InThe Flash, Season 8, Episode 9, “Phantoms” the group is once again spending time basically trying to solve two mysteries at the same time and once again that appears to make for a much worse episode than the one that came before it. This has unfortunately become a very annoying pattern with the long-running CW series that has led to a very uneven Season 8. The writers don’t seem to either want to, or have the ability to spend the entire episode on the main storyline. So they spend some time on two different storylines that end up puttingThe Flashon screen for a couple of minutes per episode at most. After the last two episodes, it felt like that little problem was fixed, but it turned out to be a temporary solve.
The first part of “Phantoms” actually showed some promisebecause Iris West was actually front and center. She has been noticeably absent for most of Season 8, appearing here and there but usually fading into the background of an episode rather quickly. However, anyone who was getting excited that the focus on Iris meant that this episode was going to bring back the glory days of The Flash were likely disappointed. While she did play a major part of the plot, it’s not clear just how important it was and how much it was just the people in the writer’s room realizing they hadn’t used Iris all that much.
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Apparently a bit worried that her “Time Sickness” - an illness that seems incredibly contrived just to eventually write the character off the show - she decides to go out on a mission on her own. In fact, she’s absolutely desperate to go out on a mission on her own. When Sue Dearborn, who has spent most of hertime on the series as Ralph Dibney’s girlfriend, shows up; Iris cannot wait to get out of town fast enough. In fact, she basically benches Allegra, who seemed plenty ready to go on a little adventure with the billionaire adventurer.
It turns out that Sue and Iris are trying to hunt down a meta - the super-poweredpeople in the Arrowverse- in a neighboring city that is able to phase through solid objects. It’s not entirely clear why they are going on this adventure other than it involves a meta. And when they find the person they are looking for, things get even more convoluted. There’s some sort of talk about the fact that this meta’s mom left them behind when they were very young and the search for this mother is part of the reason things are the way they are. It’s just not entirely clear why this is a spinoff from the main story that the audience is supposed to care about at all. When Iris is talking to Barry about the meta later, she mentions that there’s a chance a hero might be budding and perhaps viewers just met a new addition to Team Flash but that doesn’t seem all that important as Season 8 starts down the home stretch.
How the show handled the Iris and Sue sidebar is annoying if for no other reason than because Barry’s wife simply hasn’t been used at all since this second half of the season kicked off. It’s not clear why she’s been so absent. Perhaps that’s a decision that was made by Candice Patton but in previous seasons, she’s been right there in the thick of things and she’s almost entirely been peripheral so far this year. Since thevery first episode of this season ofThe Flash, there’s been more attention paid to some of the previously smaller characters than the main cast and the show as a whole is suffering for it.
This episode ofThe Flashcertainly focused on one of those side characters and, to its credit the episode did it rather well. One the story wandered away from Iris it turned its focus on the new meta that has been burning people alive. So far, Team Flash knows almost nothing about whoever is killing people and that mystery continues after the hero comes across a charred body that oddly still has a little bit of it burning. Barry decides to take this flame back to the lab to see what they can figure out about it and see if it can lead them to the person that left it behind.
It turns out that bringing the flame home does helpTeam Flashget some answers, but almost certainly not the ones they are looking for when they found it. The show takes on a bit of a horror-type feel when Chester starts developing some symptoms when he gets exposed to what is a kind of cold fusion flame that doesn’t act like anything any of them have seen. This might actually be the best way the show has ever used Chester before as he gets to actually show off his acting chops and he does a very good job. The character has long just been this weird, awkward man who is brilliant but appears unable to really interact with people on a real human level. “Phantoms” allowed him to do something more than be goofy and it definitely worked as the audience got to come along with the group to try and figure out what was going on with him.
The FlashSeason 8, Episode 9 is not a bad episode all on its own. There are some very good bits, especially when the team is dealing with the meta and what that might mean for the rest of the season. However, as has been the case too often this season, the writers seem to split up the focus mainly because they don’t know how to write a script that focuses the full hour with enough to entertain audiences unless that split is made. Here’s hoping that before the season is up, the writer’s room does figure out that the main plot is far more interesting than anything it’s doing on the side.
