One of the truly odd things about Season 8 ofThe Flashhas been how incredibly uneven the quality of the episodes have been. Themost recent episode ofThe Flash, titled “Resurrection” falls squarely in the “mostly solid” episodes after one of the weaker episodes of the season a week ago. Granted, the fact that this episode was mostly solid despite the fact that there was almost no action and no real villain is a testament to the fact that when the show wants to really delve into the lives of the people on the show, it does a good job.
One of the reasons the approach that dwells on emotions and love and friendship worked in thisepisode ofThe Flashwhen it hasn’t worked in other installments is that the focus was on Caitlin. She’s been there since the beginning of the series. She’s been a key character from the very beginning and she’s been around for eight years so fans of the show have gotten to know her. In short, her personal life is fleshed out. That isn’t the case when it comes to Chester or Allegra. When the show tries to focus on their love lives, it tends to feel rushed and shallow.
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“Resurrection” opens with a bit of a flashback to when Caitlin and her long-lost husband Ronnie were both happy and in love. For those who don’t remember or haven’t beenfollowingThe Flashsince the very beginning, Ronnie was someone who was killed early on in the show but there have been many mentions of him over the years. He has been well established as someone that Caitlin still mourns years after his death. It would make some sense then that the scenes that show how happy they were when he was still around had at least a little bit of actual emotional punch.
That’s not to say thatThe Flashever does the emotional stuff perfectly. It always feels a bit heavy-handed but “Resurrection” does do it better than most of the episodes that have tried to do it this season. In the previous episode, it was revealed that the living flame that has roasting people alive has a consciousness that has at least been claiming that it is in fact, Ronnie. After the first few scenes showing husband and wife before tragedy struck, the show comes into the present and shows the gang still trying to come up with just how to deal with the living flame, whether it’s Ronnie or not.
While that particular mystery is being unraveled, there’s a bit of a side story that might have finally got a bit interesting after being both pointless and silly for severalepisodes ofThe Flash. Iris and Sue are still trying to help the Meta in Central City deal with her mom. Of course, Iris’s brand of help last episode made the mom disappear, apparently into “time” though it was never really explained just what happened or why as the characters in the show are clearly not really supposed to know just yet.
As retaliation for Iris sending the young woman’s mother into some sort of ether, the same fate eventually happens to Iris, making sure that thewife of Barry Allencontinues to have minuscule screen time in Season 8. The fact that she’s on screen so little almost seems to be a hint that the actors aren’t all that keen on one another. Whatever the reason, Iris continues to be far, far away from Barry for the entirety of this episode and now she’s even further away as she’s been sent away by the very meta that she was trying to help. Never mind the power that was used to do that is one that wasn’t so much as hinted at in previous episodes. Just where she ends up going is anyone’s guess but it seems likely that the audience is going to find out one way or another in a future episode, and there aren’t that many to come.
In the leadup to finding out just what the living flame is and what whatever it is wants or needs, there was a mention of one of the absolute coolest parts of the DC Universe when Chester and Allegra are talking about the dead potentially coming back to life. It’s been a while sinceThe Flashhas really dipped its toes into the DC lore and it appears that it’s going to be doing so in a big way in at least the final few episodes of Season 8. The event that was referenced issomething known as ‘Blackest Night’and refers to several DC heroes coming back from the dead, only coming back very, very wrong. That particular mention could also be even more interesting than Flashpoint is if it’s done the right way. It also of course hints at just what’s going to happen with the flame.
While there is a good portion of thisepisode ofThe Flashthat slows down to nearly a crawl, it does a very good job of setting the stage for what’s to come. Blackest Night appears to be starting in some way, shape or form. That alone charges the end of the episode with some serious juice. It also sets up what’s going to be some serious duels that could have quite a bit of action and energy as the season starts to wind down. The show is always at its best when the villain that the team is trying to fight is strong and ruthless and actually something that’s hard to take down. While that’s been attempted a few different times this season, it hasn’t had a particularly great payoff. It’s entirely possible that things are going to change with the latest big bad finally being something that’s actually a bit of a challenge as things come to a wrap. That can only be good for future episodes as the eighth season starts to finally wrap up.
