The 5th season of the TV show “The Flash” was a good season. Not only did it have a formidable big bad – the vicious Cicada; not only did it have Barry Allen and Iris meet their adult daughter from the future, Nora West-Allen played by Jessica Parker Kennedy (by the way, I plan to talk about Nora in more detail in another post). Further, there was an intriguing passing reference to Red Death. At the time, I didn’t have any idea who or what that meant. But having done some research, I now know that this is a powerful villain who will appear in season 9 of “The Flash”.
In addition to all of this, season 5 had a good celebratory
100th episode for the show. In the
episode, Barry and Nora travel back in time to obtain various items to create a
power-dampening tool to neutralize Cicada.
While it was a good plot point for the story, it was also a way for the
audience to re-live moments from previous seasons of the show. I’ve decided to follow the time travel
sequence they took from that 100th episode here. Barry and Nora first travelled to 2017, or
the 3rd season of the show.
Season 3 had my favorite villain of the entire series – the
memorable Savitar. Savitar is a
speedster, who wore a silver exosuit (a suit of armor that makes Tony Stark’s
Iron-Man suit look small by comparison).
Barry, with his speed powers, manages to force the man wearing the
Savitar suit out and pilot it himself. Barry
looms over the man, now without his armor (Savitar’s identity was a mystery for
a large portion of season 3; I dare not reveal it here). He begs Barry to just kill him. Barry refuses, and manages to destroy the
Savitar suit forever. And then Barry
says, “I’ll never let the pain, the darkness, determine who I am.”
Let me stop here for an application point. Barry’s declaration to never let the pain
change him is inspiring. This man has
endured loss upon loss, and yet he never loses his optimism, hope, selflessness,
and character. Don’t get me wrong: Barry
is far from perfect, season 3 has noticeable examples of this. But he stays on the path of heroism and light. Similarly, we all know loss and pain. I certainly do. Furthermore, like Barry, I am not
perfect. But even so, I still want to
let my light shine before others; let them see good works from me and glorify
my Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Next, Barry and Nora travelled back to an event from the
second season of the show. This season
was particularly noteworthy; it introduced staples in the series such as a plurality
of universes, or the multiverse (Tom Cavanagh played several versions of
Harrison Wells; in this season he was “Harry” Wells). They revisited when Barry had selflessly
chosen to give his powers to the big bad of that season – the monstrous Zoom –
to save the life of Wally West. Interestingly,
Harry used his brilliant mind to effectively re-create the event that gave
Barry his powers before to obtain them again.
This showcases that it’s Barry and his friends working together; often
called “Team Flash”.
You say, “That’s nice and all, but I’m not a superhero who
can give his powers away for a friend.
What’s the takeaway?” One of the
things I love most about superheroes, and in particular for today, Grant Gustin’s
Barry Allen/the Flash is his heart to serve others, not promote himself. Kristin Parrish in her fine book “No cape required” sums it up well:
“As we go about our lives, we often forget that we are to
be living sacrifices daily for Christ.
What does that mean? We must be
willing to forget ourselves and commit to doing Christ’s will in our
lives. We are to love others as He first
loved us, freely sacrificing our time and energy – even when we don’t feel like
it.”
To conclude for today, in one of the last scenes from the
celebratory 100th episode, there is a touching, bittersweet scene. Barry and Nora travel back to the night when
Barry’s mother, Nora, would soon be brutally murdered (and the life of Barry’s
father, Henry, would be changed forever too; sadly, Henry would be killed by
Zoom in season 2). From afar they watch
Barry’s parents on the porch, blissfully unaware of what is about to happen to
them. Nora asks, “Do you ever think about
stopping what’s about to happen?” Barry
nods, “Every day.”
To be continued (next time: I want to look at a memorable
character that was introduced in season 4, one who became a fan-favorite)!
Kevin
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