It also suggests a better version of this season than we’re getting - one in which The Flash is a bit jauntier, looser, and adventurous in its storytelling. Compare that to Barry dropping in on Garrick as he fights the Trickster (played by Mark Hamill, with malevolent delight and a creepy new look), which is just plain fun. Too often this season, Barry has instead replicated other superhero stories by choosing grittiness as a shortcut to pathos. The brief foray into Earth-3 is the episode’s most memorable moment because it highlights what The Flash does best: Silver Age zaniness that leans into the theatrical nature of this story. He perfectly encapsulates the Golden Age Flash he’s been around the block a couple of times and has the hard-won wisdom to prove it.

This time he needs to go to another Earth to get it, Earth-3 to be exact.Ĭan I just say how much I am loving seeing the real Jay Garrick played by John Wesley Shipp? He has the right blend of fatherly wisdom and humor that I loved in the DC Comics version of the character. Barry often makes pretty myopic decisions fueled by overall good intentions, but he’s smart enough to know when he really needs to ask for help. Of course, getting this information isn’t easy. Alchemy and Savitar by learning more about them. Most of the episode concerns Barry dealing with the threat of Dr. “The Present” may lack cohesion, but it does illuminate how the nature of time and our desire to move beyond its constraints shape us. What was up with that weird, vaguely Orientalist opening sequence showing Julian four years prior finding the elusive philosopher’s stone in India that we learn is the same one Dr. We’re bouncing around a few plotlines when only half of them seem to work. A major problem is that “The Present” is splintered. The action sequences aren’t as thrilling as they should be. Uncovered truths don’t feel that revelatory. and Wally do when they realize he’s faster than Barry was at the same point in his training. I especially liked the celebratory dance H.R. On its own, this mid-season finale isn’t a great episode, despite its great moments. If you had the ability to see your own future, would you? Or is the possibility of such knowledge too dangerous? Barry has never traveled to the future. With the power to travel through time, Barry can rewrite mistakes or learn about them before they happen - and as Flashpoint has shown, such a decision can have unintended consequences. The Flash isn’t breaking new ground with this terrain, but the nature of Barry’s powers mean his sorrow carries a different weight. Superhero stories are so often built on tragedy: orphaned children who harden in the face of loss, loved ones killed by villains, friendships that wither in the face of one apocalyptic event too many. Mark Hamill as The Trickster, John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick.

Watch flash season 3 episode 9