The Flash Season 3 finale posed more questions and cliffhangers than answers. Sure the team defeated Savitar, but in the end, that was the worst of everyone’s problems. Is Barry Allen dead? Why did Savitar say Devoe? What does all this mean for Season 4? Let’s just get right to it.
IS GRANT GUSTIN LEAVING THE FLASH?
Grant Gustin’s Flash is not entirely dead, he’s just inside the speed force. Even though he didn’t say he was coming back, there’s no way he’s completely gone. In the comics, Barry spent time trapped inside the speed force after Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he pretty much died saving the multiverse. He returned over 20 years later. It’s implied Barry Allen’s soul lives inside the speed force. The explanation of how Barry returns after he’s missing is by running back in time to become the lightning bolt that originally struck him and striking himself with the lightning. During the time he was gone, Wally becomes The Flash. Even though this is a huge event in The Flash comics, another big event, Flashpoint only lasted two episodes in the TV series last season. It's possible the show is putting a much smaller scale spin on Crisis.
WHO IS CLIFFORD DEVOE AKA THE THINKER?
Future Barry mentioned a “cerebral inhibitor” he uses in the future against Devoe. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that name this season. The Flash Season 3 episode 18 named dropped a man named DeVoe too. This is Clifford DeVoe, otherwise known as DC Comics’ The Thinker, a longtime Flash villain to the likes of Reverse-Flash, Zoom and Captain Cold. Abra Kadabra mentioned him too when he said Barry’s biggest foes -- Thawne, Zoom, or The Thinker -- don’t even compare to the threat of Savitar.
There are many iterations but Clifford DeVoe is the original Thinker, an ex-lawyer famous for his ‘Thinking Cap,’ giving the villain telekinesis and mind control abilities. He became a member of the Injustice Society and Suicide Squad. After DeVoe’s death, his cap technology (to the fault of Mr. Terrific) lived on, grew sentient, and became the AI Thinker.
Producers said earlier this year the villain of The Flash Season 4 won’t be a speedster. With The Thinker fitting that description, it’s easy to think we’ll meet this DeVoe character next year.
WHAT ABOUT IRIS & TOM CAVANAGH?
Right off the bat, HR gets killed. He used face swapping tech to disguise himself as Iris. Savitar didn’t realize this until afterword. Neither did any of the team until Iris comes running up to Joe as HR and reveals herself. Even though HR is dead, leaving his new girlfriend Tracy Brand behind, Tom Cavanagh still has Harry. Barry asked Harry to stick around Earth-1 before he sacrificed himself to speed force prison.
HOW DOES SAVITAR DIE?
Barry takes Captain Cold’s advice and doesn’t play Savitar’s game. Instead of fighting, Barry asks Savitar to be friends. Iris plays along, and touches Future Barry’s scars and tells him she cares about him, but ultimately Savitar stays with his Plan B, which is having Vibe rebuild the bazooka so he can open up a portal to the multiverse and exist everywhere at the same time, like a god.
But Barry and Kid Flash arrive as Savitar realizes Cisco didn’t fix the speed force bazooka and his plan isn’t working. Barry ultimately defeats Savitar by phasing into Future Barry’s suit, turning the suit red instead of blue. Inside the suit, Barry raises a blade to Savitar throat, but doesn’t kill him. As Barry walks away, Future Barry gets up to attack him, but not before Iris shoots him through the chest.
IS BLACK FLASH DEAD?
Killer Frost took Black Flash down in like 3 seconds. Savitar revealed cold is Black Flash’s weakness? But let’s be honest, “You can’t freeze up the darkness.” Black Flash may be gone, but it’s more of a speed force entity and less of a person.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SEASON 4?
The state of STAR Labs is unclear. From the little Julian said, Savitar released all the energy in the Philosopher's stone which sent a huge spike of blue into the air. Not only are the team leaders gone, STAR Labs itself looks to be fairly damaged. Before Barry walked off into the speed force with a ghost of his mother, he told Vibe to step up and be Central City's next big hero and passed along the Flash legacy to Wally. Speaking of Vibe, he and Gypsy have some sort of ‘vibing’ connection because she could hear he was in danger throughout the multiverse, so that's kind of interesting. Killer Frost is also no longer Killer, but she’s not Caitlin either. She declined Julian’s cure and is taking time to herself.
Moving forward there are a few thoughts stemming from the comics floating around about where the series could head into Season 4. There’s Devoe, who was teased in tonight's episode and we mentioned above, but there’s also Godspeed.
In The Flash Rebirth, there’s a speed force storm coming down on Central City, hitting tons of people, which create tons of new speedsters. The speed force storm is very similar to what we saw in The Flash finale. This reminded fans of Godspeed, who gained powers from the storm. Because of all the new speedsters, Barry had to train them all, but Godspeed became evil. While Godspeed is a recent Flash villain from the comics, his presence on seems a bit too similar to Zoom on the show. Also, another speedster villain?
The finale also reminds fans of Crisis on Infinite Earths, which has been teased in the future Central City Citizen newspaper since season 1. The headline states 'Flash Vanishes, Missing in Crisis' and mentions 'red skies.' The Crisis event ultimately had Barry sacrificing himself to the speed force and cleaned up DC’s convoluted continuity, eliminating all the parallel earths and simplifying the multiverse. As was the idea of Trial of the Flash, which came right before Crisis: Barry made a mistake, and now he must pay for it. Whether the Season 3 finale and plans for Season 4 are influenced by the comics at all, the main theme moving forward is Barry taking responsibility for his actions. We'll have to wait until next season to find out how Barry plans to fully atone for Flashpoint.
What did you think of the finale? Let us know in the comments below!
