Flash Facts – “Rupture”
Get in the f***ing Speed Machine, Barry.
Rupture is a real slow burner. We’re still dealing with Barry sans powers and while that’s no bad thing, we all know he’s going to get his powers back and the majority of the indecision is because of…
Henry fucking Allen. Seriously, he buggers off for god knows how many episodes (seriously, when was the last time we saw him? Episode 2?) and comes back filling our boy’s head with some Snyder-esque Pa Kent nonsense. You don’t have the right, sir! Barry is meant to be The Flash, this question shouldn’t even be up for debate! Like the man himself says: “Being The Flash is the best version of me”. On a weird bit of trivia, Henry reveals that Garrick is his mother’s maiden name. Could this mean Barry has a more familial tie to the original Jay Garrick in this universe? Maybe, and if true, it’s dumb as hell.
Villain of the week is the Earth-2 doppelganger of Dante Ramon aka Rupture. For such a tragically short run on the show (introduced and killed in the space of 20 minutes, man and the episode was named after him!) he certainly made an impression on me. His costume and weapon are easily one of the most awesome designs this show has produced and the vex for the scythe’s energy looked amazing. Shame we won’t see more of him. RIP in Pepperoni.
Iris finally comes out and admits her feelings for Barry and dear god it’s as excruciating and cringe worthy as you’d expect. I like Candice Patton, I do, but she has absolutely no romantic chemistry Grant Gustin which is tragic because these two are the canon couple! Still, at least that’s all out in the open now. Barry just needs to get his speed back and beat Zoom and they can get to ban—
Oh. Oh! Ohhhhhhh snap, that’s not good. In an effort to restore Barry’s speed by replicating the exact conditions of his original accident, Barry’s flesh peels away and he explodes in a golden light, leaving only a charred emblem. Barry Allen is dead. Or is he? The effect used looks vaguely reminiscent of the effect of Trajectory atomising after injecting V9… Could that be a coincidence? I hope so!
And Zoom comes in to congratulate the shocked group for doing so before peacing out. What a delightful bastard! Still, one good thing came from all this…
Wally and Jesse are caught in the Speed Force explosion which will no doubt give them their speed abilities and, with Barry out of the picture, they can finally become the heroes they were meant to be: Más y Menos, sí podemos!
Rupture, while slow and plodding, had some excellent scenes and that cliff-hanger actually took me by surprise! What went wrong? How will Team Flash survive without a Flash? Will Cisco be naming the new speedsters or can they choose their own codenames? I guess we’ll have to see next week as we see what cult director Kevin Smith can do with an episode titled The Runaway Dinosaur.