The Flash 9x4 : The Mask of the Red Death Part One review

 

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

The first of a two part episode of The Flash has come and gone and with it we got a whole bunch of information about the Red Death and the details of an impending war that is quickly going to be upon Team Flash. The episode opens up as we see the Cosmic Threadmill nearing completion. Chillblaine has been working on it and is just putting the finishing touches on it when the Red Death arrives. Seeing Ryan Wilder in this suit has been throwing me for a loop all week and the more this episode went on the more I kind of liked it. We're soon with Barry and Iris who each have their own things to work out right now. Iris is in contact with Luke Fox about Ryan Wilder and the Wayne-Tech weapons while The Flash has a bigger fight on his hands in the form of the Red Death itself as the two finally come face to face in the middle of a crowded square area. It clears out which leads to a face off but when yet another Rogue resurfaces he uses his powers on The Flash to temporarily take him out of the fight just long enough for the Red Death to unleash a giant wave of energy throughout Central City basically leaving the city in total darkness with power going out in Iris and Barry's place, Joe and Cecil's home and even Star Labs. The Flash doesn't have time to recover however as he is captured by the Red Death and taken back to his lair where the Cosmic Threadmill awaits..

So The Flash is captured and basically told by the Red Death that it is NOT the new avatar for the Negative Speedforce. It removes it's helmet and there's no head which was an insanely trippy moment. It turns out that Ryan Wilder is able to remotely control her suit which just so happens to come in handy when she turns up at Iris's apartment at first offering her help. Iris surprisingly almost right away knows that Ryan is up to no good and it is here where we get a very loose origin of her as the Red Death. This version of Ryan Wilder is from a different timeline where The Flash is the villain. There was no Batman in this timeline instead she was adopted by the Wayne family and saw them murdered in front of her. In short she became the Batman of this timeline (Batwoman) and vowed to make Gotham a better place. That is until The Flash turned to the dark side which led to Ryan basically mining The Flash's suit for it's data as she made armor of her own and gained artificial speed. It does explain why she needs The Flash to return to her own timeline as only a Speedster with true speed can use the Cosmic Threadmill. 

The episode draws to a close as we learn of Iris's fate in Ryan's timeline. She was killed in an accident by Ryan as she was being beaten down by The Flash and his army of Rogues. Her and Iris were actually good friends and in every timeline Ryan says Iris is Barry's Lightning Rod which is why she is here to try and talk sense into her to try and bring her to her timeline so she can try and convince The Flash to stop destroying her city. It is a sort of tragic backstory but Ryan still has pretty evil intentions and calls her suit to Iris's apartment leading to what was really a cool suit up scene as the armor of the Red Death suit fuses onto her body. Iris is then taken like The Flash to where the Cosmic Threadmill awaits and it is here where the big blow off of the episode takes place. The Flash agrees to use the device as long as Iris isn't harmed. He begins the process but ultimately it turns out to be Chillblaine who sacrifices himself by not only stopping the machine and destroying it in the process but he ends up losing his life to the Red Death Army. This was supposed to be a great scene I'm sure but having never been a fan of his character it did nothing for me unfortunately. Everyone is soon back at Star Labs with The Red Death now having no way of getting back home just what comes next?? well it is an all out declaration of war from the Red Death as the words ''To be continued'' flash (pun intended) on the screen. That's how the episode ends and honestly while I did like this one something felt a bit off to me. The Red Death's origin did fit well with Ryan Wilder but I was hoping we would get a proper origin but it was not meant to be. Also the Red Death was very hard to understand here. Not sure if it was just me but some of the words were really hard to understand which did hinder my experience. As for everything else it was a solid episode of The Flash which will hopefully lead to good closing arc of this two parter in next weeks episode. Until then Team Flash!

★★★