REVIEW: ‘The Flash,’ Season 7, Episode 12 – “Good-Bye Vibrations”

The Flash season 7 has come back after taking a break with its 12th episode, “Good-Bye Vibrations.” In the previous episode, Team Flash, Fuerza (Sara Garcia), Deon (Christian Magby), and Psych (Ennis Esmer) come together to stop the Speed Force (Michelle Harrison) once and for all. Meanwhile, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) deals with giving up his badge and feeling as though he can no longer protect the people close to him. In “Good-Bye Vibrations,” Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Camila (Victoria Park) officially tell Team Flash that they are leaving Central City. Barry (Grant Gustin), Iris (Candice Patton), and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) don’t have much time to process their feelings since a new version of Rainbow Raider (Jona Xiao) makes a move on several Central City Banks. For a final time, OG Team Flash comes together to put an end to whatever Rainbow Raider has planned.

“Good-Bye Vibrations” is such a fitting title to mark the end of an era. Cisco has been an integral part of not just Team Flash but the show as a whole. His character has been through many ups and downs, making his character development such a delight to witness throughout the past seven seasons. Whether it was getting his powers for the first time, traveling to a new Earth, or his bond with Barry and Caitlin, Cisco exits the show having made a monumental impact. It would be hard for his character to remain on the show and have him still go through new experiences. Valdes exits the show before his character goes through unnecessary development that may damage his character. Seeing a Latinx actor and character having such a prominent role on a superhero show has been incredible to watch. His character will be truly missed.

As with any character’s final episode, it’d be difficult to imagine that “Good-Bye Vibrations” wouldn’t follow a more traditional way to send off a major character. However, the episode made various choices that made this send-off feel unique. For one, it didn’t include many overly emotional scenes between Cisco and the rest of the cast. This isn’t to say there weren’t scenes like this, but they included the right amount to not make it extremely dramatic. There were also just the right amount of callbacks to previous moments with Cisco to remind the fans of the impact that his character has made. On top of this, Cisco is able to leave on a positive note and passes on his mantel to Chester (Brandon McKnight), who will have big shoes to fill but will surely do an incredible job. He’s also able to exit the show without any major issues while also leaving room for him to reappear in future episodes.

The major downside to “Good-Bye Vibrations” was the villain that was chosen for OG Team Flash to go up against. The original Rainbow Raider was introduced back in season one and only made an appearance in one episode. Introducing a new version of the villain is fine, but this wasn’t the episode to do it. Perhaps the new Rainbow Raider will play a bigger role in a future episode, but from what transpired in the episode, nothing was set up for her character to make a return. If she was chosen because the original Rainbow Raider was one of the first metahumans that OG Team Flash took down, perhaps fans could see it was a nice callback. However, with major villains like Godspeed teased in the next major arc, it would have made sense for OG Team Flash to make an advance in that investigation. The new Rainbow Raider would be a perfect villain to use during a filler episode, which Cisco’s farewell episode is definitely not.

Ultimately, “Good-Bye Vibrations” offers a perfect sendoff for Cisco Ramon, a character whose impact on the show will be everlasting. His sendoff is rather unique with the limited emotional scenes, the right amount of callbacks, and the manner in which his character’s exit was written. However, the villain that OG Team Flash had to take down should have been chosen differently. With all that said, Cisco was such an incredible character and will truly be missed.

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