The Flash kicks off its eighth season with a low-key start to “Armageddon”
The Atom drops in as a five-part crossover event begins
TV Reviews The Flash
We’ve known all along that “Armageddon” was not going to be an epic crossover event on the scale of “Crisis On Infinite Earths,” but it still comes as something of a surprise that the eighth(!) season of The Flash kicks off with such a laid-back episode. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as past crossovers have had a tendency to get overly hectic (and this one still might). For a show that often takes its pacing cues from its titular hero, it’s kind of refreshing to see things slow down for a change.
The cold open gives us a glimpse of what’s to come: Central City in flames ten years from now, and an alien we will come to know as Despero announcing that the Flash must die in order to prevent the end of the world as we know it. In the present, however, Barry and Caitlin have time to walk to Jitters and chat about their personal lives, even if their coffee time is briefly interrupted when the Flash has to run off and whisk everyone off two bullet trains before they collide. Caitlin has sent Frost off on a trip to get over Chillblaine, and she’s finally ready to start dating seven years after Ronnie Raymond’s death.
Barry and Iris still have baby fever, because the writers haven’t tired of finding ways to interrupt their attempts at procreation. This time it’s Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), in town for a tech conference and taking the West-Allens up on a long-ago offer to crash at their place. No longer a Legend of Tomorrow, Ray is in search of work-life balance, hoping to spend more time with wife Nora Darhk. (There are entirely too many Noras in the CW-verse, leaving me momentarily wondering if Ray was somehow married to either the Speed Force or the West-Allens’ future daughter.)
Chester hasn’t gotten the memo about Ray’s plans, and Team Flash’s new tech geek is way too excited about serving as Ray’s liaison to the conference. That includes setting up pitch meetings with Central City’s young tech hopefuls, a plan Ray shoots down, leaving Runk in a funk. Over at the Citizen, which has blossomed into a media empire including (of course) a podcast, Iris promotes Allegra to managing editor over the more experienced reporters on the team. Allegra doesn’t think she’s ready for it, and neither do the other members of Team Citizen, who ignore her directives and work on their own stories.
Just when you might be wondering if this entire episode is going to be about the members of Team Flash at their day jobs…here’s Barry Allen at his day job, investigating a high tech robbery at Mercury Labs. The thieves are quickly identified as the Royal Flush Gang, who haven’t been around for a while. It turns out this tech theft is part of a planned crypto heist, which also involves breaking a hacker out of Iron Heights. There’s a fun slowed-down sequence in which the Flash rearranges the members of the gang so that they end up attacking each other. Barry, you see, has leveled up.
In fact, everyone has leveled up. We know this because the phrase “leveled up” is used about a dozen times, just to make sure we all catch the theme of the episode. Allegra, it turns out, is ready for the task she’s been given, because she has the voice of the Citizen in her heart. Ray Palmer realizes he can be both a domestic partner and a tech genius, and even break out the Atom suit if he needs it, which it turns out he does.
That’s because “Armageddon, Part 1" does eventually get around to kicking off the promised event when Despero shows up at the tech expo to kill the Flash. This alien, played by Tony Curran, first appears as a sort of futuristic Scotsman and then as a ten-foot videogame demon. He is convinced that the Flash is responsible for the forthcoming Armageddon, but begrudgingly decides to postpone the speedster’s execution once Barry reveals both his good heart and his true identity. (It’s hard to believe that would still be a secret in 2031. It’s barely a secret now.)
For the most part, this is a likeable season premiere that serves as more of an overture than a full-fledged crossover kickoff. Then again, can you really call it a crossover when it’s entirely contained within episodes of The Flash? And when so many of the A-list characters are no longer with us (or at least not scheduled to appear)? The pandemic has certainly played a part in limiting the scope of the event, but it’s not as if trying to go bigger than “Crisis On Infinite Earths” was ever going to be a viable plan. Let’s see if The Flash can level up while scaling down.
Stray observations
- Someone needs to explain to the writers that you need five to make a royal flush, and they all have to be the same suit.
- If I were Barry, I would simply explain to Despero that my kids live in the 2040s, therefore the world can’t end in 2031. Of course, this can only mean there are some timeline shenanigans to come.
70 Comments
Is Flash going to be the villain of the story?Barry and Caitlin is a nice old school thing.
Ew, not Chillblaine. (Okay, if they put him in her past as a start to her dating, then…I suppose…that’s fine.)
And now the Kramer storyline. Let it die. Not here for her false empathy.
Allegra has a point, Iris. When you pass over better qualified people for your friend, that’s called cronyism.
The Royal Flush Gang! Batman: the Animated Series flashbacks.
You might have wanted to call ahead, Ray.
I’m guessing that the RFG is working for someone.
Allegra, they don’t respect you because they’re more experienced than you.
On a side note, I’m tired of this storyline. The “I’m the new boss, so everybody is going to ignore me and do their own thing” storyline. They did it when James became head of Catco, and now they’re doing it here. It makes sense here, but I’m still tired of it.
Most episodes have a theme, but please stop saying level up.
At last they’re acknowledging that Flash’s super speed trumps most abilities because you simply can’t react to him fast enough.
Good point, Allegra. Almost like the sort of thing that reporters with years of experience should already know, but the writers co-opt in order give you some authority over people who are already good at their jobs.
Hey, they’re using their powers in more than just a superficial way.
There’s the third eye…..Why is it brown?
If the Flash destroys the world in 10 years, then when are Nora and Bart coming from?
There’s no greater villain than a hero whose arrogance won’t allow them to think that they may be wrong.
Nitpick: The Royal Flush Gang weren’t in B:TAS, only Batman Beyond and Justice League.
I don’t think promoting someone who was with you when you only had three employees over new hires counts as cronyism. They may have more experience in general, but she has more experience at the Citizen.
Even if you think that the managing editor doesn’t have the experience for the job, no professional reporter is going to ignore their assignments given to them by that managing editor and report on whatever story they choose to.
I still haven’t watched the last I don’t even know how many episodes of last season and I’m not really feeling the need to catch up. That being said, damn it was good to see Ray again, and the writers did a good job both working him into the episode and giving him that scene where he talked through his emotions about no longer being a Legend since I gather Routh was rather put out about being asked to leave the show.I also did like how Barry resolved the immediate dilemma with Despero, any time a superhero doesn’t use punching to solve a problem is a-ok with me. Really my big question coming out of the episode is why the Citizen is doing copy editing on paper? Isn’t that all done on computers these days?Ps cheer up Ray, Nate can’t call because he’s currently stuck in the past.
You should at least watch the finale from last season. Lightning swords are cool.
Caitlin lamenting Frost’s poor taste in men was a bit rich, as Barry kind of politely pointed out Barry and Kramer have a weird vibe. Does she have a crush on him? Does he know this & is he flirting with her anyway? Am I misreading this?Ah sweet Ray and his disgusting green juice. Always good to see the big guy. Chester chose wisely in his choice of who to hero-worship
My takeaway from the Barry/Kramer scene (which feels weird to write, since one of my favorite streamers is named Barry Kramer) is that he was worried she’d be able to mimic his speed and figure out that he’s The Flash (since she’s one of the few people who doesn’t know yet), while she was offended at the thought that he might be anti-meta, despite that being her entire deal last season, right up until she realized she was one.
Until reading this, I had completely forgotten that she didn’t know Barry was The Flash. I just sort of assume any character who’s been in three or more episodes will know his secret identity.
Always good to see the Royal Flush Gang. And Despero. So many fond DCAU memories. Good to see Ray back as well; I hope they can keep him a part of the Beebo-verse. Barry Allen should’ve died in Crisis, but since he didn’t I hope they can keep the series going in a good direction.
Uh, is anyone else worried about Joe? Cecile had a reaction when Chester said about Ray that he was “dead to him” and Chester apologized. That combined with the fact that Joe was nowhere to be seen and I’m kind of worried.
I posted this in reply to someone else earlier, but it seems to have disappeared, so I’ll try again:
I was worried about Joe briefly too, but I think it’s more likely that Chester’s self-pity party was making her feel bad due to her ability, which made him feel bad, which made her feel worse, etc.
It was nice to see so much downtime. Nice, even keeled way to start the season. I’d argue it was the best season opener in a while.While I still question how the Citizen ballooned to being CNN big in less than a year while it wasessentially a blog, I CAN understand them having a successful podcast, given how easy it is for them to go viral.Flash actually being genuinely effective in superheroing was great to see. His “fight” against the Royal Flush Gang is exactly how much fights against someone like him should go, but obviously we wouldn’t have a show otherwise. The plot with Ray and Chester irked me. I know Chester was disappointed, but Ray was perfectly entitled to live the quiet life, even if naming the new venture after Chester’s dad was a nice touch.So, I would have to rewatch to make sure, but did Chester mention Joe, which caused Cecile to look sad and make him apologize? Did something happen to Joe? Jesse L. Martin was in the opening credits and I don’t remember reading anything about him leaving…
Chester referenced Ray looking at him like Chester “was dead to him” and then was horrified and apologized to Cecile. Yeah that seems like maybe something happened to Joe unless it is a fakeout
I feel like it’s gotta be a fakeout because otherwise Barry and Iris (and the whole team, honestly) would be absolutely devastated.
Well, it’s unclear how much time is meant to have elapsed between seasons.
You’d think that if something happened to Joe Iris would not be so cheery in this episode.
Chester seems emotionally stuck at age 13.
At least I can understand this Citizen maaaaybe being a competitor to CatCo. I’m wondering if the Chester/Cecile thing is a setup for Cecile’s arc this year.
I thought about that briefly too, but I think it’s more likely that his self-pity party was making her feel bad by proxy, which made him feel bad, which made her feel worse, etc.
When the citizen’s main competitions are a Daily Planet w/o lois, clark, perry white and Jimmy and a catco run by Kara Danvers, it’s pretty plausible they’d do well.
At this point I’m willing to believe that somebody in the writers’ room saw Supergirl declare Kara a Pulitzer Prize winner and decided Iris had to outdo that.
I know you are being hyperbolic but the Citizen is no where near CNN big.
Supergirl established that the Citizen is the #4 national news organization in the entire country.
The Flash fight was nice, but it was literally every scene Quicksilver is in in the X-Men movies. I’m glad they had one scene of the Flash operating like that, but i don’t think they can go to that well again.And Joe’s absence. I didn’t think I remembered something happening to him, then after that line I thought I just forgot that Joe died or something at the end of the season, but i guess I misremembered my forgetting or something and I have no idea what’s going on.
Ray certainly needs to live his own life. I felt with Chester, it was a little bit like a Star Wars fan in 1984 meeting Harrison Ford and setting up a “Han Solo” signing at a convention… that’s all you want to imagine of them, but they may want to be doing a different thing. Not that Chester was wrong, just he was faced with a reality that didn’t match what he had in his head.
(There are entirely too many Noras in the CW-verse, leaving me momentarily wondering if Ray was somehow married to either the Speed Force or the West-Allens’ future daughter.)Don’t forget Nora Fries who showed up in the Elseworlds crossover and in Batwoman.The episode was alright. The Royal Flush Gang was pretty disappointing but it’s always nice to see Brandon Routh again. It was a real mistake to let him go.
-Superman shirt rip for Sweet Ray-Ray!-LOL Barry knows how Dig feels.-Appreciate their commitment to godawful probability/gambling puns.-I always forget how much I like WestAllen when I can quiet the little voice in my head screaming “adopted siblings.”-And Barry’s general ability to just…have female friends without weird romantic tension. Hi Caitlin!
Barry’s general ability to just…have female friends without weird romantic tension. Hi Caitlin!Something I can’t un-see is that the show never has these kinds of scenes with Iris and Caitlin. In 8 seasons the show has never built a substantial Caitlin/Iris relationship where they can get coffee and just talk.
ok, that’s kind of weird for two characters who have been around since day 1.
Something that’s been pretty consistent is that, while Iris loves Barry, she’s never been wild about his friends. She largely ignores Caitlin, and always seemed kinda irritated by Cisco.
That’s definitely the vibe (no pun intended), and if so that’s just…weird isn’t it? Especially since Iris served as team leader when Barry was absent and still runs mission control. It’s an interesting quirk, but it’s not an “obvious” friction like how most of the drama on this show is on-the-nose obvious. Either the writers have unintentionally siloed Iris off over the years through bad writing or those rumours of friction between her and Danielle Panabaker has resulted in them having no scenes together.
It’s doubly weird when you consider that aside from maybe Felicity, Iris hasn’t really had any friends of her own on this show who weren’t connected to Team Flash. Not even for her bachelorette party!
My mind, when the cards people called their one member “ten”:
Me: “well it’s kinda silly that the Citizen seems to have ballooned up from a rinky-dink blog last season into an actual big paper/news site but I can buy it as long as they’re vague”Show: “we hired 3 reporters, an office manager, and an IT guy”Me: *facepalm*
The even more hilarious part is that the background showed WAY more than 5 non-Iris/Allegra workers there.
Many shows have different episodes written by different people. Between this ‘how many workers?’ continuity problem and the glaring “the world ends in 2031; in other news, my children pop by from 2049 every now and then for a chat” continuity problem, I can only conclude that Flash is leading the way by having different scenes, or even sometime individual scenes, written by different people, who only communicate through post-it-note summaries…
Hey, this was good! As overused as “levelled up” was in this episode, it does describe this season opener pretty well in relation to last year. Outside of COVID protocols becoming noticeably looser – more background extras, supporting cast – the cinematography seems a little stronger and the script avoids being overbearingly saccharine, instead settling for *just* moderately cringe-y. Even Iris got some good one-liners in. I’ll take it.Really glad they showed off Despero’s alien form. I like Tony Curran, but that costume screams “TV budget alien.” Is this the first time in an Arrowverse show where they’ve made the CG character resemble the actor doing the motion capture ala Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk? Did this incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang appear on the show before? I know in early Arrow season 1 there was a working class family that turned to crime that had the playing card motif on their masks, but I don’t recall another RFG appearance.
In Season 1, there was an episode (can’t remember which one) that opened with Barry capturing the Royal Flush Gang. They were all in masks, and he caught them so quickly, they didn’t have a chance to fight or speak; really just a cameo appearance.
Nobody ever went wrong casting Tony Curran in anything, but I do wish they’d given him some better dialogue. Despero is lumbered with being Mr. Exposition as well as being an Honorable Warrior, so he gets simplistic declarative statements and clichéd threats – which for an actor of Curran’s calibre is a bit of a waste.
First off, welcome back Scott! And Happy DAMMIT BARRY day to anyone who celebrates. Even if doing a drinking game around the use of “levelled up” in this episode would render you John Bonham-drunk, it was nice seeing Flash behave like the professional hero he should be at this point. And seeing Brandon Routh again was a welcome addition; hopefully this won’t end his involvement in the story.
But sweet Krampus on a crutch, watching this show take up Supergirl’s mantle for crimes against journalism was revolting. So Iris’ random-ass blog has its own office building and attracted experienced journalists, but Allegra gets the promotion? I wouldn’t blame Lindy Booth’s character if she quit on the goddamned spot. Also LOL WHO TURNS IN PHYSICAL PAPER DRAFTS.
I actually find the Citizen, uh, leveling up… kind of making sense? Iris has basically got an exclusive on the Flash beat, an inside track to interviews with metahumans and the police, and a rich benefactor in Sue Dibny (at least buying the building). It was actually way more ludicrous to me that Iris was running the whole operation for herself and complaining about “deadlines.”And having work in and around journalism/editorial companies, yeah, lesser-experienced friend of the publisher getting the promotion definitely tracks. Plus, as Allegra points out, managing and being a reporter are completely different jobs. And I’m assuming she printed out the stories and marked them up with red ink to make a more impactful point than just sending them edits in WordPress…
Besides, Allegra has worked for Iris for a couple of years, and predates everyone else at the Citizen.
After a season of Andrea yelling “I want clickbait, and I want it NOW!” at her Pulitzer Prize-winning staff members, while they say they want to do proper journalism, it was…interesting to see Allegra demanding in-depth reporting and her staff saying they wanted to write something that would sell. If they could trade places, everyone would be happy!
The thing is, though: not only were we told that each of these reporters were already experts in their fields, they had already been hired by the Citizen. So at the very least Iris did a shitty job vetting and/or interviewing them for these positions (on top of shunting them onto Allegra).
Iris asking after Nora Darhk without even pausing to acknowledge the *three* other Noras she could possibly be referring to was just perfect. I genuinely feel bad for non-Legends watchers (both in the general sense and in this particular instance).I’m mildly annoyed that the Citizen has, ahem, “leveled up” because it makes that scene with the whiteboard from Supergirl significantly less funny.I really did miss having sweet Ray-Ray around. The consensus is that Routh was just too expensive to hold on to, right? Nate’s sweet little “My Ray?” last week nearly broke my heart, I’m glad they still meet up when time travel allows.Despero popping up right after Stargirl used Eclipso vaguely reminds me of some show—JLU, I think?—where the writers were getting worried they were using too many DC villains with names that end in -o. We’ve already seen versions of Bizarro, Metallo, and Amazo, now we just need a Green Lantern show for Sinestro to show up!
Levelled-up. Could’ve made a drinking game out of that phrase.
Wait, thr… oh yes, there’s Pretend Barry’s Mom-Daughter and Actual Barry’s Mom. Although if we’re including dead Noras, aren’t there four? Current Future Nora and Past Future Nora?
There are 5 Noras
Barry’s motherSpeedforce Nora (not technically a Nora but often appears as her)Nora West-AllenNora FriesNora Darhk
There is also a Nora Allen doppelganger around (Jay Garrick’s wife Joan)
While I was glad to see the writers get away from the usual “He beat us and I’m not sure where he went, so we need to devise a plan that he can overcome the next five times we meet him until the final episode when we win by a fluke,” but if someone told me they had to kill me to save the world in ten years, my first question would be “What did I do to make that happen?” Not our Barry, though! No need to be aware of it in order to avoid it when you can just sidestep it.
Yeah, I was confused over the thing between Chester and Cecille too.Loved the Superman ripping of the shirt by Ray. Hey, did anyone notice Iris has a Librarian working for her?Yeah, I miss Ray on Legends too, but I did understand the producers thought of “what else can we do with him”. I know there is confusion over Mick not being on the show anymore (not helped by the actor saying one thing, then another, then saying he was kidding, then saying the original thing, and so on) but I thought Mick was relegated to wallpaper 2 years ago.
Got to say I did like the VFX on old 3 eyes. Not hbo or disney plus level but pretty good.
I love a villain who upon meeting Barry says he’ll kill him, please deliver on that. Ray, your buddy is indeed stuck a century away – well I guess now 50 years since they got to jump in time again. If Joe is indeed somehow dead from that one weird line of dialogue between Cecile and Chester, then Iris is taking it too well.
This was so refreshing. It was nice to see everyone happy and good at their jobs. The Citizen finally looks like a plausible media organization. We got a proper Despero. (Though I don’t get why D is saving the future; he’s more of a conquer-the-world sort.)I liked this new Royal Flush Gang, though I too was bothered by the different suits and the lack of an Ace.I also liked that once Team Flash realized they had an alien on their hands, their first thought was “call Alex.”
They were kind of vague concerning Joe West. Perhaps they were still in contract negotiations with Jesse L. Martin at the time. It seems that like the Kristen Kramer character was (or will be) a fill in for Joe West.
1. If I hear the phrase “level up” one more time this season I’m turning off the TV2. I am assuming Joe is off filming the Law and Order reboot? Surely they didn’t kill him off screen between seasons?3. Good to see Ray back but they keep nodding to him being Superman and I sure do want more of that.4. The Despero third eye thing is pretty weird looking. Also it is brown.5. I’m guessing the RFG is gonna somehow get that microchip back and use it to make Ace?
Is Martin even doing Law & Order? I see nothing in his IMDB though he did just play Marvin Gaye in a biopic that’s in post production.
I bailed out of the Flash shortly after Iris escaped the Mirror Universe. I assume I didn’t miss anything of significance?
Someone needs to explain to the writers that you need five to make a royal flush, and they all have to be the same suit.
Wait, WHAT?!?!? That’s like Remedial Poker!
While LOT may have run out of space for Ray,
he’s more than welcome to become a full time co-star here. Brandon Routh
is just so endearing! Stop giving us unrealistically wholesome expectations if tech moguls!
Does the hacker the Royal Flush Gang freed count as Ace?CGI Despero looks much better.
Reporter scenes are still not the Beeboverse’s forte.
So are the superheroes going to form a Justice League by the finale or is it a strictly one one per episode deal?
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/she-hulk-teases-armageddon-for-the-flash-rivervale/
In my opinion eric wallace has really runined the flash tv show since he took over as showrunner on season 6. It is getting less and less about the flash. If they do get picked up for season 9 then they need to get a new showrunner because this is getting harder and harder to watch ever since season 6
I was pleasantly surprised how lighthearted this ep was, especially given that it’s kicking off a fairly doomsday-looking crossover. Iris looking at her wrist and saying “That’s a bracelet” and just darting off is a dumb joke, but the kind of humor that’s been missing from this show for a long time.
Candace Patton really nailed that joke.
This episode needed more Despero and a lot less of Chester’s sad puppy dog face.It also needed an Ace for the Royal Flush Gang because come on, guys, you can’t have any kind of flush with just four cards, let alone a royal one.
I adore the Royal Flush Gang, they are patently ridiculous and basically a distillation of everything great about comic books. When Queen got mad and says “you shuffled the deck!” after Barry beat them, I lost it. The actor playing her doesn’t show up in IMDB yet, but I applaud the pitch-perfect cheese platter she brought to the part.Caitlin gonna be Datelin! I just want her to be happy, largely because of the disdain in her voice when she said “Mark Blaine”, which is on the level of disdain I feel for Mark Blaine.
Chester really needs a counselor – based on his reaction to Ray’s rejection of his pitch plan, he has some serious emotional stuff to work through. I have no idea what the hell the Chester/Cecile interaction was all about though.
Iris didn’t just give Allegra a new title, she passed down the red pen! The plot of this thing should actually be that Iris destroys the Earth by printing out all the blogs to edit by hand. Despero travels through space and time to grab her by the collar and say “It’s ONLINE, you absolute donut! You and Barry may copulate 7 days after your final printout, and the timer resets if you send even one page through!”
The writers definitely had some fun with this. Not just with Routh’s shirt tear and dialogue about how he hated to leave the Legends, but also the table full of “Energy Detectors” at the tech show, a great nod to all the tech nonsense that runs rampant in the Arrowverse.“We’ve never faced an enemy like this . . . because, you know, Fuerza was blue and not red, but she was also super big and punched me kinda hard. And she didn’t have the brain stuff, but Psych, my baby boy and her brother from . . . my mother? Anyway, he had the brain stuff covered. So it’s kinda the same, but like nothing we’ve ever faced before.”
I did think, “Boy, the Royal Flush Gang is gonna run out of poker-based jokes pretty quickly.”
So it’s a “crossover” only happening on the Flash? I don’t have to watch the Flash for the first time in five years to know what’s going on with the Legends of Tomorrow? Cool!
Legends stopped doing crossovers years ago.
No mention in the Stray Observations of Ray ripping open his shirt like Superman when he was running off for his Atom suit?
Shocked that Despero’s effects were pretty good for a CW budget