The Flash - 'The Wrath of Savitar'

"I feel like my skillset is being underutilised."

Okay, so I've got a bit backed up on my reviews, so forgive me if this goes astray, or ends up being a bit quick and dirty.

So, Barry and Iris announce their engagement, to Joe's chagrin as he'd always expected at least a courtesy permission-asking. Barry, meanwhile, is getting snippy about how no-one else is pulling their weight to save Iris, especially when Savitar beats up Wally while being invisible to Barry and it turns out Wally has been seeing Savitar for a while, which to Barry is the equivalent of stabbing Iris yourself. Barry basically reminds everyone that he makes the plans, and amazingly no-one laughs. Mind you, you know who's not pulling her weight? Jesse. The speedster who stands around while the action is on. It's almost as if the writers wanted her around later, but didn't know what to do with her in this episode at all.

Julian returns from a trip and is welcomed back with a hearty cranial electroding, as Barry insists that they need to speak to Savitar again. It doesn't go so well, because it turns out that Savitar doesn't give a rat's ass about anything they can do, so basically they're reduced to shouting threats down a phone line. Savitar poo-poos these efforts and starts throwing images of Wally's mother at him, because he's cheap that way, while Barry finds another speed-proof casket, but with no Stone in it. Caitlin admits to Julian that she stole a piece of the Philosopher's Stone, and when Barry finds out he basically accuses her of putting arsenic in Iris' tea. Once more, Barry Allen should not be allowed to harangue someone for making a dumbass call unchecked, because fucking Flashpoint, dude. Are you going overboard, Barry? Why don't we ask Sara Diggle what she thinks(1)?

"This was not the plan!"

Wally persuades Cisco to vibe him into the future, since he's going to have to make the rescue run and because Barry is being such a dick. Taking a hint from his mentor there, as soon as he realises that Barry proposed so suddenly and spontaneously not from love, but to change the future, he tells everyone and Barris implodes. Then he steals the Philosopher's Stone fragment to lob into the Speed Force, just to show everyone. At the same time, the rest of the team realise that Savitar is in the Speed Force, waiting for all of the Stone to set him free. This does not end well for Wally, who is sucked into the Speed Force to counterbalance Savitar's escape.

Bummer.

Oh, but Barry accepts Caitlin's apology, despite the fact that taking the piece of the Stone was the one thing that kept them from walking into Savitar's trap weeks ago. Jackass.

As much as I enjoy The Flash, there does seem to be a traditional part where Barry goes... well, crazy, and basically I feel that his friends should be quicker to move in when he starts making plans, cutting back his coffee privileges and hiding the glassboard markers until he calms down and accepts that his genius lies in crime scene analysis, domino mask-making and running very fast.

(1) Not letting it go.