The final four episodes of The Flash run, compiled into one last "graphic novel" arc, have been convoluted as fuck, and generally abominable.
Barry's lost in time, or another dimension, and then he comes back. The mystery of who Eddie Thawne really is (in the end, his fake name "Malcolm" provides the clue, if you deep-dive into the Flash's vast cast of speedsters from the comics) stretches out for four episodes, but what viewer really cares about the story arc of Eddie Thawne? I don't see anyone getting excited.
Big revelation - Eddie is COBALT BLUE! What? You have no idea who that is? Neither did I. I'm sure almost nobody does.
From what I understand, the problem with the Flash for the past few seasons has been the showrunner Eric Wallace, who took total control by Season 5 after working his way up as a main writer. Let's put it plainly: he has an agenda, and has been implementing it, almost as heavy-handedly as in Supergirl (the show everyone always complains about), but Wallace gets away with it and not a whole lot of people have said anything.
One part of the agenda is to make sure that women always dominate the cast, and are usually worshipped like goddesses, praised to the high heavens for their intrinsic awesomeness.
This is true even in the final episode, where:
- Iris gets kudos for having a baby and winning a Pulitzer at the same time.
- Nora defeats one of the evil speedsters even after getting stabbed fatally through the middle of her body, and then somehow gets to stick around
cradling herself as a baby without harming the timeline.
- Joe, the hard-nosed cop from the beginning of the series, blathers about "three special women" in his life, and then gets down on his knees and worships (i.e., proposes to) Cecile. She even gets him a pillow so he doesn't hurt his old knees.
- Cecile is clearly shown to be ultra-powerful and essentially unbeatable. She can defeat a speedster god without any peril whatsoever. It's super easy, barely an inconvenience.
- Allegra's presence essentially "resurrects" her boyfriend (yes, I know they come up with a reason, but the scene has that kind of symbolism).
- Mark's bad boy attitude is completely tamed and reformed - apparently all he needed was a roomful of women to fix him.
- Khione literally ascends and *becomes* a goddess, as if Wallace needed to drive the point home anymore. She is cool as a cucumber in maintaining the balance of the universe, while Barry is a distraught man who yells at people and has to be guided and calmed by the almighty Goddess.
This isn't The Flash from the comics.
The reason not a lot of people complain about this is because all of the female cast members are insanely beautiful. That softens the effect.
The average viewer looks at them with awe, and forgets that Wallace has a purpose and a message behind this. He's pretty sneaky that way.
The other part of the agenda is Wallace's relentless DEI. (There are other ways to describe it, sure, but that's what it is)
By the end of the Flash run, he has committed three gingercides (Wally, Cecile, Iris) which might be a record for any single show.
And he never stops virtue signaling, even in the final five minutes.
True, it's insanely encyclopedic how many characters from the Flash comics he has been able to include in the show over the years, and that's not inherently a bad thing, even if keeping track of all of it gets overwhelming.
[Note: in comparison, Superman and Lois doesn't do this. It focuses on a few characters and develops them tightly.]
All of the Easter Egged characters could be quite fun, if its was just about comic book shoutouts. But it's not - most of it serves the agenda.
How does he express this agenda most clearly?
Well, the closest thing to an embodiment of it is Khione. In this final episode, she actually says that people need to "coexist" and "believe in the impossible". Sure, that's 90s California bumper sticker-speak for what eventually became 'woke', but it's quite clear that the goddess proposes the philosophy, and then Barry implements it.
The show already has the diversity and the inclusion, now all it needs is the equity (a word for essentially giving away power to others who intrinsically deserve it more due to their immutable characteristics. No, it doesn't mean charity.).
So, once Khione tells him how the world needs to be changed, Barry does it by "giving his power" to three characters in the Flash universe who represent 'marginalized communities' in our real-world sense.
He just throws his lightning up in the air, and it lands on Avery Ho (the Chinese flash), Max Mercury (a Golden Age character), and Jess Chambers aka Kid Quick (the brand-new nonbinary speedster who is an alternate version of Jesse Quick from DC's recent Future State initiative). Although the original Max Mercury was just a white savior guy who was *given* speed powers randomly by an Indian shaman, this version of Max actually is a Native American (an actor who you may have seen in 'Resident Alien' - he doesn't get a chance to say anything, just to 'represent').
Despite his vain hopes about the Arrowverse continuing (there have been several online articles about this in the past week) and thus keeping the finale open-ended (Team Flash continues to exist, with more or less a full roster) Wallace knows his time in this sandbox is done: Nexstar isn't paying for any more of this overpriced bullshit. But Wallace just can't resist continuing to push his mission, even in the last few minutes of a nine-season run.
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All that being said (whew), and you're welcome to argue about it as long as you stay away from ad hominems (please)
there are some nice sexy moments in the Flash series finale.
Although, somebody tell me why it's at all cost-effective to design three new costumes (Khione, Cecile, Allegra) which are only used for one damn episode. How does that even make sense?
First of all, Maskripper is probably going to want to blog this episode, due to its masked female content (Nora and Cecile).
Plus, there is one incident of female peril.
Nora is throatlifted by Savitar (there are three different angles of this) and then shishkabobbed.
- XS skewered by Savitar.jpg (61.39 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
Cecile gets a full costume and becomes "Virtue". Yes, she is literally a human Virtue Signal. Wallace isn't at all subtle about this one.
No she never became a costumed heroine in the comics, and in fact, here is what Cecile Horton actually looks like in the comics.
- what cecile horton looks like in the comics.jpg (51.04 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
Nonetheless, over the past couple seasons, we have had many opportunities to see actress Danielle Nicollet in tight clothing. Eric Wallace really loves to let the camera linger on her ass, and I haven't heard anyone complain.
So, naturally, he takes the opportunity to pour her into the tightest costume he can manage. How tight? Well, it doesn't have the telltale "horizontal folds" on the crotch, which means that there was no modesty to be considered - it was tailor made for her sexy body.
And she looks amazing in it. Plus Maskripper has some nice fuel for his blog. You'll cover this episode, right, sir?
- danielle nicolet as virtue.jpg (9.37 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
- cecile as virtue close up 2.jpg (63.28 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
- cecile as virtue full body side shot 2.jpg (19.61 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
- close up of cecile as virtue in mask.jpg (77.8 KiB) Viewed 1223 times
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