The Flash Negative, Part One review S8 E19

With the exception of a pair of seasons, the Flash show runners have disappointingly leaned too hard on making the season big bad a speedster. And in most cases that’s led to the return of the Reverse Flash.

In some ways that’s actually cool to see a hero’s archenemy treated like the constant threat. On The Flash, it feels more like a crutch since the writers never understood The Rogues were just as important enemies as Thawne.

With only one more episode left this season the writers actually had to feature the time displaced Iris to some capacity. She’s sent off to the future with Nora and Bart, who explain she’s got negative tachyons flowing in her.

This proves important later.

Meena gets her Black Flash costume, which is some very interesting branding from Barry. Is he even sure she’s a hero? Why would Meena want the Flash costume look? And why black for her costume color?

When stuff like this happens in the comic book it makes sense yet with more time the show skips these important character development bits to…have Frost and Chillblaine to karaoke.

Meena is pushing so hard to be a hero so she keeps Eobard’s dream alive. That felt…a little weird and definitely counter to the normal female hero. But Meena’s speedster guilt is actually an interesting angle for her and it’s nice to see a new hero trying to live up to Barry’s expectations.

Still, the writing for Meena is inconsistent.  One moment she’s complaining about how fast this is all going and then she’s pushing to equal Barry’s speed. Barry insists Meena is already a hero, which felt like weird projecting. She just got her costume Barry!

With his new protege doubting herself — hey, anyone seen Kramer? — Flash reveals that he’s Barry. I applaud the writers’ restraint for not doing that the first episode they met, but seriously what is the issue with just having a secret identity?

Barry’s already whipped up a code name for Meena — Fast Track —like her company. If the Citizen reporters can’t piece together the new hero named after a lab in Central City owned by Meena, they need to update their resume.

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The big reveal this week was The Negative Forces. Clearly, the writers are more into Deon, Psych and Fuerza than I’ll ever be as it feels way too soon to revisit them again as threats. I guess the difference here is they’re “actually” evil and not misunderstood misfits?

At Lian Yu — Deon promises to give Thawne everything he’s deserved and still force snaps him into a skeleton. Well, that was a twist. The trio set their sights on Eobard, but Meena and Barry hold them off. These Negative Forces are very dangerous.  If only Barry knew other speedsters or heroes to help him fight them…

Instead, he’s gonna have Meena share her powers so Eobard can be a speedster. This seems like a spectacularly ridiculous idea. But it’s not the only one.

Cecile tells Joe she’s become a vigilante and Rosa Dillion’s bad wig returns to say Cecile stole her power. And there’s our level up reference for the episode. Rosa is convinced Cecile is becoming one of the most powerful metas ever. Yawn. It’s more exciting when Team Flash members don’t have powers and abilities these days. I love that Cecile’s vigilante costume is ponytail and black leather.

For a while it seems like Barry’s truly, awful idea won’t come into play as Allegra, Cecile and Chester hold off the Forces longer than expected. But it’s a speedster party after all. In a sign of ultimate trust, Barry gives Eiobard his Reverse Flash costume ring. That really seems stupid.

Meena and Eobard keep The Forces busy so Barry can megacharge a lightning blast. Deon is faster and teleports Iris in front of the blast. Barry sees this in seemingly slow motion in time to move her out of the way. It doesn’t and she’s zapped.

That’s not all. Iris’ essence goes into Eobard and he becomes Wells’ Reverse Flash again. This was a pretty dark and sinister twist. It’s too bad the show didn’t have Thawne show up to kill Nora and help fight against Godspeed at the tail end of the last two seasons. It feels less like Reverse Flash is the main villain or the crutch the writers need to legitimize a story arc?

And while all this playing out, Chillblaine begins the process to make a Frost clone from Caitlin. That’s not a great idea either.

Bad choices were the norm this week for everyone except the bad guys. No wonder they keep winning on The Flash…

Plot and character logic aside, the action was pretty good even though it seems like the season is destined for yet another disappointing finale.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Photo Credit: The CW