S08.E15: Into the Still Force

[Trini]

The Flash gets an assist from XS (guest star Jessica Parker Kennedy). Meanwhile, CCPD enlists Chester for help when a mysterious device is found at a crime scene.

Executive Producer and Showrunner Eric Wallace directed the episode written by Lauren Barnett & Christina M. Walker.

Airdate: 5/18/2022

 

 

 

[scarynikki12]

On the one hand, ChillDude comparing Caitlin to Victor Frankenstein made sense. On the other, keep Frankenstein out of your filthy mouth ChillDude. You wish you were a character in a story that amazing.

Gideon! ::starts sobbing over LOT's cancellation::

This really doesn't matter but Allegra calling him Chuck annoys me. I think it's the emphasis she puts on the 'ck' sound.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Why is Flash re-playing the Laurel of it all? It was a bad storyline then and its a bad storyline now.

This whole Iris thing is tiresome and the show is playing it wrong. Dont bring Barry into the boring Still-Force. He should be traveling to different time periods once an episode, teaming up with heroes looking for Iris. Make it actually exciting and a true mini arc/comic arc.  

[thuganomics85]

If nothing else, I at least perked up a little for this episode once I saw Jessica Parker Kennedy's name in the credits, because Nora (and Bart) really have become my favorite things about these past two seasons, which is something I never would have predicted back when she was a regular.  It was fun watching her and Barry in the Still Force together, even though I really don't think anything came out of it.  Or, if it did, I just don't care.  Like Deon's betrayal.  I'm sure there will end up being a good reason for why he did what he did, but I just don't care about this character or this storyline.  And it sucks that it heavy involves Iris, because it basically has wasted her character this season.

I really do try my best not to hate on Chester too much, but Kramer has the patience of a saint for not rolling her eyes at all of his blabbering and obnoxious response to... well, everything.  But it looks like something is going to come out of him live-streaming his creations like he has.  Whoops!

Judging from Barry's glimpse into the Still Force, it looks like there will be some kind of confrontation down the line between Allegra and "EVIL!!" reporter.

Silly me for respecting Chillblaine for noping out of Caitlin's insane plan, only for him to come back around at the end.  Not sure what will annoy me more: watching it obviously blow up in their faces or if actually working out and awarding these knuckleheads for playing God.

At least Jesse L. Martin is making the most of his screen time.  It won't be quite the same without him (or in a more limited capacity.)

[Trini]

1 hour ago, Primal Slayer said:

Dont bring Barry into the boring Still-Force.

Especially when he accomplished nothing. I can already tell the next few episodes are going tiresome with little progress on what should be an urgent central arc. Barry should be active in this arc, not passive because he felt Iris is "okay".

So we got some hints to future storylines (and characters?), a few nods to the comics, some acknowledgement of characters we don't see anymore (hey, toddler Jenna!), but no Iris. Kinda nice to see Nora again. Wish the hair team would let her have a different hairstyle for once.

Not a fan of shows turning writing flaws into character flaws -- Barry saying he should have been working on the time sickness sooner. Why ruin the characters? Also they acknowledged that Cecile really does just avoid her actual job to hang out at STAR Labs. I don't even know what to say - things are just getting dumber.

Great - someone stole Chester's data/etc. I hope it's not the next 'big bad', but a villain-of-the-week.

[cambridgeguy]

7 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

This whole Iris thing is tiresome and the show is playing it wrong. Dont bring Barry into the boring Still-Force. He should be traveling to different time periods once an episode, teaming up with heroes looking for Iris. Make it actually exciting and a true mini arc/comic arc.  

Teaming up with other heroes?  That's crazy talk, next you'll suggest they call Cisco for help.

Besides, who needs them when you have Cecile, who is now so powerful she can scan a "five state radius".  That sounds like it's on par with Charles Xavier and certainly puts J'onn to shame.

[shantown]

My new issue this week (because there's a lot of the same old problems this week as previous weeks) is that if the kids and Barry can seemingly run back and forth in time without any issue (messing up the timeline, time wraiths, etc) - then why can't Nora just ask the Iris of 2049 what happened? Wouldn't she remember like, "Oh yeah, back in 2022 when I got lost in the still force and your dad invented the quantum whoziwhatzit and tracked me down and saved me. Sure was scary! Want to get Big Belly Burger for lunch?"

I like a lot of the actors on this show but oof are they ever making it difficult to like the actual show. I fast forwarded past Caitlin's scenes. I can only assume she's being selfish and ridiculous as usual, and the show loses nothing by not having her there.

The name drops of Jesse and Harry were nice, and the cute confirmations that Nora and Bart will get married and Bart has kids. The family aspect is one thing they often get right.

[tennisgurl]

Are they seriously threatening us with the return of Frost after we had to waste an entire episode watching everyone cry over her like she was everyone's one true love and went on about her like she was the second coming of Jesus? Here I was, actually having three seconds of respect for Mark calling Caitlin out on doing the exact same stupid thing she did last time that ended up getting her "sister" killed, but then he went and joined her stupid plan to play god. If a plan involves "digging up a loved ones corpse" as step one, its usually time to take a step back. I truly hope that this blows up in their stupid faces and everyone skips the hand holding and skips straight to the "what the fuck were you thinking?" yelling, and that it all wont work out and we wont be stuck with Frost again, Caitlin having been vindicated despite how messed up what she is doing is. The amount of coddling Caitlin gets from the narrative is mind boggling, she can do any selfish crappy thing and they will always gloss over it.

It was great seeing Nora again, she and Bart have really become bright spots of this season, and she and Barry interacting managed to really raise this episodes quality. I really wish I cared more about everything surrounding it, but at least we had a lot of Barry and Nora which made the episode a lot better than it would have been without Nora. It was sweet when Barry confirmed that Nora gets married and Bart has kids, the show does usually do a good job with the many generations of the West/Allen family, when the show focuses on them its always for the better. I also liked the name drops of Harry and Jessie. Of course, we also had to add in Deon and the stupid speed force kids plus all of this stupid time sickness, plus Iris being gone yet again in some stupid new excuse to get her away from the story. Its frustrating, this all seems like it has the seeds of a great story arc, exploring the shows past, getting to see old characters, do some crossing over with others shows, have some really compelling character work, but it all feels so half assed. Its been a problem with the show for awhile now, they have a decent idea but then they don't really try hard enough to make it really feel as epic as it could, or they get distracted with some boring subplot that keeps the main plot from reaching its full potential. 

Is there a reason Nora cant just go to the future and ask Iris what happened with her time sickness and come back to fix it?

Chester was even more over the top than usual, he was just exhausting in Kramer's office. She was clearly worried about what was happening while Chester just refused to read the room and get to the damn point. I have come to like Chester more over the course of the show, but this is why he has always felt like a poor replacement for Cisco, Cisco could usually tell when it was time to stop with the hyperactive geek schtick and get on with the important things. It looks like we also have another confrontation with Allegra and the other reporter to "look forward to" where we are certainly going to be asked to see her as a bad guy, despite the fact that she is making completely valid points when she complains about Allegra and the office politics at the paper.  

[Starry]

On 5/19/2022 at 6:29 PM, shantown said:

My new issue this week (because there's a lot of the same old problems this week as previous weeks) is that if the kids and Barry can seemingly run back and forth in time without any issue (messing up the timeline, time wraiths, etc) - then why can't Nora just ask the Iris of 2049 what happened? Wouldn't she remember like, "Oh yeah, back in 2022 when I got lost in the still force and your dad invented the quantum whoziwhatzit and tracked me down and saved me. Sure was scary! Want to get Big Belly Burger for lunch?"

This! And isn't Nora and Bart's existence proof that in the end, everything is going to work out for the best (which is something Nora "spoiled" last year as well)? If they wanted to make people worry about Iris, I don't think bringing Nora back was a smart idea.

I skipped so many episodes this season but I decided to check out this one because I heard it was going to be important for the time sickness storyline. Except Iris wasn't even there (something I would have known if I had bothered to watch 8x14 I guess).

Does Joe even have a daughter? What reason did he have to not trust Deon and risk it? Barry admitting that he should have looked for a cure and prioritized Iris despite her martyr attitude was nice but at the same time, it's too little too late and I don't like how the show keeps lampshading the fact that their priorities are out of wack. And Barry is doing this because he owes it to Iris? What is this writing? This isn't my WestAllen! If this is happening because CP requested to appear in less episodes after she renewed her contract they should have sent Iris away to work on a story in another city instead of making Barry look like a negligent husband.

Chester is out of his mind broadcasting that stuff! And what is Allegra's purpose outside of pep talking him? Because that's what she's done in every episode I've watched.

Caitlin is another one who has lost her marbles. Didn't Frost die because she believed she could have Ronnie back? And now she's trying to "resurrect" Frost too? Maybe if someone dies she'll finally learn her lesson!

The science on this show is even more crazy now! And I don't understand what Barry was doing meditating in the Still Force but let me roll with it. Now that he and Iris are "connected" and he KNOWS Iris is fine (?) the show can drop this and move on to the next plot without making Barry and the team "look bad". How convenient...

[Trini]

8 hours ago, Starry said:

... and I don't like how the show keeps lampshading the fact that their priorities are out of wack.  ...

It's super annoying. So they know what the issues are, they just refuse to fix them.

[catrice2]

And we are still supposed to believe that Barry is smart enough to build Gideon...when every season he does something dumb 

[Lantern7]

Please make the season end . . .

No more mutants? Nah. No more Personified Forces? Yeah.

Missing: when Barry and Nora get bounced off the force field, Nora landed on a dumpster. Given that the Still Force is a hodgepodge of past, present and future, I was expecting an "Aunt Sara?!?" out of Nora.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Lantern7

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, catrice2 said:

And we are still supposed to believe that Barry is smart enough to build Gideon...when every season he does something dumb 

In the 22nd Century yet!

I wonder what his reaction would be to the human Gideon if he ever met her during a crossover episode with Legends.

[Trini]

Definitely still some problems (mostly with how they're writing the characters), but this wasn't a bad episode for setting up the next arc and future plots. But they're about to lose that momentum by putting Iris and what should be the A-plot on the backburner. Just doesn't make sense.