Article contributed by Yakira Goldsberry
Season 6 of The Flash left a whole slew of mixed feelings in fans as the season ended abruptly, due to the sudden outbreak of COVID-19. With such a cliffhanger ending not at all typical like the endings of the other seasons, and with everything about the show changing post-crises, Season 6 was a rollercoaster of emotions, heartbreak, and betrayal. Hopefully, a lot of things will be answered in Season 7! Here are some highlights from Season 6.
Godspeed, Chester, Allegra, Nash and the Monitor
A lot of things happened all at once in the first few episodes of Season 6, some of which weren’t really explained. Like the fact that there were Godspeed replicas, so to speak, running around Central City, without the ability to speak. After the first episode, these faux speedsters never show up again, leaving fans questioning just what the writers of the show were planning to do with them, and whether or not they disappeared post-crisis.
With the fake Godspeeds comes a new member of the team, Chester P. Runk, an up and coming scientist with a quirky personality and more caffeine in his veins than blood. Chester also came with his own set of problems, creating black holes in the city with his mind. One of my favourite scenes involving Chester is when Barry runs into a black hole to reunite his mind with his body, and Cisco plays the song Flash by Queen. With Queen being one of my favourite artists, it was a glorious moment. I also just love Chester as a character, because not only does he add more diversity to the team, but he also has an endless amount of energy and enthusiasm, and an almost childlike wonder at all the things that the rest of the team consider to be normal.
Another great character that joins the team is Allegra Garcia, a meta who can not only see every kind of UV ray but can also control them. Cecile helps her get released from jail and her name cleared, and Allegra is hired by Iris as a reporter for the Central City Citizen. Allegra proves herself a vital member of the team over time, helping Iris as she digs into the criminal activities surrounding McCulloch Technologies.
And, of course, we mustn’t forget this season’s new Wells, Harrison ‘Nash’ Wells, who spends the entirety of the pre-Crisis episodes trying to find the Monitor and prove him to be a false god. Unlike Harry and Sherloque, Nash is an Indiana Jones-styled character, complete with tool belt, beige jacket and stylish hat. Over the course of the post-Crisis episodes, Nash’s and Allegra’s stories intertwine, as it’s revealed that Nash was a parental figure to his world’s Allegra, a girl who because of a mistake that Nash made.
At the end of the first episode, Into the Void, we see the return of the Monitor, who tells Barry and Iris that, instead of Crisis coming in 2024 like they believed, it’s coming in only a few months. Also, throughout the Crisis episodes, we learn more about who exactly the Monitor is, and exactly where he came from.
Bloodwork
In my personal opinion, Dr. Ramsey Rosso, a.k.a. Bloodwork, has been one of The Flash’s best bad guys, besides Eobard Thawne and Savatar. Ramsey is a doctor and friend of Caitlyn Snow, who loses his mother to HLH cancer. Because of this, and because he finds out that he’s dying of the same cancer, he becomes obsessed with finding a cure, ultimately turning himself into a twisted meta with the agenda to save the world by enslaving everyone to his will. Rosso also acts as a reflection of Barry, as both are destined to die, but instead of searching for a way to stop his demise, Barry instead learns to embrace it, knowing his sacrifice will save everyone.
Another thing that makes Bloodwork so great is that he believes that what he’s doing is the right thing. Nothing gets in the way of his mission, including the Hippocratic Oath. Rosso throws everything aside for his grand vision, centering his entire life’s purpose on curing the world, even if that means destroying it. He thinks that his actions are correct, therefore making his ambitions seem almost believable. That is, if you didn’t have a problem with turning into one of his ‘blood brothers’, which is basically just a kind of zombie. It was almost disappointing that Rosso was caught too easily and then put on a back burner for the rest of the show, while Eva McCulloch became the new villain.
The Last Temptation of Barry Allen
Parts One and Two of The Last Temptation of Barry Allen are my two favorite episodes of the entire season. Not only because of the excellent writing and development of Bloodwork, but also because of the character arch that they put Barry Allen through. And maybe because I’m a fan of all things depressing and heart-wrenching.
Rosso infects Barry with his blood, getting inside Barry’s mind and offering him a future where he doesn’t have to die, and where he could have everything he wants—a life where he can have his daughter, Nora, and the ability to bring others back to life. Barry fights against these temptations with the speed force in the guise of his mother at his side, but then gives in when the speed force tells him that everything Rosso says is the truth. Barry can have that life, but it would only be a half life.
It was interesting seeing Barry fall into darkness, giving in to Rosso’s temptation and serving him as the Dark Flash. It gave Barry a more human-like aspect, instead of him fighting back the temptation and moving on like he usually does. Of course, in the end, Barry beats back Rosso’s influence and he is able to defeat and capture Rosso, where he is then put taken to Argus. Which then leads into the more frustrating problem of Crisis.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
In the big crossover event, so many things happen that it would take me all day to talk about, but there are some things that we can’t ignore, like that fact that Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow dies in order to save Kara and Barry’s lives. However, despite his sacrifice, Barry must still die in order to save the multiverse. Throughout the first two episodes, the tension is high as the heroes travel from one earth to another, collecting together the Paragons that must stand against the Anti-Monitor.
Barry and Black Lighting fight together to destroy the Anti-Monitor’s anti-matter cannon that’s eating away at the multiverse, and they find out that Barry Allen of Earth-90 is powering the machine. Barry of Earth-1 tries to sacrifice himself, just like he was preparing himself for all this time, but Earth-90 Barry stops him, instead sacrificing himself so that Earth-1 Barry can live out the rest of his days. It was a sad and poignant moment, especially for those who have watched the original 90’s Flash TV show. Personally, to me, it kind of felt like they were selling Barry’s character short. After all, they had been leading up to this moment for so long, and the show prepared the viewers for the death of the protagonist, only for someone else to take his place. It made everything feel a bit disjointed afterwards.
But, moving on from that moment, it turns out that Earth-90 Barry’s sacrifice is too late, and the Paragons are sent to the Vanishing Point by Pariah (Nash) as the last surviving members of the multiverse. And in complete Lex Luther fashion, he uses the Book of Destiny to make himself replace Earth-96’s Clark Kent as the Paragon of Truth.
Long story short, the Paragons end up getting stuck in the Vanishing Point, with Barry missing. He comes back several months later, having been inside the speed force looking for a way to escape all this time. Oliver comes back as the Spectre and tells Barry that the only way for them to escape and create a new earth is if Barry takes all of the Paragons into the speed force.
Everything comes to a head when the Paragons converge in the Anti-Monitor’s world and finally defeat him, using their joint gifts to create a new world, called Earth Prime. Central City, National City and Gotham City are now all on one earth, with other iconic places such as Gorilla City.
Eva McCulloch
After Crisis, Iris continues to chase down Mr. Carver, the owner of McCulloch Technologies, hoping to expose him in trafficking and using metas. Everything looks like Mr. Carver is going to be the new bad gut with Bloodwork locked up at Argus. That is, until we meet Eva McCulloch, who’s trapped inside her own mirror. Or is she? Piece by piece her plan is revealed—she wants to take revenge on Carver, and nothing can stop her. At first, she tries to tell the Flash that they’re on the same side, but Barry won’t listen because of events I talk about below. And right when it seems like the Flash and his team, and Eva are going at it head-to-head, the season ends with nineteen episodes instead of twenty-six as they usually do.
I’m not really sure how I feel about Eva. She starts out wanting only revenge on her husband who used and sold her tech as his own, but her agenda slowly shifts over time to ‘wanting to save the world’. She can’t really be classified as a hero, but I wouldn’t exactly call her a villain either.
Mirror-Iris
Right from the start of Post-Crisis, Iris is pulled into the mirror at McCulloch Technologies and when she finds her way out, it seems that everything is fine. Except, it’s not. Instead, a fake version of Iris is running around Central City at the beck and call of Eva. And all this time, Barry thinks that Mirror-Iris is the real Iris, while all of the viewers quickly find out that they are not one and the same.
It was almost painful to watch Barry feeling like something was different about Iris, but then not trusting his instincts and shrugging it off as Iris growing as a person. Almost every episode that Barry feels something off, I just wanted to yell at the screen, “Trust your instincts, Barry!!”
He doesn’t learn that Mirror-Iris isn’t really his wife until she kicks him out in a very heartbreaking scene. A lot of Barry and Iris’s relationship was heartbreaking in the last few episodes, as Mirror-Iris longs to have a real life and just wants to live. Still, she and the mirror versions of Kamilla and Singh free Eva, resulting in Mirror-Iris’s death, and giving us fans an equally heartrending scene as Barry holds the dying replica of his wife in his arms, then makes a promise to his real wife that no matter what, he will get her out.
There were a lot of other points involved in Season 6 of The Flash, like Ralph’s search and complicated relationship with Sue Dearbon and the sad new backstory for Hartley Rathaway, a.k.a. the Pied Piper, as well as Nash post-Crisis being connected to all the other Wells—including Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. Reverse Flash, but as from what I’ve seen of the previews of Season 7, it looks to be mostly centered on Barry’s attempt to stop Eva and save Iris from the mirror, I thought it best to point out the biggest highlights leading up to what I hope will become another epic season of The Flash.
Season 6 really had its ups and downs, with most of post-Crisis feeling like a different season altogether and someone disjointed from pre-Crisis, but overall, it was a heart-stopping tale of love and sacrifice.
I hope that in this upcoming season, the faux speedsters, the issue of Bloodwork, the promise of baby Nora, and the problem of Ralph and Sue are finally resolved.
