"The Flash" The Mask of the Red Death, Part 1 (TV Episode 2023) Poster

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6/10
The Mask of Ridiculousness, Part 1
panagiotis19935 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Reaction / Review for The Flash Season 9 Episode 4: I don't think I will get used to Batwoman being Red Death any time soon. Nice to see Joe in this episode, the way he was talking in previous episodes I thought he would have left Central City by now. Wow Joe's and Cecile's kid is much older now. And Joe is searching for a new house far from Central City, at least Cecile doesn't like the idea. Im with Cecile. Oh boy, the Chester/Allegra thing, I don't care like at all. Batwoman's story sounds good and she says she doesn't want to hurt anyone but I don't believe it. I get what Joe says about wanting a normal childhood for his daughter and for her to be safe but this sucks, I want him to be in the rest of the season. Damn what happened? Cecile can move things with her mind? Didn't expect that, looked kinda cool. They left Mark behind like that? Come on, he literally saved Barry moments ago and Barry had a whole team, they could fight to save him. Well if Joe wants to leave Central City but at the same time he wants Cecile to continue the superhero life, that doesn't really make sense. It seems like he changed his mind and wants to stay in Central City? We'll see. Ok, overall this episode has it's good moments but it's very very mediocre. Ridiculous, awful cringe villain who doesn't feel like an actual threat, bad dialogue and dumb writing. The only reason i won't give it a super low rating is because it was somewhat entertaining. My rating is 6.0/10.
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5/10
Talking with vilians agaaain? Instead of fighting?
antrophine2 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Red Death costume is amazing. 9/10 The voice is fine 8/10... Flash talking into vilians instead of running into them with fists 🤣🤣 This talking fight has been dragging on for way too long, almost the 3rd season... I'm not even 1/3 parts into the ep. And feel like this is going to be a rather fail of the script. Cmon writers it's frigging 4th episode already with 9 more to go... Step it up (I know it's already been written 'in stone', but still).

My Gooosh... I only wish the upcoming The Flash movie doesn't suck as much as this season, because 1/2 of the time of the 1st three episodes I find myself checking my phone.
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5/10
Revisiting Season 9: Mask of the Red Death Part 1
lbramson18 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Honestly, it could've been much better, but also could've been so much worse! I was so excited for this finale and it disappointed...a lot. The plot with Barry being kidnapped had so much potential that was wasted! This is one of the better episodes this season but that's not saying anything. The action was cool, the plot was interesting, but that can't save this episode from not meeting my sky high expectations. And the dialogue was cringe inducing. Once again, the Red Death says another famous Batman line, this time even worse than before. I guess it is a saint compared to most of the final season, but still only a 7/10.
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4/10
I can see why Batwoman was cancelled
Mister_Ocean2 March 2023
Oh boy, where to start.

Javicia Leslie as Red Death just does not work. Her incredibly bad acting is probably the reason Batwoman did not live to see a fourth season (that it got two extra seasons after Ruby Rosw left is a miracle).

She is just not believable as a villain here, and as much as I want to blame the stiff suit she has on for her stiff acting, her performance without the suit was not much better. Often, she would very much go into overacting territory, and it immediately ruins the viewing experience.

The character as written is supposed to be menacing, but whenever she takes off the mask, Javicia turns the whole affair into a goofy mess.

Nothing works about this character, and her turn into the Red Death here feels like it was forced by the higher ups at CW to give the Batwoman characters and world the send off they never got.

I'm not sure she deserves it. Nor does the cast of the Flash deserve this dead weight of a "lead actress".
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10/10
Really good episode!!
tj-841682 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode was just very entertaining thought the whole episode!! From the entrance of old characters and to the black out of the whole city!! Was really cool!! Red death is really cool in this episode!! With red death capturing Barry was a really cool concept and to use him as part of red deaths plan was a cool idea!! The red death suit up scene was sick!! The overall plot of this episode was pretty good!! Pretty cool scenes all around!! Overall good episode!! As well as excited to see what this season holds and what it has to offer!! I'm excited to see but sad that this is the final season!!
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1/10
She is such a bad actress
GomezAddams6665 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
You would think that a TV series that had an amazing start deserves to ride into the sunset with a bang, and it is obvious this is not what we're getting for the final season of The Flash.

Instead, we have been treated by some of the worst episodes of comic book television in the history of the medium, specially with the lackluster Red Death arc.

Red Death in the comics is a powerful force to be reckoned with, who has been unfairly treated as little more than a joke in this final season. A lot of it has to be with the horrendous acting of Javicia Leslie.

It's not enough to witness the ridiculous backstory of this Ryan Wilder from another Earth, we also have to suffer in pain as we watch a person who could not act if it meant to save her life. Leslie's over-the-top theatrics and mannerisms would make Jim Carrey a lauded thespian in comparison, her screams and cackle are completely abhorring, and the fact that she uses lines from other, and by far more worthy cape crusaders is an indication of the fail attempt of the producers to make her relevant, when in reality seeing her astonishingly bad acting is much more horrifying than the Edgar Allan Poe tale from which the title of the episode was taken. Seeing her astoundingly bad performance there is no question why Batwoman was rightfully cancelled.

Eric Wallace has made horrible mistakes ever since he took over as Executive Producer of The Flash, but destroying such an amazing character like Red Death by using the subpar character of Ryan Wilder, and casting such a horrible actress like Javicia Leslie is by far the most egregious one.
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10/10
Let There Be Darkness
RahulM0077 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
"I am the last glimmer of crimson a killer sees before he draws his final breath. I am vengeance. I am the night. I am the Red Death."

The fourth episode of the ninth season titled "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 1" is an exhilarating and chill-inducing spectacle that perfectly paid homage to two great Batman legends, Kevin Conroy and Michael Keaton. The Flash has always delivered great two-parter episodes, ranging from disheartening, fun, morose, apocalyptic, and so on. The two-parter of the second season is set mostly on Earth-2 and remains one of the best episodes of the series.

The iconic line "You wanna get nuts" from the 1989 Batman film starring Michael Keaton was brilliantly uttered by Javicia Leslie as Red Death. She slays as an evil speedster and nails the iconic lines and facial expressions. In fact, her facial expressions were sort of hysterical in this episode.

Iris's investigative skills have certainly improved throughout the series, which is apparent during her conversation with Red Death. She was able to discern her true motives and recognize when she is being deceived and taken advantage of. Red Death is manipulative and totally gaslighted Iris for her own selfish reasons.

As Central City is experiencing yet another blackout, Cecile protects her family and neighbours, as bolts of lightning strikes the houses nearby. By doing so, Cecile proves to Joe that staying in Central City is pivotal to her career, both as a superhero and a metahuman defense attorney. She saves her daughter Jenna from being hit by red lightning. After the dust settled, Jenna made a drawing for her fearless mother Cecile showcasing her in a superhero suit. This might foreshadow Cecile getting her own superhero suit based on Jenna's drawing in the remaining episodes of the series.

"It's never too late for second chances." Nine seasons in, and Barry still sees the good in people, even after being betrayed and double-crossed countless times. This personality trait is what sets him apart from other heroes in the Arrowverse. Barry Allen aka the Flash is the paragon of love and the embodiment of hope and virtue. After Mark's shocking betrayal in episode 3, his moral compass was tested by Red Death and the other Rogues. By the end, Mark's guilt, loyalty towards Team Flash, and love for Frost was stronger, which led him to completely fry the cosmic treadmill, thus saving reality from being fractured.

Barry still sees Caitlin in Khione, as he calls her Caitlin for a brief second. Perhaps Caitlin's soul is still inside Khione. It also heavily implies that Caitlin isn't in fact dead, instead is in Khione's subconscious, similar to how Ralph was trapped in the Thinker's mind in season 4.

To conclude, the final season of the Flash delivers another stellar episode, full of action, heart, and drama.

*The line "And now, let there be darkness" is a subtle callback to the Allegra centric episode in season 8 titled "Keep It Dark", which is a mix between an irony, antiphrasis, and allegory.

*Chester chatting with Wookielover77 is a nice callback to the season 6 premiere.

*Chester's Martin Luther King Jr. Poster is a nice reminder of his heritage. His tray of churros in his lab probably reminds him of Cisco and might be a callback to season 7 episode 6 titled "The One with the Nineties" where him and Cisco crave coffee and cronuts.

*I did not expect Bivolo to appear in this episode. It was a nice callback to the first Arrowverse crossover. Bivolo's slow moving revenge scheme sort of reminded me of Bloodwork's endgame (aka 'the long run'). Speaking of the long run, Bloodwork's master plan is coming to fruition in the next graphic novel.

*Red Death sort of emulated Batwoman antagonist Alice, fully unhinged and deranged, in the final seconds of the episode.

Final verdict: 10/10.
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2/10
Why???????
dwoodzz-351486 March 2023
So many questions. Why did they bring a bad actress, who got her own show cancelled (with lines like "Let's kick some booty."), to The Flash?! Was she still under contract? Why does Iris continually have more relevance than The Flash? It's always about her. Why wouldn't they try to save Mark? They outnumbered the baddies. And the biggest question... Why did Cecile use her "powers" to dramatically fling the door open to leave the house???? Ridiculous!!!! What has happened to this show. It was the best, after Arrow, but lost its way. I struggled to get through season 2 of Batwoman and didn't bother with season 3. Now you bring the Batwoman "actress" over to help ruin The Flash's final season? Why?! Bad acting, lazy writing, and poor producing renders the final question... Why bother watching this final season?
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1/10
Either fire everyone on this production or shut it down (for the love of god!)
typhondrg3 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Ok, somehow Iris is still the main character in this show. Somehow the Flash ist still useless and just wants to talk things out. Nothing new there it has been like that since season 4.....

However, there are some extra horrible things in episode 9x4. I can just make a list: 1. Absolutely terrible acting from the actress portraying Ryan Wilder screaming like a bad villain from a low-budget "Power Rangers"-similar show. She does not seem dangerous, evil or threatening, just looks like a hysterical woman, possibly with hormonal problems, that is kind of Karen-like in her reactions.

2. Completely idiotic plot holes. Like teleporting 4 superheroes to teleport Barry and Iris out even though 1 person could have easily done it. Then even though they were 5v4 (excluding the "weakened" Barry and the incapacitated Red Death) they did not even try to help Mark. They could have also ended everything right then and there since the really powerful main villain was INCAPACITATED and her suite disabled. Even if it was charging they had ample time to cuff her. But no, lets bring all the super buddies for them to do absolutely nothing and just teleport out.

3. Weird discussions about their emotions and relationship in the worst time possible. Like Allegra not talking to Chester for 3 episodes only to decide to talk where there is a powerful supervillain that has shown her face and is preparing to end the world. At the same time they have just given up on their friend to let him die and in that way realized his death. All of this while everyone was being on edge since they did not have a way to beat Red Death and are intensively working on a "solution". The timing was so wrong and random that it really irritated me.

4. Using powers aimlessly and infrequently almost like "it was the only way we could display the x power in this episode". For example Cecile using telekinesis to....open her house door (WHY?) and then never again showing how she saved people and used her powers.

I just want to ask everyone...are there people that actually like watching this heap of trash?

Also, can someone do something about this? I never care enough about bad shows to write a review, but this is so bad that it makes me think of ways to bring it down or at least make the production realize how bad it is....
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3/10
Disappointed
bzq1227 March 2023
Bad writing had plagued this show for the last 3 season. Now add bad acting as well. Batwoman is dumb. Everything is so contrived and predictable. I actually had hope this being then last season they would actually improve on things that made the show unwatchable. This isnt how you do Red Death. I was a big fan of this show but it's been dying a slow death for the past 3 years. Now it's just sputtering it's way to the end.... Maybe Cisco was right. The was getting bad

Now I'm just here for the speedster reunion and arrow coming back. As cool as it sounds, I'm sure they will find a way to make a cringy.
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3/10
It's all about IRIS
saadsaidi2 March 2023
It's official can't take it anymore

The series is not the flash anymore! They should call it all about IRIS

In addition, renewing the villains and making them submissive to vengeance takes me back to the days of Avatar, but in a really cheesy way.

On the other hand, why do you still keep Joe in the picture!? The character wants out - take him out!

It's so sad what CW has done with all the universe it was good to treat American social problem such as LGBTQ+ but you can't make it the core of this universe.

Enough I'm not watching this anymore. The series is called the flash. Yes together we stand divided we fall but come on! You made the super hero useless.
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2/10
C'mon, it's the final season...
sigep-567608 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I stupidly, optimistically, hoped the Flash could go out on a high note in its final season. Four episodes in and I know we're just not going to see that happen.

The Flash deserves to be the star of his own show, and after eight seasons, the show runner and writers owed it to Grant Gustin to provide quality story lines in the final season. It's inexplicable that the Flash has become secondary and ineffectual in his own show. I'm not interested in a show about Team Flash, and definitely not interested in their terminally dull relationships. Can we get some extended action scenes, highlighting the Flash and his abilities?

The last two episodes have taken the show to new depths. I get that the CW may not have the rights to use Batman, but why use Javicia Leslie as the Red Death? Her own show was cancelled for a reason, so why bring her back in such a pivotal role; she can't act and she's definitely not menacing. Her character also has no ties to Team Flash, so I don't get it. And who in their right mind thought having her deliver an iconic line from Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne was a good idea?!

It felt out of place, unnecessary, and just highlighted how much better those other writers are. Stop trying so hard to make this character and actress relevant.

If there's no backstory requirement, I would have rather seen an alternate timeline Slade Wilson in the role as Red Death, but then I guess the writers would have had to provide some true actions sequences, and make the Flash a relevant superhero again-apparently that's above their pay grade.

It's becoming an effort to make it through this series, similarly to how Supergirl sputtered out in a preachy mess.
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3/10
On the right path...
siggy032 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Before reviewing the episode, I want to address something. Please stop rating the episodes before it has even aired. It's pointless and not interesting.

Now let's talk about the episode. As my title suggests, this show is on the right path... to have a worse last season than Game Of Thrones. This was a mess and probably one of the worst episodes this show has ever had. Because nothing made sense... NOTHING. Or it was just boring.

First of all... the speech force is back. They quite forgot about it in season 8 but it seems like it's back. Barry trying to pep talk Red Death was ridiculous and almost funny. But if he doesn't do that, the episode can't happen i guess. And the special effects were awful (I mean we are used to it so I don't know what I expect)

The whole cosmic treadmill thing is not a bad idea but wait... didn't they already do that in season 2? Last week was a copy of « Infantino Street » in season 3. And now we're doing a copy of a season 2 episode ? I guess they are so lost in their own show they copy what they already did.

I mean the whole thing about Chillblaine switching sides was also pointless. If he is still alive (which I hope not), he will switch teams again in two episodes (the fight between him and the villains wasn't too bad ).

Then, don't get me wrong, I liked Batwoman and I like Javicia, but the acting as Red Death was bad. I didn't remember her being this bad in Batwoman. And her acting when talking to Iris wasn't bad so I'm confused. In terms of acting, Candice Patton was the highlight of the episode.

Then there is a bunch of stuff we don't care about: Joe and Cecile moving, Allegra and Chester's relationship. But I guess it's The Flash, we are use to useless stuff in this show.

I'm not having any hope for the rest of the season. 3/10 (and I'm generous)
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3/10
Dialogue delivery is so bad by Red Death
vibhansh3 June 2023
Batwoman (The Red Death) uses a lot of dialogues that are either Batman classics or have been used recently in a lot of new movies and became famous. However, since the delivery by the actor is so bad, instead of feeling like an appreciation of famous Batman movies/classic dialogues that came before, it feels more like lazy writing. I haven't seen the Batwoman show but I see now why that show has such a bad rating.

With such a good acting cast before, this episode felt like a big letdown, all thanks to the Red Death actor. Totally not worth being in the series finale. Actors playing side characters such as Goldface were much more suited for their roles.
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