The Flash is back! At least the series is back as we get the premiere of Season 7. This episode has a LOT going on, with revelations all around and a very tragic shocker near episode’s end. While there are some minor details that can be picked apart, the overall premiere was outstanding. Wanna know more? Follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
NOTE: This review is posting before THE FLASH airs in the Pacific Time Zone, USA. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, STOP HERE and watch the show first. You’ll be glad you did!
Season 7 begins with some threads left over from the shortened S6. Iris is still trapped in the Mirrorverse. Nash Wells still has all the Wells trapped inside of him. Barry is running out of Speed Force energy, now down to just 1%. And, the Artificial Speed Force is having major troubles getting up to speed (pun intended). So, where do we go from here?
Chester P. Runk and Nash Wells are trying to get that Artificial Speed Force going. They discover (through a meeting with the Council of Wells) that all the other Wells are made of “multiversal particles” that are now deposited in Nash’s body. If they can get those particles into the fusion sphere for the Artificial Speed Force, it could power the whole thing. Just one problem: it needs an “organic receptor” to come in contact with the fusion sphere. That means Nash would have to directly contact the sphere, and it would cause him to die.
They look for another way – and Nash figures it out. If Allegra uses her powers over the electromagnetic spectrum, she could drive those particles out of Nash and into the sphere without him having to contact anything.
They try, with comically terrible results. The particles explode into Barry’s body, causing him to replicate a variety of Harrison Wells figures from across the history of the series. Eventually, they get the particles back into Wells, with the help of Allegra and a special magnetic vest designed by Chester. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
Meanwhile, Eva McCulloch is putting a lot of plans into action. She kills Sam Scudder (!), who turns out to have been just a construct mirror being (like the fake Iris last season). Rosa Dillon, the Top in the Arrowverse, pretends to mourn him, though we find later that she sold him out. This Top has a lot more mental powers than previously shown, and she ends up in a couple of psychic battles with Cecile. That forces Cecile to re-examine some of the fears that held her back from her full psychic abilities, and she uses the Top’s own tricks against her to learn what the next big plan may be.
Eva has a bomb on a supersonic plane, set to detonate over Central City. That leaves very little time to stop it, and the blast would kill hundreds of innocent people. We need the Flash, and there isn’t time to do much else except…something radical.
Nash realizes that the only way to get the Flash’s speed back is to make the ultimate sacrifice. He grabs hold of the fusion sphere, and we get a very bittersweet goodbye from Nash and several of the other Wells who were inside of him. Nash dissolves away, and the Artificial Speed Force is now fully charged.
Flash saves the day, running at superspeed to run up a building and onto the low-flying plane. He sends the bomb harmlessly away. But, this is a win at great cost. He goes back to the two newest members of Team Flash, Chester and Allegra, to talk it over.
That isn’t the end of all the revelations, however. Iris is getting closer to either getting out of the Mirrorverse or completely losing her mind, and she is fighting her own fears and the constructs Eva has sent to her. In the end, Iris overcomes and is finding…something…on her laptop that may help. That will continue next episode.
However, the last big reveal is in the epilogue. Eva McCulloch is herself a mirror construct! That’s right, the real Eva did die at the time of the original particle accelerator accident. She didn’t go through the mirror into the Mirrorverse, she bounced off of it and died. Something about the particle accelerator explosion did something to the mirror (we see that strange ripple effect), and it must have created the villain we now see. That’s where we leave it for now.
NOTES:
- We don’t see Caitlin or Cisco in this episode, and only get a snippet here and there of Joe West. This episode concentrates on the newer members, Chester and Allegra, along with Cecile.
- Cecile gets a major upgrade in her powers this episode. We’ll see where this takes her, but it is an interesting twist. I’m looking forward to seeing how they use this moving forward.
- I love Grant Gustin’s portrayal of Barry Allen, but the attempt to “become” Sherloque Wells gave us one of the most terrible fake French accents I’ve heard. (Not that Tom Cavenagh’s Sherloque wasn’t over the top).
- Still, Barry’s HR Wells was really good.
- Tom Cavenagh’s acting was once again stellar. There are still plans for him this season, though. Perhaps he will be a part of the new Speed Force, guiding him from there, but we will have to see as the season progresses.
- One last note – Barry’s cowl appears much the same way that Supergirl’s newer suit comes into action – it sort of materializes like it was made of nanobots. Still pretty cool, and it prevents having to do some of the awkward cowl removal scenes of past years (which was always in two parts due to how tight the cowl fits)
SUMMARY:
Season 7 starts with some huge reveals and a most tragic ending for Nash. It was action-packed, highly emotional, and for the most part very well presented. I’ll give this premiere an 8 out of 10 – of course, that’s my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!