The Flash 9x13 : A New World, Part Four review

 

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

This is it folks. The final episode of The Flash. The final race for the Scarlet Speedster as he faces one of his toughest challenges to date. The episode opens up with some returning faces in the form of Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) Godspeed (August Heart) Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) and finally Savitar (Future Barry Allen / Flash) they've all been brought together by none other than Eddie Thawne who is now in full on Cobalt Blue mode. So much so that he finally has a really cool looking very comic accurate suit. He has brought them all together in his ultimate plan to kill The Flash once and for all. While this was a cool moment seeing all previous Speedster villains come together it just fell flat for me. Not to mention how they're treated later which really not only hurt their overall characters but annoyed me to no end. We're soon back at the hospital where Iris still hasn't given birth to baby Nora yet. Barry is here though but they end up getting interrupted by Cobalt Blue who says his mission is to kill The Flash and end his bloodline. A fight between Flash and Cobalt Blue begins and ends almost instantly as they two seem evenly matched. The fight comes to a stop as the rest of Team Flash shows up which includes Cecil, Chillblaine and Khione. Cobalt Blue has his own team however and it's a Legion of Speedsters as Zoom, Savitar, Reverse Flash and Godspeed all appear out of portals. 

As you'd expect a giant fight takes place with each member of opposing sides facing off against each other. And it's here where my major problems with this episode take place. The villains are defeated far too easily by Team Flash. Cecil practically wipes the floor with Godspeed while Zoom who at one point way back in season 2 was genuinely terrifying is reduced to nothing by Chillblaine and Khione. Savitar ends up getting killed by Nora (XS) which was a really cool throwback to how Iris was to be murdered in season 3 by the real god of speed but really all of this just didn't sit well with me. As for Reverse Flash well he's at Star Labs and says he will be the one to kill The Flash not Cobalt Blue. He ends up getting defeated by Alegra who uses her powers to blast him out of the picture quite literally. It all doesn't matter anyways as when Cobalt Blue loses his power thanks to a returning Jay Garrick he just ups and absorbs all the other speedsters which makes them all totally pointless and basically a plot device. Speaking of Cobalt Blue he ends up going inside of the Negative Speedforce and with The Flash not far behind him things get pretty brutal as the two fight with Flash quite literally being almost beaten to a pulp. 

The episode and series comes to a close as the fight between Barry and Eddie comes to an end when Barry uses his words to stop Eddie. It does make sense however as if Eddie continued doing what he was doing the Negative Speedforce would've just sucked him away out of existence like it did Thawne last season. Eddie sees the error of his ways and takes of the Blue Crystal stomping on it once it hits the ground. This doesn't mean Barry and Eddie are on the same side or anything as the two will never truly be friends or allies. Barry disappears back to his own time leaving Eddie behind with practically nothing and as it's the last time we see him I wish he could've gotten some sort of conclusion but alas no. As for Barry he shows up right in time for Iris to give birth as Nora is very close to being born. Some time passes before that as finally she is born. Barry and Iris are now parents. A new chapter begins right in this moment as back at Star Labs Chester informs the rest of Team Flash that everything is back to normal. Well as normal as can be. Khione I haven't mentioned her much this episode. Well turns out her time on this plane of existence has come to a close and now that the Negative Speedforce is no more thanks to the destruction of the Blue Crystal she has to ascend and become one with the natural order of things. Everyone gathers at Star Labs to see Khione off and she ascends in a giant ball of fire, wind and other elements. She failed to mention that as she left Caitlin's body that Caitlin would just up and return to the land of the living. Everyone immediately embraces Caitlin as she is now back and ready to continue right where she left off. But right now there's a party happening and it's to celebrate the birth of baby Nora. At the party and everyone is overcome with joy and sheer excitement. The most though is Joe who is now a grandpa. At the hospital he even sings to baby Nora in what was really a sweet scene as when he sings we get a whole montage of scenes between Barry and Iris from beginning to their end now with Nora being born. Joe hasn't something else in store at the party though and it is the form of a proposal. He proposes to Cecil who immediately accepts. That's basically a wrap on things except for one final scene once the title card appears on screen. Barry Allen now a father is in full on father mode as he picks up Nora and begins to speak to her. He talks about the past about how his friend Oliver Queen told him that the lightning chose him. Well now he says it's time he gave back and the best way to move forward is to share his gift with others. So we see The Flash running before letting off three distinctive forms of lightning. He then names three people. Avery Ho, Jess Chambers and finally Max Mercury. All names from the comics who will now inherit the Speedforce and become fully fledged Speedsters in their own right. The episode and series ends with The Flash running towards the screen looking forward to what the future holds and honestly this was a perfect ending in my opinion. The second half of this episode really was so much better than the first half. What we're left with though is a bit of jumbled series finale that should've been something truly epic. With that being said I did enjoy my time here just not as much as I could and should've. The previous villain Speedsters being uses as plot armor and devices was stupid. They were beaten far too easily at least in my opinion. Cobalt Blue's story arc while good and interesting was just far too rushed resulting in a bit of a half baked final encounter that while made sense should've been way more. Not quite the goodbye The Flash deserved but the ending was really something special that's for sure. 

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen. 9 years of The Flash. I got into writing these reviews at the beginning of season 4 and never looked back. I've had both a blast and a not so good time with this show. It has filled me with joy and pride and angered me to no end. That being said I love this show and all of it's faults and quirks. I will never forget Harrison Wells being revealed to be the Reverse Flash back in season 1. Infact that entire first season really was something special. Of course that trend in form wouldn't last as for my money this show went downhill once season 5 came. After that the quality dipped up and down time and time again. There was some fantastic villains throughout this shows run including Zoom, Savitar and even Bloodwork but the real big bad has got to be the Reverse Flash. His entire story arc with Barry Allen / The Flash was a fantastic journey to watch unfold. It mirrored the comics perfectly at points as their relationship was my favorite throughout. When it came to side characters we got some great ones too including Cisco Ramon who quite frequently stole the show in the earlier seasons. Also along for the ride was Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost and while her story did become a bit messy her character and overall arcs were fairly strong. The number of different Harrison (Harry) Wells was fascinating with a new variant showing up for the first five seasons or so. Honestly I could spend all day talking about this show what it's meant to me and how I liked this and that. But I'm just going to end this by saying a few final thoughts on season 9. It was a flop simple as that really. Unfortunately it pains to even say but for a final season of The Flash it was full of so much filler and pointless stuff. I wish we could've gotten a proper celebration of The Flash but it wasn't meant to be. Out of the 13 episodes I reckon around 3-4 episodes were really good with one episode that being episode 10 being one of the best of all time so they had it in them to make something special but nope. So with everything being said and done I just would like to thank Grant Gustin for bringing both Barry Allen and The Flash to life in such an amazing way. He portrayed this character in such a unique way that for me he is the definitive Flash. 9 years of running it's time to rest now Flash and let others do the running. Thank you for the memories and ultimately thanks to everyone who made this show possible. 

Episode - ★★★

Season overall - ★★