“He could stop you in your tracks anytime, anywhere. That’s his power. It’s like he’s the opposite of the Speed Force. He’s the Still Force.” – Cisco Ramone
The Flash takes a backseat with an episode that focuses on Chester and Cisco. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
At this point, time loop episodes have been done to death. Nearly every sci-fi and superhero show does them at some point, including neighboring Arrowverse show Legends Of Tomorrow. This show has even done a version of one in the past, where Nora kept reversing time in hopes of stopping Cicada from killing a member of Team Flash. Knowing all of this, I wasn’t really looking forward to this episode, worrying that it would be simply filler for the season. Though it wasn’t necessarily a great episode (and arguably still filler), it did manage to avoid retreading old ground.
I say avoid retreading old ground, because most of the episode didn’t involve a time loop. In fact, it only happened once. Yes, both Chester and Cisco were transported back to 1998, but the episode didn’t dwell on having them repeat the day over and over again. Most of the episode was devoted to exploring Chester’s past, as he attempted to find out why his Dad didn’t care for him, while also simultaneously attempting to find out who caused the time travel. While I appreciate the focus on Chester’s character, it did feel quite weird to have an episode like this so early in his time on the show. This type of episode would’ve work better later on in the season.
Of course, the main purpose of the episode was introducing the third and final new force, the Still Force (which got named along with the other forces at the end of the episode), wielded by Deon Owens. It’s arguably the most powerful of all the new forces, with it’s powers involving the control of time itself. This made way for some comedic moments with the team, as they all got to dress up from different decades (Iris from the 70s, Frost from the 60s, Joe from the 40s). With that said, I was a little disappointed that yet again, Team Flash is using pep talks to beat the villain (this time coming from Chester). It seems like every other episode this is happening, and I honestly hope the show isn’t going to continue with this trend moving forward.
Outside of the time loop, the rest of the episode focused on Iris getting close to “Nora” (really the Speed Force). I honestly thought this part of the episode was better handled than everything else. The acting was great, and I thought it was cool that Iris is starting to build a connection with her. I’m also glad that we’re finally getting more Speed Force stuff in general. After three entire seasons of straying away from speedster villains, the writers often forget how important the Speed Force is to Barry’s store. Side note, does anybody else think that “Nora” is acting very strange?
IN SUMMARY:
I thought the Chester and Cisco story was a good way to showcase their growing friendship, but for the most part it didn’t do too much for me. It didn’t help that they defeated yet another villain with a pep talk either. I did appreciate the attempt at giving Chester some spotlight though. I thought the Speed Force stuff was the best part of the episode, and I am very excited to see where the story goes from here.
Rating: 6.5/10
Walk The Multiverse 