The Flash — A New World Part 2: The Blues review S9 E11
I’ll give The Flash writers one thing — they’re consistent in their frustrating inability to feature the title character in every episode.
A New World: The Blues does what too many recent episodes (and seasons) of The Flash have done sidelining Barry/The Flash and limiting his involvement to little more than a cameo.
Oh sure, there’s a perfectly logical explanation for it — the events in this episode were playing out the same time Barry was hanging with his parents and facing Reverse Flash again, but a Team Flash-focused episode in the final three is the opposite of fan service.
Chester makes out radioactive trace elements of cobalt when Barry got teleported away.
Coincidentally, Mark is back promoting Kihone to get all hot and bothered. Cecile had been keeping him in the loop and he wanted to help his pals again. What a dumb reason to bring him back especially given the way he left Team Flash. For now, the focus is on finding Barry and Cecile offers to call Cisco at ARGUS in case we’d forgotten him. Fat chance.
Someone Allegra knows blasts her. You get exactly one guess and everyone but Mark doesn’t count. The Citizen is under attack and Kihone’s magical “leveled-up” powers saves Iris’ staff members by growing plant cells in their bodies to help them breathe. Man, what a complete and utter waste of time this Kihone storyline has been. It’s like the writers forgot this was the last season while they had Kihone spouting off random gibberish for most of the season and now they’ve made her the most powerful character on the show with zero explanation.
Mark is freaked out and asks Kihone what right she had to turn the Citizen employees into monster plant people. The irony isn’t lost as Kihone explains she was trying to save them that Kihone was manipulating a person’s body to help them in the same way Mark was using her to save Frost. This hero shaming is a sham as Mark is possessed by the cobalt gem.
Why no, Barry hasn’t made an appearance in this third from last episode of the series, what’s the big deal?
Just to keep confusing us further, Speed Force Nora returns. Where’s the rest of Barry and Iris’ “kids?” Seems like The Still Force would be really helpful right now.
It’s a very weird flex to make Kihone ultra powerful for absolutely no reason. Now she controls everything to the point she can break down a person’s body to ashes and then reconstruct them??? The crystal embedded in Mark’s hand falls harmlessly to the floor while Kihone reanimates Mark. That was creepy and seems like a waste of the episode effect budget.
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Iris is in labor now. And Barry returns from his journey last episode with Reverse Flash and his folks. Not to belabor (heh) the point, but with his only daughter and surrogate son about to have a baby, why in the heck is Joe West not at the hospital? I get that Jesse L. Martin had a limited, reduced schedule, but like the baby shower episode there’s certain moments a father would be there for his children. It’d been better to shoot those scenes with Martin instead of wasting an appearance having him possessed in the past by the cobalt gem.
Kihone gets cold on Mark again saying she missed her friend. She explains she saved him because she’s a goddess. Of course, you are pumpkin. On the bright side, Hipster Kihone says she has so much more to do for the planet and can’t stay with Team Flash. Awesome! No, she’ll leave after they defeat the cobalt gem. Boooo.
Barry gets teleported away again so it looks like he will miss Nora being born unless he just wants to travel back in time later on?
Captain Korber is shocked to see Eddie Thawne walk into the CCPD. It’s also a little weird that every officer is astonished to see him. Given the intense turnover at CCPD, there probably wouldn’t be a lot of officers who worked with Eddie still at the department. Yes, there’s a photo on the fallen officers wall of Thawne — under a dead dog — but that seemed a little overblown.
Of course, it’s not Eddie, but Malcolm Gilmore, who keeps seeing flashes (no pun intended) of Eddie’s life and wants some answers. Maybe he should pull a She-Hulk and barge into the writers’ room and talk things over with “Kevin?”
Malcolm takes the next completely logical approach and starts digging up Thawne’s grave. Is he expecting to see a perfectly preserved Thawne? Even more shocking is Capt. Korber knows exactly where to find Malcolm. The grave is empty while Malcolm keeps recalling flashbacks of Eddie’s life. He declares he is Eddie Thawne and proves it by pulling the bullet from his blood-stained chest.
When did The Flash become Return of the Living Dead? Ohhhkay, so this episode was largely terrible with a questionable focus on the supporting cast when the focus at this point should solely be on The Flash. Given the writers’ track record this isn’t surprising, but very disappointing.
Rating: 4 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW