Comics
[TV Review] “The Flash” Season Finale ‘Fast Enough’
By Brady Steele / twitter: @mrbradysteele.
“Screw the future!” say Eddie Thawne and Iris West.
“There must always be a reason.” says Henry Allen.
“There is no science to coincidence.” says Professor Stein.
“You saved a lot of people’s lives this past year. Now it’s time to save yours.” says Detective / Father Figure Joe West.
This season finale had some choice and poignant lines throughout it coming from almost everyone involved. Oh yeah, and they invented time travel along the way. And they had three Flashes in one monumental and character defining moment in a hero’s history. I thought they crammed as much as possible into last week’s episode but they managed to cram it all in here in a different way this time out.
The Flash (Grant Gustin) and The Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh) have finally come to a bargain: Flash will go back in time to prevent the death of Nora Allen (Michelle Harrison) while allowing Reverse Flash / Eobard Thawne back to his time 136 years into the future. Timelines will be changed and there is a lot of agonizing of this decision by Barry. No one knows for sure what will happen if Flash is successful. These stakes don’t get any bigger since time travel can clearly change everything as we’ve already seen this season.
The moment arrives and there are three Flashes in one room: young Barry, present day Barry and future Barry. One curve comes at us when future Barry stops present day Barry from interfering in his own mom’s murder. Instead, Barry gets a moment with his mother to let her go, knowing he and dad Henry (John Wesley Shipp) will be okay.
The next swerve comes when Flash returns to the present and battles Reverse Flash to his chagrin. The gun shot heard changes the future Thawne (Rick Cosnett) offs himself to end the family line they both come from. By killing himself, Eddie proves one more time to Iris(Candice Patton) that he can be a hero too. This move literally erases villain Eobard Thawne in front of everyone. Case closed? Nope, there’s a giant black hole forming over Central City that needs to be stopped.
This leaves us all hanging until next fall which, at the same time, makes me smile and makes me cringe. Maybe the tidy season finale from Arrowlast week had me thinking things would be resolved nicely here. Shame on me. The future indeed looks bright, judging from the cameos and references to the ever-expanding DC TV Universe. You might recognize more of them this fall when we see Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow debut on the CW Network. Overall, I was incredibly surprised and satisfied with the quality of the first season of The Flash. I look forward to seeing how they plan to top it next season.
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Mr. Steele enjoys all things comics and imagination-based. Using his lifetime of comic-fu-dom for good, he imparts his knowledge for the universe to enjoy and for you, dear readers, to pass it on.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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