S08.E06: Impulsive Excessive Disorder

[Trini]

Picking up where Season 7 left off, after returning home from a visit for their parent's vow renewal, Bart (guest star Jordan Fisher) and Nora (guest star Jessica Parker Kennedy) quickly realize that things are not exactly as they left them. The duo race to repair any fissures in the timeline and restore everything back to the way it is supposed to be.

David McWhirter directed the episode written by Thomas Pound.

Airdate: 3/9/2022

 

[Trini]

 

[scarynikki12]

I never understood how the regular visits to the past didn't automatically negate the version of the future Bart and Nora came from so I'm glad we got to explore that.

Booster Gold alert! Are Nora and Bart getting arrested too? It'd be fun to see them on the next season of LOT that WILL HAPPEN CW I FUCKING SWEAR.

Aww, Eddie.

The extra who was in line in front of Bart and Nora at the coffee cart looked like he was eavesdropping and I'm sad he didn't turn out to be the episode Big Bad.

Bart and Nora have excellent sibling chemistry so bravo actors. Bart and Avery are also awkwardly adorable. 

"Most thieves don't wear what they just stole." "I've held a gun before I swear!" I love the robber and that entire exchange. Can he become the Team Flash peanut gallery? The man steals only ethically sourced jewelry!

In all honesty, Nora and Bart are damn lucky Evil Gideon's top priority this season was to kill the Legends. The last thing they want to be dealing with right now is an evil AI.

"Dad would have gotten it right the first time." Someone hasn't seen the show. It's on Netflix, Bart, so get going.

Didn't Iris and Eddie know each other before Barry's coma? It's been a loooong time since I watched the pilot but I swear they knew each other, Barry got zapped, and when he wakes up we learn they were secretly dating. 

Avery is adorable. Shame she and Bart are from different times. 

[Terrafamilia]

Oh, Bart, you will make a great Flash one day. You've already gotten the crying down pat.

Time scientist lady must be a meta. She was able to tell what all the super future tech was in Nora's swatch from just looking at the exterior!

[cambridgeguy]

20 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

Didn't Iris and Eddie know each other before Barry's coma? It's been a loooong time since I watched the pilot but I swear they knew each other, Barry got zapped, and when he wakes up we learn they were secretly dating. 

I think they were at least aware of each other, but any inconsistencies with what we saw in season 1 can be handwaved away by the gift that keeps on giving - Crisis.  No need to be too careful about contradicting continuity when you can pull that out of your pocket.

And I'd sure like to hear more about Jay fighting Nazis and living on and off in the past for over a decade.  He also seems to have stopped aging since 2049 Jay looks exactly the same as 2021 Jay, or maybe that's the past he was referring to.

Edited March 10, 2022 by cambridgeguy

[bettername2come]

4 minutes ago, Terrafamilia said:

Oh, Bart, you will make a great Flash one day. You've already gotten the crying down pat.

I was thinking how great a crier he was, but didn't make the connection that he's carrying on dad's current King of the CW Criers title. 

John Wesley Shipp looked good this episode, which is saying something when in 2049 the character would be in his late 80s. He got me with that President Luthor joke. That was a good one. And I love a good "we remembered our universes are connected" moment. 

Bart and Nora are awesome together. I loved their teamwork, supportiveness, and bickering, and they're such a believable combo of Iris and Barry in both looks and mannerisms. They did a good job of making everyone look like they did in season 1. I think Iris was acting more like Nora than we had seen her act before

This was good. I was a little disappointed when we got back to the present and I was like "Aw, back to Frost and Chester." Didn't help that they reminded me of how much I miss Cisco with that season 7 finale opening. But again, I've enjoyed this season so much more than last season.

Oh, and I will not pretend that Elon Musk is that impressive in the DC universe, especially to kids constantly surrounded by billionaires and inventors. 

[DanaK]

If we have to endure a Barry-less episode, then one led by Bart and Nora isn’t a bad idea. This was pretty enjoyable but those kids need to ingest less sugar

[Trini]

Ooooh - Are they finally doing Avery Ho on the show? If we can't have Wally or Bart, I'll take that. Interesting that they made her a love interest for Bart.

I really like Jordan Fisher as Bart, but I felt kinda bad for him that they've made him cry every time he's been here! It's always nice to see Jay Garrick, too. ...Even though he seemingly doesn't age?

Eddie! Cool to see Rick Cosnett again. The Season 1 easter eggs were fun. Although, I think they retconned Joe and Cecile's backstory; I don't remember everything, but they weren't in any way romantic until Season 3.

18 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

I think they were at least aware of each other, but any inconsistencies with what we saw in season 1 can be handwaved away by the gift that keeps on giving - Crisis.  No need to be too careful about contradicting continuity when you can pull that out of your pocket.

Yeah, they knew about each other, but they weren't even acquaintances until after Barry was in the coma. I don't think anything shown here is inconsistent with Season 1; however, I'm not sure Iris behavior with Eddie matches her characterization from that season, but that's a minor nitpick.

Aww, Barry & Iris celebrate the anniversary of their vow renewal. I wish we had more scenes with them together with Nora and Bart.

Liked the Nora/Bart sibling dynamics; but I felt they veered into 'Disney-channel' acting a couple of times.

It sucked that it was Bart's fault, but it was kinda cool to see the formation of the Royal Flush Gang.

So Barry is just speeding entire groups of people to Europe now? Sure, show. And why are they so determined to make Frost and Chillblaine a thing?? There are enough irrelevant characters already.

The timeline in the show might be fixed (or is it??), but the timeline of this season feels wonky to me. They did Armageddon, then went back to the Season 7 fnale, then this time travel episode, then it's back to post-Armageddon - which only Barry should be aware of, BTW, since Reverse-Flashpoint was erased. It kinda convoluted, I know I should just not try to make sense of it, but I just know the show itself is be referencing things from Armageddon when it's technically a timeline that doesn't exist anymore. sigh

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by Trini
oy, typos

[shantown]

I probably should have done a quick rewatch of the S1 finale at least to remember where these characters were 6 years ago. Was it ever fun to see Eddie again though! 

Though I really missed Grant and Candice being gone for the majority of the episode, I also really love JPK and Jordan so this was a fun changeup. While JPK has definitely come into her own more than being a complete Barry/Iris copy when she was an undercover waiter at their wedding, both she and Jordan Fisher are really good at subtly having similar mannerisms and intonations as GG and CP. It makes them really fun to watch. Although like @Trini said, they need to cool it on the Disney-ish "awww bro" and "gee sis" of the sibling relationship. If we're going to spend more time with them (as I hope we are) they need to get a little more realistic in the sibling relationship - maybe it was part of "being undercover" but they were acting like they were acting like siblings, not just being siblings (if that makes any sense LOL).

If they want to keep the show going past Grant wanting to be the full-time Flash, Jordan Fisher seemed to be getting the writing this episode for fully taking over one day. Lots of talk about how "He'll grow up to be The Flash" and "You've gotta learn lessons just like your old man did" and of course the very effective and pretty crying. I'm interested to see how often the kids pop up the rest of this season.

Is Avery supposed to be someone we know? Wasn't sure if I should recognize her as someone we knew in the present or should know from the comics or something. 

[tennisgurl]

Messing up the timeline? Beautifully crying about how he ruined everything? Nerdy rambling? Bart really is his fathers son. Listen to uncle Jay and don't stress about punching holes into time and space on a reticular basis, if your dad had quit being the Flash the second he messed up the timeline via time travel, he would have retired after the first month. 

For an episode with very little Barry/Iris, I thought this was a good episode. Bart and Nora have great sibling chemistry and you can really see how they combine Barry and Iris, both physically and in their personalities. Their bickering and support were both really cute. While their acting could be a little too precious at times, and the two of them really need to dial back on the trips to Jitters with all that energy, I had fun watching them have an adventure and I quite liked going back to season one, seeing Eddie again really got my nostalgia going. Poor Eddie, he gave his life to save everyone from Thawne but the asshole just keeps coming back like a bad penny anyway. It was nice going back to season one when Barry was in a coma, Eddie was alive, and meta humans weren't common knowledge, and while it was a mistake in the timeline I liked seeing the start of the Royal Flush gang, I always thought they were fun. Even getting a flashback to when Barry got his powers, this show really did have a great backdoor pilot, the best in the Arrowverse by far.

Even if its the result of timeline screw ups, I am glad that Jay is alive in the future, and looking amazing for a guy in his 80s. That "president Luther" joke got me, not gonna lie. I do always enjoy a "oh yeah, this exists in this universe too" joke.

I am sure that Cecile and Joe didn't meet this early, but with Crisis and the time travel mess, I can pretty easily handwave that. I like scientist lady, too bad she and Bart live in different times or they would be a cute couple. 

Ugh, why this show thinks we want more of Chillblaine or his lame relationship with Frost is beyond me. When we got to the present again I was like "oh yeah, maybe this is why I liked this episode. No annoying useless characters hogging screen time."

Booster Gold! So will the time cops show up to arrest Bart and Nora in time for the next crossover?

[Trini]

3 hours ago, shantown said:

Is Avery supposed to be someone we know? Wasn't sure if I should recognize her as someone we knew in the present or should know from the comics or something. 

Avery Ho is a speedster in the comics (introduced fairly recently); but as far as I know, it's not confirmed that who this character is.

 

29 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I am sure that Cecile and Joe didn't meet this early, but with Crisis and the time travel mess, I can pretty easily handwave that. I like scientist lady, too bad she and Bart live in different times or they would be a cute couple. 

Cecile was in one or two episodes of Season 1, so it's not really a retcon to see her in this flashback; even though we never saw her that early. Them talking about dating etc., that early is what I think is the retcon.

Both Avery and Bart know about time travel, so I assume they can make it work somehow. ❤️

[thuganomics85]

The Flash is back!  New day, but same speedy, time-traveling hijinks and and screw-ups!

Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad one that I enjoyed this episode as much as I did, despite the lack of the original gang.  But while I'll always like Barry and Iris (no matter how much the writing lets them down), I really do enjoy the Kid Flashes.  Jessica Parker Kennedy and Jordan Fisher are just so much fun in these roles and they really sell the banter and sibling chemistry between Nora and Bart.  You can also see how both of them are a lot like their parents in their own unique ways.  I enjoyed seeing them take the lead this go around and wouldn't mind seeing it again (I do wonder if they're setting up an eventual spin-off or continuation with them going forward, if the days comes where Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, and the rest don't want to do this anymore.)

As with most things involving time-travel, they found a way to bring back former characters and at long last, it was Eddie's time again!  Maybe it was just nostalgia for the first season, but it really was great seeing the character again and Rick Cosnett seemed to enjoy getting to play off Jesse L. Martin and everyone else.  I do strangely miss him now.

Hope we see Avery again somehow.  The actress was really winning in the role.

Dear Killer Frost and show: quit trying to make Chillblaine happen!

At least the screw-ups ended up saving Uncle Jay and he's now sticking around to bust out a few pep talks when needed.  And briefly scare everyone with the thought of President Luthor, heh.  And he's right: screwing up the timeline means you are the completely right track to be The Flash!

The Booster Gold Easter Egg was great.   Really hope we see more of him in the Arrowverse (the better new the Legends, dammit!)

[Lantern7]

Unlike Legends, I'm going to be recording The Flash while watching Survivor. I'm hoping we get better stuff than "Armageddon," which left me blah for the most part.

Awwwwww . .  .Bart & Jenni Nora really are Barry's kids! Yeah, Bart got too excited, but Nora also mucked up the timeline. Good thing that figured out how to fix stuff . . . for now. They were cute, though.  Loved their aliases being shout-outs to their creators (Albert Moy and Mark Waid, respectively). And Bart is lovable, even when you want to throttle him.

Jay Garrick . . . I am confused. How is he still alive? Did he travel through time and wind up living in 2049? Figuring out his continuity is messy. Maybe I should put that aside and be happy John Wesley Shipp is playing Grandpa Speedster. He's good at that.

On 3/9/2022 at 9:00 PM, scarynikki12 said:

"Dad would have gotten it right the first time."

Bart? He wouldn't have. He really would not have. Bart's mistakes this week pale to the fuck-ups of his father. Those put the Legends' miscues to shame.

Avery/Averey was cute. I'm wondering if we'll see her in 2022. It would be nine years from this episode.

On 3/10/2022 at 4:39 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Dear Killer Frost and show: quit trying to make Chillblaine happen!

Really. And it's long past time to narrow things down to one Caitlin. Honestly, does Panabaker get extra money playing two roles? Just merge Caitlin and Frost into one homogeneous blend. Frost wouldn't have to be considered an anomaly that needs "correction." Does that make sense?

Heh. Booster Gold cameo. If the Nora & Bart didn't recognize him, maybe he's an anomaly as well. I'd also be tickled if it turned out either Nora or Bart were fans of Zari. I think her (and Behrad's) "original" time is the mid-2040s.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Lantern7

[Pepper the Cat]

What happened at the very end? I think my Pvr stopped 30 secs too early.

Barry took everyone to Paris. Then there was something on the couch that glowed green. And that’s where my recording stopped. 

[Trini]

46 minutes ago, Pepper the Cat said:

What happened at the very end? I think my Pvr stopped 30 secs too early.

Barry took everyone to Paris. Then there was something on the couch that glowed green. And that’s where my recording stopped. 

That was the end. It was Iris' hairbrush that disappeared in a green glow.

Hinting at more time sickness shenanigans I assume.

[TV Anonymous]

Avery was working at midnight at New Year's Eve? Somebody needed to report Fast Track Labs to the State's Department of Labor.