“The Once and Future Flash†deals with Barry’s latest attempt in finding a way to save Iris from the murderous hands of Savitar, and this time, he plans to run to the year 2024 to find the one answer in which they all been searching; who is Savitar?
Barry has rarely had luck going through time, dread and despair certainly follow, but this time, things are a bit different.
When Barry arrives in Central City in 2024, things are drastically different right away. Top and Mirror Master are free to cause mayhem across a city which is in pretty bad shape. We later find out that the fallout of Barry failing to save Iris in that timeline wreaked havoc on everyone’s lives, and it all starts with that version of Barry.
To say he was dejected would be putting it lightly. That Flash not only failed to save Iris; the idea of losing her was so devastating that he then failed to make sure Joe would make it (something he promised to do in the current timeline). Killer Frost took Cisco’s hands, and now he has robo hands which rids him of his vibing powers and with all this, Barry failed to rid Central City of the various foes that continue to inhabit it.
It was fun seeing Mirror Master run around the city since I felt he was a neat character; although, we didn’t really get to see much of him or Top. Future Barry, on the other hand, looked and acted exactly as I would have imagined. The long emo depressed look. It’s not so much that it doesn’t make sense, just that it was disgustingly obvious exactly how he would look. There wasn’t really all that much to glean from his attitude, but future Cisco did a great job of further conveying the gravity of the situation. His tone and actions clearly showed the desperation the city was in, and the faint glimmer of hope that Barry gave him in saving their timeline as well.
I suppose the hope over to the future succeeded in its intentions for displaying the disastrous consequences of not saving Iris. Literally all of Team Flash, and Central City for that matter, would be in a terrible place. Ever since the show started down its Savitar storyline, things have been getting darker and darker, and this episode had little in the way of comedic relief.
The Savitar storyline has drastically changed this show. The entire tone of the show has shifted in a way that may turn fans off, but I feel it might have been necessary to keep the show from being too similar week in and week out. This episode really places emphasis on that thought. It is dire and depressing, but it presents a clear jumping off point for Barry to finally know the true identity of Savitar and, hopefully, save Iris.
