REVIEW: ‘The Flash’ Season 7, Episode 1 – “All’s Wells That Ends Wells”

After months of waiting, The Flash has finally returned with its seventh season premiere, “All’s Wells That Ends Wells.” In the season 7 premiere, The Flash (Grant Gustin) is still tracking down Eva McCulloch while still dealing with losing his speed. The rest of Team Flash is working hard on making the new speed force for Barry to use. Nash (Tom Cavanagh) seems to have found the only way for this to work but is hesitant to share the news with Chester (Brandon McKnight) and Allegra (Kayla Compton) because of a major dilemma. Eva (Efrat Dor) is still on a mission to get rid of any remaining Black Hole forces that are still in Central City. Meanwhile, Iris (Candice Patton) and Kamila (Victoria Park) are making progress to get out of the Mirrorverse, but the progress continues to take a heavy toll on Iris.

While it’s understandable as to why the seventh season of The Flash has taken quite a while to premiere, it feels great to finally be able to see Team Flash reunited again on screen. However, there was some worry as to how the premiere would play out because season 6 had to be cut short. It’s fortunate that the sudden transition wasn’t as hectic as it could’ve been. In fact, everything in the episode flowed well with how the show left off in the previous season. It’s also a good thing that the Mirrorverse arc will be ending in just a few episodes, as it would feel played out if it continued for the rest of the season. It’s time for Team Flash to face a new threat and for things to progress even further.

One of the few gripes that I had with the season 7 premiere, as well as with the latter half of the previous season, has been the new members of Team Flash. Since the start of The Flash, the team has had members come and go, but the three core members have always been the same. Not having both Cisco (Carlos Valdez) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) in the episode did feel a bit strange. It was also clear that both Chester and Cisco are essentially the same character. In other words, their characters are both the funny tech experts, and having two of the same characters can get quite redundant. On the plus side, they’re giving Allegra more prominent stories within the show, which is incredible. She’s becoming her own character and has the rest of the season to figure out who she is as a hero and as a member of Team Flash.

The latter half of season 6 was a defining point for Iris and the season 7 premiere continues to build off that character growth. Her character is branching out from the “damsel in distress” trope to someone who can handle her own troubles, even against metahumans. Even though she’s still fighting to get back to Barry, viewers get to see more of who she is outside of Barry’s world. It’s disappointing that the show has taken this long to give Iris such an incredible arc. but it’s a lot better than to just letting her depend on others. It’ll be interesting to see how this character’s growth shapes her escape from the Mirrorverse and how she handles any future villain that Team Flash faces.

Given the title of the episode, The Flash season 7 premiere is a Nash Wells-centric episode. Having not been the biggest fan of Nash, even during the Crisis crossover event, I was dreading having to watch an episode with him at the center of the plot. There hasn’t been a good version of Wells since season 2 and since the show keeps bringing on a new version of him every season, the notion of a Wells gets gather tiresome. However, the way his character was written in the season 7 premiere sheds new light on his character.  He becomes a person who others depend on while also forming a special bond with the team. Nash has made me appreciate the inclusion of the various Wells’ throughout the series.

Ultimately, the season 7 premiere of The Flash was a great start to the new season. With the Mirrorverse arc coming to a close, it was the perfect transition for the end of what has been an interesting arc. It was, however, quite strange to watch an episode of The Flash without its core team members present. I hope with time the new characters find a way to be a more integral part of the team, and this episode took the first step into making that possible. Iris’ storyline has been incredible so far and continues to grow into something that will surely make her character growth skyrocket. I’m looking forward to how this arc ends and for what the rest of the season has to show.

The Flash season 7 airs new episodes every Tuesday on the CW Network.