing she had more to do. This season brought her and Wally into Team Flash more, but Iris’ role was often left to acting as the glue of the West family (and sometimes, Team Flash as a whole). Patton is good at it and I like that Iris plays that role, but I really want them to find a way to incorporate her career as a reporter more. I had a similar gripe with Lois Lane (Erica Durance) on Smallville as well: when Barry runs off to fight crime, why isn’t Iris right behind him to get the story? Why not throw in a flirty-cute "see you there!" from her as Barry runs off? That would be such an easy way to incorporate her job into the show; even if she doesn’t have anything to do in a fight scene, it’d be a great reminder that she actually does her job. Since Cisco’s metascanner eliminates her ability to really feed the team scoops on crimes, she could bring some humanity to the villains Team Flash faces thanks to her investigations. While Barry gets physical evidence as a CSI, Iris interviewing the people in these enemies’ lives can provide emotional or background information that could help Flash understand who he’s fighting. Iris also gets saddled with a bit of the “ask questions so the audience understands” unnecessary exposition Firestorm (Franz Drameh, Victor Garber) gets on Legends of Tomorrow, though not as much as she did in Season 1, so this is improving. I hope that ends and the writers give us more credit. It’d also be cool to see Iris cross over to the other shows next time; I think she’s the only regular from Flash aside from Wally who hasn’t gotten to visit another series. I’d absolutely love to see her jump over to Supergirl and give Kara (Melissa Benoist) a few journalism pointers!

All that said, Iris getting to play a bigger role within Team Flash was great to see! It was neat to see her and Wally working together as crime fighters in the Flashpoint timeline and it’s cool that Barry’s season-ending sacrifice and Iris’ increased role on Team Flash effectively makes that the case in the real timeline as well. Iris and Wally had some great echoes of that crime-busting team throughout the season, such as when she distracted Joe (Jesse L. Martin) with a very funny conversation about her possibly being pregnant so Wally could snoop through his files. Iris knocking out Wally when he was possessed by Alchemy was great; I definitely thought she’d end up captured, so taking Wally down was a nice surprise. I was glad when the other characters finally stopped treating her like she couldn’t do her job without dying—especially knowing it’s Savitar that would kill her, not some random villain—because she’s an adult and it was time they accepted that she’s capable of taking the same risks they are (and more than willing to do so). I liked that they came to the understanding that she wasn’t going to stop helping people, no matter what the risk.

It was also fun to see Iris and Barry’s relationship develop, though I wish we got more of it onscreen. The show has never been very showy about Barry’s love life, so it didn’t feel like Iris was shortchanged in comparison to Linda (Malese Jow) or Patty, but while we’ve gotten plenty of moments of Barry being in love with Iris over the past three years, I wish we were seeing more of them actually dating. Nevertheless, what we got was fun; bits like their first date (which ended awkwardly), their redo (which also ended abruptly, but better), and moving in together were fun, as was her joking with him while he was trapped in a mirror. I liked her reasoning for breaking up with Barry after his future-averting proposal, and her video vows were perfect. Intercut with Barry’s futile race to save her, however, they were absolutely heartbreaking!

I'm not sure how I feel about Iris shooting Savitar right after Barry had a heroic moment for staying the course and not killing him. The idea is clearly that killing is not a heroic act for Barry, so why is it OK for Iris to do it? It's a gray area—Savitar was going to evaporate in seconds anyway as the paradox hit him and she does save Barry by killing his doppelganger—but it could've been a less fatal shot. Had she just shot Savitar in the leg, she would’ve prevented him from killing Barry long enough for the paradox to evaporate him. That's the one thing I'd change about the finale, I think; at least Barry brought it up later and it seems like Iris will deal with the effects of that choice next year. I’ve heard she’ll be the leader of Team Flash while Barry’s gone, so I’m definitely excited to see how she settles into that role!

Wally West/Kid-Flash As wary as I was of Wally getting his powers so soon, just like Roy’s (Colton Haynes) early introduction on Arrow, I loved what Keiynan Lonsdale brought to the show this year! I loved how much of a fan of the Flash they made him and how badly he wanted to be a hero, so his ascension to Kid-Flash was great and felt true to the original comics. His glee at finally getting powers was infectious! I love that Wally's the idealistic fanboy while Barry is more of an optimistic realist. It's a nice balance that proves you don't need a light/dark contrast to create friction or friendly competition between heroes. Moments of the guys ribbing each other, like a “Flash vs. Kid-Flash” conversation at Jitters and playing the truth of stage whispering as Barry was asking Iris to look after Wally while he was on Earth-2 dealing with Grodd were great fun and I’m glad that sort of competition never erupted into some epic argument between the two.

I thought Wally’d secretly seek out Alchemy to get his powers, so I’m glad they didn’t go that route (even if he did put himself in the cocoon). I liked that he was willing to use himself as an Alchemy tracker—Wally never needed powers to be a hero—and his moment about fear with Barry before they went into the lair was great. I thought pulling him out of the chrysalis before he was ready would cause more problems with his powers than it did. In the comics, initially they started to kill him so he couldn't use them much until his physiology was corrected, so I thought they were going to do something similar here (I even thought that would be the “fate worse than death”). Perhaps they’ll still play that card in the future, but I’m glad he got to have his dream come true. Wally’s eagerness to be trained played into the Invasion Crossover very well and jumping into that fray was a fun first outing for Kid-Flash! Once Barry started training Wally, I absolutely loved it! Wally's issues with phasing were a nice nod to the comics, where he originally couldn't phase "cleanly" through objects, leaving them unstable, and would instead leave Looney Tunes-styled holes in them. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity of Barry losing his memories to flip their relationship, so Wally could train him for a bit. He brought it up so it seems it happened offscreen, but it would’ve been nice to actually see him in Barry’s shoes and vice-versa.

Wally’s burgeoning relationship with Jesse was fun! The two have good chemistry. I liked their early issues caused by his jealousy over her powers and that they focused more on him putting himself in danger than resenting her for getting superspeed. I was glad that he was immediately honest with her about Harry (Tom Cavanaugh) “dying;” that could’ve been a source of cheap drama, but they chose to have Wally be mature and honor his relationship with Jesse instead. I really thought Wally would go with her to protect Earth-3 and I wasn’t sure why he wouldn't use the opportunity to get away from things so soon after his time as a prisoner in the Speed Force. I guess he needed his dad and sister more then, and he got his groove back in the Supergirl crossover, so I’m ultimately glad he stayed. I knew he’d get the fate worse than death, but I didn’t guess he’d be trapped in the Speed Force watching his mom die over and over again or catatonic and crippled in the potential future! It seems Wally is fated for a dark path, and I hope they can prevent that.

It was nice to be reminded of Wally's engineering acumen in the finale and I hope Cisco takes him under his wing as an engineering apprentice at STAR Labs. Like Barry as a CSI and Iris as a journalist, I’d love to see Wally applying himself as an engineer next season; Cisco as a mentor would also be a fun, new note for him to play and a different energy for Wally to play off of. I loved Wally's evolution into Kid-Flash and I'm excited to see how he handles living up to Barry, even though I’m surprised we’re getting Wally as the Flash so soon. I’m glad it’s not due to a permanent Barry death (I was afraid WB’s movie division might want that with Justice League’s Barry coming up), and while it seems Allen will be back faster than he should to really play out Wally as the solo Flash, I hope his return creates a lot of drama with Wally suddenly being put back in second position to Barry. Living up to Barry’s memory and then dealing with what his place in the world was after Allen’s return were big arcs in the comics for Wally, so I hope next season gives them the time they need.

Cisco Ramon/Vibe Cisco getting to be in the field more as Vibe was great! Perhaps that evolution is a chance for Wally to pick up his slack in the lab. His battles with Killer Frost were excellent and perfectly emotionally charged. I don’t remember them specifically stating it, but I feel like Cisco’s fear of turning evil after meeting Reverb added some great weight to his attempts to save his best friend from herself. If it wasn’t explicitly stated, that could’ve been a great argument for how she didn’t have to give herself over to the Killer Frost identity. I loved how conflicted and how concerned about hurting Caitlin he was whenever they came to blows and I honestly couldn’t guess how Vibe vs. Killer Frost would go down in the end.

I also liked how much Cisco has grown in hostage situations; he's come a long way since he gave up Barry's secret ID to Captain Cold to save Dante (Nicholas Gonzalez). On that note, I really liked Cisco’s angst about his brother this year. While correcting Barry on whether or not they were friends when they went to recruit Supergirl may have seemed a little much, I think his pain and anger needed to be that big and drawn out or else it would’ve felt rushed and underdeveloped. It’s also possible Cisco and Dante were closer in the post-Flashpoint timeline than they were in the original one, which would be a cruel irony in that they didn’t really get along in one reality and Dante died in another. I liked the way they finally resolved things between Cisco and Barry; it felt natural. I also liked that Cisco had a moment in the Invasion Crossover where he was faced with much the same choice Barry was. His reaction to accidentally changing time for the greater good was a great way to let him understand what Barry had gone through and to work through his problems with his best friend.

Another great development for Cisco was his relationship with HR. I wasn’t a big fan of HR, but at least he drove all of Team Flash to be their best without relying on the genius of a Harrison Wells. The “just show up” speech about heroism Cisco gave HR was excellent and such a great moment for both men! Cisco’s relationship with Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) was fun and breezy, which was a great switch from the angst of his strained friendships with Barry and Caitlin. I’m 100% sure that the dead partner Gypsy keeps referring to—the one that seems to be standing in the way of her starting a relationship with Cisco—was the Cisco of her Earth. I’m definitely interested to see where their relationship goes next year; it’ll be nice for Cisco to have a relationship that goes beyond flirting for once! I also liked Gypsy opening Cisco’s eyes to what he could accomplish with his powers, though I think he should’ve had to land more than one hit on her during their first fight. Oh well. Like pulling a Flash Signal out of the Batman mythos, Cisco calling Savitar “Two-Face” was totally unexpected and very funny!

Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost I’m torn about the portrayal of Killer Frost. On one hand, playing Caitlin’s metahuman evolution like a disease she was desperate to conceal and cure was a great, fresh take on the metahuman condition. I also really liked that she didn’t get over what Barry accidentally did to her with Flashpoint. On the other, it seemed like the show fought far too hard to make Killer Frost a separate personality without any reason why. Unless a split personality was Flashpointed into her past along with her powers, Caitlin showed no signs of one in the previous two seasons and while Magenta did have a split personality brought on by her powers, it was due to Alchemy granting her the memories of her life in the Flashpoint timeline. Caitlin didn’t get her powers from Alchemy and had no memories of any other life, so why was she alone subject to a split personality? It felt like the show was afraid to pull the trigger on a major character development for Caitlin and instead wanted to play it safe by making Killer Frost “someone else,” except they also had Frost say that she was the real Caitlin. There would’ve been absolutely nothing wrong with Caitlin being justifiably angry with Barry and going off the rails—even hurting her friends—in her frantic quest to be cured. Pining for Ronnie aside, we’ve never seen Caitlin really desperate, and this could’ve been a great way to explore a darker side of her (particularly with Savitar showing us Barry’s darkest side). They didn’t need to scapegoat her wrongdoing on her powers. The fact that she was often forced to use her powers to save her friends (freezing Iris’ arm to stop an infection, getting Barry out of the mirror, slowing Savitar, etc.), thus pushing her farther and farther into her Killer Frost identity was perfectly tragic, but it would’ve been better if Frost hadn’t been a separate person; they could’ve just played Caitlin as being sick of saving everyone else when they couldn’t do much to help her.

All that said, Killer Frost was great as an enemy and Panabaker was great in both roles; this may be her best material yet on the series! Her villainous puns were a lot of fun and the CGI—especially the Iceman-style ice-slides in a fight with Barry and Cisco—was outstanding! I didn’t see her being the traitor coming at all and teaming up with Savitar was a nice twist and echo of Earth-2 Caitlin working with Zoom. In hindsight, her early comment about all their friends being their greatest enemies was a fun bit of foreshadowing for both her and Savitar. I liked meeting Caitlin’s mom, Dr. Carla Tannhauser (Susan Walters), and I was sure she’d turn out to be an evil parent, so I was relieved it was actually Nigel (Thomas Cadrot) who wanted to force Caitlin to use her powers while Carla genuinely wanted to help her. I hope we get more of Caitlin’s relationship with her mom next year. At the end of the season, I loved that they didn’t take the easy way out by having Frost cure herself. Going through her full transformation and becoming someone who isn’t quite Caitlin or Killer Frost is the stronger choice and I’m excited to see where they take her character next year.

Joe West Joe’s season arc felt like one that forced him to begin letting go of his kids. From his Flashpoint-created estrangement from Iris at the beginning of the year to dealing with Wally beginning training as a speedster, to learning about Iris’ impending death, and finally to losing Barry to the Speed Force, Detective West was put through the wringer regarding his children. I thought Joe being overprotective of Wally and trying to stop him from being a superhero worked better than his being protective of Iris for most of the season, maybe because Iris feels like more of an adult than Wally does and she’d already been a reporter for years at this point. That said, Joe struggling with saving Iris from her fate and his recollection of when she was a baby was so sad! Her death was a standout moment for Jesse L. Martin. I didn’t think they had to hide Barry’s vision of the future from Joe and I’m glad there wasn’t a huge falling out over it when it was finally revealed. In hindsight, that was a clever reversal where Joe’s kids were needlessly overprotective of him instead of the other way around.

I did think we needed a bigger moment where Joe came around on Wally training. It felt a hair too fast IMO. I liked that his comments about love and family accidentally led to Barry realizing who Savitar was (particularly as Joe’s plot in that episode felt fine, but extraneous at first). His romance with DA Cecile Horton (Danielle Nicolet) is fun and I hope it continues. I’m definitely interested to see where Joe is after the hiatus. We’ve seen him repeatedly turn out much worse for wear without his kids, so losing Barry like this must be hard on him. I wonder if he’ll still be the same voice of the common man for Team Flash or if his role will change; I kinda hope it does. I like that he’s been the stable backbone of the West family and I don’t think I’d want a midlife crisis for him, but with all three of his kids growing up, I wonder where Joe’s energy will be put if not into being overprotective of them. I wonder if he has aspirations to climb the chain of command at the CCPD.

Harry Wells/HR Introducing multiple Harrison Wells was a fun idea (and Cavanaugh was clearly having a blast creating the most random Wells possible), but none of them could replace Harry for me. I love his friendship with Cisco and their mini-competition about naming supervillains was great! I thought pretending to be dying to convince Jesse to listen to him was a bit much, but I’m glad he owned it as a mistake. His reactions to HR were always entertaining! I loved that Team Flash hid Iris on Earth-2 with Harry and I was very worried Savitar would kill him (and Joe) when he came for her. I’m glad it seems Harry will be sticking around in Season 4, but I hope the team doesn’t slide backwards into leaning on him as a mentor figure. They’ve grown beyond that, so it’ll be interesting to see how he finds a new role for himself on the team.

I really disliked HR in the beginning: his being a “muse” helping others reach their full potential never worked for me and often came off as though he were just taking the credit for Team Flash coming up with their own ideas. That said, I’m glad that this Wells not being a genius forced Barry to step up as leader and the rest of the team to think for themselves more; I feel that was key to me never hating the character; instead I just struggled to see how he fit on the show at first. HR did grow on me, though, and even though training Wally at first sounded like a terrible idea, it worked. They also got some good comedy out of HR, such as “All’s Wells that Ends Wells.” He and Tracy had a cute relationship while it lasted, and I liked him just being there for the team as the series progressed. Moments like consoling Jesse and getting an inspirational boost from Barry in the final episodes made me like him more (and I liked that the latter was a direct example of what Cold said: the goodness in Barry was the key to saving Iris). I was glad he got to go out being a hero; Cavanaugh won me over on HR and I definitely appreciated how much he’d touched the rest of the team at his funeral.

Julian Albert/Doctor Alchemy This was a really cool reimagining of the comics’ Dr. Alchemy: he's "making gold" from raw materials by bringing people to their full potential! It was clever to take Alchemy’s split personality from the comics and twist it so that it was Savitar’s influence over him. I was torn on whether Julian was Alchemy or not, but there was really no other suspect. When it was finally revealed, it wasn’t a shock, but I wasn’t disappointed either. I liked that he wasn’t the third ally (however caustic their relationship) of Barry’s to knowingly turn out to be an enemy; his opinion that metas were wasting their gifts being evil was an original take on the situation and the layers they added to him as the season progressed all worked for me. His opinion that the police force had become lazy since Flash did more than all of them together was a great man-on-the-street take on Barry’s heroics! I liked that he provided an obstacle for Barry at work, but I do think the show dropped the ball a bit on letting Barry prove himself in that field; even getting Allan’s job back was more due to Julian figuring out who Barry was rather than Barry proving he deserved to be a CSI. Barry just lost too often in the face of Julian’s professionalism IMO. One time Julian’s skills didn’t make Barry look bad was when they had to operate on Caitlin; Barry and Wally could’ve sped-read medical skills to do it, but that would’ve been raw knowledge as opposed to Julian’s experience as a medic. Moments like that worked and I wish there had been a better balance of that sort of “competition;” Barry doesn't have to be the best at everything of course, but they almost made it seem like he was a total screw-up compared to Julian.

That said, once Julian joined Team Flash he was a fun addition and, as my friend pointed out, brought the snarky “friendly antagonist” energy back to the team in Harry’s absence. Bits like him geeking out over a “planet” of apes were fun; I enjoyed his whole Indiana Jones vibe, actually. His relationship with Caitlin wasn’t something I was rooting for initially, but I liked it. Their shared lack of control over their powers was a great bonding factor, even if his experience as Alchemy was much more clearly defined as a split personality than her changes into Killer Frost were. I felt sorry for him when Barry asked him to let Savitar back into his mind again and Felton was great with the agony and turmoil of becoming Alchemy again.  Even though he’s not going to be a regular in Season 4, I’d definitely be open to Julian returning for a guest appearance now and again.

Allies I liked a lot of what they did with Jesse Quick this year, particularly when HR tried to stop her from going after Savitar and she responded that on her Earth, she’s the Flash. Though she got some training from Barry early in the season, I loved that she asserted herself as a main superhero instead of anyone’s sidekick. Also, even though HR grew on me and I liked him by the end, Jesse being over him and knocking him out still felt cathartic. I didn’t think Wally and Jesse would make it as a couple because I didn’t think the show would stick with three heroic speedsters on a single Earth for the whole year; it’d be too easy to defeat the villains. I’m glad I was wrong and they made their extremely long-distance relationship work, because I like them together. I liked that Jesse had real, valid concerns about Wally’s interest in superspeed; the drama generated by that arc felt valid and pressing. I did think it was a little odd that Jesse abandoned crime-fighting on Earth-2 to protect Jay’s Earth-3, but maybe she’d gotten things under control back home. There were a few missteps with Jesse that felt like she was simply written out of scenes to make them more streamlined, but ended up hurting her character a bit. For instance, Jesse was too preoccupied with Iris’ engagement ring to help Barry and Wally save lives? Jesse could've just taken in the ring in superspeed, making an out of character moment a little better by putting a fun Flash spin on it, at least. There’s no reason she couldn’t have been right beside Barry to witness Wally’s freakout at seeing Savitar either. She could’ve run off with Barry to try and save Wally from being sucked into the Speed Force prison too (though admittedly, he could’ve done more than watch once he got there as well). Facing off with Savitar and proving he was human, not a god (Stab, Jesse, Stab!) made up for this a bit, but these moments felt out of character and unnecessary. Still, Jesse is a fun recurring character and I’m hopeful she’ll be back often in Season 4!

I thought for sure Jay Garrick would play a role with the JSA over on Legends of Tomorrow, but I liked what they did with him here even better. Making Jay Henry Allen’s doppelganger was an inspired choice and I love it whenever he shows up; Jay stopping by to give Barry advice not only feels iconic but feels important, given Barry’s talking to a man with his father’s face. Read any interview with Shipp and it’s clear how thoughtful he is about his approach to playing both Henry and Jay (and his own Barry) and how best to use his time on the show (or why he should sometimes be kept away altogether), rather than being an actor who needs everything to contort to fit him in. I do think it’s sad they keep locking him away in prisons, though; just being away on Earth-3 is a good enough reason for him to not be around. That said, I hope he’s been helping Wally find his way as the new Flash!

Gypsy was awesome! I don’t know anything about the character she’s based on, so I was up for anything the show did with her and I loved all of it. She was a great adversary even though she didn't want to take over the world or steal things, and her interdimensional collector job made for one of the most reasonable hero vs. hero fights around. Her supreme confidence, tenacity, and preparedness (including handcuffs that Barry apparently couldn’t vibrate through) made her an instant favorite of mine. It was very cool that she entered the show not only with something of a history with HR, but Abra Kadabra too. I hope things work out for her and Cisco and I’m excited to see where she goes next season. Meeting her father (Danny Trejo) is going to be fun too!

I love Captain Cold, so getting to see him in flashbacks, as a Speed Force manifestation, and finally plucked from time to pull a heist with Barry was very cool and a lot of fun! With both his villainous and heroic versions showing up, we got to see all sides of Snart this year. I hope Barry gets to meet the “bizarro” version that’ll be showing up on Legends this season. I was so excited for Julio Mendez (Alex Desert) to finally be on the show, since he was Barry's best friend on the 1990 show!  I liked that he ran the CCPD in Flashpoint and I was sorry to see both his appearances cut so short. Since he died in the normal timeline, I hope he gets to be Jay’s CSI buddy/police support on Earth-3. I liked Tracy Brand, but I still think Barry should’ve had a larger hand in helping her build the Speed Force Bazooka/prison. He’s the one with all the knowledge about the SF, so we should’ve seen them working together (the Speed Force even mentioned that, in the original timeline, they did work together on it). Dudek had good chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh and I liked how she acclimated to the team’s sci-fi craziness relatively quickly. I’d be up for more appearances in Season 4. Lyla’s (Audrey Marie Anderson) brief appearance was cool and I liked her reasons for not giving Barry the power source ARGUS had. He didn’t deserve her trust, which was a great example of unforeseen consequences of his actions. That her trust in him was restored by the end of the heist seemed a little rushed, but not unnatural. I thought the Accelerated Man of Earth-19 (Sean Poague) might be important to the Savitar mystery, but I’d still like to learn more about him. At least visually, he’s very distinctive and seems like he could have a cool story.

Villains Eobard Thawne is my second-favorite villain on the show and I love how much he loves tormenting Barry. I still wish his final battle had been with Barry, but I hope a younger version shows up sometime; I still think there’s more to explore with him hating Barry because he idolized him until he found out they’d be enemies. It was cool that he got to call Barry out as the villain of the season. I hope Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) comes back soon and often. Playing him so much like a stage magician isn't what I had in mind, but I thought it worked well and I loved all his tricks! I really liked how creepy he got when he said not telling Barry about Savitar would be like he got to kill Iris too. Savitar aside, he’s my favorite new villain this year and I hope we see much more of him (even though he was taken off to be executed, we can still meet his younger self). The Earth-3 Trickster was fun (and it’s very cool Mark Hamill was willing to pop by for a reunion with Shipp from the original Flash show), but I prefer "our" version and would like to see him return!

I can’t believe we got to see Gorilla City and I loved every second of it, though I would’ve liked to see a bit more of their culture and world (but seriously: the fact that we got anything blows my mind!). I thought Solovar (Keith David) gave Barry a great fight in the coliseum and used original ways to counter his speed. Like I saw mentioned on Twitter, it seemed like Grodd (David Sobolov, Simon Burnett) should’ve been able to read Team Flash’s minds in the cells (or just compel Cisco to open a portal once Barry accidentally convinced the gorillas to fight humans), but I guess he didn’t because he got cocky or, perhaps, Grodd’s telepathy didn’t work within the cages and didn’t want to give Cisco a chance to escape by pulling him out. I liked Grodd’s missile threat a lot and even though they were severely outmatched and outnumbered it was spectacular to see Barry, Jesse, and Wally team up against an army of apes! Barry and Grodd’s rematch was slightly underwhelming after Barry vs. Solovar, but I liked that it was Barry’s goodness that won the day, not his fighting skills. I'm also glad Grodd is locked up at ARGUS for use later on. I don't need to see him again immediately, but I definitely want him back in the future. I hope Hunter/the Black Flash isn’t dead (or that he can be reconstituted somehow), because he was scary on Legends and I’d like to see him continue to play his role as the Speed Force’s Death.

I liked Mirror Master (Grey Damon), but felt they could do more with his powers, like endangering multiple civilians at once from various mirrors/windows around the city. It was cool to mention the comics' other Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch, as being from Earth 2. I’d like the characters to meet him and see what he can do with his tech-based powers. Exploring the mirror universe Scudder travels through between reflective surfaces could also make for some cool episodes. I thought The Top (Ashley Rickards) was better than in the comics and I liked her vertigo effect. Since Count Vertigo (Seth Gabel, Peter Stormare) doesn't have his reality-warping tech (yet?), I'd love to see her fight Oliver sometime on Arrow. However, both Top and Scudder could stand to have their own episodes to fully shine: there never seems to be enough time to really dig into either of them. On the other hand, I definitely hope that their Bonnie & Clyde routine continues a trend of the Rogues working together against Barry. Playing Jared Morillo/Plunder (Stephen Huszar) as a high-tech pirate thief was fine as a one-off villain. The comics' version was the mirror-verse clone of a cop (Morillo), created by Mirror Master to be his inside man. That would've been cooler, but there’s nothing to say that plot can’t be used with any other character either…evil Mirror Joe, maybe?

Like Grodd and Gorilla City, I can't believe they managed a giant kaiju monster on a network TV show! I might've given the moment at the end with the kid (Isaiah Lehtinen) controlling it being talked down to Flash instead of Joe, though I'm glad they made the kid face the consequences of his actions. Speaking of outstanding CGI, we got another fun King Shark appearance and another missed opportunity for a Street Sharks reference from Cisco. Hahaha! I loved the fin in the smoke and am definitely game for King Shark to return whenever they want. Matthew Kevin Anderson was scary as Clive Yorkin, who could disintegrate anyone he touched and was on a killing spree. Magenta may have been a bit low-key as a villain, but her story brought out some great parallels to Harry/Jesse, Barry/Flashpoint, Harry/Barry and mistakes, and Joe/Wally. I also really liked the way Barry talked her down instead of fighting her off. Shade (Mike McLeod) was kind of wasted in his episode, but at least he didn't die. In the comics, Shade's somewhat immortal and has been a villain and an anti-hero, which could provide an interesting perspective to contrast with Barry if he comes back. Given the caliber of other speedsters on the show, Edward Clariss/The Rival (Todd Lasance) felt underwhelming. He served his purpose and didn’t need to be epic, I suppose, but he wasn’t that impressive. Maybe if we hadn’t had so many evil speedsters or if he got more than one episode to show what he could do he would’ve been fine.

General Plot Notes It always feels like so much happens on Flash episodes and I wish more shows were like that. I liked the structure of the season, with the metahumans so closely tied to Flashpoint. I don’t want to get rid of 22-23 episode seasons, because I love getting to spend as much time as possible with these characters and worlds, but it might be better to split each season between two main villains. Alchemy and Savitar worked this year—and the ability to trap Savitar while still racing to rescue Iris from her fate helped to maintain his unstoppable shadow over the season without making him or the heroes look incompetent—so I think the show is headed in the right direction on that front.

Using the headlines glimpsed in the future was a clever way to propel the “save Iris!” plot; they could try and change the future, but they could never be certain of how successful any given change would be. Even travelling to the future didn’t afford Barry many answers, but I liked that it was another chance to show how Barry can inspire hope in even the most hopeless (and a Cisco so desperate for hope that he’d trap Barry there was a great manifestation of that). While the pacing felt a little off in that episode, I loved that it spent so much time with the Future Team Flash and that all the changes they’d gone through were fully explored. The Future Flash suit was a nice touch; I’ve always felt the belt buckle on the present-day suit looked a little awkward and bulky compared to the rest of the suit, but making it gold and incorporating it into his lightning belt made it look like it fit. If they take anything from the future suit for a Season 4 look, I hope it’s that. I enjoyed the fact that even though erasing Barry’s memories was a truly crazy Hail Mary scheme to beat Savitar, it actually worked. That was one of the best uses of (and reasons for) an amnesia episode I've seen in a long time. Wally losing his powers was a cool side effect of Savitar losing his memory that I didn’t see coming. The countdown throughout Iris’ death episode gave it a great sense of tension, even while balancing it with plenty of funny lines. I didn't expect Iris to actually die—and I totally believed it when it happened—but I didn't think it'd be permanent. I guessed HR would take her place with his holographic projector (and thought we might be seeing someone other than Iris as early as when Wally was having his visions of Savitar escaping the Speed Force), but the show had a much simpler way of doing that than my convoluted time travel theory. The finale was not at all what I was expecting, but I loved just about all of it!

The development of the world was cool and felt like we were taking baby steps to the iconic Flash mythos of the comics, particularly with HR opening a museum in Star Labs. It’s great that they have a continuing relationship with the city and its people; Flash shouldn’t be like other superheroes who are inaccessible to the public except when there’s a crisis. That they could teach kids about science to keep their doors open (their needing a source of funds was another good point!) was very cool. I do wish they’d taken the opportunity to rebrand the museum as the Flash Museum in an attempt to change the future; maybe now that the building has been destroyed, that’ll be part of the rebuilt Star Labs. That’d be particularly fitting after Barry’s “death.” The Speed Lab was another cool addition to Star Labs and I’m hoping we get more of this sort of world-building in the coming year. I wonder if they’ll take the building exploding as an opportunity to completely overhaul the Cortex and other sets. It was also cool to visit HR’s Earth-19 and Jay’s Earth-3 (and of course Jesse’s Earth-2); I hope we get to see more of the multiverse as the series continues!

I was wrong about how things would go in Flashpoint (I thought the Invasion Crossover would be a Crisis that would resolve it 8 episodes into the season), but I liked what they did a lot and I'm glad we got back to (approximately) the show we know quickly. I do think they missed an opportunity to have present-day Barry become the Flash who told his younger self not to save Nora in the Season 1 finale, but I guess that moment has been permanently erased (along with the original Barry of the Flashpoint timeline; I understood it that he’d fade away/merge with our Barry when he entered Flashpoint, like the first two times Barry time traveled). It also would’ve been fun to explore the Flashpoint world a bit more, maybe including a classic comic book goateed-Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance-Black Canary appearance, but overall I’m glad the show kept the focus on Barry and his world. As fun as dark alternate realities can be, I felt both the comic and the animated versions of Flashpoint lost the focus on Barry and his affect (or lack thereof) on Central City in favor of Justice Leaguers fighting each other. I’m glad the show didn’t do that and getting to see our heroes in this alternate timeline was a lot of fun. I was sorry to see elements of the show we knew go, but I really liked Flashpoint—and the damage it did to the West family dynamics, Cisco’s brother, and Caitlin’s health—as the reason Barry can't just go back and fix whatever he wants. Even though he came out of his first brush with the Speed Force wiser and more confident, losing Henry crushed him and I think Barry needed a big lesson about the consequences of his actions. That Flashpoint both served as the lesson and fed into the creation of Savitar was brilliant.

I liked the Invasion Crossover a lot! Despite a few choices I would’ve changed, Flash kicked things off (after a brief Supergirl scene) to a great start! I didn't think we needed to see Barry and Ollie pinned down outside Star Labs three times. Seeing the alien ship crash and the Dominators charge would've been enough of a hook to start the episode and I would've cut it to look like Barry and Ollie were being pinned by the Dominators to preserve the brainwashed heroes reveal. I also don't think we needed to see the Supergirl scene again; it didn't add any information to the crossover and it makes watching the Supergirl episode unnecessary if you want to see the "real" crossover. My only other (and larger) issue was a general lack of strategy from everyone involved: Ollie had people attacking Kara with no visible plan to adjust their methods to her powers and Kara and Co. just waltzed into the warehouse where the President (Jerry Wasserman) was being held. It’s true that’s her standard operating procedure since she's invulnerable, but you'd think Sara (Caity Lotz) would know better and at least offer an alternative plan. It also should’ve taken longer to mind-control that group. Ollie and Barry got smarter when their backs were literally against the wall, but I would've liked to see a little more tactical planning from everyone; Wally aside, they weren’t new at this. That said, it was definitely a great crossover! I was glad they got the obligatory hero vs. hero fight out of the way right off the bat. And it was a great, fun fight! I also loved that the front of the Star Labs hanger was the Hall of Justice from Super Friends! What a great shout-out! I love that these shows aren't afraid to dive head-first into Silver Age wackiness! I loved how Barry's Flashpoint guilt played such a strong role in the crossover (and that the invasion was a response to Flashpoint) without feeling like a pity party. Ollie talking to Barry about mistakes and responsibility was perfect; I love their brotherly relationship and was happy to see him reassure Barry (and to support Barry as the nascent Justice League’s leader). Their drinks at the end of the Legends episode were perfect as well. Ollie's right: everyone makes their own choices; Barry just shuffled the deck a bit as to what cards people got dealt. They have fully driven home the point that he can't just go and change time—no matter how much he hurts—and I truly believe Barry won’t ever screw with it again.

The second big crossover, a musical Supergirl adventure, was probably my favorite CW crossover yet. Barry and Kara (and Gustin & Benoist) are a great comedic team and I hope we get many more team-ups from them over the years. "Super Friends" was a ton of fun and a perfect encapsulation of their friendship; I’d love to see more of them just hanging out. Everyone involved in “Duet” sang really well; it’s amazing they’ve collected so many good singers across these shows! Maybe next time Pied Piper (Andy Mientus) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) can join in the fun too. I loved the 1930s/40s setting and, while I would’ve liked more original songs instead of covers, I loved everything we got. I didn't expect Music Meister (Darren Criss) to be purely out to help the heroes at all, but I liked the twist. My theory is, he’s from our world (DC’s Earth-Prime: our world, where Grant Gustin plays Barry Allen on TV), and has been watching Barry and Kara on their respective shows; that’s why he’s so invested in them getting happy endings. It was nice to see J’onn (David Harewood) cross over, but I would’ve liked Chyler Leigh’s Alex to come to take care of her sister as well. The limited time spent in the real world prevented them from really getting into it, but it would’ve been cool if Iris had given Kara some advice on working her way back into the journalism business. It was also cool that they threw in another Supergirl “crossover” when Cisco and Gypsy were fighting through multiple Earths and landed in CatCo for a moment. Bits like that are fun reminders that the shows are connected without having to make a big deal out of it.

With Wally taking over as Flash and the team moving forward, I’m hoping we get to see Barry getting back to basics with science and CSIing this year. It’ll be fun to see how Barry deals with a world that’s moved on without him, particularly after seeing him in a world of his creation at the start of Season 3. Maybe his huge steps forward in personal growth will lead him towards the more responsible Barry from the comics. I wonder if Iris finally wrote the “Flash Vanishes in a Crisis” article, and it refers to the Speed Force storm at the end of this year. I’m glad we’re getting Clifford DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) as the main villain next year: there’s no way they could’ve topped Savitar with a sixth speedster villain (seventh if you count Hunter as the Speed Force Death avatar). We needed to get Barry vs. Barry to finish his current arc, so now I’m ready for the fastest man alive to take on the fastest mind alive!

I can’t wait for Season 4 next week!

[fathersonholygore]

Hulu’s The Path Season 2, Episode 8: “Return” Directed by Michael Weaver Written by Annie Weisman

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Providence” – click here * For a recap & review of the next episode, click here. Last we saw Eddie (Aaron Paul), he was swept off violently by Richard (Clark Middleton) and Kodiak (James Remar), leaving Chloe’s (Leven Rambin) boy in the wind. The two men want answers from their captive, about what happened with Dr. Steven Meyers (Keir Dullea). They need to know, because of the implications in his death. Cal (Hugh Dancy) goes to see Jacqueline Richards (Melanie Griffith) at a swanky pool. He claims it’s “fate” but surely he’s tracked her down. Her daughter bought into the Meyerist cult, though Jackie isn’t overly interested. She’s preoccupied with everything in her life. And this provides him with the perfect way inward. Another rich person to exploit. Then there’s Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), who slips further down the rabbit hole each day. She listens to tapes of unburdening sessions, going through all the people and their lives ripe for blackmail. She gets a call about Brenda Roberts (Kathleen Turner), Cal’s mother. She is in hospice – liver failure – and ready to die, at any moment. Hmm, I wonder how that’ll affect Cal once he finds out. Sure to run another few cracks through his weary foundation. Things elsewhere are sketchy, as Chloe tries to deal with her son being left on his own, and Eddie’s sudden disappearance. Meanwhile, he’s struggling with the drugs he’s been given by Kodiak and Richard. He’s being taken back through his memories – seems he had a mean, violent father, on top of the memories of his brother Johnny, and more. The two Meyerists holding him captive try to lead him through to memories of Peru, up on the mountain with Steve. Until Eddie stops breathing. Cal works his eerie charm on Jackie, helping with her current problems but also chipping away at her doubt in terms of the movement. He rattles on about the power of Meyerism, and it works. If he can solve Jackie’s problems it’s worth $50K to her. Once more, the snake slithers its way into another life. At the hospice, Sarah goes to see Brenda. The old woman isn’t well, awaiting death to come take her away. She desperately wants to see her son before she goes. Is there something she needs to tell him? Or is it merely a mother wanting to see her boy one last time? What we see is that Brenda knows all about the Meyerists, definitely all about her son. Confirming what we all know, that Cal’s been in love with Sarah forever. Between reality and coma, Eddie wanders. He finds his way back to the Meyerist commune, walking through an otherworldly space. There, he sees Doc Meyers greeting him. Is this death? A place between life and the afterlife? He goes further and sees his dead brother Johnny in a garden, tending to plants.

Seeing Cal amongst regular people is kind of like watching an alien walking through human beings. Weird watching him at a poolside party. “I‘m in someone‘s idea of oblivion,” he tells Sarah when she calls. She bears the bad news about his mother, also that there’s something holding his mother back from death. Definitely a secret, a hope for closure, anything similar. But Cal won’t assuage his mother’s guilt before she dies leaving Sarah to take the brunt. In the meantime, he meets Jackie’s friend Luna, the one he supposedly needs help. Then in one of his relapse moments, he sniffs coke with them. Off the deep end. This has the potential to get very messy. At the centre in the city, Hawk (Kyle Allen) is dealing with a pay shortage, not knowing the dire straits in which the Meyerist cult has fallen financially. With people threatening to leave and stop working he goes looking through Cal’s office. Only to find all the Past Due notices from the IRS, so on. Finally, the Impending Seizure notice. Here he was, thinking Cal had everything under control. Hard to watch your idol crumble into nothing. Also, his faith in his mother only worsens. Brenda: “Fuck all of you” On her death bed Brenda reveals to Sarah the true nature of Calvin Roberts and Dr. Steven Meyers. She says that Steve loved her son, a bit too much. In the wrong ways. WHOA! I didn’t see that coming, at all. I expected many things. Not that. And like myself, Sarah is rocked by the revelation. If true, it’s beyond devastating. In all the obvious ways, and also on a deeper level of faith, trust, it’s somehow even more sick. Eddie and Johnny talk in that limbo or afterlife space. He tells his dead brother about trying to save someone, obviously Steve. He couldn’t, that’s when the storm came in and when he was struck by lightning. Eddie’s overcome. Then he’s back in that old shack with Kodiak and Richard, they were able to give him a shot to wake him up.

On a beach Cal spins a speech on freedom for pop star Luna. He offers a “chance to feel unlimited fulfilment.” All that cult shit. And then he gets offended when Jackie calls Meyerism a cult, too. No surprise. But he’s further put off when she doesn’t immediately buy into his “pitch” about their movement. “You‘re not even convincing yourself,” Jackie tells him plainly. At home, Sarah’s confronted by Hawk about the money trouble the cult is in. He is definitely betrayed. She spouts off more nonsense about the movement being stronger, the “path to the Light” and all the greatest hits. Now with the revelations concerning Steve on Brenda’s end, there’s even more danger to anyone young near Meyerism. Eddie tries to make Kodiak and Richard see Steve was only a man. He didn’t ascend to any Light. He got cancer, he was ready to die before they were on that mountain. But Eddie’s also at peace, with himself, with everything. After his visit to the garden with his brother. He goes back to tell Chloe about what happened and she’s rightfully freaked out. She wants him to call the cops; he doesn’t want anything to happen to his kids at the commune. Cal relates to Luna about not having a childhood. Being told he was “special” and separated from the rest, in more ways than one. She’s got a lot of pain inside. Fucked up on drugs, gun in hand. He offers her help, though it’s only a means to an end for the cash. Another mind for him to manipulate. If only she’d buy into his cult hypnotism. Later on the phone Cal asks Sarah about his mother, and she lies, telling him she was proud, blah, blah, blah. Hiding that she knows the truth. Does Cal even remember the abuse? Hard to know for sure. He winds up falling into the arms of Jackie, anyways. So, in lieu of other money, Sarah’s already out putting more blackmail into motion. Becoming a worse person all the time, in order to save their dying movement. Richard gives Eddie a necklace belonging to Steve, the first one made after “the Ladder was revealed.” He believes that Eddie was marked by the Light. That he will build the Garden, “and we will follow you there.” Shit. I didn’t really expect the stuff between Eddie and Richard at the end of the episode. Neither did I see the Steve revelation concerning Cal coming, whatsoever. Truly rocked me. Cannot wait to see the next episode “Oz” coming up. The Path – Season 2, Episode 8: “Return” Hulu's The Path Season 2, Episode 8: "Return" Directed by Michael Weaver Written by Annie Weisman…