The Flash – Death Falls review S8 E13

May 15, 2022May 15, 2022 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Brandon McKnight, Candice Patton, Danielle Nicolet, Danielle Panabaker, Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Jon Cor, Kayla Compton, Michelle Harrison, Natalie Dreyfuss, Rick Cosnett, Robbie Amell, The Flash

With this Deathstorm arc out of the way, it’s safe to say The Flash writers just should have made Blackest Night its big self-contained event instead of Armageddon.

It would have made for a better excuse to bring back some old Arrowverse characters and would have provided a killer (pun intended) hook for a five-episode arc.

Instead, what could have been a legit Flash-focused event spent more time keeping the spotlight on Frost and Caitlin. At least one of them won’t be on the series going forward. Of course, The Flash writers treat characters like tires — it’s always good to have a spare lying around.

Instead of a bunch of dead heroes running around as zombies, Deathstorm merely has Team Flash seeing dead loved ones. Esperanza for Allegra is OK, we’ve already seen Chester grieving his dad. Sue doesn’t really have a loved one to miss. Joe probably should be seeing his ex-wife while Barry sees his mother. At least Eddie isn’t a character we’ve seen that much since his death…besides earlier this season.

Nora has absolutely zero emotional impact. The series has trotted her out so often there’s no heartstring tug at all and it just feels like more of the same. One great reason to turn to the Arrowverse for this Blackest Night adaptation? There are enough dead heroes to really make it meaningful. Professor Stein, Capt. Cold, Black Canary II, Jesse Quick and of course, Green Arrow.

Instead, it was a slew of the same zombie ghosts, and the impact just isn’t there after 52 versions of Wells. Deathstorm tried to break Barry by showing him Nora dying, but she’s already been back and hanging out with Barry with her brother Bart. This is why treating death like a suggestion hasn’t done The Flash any favors.

Frost calls in her man, Mark Chillbaine for help in crafting a device to make her capable of stopping Deathstorm. It reiterates how badly the show has treated Barry as a competent scientist. Also, Mark has actually become a pretty decent character. It probably helps that he only makes sporadic appearances instead of being on every episode.

After Mark pulls a Joe with the inspiring pep talk, Frost is ready to take on Deathstorm. But not as Frost. Now she’s Hellfrost. Ugh. It’s all about Frost and of course, The Flash — the show’s title character — is useless and powerless to do anything useful.

Although we’re in Season 8, the CGI battles still look real dodgy. This was no exception and the only positive was the Hellfrost vs. Deathstorm fight didn’t last too long. She absorbs Deathstorm, but something “Flash science-cy” happens and she crashes.

In a weird twist, Catlin blows off Mark’s help despite him being a cryogenic expert who probably would be very useful in tending to Frost. Caitlin can’t save her and Frost is dead.

This would have so much more meaning if Sue, Allegra, Chester, Cecile, Joe or anyone without a “twin” got killed. Losing Frost is only a positive as Danielle Pannebaker can just focus on one character, she can ditch the white wig and the episode budget doesn’t have to get blown on vague ice powers again.

Death Falls came off lame largely because the series has made character deaths so meaningless. We’re going to get some obligatory deep mourning episode next week, but this can only help the season by focusing more on The Flash and Iris’ subplot.