The Flash Review: A Flash of the Lightning (Season 6 Episode 2)

As Season 6 continues, Barry and the rest of Team Flash are facing down a grim future, but The Flash Season 6 Episode 2, “A Flash of the Lightning,” still manages to feel fresh and bright. 

Given that so much of The Flash’s narrative is being used to set up the high stakes surrounding the impending “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, there’s not a lot of room for much else in the way of a “big story”. 

Instead, “A Flash of the Lightning” spends the bulk of its time on meaningful character interactions, and The Flash as a whole is all the better for it. 

Don’t get me wrong — there’s plenty of “Crisis” set-up going on here, as Barry wrestles with the looming specter of his own death. See, originally, we learned he hoped that his long-prophesied disappearance just meant he really could still reappear at some point.

Turns out…no so much.

See, according to the Monitor, and to Barry’s lightning quick mental trip through a billion possible futures, the only way for humanity — and the rest of the multiverse, come to that — to survive is if Barry dies. 

Womp womp. 

Barry spends the rest of the episode simultaneously trying to embrace his fate in that standard sci-fi “the good of the many outweighs the needs of the few” way. Of course, Joe and Iris spend most of it giving him pep talks about resilience and hope, and how part of being The Flash means never stopping running. 

Jesse L. Martin and Candice Patton deserve gold stars for some really extraordinary work this week, and The Flash itself does too for reminding us why we fell in love with this little rag tag group of heroes — and with Barry Allen specifically — in the first place. 

Barry’s philosophical view of his “Crisis” fate is both brave and admirable. “Maybe this is the reason I was given powers,” he says, proving once again that he will always be the sort of hero who worries about the people he can save with his own death. (Or, that worries about how many people will die if he doesn’t.)

It’s also great to see Iris pushing so hard at the idea that changing the time stream is pretty much what everyone at Star Labs does on the daily already, so the idea that they can’t try now is ridiculous. 

I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but how many times did Nora run back and forth to the future? 

Elsewhere, Caitlin’s busy taking a psychic nap or something so Killer Frost can explore Central City on her own. Which, honestly, this is a story with a premise that I still don’t understand, but I’ve decided to just go ahead and embrace.

One, because Danielle Panabaker deserves a chance to really shine on her own and, two, because we’ve been waiting for a Killer Frost story for like three years now. Is this how I would write it? Probably not. Am I going to enjoy the heck out of it anyway? Definitely. 

For Frost’s first outing on her own, The Flash keeps things decidedly on the lighter side, as Cisco and Ralph teach her about the meaning of art and the value of self-expression.

Considering Frost has spent most of her existence inside Caitlin’s head, it’s not surprising she might need some help figuring out how to sort out her own feelings about…well, pretty anything.

But I’m also hoping that these stories will eventually move away from the Frost is awkward and mean in public trend, because that’s going to get real old, real quick.

That said, Panabaker and Carlos Valdes continue to have the best friendship chemistry on the show, whichever side of her character she’s playing, and Cisco’s scenes with Frost were certainly an episode highlight. 

(Though part of me does hope that at some point The Flash decides to deal with the distinct oddity of characters like Cisco and Ralph building distinct relationships with two women who share the same body.)

On the whole, this is a pretty thoughtful and decidely unflashy episode of The Flash. But, at the same time, its focus on characters and the new maturity they all seem to have, is a welcome shift from last season, which often gave the supporting cast little to do. 

And, of course, the impending “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is constantly looming in the background, even when the story itself isn’t directly about it. 

It’s hard to know whether The Flash will be able to keep up this level of tension about the possible end of the multiverse from now until “Crisis” begins in December. But if it means more episodes like Season 6’s first two installments, I’m all for it. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• I’m always happy whenever John Wesley Shipp appears on The Flash. He has the most perfect dad vibe.
• Grant Gustin’s constant subtle look of emotional anguish whenever he was around Earth-3’s Joanne Williams made my heart hurt. 
• I was almost entirely uninterested in the subplot about framed meta Allegra Garcia, though I’m curious to see how she fits into the larger canvas of the show now that she’s working for Iris’ newspaper
• The thirty seconds devoted to displaying Bloodwork’s new abilities and his apparent new murderous attitude felt beyond pointless. 
• I have no idea how Barry’s determination to run faster let him outrun ultraviolet light beams but, sure, whatever show. 

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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