The Flash offers up a time travel / time loop storyline when Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Chester (Brandon McKnight) get trapped in 1998 after laying sensors to track movements of other Force manifestations like the Speed Force who has shown up in the form of Nora Allen (Michelle Harrison). “The One with the Nineties” features the most obvious 90s jokes such as a Blockbuster, fax machines, and the outlandish clothing of the decade. The reset also brings Chester into contact with his father (Milton Barnes) giving him insight into the man he never had while growing up prior to the pair running into the Force behind events (Christian Magby) whose anger eventually effects the rest of the team as well.
In an episode about recovering for both the city and for its characters, Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) returns with threats of destroying Central City using an anti-matter bomb. The use of a villain from the future allows the show to offer another tease about a new looming threat coming for our hero, which (of course) it can’t wait to awkwardly work into casual conversation. While there’s much to praise “Central City Strong” in focusing on the aftermath of recent events, for both those trapped in the mirror dimension and those who unknowingly lived their lives with duplicates, several aspects of the episode are poorly written including the clunky dialogue of giving back to the community, the foreshadoing of the Caitlin / Frost (Danielle Panabaker) reveal, and the anti-climactic finale as the show doubles down on Barry‘s (Grant Gustin) power of love being a better super-power than his speed.
If Huey Lewis’ “The Power of Love” had been blaring throughout “Mother,” the episode would be no more schmaltzy. In what was originally planned to be last season’s finale, Barry (Grant Gustin) gets a new, new artificial Speed Force based on the power of love. No, really. And just in time too, as Eva McCulloch (Efrat Dor) has begun replacing the citizens of Central City with her mirror duplicates en masse. Thankfully, she’s no match for… the power of love. The episode also offers yet another farewell to Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), as the rebirthed original Wells returns to help Team Flash one last time. The episode leaves the door open for a possible return of the character while also leaving a couple of Easter Eggs in the character’s look back at something occurring just prior to Barry’s speed being restored and some odd lightning that shoots out of S.T.A.R. Labs (possibly laying the ground for new speedsters?).
The first episode of The Flash‘s Seventh Season picks up the unfinished threads of last year’s truncated season with an hour filled with enough plot for three episodes and wild tonal shifts. Most notably, the episode features the breakthrough necessary to power the artificial Speed Force and restore Barry‘s (Grant Gustin) disappearing speed. However, there’s a catch as Nash (Tom Cavanagh) connection to the Multiverse turns out to be the only possible fuel, meaning The Flash has found yet another way for Tom Cavanagh to die. It’s sad to see Cavanagh exit again, although there still is one version of the character out there looking to tangle with the Flash (but Reverse-Flash doesn’t factor into this episode at all). Before exiting stage left, again, the episode includes a goofy sequence with the various versions of Wells stored temporarily within Barry’s body which is best forgotten as soon as possible.
Here’s a first look at the upcoming direct-to-video release of Justice Society: World War II in which Barry Allen (Matt Bomer) travels back to the past to help the Justice Society win World War II. The movie will be released on May 11th.
