In Review: The Flash (S8 – EP2) Armageddon Part Two

Synopsis: In part two of Armageddon Despero warns The Flash that great tragedies will befall the speedster and cause him to lose his mind. Once that happens, Armageddon will begin.

The Story

In this second episode of the five-episode event. Despero tells Flash that he is going to lose his mind and when he does. Tragic events will unfold for him and the rest of his team. Determined to prove Despero wrong. Barry proceeds to investigate but hits a roadblock right away when Captain Kramer suspends him from his police duties because of an investigation into his conduct. To make matters worse a fellow police officer has lost his mind, and Barry thinks that this police officer might connect to his own eventual downfall.

If things are not going bad enough for Barry already. He later arrives at Starlabs to find that he is going to have to close the building down because of a radiation leak. However, he and his team do manage to salvage what they need to keep their investigation ongoing and they get a break when they learn of a meta-human called Xotar who can control minds. Armed with little knowledge as to the extent of her powers. Barry suits up and goes after her. It doesn’t end well.

By the close of the episode. Barry is near enough done in that his team has begun to lose trust in him. Also, events seem to have happened for his team, which have not happened for him. So, Despero has at him, but Flash is saved at the last minute by Chester and Allegra who still have some hope that they will sort things out.

The Acting

Grant Gustin puts in a pretty solid performance as Barry and looks gradually more bemused and bedraggled as the episode moves on. Once again Tony Curran steals every scene that he is in and really commands the screen as Despero. Added to this, we also get a brilliantly menacing performance from the brilliant Kandyse McClure as Xotar. Of course, many fans will remember Kandyse best for her role in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

Overall

A much stronger offering than last week’s show in that we get to the meat of the story in that less time is wasted on expositional nonsense. It was great to see Kandyse McClure get to don some bling and go a little batshit crazy as a truly nasty villain. Hopefully, we get to see Xotar again as I think she is just as interesting from a story point of view as Despero is.

The final scene where Flash meets up with Black Lightning was fun and we’ll hopefully see everything escalate in next week’s show.