Fair warning to readers, the middle of this article will contain spoilers from Season 3, Episode 20: 'I Know Who You Are" of "The Flash." The moment CW has been teasing us for weeks is finally here: the Identity of Savitar, the God of Speed is revealed! Now I have heard my share of conspiracy theories. as well as had a couple of them myself. And I'm glad that this is the direction that CW is going with "Flash," because the character dynamics this episode creates are insane and will make some of the best "Flash" moments yet!
Small spoilers ahead
Things have been set in motion from the last episode.
When Julian pulls off the necklace keeping Caitlin Snow from unleashing her inner Killer Fros,t in order to save her life, things take a turn for the worst as expected. In this episode, we see full on Killer Frost, cold, murderous, and with a brand new "killer" outfit. She proves to be working with Savitar with a level of commitment that proves to be scary. After all, either villain by themselves would prove to be more than enough to keep Team Flash's hands full, even if there were no emotional complications. But this episode has emotional complications in spades!
First off there's Julian and Killer Frost. Their romantic engagement is already a driving motivator behind this season, especially with the whole dynamic of Julian being Alchemy, and Caitlin saving him from himself.
Now Julian has a real opportunity to save Caitlin but seeing how far gone Caitlin is towards her Killer Frost ego, Julian may not be able to do so.
Another dynamic that was evident in this episode was the dynamic between Cisco and Caitlin, or should I really say, Vibe and Killer Frost? The confrontation between these two was heavily foreshadowed in the previous episode, where Barry meets future Team Flash, including a broken Cisco who lost his Vibe hands in a battle against Killer Frost.
During present day's Team Flash's encounters in this episode with Killer Frost, there were multiple opportunities for Vibe to stop his former friend but he was not able to strike against someone with the face of his dear friend Caitlin, no matter how bad she may be. The show does a good job of really showing the inner torment Cisco has against Caitlin, with the logic side of his mind telling him he must fight his friend in order to stop her and the death of Iris, but he doesn't want to go too far and kill Caitlin in the process.
This leads to a conflict between Cisco and Julian, who both badly want to save Caitlin, and are letting their fears lash out at each other.
A new love interest blooms between H.R and a new character introduced into the show by the name of Dr. Tracy Brand. As hinted from last week's episode, Tracy Brand is the one who helps future Flash
A small spoiler is that Joe West and Cecile's romance blossom's in this episode. Cecile tells Joe she loves him, but Joe realizes that this level of seriousness means that if their relationship to continue, she'll have to know about Team Flash, which leads to all kinds of dangers. He tries to cut things off, only to have her kidnapped and nearly murdered at the hands of Killer Frost.
The encounter causes Joe to tell Cecile his love for her too and brings her up to speed about Barry and the rest of the team. Will she officially become part of Team Flash? Will she be a pawn by Savitar? We will see.
Big spoiler
Okay, well it wouldn't be right if I told you that Savitar's identity was revealed, titled this article with the heading 'spoiler,' and then not delve into the show's biggest twist yet! This has been hinted by the 'Flash' writing team themselves, so of course its time for the big reveal. If you still don't know and don't want to know, this is your last chance to turn back. Plenty of warnings given at this point.
The real identity of Savitar, the God of Speed, is:
Future Barry Allen!
Yup! Barry Allen from a farther future than last episode's time!
In hindsight, if one was paying meticulous attention, one could guess this was the case. In an earlier episode when Barry talks to Savitar and asks who he is, The God of Speed replies with "I am the Future Flash." Also, in the four-way crossover episodes between Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, the future Flash sends a recording to our heroes warning them not to trust anyone, not even him!
This revelation explains why Savitar has always been one step ahead of Flash the whole season. It is not merely because he came from the future but because he has lived through all of these events as Barry!
Now my theory is that they are following the idea of the Blue Flash comic series story arc 'Out of Time,' where future Barry must go back and kill his past self because his past self has messed with the timeline so much, time is literally bleeding out from the holes Barry has made in the timeline through his various travels in time.
These travels have left time itself dying, and once dead, all that is will end.
Those are just my thoughts, but there are still three more episodes left and plenty of time for craziness! The next episode of Flash, "Cause and Effect" airs on CW Tuesday, May 9th, 5:00 pm ET.
