In Review: The Flash (S8 – EP3) Armageddon, Part Three

Synopsis: Events in Armegeddon continue to escalate. Barry meets Black Lightning at the Hall of Justice after things take a dire turn with Despero. Iris suspects something is off with Despero’s vision of the future so she seeks help from a powerful ally.

The Story

Picking up from where last week left off. We see a little more of the meeting between The Flash and Black Lightning at the Hall of Justice. To summarize, Barry basically asks Jefferson to enact the Injustice Protocol, which basically means removing Barry’s speed force powers so he can no longer pose a danger to the world. Jefferson is not too thrilled at this prospect and tries to talk Barry out of it.

Back at their temporary base. Cecile, Caitlin, and the rest of the team are trying to find Barry when they get a visit from Iris who suspects that her father’s death was faked in order to help Despero push Barry over the edge. Cecile is having none of it and the two women come who were closest to Joe West wind up at each other’s throats. In the end, Allegra manages to de-escalate things as Iris decides to pursue her own investigation without help from Team Flash.

In her desperation to find Barry. Cecile pays a visit to Rosalind Dillon who is on parole. She proposes a team up and Ros accepts the deal and they set about combining their empathic abilities to find The Flash.

Back at the Halls of Justice. Jefferson has finally managed to talk Barry out of giving up his Speed Force powers. And just as the two shake on it. Despero stops in for a visit. Thankfully Black Lightning is there to hold Despero off while Flash with some help from The Still Force time jumps ten years into the future.

The Acting

Cress Williams puts in a brilliant performance as Jefferson Peirce aka Black Lightning. The scenes between Jefferson and Barry (Grant Gustin) are quite intense. I really enjoyed the pay off though when Jefferson used Barry’s friendship with the Late Oliver Queen in order to get him to reconsider.

We also got a really good performance from Ashley Rickards as Rosalind Dillon. I really liked the dichotomy between Ros and Cecille’s characters. How Ros suppresses her feelings to push her powers whereas Cecile doesn’t. This really pays off when we see Cecile successfully being able to push Despero out of her head.

Overall

Part Three of Armegeddon does its job of setting the table for the final two episodes. The reveal of Eobard Thawne at the end of the episode sets up all manner of potential storylines. Especially given that he seems to have really ensconced himself into the West family. As for Despero, I still have my doubts about his motives for going after The Flash like he is. I’m really enjoying the ambiguity of his character and can’t wait to see how it will all pay off. 

It seems to me that Armegeddon is telling a slightly tighter story than we have seen in past seasons and it makes me wonder if shorter story arcs might be a thing of the future.