Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 52

In which we continue exploring the ruined Shar temple, pay our respects to the fallen before looting their corpses, and make our way to the Grymforge.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 51

In which we continue exploring the ruins of the Temple of Shar and loot the place blind.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 50

In which, after recapping some nearly lost conversations with our companions, we set about trying to find that Githyanki Creche in a futile attempt to make Laz'el shut up for a bit. We then return to the Underdark to finish searching the lost Temple of Shar.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 49

In which we deal with the consequences of Wyll failing to kill Karlach. Which are more annoying for him than us, so that's okay. The better news is that we gain access to the Zhentarim stores and the best gear we've encountered to date.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 48

In which, after befriending an enslaved artist, we start tracking down that missing shipment for our new bandit buddies, and fight more gnolls.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Baldur's Gate Bloopers - Part 1

In which we accidentally provoke a fight with our new friends in Zhentarim by wandering into the wrong place while trying to find someplace to trade. This is a combat heavy chapter, made more tolerable by the eruptive finale.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 47

In which Wyll reveals something of his family. He is heir to a noble lineage, which we sully by continuing to loot the burning inn ruins before stumbling across a hidden bandit camp.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 46

In which, being sick of mushroom hunting in the Underdark, we return to the surface just in time to be Big Damn Heroes trying to save the people trapped in a burning inn. Of course we also find time to loot said burning inn, because what kind of Dastard would I be if I didn't?

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 45

In which, having looted all the swag we can from the slain slavers, we head back to deliver word of the liberated dark gnomes, and make the acquittance of an unusual pair of scholars.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 44

In which we cleanse the Grymforge of slavers with a modicum of violence and treachery.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 43

In which we speak with the dead for a time, but have little luck cracking the tollhouse safe. We then return to the Underdark, facilitate an uprising among the giant spider population, and start plotting how to rescue another Absolute cultists, so we can kill them.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 42

In which, after showing off an inventory trick I should have figured out long before, we get to know Karlach and help her deal with the fake paladins that are hunting her. Purely because she's a good person and not so we can finish looting the counting house. No. No. No.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 41

In which we start to explore north of the Blighted village and encounter a group of clearly fake Paladins. How do we know they are fake? They don't object to our looting a tollhouse in front of them! We then meet up with Karlach, who we really should have tried to recruit before now, but hey...

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 9, Episode 13 - A New World, Part Four

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

With Eddie Thawne embracing the identity of Cobalt Blue and assembling a brute squad of the worst evil speedsters in history, Team Flash will be tested as never before.

Influences

The Flash comics of Mark Waid and Mike Baron.


Goofs

Cecile wears her Virtue costume from the future in the fight with the evil speedsters. (While it's entirely possible she asked Chester to make her a suit based on the design she saw, it's unlikely he would have had time to make it in the space of time since Cecile saved Barry in the last episode.)

Cecile's being able to fly with her telekinesis comes out of left field, even if Virtue had that power in the comics. (Maybe Cecile got the idea while making mental contact with her future self?)  

When Khione says goodbye to Team Flash, Barry says it has been one week since the battle with Cobalt Blue and his gang and, logically, one week since Nora's birth. The next scene opens with a title card reading "One Week Later," with Joe saying that Iris gave birth to Nora a week ago. By that point, it should have been two weeks since Nora's birth.

Performances

Jesse L. Martin steals every brief scene he is in.

Artistry

The montage of Iris remembering her life with Barry as Joe sings Baby Nora to sleep is nicely done.

Flash Facts

The subtitle of this episode is Finale, according to the title card, but the subtitle does not feature in the actual episode title.

This marks the final episode of the first and only four-part episode in the show's history.

The episode was supposed to feature the return of Cisco Ramon, but actor Carlos Valdes was unable to appear due to schedule conflicts.

The episode was rewritten at the last minute to give Barry a happier ending. The original plan had been for him to sacrifice himself to become the new personification of the Speed Force and replace Speed Force Nora. We can see vestiges of this in the final scene, where Barry shares his power with three new speedsters.

Barry's opening and closing monologues mirror his opening monologue in 101.

Jay Garrick steals the speed from Cobalt Blue. This is a classic trick perfected by the Wally West Flash, who could boost his powers by draining the kinetic energy form other objects in motion. 

This episode confirms that Chester Runk has black hole powers, In the Mike Baron Flash comics where Chester P. Runk was introduced, Chester was a morbidly obese man who became a living black hole capable of absorbing almost anything into his mass.

Chester's powers are generated by a consciousness-honed universally neutralized Kerr anomaly in his genes. This is a shout out to his codename in the comics, Chunk.

Upon learning that he has powers, Chester says "Dazzling Dwayne McDuffie." This is a nod to legendary comics writer Dwayne McDuffie, who is best known as one of the founders of Milestone Media and for his work writing the Justice League Unlimited show.

Barry shares the Speed Force with three new Speedsters. The first of them is Avery Ho. In the comics, Avery Ho is the Flash of the Justice League of China. 

The Arrowverse version of Avery Ho first appeared in 806, where she helped XS and Impulse to fix the timeline.

The second new speedster to be empowered is Max Mercury. In the comics, Max Mercury was an alias used by a time-traveling speedster  Originally the Quality Comics hero Quicksilver (no relation to the Marvel Comics character),Mark Waid fleshed out his background to make him an 1830s US Army cavalry scout who befriend several Native American tribes. Max has gone by many names, including Windrunner, Whip Whirlwind and Lightning.

The Arrowverse Max Mercury lives in modern times and is apparently a motorcycle enthusiast.

The last new speedster Barry empowers is named Jess Chambers. In the comics, Jess Chambers is the non-binary Flash of Earth-11. The Arrowverse Jess Chambers resembles the comic book version.

Technobabble

Barry tells Team Flash to execute delta maneuvers before they split up and fight Cobalt Blue's team.

Chillblaine determines that Chester's blood generates Hawking radiation at a molecular level. This is the same kind of energy found in black holes. 

Chester's genes contain a consciousness-honed universally neutralized Kerr anomaly, or CHUNK.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Reverse Flash reveals himself to Zoom and Godspeed.)
Zoom: You're Harry Wells. You're the man who helped the Flash defeat me.
Godspeed: No. That's Thawne. The man who helped the Flash defeat me. Any last words, Thawne? 

Reverse Flash: Never wear white after Labor Day. And Zoloman-- ( chuckles ) Love your work. Although slightly derivative, don't you think? Pretending to be the Flash's ally. Let's see. Who's playbook is that from? 

Zoon: Are you mocking me? 

Reverse Flash: Now, you're catching on. 


Khione: The more I embrace who I truly am, the more I see the natural order of things. You say balance is about violence and death, but it doesn't have to be that way. Nature is about more than balance. It's about coexistence. All things living together. Not in conflict, but in mutual trust. 

Barry: Khione, the last avatar I faced... I sat down. I stopped fighting. Thawne didn't. You want coexistence, but I'm sorry. It's impossible. 

Khione: Then you need to believe in the impossible because it's the only way to create a better world.

Continuity

Barry returns to 2023 and runs to the hospital where Iris is still giving birth to Nora.

Chester reports that there's no sign of temporal fracturing yet, but Barry says it has already started in 2049.

Zoom, who died in 223, is pulled out of time at the moment of his death, into the Negative Speed Force.

Eddie's  lair in the Negative Speed Force resembles Dr. Malcolm Gilmore's house, which was Joe West's home.

Godspeed is pulled out of time from an undetermined point. He says he was about to slit Impulse's throat.

Eobard Thawne, in the guise of Harrison Wells, explains that they are in the Negative Speed Force.

Zoom thinks Thawne is Harry Wells at first, but Godspeed recognizes him as Thawne in Wells' body.

Savitar appears next, apparently pulled from time just before Iris West shot him in 323.

Eddie Thawne reveals himself and explains that all four evil speedsters are dead, resurrected by the Negative Speed Force from just before the moment of their death. This is the first confirmation that Eobard Thawne finally died for good in 820.

Eddie says that Godspeed dies in 2052.

Eddie creates a suit of armor for himself and invites the other villains help him destroy The Flash and his legacy.

Barry gets to the hospital about an hour before Iris is expected to give birth.

Eddie shows up at the hospital calling himself Cobalt Blue. He brings blue flowers for Iris 

Eddie plans to kill Barry, which will kill the Speed Force, and allow for the creation of a new world where the Negative Speed Force will rule unopposed. Eddie doesn't care because, in this reality, he can be the hero Barry was and have the life with Iris he wanted.

Nora runs in and saves Barry. She says that Cecile telepathically called to her across time.

Chillblaine, Khione, Allegra, Cecile and Nora join with Barry to face Cobalt Blue, Savitar, Zoom, Godspeed and Reverse Flash. This collective of villains is later named the Legion of Zoom.

Barry faces Cobalt Blue

Cecile takes on Godspeed.

Chillblaine and Khione fight Zoom.

Allegra goes after Reverse-Flash.

Nora goes after Savitar. 

Savitar attempts to impale Nora like he did Iris in the future where Iris died. Nora phases through his blade, breaks it, and uses it to shank Savitar.

Godspeed creates multiple clones of himself to fight Cecile, but she brings him down with a telepathic attack.

Reverse-Flash goes to STAR Labs and attacks Chester with a lightning attack. For some reason, it doesn't kill Chester (although it does hurt him) 

Zoom is hemmed in by a CCPD roadblock set up by Chief David Singh, Captain Kristen Kramer and Officer Daisy Korber.  Apparently Khione called them in.

Reference is made to Zoom killing multiple CCPD officers in The Flash Season 2.

Barry confronts Cobalt Blue in CC Jitters.

Khione absorbs the lighting Zoom throws at her and throws it right back at him.

Reverse-Flash makes reference to Nash Wells and his relationship mentoring Allerga.

Allegra takes Reverse-Flash out with a major light blast. She then tends to the unconscious Chuck, who suddenly wakes up gasping.

Cobalt Blue threatens to kill the people in CC Jitters unless Barry allows himself to be killed.

Jay Garrick shows up and steals the speed energy out of Cobalt Blue. He says this was a trick his Earth-90 counterpart taught him.  (The Earth-90 Flash did the same thing to Barry in 609, so he could sacrifice himself in Barry's place.)

Cobalt Blue drains the Negative Speed Force power from the resurrected speedsters and retreats into the Negative Speed Force. As he does this, the temporal fracturing reaches 2023.

Jay says that is Cobalt Blue tries to absorb too much Negative Speed Force energy, he will overload and kill himself, like Eobard Thawne in 820.

Chillblaine and Jay think that letting Eddie kill himself may be the only way to save the timeline, but Barry thinks he can make Eddie see reason. 

Khione says she can get Barry into the Negative Speed Force.

Khione says that Barry needs to change Eddie's viewpoint and that they need to encourage coexistence between the Positive and Negative forces.

Barry confronts Cobalt Blue in a Negative Speed Force space that now looks like his and Iris' loft, but with photos of Iris and Eddie together.

Eddie punches Barry, shouting that he always wins. This echoes a line repeated by the Reverse Flash when he fought Barry in 123. This prompts Barry to point out that Eddie is becoming the very villain he sacrificed himself to stop.

Eddie smashes the Cobalt Blue crystal and agrees to remain the Negative Speed Force avatar in order to maintain the balance. He asks Barry to tell Iris he is happy for her.

Barry returns to the hospital just in time for Nora's birth. 

Jay Garrick confirms the temporal fracturing has stopped.

Chester says he feels fine, apart from being oddly hungry after his fight with Reverse Flash.

Chillblaine theorizes that when Chester bonded with a black hole in 601, some of the cosmic energy bonded with him. This gives him some passive ability to absorb energy.

Joe West, Cecile, Chester, Allegra, Chillblaine and Khione all wait at the hospital.

Cecile makes reference to giving birth to Jenna during 423.

Nora also joins the team, but wonders if she is breaking some kind of timeline rules by being present at her own birth.  Chester and Chillblaine say they think they are okay.

Timeless Wells, the original Earth-1 Harrison Wells, appears to Khione. He confirms the threat of the Negative Speed Force is past and it is time for Khione to ascend and become the protector of the natural order she is meant to be.

Khione says she has to say goodbye to her family first. 

Nora is born without complications.

Chester agrees to take care of Khione's plants.

When Khione ascends, Caitlin Snow is left in her place. It is presumed that Khione was just using Khione's physical body.

A homecoming party is held for Nora and Iris one week after Khione ascends.

Future Nora and Timeless Wells attend the party along with Jay Garrick, Joan Garrick, Chief Singh, Captain Kramer, and several of Iris' employees.

Caitlin is overheard talking to her mother on the phone and promising she will visit her soon, so she can run more tests to make sure she is fine.

Barry apologizes for destroying Caitlin's lab in 816.

Caitlin says she will carry Frost's legacy with her and that what she was doing trying to bring her back was unnatural. 

Joe proposes to Cecile. She accepts.

Barry is shown reading a copy of The Runaway Dinosaur. This was his favorite book as a child, as revealed in 221.

Barry creates lightning bolts to give three people a connection to the Speed Force: Avery Ho, Max Mercury and Jess Chambers.  He runs along the same landing strip at Ferris Air where he first used his speed voluntarily in 101 to do this.

Avery Ho was last seen in 806.

When we see Avery, she is calling in late to work, claiming she had car trouble despite not having a car. Barry Allen did the same thing in 101.

Barry made reference to Max Mercury in 815, as he was looking through time using the Still Force.

Untelevised Adventures

Reference is made to a fight between Impulse and Godspeed, in which Godspeed was about to slit Impulse's throat before he was pulled out of time.

Godspeed dies in the year 2052.

Jay Garrick met The Flash of Earth-90 at some point and learned how to drain the speed from other speedsters.

Nora says the 24 hours around Bart Allen's birth is even crazier than her own.

The Boomerang Factor

The resurrected evil speedsters are beaten far too easily.


The Bottom Line

A lackluster end to a lackluster season, drowning in nostalgia for better days. The best parts of the episode are shot-outs to the show's greatest moments, but those only serve to highlight just how bad this show became toward the end.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 40

In which we return to the surface world to make a Masterwork Weapon and make camp. We then have a wonderful night with Shadowheart that I swear we already had once before. Not that I'm going to object to sharing wine and making out with a snarky Goth twice.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 39

In which we continue exploring the ruined temple, before back-tracking to collect our reward from the Myconids and get a book about Flumph Mating Rituals. (It is not what you think!)

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 38

In which we explore the ruined temple of Shar, make friends with some abused animals, and spend way too long trying to get down a trapped hallway.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 37

In which we slaughter our new ally Glut rather than be party to an act of treachery against the mushroom folk who have treated us fairly thus far. We then perpetuate an entirely different act of treachery to infiltrate the hideout of the dark dwarves and their Absolute-worshipping Master.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 36

In which we take on the Duergar slavers and ambush the ambushers... with mixed success.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 35

In which, after dispatching another Hook Horror, we set about rescuing a fool from an explosive mushroom field and claiming the materials we need to make a Masterwork weapon.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 34

In which we encounter some of the less friendly inhabitants of the Underdark, including Hook Horrors, a Bulette, and another insane Drow.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 33

In which we start undertaking a lot of quests to deal with various evils in the Underdark. There's enslaved gnomes to rescue, an idiot husband to rescue and a clan of dead mushroom people to avenge. A hero's work is never done...

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 32

In which, after determining that the first patch for the game has eliminated our entrance into the bandit camp, we start looting the place blind and sending everything to our camp. We then have some problems with the local mushrooms, even before we encounter the kind of mushrooms that can get up and walk around.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 31

In which we do battle with more giant phase spiders and determine that they are just as vulnerable to falling damage as everyone else. We then begin to explore the Underdark in earnest, starting with that Selunite Outpost we found earlier but ignored until now.

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 30

In which we take a long rest and catch up with our party. We also have an accounting with Astarion regarding his dietary habits, before going on to fight the mother-loving mother of all giant spiders! (Trigger warning for arachnophobes, yet again!)

Sensei Starman Plays Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 29

In which we start exploring the Blighted Village in depth, save a distressed Dark Gnome, discover a means of making a Masterwork weapon, and stumble across an entrance into the Underdark. (Trigger Warning for Arachnophobes!)