The Flash is currently one of the last three DC CW series alongside Superman & Lois and the upcoming Gotham Knights. This will be the final season of Barry Allen’s adventures on the CW and will certainly be one of the saddest. But did it start its final season the right way with The Flash season 9 premiere? I was able to screen it early, check out my thoughts on the beginning of The Flash’s final season in my review below.
[Warning: Light spoilers that won’t reveal major plot points from The Flash season 9 premiere are below!]
One Last Run for Barry Allen starts with “Wednesday Ever After”
Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) life has been very rough over the past nine years since he first became The Flash. He and his friends from Team Flash had to defeat Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash/Negative-Thawne (Tom Cavanagh & Matt Letscher), Zoom (Teddy Sears), Savitar (Grant Gustin), Thinker (Neil Sandilands), Cicada (Chris Klein & Sarah Carter), Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy), Mirror Monarch (Efrat Dor), Godspeed (Karan Oberoi) and Despero (Tony Curran). Each successive season has helped Barry understand what it means to be a hero and that sometimes you don’t have to have powers to be one.
After defeating Eobard Thawne once and for all, one would think it’s time for Barry and his loved ones to finally rest. But it’s something of a con of being a superhero, the need to help people does not allow much free time. Especially now that a new threat is coming to Central City, pushing Barry to once again defy impossible odds to save the city and the people he loves.
The premiere episode, titled “Wednesday Ever After,” is similar to Groundhog Day, but with a twist. It focuses mainly on Barry’s relationship with Iris (Candice Patton) and their plans to eventually expand their family and have an ideal future with no dangers to surprise them. This is because of the events from last season where Iris died and Barry thought he lost her forever.
As seen in the trailer, Barry uses his powers to create “The Mapbook”, which contains all the events he knows about from the past, present, and future. These events affect not only him but his friends and enemies whom he has met or will meet sometime in the future.
While trying to stop an attack, Barry finally meets new Earth-Prime Captain Boomerang a.k.a. Owen Mercer (Richard Harmon), who is different from the previous Boomerang Digger Harkness (Nick E. Tarabay). I don’t want to say too much, but his appearance is so good that I really want to see more of Richard Harmon in this role.
His Boomerang is cocky and arrogant but he perfectly connects those traits with his well-developed Battle IQ, set of skills, and, what I’m proud to say as a big DC fan, great boomerangs that are causing a lot of mayhem.
After losing a fight with him, funny things start to happen, and Barry and Iris’ whole day repeats every time something bad happens, just like in the iconic Groundhog Day. In this way, we gain a new understanding of their relationship and see how even though everyone thinks they are the perfect couple, they still have their problems.
There is some intense dialogue and scenes that are sure to make fans feel emotional and somehow understand what the characters are going through. During these time loops we can see other characters interacting with each other like Joe (Jesse L. Martin) with Cecile (Danielle Nicolet), Allegra (Kayla Compton) with Chester (Brandon McKnight), and even Barry and Iris with other people, but each time it changes slightly.
This episode is really good because even though it’s been 9 years since The Flash started, we still see that Barry, Iris, and the whole Team Flash still have problems and are not perfect. The premiere’s story is full of many shocking, sad, fascinating, and unexpected moments that are sure to make people eagerly await the next episodes.
Most importantly, this episode is a great start to the sad ending that is to come with the end of the series. It has similar vibes to seasons 1-3 while watching with the creators and actors doing their best to give the best story, characters, and action scenes to fully embrace the show’s legacy.
Season 9 of The Flash might be one of the best yet in the entire Arrowverse
One thing that all Arrowverse series have in common is high-quality final seasons, but only If they were completed not canceled. I mean Black Lightning, Supergirl, and Arrow honored the legacy of the Arrowverse, delivering emotional closing chapters and giving fantastic endings the fans deserved. The same is possible with The Flash which is the swan song for the entire Arrowverse.
With the return of John Diggle (David Ramsey), Wally West/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale), Nia Nal/The Dreamer (Nicole Maines), and Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), we can expect some amazing episodes, with emotional recaps of relationships and the events these characters went through together. We will also see the return of villains from previous seasons, as I discussed in my previous article on What to Expect from season 9 of The Flash.
There are a lot of great stories in the upcoming episodes of The Flash that are coming our way, and I hope that, like me, you are really hyped to see what the people in charge have prepared.
The Flash season 9 premiere is a fantastic journey that takes us through the normal thoughts, dilemmas, and decisions that many of us are familiar with. For fans and viewers, this is a great time to jump back into Barry Allen’s adventures for his final run.
The series is very personal to me and this journey is something I will never forget, but fortunately, it’s not over yet, so let’s stay positive and hyped for the upcoming episodes.
The Flash season 9 premiere releases on The CW on February 8, 2023, with new episodes arriving weekly. Do you like The Flash series? Are you hyped for the upcoming 9th and final season? Let us know on Twitter and The Cosmic Circus Discord.
If you need a refresher on what happened last season, check out our Season 8 review of The Flash!
The Flash Season 8 Review: Surviving Armageddon
