#i can't remember if there's anything else to cover but that's my retcons off the top of my head lolll

[lifesver]

so yeah anyway

leland joined the friend group last, he's 19 and in his freshman year.

started out friends w the fratboys and jocks and had to earn some of the friendgroup's respect before he got pulled in like uh huh ok he's just harmless he's cool he's a loser we like him

he did wrestling in hs bc his dad made him. golden boy coming to a big city school is real tho like he got taken down a peg.

but he also did football (: and now he is on the football team in uni. i think he otherwise studies english literature. agree that he is not like all-star bigshot in uni but he's solid

he has a pathetic crush on just about every single one of his close friends but also feels like he is the just some guy who has to kind of be worth his place in the group who all p much knew each other before him

i don't subscribe to julie stringing leland along or being mean to him tbh. i think they are jock friends and one day she will teach him to surf (: but he does think she's really pretty and wants to impress her bc see:above

more on that aint no way 'julie gave him purpose' like shut uuuuup bro. his new friendgroup gave him purpose tho! he loves them all sincerely!!

"he's not used to rejection" is probably somewhat true, popular in hs vibes. peaking in hs vibes also but he's not weird about rejection. he was raised right ok

i already had that he drops out of college but that's after the house and bc he gets an injury. and also i can see him letting all his school stuff slide. but he's not dumb he's smart! he just kind of walks and talks dumb sometimes. and doesn't necessarily love being perceived as anything out of the ordinary if u know what i mean

^^^^ repressed small town boy w some insecurities still real. lots of pressure on himself, lots of worth put into how other people, especially his friends, see him.

connie told leland it's ok to like girls and boys (: it's devastatingly giving 'steve and robin in the bathroom when she came out to him' energy where he was just like ... oh!!!!! cool (: wait so i can also-

obv all i have re: shipping remains ^

sonny and leland besties (: in a roommates that kissed way. hope that helps the viewers

[kitkatt0430]

The time has come!!!! To watch the final four episodes of the Flash. Starting here with episode 10. I've currently got some tasty pizza but I may make some popcorn later. Will definitely have to resist the urge to throw the popcorn at the screen because my house is soooo dusty right now. (mid home-reno, at the point where all the big stuff is done and everything is now covered in a thick layer of drywall dust and i will literally be dusting the house over this for weeks to come)

The opening with Eddie is cute. Looks like 'Malcolm' is a research scientist? Since, from what spoilers I've seen, the N!SF is what resurrected Eddie, I have to wonder if the Malcolm persona was crafted to fit what Eobard wished Eddie was like. The N!SF has been retconned so much since it was first mentioned, but it started as an artificial speed force the Eobard created and it took Eobard as its first avatar. So it'd make sense if it was trying to remake Eddie in an image more pleasing to Eobard...

Still, it's too bad Malcolm isn't a separate character from Eddie.

Lol, Allegra as Rainbow Brite. I do find that hilarious. And the suit is awful.

Chester is no Cisco when it comes to super suits, that's for sure. How about calling up Ryan. He's not as good at is as Cisco, but he's not rainbow bathrobe bad at it.

I still think Cecile should have moved with Joe and Jenna. She's a great lawyer when the show remembers that she's a lawyer, but there's a lot of tell-not-show going on with her being a super hero and she seems happiest when she's with Joe and Jenna. This season's biggest problem, I think, is that it hasn't handled juggling the main cast well and, much as I like Cecile... I think that having her go into semi-retirement with Joe would have been a good choice. She still could have been commuting for her defense lawyer practice, giving us that one episode with Becky, but otherwise it would have been one less character to juggle and opened up the opportunity for Barry and Iris to raise Nora in the same house they were raised in.

Khione's place is very plant-filled. And I love that she's named them all. She's definitely leveled up on her powers since last we saw her and I like that she writes her diary entries as letters to her sisters, Caitlin and Frost. I still don't know what her purpose is because she hasn't done anything that couldn't have been easily handed off to someone else, so... *shrug* I've given up on the idea that she has an actual purpose that only she can do - you know, right hero at the right time - at this point. Still, very sweet.

Also did she have to look at the camera directly while talking about Blaine?

Iris - Since when do you do things last minute. Me - Where have you been? This man is your husband, sweetie. If he isn't doing something last minute, then he's doing it five minutes late.

Pulitzer nomination!!!! YAY!!! Go Iris!!!!

It's 'cobalt' blue energy that takes Barry to the past. I like the person who walks by cupping a cd player in their hands. That's so funny, but very 2000.

Oh!!! the laundry van!!! reference to the pilot episode!!! love it :D

Barry being an awkward duck with not-yet-Captain Singh. David is going to remember this one day and wonder. Anywho, love that Barry's first instinct is to go to Joe for help when he can't get back home. Not surprising it doesn't work out - you're a stranger to him now, Barry - but still.

Next try, Professor Stein. Who, given the time travel shenanigans he's already played with his own timeline at this point, would probably believe Barry a little more easily. But still not surprising he didn't believe him over the phone. Bet if Barry had shown up in person and started talking about the Legends, that would have gone better.

Of course, Barry then sees his parents. And just. Gets so focused that the Reverse Flash blindsides him. Love that Henry saves Barry from being killed. Nora's first thought at seeing Barry is 'he looks just like my father'. Their shared concern about Barry even though he's just some stranger... it's good to finally see the people who raised Barry before Joe. And that Barry's kindness towards strangers and sense of duty to help is something that is as much from them as from Joe.

Henry - I'm Dr. Allen and this is my wife Nora and we were first on the scene after your accident. Barry - *internally freaking out because he loves his parents but he knows his mom is gonna die soon and his dad will go to prison and he wants to save them, knows he can't, and doesn't want to fuck up the timeline again because he actually didn't intentionally time travel for a change* O_O Umm.... hi... I'm... Bart.

Barry calling himself Bart will never not be funny to me.

Nora - Can we call family or friends for you? Barry - *No mom, you can't call yourself, sorry* Nope.

Gosh, I do love Henry and Nora so much. They save this guy on the street, take him to the hospital, and insist on taking him out for pizza. Knowing they're such kind and helpful people really highlights what a tragedy what happens to them are because... how many people would they have tried to help if Nora had lived and Henry hadn't spent fifteen years in jail? Not with super powers but with just kindness and an insistence on helping the people around them.

Joe and David wanting to help Barry now too. :D Mysterious voice growls Joe's name and there's a blue crystal that... possess Joe? Well. Would you call that shade of blue... cobalt? *snicker*

Nora - Well, what about your family? Where are they? Barry - *AWKWARD* They died.

Again. Nora and Henry being so very, very kind to Barry. Giving him something he's missed for so long. And he can't accept their offer to stay with them, much as he wants to.

Matt!Eobard shows up, with the ominous helicoptor noises! Of course Barry assumes this whole setup is his fault. But it isn't.

Barry could be having a nice evening with his parents, instead he's at a bar with the guy who is an evening away from causing Barry's childhood PTSD. And Eobard laying out the situation is interesting because there are more options than Eobard mentions and he genuinely doesn't realize that. It's just... kind of fascinating for Barry to see what's happening from the point of view of knowing how this will turn out in the end.

For Barry to have the life that Eobard is threatening to take away... he does kind of have to let Eobard win. Just not in the way that Eobard intends to at that moment.

Barry going back to Henry's office right as Henry and Nora at talking about how they wish they could have helped him... do love that timing. :D

Barry getting to tell his parents that their love made him who he is even now, so many years after their deaths... even if they don't realize his words really are for them. Very sweet.

Uh-oh, growling voice is back. I suspect it's trying to stop Barry from getting to Eobard in time to save mini-Barry from Eobard's evil plans. Though that begs the question of why it brought Barry back in time in the first place.

Joe - Hey, so I know everything. Barry - Oh? Not even gonna question this. Help me Joe.

Waiting since the dawn of time, huh? So if the N!SF's main color is red, then why is it using blue now instead?

I like the doctor who takes charge when the hospital is damaged - she's my hero now. Oh gosh, she's Ramsey Rosso's mother. Now his disdain towards his mother for dying of HLH pisses me off even more. Dr. Rachel Rosso was an amazing woman.

Seriously, why is the N!SF's main color suddenly blue????

Barry - I'm not here to save myself. I'm here to save you. Eobard - Bullshit. *it's in his eyes, okay???*

Oh yeah, he's not here to save himself. He just... carries himself... out... of the building.

Though I do appreciate Barry risks his own timeline to offer Eobard the chance to do the right thing. But Eobard can't see beyond his own ego to realize that Barry already knows what will happen if Eobard goes through with his plan.

And I do love that we finally get to have Eobard call himself the hero and Barry the villain. Eobard cannot see beyond his own selfishness to realize that not only is he the bad guy, but that he's the bad guy because of his own actions. Even in his personal future when he 'embraces' being the bad guy, Eobard still thinks that it's all Barry's fault and the real villain is Barry even if no one sees it.

And there's the big fight. S1 Barry!!!! aww, back when his suit looked like actual protective gear and not a Halloween costume made of moisture wicking fabric.

Eobard - OH NO NOT THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS CATCHING UP TO ME!!!! Barry - Told you so. Also thanks for the catharsis, asshole.

lol

Back to Malcolm!Eddie. Who gets the classic struck by lighting of destiny, but it's red. Like the N!SF usually is but hasn't been all episode - see this is why changing the color coding for the N!SF to blue suddenly was bad. Consistency is important!!

And apparently the N!SF can transport objects because it also brought Malcolm!Eddie a police dossier. On Eddie Thawne.

That was actually a really strong opening episode for the finale. I am glad that they're closing the loop before the end of the show. That said, I'm not sure how I feel about it being one of the focuses of the series finale. It's appropriate to revisit what started it all at the end of the show, but at the same time there's been an obsession with Nora's death throughout the whole show that, at this point, it does also feel like they're beating a dead horse. But I'm not sure when else in the show it might have gone... unless they'd done Savitar as the Flash from the timeline Eobard came from where Nora didn't die with Savitar causing Flashpoint towards the end of S3 instead of Barry causing it at the end of S2, but I've got a post about that fanfic idea somewhere. (I actually really want to write that at some point.)

The fact that this was such a well written and paced episode makes me worried the rest of the episodes aren't going to live up to it. Because I've been watching this whole season and, uh, this quality of episode really isn't what the season's average has looked like.

Getting a glimpse of the N!SF's personality here does make me wonder just how much it may have warped Eobard's mind already by the time Barry first met him. Or if its personality was modeled off it's creator and it merely encouraged Eobard's worst traits. This Barry knows Eobard is capable of choosing to be a good person and caring about other people beyond his own selfishness, which is why I think Barry gave him the warning even knowing Eobard wouldn't take it. He still wanted to give that part of Eobard that genuinely wants to be a hero a chance to be one. Given what spoilers tell me the N!SF is gonna do to Eddie, I can't discount the idea that Eobard might have turned out very different as a speedster without the N!SF's corruption - and I think maybe Barry wonders that now too, having spoken to the N!SF directly through its possession of Joe.

That said, I do enjoy Eobard being an entitled asshole who cannot see beyond his own ego and cannot conceive of being wrong. We got a glimpse here of Eobard back when the character was still well written and fascinating to watch because he is a genius but his blind spots are so obvious to everyone but him. So when his well thought out plan falls apart, he doesn't see why until it smacks him in the face.

Anyway, one episode down and three to go.