'The Flash' Recap: 'Magenta'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Over the past few seasons, The Flash has managed to accomplish wonders as a television show. Every single one of its characters are endearing and relatable, the episodes are often enthralling and filled to the brim with a quality mix of action and story and those simple elements are what makes this show a joy to watch week in and week out. But despite its many accomplishments, the series does have a tendency to shy away from storylines that play into philosophical concepts or tales that tend to challenge us on a fundamental level.

Now, while that may seem like a slight against this wonderful show, it's not. After all not every superhero story has to teach us something about ourselves or our world, but the best stories from this particular genre are the ones that leave us thinking long after we're finished reading or watching it and last night's episode, 'Magenta' was an opportunity for the show to step into that more philosophical realm since this story took the focus off of Barry to a certain degree, and dug deep on a pair of fascinating concepts; specifically...what it means to be a hero, and what it means to be a villain, and this low key style of storytelling made for one of the most cerebral episodes that this show has aired to date.

In addition to exploring those two elements, the plight and influence of a hero, was explored in bittersweet fashion by way of the return of Jesse and Harrison, since the dark matter explosion from last season allowed for her to become a speedster, instantly setting off a sense of jealousy in Wally's heart since he too was touched by the dark matter and alas...no speed came from it. This became a fascinating character analysis where we were able to see just how much Barry has influenced and inspired the people around him since Wally would give anything to become a speedster and a hero and stand for something more in this life, and be just like Barry. However, this story was also gracious enough to explore the dangers that come with becoming a hero, since these are the people that put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis and suffer sometimes become of it.

But heroes aren't the only ones that suffer...and the show gets major kudos for what it did with this week's villain, Magenta. As another one of Alchemy's creations, this young woman could tap into the anger buried within her soul and move objects with her mind and she was quick to use that power to punish those that had done her wrong, but what made her story so amazing in this episode, was the fact that she was completely and utterly conflicted about what she was doing. There was a genuine terror over the evil buried within her and thankfully Barry was able to bring out the best in her but it's so rare to show a villain who isn't fully committed to their particular cause and actually wants to fight back the darkness that is growing inside them.

The deeper writing found in this episode was designed to explore one important lesson, that what it means or takes to be a hero or a villain involves sacrifice...and choice. These are people who choose to be what they are. Barry surrenders a normal life to be something more and be an icon and he lends himself to the greater good willingly, and oddly enough a villain must do the same...in twisted fashion. They must relinquish their life, and their humanity and dedicate themselves to their cause and goals alone, regardless of who will be hurt and truly what made this episode so magical in my eyes, is the fact that Barry was able to inspire a young villain in Magenta, and get to her to step away from a life of evil. It's a rare, low key victory that speaks volumes about this show's humanity and when all is said and done, I could care less that this episode didn't do much to advance the plot, this was simply a beautiful stand alone episode that explored so much and I hope The Flash comes back to more thoughtful stories like this in the future. Until next time.

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