"Into the Speed Force" feels like one of those episodes we should learn something from... but I'm not sure exactly what that's supposed to be. While the episode works well enough on its own I'm also a disheartened by the show's stubbornness to continue to run from Barry (Grant Gustin) as a hopeful hero and continue down a more lonely path. Like him or not, since getting his speed Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) has been able to embody the exuberance Barry used to enjoy as the Flash (before he became a dick to everyone he loves). The conclusion of the episode seems to be to put Barry on the path to being a better speedster, but the show might be better served if it concentrated on making him a better man.
Given Wally's trauma and Jesse Quick's (Violett Beane) exit, the show finds itself with only one remaining speedster again. Iris (Candice Patton) and Barry's break isn't likely to make him any sunnier over the next few weeks. Thankfully, the show will be giving us the musical two-part Supergirl crossover with plenty of zany fun in store (just what the series needs to lighten the fuck up!).
As a standalone episode, "Into the Speed Force" works better than how it fits into the overall season arc. It isn't notable for the rather unimaginative design of the Speed Force itself, but it does offer several guest roles with noting. Eddie (Rick Cosnett), Ronnie (Robbie Amell), and Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) all return as aspects of the Speed Force to talk with Barry. Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) also arrives to step-in and perform the necessary heroic act in an episode supposedly meant to teach Barry to stop relying on others to make sacrifices for him. That's kind of a mixed message, isn't it?
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