Into The Arrowverse: The return of Wally West!
By Ariba Bhuvad
Pictured: Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW
The Flash Episode 614: “Death of the Speed Force”
Nothing like Kid Flash reuniting with The Flash, right? The return of Wally West is the name of the game this week on The Flash, and it was just as sweet and action-packed as we would have wanted.
The Flash is one of my favorite characters in the DC Universe/Arrowverse, and while the show doesn’t always live up to the hype, this episode definitely kept me interested. And we were dealing with the death of the Speed Force, folks.
Wally returns to Central City not just out of love for his family, but because his zen mindset is telling him that something isn’t right. And he’s right! Back during the Crisis, Barry had to use Spectre’s powers to enter the Speed Force and save humanity. It was the only choice he had at the time, but it had some very severe consequences.
The Speed Force was infected. It’s dying, and so are the speedsters’ powers. After the two brothers hash out the fact that Barry didn’t say anything about the issues he was having and that the Speed Force is dying as a result of something Barry had to do, the episode moves forward.
Barry makes it into the Speed Force one last time and has to witness his mother dying again. Just in case you forgot, the Speed Force appears to Barry in the form of his mother, and with it infected, she takes her final breath right in front of him. Poor Barry, once was enough!
It breaks my heart when Wally says that he’s been able to see future generations via the Speed Force, which included his children and even Nora. But with the force gone, that future will never come, at least not in that way.
There aren’t any options left, but Barry realizes there may be one final card left to play: create their own Speed Force, something Thawne did with the negative Speed Force. Speaking of Thawne, he makes his return by taking over Nash’s body. And I have a feeling in the episodes to come, he’s going to make Team Flash’s lives very, very difficult.
Along with Wally West, Cisco finally returns as well. He’s traveled the world trying to see how the Crisis changed it, and hey, he even went to ATLANTIS. Don’t you just love a post-Crisis world and how everything is on one Earth now? I am a bit concerned over how Cisco’s character feels so out of place in this version of the Arrowverse. It almost feels like The Flash is planning his exit, and I don’t like that one bit.
And then, there’s the issue of Iris, who is stuck in the mirror, literally. No one realizes that the Iris with them in the real world is not the actual Iris. However, before Wally heads off again, he tells Joe to keep an eye on his sister; he did sense something is off, so hopefully there will be more traction on that front.
But for now, the evil Iris shot Cisco’s girlfriend, Kamila, with a mirror gun. Is she alive? Is she just in the mirror world? Ugh, I don’t know but things are about to get intense!