What I’m Watching: The Flash

The Flash: Season 3, Episode 16 “Into the Speed Force” (B)

This episode was markedly better than the last time our main speedster got himself trapped in the speed force, though it’s still odd that it’s able to take the form of people in Barry’s life to truly torment him. I’m also not sure why a speedster needs to be trapped there, but it’s a convenient way for Jay to make a big sacrifice for now so that Savitar can eventually be put back to where he needs to be so that all worlds are safe. It was fun to see two characters who are now dead, Eddie Thawne and Leonard Snart, and though they were nowhere near as freaky as the time wraith that loves pursuing Barry and any others who mess with the timeline too much, they were nowhere near as warm as they used to be in real life. For those watching “Legends of Tomorrow,” the easy solution here would be to get a former main player from this show stuck in the speed force to help everyone out, but I assume we’ll get to that in time (or not, because time can be manipulated). Getting Wally back did seem pretty easy, and hooray for HR for figuring out that Savitar is a human being – who, I wonder? – and therefore venerable to pain if directed the right way. Barry moving out to give Iris some space is a sad development, and I can only hope that it will help things, allowing him to focus on taking on this big threat so that they can get back to run-of-the-mill metahuman criminals who can’t travel through time or dimensions.