The Flash – Resurrection review S8 E11

Jeffrey Lyles April 14, 2022April 14, 2022 0 Comments Brandon McKnight, Candice Patton, Christian Magby, Danielle Nicolet, Danielle Panabaker, Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Kayla Compton, Mika Abdalla, Natalie Dreyfuss, Robbie Amell, Susan Walters, The Flash

It’s always dicey when a series tries to bring back a dead character. For The Flash, that’s basically every season.

In the case of Resurrection, that storytelling crutch proves a real problem as it seriously cuts the intended emotional tension with the presumed return of a long dead character.

We get a series of flashbacks starting from 2012 where Caitlin and Ronnie meet. They get a decent meet cute and then it’s off to their proposal. Caitlin, being super progressive, was going to propose, but Ronnie beat her to it. These segments did the job of reminding viewers why Ronnie was such a good character. Like Eddie, Ronnie’s death seems to be one of those decisions the writers constantly regret.

Joe breaks down three more victims. Sigh. The ninth season is definitely going to be the worse for Jesse L. Martin stepping back to star in a show on NBC. Granted, an NBC pilot isn’t worth a wet rag, but it could run long enough to limit his participation more than expected.

I thought Team Flash debunked the whole grief theory last week? Are the writers not sharing notes?

Caitlin knows all of the victims and tells Team Flash the fire is Ronnie. Why didn’t Caitlin consider this earlier? This feels really long to bring Ronnie back. This feels like the appropriate time to press the Call Cisco button as he’d definitely be of major help in this scenario.

Realizing anyone close to her could get killed, Caitlin tells Marcus everything. I feel like a simple “I’m not feeling this,” “It’s not you it’s me” or “I’m just not looking for something serious right now” would have sufficed more than saying she’s part of a superhero squad and her dead husband is somehow resurrected and killing people. By the way, did anyone at The CW consider the timing of an episode dealing with resurrection on Easter week?

Well, it was nice to meet Marcus for all of two or three episodes. If only he made it to STAR Labs then he would have become part of Team Flash for the rest of the season.

This is the second episode Barry’s had to play the sad sack voice of reason without suiting up as The Flash beyond a cameo. It does feel more than a little hypocritical for Barry to chide the rest of the team for trying to help their loved ones when he does it every season. Of course, Barry clearly has a point and as the title character he’s allowed to screw up more than the tertiary lead.

Chester is livestreaming his work on the device that could restore Ronnie back to normal. Allegra (and the not at all foreshadowing writers) thinks is a terrible idea. Stay tuned. One of his followers is WookieLover. If only Warner Bros. had properties that could be referenced as often as Marvel and Star Wars on The Flash…

Hey, a Blackest Night reference! Given all the dead characters in the Arrowverse that actually wouldn’t be a bad comics event to try and adapt for the 2023 crossover — assuming we actually get another one.

Ronnie psychically attacks Cecile asking for Caitlin. Cecile thinks Ronnie wants to be set free so he can die. Another solid theory, but Caitlin wants nothing to do with it. Frost is on board, stealing the device and risking everyone’s life for Caitlin’s half-baked plan.

“It’s her decision to get killed. Let her.” That is some remarkably awful sisterly advice, Frost. Maybe it’s better to do the blind painting instead of pep talks?

Caitlin places the device on the flame and Ronnie miraculously is back.

“I’m sorry I doubted you, Caitlin. You were right along.” Whoa, did some Supergirl writers join The Flash team? Is Barry supposed to feel bad for trying to stop an entity that was burning innocent people to a crisp? Course Barry didn’t care about the killer Abra Kadabra getting off with no punishment so that checks out actually.

In the secondary plot that truly felt tacked on this week, Tinya is yelling at Iris for “attacking” her mom. Was she not watching? Tinya’s anger seems ridiculously unwarranted and her porting Iris away felt like a silly temper tantrum. It’s too bad Allegra wasn’t with Iris and Sue as she could have gone after Tinya leading to a meta clash. Now, all Sue can do is run off and tell Barry that Iris is missing. Seems like a wasted opportunity for something more interesting.

Also, where is Kramer? She was such a significant character last season and half of this one only to vanish at times when her mimic abilities would really come in handy.

Everyone’s so apologetic to Caitlin that it feels like “It’s a trap!” should be popping up in flames across the screen. Sure enough, “Ronnie” reveals himself to be Deathstorm and Caitlin should have listened to her friends.

Telegraphed or not, the Ronnie twist is encouraging. This also opens up the possibility of a Forever Evil event. I can dream. Since Caitlin absolutely can’t fight Deathstorm this should put Barry back in the spotlight. Maybe? At least the Iris is missing storyline gives The Flash two emergencies to handle instead of getting pushed to the background.