The beginning of this season’s The Flash intrigued me more than most other premieres. This season’s beginning will be different in a few ways. The first of which is that this isn’t the beginning to season 7. These first few episodes are actually the conclusion to season 6. The Flash was interrupted by the Covid virus and they did not finish season 6, so this season they have to end 6 while starting 7. The loss of certain cast members such as Hartley Sawyer (Dibny/Elongated man) meant certain plot points needed last minute rewrites. The Flash 7.1 felt like the rotation of teams in some ways.

As this new/old season begins Caitlin and Cisco are both gone as are Iris, Joe, and Kamilla, all for different reasons. Holding down the fort are Team Flash newer members Allegra and Chester. While I’m still not sure how well Allegra fits with the team, I really like the inclusion of Chester as the new tech guru. he is eager to please, yet doubts his abilities. The combination of enthusiasm and vulnerability make him a fun addition to the team.

The Flash 7.1 – More or Less Wells

Harrison Wells may be the most unique character in all of comics. I do not know of another character killed off, run off and erased more than Wells, yet he always comes back. Post Crisis Wells may be one body, but the minds of his multiverse counterparts reside within him, making him multiple Wells at once. How Tom Cavanagh acts out all those parts is beyond me.

The fun little twist we get this episode is that Grant Gustin gets to act out several of the Wells personas after a failed experiment pushes the Wells brainwaves into Barry’s body. It was comical to watch Grant mimic Tom’s personas. In the end they get everything straightened out only to find Wells is the key to creating the artificial speed force. Wells must die so Barry can run.

I really did not like Allegra’s response when she found out Wells was hiding this information from the team. Sure Allegra has reason to not like Wells, but a guy finds out he has to die in order for Flash to live you cut him some slack!

I really liked the conversation Wells has with his doppelganger. The current Wells feels like he is a failure and evil, but his counterpart reminds him every version was flawed. Barry and the team drew the best parts of Wells out and made him a better man. Its no shock Wells gives up his life in the end, but the question is – with only one Earth left, have we truly seen the last of Harrison Wells in any form? Story would say no, but history says yes.

Flash 7.1 – Women Growing Into Their Own

Other than Wells saying goodbye, the rest of the show dealt with two of the female characters coming into their own. First off, Iris remains trapped in the mirrorverse. There seems to be no way out, but Iris learns the more she concentrates the more things begin to make sense. If she can fight through the pain it causes, perhaps she can find her own way out of this mess. In fact one of the closing shots suggests she may be gaining some sort of control of the mirror, but does this mean ‘Iris’ is doing this, or is Iris dead and this is her duplicate?

The other character that takes a massive jump forward with their powers is Cecile. To this point her metahuman abilities have been treated more like a sideshow in terms of importance. They give her the power to read emotions. Certain people can do that without powers, but Vertigo makes the mistake of pushing Cecile too far.

Cecile realizes she does fear her powers and holds back using their full strength. Cecile unleashes her full gift on Vertigo and turns the tables in an almost brutal fashion on Vertigo. Cecile’s powers almost become frightening. Can she control them? Or will we see Cecile turning to the dark side in the future?

Flash 7.1 – What’s Next?

This was a good potential. It unlocked a lot of possibilities, moving us closer to the season 6 endgame, but are we also beginning to see the problems that will plague Team Flash when season 7 kicks in? What did you think of this episode? Head over to DC Fanatics on Facebook and let us know what you liked or didn’t like. How long does the show go without a Wells?