Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Flash - Infantino Street


Despite Barry Allen's (Grant Gustin) initial belief that he could rewrite the future he glimpsed months ago, much of the Third Season of The Flash has had a hopeless vibe (so to speak). "Infantino Street" is the inevitable conclusion of these events. The day of Iris' (Candice Patton) death finally arrives, and despite bringing in Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) for a theft inside A.R.G.U.S., the existence of the speed bazooka, and Barry refusing to learn too much about his friend's plan to stop Savitar, he episode never sells us on the idea that Iris has any chance of walking out alive. Because of this the episode's final scene is anti-climactic, especially after giving us the return of both Captain Cold and King Shark before seemingly going through the motions concerning the fate of Barry's fiance.

Iris West Allen first died in comics way back in 1979. Rebooting the character years later, DC decided to keep Iris alive but burden Barry with a dead mother instead of a dead wife. Now, sadly, the character has lost both. Iris' death is hugely important to the Flash's arc in comics. We'll have to see how important it is to this version of Barry (and how permanent it turns out to be). Despite the epic fail of the speed bazooka, the episode does tease H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) may have something up his sleeve. And the episode does remind us Barry does have the ability to travel in time offering countless opportunities to save Iris before Savitar's killing blow. While Iris might be dead, I'm not sure she's going to stay that way. Nor am I sold on future emo Barry giving up on everything just yet.

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