Well, let me be clear about the rating 9 that I have given to it may seem higher and it is but I have to give this because overall the episode is underrated enough. So clearly, you have to look at this from a different perspective and understand what this episode was about for me this episode explained a lot about Barry and why is he like what he is like. So let me tell you what to do grab some popcorn and a cola then enjoy the episode and most importantly take it lightly and eventually, you will follow.
9 Reviews
Hahah/meh filler ep
imakk20019 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Meh/draggy half:
Now for the good half:
+ Savitar jumping into his suit was just like in all the mecha animes!
+ Wally told Barry they're brothers. If only the next thing Barry learns is that he and his sister Iris are engaged, wasted opportunity that. That would have been the cherry on top of this joke.
+ S4 team flash = Cisco, Caitlin and Julian. Make it happen, writers!
+ Love Cecile's line about a supervillain doing this to Barry and Joe's answer that nope, it was team flash who done the deed.
+ A guy named Coolidge is going by the moniker Heat Monger.
+ That courtroom scene! Julian finally got to have some fun! By getting Barry to praise him! In a courtroom! Seriously, team flash needs Julian to yank Barry's chain at CCPD and StarLabs.
+ Poor Julian. Why do you have to be so cold-hearted, KF?!
++++ Amnesiac Barry scenes at StarLabs, CCPD, the courtroom (can we get CSI Barry in court in S4 PLEASE?!), CC Jitters: good gravy but I miss happy/fun Barry who's been MIA since S2. He made this filler ep more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise so it's just as well half the ep dealt with this.
Score 8.
- Future team flash rejection of future time remnant Barry is why he turn into Savitar. But yes, Barry, make this all about Iris.
- Just because it's HRacy and not Barris doesn't mean it's not a waste of time/nothing lost if cut. It's not the pairing, it's the shoehorned/out of place romantic plot. Every. Single. Time.
- Is this attempt to retroactively have Iris fall in love with Barry when he was in the middle of a life-changing trauma supposed to be "romantic"? If it weren't for the fact that she was also 11 at the time, this would be CREEPY. Because it'd mean Iris likes seeing Barry traumatized and dependent on her. Oh wait...
- Another pep talk.
Now for the good half:
+ Savitar jumping into his suit was just like in all the mecha animes!
+ Wally told Barry they're brothers. If only the next thing Barry learns is that he and his sister Iris are engaged, wasted opportunity that. That would have been the cherry on top of this joke.
+ S4 team flash = Cisco, Caitlin and Julian. Make it happen, writers!
+ Love Cecile's line about a supervillain doing this to Barry and Joe's answer that nope, it was team flash who done the deed.
+ A guy named Coolidge is going by the moniker Heat Monger.
+ That courtroom scene! Julian finally got to have some fun! By getting Barry to praise him! In a courtroom! Seriously, team flash needs Julian to yank Barry's chain at CCPD and StarLabs.
+ Poor Julian. Why do you have to be so cold-hearted, KF?!
++++ Amnesiac Barry scenes at StarLabs, CCPD, the courtroom (can we get CSI Barry in court in S4 PLEASE?!), CC Jitters: good gravy but I miss happy/fun Barry who's been MIA since S2. He made this filler ep more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise so it's just as well half the ep dealt with this.
Score 8.
Maanages to hold the good memories!
asb_deutsch23 August 2017
First things first, this Season is a level higher than Season 1&2. Unlike Season 2 it was something that Flash doesn't lose himself and the team.
Next, for how long Barry protects his love. What extreme measures you would do to protect the love of your life? Grant Gustin's performance has grown on me over the years- it is really expressive and on target. The cause and Effect application was cool!
Hats off to Greg Berlanti also for creating such an episode. He chooses emotions over action. The acting was awesome. Barry was very funny.
Next, for how long Barry protects his love. What extreme measures you would do to protect the love of your life? Grant Gustin's performance has grown on me over the years- it is really expressive and on target. The cause and Effect application was cool!
Hats off to Greg Berlanti also for creating such an episode. He chooses emotions over action. The acting was awesome. Barry was very funny.
One of the funniest and most light-hearted episodes in a long time
TrundleTheGr89 May 2017
For the majority of this episode i was laughing my ass off, just about everything memory-less Barry did was hilarious, i've known for a while that Grant Gustin was an incredibly talented actor but this just sealed the deal. At first when Savitar was revealed i thought i wouldn't be able to take Grant seriously as a villain but he proved otherwise. His actions this episode without his memories really brought me back to the season 1 days, and showed how fun this show can be when it tries not to go all Arrow. Also, I can't get past how amazing Danielle Panabaker looks as Killer Frost, obviously regular Caitlin Snow is beautiful but her as Killer Frost just takes it to a whole other level. I really hope we get to see Frost turned back to normal or to see Killer Frost herself turned to a hero or at the least an anti-hero. I know it wouldn't be comic accurate but after all these seasons I really want Caitlin to be a part of team flash rather it be her regular self or Frost. Either way this episode seriously brought me back to the good ol' days of this show and it was such a great feeling.
The Flash - S03E21 Cause and Effect
j_forbesy10 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This episode of The Flash was a hard one to judge, similar to Arrow's episode a couple of weeks ago with Helix and ARGUS. The episode itself I enjoyed, however it's overall placement in the season seemed a little off.
Firstly, I'll start with the Savitar explanation. I was all for the reveal last week and I really liked how they did drag it out throughout the season. However, I was very interested how they explained Savitar. While I think I have a clear chain of events on how Barry became Savitar, I'm a little unsure if the chain of events I interpreted are the same chain of events the show was saying happened. This is an overall problem with shows like this where they are dealing with confusing concepts. However, I was happy with the explanation and while I did have to watch it a few times and draw a mental timeline in my head, I thought the overall explanation was pretty good.
Then jumping into the core of what this episode was, this is where I had a few problems. This is where I had a bit of a problem with Savitar's reveal being dragged out so long. They couldn't play out this memory storyline until it was revealed that Savitar was Barry, but because the reveal came so late, I'm not sure whether doing this at all and in the end not getting a positive result from it was the best option. We have 2 episodes left so I want them to be heading full steam ahead instead of having some filler like this episode.
However, taking away the context of where this episode is in the season, this memory plot device gave some really good character moments, especially from the supporting cast. I really enjoyed the Iris angle they took with her seeing the happy side of Barry that she hasn't seen in such a long time and wondering whether or not it is worth bringing back all these bad memories. That then followed on when Barry did get his memories back and his little speech on how all his dark memories have some form of good memory to make up for it and that is what makes him Barry.
I also really liked what they did with the Killer Frost and Cisco friendship. We haven't had much direct interaction between the two since Caitlyn turned, it was really nice to see them having an interaction despite Caitlyn being Killer Frost. I thought the use of Cisco telling the story was really well done because it turned into a great character moment for Killer Frost because it showed that she is still our Caitlyn.
Touching on the HR and Tracey relationship. Personally, this is something I don't care too much about, however Flash often does these smaller relationships in the background of what is happening and us as the viewer get to see them grow without it being forced in our face all episode. A similar thing happened with the Wally and Jesse relationship and now they are one of my favourite pairing on the show.
Overall, while I thought this episode would of worked a lot better around the 18-19 mark of the season, I still was able to have fun with it and I really enjoyed some of the big character moments they had. This episode kept that one foot in the Savitar storyline which gave it a bit of relevancy however it wasn't enough to completely save it's misplacement in the season.
8/10
Firstly, I'll start with the Savitar explanation. I was all for the reveal last week and I really liked how they did drag it out throughout the season. However, I was very interested how they explained Savitar. While I think I have a clear chain of events on how Barry became Savitar, I'm a little unsure if the chain of events I interpreted are the same chain of events the show was saying happened. This is an overall problem with shows like this where they are dealing with confusing concepts. However, I was happy with the explanation and while I did have to watch it a few times and draw a mental timeline in my head, I thought the overall explanation was pretty good.
Then jumping into the core of what this episode was, this is where I had a few problems. This is where I had a bit of a problem with Savitar's reveal being dragged out so long. They couldn't play out this memory storyline until it was revealed that Savitar was Barry, but because the reveal came so late, I'm not sure whether doing this at all and in the end not getting a positive result from it was the best option. We have 2 episodes left so I want them to be heading full steam ahead instead of having some filler like this episode.
However, taking away the context of where this episode is in the season, this memory plot device gave some really good character moments, especially from the supporting cast. I really enjoyed the Iris angle they took with her seeing the happy side of Barry that she hasn't seen in such a long time and wondering whether or not it is worth bringing back all these bad memories. That then followed on when Barry did get his memories back and his little speech on how all his dark memories have some form of good memory to make up for it and that is what makes him Barry.
I also really liked what they did with the Killer Frost and Cisco friendship. We haven't had much direct interaction between the two since Caitlyn turned, it was really nice to see them having an interaction despite Caitlyn being Killer Frost. I thought the use of Cisco telling the story was really well done because it turned into a great character moment for Killer Frost because it showed that she is still our Caitlyn.
Touching on the HR and Tracey relationship. Personally, this is something I don't care too much about, however Flash often does these smaller relationships in the background of what is happening and us as the viewer get to see them grow without it being forced in our face all episode. A similar thing happened with the Wally and Jesse relationship and now they are one of my favourite pairing on the show.
Overall, while I thought this episode would of worked a lot better around the 18-19 mark of the season, I still was able to have fun with it and I really enjoyed some of the big character moments they had. This episode kept that one foot in the Savitar storyline which gave it a bit of relevancy however it wasn't enough to completely save it's misplacement in the season.
8/10
Ranking/Reviewing every Flash episode: Cause and Effect
lbramson11 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Team Flash try to prevent Barry from making any new memories to make a plan to defeat Savitar, but end up erasing all his memories. In a season as dark as this one, it's nice to have a funny, lighthearted episode to play around once in a while. This brilliantly plays with the concept of Savitar being Barry to drive a fun stand alone story. This story has a lot of funny moments and lines that I still quote today! Probably the funniest episode, even funnier than the likes of Darkness and the Light. Let's not forget that the opening conversation between Barry and himself is truly intriguing.
9.2/10-Great!👍👍
9.2/10-Great!👍👍
Not bad, but we're dragging our feet a bit
AdamDroge10 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
We're at episode 21 of 23 this season and after we finally reveal that Savitar is Future Barry, we throw in another filler episode? Why are we dragging our feet here?
This episode picks up right where the last episode left off, with Barry talking to Future Barry. Then the two of them have this conversation where Future Barry explains to Barry who he is and why he became Savitar, which is followed by Cisco and the team explaining everything in detail to the others.
And it's kinda awesome and... kinda super confusing at the same time. I think I like what they said, but I also need to spend more time wrapping my head around things and figuring it all out in my head. This is one of those moments where the show gets a little bit carried away with the whole timeline thing. I think next season's big baddie needs to be more simple because they've done a lot of screwing around with the timeline and it's a little much.
At that point, though, I was still excited that we were finally getting somewhere with this season's storyline after spending most of the season playing a guessing game as to who this Savitar person is. But then we slam on the brakes again. Cisco and Julian come up with a plan to take away Barry's memory, which will then cause Savitar to lose his memory, but then it kinda blows up in their face when they realize memory-less Barry is a problem. Then we spend the whole episode trying to get the memories back.
This wasn't all bad. In fact, a lot of this was rather hilarious. Especially that court room stuff. And it was fun seeing super light- hearted Barry without the knowledge of all the crap that he's been through.
But what was the overall point of this? To spend an episode establishing the fact that the bad memories are OK because they shape who we are? That's all fine and dandy and there were some decent heartfelt moments, but this feels like something that we should've established in the middle of the season, not in our third to last episode.
I did like all the stuff with Killer Frost in the office trying to solve this issue with them. I liked the moments with Cisco and Julian attempting to remind her of who she really is. I didn't like the HR/Tracy romance. That seemed like it was only there out of some sort of CW requirement that there needs to be a certain amount of romance. And I didn't like our villain of the week. Even though I liked the courtroom scenes, I don't know why he was let out and I don't think he added much at the end.
But when all is said and done, Barry has his powers and his memories back and we are... back where we were to begin the episode. Now can we actually be done dragging our feet and DO SOMETHING in the final two episodes? The King Shark tease at the end was interesting. I'm curious as to how he's going to fit into all of this.
This episode picks up right where the last episode left off, with Barry talking to Future Barry. Then the two of them have this conversation where Future Barry explains to Barry who he is and why he became Savitar, which is followed by Cisco and the team explaining everything in detail to the others.
And it's kinda awesome and... kinda super confusing at the same time. I think I like what they said, but I also need to spend more time wrapping my head around things and figuring it all out in my head. This is one of those moments where the show gets a little bit carried away with the whole timeline thing. I think next season's big baddie needs to be more simple because they've done a lot of screwing around with the timeline and it's a little much.
At that point, though, I was still excited that we were finally getting somewhere with this season's storyline after spending most of the season playing a guessing game as to who this Savitar person is. But then we slam on the brakes again. Cisco and Julian come up with a plan to take away Barry's memory, which will then cause Savitar to lose his memory, but then it kinda blows up in their face when they realize memory-less Barry is a problem. Then we spend the whole episode trying to get the memories back.
This wasn't all bad. In fact, a lot of this was rather hilarious. Especially that court room stuff. And it was fun seeing super light- hearted Barry without the knowledge of all the crap that he's been through.
But what was the overall point of this? To spend an episode establishing the fact that the bad memories are OK because they shape who we are? That's all fine and dandy and there were some decent heartfelt moments, but this feels like something that we should've established in the middle of the season, not in our third to last episode.
I did like all the stuff with Killer Frost in the office trying to solve this issue with them. I liked the moments with Cisco and Julian attempting to remind her of who she really is. I didn't like the HR/Tracy romance. That seemed like it was only there out of some sort of CW requirement that there needs to be a certain amount of romance. And I didn't like our villain of the week. Even though I liked the courtroom scenes, I don't know why he was let out and I don't think he added much at the end.
But when all is said and done, Barry has his powers and his memories back and we are... back where we were to begin the episode. Now can we actually be done dragging our feet and DO SOMETHING in the final two episodes? The King Shark tease at the end was interesting. I'm curious as to how he's going to fit into all of this.
Maybe This City Doesn't Need The Flash
ThomasDrufke9 May 2017
I'd rather not spend an entire review complaining like I did last week, so I'm going to try and keep this review as short as possible. Tonight was the 21st episode of the season, but you wouldn't be able to tell by watching it. When you look at where the team stood against Savitar at the beginning of the episode and at the end, there's no difference. Nothing in this episode progressed the fight against the god of speed, aside from an apparent Speed Force gun invention.
Erasing Barry's memory to erase Savitar's memory is absolutely something Cisco would think of, but why did we need a full episode of watching Barry walk around Central City not knowing who he is? Who honestly wants to watch that? It halts any sort of momentum that the show had after the big reveal. And the attempts this plot device makes at comedy? They all fall flat. I have been waiting and waiting for this show to capitalize on the cool ideas that this season has presented, but they seem to fail every single time.
Although Savitar was pretty much nowhere to be found this week, Caitlin made her presence felt as she came to Team Flash with a proposal, to restore Barry's memory so that Savitar can also return to himself. Does it make any sense yet why she has aligned herself with him? Nope, that hasn't been addressed. However, there's definitely still some Caitlin left in Killer Frost as she not only remembered a story Cisco shared with Julian, but her eyes flashed the normal color after leaving STAR Labs. The back and forth inconsistency with her character is getting a little frustrating, so I hope that will be fixed by season's end.
Since this episode had no point to it, there's little reason to keep complaining. All I'll say is that this season has two episodes to be saved. I'm not against Barry being Savitar, it actually makes sense considering all the chaos he's created since Flashpoint, but we need something big to cap off this up and down season. But I will never watch this episode again.
-No point
-Savitar absent again
-The memory plot device was awful
5.0/10
Erasing Barry's memory to erase Savitar's memory is absolutely something Cisco would think of, but why did we need a full episode of watching Barry walk around Central City not knowing who he is? Who honestly wants to watch that? It halts any sort of momentum that the show had after the big reveal. And the attempts this plot device makes at comedy? They all fall flat. I have been waiting and waiting for this show to capitalize on the cool ideas that this season has presented, but they seem to fail every single time.
Although Savitar was pretty much nowhere to be found this week, Caitlin made her presence felt as she came to Team Flash with a proposal, to restore Barry's memory so that Savitar can also return to himself. Does it make any sense yet why she has aligned herself with him? Nope, that hasn't been addressed. However, there's definitely still some Caitlin left in Killer Frost as she not only remembered a story Cisco shared with Julian, but her eyes flashed the normal color after leaving STAR Labs. The back and forth inconsistency with her character is getting a little frustrating, so I hope that will be fixed by season's end.
Since this episode had no point to it, there's little reason to keep complaining. All I'll say is that this season has two episodes to be saved. I'm not against Barry being Savitar, it actually makes sense considering all the chaos he's created since Flashpoint, but we need something big to cap off this up and down season. But I will never watch this episode again.
-No point
-Savitar absent again
-The memory plot device was awful
5.0/10
Some funny stuff but stupid too
Jackbv12326 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I hate time travel when it messes with history. So I pretty much hated this whole season. I hate when something that happens to the good guys turns them into bad guys or ruins their personality. So I hate what is happening to Caitlin and time remnant Barry. I'm a SnowBarry fan, but I pretty much gave up on that in favor of Barry and Iris. And I was kind of rooting for Caitlin and Julian. But now both those are ruined. All the techno-babble by Savitar and Cisco explaining how Savitar happened finally pushed me over the edge - this is just too stupid.
Specifically about this episode: Hey Team Flash - did you really think this memory freeze would work first time? Did you really not think it was going to be super risky? You know how in the scary movies someone in the audience is yelling at the person who is about to be killed - "don't go in there". That was me before the memory freeze. "Don't do it!" And then you thought it was a good idea to work with Killer Frost to bring back his memories?
Having said all that, doing that made for some interesting and funny moments. In some ways, this was one of the more fun episodes. This was some good stuff. I missed this all season. But that still doesn't mean I like what it took to get here. Or what happens next.
Cisco's attempts to turn Killer Frost back to Caitlin just reminded me how ridiculous her turning bad in the first place is. There is no reason why her cold powers have to make her evil. Caitlin is basically a good person, actually one of the best people on the team. But seriously? "I never did. I never loved any of you." Nope, don't believe it. Oh don't get me wrong - I believe that's what the writers made happen, but I just don't buy that it could happen. It goes against all the hope that Flash stands for.
So to save the day, Team Flash thinks it is a good idea to almost randomly shock his brain again. Yeah really smart.
So all in all, the stupidity outweighs the fun.
Specifically about this episode: Hey Team Flash - did you really think this memory freeze would work first time? Did you really not think it was going to be super risky? You know how in the scary movies someone in the audience is yelling at the person who is about to be killed - "don't go in there". That was me before the memory freeze. "Don't do it!" And then you thought it was a good idea to work with Killer Frost to bring back his memories?
Having said all that, doing that made for some interesting and funny moments. In some ways, this was one of the more fun episodes. This was some good stuff. I missed this all season. But that still doesn't mean I like what it took to get here. Or what happens next.
Cisco's attempts to turn Killer Frost back to Caitlin just reminded me how ridiculous her turning bad in the first place is. There is no reason why her cold powers have to make her evil. Caitlin is basically a good person, actually one of the best people on the team. But seriously? "I never did. I never loved any of you." Nope, don't believe it. Oh don't get me wrong - I believe that's what the writers made happen, but I just don't buy that it could happen. It goes against all the hope that Flash stands for.
So to save the day, Team Flash thinks it is a good idea to almost randomly shock his brain again. Yeah really smart.
So all in all, the stupidity outweighs the fun.
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