Hello, true believers! We are back, back, back! It may be a new year, but it’s the same old Flash. Last time around, Barry was flung months into the future, where he saw Savitar murder Iris. Can Barry change the future and save her?
Is the future written or is it malleable? It’s a question that causes countless arguments among philosophers and sci-fi fans. But as Barry deals with the possibility of losing the love of his life, he’s going to give it his all to change their fate. Much of “Borrowing Problems From The Future” makes a good case both for and against knowing anything about your own future. For example, when Barry runs into the thief known as Plunder, he freezes. During his trip forward, he saw a news reporter that Flash captures the villain. By that letting this one domino go free, perhaps he won’t trigger the series of events ending in Iris’ death.
While this makes sense to Barry, the secretive way he goes about this alienates his friends, especially Wally, who he rips for capturing Plunder. It’s clear that something’s wrong and it takes Iris to coat it out of him. I’ve made it clear that Barry and Iris severely lack romantic chemistry. But that doesn’t mean the actors can’t still pull off scenes like the reveal. When Barry tells Iris about her death, Candice Patton does an incredible job. She runs through a gamut of emotions, from shocked to terrified to devastated.
Once they tell the rest of the team (sans Joe), they get to work. Barry and Cisco revisit the future and read off a bunch of headlines that they’ll spend this half of the season trying to change. If they can create enough temporal impacts, it might save her life. The first one is easy enough. When Plunder escapes, Wally stops him, altering the course of events slightly. One down, many more to go.
This is a surprisingly fresh and cool concept for The Flash and should make the back-end of Season 3 pretty exciting. The show always ran into trouble when it focused too much on the past. The future though? That’s a whole new ballgame.
Assorted Thoughts:
– One of those headlines they look to change: Killer Frost still at large. Caitlyn spent this episode struggling with her power-suppressing gauntlets, eventually going to Julian for help. Though there are lingering issues of trust, by the end of the episode, he’s joined Team Flash. He even works with Cisco to get Caitlyn a sweet new pendant power-suppressor.
– Another headline: S.T.A.R. Labs Museum closes. It looks like H.R.’s effort to turn their headquarters into a cultural attraction isn’t a pointless sidebar! After some fun with Cisco’s holograms, the doors are open and attendance is up.
– Barry: “Welcome to the team.” Julian: “Thanks! My last team, they were all murdered by Savitar.” Caitlyn: “We need to work on your small talk.”
– H.R. has a best-selling book about time-travel, called “The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be.” If I saw that in a bookstore, I’d buy it!
– Next week, it looks like H.R.’s past is about to catch up to him.