[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 9 Episodes 1-6]Batwoman followers rejoiced when the information broke that Javicia Leslie could be returning for the ninth and ultimate season of The Flash. While Batwoman fared higher with its cancelation than different Arrowverse reveals and ended with its story principally resolved, the prospect of a correct epilogue for Ryan Wilder was thrilling. But now that Leslie’s transient tenure on The Flash is full, it’s clear that the present by no means meant to offer Ryan Wilder a final hurrah. Instead, it used her as a prop for the tales of its personal characters at the price of the story and of Ryan herself. The result’s an unsatisfying epilogue that fails Batwoman as a present and a personality.
‘The Flash’s Red Death Isn’t ‘Batwoman’s Ryan Wilder
The first downside is that The Flash introduced Leslie again not because the Earth Prime model of Ryan Wilder that we’re already conversant in however as a model of her from one other timeline. Specifically, she’s a remnant of the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline from Season 8’s “Armageddon” crossover. This model of Ryan is a villainous antithesis of the character followers of Batwoman already know. The Red Death is a violent vigilante who sees herself because the one factor standing between order and chaos. She’s keen to kill, she seems down on criminals as lesser beings, and he or she makes use of her philosophy to justify doing horrible issues. In the second a part of “The Mask of the Red Death,” she calls down a military of psychic projections of herself as ever-vigilant sentinels, sustaining her model of “law and order” the world over. She describes herself as a “decide, jury, and executioner.”
Meanwhile, Earth Prime’s Ryan Wilder is a powerful proponent of social justice, combating in opposition to corruption, organized crime, and something that unfairly impacts the marginalized individuals in Gotham each as Batwoman and because the CEO of Wayne Industries. One of the present’s principal recurring (principally) antagonistic forces is the Crows, a non-public safety agency employed by Gotham to create an analogous authoritarian police state to what the Red Death was making an attempt to determine. To put it merely, Ryan is in opposition to every little thing the Red Death stands for.
‘The Flash’ Barely Gives Ryan Wilder Any Screen Time
On paper, this sounds prefer it could possibly be an interesting premise. The Red Death is a darkish mirror for Ryan, a superb foil that might pressure her to look at herself and her beliefs from a special approach. But The Flash isn’t a present about Ryan — it is concerning the really huge quantity of characters the present has picked up over its 9-year run. And the Earth Prime model of Ryan doesn’t present up till the ultimate minutes of the story, simply in time for the ultimate showdown. There’s no time for any deep character exploration — if you happen to haven’t watched Batwoman in any respect, you may battle to call something concrete about her character primarily based on what you see in these episodes.
There are a number of issues with this. First off, it robs the story of the Red Death particularly of any emotional sway it may need over Team Flash. The story of the Red Death within the comics attracts a number of its emotional weight from the truth that the Flash and Batman are mates, and the horrific issues that Bruce does to take Barry’s pace and grow to be the Red Death are an terrible betrayal of their friendship. But within the Arrowverse, Ryan barely is aware of Barry (Grant Gustin), not to mention any of the remainder of Team Flash. The present tries to account for this by making this model of Ryan good mates with Iris (Candice Patton) in her timeline, however it falls flat as a result of it’s not a relationship that Iris or the viewers has any funding in. If the Ryan of Earth Prime was current for a full episode or extra, she may grow to be that emotional anchor. Watching her attempt to earn the belief of those established heroes whereas her evil doppelganger runs across the metropolis murdering individuals would make for a compelling story.
‘The Flash’s Lack of the Real Ryan Hurts the Story
Second, it signifies that the emotional weight of the story should be carried by weaker characters. “Mask of the Red Death” selected to emotionally anchor itself across the story of Chillblaine (Jon Cor), a current addition to Team Flash. The Flash has struggled with compelling and constant characterization throughout its current seasons, and Chillblaine is likely one of the worst offenders. His love story with Frost (Danielle Panabaker) by no means fairly managed to exhibit that he’d truly turned over a brand new leaf, and so when he sides with the Red Death in “Rogues of War” on the promise that she’ll assist him deliver Frost again from the lifeless, Team Flash’s response falls flat. The emotional core of “Mask of the Red Death” is Chillblaine realizing that Team Flash has his again it doesn’t matter what, regardless of by no means truly doing something to have earned that place or Team Flash by no means doing something to meaningfully assist him as much as that time. This story is okay in idea however executed poorly. It’s an particularly bizarre selection for the episodes that includes one other main Arrowverse star on the fruits of a 5 episode story arc.
Finally, and most significantly, maintaining Ryan on the sidelines for thus lengthy robs her (and Leslie!) of the prospect to have a significant ultimate look as Batwoman. Instead, it turns her right into a prop within the tales of The Flash’s characters. The Red Death offers a chance for Chillblaine’s betrayal. She’s additionally a microcosm of the problems that persuade Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) to go away Central City. She doesn’t present a significant philosophical problem to Team Flash — she’s simply evil, and Ryan solely reveals as much as assist beat her up on the finish of issues. Compare this to earlier Arrowverse crossovers like Supergirl’s “World’s Finest” or The Flash’s “Duet,” the place principal characters from each reveals are important to the story being informed. There’s a hypothetical, higher model of “The Mask of the Red Death” that has Team Flash search out Earth Prime’s Ryan Wilder and produce her in to assist them observe down and defeat the Red Death. And that model of the crossover would’ve been a significantly better epilogue for Ryan’s character, highlighting her as a hero one final time as a substitute of shunting her to the sidelines.
“The Mask of the Red Death” actually seems like a missed alternative. Javicia Leslie clearly had a number of enjoyable taking up a extra villainous position for these episodes, however there was no must restrict her to it. If The Flash’s ultimate season is making an attempt to be a sendoff for the complete Arrowverse, it must be keen to inform the tales of the characters it’s that includes. Even if the present will get it collectively for the numerous, many cameo and visitor appearances they’ve lined up for this season, it nonetheless appears too late for Batwoman.
New episodes of The Flash air Wednesdays on the CW. You can take a look at the promo for the subsequent episode “Wildest Dreams” beneath.