The Flash 8x20 : Negative (2) review

 

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

The eight season of The Flash has come to a close and with it we got the final showdown between The Flash and Reverse Flash, the return of a loved one and a look at what's coming down the track. The episode begins right where last weeks ended as The Reverse Flash is re-born. With Iris dead the anger, frustration and sheer hatred he feels for Thawne comes to fruition even more here as he begins to use his lightning on him with a fierce look on his face. Barry's kids Nora and Bart show up and tell him to stop that by doing this it'll make him no better than Reverse Flash. Barry stops but Thawne promises to kill everyone that Barry loves including his children. We're soon back at Star Labs as after talking with Bart and Nora we learn that this version of Thawne is the last in existence which was quite shocking truthfully. He's never truly gone but after this episode well he very well might be gone for good. But more on that later. 

At Star Labs and Barry comes up with the idea of going into the Negative Speedforce but he can't access it alone. He needs the help of a Speedster fueled by Negative Speedforce. Insteps Meena who as we know has Negative Speedforce powers via her connection with the machine she built. The Flash follows Meena to her lab as she is intent on destroying the machine which Flash stops her from doing. He does however suggests to her that she once again power up via the machine and transfer her Negative Speed into him like she did with Eobard Thawne in last weeks episode. The process is soon underway and it's successful leading to Barry being transported into the Negative Speedforce. Once inside he sees Thawne who is being powered up by the Negative Forces who like last week tell Barry just why they're doing what they're doing. By severing Thawne's link to the Negative Speedforce he has overthrown their balance which in turn has led to all of this happening. It's a really solid reason in my opinion and one that does make sense, infact it makes a lot more sense than anything they've done with over arching villains since at least The Thinker at least in my opinion anyway. As Barry is in the Negative Speedforce we learn just what happened to Iris after her body disappeared last week. It turns out that she has re-appeared inside of the Time Stone given to her dad Joe by Damien Dhark. And the man himself is also inside of the Time Stone as Iris comes face to face with Dhark who tells her that the only way to get out of there is to push pass her limits and reignite her connection to The Flash / Barry. Iris is successful in doing this and returns back to the land of the living and breathing. It was nice to see Damien Dhark again as his character has really grown on me over the years but that being said this didn't feel really important or special. The Time Stone being given to Joe earlier in the season was a clear indicator that something was going to happen and it did and y'know it was fine but overall it just felt rushed. It could've done with more time being developed inside of the Time Stone at least when it comes to Iris. 

The episode and season draws to a close as the Reverse Flash arrives back in Central City sporting an entirely new black suit and now he has the power of all the Negative Forces surging within him. He begins to cause havoc in the city and it's not long before the final showdown between Flash, Impulse, XS and Fast-Track is underway. Of course they're easily overpowered at first thanks to Thawne's Force powers as it's clear that The Flash needs more to stop his arch nemesis. But before I talk about the final encounter I have to talk about how the regular Forces return and it is thanks to none other than Cecil (Surprise, surprise) we learn that she got powered up because of the Forces and now she has to use her power to re-power the Forces to which she does by putting on the mask of Psyche. She is successful as you'd imagine and in turn this leads to the return of the Forces who show up to help The Flash just in the nick of time giving him a much needed power boost. The fight between The Flash and Reverse Flash is a giant battle throughout the city which is in a rough state as it is. Iris is brought to The Flash to stop the fighting which in turn leads to Flash sitting down and beginning to meditate just like he did earlier in the season. Thawne powers up once more and looks set to kill The Flash but his lightning just goes straight through him doing no harm. The Flash harnesses all of his power and not only stops Thawne but causes him to evaporate out of time and existence. And that's it, Reverse Flash is defeated and the regular Forces are back. Team Flash has won again and to be honest I both liked and didn't like this. I will say it was better than last seasons finale with Godspeed which turned into Star Wars with lightning sabers which was beyond awful. But this was just fine. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. The episode isn't over yet however as we're back with Chillblaine who we see had fallen asleep while Caitlin was inside of her chamber attempting to bring back Frost. The chamber has malfunctioned which leads to him shutting it off and opening the chamber. Someone is inside and you hear Caitlin / Frost's voice but it's learn that this is someone new or at least nothing like the Frost / Caitlin we knew. This was a somewhat interesting narrative point for season 9. The episode does end with Iris and Barry who are finally together again at their place. They talk about what happens next and how the Negative Speedforce will have to choose a new avatar now. As they say this we see images of a blue like substance in a lab, could this be Cobalt Blue? Max Mercury?? or someone else?? either way this is the big deal going forward as far as I'm concerned and not the Caitlin stuff. This episode was fine. For a finale it was a bit disappointing that being said the Flash and Reverse Flash stuff was fantastic the rest just fell flat for me and sadly was quite boring which is a shame. 

Season 8 of The Flash is in the bag. Man 8 years. What a ride with so many ups and downs. So just how was the season overall?? I'd say it was solid. A lot better than season 7 that's for sure and possibly my favorite overall season since 4 which is saying a lot about this shows decline over the years. Season 8 started off in a huge way with the Armageddon crossover which for the most part was good to great. After that things took a bit of a dip only to pick up again when Deathstorm arrived only to be beaten by Frost who in turn was killed off only for Caitlin wanting to bring her back which still annoys me to no end. Once Deathstorm was defeated the season really hit it's highest point with The Reverse Flash and Negative Forces story which as a whole I did like a lot. The Reverse Flash vs The Flash will never get old to me as those two are always meant to be opposed and on opposite sides. So as a whole season 8 of The Flash wasn't bad as there was some truly great stuff here but just not enough to make it a truly great season. Season 9 will premiere in early January of 2023 so I now look forward to that!

Episode ★★★

Season overall★★★