The Flash 8x4 : Armageddon, Part four review

 

            Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it.

After only a so-so episode last week that ended with a wild reveal can this weeks episode of The Flash and the fourth part in it's Armageddon crossover be better?? well immediately the episode begins in big way as we see everyone gathering before Barry arrived to spoil the party which we saw at the end of last week. We see Ryan talking to Iris and the others and she lets slip that her and Sophie are not only married in this timeline / future but they're considering either having a baby or adopting. With the teasing of those two getting together over on Batwoman this really didn't surprise me all that much. We also learn here that Alegra has been away from Central City living in London but with a job offer in Gotham she is considering a return. Barry soon enters the room and like we saw last week everybody turns against him. He says that he will prove that he is The Flash and uses his ring to put on his suit but his suit is actually that of the Reverse Flash. Eobard Thawne is The Flash of this timeline and we soon see that as he arrives in what would usually be Barry's Flash outfit. This was a pretty surreal moment to be honest. Seeing both Barry and Eobard Thawne in each others suits and thus becoming that identity was a great moment in this show's history. A fight soon ends up breaking out between both hero and villain, Barry ends up getting beat pretty badly here by Team Flash including Alegra who says that he killed or at least had a hand in killing Ray Palmer, Nate, Sara and even Cisco?? Barry soon manages to escape, he arrives in a wide open area with Iris who he managed to take with him. He tries to once again tell her who he is and what is really happening, he even calls her his lightning rod like in the past but ultimately he gets cut off by Eobard who soon arrives on the scene. He gets Iris out of there but then ends up revealing everything to Barry..

Eobard has been the cause of everything. He not only killed Joe but he has worn the face of Barry on multiple occasions most notably on points where The Flash was destroying Central City which made him out to be insane and dangerous. He was also behind bringing Despero to challenge Barry which in turn allowed him to not only give up most of his speed to Black Lightning to prevent any future destruction. But the most important thing of all that Eobard mentions is that what he has created is like Flashpoint. But this version is a Reverse-Flashpoint and it is setting more and more minute by minute with it ending at midnight. All of this happened because Eobard says that he did the impossible. He killed a young Barry which caused all of this to happen. He soon rushes off leaving Barry behind and some time passes. We soon see Barry trying to disguise himself from people, he hears something on the news about none other than Damien Darhk who we learn not only has been working with the Reverse Flash (Barry) of this timeline but he aided him in killing Ray Palmer and seemingly Cisco. Barry ends up going to see Damien Darhk and after some ''acting'' of him pretending to be Eobard Thawne the two agree to work together to find a way to restore the timeline after Barry informed Damien that The Flash ran back in time and changed everything to fit his own image. This means that Nora Darhk is dead in this timeline but alive in the original one. After an attempt to retrieve some tech from Star Labs where we see Alex, Ryan Choi and the others Damien figures everything out himself as Barry shows some restraint in killing The Flash's team. Barry ends up coming clean to Damien and after looking into the original timeline with his time stone Darhk agrees to help Barry get back to his timeline in order to not only restore the proper timeline but to also let Nora live. There's only one problem however, Barry has got to reach mach 20 speed and the only way to do this is to run around the entire Earth which will cause the Armageddon event to occur. Can Barry go through with it and will he get back to his Iris and the rest of his team and family??

The episode draws to a close as the plan gets put into motion by Damien Darhk and The Flash. But first Barry goes to see Iris before he attempts to run around the Earth. This time she seems to believe him more after him earlier telling her that she is his lightning rod. She isn't entirely convinced however and lets him go, she even shoots Eobard in the back with a weapon that stops him right in his tracks. Barry runs back to Darhk's location and with some tech equipped to make him run faster he sets off leaving Damien behind to face off against both Killer Frost and Chillblaine. The Reverse Flash is soon seen rushing around the Earth leaving destruction and chaos in his wake. He is soon joined by Eobard as The Flash attempts to catch up with his arch nemesis. With the power of Iris and love at his side Barry ends up running fast enough to the point of mach 20 where we see him enter a portal that had opened. We're back in Central City 2031 where we see Despero interrogating Cecil. She doesn't know where The Flash is she says as all of Team Flash lay across from her with blood coming from each of their noses. A burst of energy soon enters the speed lab turning everything from dark to bright in an instant. Barry is back and he has restored the timeline to it's originality. He confronts Despero who tells him that although he might have saved the future he will have to go to 2031 himself to decide what happens next. Barry soon ends up meeting everyone again and even phones Joe as he is overcome with emotion of having everything back to normal..for now that is. The episode ends as Reverse Flash enters the time vault saying that nobody will use time against him. He waves his hand over the control panel for Gideon and says that he will use this against them as his eyes glow red with anger and that's how the episode ends. This was a roller coaster of an episode let me tell you that. The only thing that really brought it down was the sub plot of Alegra and Chester that while not truly terrible just disrupted the flow and took the focus of Barry and Eobard's story just a little bit more than it needed to. Nevertheless this was a great episode and was like something exactly out of the comics. Next week is the final part of the Armageddon crossover event and who knows how it'll go down but I will be here to cover it. Until then Barry it's good to have the original timeline back!

★★★★