'The Flash' Recap: 'Infantino Street'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Often times, television shows truly save the biggest stories, the ones filled to the brim with twists and turns and jaw dropping moments for the season finale and there’s good reason for that. After all, it’s the end of the year, why not let it all hang out? It’s a practice that has served fans well over the years but last night, The Flash decided to go against the norm by delivering an episode that felt like a season finale…a week before the season finale.
 
I say that because ‘Infantino Street’ was filled to the brim with stunning action sequences and closure points, the kind that felt like the season was coming to a close, and heck it even ended on a powerful, powerful cliffhanger. Which means that the actual season finale may be quite the sight to behold because little will be the same after this episode, one that instantly dropped us right into the thick of things, exactly twelve hours before Iris West is expected to die.
 
With her untimely fate looming large over Team Flash, Cisco did everything in his power to find a power source to get the Speed Force Bazooka up and running and wouldn’t you know it, scans of A.R.G.U.S. showed a power signature that met their needs. This gave Barry and Cisco an inkling of hope that was quickly dashed when Lyla let Barry know that there was no way he was ever getting near that power source, leading Barry to make the wild decision to steal it with a little help from Leonard Snart, and while the heist didn’t quite go as planned, Barry eventually got his hands on said power source and well…that’s when things fell apart.
 
Now in order to keep Iris safe, Barry had her sent away to an undisclosed location (Earth-2) so that Savitar would have no knowledge of her location. But a little deception from the Speed God, and a lack of thought from H.R., revealed Iris’ location, allowing for Savitar to kidnap her with minimal effort, setting in motion the showdown we’ve all been waiting for and while it seemed as though the Speed Force Bazooka was going to be the game changer Barry needed, Savitar was ready for that as well. The Philosopher’s Stone as it turns out, protected the God of Speed from returning to his prison in the Speed Force and that’s when Barry’s worst nightmare came to fruition, since Savitar killed Iris and left Barry Allen to weep over his fallen love…and suffer…
 
So...just like that…all of Barry’s effort this season to change the future and save the love of his life turned out to be all for naught. Iris died exactly as she was supposed to, a dark and disgusting future awaits Barry Allen and I really did not expect season three’s penultimate episode to turn out this dark and this powerful and really at this point one has to wonder where we go from here. The biggest moment of the season has arrived and it’s obvious Barry will be emotionally shattered for the season finale and well…with Iris gone what does Barry Allen do now? Try and find a way to go on? Let the darkness we know he’s capable of take over and seek revenge? Guess we’ll find out next week in what should be a somber season three finale. Until next time.

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