INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘The Flash’: Let’s Do The Speed Force Again

By Daniel Ketchum
Published on: 10:02 PST, Mar 12, 2017

As noted by ComicBook, The Flash in this Tuesday’s episode will be returning to the speed force again. As with last year’s Kevin Smith directed episode “The Runaway Dinosaur,” this week we will see Flash returning to the mysterious realm that provides him – and other speedsters in the DC universe – with their superspeed. But unlike last time, this will be less a sentimental journey down memory lane and more of a horror movie from which Barry has to rescue Wally.

Last Week on The Flash

As seen in last week’s episode of The Flash, Wally West – Barry Allen’s friend, protégé and almost brother-in-law – got sucked into the speed force, allowing the evil Savitar to escape in the process. While the Flash and crew will certainly have to spend the remainder of the season dealing with Savitar himself, this episode looks to be all about Barry finding Wally and bringing him back to Star Labs.

While not entirely certain, the situation Wally finds himself in seems to match up with one of Savitar’s dire predictions for team Flash, specifically the one in which he said one member of the team would suffer a “fate worse than death.” Being condemned to an eternity in a hellish version of the speed force would seem to qualify.

What the Trailer Tells Us

In the trailer for the upcoming episode – entitled Into the Speed Force – it looks fairly clear that Barry isn’t going to wait around in his effort to get Wally back. Instead, it seems to be the main plot point of the episode. Like last time, Barry is going to enter the speed force with the assistance of Cisco/Vibe.

We see Barry assuring Iris that he’s going to get Wally back no matter what, which is just what you would expect. We then see an image of Barry inside the speed force staring into what at first looks like a hospital room where Wally is, in turn, staring at something we can’t see.

But it’s obvious from a closer examination that it’s actually a morgue, and this must mean Wally is staring at a body. Whose body this is remains an open question. It could be the body of his deceased mother – who Savitar impersonated last week – his sister Iris who – in this imaginary realm – he failed to save or even his own body.

Ghosts from Barry’s Past

But most of the scenes in the trailer for this upcoming episode of The Flash revolved around ghosts from Barry Allen’s past. And unlike the more positive ghosts he encountered last year when he visited the speed force, these ghosts seem to represent Barry Allen’s failures as a superhero and a person.

For instance, we see Eddie Thawne returning to the series to apparently chastise Barry for his failings. This would be a real gut punch for Barry since he already blamed himself for the fact that Eddie died saving the Earth from the Reverse Flash, and yet Barry got the credit and accolades for it. In fact, Eddie sarcastically says to Barry “ever the hero, huh Barry?”

In the same way, we see the original firestorm – Ronnie Raymond – returning to interact with Barry as well. Again, Barry blamed himself for the fact that Caitlin lost Ronnie – who died as a hero saving the city – while Barry himself survived the incident intact. The incredibly creepy scene in which a speed force version of Caitlin is singing to a baby she has never had – and that would have apparently been Ronnie Raymond’s if he hadn’t died – may be the most horror-movie-like seen we’ve ever had on an episode of The Flash.

Finally, we see Leonard Snart – a.k.a. Captain Cold – returning to The Flash in the speed force as well. Snart, in his snarling way, suggests that Barry is failing to learn his lesson. What that lesson might be isn’t entirely clear, but it probably has something to do with messing around with a timeline.

[Featured Image by The CW]

Share this article: ‘The Flash’: Let’s Do The Speed Force Again
DC Comics the flash
More from Inquisitr