After a long 6 month waiting period, 'The Flash' finally raced back onto our screens for another action-packed season. Going straight into the premiere, it seems that Barry will have to cross the thresholds to maintain order, justice, and the safety in Central City once more!
The premiere picks up only 1 week after the season 8 finale, with Barry and Iris having had taken a "staycation" rest period to process what had happened upon facing the Negative Forces, and defeating Thawne.
In spite of their tremendous victory, Barry does not hesitate for another second to maintain the stability of his family, and his city. During his downtime, he has been consulting Gideon, and going into future files of upcoming events in the next few years to compile them all into a "map book"; CCC's expansion, Iris winning a Pulitzer, becoming the head of CSI division, and getting pregnant in only 3 months!
However, this appears to have trapped the couple into a time loop, after learning that if he and Iris continue coursing throughout their individual days apart, it will reset the same day again over and over until they finally spend it together, along with the following days -- on their own terms. In the end, the power of love continues to be the real hero in this series, as Barry learns that emotions and love bind together stronger than the pages of his map book do to plan out their future (Barry had the literal cheat code to life).
This episode's villain was Captain Boomerang, a post-crisis version of the character who we have seen in the first Flash crossover with Arrow. This character appears to only be a lackey, however, and is gathering various tech parts to service the main villain 'Red Death' -- who we finally received our first teaser to at the end of the episode! It appears as if Red Death is gathering various rogues to do their bidding, and plans to destroy The Flash once and for all!
Joe comes to a realization, which is that after being in the superhero business for nearly a decade, he does not know what is next for him and his family. He pitches the idea of leaving Central City with Cecile; of course, we know this was done in regard to Jesse L. Martin becoming a recurring character on the show, so they are attempting at writing a suitable exit for his character, but to still return in a couple of more episodes.
We receive a brief update on Caitlin, who apparently no longer goes by that name, or Killer Frost. Thanks to some blue highlights from the makeup room, Caitlin now has a brand new identity, one that the show will go more into next episode!
Cecile trains to harness her new powers, and Allegra and Chester kiss -- that's all.
Overall, This was a great episode to start off the final season! So many wonderful moments where Barry and Iris stole the show with their starring moments.
You can clearly see an increase in budget for the show now since the episode count has been reduced, allowing the show to react more versatile with its stunning effects! When Barry phased a nuclear explosion while it was mid-explosion; I don't even know if that is scientifically possible but it looked very cool despite it! There will be plenty of more exciting Flash moments to come!
Did you enjoy this episode? If you did, what was your favorite moment(s)?