Welcome back to Flash Facts, everyone! I’ve missed this and you guys and watching my favourite CW-verse Team but do you know what I haven’t missed?

Barry Allen as god saviour of all. I’ll be straight with you that I was not looking forward to the first few episodes of Season 4 because I knew that they would bring Barry back immediately because it’s not like we have another Flash on the show that’s been steadily developing or anything…

I will admit that bringing him back as an insane amnesiac (avec sick-ass beard) was a neat idea and I wish they’d at least kept him out of the suit for a few episodes if they were intent on bringing him back immediately after his sacrifice. The bizarre language Barry is writing in doesn’t conform with any written language established in DC Comics though it does bear a pacing resemblance to Interlac, the language of the 30th Century. His speech is a whole different beast as, amongst his ramblings, there seems to be a few snippets of dialogue from upcoming events. Again, if this manic state had continued, we could have used Barry as a bespoke early warning system while his mind readjusts to non-Speed Force reality.

Wally and Cisco get it bad this episode and that sucks! Despite clearly being active for 6 months inbetween seasons, we have to watch them act like bumble kings despite them being mostly capable in the previous season. I mean seriously, these guys get jobbed out by Peek-a-Boo and the super obscure Samuroid and THAT’S the impetus to bring Barry back? Boo-urns! You could have at least made it a gathering of The Rogues. I did dig that Wally just knows Japanese, nice little character tid-bit.

As bad as Wally and Cisco got it, Iris got it worse because she was damn good this episode. Candice Patton does a fantastic job playing Iris as a strong leader and voice of reason. Despite Barry’s loss, she seems to be the only one willing to live by his wishes and move forward, actively getting Wally and Cisco to train while acting as their “guy in the chair”. Having her continue her growth without Barry for a while would have been really interesting to see.

Caitlin has gone full Bruce Banner in the 6 months the Team haven’t seen her, now switching between Caitlin and Frost based on emotion. Interesting wrinkle, more interested in that dive bar she was working at and why the manager looks so distinctly unique. Questions for later in the season, probably!

In the final moments of the show, we find out who sent the Samuroid to literally welcome Barry home and it’s the Season Villain du jour, DeVoe aka the Thinkers – looking an awful lot like Metron of the New Gods in his floating chair and futuristic lair. I have to wonder at the design choice here because while Thinker is known for being one of the Flash’s smarter villains, he’s never really stolen Metron’s look before. Maybe it’ll be explained further in the season but for now, just a curious thing to note.

So that was The Flash Reborn, a bit of a tepid return to the series with a rather obvious plot line. It was disappointing but hey, it could have been worse! We could have had a 4th Speedster as the big bad! *shudder* Anyway, thanks for reading, let me know what you guys thought in the comments and we’ll be back next week to see if the show continues to send Mixed Signals.

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.