Here we go with The Flash season finale and for all the shit I’ve given the show this season, I will admit that there were some genuine surprises to be had, starting with…

The death of HR Wells. I knew they were going to save Iris through shenanigans but I’ll give the show credit for a cunning bait-and-switch using established plot points; with HR taking Iris’s place on the business end of Savitar’s spike thanks to his image inducer. It’s a clever work around and had a real emotional impact for the audience and the team.

The Killer Frost/Vibe dynamic is interesting this episode too as Cisco’s gradual melting of Caitlin’s icy exterior pays off as she turns face and attacks Savitar for trying to kill Cisco. She even attends HR’s funeral, albeit from a distance, promising to come back to the team when she figures out who she is. Like I said previously, with Killer Frost apart of the Justice League in comics, it makes sense to give her a face-turn for some cross-media compatibility.

If there’s one thing I didn’t like was how they handled the Barry/Other-Barry scenes. Not that they’re bad, in fact they’re great, but they don’t go anywhere. We go through a whole song and dance with Savitar being saved by Team Flash only for him to reveal it was a waste of his time. And ours, apparently! Was he seriously that bored while waiting for Cisco to modify the speed bazooka that he figured he’d dick around with his old mates for shits and giggles? I dunno, good scenes but they served no purpose.

Naturally, the day is saved (and Jay gets broken out of the speed force to boot!) and everything is hunky-dory! …Of course, it isn’t. We need setup for next season and apart from a sly hint at a future villain (DeVoe aka The Thinker) we have a new dynamic to establish. With Jay free from the speed prison and no one to take his place, the sky erupts with lightning, demanding a speedster sacrifice and since everyone else has had a turn (and because he needs to serve penance for his numerous fuck-ups), Barry decides to go.

Wow, this is potentially a huge shake-up for the show! With Barry gone, Wally would become Central City’s Flash with Vibe as back-up. That’s great because the kid needs more development and can truly grow with Jay’s guidance. I mean, if it sticks. The absolute worst thing that could happen is that Barry returns within the first couple episodes (and I have a sinking feeling that he could) but I hope not. The Flash lineage is one of the longest running in comics and is as diverse as they come so seeing the sidekick become the hero is a great direction for the show to go.

This season has had it’s ups and downs, having a third speedster as the big bad was a huge misstep in my opinion but the huge crossover in the middle bolstered it and there were a fair few great moments so overall it’s an average season. I hope that we’ll be seeing a Brave New World when we come back next season but for now, as always…

After the shockingly dumb twist of last season’s finale, I was going into Season 3 with a ton of trepidation and, for the most part, those fears have been alleviated but let’s talk about the episode proper.

Flashpoint’s source material, a comic book event of the same name, is much derided for several reasons. One; it wasn’t very good and B; it threw away 70 years of canon and lead to the New 52. It was a bad time for everyone but I actually dug the way this episode used the premise. Rather than leading to a war between Atlantis and Themyscira that decimates Europe or retroactively making Thomas Wayne into Batman, this shift in history is much more intimate and personal to Barry.

Yes, he’s got both his parents back but it destroyed the close relationship of the Wests, Wally is (Kid)Flash and there’s a new enemy speedster in the form of The Rival. Hell, even Captain Singh is gone!

Flash Fact: Captain Julio Mendez, played by Alex Désert, is another Flash ‘93 alumni! He was essentially the Cisco of that show.

But the real kicker is that Thawne knows that it can’t last. Barry’s been too short-sighted, too stupid, and that Barry’s fantasy world will soon crush him under the weight of his own decisions. And as the reality of the situation finally hits him, we get a heart-breaking scene of Barry saying goodbye to his parents but the gut punch…

Is that Thawne is enjoying himself. Barry needs Thawne and he takes great pleasure in taunting him; saying he’s the hero this time and that even the reset didn’t fix everything and leaves Barry to find out for himself. As much as I love the Wells/Thawne version, this one is also fantastic in his open antagonism. I can’t wait to see Matt Letscher take on the Legends in their show, he’s such a good bad guy.

There are two final revelations to kick off the plots of this season as Barry’s reunion with the Wests runs afoul as he asks where Iris is and Joe just about smacks him. I can’t imagine what changed after the timeline was reset to cause Joe and Iris to be on bad terms but Wally still be there but this is an interpersonal drama that only Barry can fumble his way through!

Meanwhile, a sleeping Edward Clariss (the Earth-1 counterpart to The Rival) is awoken my a mysterious voice, announcing its presence with the word ‘Alchemy’ scrawled into a mirror. I’m not up on my Dr Alchemy lore (apart from he was an enemy of the second Blue Beetle) so I’ll have to do some digging for his eventual debut…

Overall, Flashpoint is a much stronger start to the season than I was anticipating and opens the door to some new kinds of drama for our favourite Scarlett Speedster.

Ho-booooy! This episode does not pull it’s punches! It’s gut punches all around as the episode kicks off with Rosalind getting shot in the neck and bleeding out in Coulson’s arms. Fuck, man… Just…

And what follows is Coulson getting a full-on boner for murder. Specifically for Ward’s murder. By his own hands. And he’ll settle for nothing less and, frankly, Ward’s got it coming. He’s had it coming for a long time but, just like Kilgrave in the excellent Jessica Jones, he’s not going to get a good enough end. No death is poetic enough for that psychotic son of a bitch!
Case in point; the kidnapping of FitzSimmons. Can’t these kids catch a fucking break!? Lured into a trap where Banks kills their escort and then himself (Good game, Banks. Good game), FitzSimmons are summoned by Gideon Mallick to reveal how Simmons got back from Treasure Planet. Simmons, being hard as nails now, withstands torture at the hands of both an Inhuman and Ward. Atta girl!

Fitz, on the other hand, folds like a house of cards but it could be argued that his torture is worse. He just got the woman he loves back, she’s already suffering and now she’s being tortured? Of course he agreed to help HYDRA. Anything for her.

Meanwhile, Mack is nominated Director of SHIELD while Coulson goes full-Rambo and when FitzSimmons are found, mounts up with May, a contingent of SHIELD agents and Daisy and her Secret Warriors (Lincoln and Joey). More on them next week no doubt.

To top off the episode, Coulson follows Ward and Fitz through the portal in the most badass way possible; by diving out of a Quinjet! Just like Steve Rogers woulda done! But if GLaDOS has taught us anything about portals it’s that “Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In layman’s terms: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.”

And he beans himself on an alien rock. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

For an episode called Closure, there’s not a lot of it going around. If anything, it feels like set-up for the mid-season finale so be sure to come back next week for it as we discover the truth about Maveth.

Damn, that was an intense episode. The pace was almost unrelenting as we charged through Many Heads, One Tale. The episode is thick with drama, intrigue, emotion and they even found time for a few gags.

Man, I’m so glad Rosalind isn’t HYDRA. Her and Coulson are pretty fun to watch and I’d hate for it to go away so soon after getting it.

The secret origin of HYDRA is a tad convoluted for my tastes (seriously, who gets an octopus from a ram’s head?) but Grant Ward made up for it by being the most charming killer on screen, as usual. Seriously, that handsome bastard needs to die, especially after what he said to Andrew. Dick move, Ward! Dick move.

I always wondered why there were noticeable chunks missing out of the monolith and they finally explain it. Some mad cunt brave soul carved out portions which were kept by HYDRA. There’s what… six or seven of things? Enough to make a portal I’d wager!

There’s a great sense of the team acting as one in this episode, mainly because everyone is in on the plan to infiltrate the ATCU but it’s Hunter and Bobbi who get the lion’s share of the spy fun. Bobbi’s new escrima are pretty dope, obviously inspired my Thor and Mjolnir. Bobbi can certainly need the edge going up against a new Inhuman foe.

Giyera is one of the ATCU agents turned into an Inhuman and appears to have some sort of magnetic ability/telekinesis. I don’t think he speaks at all, which is weird. Apparently he’s going to be the new head of SHIELD security, according to news articles so I wonder how that’ll go. Gotta give big-ups to Mark Dacascos though. Some might know him from the likes of Mortal Kombat and The Crow but to me, he’s best known for starring in the 2009 adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki; Kamen Rider Dragon Knight!

FINALLY! Three damn seasons we’ve waited and oh boy was it emotionally devastating! FitzSimmons finally have it out, both admitting that neither of them are happy with this situation for a whole slew of reasons but in a fit of anger and love, Fitz finally does what he’s wanted to do since Simmons came back. It’s the most powerful scene the show has had in a while but god damn it was worth it. It’s powerful and you really feel for these poor kids, trapped in an impossible situation.

Many Heads, One Tale is the winner out of SHIELD and Flash this week. Not by much but enough to make the winner clear. This episode just had so much pay-off while still building interest for the rest of the season. Be sure to come back next week for Closure.

Devils You Know is a damn solid episode, with action, intrigue and the promises of more to come but what makes this episode so damn good?

The secret of Lash is a major point for me. Having no knowledge of the character, I’m very interested to see where this character goes. He’s actually an Inhuman as it turns out, delivering a service in his own mind but why is he hunting his own kind? A question for another perhaps because finding out that he can transform into a more human disguise is the more interesting wrinkle. Is he someone we know? A member of the ATCU, perhaps? Banks, who disappeared right before the attack? Definitely a possibility.

Coulson might be shopping around for a new work-wife in Rosalind but May’s return to base is just as great as I imagined, fraught with sub-text and longing looks. I hate to admit it but the Philinda shippers might be onto something. May shows up to get some backup for Hunter, who’s gone both totes gung-ho and full retard while dressed like a chav. Coulson’s a little late to the game but luckily, Hunter’s got…

The god damned Cavalry!  Cue Ward shitting himself. Talking all that good shit a second ago but the tiny asian lady is here to kick your ass, boy! No wonder Ward pulls the classic bad-guy move of threatening May’s ex, Andrew. I liked Andrew, I really did but I’m with Hunter on this, Ward must die. Sorry Andrew.

Fitzsimmons hits a rocky patch as Simmons hides her research into the portal. In her conversation with Andrew, Simmons really is suffering with PTSD, despite her protestations. Fitz discovers her notes and confronts her, which is the final scene cliffhanger.

A damn good episode, keeping all the plot lines chugging along quite nicely. Who is Lash? How hard is May go to beat Hunter’s ass? Will Rosalind and Coulson ever have that steamy hate-sex they clearly want and what really happened to Simmons? I guess we’ll find out the answers to some of those next week with 4,722 Hours.