S07.E06: The One With The Nineties

[Trini]

Cisco and Chester travel back in time and get stuck in 1998, repeating the same day over and over again. The key to returning home is at Chester's childhood home but he refuses to visit. Meanwhile, Iris forges a connection with the speed force.

Jeff Byrd directed the episode written by Kelly Wheeler & Emily Palizzi.

Airdate: 4/6/2021

[bettername2come]

I didn't realize how desperately my soul was in need of a Cisco-centric episode until he had several minutes of screentime in a row. He played confused seven-year-old Cisco so well. "That's weird 'cause your future looks bright to me!" Good one-liner, Cisco, sorry it didn't work. 

I'm really happy to see Nora Allen actor getting more time. She's really good, and it's fun to see her getting to have more range instead of just dying or saying motivating things to Barry. And what was the Speed Force thinking planning to appear in her true form of lightning to them? She would've given everybody retinal damage. The concept of the Speed Force as an entity that shows up at your place of work is just weird. Like if Gravity just showed up on your doorstep and needed to talk. Also, I'm vaguely worried she's villainous. 

How dare they switch out the old young Barry with Nora and Henry photo for one with the new young Barry! RIP Logan Williams. 

"John Boyega." The alias makes me like Chester more. And darn it, I actually really liked his storyline with his dad this ep. I'm gonna have to remember his name now. A believable issue where he would've understood his dad better if his mentality weren't kind of stuck in the way he saw the situation as a kid. Glad he could see the truth, spend time with his dad, process and move on. And that Barry was nowhere near that storyline to make it drawn out, sappy, or hypocritical. I love Barry, but the man has parental issues. 

I liked the villain. Understandable yet petty backstory and not easily swayed by a motivational speech. 

Caitlin definitely lost on the time warp fashion game. Iris and Joe faired better (I'm half-convinced that outfit was already in Joe's closet), but think they could've gotten a little better. Those sunglasses were very flattering with Frost's makeup, and I liked her 60s-ish style at the end.

[cambridgeguy]

So did the writers and cast watch Legends and decide you know what, period clothing and putting people in the past looks like a lot of fun?

And this Speed Force as Nora thing is just getting weird.  It feels like the characters are forgetting she's the speed force in a Nora Allen package. 

[Primal Slayer]

Fairly boring episode that ended with yet another pep talk. Frost should just give an impassioned speech to the police unit wanting to arrest her (even though Argus doesnt care about her)

 

[bettername2come]

42 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

Frost should just give an impassioned speech to the police unit wanting to arrest her (even though Argus doesnt care about her)

It occurs to me that Caitlin once saved Lyla's life (first crossover Arrow ep), so no wonder ARGUS is willing to let bygones be bygones since Frost no longer poses a threat. 

[Diapason Untuned]

One of the best episodes in quite a while. I loved seeing Cisco get some new material other than the stupid Mecha-Vibe stuff and his friendship with Chester was excellent. It was so nice seeing him just geeking out with someone. Team ChesCo for the win!

Chester was fantastic as well. He needed to get some more fleshing out and by God that's what he got. That scene where his dad was teaching him how to dumpster dive and Chester realized the idea he had of his dad all these years was wrong was some great acting.

CW has mastered the art of the time travel episode, though I guess they must have practice from Legends. They must have also had a bet going to see how many references they could cram into a single episode too.

I laughed at Iris inviting Speed Force Mom home and Barry looking for all the world like he wanted to tell her to sleep at Star Labs. 🤣

Killer Frost going to get herself into trouble soon.

[thuganomics85]

I definitely have to accept that I'm old now, because I at first was like "Oh, come on!  1998 isn't that long ago, guys!", but then I had to slowly admit that yes, it is over twenty years ago now, so it actually has been a couple of decades already.  Time can be so cruel!

Fun episode, even if it did give me a Legends of Tomorrow vibe at times (although, that might not be a bad thing since that's my favorite of the D.C. shows), and they never fully took advantage of the scenario out of a few references and cheap nostalgia like mentioning Space Jam and how they were still in a "pre-Matrix" time period (hell, 1998 was before The Phantom Menace came out, so that was still a time where everyone was clamoring for the Star Wars prequels and not prepared for them to... well, actually come out the way they did.)  But Cisco and Chester worked well together, and the Chester character in general got some good material, which was nice for once.  Still not wild about the character, but Brandon McKnight seems to be a talented enough of an actor, and did good work here.

Deon/Time Force (thanks Cisco!) doesn't seem to be as one dimensional as the other baddies yet, but it's definitely true that he seems to only just realize how powerful he can be, so I can see that being very bad for Team Flash down the road.

Iris bonding with Speed Force Nora was nice and I'm glad Michelle Harrison is getting some moments to shine.  But I definitely suspect that Barry isn't as comfortable with this whole bonding thing, and I suspect there will be some conflict down the road because of that.

Honestly, I kind of feel like Joe already has that outfit in his closet somewhere.

Luckily for Central City, that was one lazy T-Rex, who didn't seem to only be half-heartedly trying to eat people.  Picky eater?

Can't believe that they just wasted the post-episode tag for a scene where Joe is like "Hey, Killer Frost?  Someone is after your ass, so maybe try and keep things on the down low?" and, of course, KF would just be all "Whatever!  She can't tell me what to do!  I say bring it!" like an immature teen.  Yawn! 

[Lantern7]

Time-twisting shenanigans, and Barry can't be blamed this time! Of course, the Legends would've knocked it out of the park further and sooner.

Actually, with waves of energy changing clothing and devices, and another one of the "Forces" introduced in recent comics popping up, this was different from an average Legends adventure. Not too much different, though. Given that they didn't have a wardrobe to go through or a Gideon to make period-specific clothes for them, Cisco and Chester did pretty good blending in. And they are so cute as a couple. I don't think Barry was ever on Cisco's level in terms of geekiness, so Chester is practically his soulmate.

We need a nickname for the Speed Force, because "Nora" isn't cutting it. Also, I keep thinking two seasons ago anytime I hear that name. "Speedra"? I dunno.

[tennisgurl]

I am so happy to get a Cisco episode, its the first one in ages not about his boring romance and his stupid mechablaters and giving up his powers for no reason, and those have all mostly just been subplots, so this was a great change. Loved him getting so much great material, Carlos got a lot of really funny scenes as well as some more dramatic ones, and its just really nice to see him getting an episode where he was such a big part of the A Plot. Plus, he was rocking those Dwayne Wayne glasses!

I thought this was a really fun episode, and not just because it tickled my nostalgia bone, being about the same age as Chester and Cisco so a child of the 90s. It was a fun mix of a time travel plot and a time loop plot, and while they did a decent amount of 90s jokes (if anything, I wanted more), they actually used this not just as a gimmick but as a way to develop Chester. I have been a bit meh on Chester since he became a series regular, mainly because he felt unnecessary and rather one note, but this episode did a good job at fleshing him out a lot more and giving him more of a role on the show. I am not surprised that Chester has a tragic backstory with dead parents, because its this show and everyone has massive family drama, but I do like that it wasnt ridiculously dramatic, just something you could see happening. As a kid, he thought that his dad never paid attention to him and felt like because he died when he was young he never really got closure with him, but now as an adult he can see how much his dad loved him and managed to even got to spend some time with him.  If they want to keep Chester they do need to develop him beyond comic relief nerd (especially on a team full of nerds) so I am very glad they seem to be heading in the right direction with him now. He and Cisco worked really well together as well, in both the funny and serious scenes. 

Iris having a day out with the Speed Force is kind of hilarious. Imagine drinking mochaccinos with one of the cosmic forces of the universe, that has to be weird even by Iris's standards. I am interested in them giving her some more to do besides give Barry speeches and get him to run faster, especially as we have established that while the Speed Force is a benevolent entity, it also has a very alien sense of morality and its understanding of humans is not exactly perfect. Its taken her wandering around the regular world for a bit after several years of knowing him to even realize that maybe appearing to Barry as his dead mom is upsetting to him, especially when it has to pass along "sorry you have to die Barry! sorry you have to suffer more for the greater good Barry!" messages. Iris said that Barry was fine with it, but considering Barry looked like he would prefer being back in his coma to having the Speed Force stay in his guest room, I'm not so sure.  

The time stream getting all mixed up and everyone wearing different decades gave me real legends of Tomorrow flashes, which is my favorite Arrowerse show so that's cool with me. Joe absolutely had that outfit in his closet, don't even play. Iris and Frost looked great in their clothes, Caitlyn got rather screwed on the outfits. 

The brief scenes of Frosty and Caitlyn hanging out at their apartment were so pointless, then Joe telling Frost that this women is looking for her to answer for her crimes was just so whatever. Joe says she should lay low, Frosty is all bring it like an angsty teen, we all know that Frost will never actually see the inside of a jail cell, I don't care. 

Chester gave a good speech, but I am glad that the bad guy of the week didnt crack after a heartfelt speech, that would have been a bit too much after already having so many of those this season. All it apparently did was make him realize how powerful he really is, which is so not good. 

[DanaK]

I’m still confused about when Speed Force Nora showed up and why. Was it last season? Was it cut short when they had to shut down and lose some episodes? Am I just forgetting because it was awhile before the show came back?

That T-Rex didn’t seem to do much other than terrorize people. Otherwise pretty good episode

Edited April 7, 2021 by DanaK

[Jediknight]

So let me get this straight, this Deon cat was class of 1998, and was gonna be the next Patrick Mahomes?  The same Patrick Mahomes that entered the NFL in 2017?

Do your homework, Flash writers.

[Chicago Redshirt]

33 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

So let me get this straight, this Deon cat was class of 1998, and was gonna be the next Patrick Mahomes?  The same Patrick Mahomes that entered the NFL in 2017?

Do your homework, Flash writers.

I thought about that too, but 1998 Deon is aware of our present, Deon's future, or variants of the same. So he would be familiar with Mah Homie. Although I would say it would have been better to have him compare himself to someone who was established as an all-time great by then like Joe Montana, Troy Aikman or Brett Favre. 

I don't get how Deon is a "time god" if he also was a normal high schooler at some point. I also don't get how as a time god he can't just manipulate time so that he does not have whatever accident and he goes onto NFL glory. Or why he needs a pep talk from Chester to realize it's a pretty limited vision to force people to live through this loop because of his football issues. Yes, I know that there was a lampshade thrown over the injury that it was a "fixed point" but that doesn't seem to be a Flash/Arrowverse concept, unless I'm missing something. Any point in time can be undone,, as far as we've been shown...it's just that the consequences for doing it can/will be a bitch. Also, to the extent of their being fixed points, it seems weird that Deon's football injury would be one of them. Anyway...puny time god.

I'm probably overthinking what is basically an excuse to throw together some 90s slang and fashion and have fun. But even there, I think it could have had more 90s flavor...or I suppose I should say flava.

[Jediknight]

4 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I thought about that too, but 1998 Deon is aware of our present, Deon's future, or variants of the same. So he would be familiar with Mah Homie. Although I would say it would have been better to have him compare himself to someone who was established as an all-time great by then like Joe Montana, Troy Aikman or Brett Favre.

But he wouldn't be the next Mahomes.  He would be Mahomes before Mahomes was Mahomes, and the Chiefs got bailed out in the Super Bowl against the Niners, where apparently a rule is that the Chiefs especially the O-Line can do whatever they want, including holding Nick Bosa the entire game.  And how targeting doesn't exist if it's a Chiefs player doing it to a Browns player going in for a touchdown.

Sorry, got off on a tangent.  The could have had him say we was supposed to be the first Mahomes.

[Trini]

Look - "pep talks" are one of the shows recurring themes, and I do appreciate occasionally talking down a villain, but please tell me we're not doing that for every bad guy this season; because it sure feels that way so far.

I still think that Chester and his skill set are redundant, but he and Cisco make a pretty good pairing. It was fun to see Cisco/Carlos have someone new to play against. I'm glad that they had Cisco in the A-plot and had a central role. I thought it was going to be mostly cheesy 90's references, but I was pleasantly surprised at how heartfelt Chester's arc was. (Can we get a family subplot for Cisco also, though? As long as it doesn't involve someone he loves dying, thanks!)

90's references were fun. I feel like the show has been on long enough that we should have even more gimmick episodes at this point.

Wow, so we should have switched out Wells #6597 for Speed Force Nora seasons ago. Really glad it seems like she's sticking around for a while, and that Michelle Harrison is getting more stuff to do and other characters to interact with. I guess it is weird that the Speed Force is a person right now, but it looks like all the forces are personified in some way, so they couldn't leave it out.

Iris bonding with Speed Force Nora was a sweet little subplot; the only thing I didn't like was that they mostly only talked about Barry. I did appreciate that we had two women in a subplot, though. I would loved to see the scene/s where Iris takes Speed Force Nora clothes shopping -- because that must have happened, right?! Anyway, Speed Force as house guest should be interesting!

Of course Iris looked amazing in the 70's look! Joe looked sharp as well. I think everyone probably had fun getting to wear different looks.

LOL! - Candice nailed that delivery of "Caitlin."

I get that they were referencing the source material, but Cisco naming the forces just did not flow naturally at all. I'm sure it's coming, but it interesting that they haven't really explained how the new forces came to be or why they're associated with those particular people. I like that it's a different type of villain/threat for Team Flash.

Was really hoping to skip all Frost scenes, but the they had to have one with Joe. I did catch that she's still (indirectly) associated with Amunet, so I'm sure that will 'help' her case with this Kramer person -- assuming that the show actually examine what means.

I did kinda miss Barry not really being in this episode, but I think everyone else really stepped up to fill his place.

[DanaK]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

I did kinda miss Barry not really being in this episode, but I think everyone else really stepped up to fill his place.

Perhaps I missed it, but was there a real world reason Grant wasn’t in the episode much?

[cambridgeguy]

Ah, the 90s, when strangers could just wander through a high school and talk to the students.  Who knew that a couple of 30 year olds could blend in so seamlessly? 

And when this is all done I think Barry and Iris will have a new rule for their marriage - who gets to crash at their place can't be a unilateral decision.

[ottoDbusdriver]

So one day, Deon -- being disappointed with his adult life -- just decided to be a time god.  Have I got that right ?  Did he just wish he had time god powers and voila they appeared ?  Was there any explanation why it was a green wave and not another color ?

And the green wave was completely unrelated to the sensor that Chester and Cisco installed, just incredibly coincidental.

Cisco mentioned that they had been 'Under the Domed' when they encountered the green wave wall which would indicate that the green wave had a definite edge of influence, so what happened to that because it was never mentioned again.

I thought the Roman soldier, submarine and dinosaur were just lazy contributions by the writers -- let's just toss in some things that might look like they are from previous time periods.  But that made no sense since I'm pretty confident that Central City was never underwater or part of the Roman Empire.  Also, Deon only rolled things back to 1998 -- did he know that he was conjuring mixed time periods outside of Masonville ?  How come everyone at Star Labs wasn't whammied like Cisco, and acted the 'real age' of the time period their clothing was changed to -- because I'm pretty sure everyone except Joe West didn't exist in the 60s and 70s.

And the Nora/SpeedForce stuff was just dumb.  It's not Nora, so quit acting like it is.  Hey Nora, this is Barry's favorite blankie -- who cares ?
Asking Nora/SpeedForce to sleep over -- WTF ?  Why does the SpeedForce even need to sleep exactly ?

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, Jediknight said:

But he wouldn't be the next Mahomes.  He would be Mahomes before Mahomes was Mahomes, and the Chiefs got bailed out in the Super Bowl against the Niners, where apparently a rule is that the Chiefs especially the O-Line can do whatever they want, including holding Nick Bosa the entire game.  And how targeting doesn't exist if it's a Chiefs player doing it to a Browns player going in for a touchdown.

Sorry, got off on a tangent.  The could have had him say we was supposed to be the first Mahomes.

Fair enough. Although it could simply be chalked up to Deon not being the sharpest knife in the drawer.

13 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

So one day, Deon -- being disappointed with his adult life -- just decided to be a time god.  Have I got that right ?  Did he just wish he had time god powers and voila they appeared ?  Was there any explanation why it was a green wave and not another color ?

And the green wave was completely unrelated to the sensor that Chester and Cisco installed, just incredibly coincidental.

Cisco mentioned that they had been 'Under the Domed' when they encountered the green wave wall which would indicate that the green wave had a definite edge of influence, so what happened to that because it was never mentioned again.

I thought the Roman soldier, submarine and dinosaur were just lazy contributions by the writers -- let's just toss in some things that might look like they are from previous time periods.  But that made no sense since I'm pretty confident that Central City was never underwater or part of the Roman Empire.  Also, Deon only rolled things back to 1998 -- did he know that he was conjuring mixed time periods outside of Masonville ?  How come everyone at Star Labs wasn't whammied like Cisco, and acted the 'real age' of the time period their clothing was changed to -- because I'm pretty sure everyone except Joe West didn't exist in the 60s and 70s.

And the Nora/SpeedForce stuff was just dumb.  It's not Nora, so quit acting like it is.  Hey Nora, this is Barry's favorite blankie -- who cares ?
Asking Nora/SpeedForce to sleep over -- WTF ?  Why does the SpeedForce even need to sleep exactly ?

You are right that they did not seem to explain Deon very well. As far as the other Force representatives seem, they were never actually human presumably, but were anthropomorphic versions of the same, seemingly, at least judging from the Speed Force. Maybe it will turn out that Fuerza, Psyche and now Deon (who didn't get a Cisco-approved nickname, right?) are all humans with connections to their forces the way Barry is connected to the Speed Force. 

I don't see the big deal about Deon's energy being green as opposed to some other color. But for what it's worth, green was the energy affiliated with the Turtle, and the energy is supposed to be similar to Turtle energy, so making it green seems as good as any color choice.

Yep, it is coincidental that as Cisco and Chester started trying to set up their detectors, there was something unexpected to detect.

It was pretty apparent from STAR Labs perspective that there was the big dome where Cisco, Chester,, Deon and others were, and various smaller pockets where time was going awry, and that there was also a wave that washed over Central City that arbitrarily changed items into analogues from other time periods. The particular Masonville dome was not mentioned by Cisco and Chester because they spent their energy trying to see if they could find the person responsible and nullify the event by going into the town, rather than trying to see if there were weaknesses at the edge of the effect. 

I want to say that Legends literally used a dinosaur, a sub and Roman soldiers to show that they'd screwed up time badly in a season premiere bit ago. So it's unimaginative and cheap. It is a common thread that time travel often has unpredictable, illogical and unintended consequences. So all the efforts of Deon to enjoy his time loop day had the side effects we were shown. They didn't necessarily mean just pulling things from past Central City. It could mean pulling things from other places in both space and time, alternate dimensions, etc., to modern-day Central City. Pretty sure Deon did not know what he was doing on multiple levels. Deon's resetting the time loop was seemingly meant only to affect in Masonville. 

The Speed Force cares that it is Barry's favorite blankie because the Speed Force cares about Barry. It took the form of Nora because it wants Barry to feel comfortable, and it worries in this episode that move had an unintended effect of making Barry uncomfortable. I don't think anyone is acting like the Speed Force is Nora. They are acting like it is a human-like entity. Which it apparently is. It has feelings, it has motivations, it can be wounded and presumably even killed. So it can feel alone and unwelcome, or it could enjoy company.

[Lady Calypso]

I dunno, I guess it was a fun episode but I was distracted by some inconsistencies (those outfits didn't look like they were from the late 90s) and the fact that Legends does time travel/time loop episodes better. I think I'm also distracted by the sudden Cisco/Chester best friend stuff, having them be WAY too similar for my liking, and Chester being so new still that his backstory didn't make me feel as sad  as I should have. I just started to warm up to Chester. I think a backstory like this was a tad too early. Plus, I'm also getting sick of the Pep Talks this season, despite the fact that I understand COVID halting their action scenes. And the naming from Cisco of the Forces felt...well, forced.

That being said, I chuckled at some of the scenes, and the Chester/father scene was nicely done. I just didn't find myself caring much. 

I think it helped once they got the whole team involved, because that became more fun, but it was only for a few minutes.

The Speed Force scenes were really odd. I'm not a fan of the Speed Force being personified and humanized, and I wasn't a fan of Iris speaking FOR Barry, especially once it was made clear that Iris' assumptions about Barry's feelings for the Nora lookalike aren't exactly accurate. He looked like he definitely didn't want Fake Nora staying with them, and this is an episode where I DO disagree with Iris' choice (which is ok; I can't always agree with my favourite characters). Sure, it was nice to see the two actresses getting to share scenes together, but the actual subplot, though cute on the surface, didn't quite work when thinking about it more. Again, mostly because I'm creeped out by the Speed Force being an actual person. 

So, Frost is gonna create an enemy that already distrusts her. I mean, obviously she's coming after Frost, but Frost is gonna make her right in doing so. Hey, at least they're remembering that Frost isn't really a good person and she still will make bad decisions so...it might be fun. And, again, love that more women are getting to interact with each other. 

 

[adora721]

15 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

Killer Frost going to get herself into trouble soon.

Not just herself. She doesn't seem to realize that she's putting team Flash in criminal jeopardy for harboring a criminal for three years. Joe's job as a detective and captain are especially in jeopardy because he, of all people, should not have supported harboring her. Joe and Barry are officers of the law, and they have done some unlawful stuff like the pipeline prison in the early seasons. Harboring KF just because she's part of Caitlin was the wrong call. If they had pep talked KF into turn herself in earlier, this might have gone better, but they were too busy coddling Cait/KF.

 

17 hours ago, bettername2come said:

Also, I'm vaguely worried she's villainous. 

Cosign this. However, if she breaks bad, I suspect she's either "infected" or isn't the real Speedforce avatar. I prefer "avatar" to 'god'; they're not gods.

The CGI T-Rex was so much better than Fureza! Did they save all their CGI money for this dinosaur? I guess so. 

ETA: Just thought of something: What if the Speedforce had imprisoned these other forces all this time because they were so dangerous, which is why we've never seen them before? However, when the Speedforce got weak and later "died" that allowed them to escape. With the rebirth of the Speedforce, they were also able to take humanoid forms and attack the Speedforce for revenge. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by adora721

[appositival]

I think Iris has better chemistry with the speed force than she does with Berry. At least it seems less awkward and forced. Berry definitely wasn't happy having his Not!DeadMom over for a sleepover. How did Iris miss him telegraphing his dread? It wasn't subtle.

I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who felt cheated when the T-Rex didn't eat anyone. If you bring a sousaphone on stage, you should play it, not just wave it around.

[immortalfrieza]

19 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

II also don't get how as a time god he can't just manipulate time so that he does not have whatever accident and he goes onto NFL glory. Or why he needs a pep talk from Chester to realize it's a pretty limited vision to force people to live through this loop because of his football issues. Yes, I know that there was a lampshade thrown over the injury that it was a "fixed point" but that doesn't seem to be a Flash/Arrowverse concept, unless I'm missing something. Any point in time can be undone,, as far as we've been shown...it's just that the consequences for doing it can/will be a bitch. Also, to the extent of their being fixed points, it seems weird that Deon's football injury would be one of them. Anyway...puny time god.

Honestly it makes sense. If Deon does anything to prevent himself from getting powers (like something that would make him a football star that thus likely wouldn't even be in Central City when these Forces were unleashed) then he can't use his powers to stop himself from doing something to prevent himself from getting powers and ohlordI'vegonecrossed. The problem is that between Flash and Legends the rules of time travel are basically suggestions at best and never make sense, so the idea that there's "fixed points" is as much a plot contrivance as anything else.

19 hours ago, Trini said:

I get that they were referencing the source material, but Cisco naming the forces just did not flow naturally at all. I'm sure it's coming, but it interesting that they haven't really explained how the new forces came to be or why they're associated with those particular people.

Especially since only the "Strength Force's" name actually seemed to actually make sense from what we've seen of these forces so far, being a mindless but inhumanly strong monster. Psych I would expect to be the "Fear Force" or "Terror Force" or something like that while Deon would be the "Time Force". Come on Cisco! You're really slipping with those names.

Now THIS is what I was talking about a couple episodes ago with the rest of the cast. Cisco and Chester were blocked off from the rest of the team and had to deal with a threat, while Iris had to play minder with the Speed Force, while Barry was incapacitated and unable to help. This show should've had a lot more episodes like this, ones where most if not all of the supporting cast gets to deal with their own problems of the episode and Barry himself is either too busy or out of action to interfere at the time. The Flash needs a supporting cast, but it doesn't have to extend to said cast existing to prop up Barry in some way.

Please Iris, look at your husband. He has his "screaming internally" face on. We need a gif of that BTW

Edited April 8, 2021 by immortalfrieza

[Trini]

11 minutes ago, immortalfrieza said:

Especially since only the "Strength Force's" name actually seemed to actually make sense from what we've seen of these forces so far, being a mindless but inhumanly strong monster. Psych I would expect to be the "Fear Force" or "Terror Force" or something like that while Deon would be the "Time Force". Come on Cisco! You're really slipping with those names.

I was actually hoping that the show would use different names, but oh well.

 

22 hours ago, DanaK said:

I’m still confused about when Speed Force Nora showed up and why. Was it last season? Was it cut short when they had to shut down and lose some episodes? Am I just forgetting because it was awhile before the show came back?

This version of Speed Force Nora only just showed up in the previous episode. She came to Barry for help because she was attacked by the other forces.
 

16 hours ago, DanaK said:

Perhaps I missed it, but was there a real world reason Grant wasn’t in the episode much?

None that I know of; but the past few seasons the show has been writing episodes so that the actors can get more time off from filming.

[BK1978]

23 hours ago, Jediknight said:

So let me get this straight, this Deon cat was class of 1998, and was gonna be the next Patrick Mahomes?  The same Patrick Mahomes that entered the NFL in 2017?

Do your homework, Flash writers.

That struck me is odd as well.  I get he was aware of his future, but that reference was just an odd one to make.  As someone else said, he probably should have made reference to one of the big name 80's or 90's QB.

14 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I dunno, I guess it was a fun episode but I was distracted by some inconsistencies (those outfits didn't look like they were from the late 90s) and the fact that Legends does time travel/time loop episodes better.

 

That was what I was coming in here to say.  I graduated high school in 1996 (Wow I feel real old saying that) and nobody in my school would have been caught dead wearing that type of clothes.  That was two years before the episode was set. If you did dress like that in 1996, people would make fun of you. 

What they were wearing was big when I was in middle school so we're talking 1990 to 1992 time frame.  They were wearing some Kid N' Play House Party clothes.

I wonder why they chose this whole Force battle to be the season's story.  The reason why I ended up yanking The Flash off my pull list was because I hated this storyline in the comics.  I hope they can do better than what they did in the comics, but I am not holding out hope.

Also, I have been racking my brain but for the life of me I cannot remember when Chester first appeared.  I know it was some time last season, but I completely blocked out his introduction.  Hell I did not even recall his name until last night.  Though I do have to say I liked the storyline with him and his dad.  It made him a more interesting character.  As someone else said, he is far to similar to Cisco personality wise. 

[Quark]

I'm not a fan of Chester, so I'm not such a fan of this episode.

I'm really intrigued to find out more about these different Forces.

[Maverick]

 Seriously, what is up with the Care Bear crap this season?  "When I was reborn, it was wonderful. I was surrounded by love.".  Barf.  And why is the Speed Force good and all the others are evil? 

 So did they find an unused script from Legends season 2 lying around and decide to film it?   Or more accurately, why did they cobbled together a bunch of stuff from Legends season 2?   Time traveling and confronting family, dinosaurs loose in the present day. 

Why do the actors need reduced / missed episodes this season?  Didn't they have to stay in their Covid bubble?

 I enjoyed Iris getting a large chunk of the episode, but did Barry actually say he didn't mind the Speed Force looking like his mom?   I think she was a little presumptuous there.  

[srpturtle80]

On 4/8/2021 at 1:18 AM, BK1978 said:

That was what I was coming in here to say.  I graduated high school in 1996 (Wow I feel real old saying that) and nobody in my school would have been caught dead wearing that type of clothes.  That was two years before the episode was set. If you did dress like that in 1996, people would make fun of you. 

I graduated in 1998 and I totally agree. They sure weren’t dressed like anyone I went to school with lol.

So yeah, the fact that I graduated high school in 1998 caused this episode to make me feel very, very old.  

The speed force stuff just confuses me. Why does it look like Barry’s mother? 

 

[Lantern7]

@BK1978, @srpturtle80 . . . I think that’s a common trope. Basically, if you’re looking for time travelers today, watch out for the guys that hit too many bullet points for 2021. If you go back to the time of Vikings, look for the guy that puts too much emphasis in NOT wearing a helmet with horns (a common misconception).

[Trini]

Iris' afro and Joe's 'Black power' fist was one of the show's few implicit acknowledgements that the Wests are Black, and I appreciated it.
 

 

[legaleagle53]

I have to say that the period getups were the best part of the episode. If there's ever just a Flash/Legends crossover, I definitely want to see Joe and Iris tricked out like this again as part of it.

I did have one question, though. I could figure out everyone's decade except for Caitlin's. Joe was 40s, Iris was 70s, and Frost was 60s, but I couldn't tell whether Caitlin was supposed to be 80s, 90s, 00s, or 10s.  I thought the show was maybe going for 80s, but it somehow didn't quite look right to me. What does everyone else think?

[Lantern7]

30 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

. . . but I couldn't tell whether Caitlin was supposed to be 80s, 90s, 00s, or 10s.  I thought the show was maybe going for 80s, but it somehow didn't quite look right to me. What does everyone else think?

"Eighties" was my first thought, and I stick with that.

[Maverick]

80s.  Early 80s.   Pretty sure it was inspired by Jane Fonda in 9 to 5.   

[Phillygurl]

On 4/12/2021 at 9:08 PM, Trini said:

Iris' afro and Joe's 'Black power' fist was one of the show's few implicit acknowledgements that the Wests are Black, and I appreciated it.
 

 

As did I. However, I could never see Barry with this version of Iris. With an afro she would be "too black" for Barry. Kinda made me sad. Her "assimilation" is the reason they work as a couple.

 

Although I agree those were kid N' play outfits and they definitely didn't blend in, I loved it so much and only these characters could make it work. I was so sad to see Chester back in those tight pants of his. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Phillygurl