“Enter Flashtime” was actually a very fun but also a heavily dramatic episode. We didn’t get the usual comedic banter like we normally do — saved for some quips from Cisco here and there — and it didn’t do much to progress the main DeVoe plot at all either. But what it did was showcase both Barry’s amazing speedster powers, brought resolution between Harry and his daughter Jesse and left some great character moments.
The entire episode actually takes place from the speedsters perspective due to a nuclear bomb going off at the hands of eco-terrorists. Due to Barry’s time in the Speed Force between seasons 3 and 4, he gained a new ability that allows him whenever he holds on to someone to take them into how he see’s the world while using his powers. So with the nuke already blown, Barry scrambles to find help in the microseconds before the entire city is vaporized. Yes, you read that right, microseconds! The episode itself technically takes place within a few seconds for everyone but the speedsters, but for our sake it’s stretch out for an hour, exerting Barry’s powers to the most extreme of limits to keep everyone alive and find a solution.
Photo Source: newsweek.com
Barry isn’t the only speedster this episode though, along with the returning Jesse, Jay Garrick makes a surprise appearance to mentor Barry on how to solve the crisis. Together the three speedsters scramble to find a way to save their friends and family on their own, which they eventually do after tricking the Speed Force itself into thinking the nuclear bomb is Barry with the device that Cisco used at the beginning of the season to bring him back.
Jesse’s real return is actually to confront her father Harry after not seeing him for months and try to help him get over her mother’s passing — who Harry is still grieving for since long before Season 2’s Zoom saga. At first they don’t agree on how to go about it with Jesse telling Harry to get over it already and Harry getting even more angrier. Yet eventually due to Harry’s mind reading device, he’s able to let Jesse here everything he’s thinking and also hear her mothers voice again by episode’s end.
This was probably one of the best stand alone episodes of the Flash in a really long time. But it also did the one thing that while apparent in the comics was never really made known in the show until this episode and that is that Barry is technically faster then even the Speed Force itself! Case in point the dramatic moment when the Speed Force was chasing him, trying to grab him. Barry was fast enough to outrun it barely, but imagine if Barry wasn’t so drained using his Flashtime ability on his friends; just how much further he can outrun the Speed Force? It’s an important question for another day that might be answered in the season finale in his looming battle against DeVoe.
Another fun addition was the mysterious future girl showed up again and interacted with Caitlin and Harry at the end of the episode. While charming at first with the heroes, she kinda turned devious after they left in her closing monologue. Is she really an ally or another future folk trying to mess with Team Flash?
Also, was Ralph really in the basement of Star Labs the entire episode, even with a nuclear bomb that went off? That’s the only thing that left me “huh?”
‘Till next time Speedsters.
