The Flash returned for its midseason premiere last night, which not only kicked off the second half of season 6 but also marked the first episode of the show since “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” The crossover event concluded with the whole of reality being rebooted, with the Arrowverse heroes now living on the reformatted Earth-Prime instead of the old Earth-1.
Previous episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman, Arrow and Black Lightning have demonstrated the major changes this rewrite had on their characters and settings, but The Flash‘s midseason premiere established that things are pretty much the same over in Central City post-“Crisis.” Maybe it’s because the show has already tackled the effects of a changing timeline a few times before, as with the Flashpoint and XS arcs, so the writers decided not to retread old ground too much. That said, there is a key way in which “Crisis” has affected things, as the metahuman population of the city is much changed.
Cisco realized during the episode that the reality reboot has resulted in various new villains running around town, some familiar faces now sporting different powers and a few old foes returning in fresh forms. “Marathon,” for instance, introduced a new version of Doctor Light – Kimiyo Hoshi, a vicious assassin sent to kill Iris on behalf of the evil Black Hole organization that the journalist has been investigating.
It’s fitting that The Flash should introduce Hoshi immediately after “Crisis.” The character made her debut in the comics during the original “Crisis” storyline, being created by the Monitor as her light-based powers would be useful in combating the Anti-Monitor’s anti-matter wave. The episode’s cliffhanger ending also teased the coming of Eva McCulloch, a gender-flipped version of the second Mirror Master who will likely be the new big bad.
The Flash season 6 continues with episode 6×11 “Love is a Battlefield” next Tuesday on The CW.
Published: Feb 5, 2020 10:23 am