Okay folks – you’ve been waiting to see just WHO is in that strange metallic suit. Who IS Savitar? In this episode we finally find out, and all the rumors can be laid to rest. Who did it turn out to be? Jay Garrick? Ronnie Raymond? Eddie Thawne? Or…someone else? WARNING – DO NOT go past the jump if you haven’t seen this week’s episode, “I Know Who You Are”, S3 Ep 20 of THE FLASH!
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
In some respects this episode could be renamed, “I don’t know who I am”. We see a lot of the cast running through their own crises of conscience, making serious mistakes while trying to figure out just who they are and what they feel about their situations. It all starts with…
- Cecile blurts out to Joe that she loves him. Joe…handles the situation about as badly as possible (more on this in a moment)
- Team FLASH finds Tracy Brand, the scientist who may be able to stop Savitar…but in the present she is a doctoral student who just had her dissertation rejected and who has lost all confidence in herself as a scientist
- Cisco blows not one, but two opportunities to stop Caitlin as Killer Frost out of fear that he can’t control his powers and may kill her
- And, Joe (remember that “I love you” moment earlier? Joe is so afraid of putting Cecile through all his baggage that he actually breaks up with her. Terrible idea! But, that doesn’t last long…because…
Caitlin kidnaps Cecile! She uses her to trade for Tracy Brand. Savitar knows about her, and he wants Caitlin to become a real “Killer” Frost by killing the one person who can stop him.
Cisco finally is able to stop Caitlin, with encouragement from Julian. And, they finally get Tracy on track toward her hoped-for speed force trap. But, we are far from done here…
Joe finally comes clean with Cecile, and confesses his love for her. As the West household celebrates…some things finally become clear to Barry.
- Killer Frost told Barry “You two are most alike than you realize”. “This is all history to him”.
- They realize that Savitar knows SO much about everything that is happening that it’s almost like he was there.
- And the kicker…Joe realizing “what do you become” if you don’t have love.
This hits Barry…after all, he supposedly created Savitar, right? He runs off to meet Savitar to tell him that he finally knows who Savitar is.
…
…
…
And Savitar is…
…
…
…
…
Future Barry!
…
…
…
Yes, we are mirroring the Future Flash storyline, with a future version of Barry Allen himself as the “big bad” of Season 3!
NOTES:
- If you thought we were aiming for the “Future Flash” storyline from recent comics, congratulations! And, actually it’s probably the only answer that makes sense by now. Savitar was the first to be granted speed by the speed force. Barry, right? He knows everything that’s going to happen…and the easiest answer to that is that he remembers it all.
- What we don’t know is whether this future version of Barry really has to exist. Why would he kill the woman he loves, just to become this monster? That’s the one part that makes absolutely NO sense. Hopefully we’ll get a better focus on that soon…but we are definitely on a fast track (pardon the unintended pun) toward the final three episodes.
- I’m a little bothered by the number of relationships that seem to go waaay off track before they come together…but I’m glad to finally see Joe and Cecile together. And, there does appear to be at least a flirtation between HR and Tracy that hopefully won’t go down the “push me away but I love you” route.
- BTW – did Killer Frost’s race through town take anyone back to a certain “ice-y” character from the House of Ideas? I was flashing back (no pun intended) to my childhood and some early X-titles.
SUMMARY: Overall this was a good episode with a HUGE impact for the season. The special effects were good…but even better was the acting of the cast this week. I’m glad we have the mystery of Savitar’s identity solved…and I don’t mind that we are mirroring the “Future Flash” arc. This is a good twist…let’s see where the remaining three episodes take us. I’ll give this episode a solid 8 – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!
Kinda bummed out. They basically replaced one of my favourite Flash arcs with my least favourite… Guess we won’t be getting any speed force ninjas…
Oh well. I guess this is how Hunter Zolomon fans felt.
I think at this point I’m hoping for season four to pick up some speed, because damn, this season has been f@%€ing slow!
VERY unhappy right now. To the point of “this show just jumped the shark” levels but we’ll see how I feel when the season ends.
My question is how did good future Barry seen at the end of last episode turn into bad future Barry at the end of this episode?!?
It seems as if Barry brought his future self back from the brink just for him to go jumping off the cliff (over the shark) anyway.
(and Flash Facts…I think we would have seen the speed Force Ninjas all through the season if it was really the true Savitar that we know from the comics. But this Flash is born from the Post Flash Rebirth era and therefore, Geoff Johns Flash universe always holds priority over Brian Augustyn/Mark Waid’s Flash-verse…)
Here is my question that the show hasn’t gone into: Aren’t there two Savitars out there? The one who killed Iris and recently escaped from the speed force and the once who has yet to kill Iris and get trapped by Barry.
It’s just underwhelming. This show used to be fun, but now it’s stale. It’s all about the big reveal for the big bad speedster each season. Classic villains such as Dr. Alchemy and Abra Kadabra are only used to prop up the big bad speedster, which hurts the show incredibly.
The problem with combining two separate stories is both of them get short-changed. In Mark Waid’s Savitar story, it didn’t matter who Savitar was. He was just another guy with super speed and a group of fierce followers — Lady Flash and a team of ninjas. He also had the frightening ability of stealing speed from speedsters. All these elements were ignored in the show.
In Van Jensen’s and Robert Venditti’s Future Flash story, the key element was Future Barry replacing Current Barry, and trying to convince everyone that he was the same guy. This story could have easily been adapted for the show, using the “epilogue” scenes to show Future Barry traveling through time and killing all the villains one by one.
What we ended up with is a lackluster, dissatisfying story. Maybe, hopefully a few questions will be cleared up soon, but I don’t see how this show is going to fill that emptiness I have right now. So much potential has been squandered.
P.S. I also agree with Ed’s assessment of the show’s relationships. They all follow the same format. Hey, I just met but I’m instantly in love with you! Great, me too! Oh wait, now there’s a complication and I’m going to push you away for no reason. Sad! Oh look, the episode’s about to end, I’ll apologize and all will be forgiven. Happy! Ugh. Please give us some variety.
Completely agree with everything you’ve just said.
i am interested to see where the next 3 episodes will go and everything will be explained hopefully. I am thinking that this Barry who is savitar is possibly the time remnant from the season finale of season 2 that “died”. went back into the speed force lost his mind and became savitar and possibly getting power from the philosophers stone that gets thrown into the speed force. So much time travel or a version of savitar from the future could have given the past version the stone since he did have it at one point. anything is really possible with these writers as they have merged one characters from two separate characters for savitar.
I think it was the “Stop Savitar by being the Flash” advice from the Speed Force episode that really convinced me, but the whole season thematically has been building to this. Julian/Alchemy, Caitlin/Killer Frost, fighting destiny and fighting duality, Barry’s own struggles with darkness – it’s all there.
As for why Savitar would follow through with making his past self’s life a living hell? Either he likes who he is now, or he’s afraid of what else he might change if he tries to alter his own past (having repeatedly learned that lesson in Flashpoint & Invasion & who knows how many other experiences still to come). Or both.
“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” – Harvey Dent. Savitar even has scarring on half his face.
Plus it’s sort of like watching Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker vs. a time-travelling Darth Vader. Mechanical suit, journey toward darkness triggered by fear of losing the woman he loves…