Spoilers The Flash - Season 8 Discussion Thread

[The Habs Fan]

I agree with you Christopher, I also believe Thawne changed the timeline, causing Joe’s death and other changes. All those predicting last week predicting Joe was dead turned out to be correct. However, Jesse Martin’s name still being in the credits seems to give away that some things will be reset by the end of this arc.

I hope that it isn’t just a giant reset at the end of this arc because this is the best The Flash has been since COIE. Looking forward to next week with Black Lightning. I assume Alex was just over a screen since they were still filming Supergirl at the time, and couldn’t mix the two crews, but I hope she shows up in person by the end of the arc.

 

[FreezeC77]

So Supergirl and J'onn are offworld. Damn shame they don't have any other options on the planet that could help in dealing with an alien threat who is said to have the strength (or better) of a Kryptonian. Just no other options whatsoever...

 

[Commander Troi]

Although it's also possible that Despero is lying. Given his comics history -- and, heck, just his name -- he seems more likely to be the despot than the defeated rebel.

^This. But I'm not sure he's *consciously* lying.

My theory at the moment is that he was the despot, of course, and there was a coup or attempt. Alex said no one had known or seen anyone from Kalanor, so I think Despero destroyed his own world and people in repelling or retaliation. And I think this caused the madness he's accusing Barry of having and this is all projection on Despero's part.

As to Joe's death... https://www.cinemablend.com/superhe...sse-l-martins-joe-west-even-before-that-twist

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

So Supergirl and J'onn are offworld. Damn shame they don't have any other options on the planet that could help in dealing with an alien threat who is said to have the strength (or better) of a Kryptonian. Just no other options whatsoever...

Nope...no options at all, just as there were no options for superpowered help when a "brother" was raising alien Hell in Smallville...

 

[JD]

Yeah, it would be nice if there was another Super powered alien around, like maybe in Kansas or somewhere like that.
This was a great episode.
The possible end of S.T.A.R. Labs and Joe's death were both big surprises. I hope they at least stick to S.T.A.R. Labs being gone, getting rid of it permanently would be a nice way to shake up the show. While I don't want to lose Jesse L. Martin, I'm hoping Joe's death isn't a fake out. As the whole Arrowverse franchise has proven over and over, just because a character has died, that doesn't have to mean they're permanently gone.
Being somewhat aware of Despero's comics history, I couldn't help but wonder if he reversed his role in the story and was actually the one who was rebelled against, and overthrown.

 

[Christopher]

I hope they at least stick to S.T.A.R. Labs being gone, getting rid of it permanently would be a nice way to shake up the show.

I don't see how they could practically afford to just throw out and replace so many standing sets.

Although it's interesting that all three current Arrowverse shows are doing storylines involving the teams losing access to their bases in one way or another.

 

[FreezeC77]

I don't see how they could practically afford to just throw out and replace so many standing sets.

Although it's interesting that all three current Arrowverse shows are doing storylines involving the teams losing access to their bases in one way or another.

someone gotta replace Arrow base replacing lol.

 

[Christopher]

someone gotta replace Arrow base replacing lol.

Fair point. That sort of change usually happens between seasons, with a new influx of cash at the start of the season for building new standing sets, and we are only two episodes in. So I guess the plan could be to switch to a new HQ.

Still, there are just so many STAR Labs sets on this show. The Arrow bunker was fairly large, but it was still just one big space and maybe a few adjoining rooms and corridors. They've built so many different STAR Labs sets over the course of this series -- the Cortex, the med bay, the workshop, the Pipeline, the Time Vault, the Speed Lab, the lounge, the Starchives. That's probably more than half the standing sets on the show. Not to mention that if the building were torn down, they'd have to retire or redo quite a lot of their stock exterior shots and alter their digital model of the city.

I guess it's not unprecedented -- Supergirl ditched two different DEO headquarters complexes -- but it would still be a huge and expensive change. And a show that's been running this long with so much of its original cast remaining (though less this season than ever before) generally needs to cut costs because the cast members get annual raises and the ratings generally go down.

Then again, maybe that's the idea. Maybe maintaining all those standing sets is too expensive and they want to go for a simpler HQ set. So I guess it's not out of the question. Still, this feels more to me like the kind of change that will get reversed at the end of the arc. After all, they may have said they'll have to tear the place down, but until we actually see it happen, it's not final.

 

[JD]

I'm assuming if they do permanently get rid of S.T.A.R. Labs they'll just find a way for them to work out of one of the other standing sets, like Barry & Iris's apartment, or Joe & Cecil's house.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm assuming if they do permanently get rid of S.T.A.R. Labs they'll just find a way for them to work out of one of the other standing sets, like Barry & Iris's apartment, or Joe & Cecil's house.

That would be fun. Though it looks like Chester's garage (?) is their temp HQ.

 

[Christopher]

This still feels more like a temporary setback to me. Generally when a show permanently strikes a standing set, there's a bit action set piece where it gets destroyed, like with the DEO a couple seasons back. As with a familiar character, a familiar and important setting deserves a big dramatic "death" scene, and since they intend to tear down the set anyway, they can pull out all the stops in trashing it. But the last we saw of these sets, they were still perfectly intact, which would be a very anticlimactic way to get rid of them for good. That's part of why it feels like a fakeout to me.

 

[dupersuper]

So Supergirl and J'onn are offworld. Damn shame they don't have any other options on the planet that could help in dealing with an alien threat who is said to have the strength (or better) of a Kryptonian. Just no other options whatsoever...

The price of a cool sprawling shared universe: just having to assume that every one is busy on their own cases when you need one hero or a small team up to deal with a big threat alone.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Let it die.

 

[ED-209]

They're still making The Flash?? That's a pretty good run.

 

[Christopher]

They're still making The Flash?? That's a pretty good run.

I see what you did there...

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Let it die.

You are not kidding.

 

[thribs]

I couldn’t stop laughing at Joe’s death. It’s his own fault. There is a reason that you should stay behind the white line.

 

[The Realist]

After a boring second installment, tonight's episode of "Armageddon" was pretty decent. I actually tuned in for Jefferson Pierce, and while no one but the Black Lightning writers/producers seem quite able to capture the character's distinctive voice, he came off less generic here than he did in "CoIE." Also liked the idea of the "Injustice Protocols," and it's a clever way to invoke that moronic, irritating, yet oh-so-popular DC subfranchise.

So, two more weeks to go, then I can go back to blissfully ignoring The Flash.

 

[Caretaker]

I'm a little confused as to why, when discussing Bill Henderson's death, Jefferson said the sacrifice allowed him to get back to Atlanta and not Freeland. I don't know if that was a mistake on the part of the writers that even Cress Williams didn't catch/wasn't allowed to change or if there is more to it (part of the timeline changes).

 

[The Realist]

Think you misheard. Believe the line was "home to Lynn and the girls" (or something like that).