The Flash Review: Phantoms (Season 8 Episode 9)
Somewhat of a story arc begins to make itself known in this episode of The Flash. Although it is a bit interesting, I can’t fathom it taking more than a couple of episodes to resolve. Here’s to hoping things continue to ramp up in the right direction.
The Flash Season 8 Episode 9, “Phantoms,” gives us a little more meat to chew on since the show returned in early March. We see a few instances tie themselves together, making sense of previous episodes where logic seemed to evade us.
So, there is a serial killer in town, and they are a vicious fiend that feeds on grief. I use the pronoun “they” because technically this killer isn’t even human. It is a living, breathing fire.
No, that isn’t a typo.
Feel free to have a giggle at it — I know I am.
The statement is so absurd to me that I almost feel the need to rewatch the episode to make sure I heard things correctly. Alas, I don’t have the time or attention span.
Nonetheless, the episode still comes off as an enjoyable one — as long as you don’t dive too deep into the ridiculousness of it all.
Grief has been a mainstay in The Flash since day one, and the characters are quick to point it out. Barry lost his mother, Allegra lost her cousin, and Iris lost her mother. All of these losses affected their family members differently, giving us multiple windows into the same house.
This time we get to see how Chester is coming to terms with the death of his father so many years ago. Let me rephrase that, Chester isn’t dealing with the loss of his father, instead he is trying to run away from it.
Cue the “black fire.”
As mentioned before, this flame feeds off of a person’s grief and raw emotion, something running rampant inside of Chester. His inability to deal with the situation complicates things in various ways. Refusing to open up to Team Flash puts them all in danger.
What a beautiful simile!
If you don’t open up to others about your grief, it will consume you like a flame. It is a bit poetic — cheesy — but still poetic.
Anyways, it is a solid point that is shown almost literally as Chester reaches out his hand to embrace what appears to be his father.
This instance is shown to help us see that grief can be a liar. Our sorrows whisper in our ears telling us several mistruths — and we eat them up like candy.
We see Chester listening to these lies in real-time and watch him nearly succumb to them. In a way, this is quite terrifying.
It feels like watching a friend giving into suicidal temptations or a drug addict falling off the wagon. But it goes to show us how easy it is to believe lies from familiar voices.
On the other half of the episode, we have Iris and Sue tracking down a new metahuman in Coast City. This young girl is named Tinya. She is dealing with a bout of grief as well.
Tinya has grown up in foster care, feeling useless and unwanted. Without any real support in her life, Tinya runs away and hopes to find her birth mother.
On the surface, this is your typical run-of-the-mill story of a child hoping for something better than they have been given. Underneath it is something completely different.
Sue: I needed to stop running away and face my parents.
Recently Tinya has discovered her meta powers. This gives her a glimmer of hope in a world that she has previously seen as only vile and malicious. She now knows that she can become something more than her past.
Tinya is telling herself that she needs to prove to her mother that she is worth something more than anyone ever imagined. The truth is, Tinya is simply trying to prove this to herself.
Tinya is in grief over her humble beginnings and the idea that she was an unwanted child. Similar to Chester, the voices in her head have told her all her life that she isn’t good enough, she will never measure up.
I deal with thoughts like these myself. They weigh me down quite often. Although I’ve never been through foster care, the idea of never being enough resonates with me.
This storyline feels like foreshadowing to me. I believe that Tinya will come face-to-face with this elusive flame. I only wonder what the outcome will be.
This episode’s heavy theme does much to save it from its own absurdity. The emotions it allows you to feel prove to be quite cathartic. Tagging along with Chester and Tinya helps us to look at our similar situations in a less hopeless manner.
Although there is a living fire, a time sickness, and only slightly more than a glimpse of the titular hero, I can’t be overly harsh on the episode.
In the end, the good outweighs the bad, the same as in life itself. It has its rough moments, but you will be satisfied if you see it through.
What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Do you feel closer to Chester after this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Charles E Henning
Charles E. Henning lives in a quaint town of Illinois with his ever-loving wife since 1998. He is new to writing reviews, but has over thirty years of fictitious writing for his own personal fulfillment. His interests range from science fiction to character-based dramas, but he is a sucker for anyone in a cape.