S09.E01: Wednesday Ever After

[Trini]

 Barry creates a map book to guide him and Iris throughout their future in order to keep her safe, but the results are not what he expected, and instead, they relive the same day over and over again. Joe has a heart-to-heart with Cecile. A new big bad is introduced to Team Flash and friends and foes, old and new, begin to descend upon Central City.

Vanessa Parise directed the episode with story by Eric Wallace and teleplay by Thomas Pound & Sarah Tarkoff.

Airdate: 2/8/2023

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I skipped all of S8 and from a recap of the show to date, feel pretty glad I did.

That said, I'm trying to figure out if knowing there is one last season will allow the show I once loved so much to go out with a high, or if the tank is still empty, as it seemingly has been since like S6 or so.

Thoughts?

[scarynikki12]

At first I thought lava dude was Grodd, then it looked like the shit demon from Dogma, then I realized Barry was dreaming and stopped caring.

Cat Grant?!?! I miss her.

Ok Captain Boomerang cut a square hole in the side of the fancy box and the sides just fell down? This doesn't reflect well on Kord Industries tech capabilities.

Ah it's a time loop.

I will laugh so hard if Barry's smelly sock is the key to ending the loop.

The Groundhog Day montage was fun. I love Iris deciding to take a day to do nothing but drink plenty of wine. Good on you honey.

Team Iris on this one. Let the woman make her own choices Barry. Odds are the kids and major events will still unfold so just relax and don't sweat the details.

As far as pep talks go the one Joe and Cecile gave Barry about calming down about the book was a good one.

Don't care about Blue Streaks.

[bettername2come]

It took me far too long to realize the February 1 date wasn’t just the season premiere being theoretically pushed back a week, but was the day before Groundhog Day. I also spent too much time trying to remember if this was the first time we had seen Iris sleeping in a bonnet, which was not helped by the repeated waking up scenes. Thanks for all the shirtless Barry scenes. It was interesting seeing a pair trapped in a time loop instead of just one person. It helped mix things up a little. Iris had a point in just taking a day off to drink wine and not letting a scrapbook define her future. I’m glad they got to take a few hours off to sip drinks poolside, and I appreciated that they had to solve things by standing united. I like the new Captain Boomerang thus far. Was not expecting Blue Streaks Caitlin at all, but I was totally expecting Zombie Frost, so definitely better. Not happy to see Chilblaine in the opening credits. Nice to hear from Cat and Kara. I feel like a missing persons report should be filed for Jemma West.

[cambridgeguy]

After nine years the CC public is so blase they don't even bother to stop and gawk at a nuclear bomb going off, or the Flash doing his thing?  That's probably a good thing, since it'd be a bit awkward to explain why the Flash and Iris West-Allen looked so comfortable hugging each other.  Her husband would be jealous!

Given that her company is apparently capable of running itself while she's MIA for extended periods of time, I can understand Iris wanting to avoid being gobbled up by Cat.  Imagine what she could do if she actually worked full time for extended periods instead of getting caught up in the latest crisis.

[Primal Slayer]

Maybe because its been 7 months...I thought it was a decent episode where I wasnt rolling my eyes for majority of it. 

Was it premiere worthy? No. But having Barry shirtless half the episode definitely helped. 

ANOTHER new Caitlin but this time with blue highlights....here we go. Whenever it comes to Caitlin I just flashback to Angel and how they turned Fred into Illyria and how heartbreaking and epic it was and how I wish this show could've done even half of that for Caitlin so lets see what this new one brings. 

Still not sure why they want Iris to get pregnant at the very end of the series. She should just be pregnant now and get it started and have the arrival of Nora for the final scene of the finale. 

Having a blurry speedster with glowing eyes, stick to what you know I guess. 

I wonder if we'll meet Ted Kord or we'll just continue the tradition of hearing about his awesome company that gets broken into 10 years later.

When it comes to Iris, I just hope she isnt all doom and gloom this season. Seems like she hasnt been able to fun since like S1. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Primal Slayer

[Primal Slayer]

 

This kiss felt like FOREVER. It still feels like the most exhausting relationship in the Arrowverse.

[Trini]

It's just wrong that Joe isn't in the title sequence, but Chillblaine is.  :(

So the episode description was inaccurate. Anyway, not the first time the show has done time loops/repeated days, but they had fun with it this time. It was a nice twist to have Iris & Barry experience it together; and Grant and Candice are great when they let them do comedy together. The 'waking up screaming' montage was hilarious! The show completely redesigned the WestAllen bedroom, BTW. But it's only been shown 2 or 3 times before this.

We've seen this type of plot with Barry before, but at least they resolved it by the middle; and hopefully they don't do it yet again in this short season.

They're letting Barry do more stuff by himself, but the writers are still too committed to the Team Flash format. Like, we don't need Cecile (!) for "muscle", or Allegra in STAR Labs for exposition when Chester is already there.

This was definitely the first time in nine seasons a bonnet has been shown on the show.

I liked the way they resolved Iris' dilemma about accepting the CatCo offer. I wonder if we'll actually see Sue this season, though.

Having a real hard time time caring about the other couples on the show.

Another season, another personality for Caitlin. But hey, now we got clip ins instead of a wig... yay?

No thoughts on the 5 seconds of Red Death.

Had to laugh at Barry coming out of the water like a Bond girl with the slo-mo, LOL:

[thuganomics85]

So, we got a new, less Australian version of Captain Boomerang named Owen Mercer.  On one hand, Richard Harmon seemed to be playing him exactly like he played Murphy from The 100, only with weaponized boomerangs this time.  On the other hand, he/Murphy were awesome, so I am not going to complain at all about seeing more of him being a smart ass and snarking on everyone and everything.

Kicking this season right off with a time loop episode, I see!  Always a classic!  I'm with Cecile though about the lack of Groundhog Day references and wondering if we're getting to the point soon where the next generation won't even have heard about that film.  If so, I wonder what other time loop show/film will take it's place in the current pop culture discussion (Palm Springs?!  Edge of Tomorrow?!  Freaking Happy Death Day?!!)

I understand where Barry is coming from (especially due to all of the nightmares), but I was totally on Iris' side about how knowing your future and following it to the letter is kind of horrifying.  Sure, it might be the safest way, but just how much living are you doing if you follow a certain guideline/path and all of your decisions are based out of a book?  Not surprised though that he came around: especially after another classic pep talk from Joe!

Iris was also right at reaching out to Sue and going her own way instead of throwing in with Catco.  With respect to Cat Grant, after she made Kara and company have to suffer the likes of Andrea, I think that was the right call.

Not sure what I care less about: Allegra and Chester's kiss or possibly evil Caitlin/Frost 3.0.

Another evil speedster.  Who will also probably end up being Tom Cavanagh somehow...

Decent premiere, at least.  Still keeping my expectations low, but considering that I've already invested this much time into this show, I plan on sticking through it to the bitter end.  But maybe they'll surprise me!

[cambridgeguy]

9 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Iris was also right at reaching out to Sue and going her own way instead of throwing in with Catco. 

Sue's also the landlord of the CC building, right?  As Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark would tell you, having easy access to massive amounts of wealth makes certain things a lot easier.  Same with Star labs and their apparently infinite amount of cash to keep the lights on and buy all of the fancy tech.

[blugirlami21]

That was fine. I skipped all of last season and feel like I didn't miss anything so there's that. Did Caitlin die? I know Frost did right? The way they wrote that whole situation was so ham fisted and stupid and now they brought it back again.  Just let her be regular Caitlin for god's sake.

Iris and Barry's couple scenes are a lot better, I loved that they had fun together and solved the issue together.

It took Barry way too long to see how upsetting that book was. Like read the room Barry.

Didn't like that kiss, went on way too long and it lacked chemistry. Are we rooting for them to get together?

Hated that end bit with Joe. I know Joe's actor wanted to go to part time but that's the best story y'all could come up with? Joe being tired of living in the city with his kids, friends, and job? And why was he so tearful?

Edited February 10, 2023 by blugirlami21
Holy typos

[Lantern7]

Even with the way the series has been sluggish in the past few seasons, even with the Flash movie on the horizon (and Michael Keaton backing up the problematic lead), I still think Grant Gustin is THE Flash. Does he do caring? Check. Man pain? Double check. Humorous stuff? Check. With the Arrowverse about to fade away ("Wait, Kara and Cat exist here? Oh, right, it's S&L that separated"), I think we're going to miss Grant as Barry.

I'm prepare to call the Caitlin/Frost hybrid "Flake." I feel that a homogenized blend of both personalities would work, but I don't think it'll work out. Doesn't help that Caitlin is probably the least-liked among the long-time regulars. It's not a matter of disliking her . . . it's more like we like the people around her a lot more. Well, obviously not Chillsblaine, of course.

Time loop episode suffers in comparison with the one from Legends of Tomorrow (Zari's "Hedgehog Day"), but it's a fun bit of fluff . . . especially with Barry and Iris waking up dramatically in hilarious fashion many times over. Since we didn't see every day ending in a Flash fuck-up, I'm assuming there's probably dozens of takes we didn't see. Solution to solving the loop seemed obvious, but the only way to get through past Barry's book and through his thick skull is a pep talk from Joe.

12 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

So, we got a new, less Australian version of Captain Boomerang named Owen Mercer. 

I think he was introduced during Geoff Johns' run on The Flash. Also: there was another Captain Boomerang? Maybe on Arrow? I can't remember that far back. This guy seemed blah for a dude that wanted to nuke Central City, and boomerangs seems so ridiculous a weapon to use as a villain, let alone one fighting Flash. It's amazing Boomer is in the "Big 5" of Flash Rogues.

Flash managed to vibrate an explosion where the shockwave and fire harmlessly passed through people. I think you can hear physicists openly weeping at the very idea.

[Primal Slayer]

3 hours ago, blugirlami21 said:

That was fine. I skipped all of last season and feel like I didn't miss anything so there's that. Did Caitlin die? I know Frost did right? The way they wrote that whole situation was so ham fisted and stupid and now they brought it back again.  Just let her be regular Caitlin for god's sake.

In true Arrowverse fashion, the non-female lead loses their sister and it drives them crazy to the point that they try to bring them back to life despite the male leads insistence to leave well enough alone.

[tennisgurl]

19 hours ago, Trini said:

It's just wrong that Joe isn't in the title sequence, but Chillblaine is.  :(

 

I KNOW RIGHT?! The disrespect! Stop trying to make Chillblaine happen, show! Its not going to happen!

Oh yeah, I saw that meta joke right at the beginning show, I see you. After the culling of the Arrowverse its a bit weird to come back to it at this point, but I have to say its nice be return again. This was actually a fun episode, but of course I am going to be predisposed to enjoy an episode that's focused on Barry and Iris. The two of them are so much fun and Grant and Candance have such great comedic timing/chemistry, its hard for me to watch it and not smile. Its not the first (or best) time loop episode in this show, but I really like that Barry and Iris went through it together. I love no fucks Iris spending her loop drinking wine and chilling at home and then Barry and Iris just using the time loop to finally have a real honeymoon, that was so much fun.

Thanks for that brilliant insight Cecile, it doesn't exactly take empathetic powers to figure out that Barry is obsessing about the future because he's scared of his wife getting sucked into another dimension for the 10th time or something. At least they worked things out pretty quickly and Barry and Iris talked it out by the middle of the episode. At least Cecile did point out the obvious Groundhog Day connection, which someone had to do. Come on guys, its even February 1st!

Nice to see Richard Harmon from The 100 again, basically playing a version of Murphy before he grew as a person and went from asshole to asshole with an occasional heart of gold. Glad he's sticking around for now, plus yet another glowing eyed speedster baddie. 

Some more drama going on with Caitlin/Frist/Other Personalities. I really cant say I care all that much. Much like Chester and Allegra, although they tend to annoy me far less than Frosted Flakes. They're more "meh" than anything, but I did enjoy Allegra's face when Barry and Iris were making eyes at each other at the office, like she was worried they would ask her to leave the office so they could bang on the desk. 

Edited February 10, 2023 by tennisgurl

[Trini]

A few thoughts on re-watch:

I know it can't be Westallen all the time, but Grant and Candice are arguably the two best actors playing the two most interesting and fleshed out characters on the show, so why haven't we gotten them together in A-plots more often?? Anyway it was really great to see them working together; they're domestic and romantic scenes were cute; and I'm glad they got to address how the traumas of the past few seasons affected them.

Speaking of Barry & Iris working together; when are we going to get Iris interviewing the Flash? He's a superhero, she's a journalist; the plot writes itself! It doesn't even have to be a whole plot, but it would be a cute scene.

Captain Boomerang seems fine as a villain-of-the-week; but I'm glad they gave him some upgraded tech, because a guy with just boomerangs should be very easy for the Flash to take down.

I wish we had stronger, or at least more imaginative writers so that we could get more episodes exploring sci-fi concepts, like the time loop here.

Nitpicks: I was weird seeing that villain from Season 1, as if we were supposed to remember him. Thanks for the Cat Grant mention, but she would not be taking meeting with subordinates for something as big as a merger with another company.