Title: The Flash Season 6 Episode 19: “Success Is Assured” Review
Release Date: May 12th, 2020
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
(This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the latest episode of The Flash)
There we have it. We all just saw the impromptu season finale of The Flash season 6. How was it? Well, this is going to be a weird review.
It’s incredibly difficult, and honestly a bit unfair, to grade “Success Is Assured” as a finale since the episode was never intended to wrap up season 6. That’s why I’m going to simply look at this as another episode in the season and how it sets up next season. I figure this would be better than talking about what-ifs for the next 500+ words.
The whole episode revolves around Team Flash trying to protect Joseph Carver from his now liberated wife. At the same time, Eva convinces Carter’s light-based meta-minions (say that 5x fast) to turn on him so she can get her revenge. This puts Barry in a tough position. He can go against his moral code and turn Carver over to Eva or go through all the effort to keep this evil dude alive. It seems that Barry likes to work harder, not smarter so he eventually picks the latter option after a heart-to-heart with Nash Wells. Unfortunately for Barry, Eva is very skilled at using her abilities. She manages to brutally murder Carver and stab Barry with just… so many pieces of glass. And keep in mind that this is the second time Barry has been stabbed repeatedly with broken glass this season. He must have some really bad luck at this point.
The season ends with Team Flash vowing to take Eva down, Eva pinning Carver’s murder on Sue Dearbon, Caitlin going away with her mother, and Iris possibly getting her own meta-powers. In short, the big bad of the season finally wins.
While I understand the logic behind Barry’s arc for the episode, I’m starting to grow tired of the “Barry Allen doesn’t kill” storyline that gets served up every year. We all get the gist of it by this point. The Flash isn’t Arrow. Barry doesn’t kill and he’ll always make the noble call in the end. That’s cool. It’s actually one of the reasons why I like The Flash so much. I just don’t think we need a yearly reminder on the character trait. That’s all.
That being said, I loved every second of the Nash/Barry pep-talk scene. You all know this by now. If you put Tom Cavanagh and Grant Gustin in a scene, it will always end wonderfully. It also brought back up Nash’s ability to speak with Harry and all the other versions of Wells.
Keeping things positive, I shockingly didn’t hate the Nash/Allegra sub-plot this week. It started off extremely rocky though with some eye-rolling dialogue between them both. However, I finally found myself liking Allegra’s character more than I did the previous few weeks. I think that could be because Allegra was finally an active player in the main storyline instead of only throwing jaded one-liners at Nash. Hopefully, both characters can move in fresh directions next season that includes a lot less forced drama.
Other than the cool cliffhanger with Iris seemingly getting abilities in the Mirrorverse, Iris and Kamilla’s storyline was relatively put on the back burner this week. That’s a major bummer since we didn’t get any answers there or even see Chief Singh in full Last Man on Earth mode. I guess we’ll just have to wait until next season to see that glorious moment.
The Caitlin/Frost storyline remains a strange one to me. Despite a solid performance from Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin and Frost, the storyline didn’t get much screentime. I’m not sure where they were going with it or if it will be an on-going thing next season. Pure speculation but I think the original plan was to write Danielle Panabaker out of the season with this arc so she can go on maternity leave. Safe to say, it’ll be interesting to see how they resolve this storyline next season for sure.
Until the episode’s closing moments, I was unsure where The Flash was going with Sue’s story as well. Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfuss continued to have amazing chemistry but it felt like we were treading water with these two. With Sue back on the run due to being framed for Carver’s murder, it puts the duo in a new direction and gives us a logical explanation as to why Sue is running again.
And we close this review with our big bad who managed to survive the season, Eva. Her character, while not as fleshed out as Bloodwork or Eobard, is trending upwards with a cloud of uncertainty around her. Carver was a bad dude and she crippled his corrupt organization in one fell swoop. So, she sort of helped Team Flash. But she also slashed Barry with shards of glass, trapped people in the Mirrorverse, and framed Sue for murder. There’s also the theory being thrown around that Eva did, in fact, die in the Mirrorverse and the one we’re seeing now is the Mirror version. If that ends up being true, that only accommodates the character’s unpredictable nature.
In a way, Eva’s unstable behavior has been the character’s best trait. As long as season 7 provides Eva with some much-needed depth, the villain should continue to thrive.
Verdict: The more I reflect on it, the more I like the direction The Flash is going in. We gotta look on the bright side here, right? The season ended unconventionally but it managed to drive many compelling storylines forward in new directions. Overall, The Flash season 6 was great and a huge step up from the previous 3 seasons. Due to circumstances, we’ll never know if it could have been even better. But I’m just glad I ended this season genuinely excited to see what’s next rather than being frustrated over a dumb twist.
The Flash: “Success is Assured” Review
Most of the storylines are moving forward in interesting new directions
Although unintentional, the season ends with Team Flash at a huge low-point and the villain winning
Mirror Master is pretty badass
Nash was the MVP of the episode
The cliffhanger was pretty cool
I enjoyed a lot of the fight scene at McCulloch Tech…
… But I wasn’t a fan of the multiple camera angles during the scene
This was our annual reminder that Barry Allen doesn’t kill
It didn’t take much for Carver’s meta-minions to switch sides
