If time ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Flash Season 3. Photo/TMStash
Flash is continuing its paradoxical course in the new season and, just like that, we are only two episodes in and the tone has been switched to a much darker one than the premiere.
Barry undid everything he fought for and fixed the timeline but things still aren’t the same. Although his parents might be gone like they are supposed to be, it’s not the life he was hoping for. Everyone is bitter and divided — Iris doesn’t talk to her father anymore, Cisco is in counseling — and Barry makes the mistake of telling them how he manipulated the space-time continuum (so now they have a beef with him).
And unfortunately, as these things have a habit of happening, a mysterious new enemy — Dr. Alchemy — is on the scene to make all their lives more of a living hell.
If the course of events can be summed up succinctly, it would be with the following: Barry, Barry…
The story is compelling however desperate or mercurial the plotting looks. You feel for these characters but Barry’s stubbornness borders on insanity. He rushes into action and forces solutions without weighing the consequences; at this point, he shouldn’t be that blind.
The look of Dr. Alchemy for season 3. Photo/Moviepilot
Dr. Alchemy is an intriguing protagonist: for once, the villain is not a speedster though he does feed off the Speed Force like a drug. Looking like something out of steampunk or Silent Hill, voiced by the inimitably creepy Tobin Bell, he is a welcome change of pace as somebody who doesn’t have to be fast, just cunning.
It truly is a paradox when Flash is still one of the best, most watchable shows on TV but the logical loopholes are so gaping the hero and the rogue’s gallery could run laps through them. Viewers will enjoy everything like normal; they just shouldn’t think about it too much.
