S09.E05: The Mask of the Red Death, Part Two

[Trini]

As the Red Death wreaks havoc on Central City, Barry and Iris come up with a plan and turn to Cecile for help. Barry is faced with what he thinks was his greatest mistake, and the Red Death's greatest success. Meanwhile, Khione wants to help Team Flash, but Barry can't risk losing her. Joe gives Barry a very much needed pep talk.

Rachel Talalay directed the episode with story by Jonathan Butler and teleplay by Dan Fisk.

Airdate: 3/8/2023

[scarynikki12]

We got the previously with Barry telling Iris she'll get pregnant in three months. She's going to be preggers by the end of this episode isn't she?

I love that purple top the Captain's wearing.

Once again I would like to know the status of our Ryan.

Yes Barry did lose his mind which is why he apparently cares more about Chilldude than Bad Ryan.

Blue Streaks is somehow going to turn out to be an amnesiac merged Caitlin and Frost isn't she?

I wonder if we can get the network to hire Javicia to be a bad guy on Gotham Knights? She's having so much fun it would be nice to see more.

Allegra please put your hair in a ponytail.

Of course it was a trap Barry. It's been nine years and you still can't recognize one?

Personally I think Barry's greatest mistake was letting Thawne go during the Earth-X crossover but whatever.

Hey it's Grodd! 

Oh you're useless Blue Streaks and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Also you will never be an oak tree.

Barry and Joe trading pep talks. Sigh.

Oh come on Bad Ryan let the man have a tv. He wanted to watch it not use it as a weapon and the store will get a check from their insurance for the theft so they'll be fine.

Barry pep talks Grodd into being on his team. Never stopped the show before so why change now?

Aw Barry's Rogues still love him.

RYAN!!! OUR RYAN!!!! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN????

I was hoping the "I'm not alone" line would reveal my Mary had come along but FINE I'll accept Barry joining in since it's his show.

Ok Chester fanboying over Ryan is the most I've ever liked him.

Team Joe and Jenna Moving Someplace Safe. Cecile cares more about being A Hero than she does anything else so this is really the best thing for all three of them.

There is literally no reason for Chilldude to be a regular much less on Team Flash.

OH MY GOD ENOUGH WITH THE ALLEGRA AND CHESTER NONSENSE. MAKE IT STOP.

Ooooh Iris feels lightheaded! That's code for pregnancy! 

Ok I know Blue Streaks is an Earth Mother but how does that translate into knowing Iris is knocked up?

[Primal Slayer]

It was...a basic "finale". Red Streak turned into a joke and just kept repeating "Justice! Justice! Justice!!!!"

I seriously can't believe that they wrapped up the moving drama last week only to bring it again and have Cecile choose Team Flash over her own husband and child lol. Does Iris even remember or care that she has a sister?

Did i miss what they said about Ryan disappearing and popping up? 

[cambridgeguy]

A husband tells his wife that he's moving away with their daughter and that she can come visit on weekends.  Isn't this usually what happens after a bitter divorce?  That being said, why does distance mean anything to Team Flash?  Barry's so fast now he can basically teleport anyone anywhere they want.  Regardless, turning Cecile into Professor X remains one of the stupidest things the show has ever done.  Plus isn't her reading people a massive invasion of privacy?  People are entitled to their own thoughts.

Maybe I zoned out, but I also don't remember any explanation of Ryan's whereabouts.  Didn't she vanish without a trace a few weeks ago? 

[Trini]

Well, I'm back to lowering my expectations to zero.

This whole arc with Red Death should have been at least 3 episodes, and not this two-parter that rushed the conflicts and the resolution.

I don't understand the show(runner)'s need to have Barry take the blame for everything. Grodd(!) is working with Red Death because of some offscreen shenanigans that we're only hearing about now, and it gets resolved with a pep talk and offscreen handwaving. Then there were at least two scenes of this:

"We're not doing that."

"No, you should do that."

"Okay, we'll do that."

-- No debate or anything; oy.

And Red Death being all powerful ... until she isn't.

Nine seasons in, and they're still using 'Barry loses his speed' as a plot device. I would like that to be the last time, but not holding my breath.

Okay, so Cecile is obviously a bad mother, so in a way, it makes sense for Joe to take full custody and for her to only get weekend visitation; but as a fan that's been here from the beginning, it makes no sense that we're losing Joe but keeping his baby momma. And they had Joe talk about the importance of good parenting whilst taking a child from her mother, and they present it as a 'happy' resolution because now Cecile gets to superhero full-time.

Seriously -- these plots with Cecile, Khione, Chillame; NOBODY asked for any of that for the final season of a show called The Flash.

I know they were attempting to play it as a 'funny' scene, but everyone - including Iris - learns Iris is pregnant from 3-week old Caitlin 3.0?? Girl, BYE.

Ending with some positivity:

Javicia is really good at playing a crazy villian! I wish they had had more of her in this arc. The scene between Iris and Khione was surprisingly decent. Loved seeing Batwoman in action (and hearing her theme music!) one more time! It was nice hearing that Ryan has brunches with Kara & co., but now I need to know how they even got to that point.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Trini

[KittenPokerCheater]

Yay!  Mark is still alive.

[tennisgurl]

Red Death is truly a despicable villain, she teased us with Chilllame finally being killed off, and then didn't follow through! Does her cruelty know no end? I know that Barry is all about forgiveness, its truly admirable and it does tend to work out for him, but it really is ridiculous how quick Team Flash is to forgive anything. Mark is a sleazy asshole, has always been a sleazy asshole, he's betrayed them at least three times now and was only ever on the team because of Frost, why exactly is he welcomed back with open arms? What the hell does he even bring to the team besides his terrible fashion sense? I can understand them wanting to help him, especially after he saved Barry (from the thing he did in the first place) but I feel confident that Chilllame will end up betraying them again while everyone has surprise Pikachu face over him acting like he always does.   

I wish that the Red Death had been added earlier in the season, she really needed more build up to be this huge threat and I would have loved to see Javicia ham it up some more, she's awesome as a villain. They even brought Grood back to ruin his happy ending so that he could show up for five seconds, that's the kind of thing that needs more time. For what we got though, Red Death was a cool villain, definitely better than the last few Big Bads. I really liked getting to see Ryan again kicking some ass, but its weird that they never told us where she was. Didn't she disappear without a trace? Shouldn't she be giving Luke and Mary a call to let them know she's ok? I like the idea of Ryan, Kara, Alex, and now Iris have brunch, that sounds like a fun episode in its own right. 

I actually thought the talk between Iris and Khione about her worth was pretty good, definitely the most I have liked new Caitlin so far, although later on the "oh, your pregnant" bit was not something I loved. 

I knew that the rogues would all come back, but it was still a nice scene when they all came back to save Barry and the "must be Wednesday" was funny, even with its sitcom "everyone laughs" ending. I really like all three of them and I hope the show uses them more, especially Hartley, who is the "snarky morally ambiguous former crook with a heart of gold" that this show wants Chilllame to be. I would be happy to see Amunet and Goldface trying to work things out again as a future comedy episode.

This plan with Joe moving to the suburbs with Jenna while Cecile stays in Central to be a superhero seems...problematic, to say the least. Dad getting the kid while mom visits on the weekend sounds more like the custody agreement after a messy divorce than a usual parenting arrangement, although if she has to end up with either parent, Joe is clearly the best option. I cant believe we are losing Joe and keeping Cecile so that she can dramatically read peoples minds without their consent or state the blindingly obvious. Poor Jenna, mom picking her heroics over her is certainly going to hurt one day, just wait until she becomes resentful of her mom choosing being a hero over being her mom, grows to hate her mom and heroes in general, and becomes a super villain just in time for the next trip to the future.  

Edited March 9, 2023 by tennisgurl

[cambridgeguy]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Dad getting the kid while mom visits on the weekend sounds more like the custody agreement after a messy divorce than a usual parenting arrangement, although if she has to end up with either parent, Joe is clearly the best option.

It also means CC villains take weekends off?  Very nice of them - you know those jerks in Gotham are seven days a week type of people.

[scarynikki12]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Poor Jenna, mom picking her heroics over her is certainly going to hurt one day, just wait until she becomes resentful of her mom choosing being a hero over being her mom, grows to hate her mom and heroes in general, and becomes a super villain just in time for the next trip to the future.  

Maybe Jenna was the mysterious She referenced in the Green Arrow and Canaries backdoor pilot. 

[thuganomics85]

Ha, Goldface actually said "Chilllame!"  I knew there was a reason I loved him!

Now, this show is no stranger to lazy writing at times (lots of times...), but even by its standards, it was hilarious how Team Flash Rogues were so dead set against trying to save Mark, only for Khione to be like "Well, I'm going to do it!" and suddenly there all "You know what?  This three week year-old, kind of weird new age Caitlin is right!  Lets walk into the obvious trap after-all!" about it instead.  Writers weren't even trying there.  They're lucky that Red Death just wanted to take the rest of Barry's speed force and taunt him, because if she was legit bloodthirsty, then we would have had a much more tragic end here.  Granted, none of the villains ever take full advantage when the heroes give them an easy win, so that's just par for the course, I guess.

But, yeah: Chilllame is totally alive and back to be part of Team Flash and the "family again.  Ugh!

Javicia Leslie continued to ham it up like there was no tomorrow and steal all of the scenes, so of course her arc is already done.  At least the actual Ryan showed up to be the one to save the day.  Still wish we got more of her though.  Also, while they said Red Death got taken to ARGUS (certainly their security there is better than the one they apparently installed for the CCPD), they never said what happened to her rogues?  Especially Boomerang!  The only think I'll miss more than Javicia is Richard Harmon and his nonstop smirks and snark!

Joe changes his mind once again and now just wants take Jenna to the countryside while Cecile remains in the city to play hero.  That's... interesting because that sounds almost like a break-up and yet its not.  But, hey, she's going to go to them on the weekends because we all know supervillains are nice enough to not cause chaos on Saturdays and Sundays!

Double ugh, Chester and Allegra!

At least Jesse L. Martin delivered on his good-bye speech, even though I suspect Joe will at least show back up for the actual series finale.

Not the worst arc this show has had, but a lot of squandered potential here.  I guess we'll see how everything else plays out!

[Lantern7]

Good episode, lifted partially by Javicia Leslie's willingness to go ham. May her next role be a fruitful one. Of course, we might see Red Death again since she's in ARGUS custody. Apparently, wiping her out because she was an anomaly wasn't in the plan. Just lots of running, ending with a Ryan vs. Ryan battle. We're never going to find out why "our" Ryan went missing, are we?

When RD was screaming about being judge, jury and executioner, did anyone else flashback to Captain Barnes in Gotham? His deliver was better, mostly because he was shoving a dude through a wall before letting hi plunge to his death. Good times.

On 3/9/2023 at 10:59 AM, KittenPokerCheater said:

Yay!  Mark is still alive.

I'm rooting for him to die. Is this how fans felt with "Team Broken Arrow" near the end of Arrow's run? Honestly, the guy is a zero.

How are we spelling alt-Cait's name? Of course she'd reveal Iris is pregnant. It's the last season . . . . I'm just going to let that slide.

[bettername2come]

I'm glad real Ryan is safe and badass and having monthly brunch with Kara, Alex and Nia (they've never once interacted with her onscreen, right?). I feel like Kara would have already invited Iris to brunch. C'mon, they fought Nazis together, she sang at your wedding, y'all need to be brunch buds. 

Wait, now we're saying this world's Africa looks like the Vancouver woods? I thought they only used that for alternate worlds with different climates. I thought he was going to Lian Yu. 

[TV Anonymous]

Why is the vegetation in the Serengeti typical of temperate forest rather than tropical savanna?