Flash: It's Been a While.

Okay, so...

Life got complicated.  Episodes got backlogged.  Shit got skipped.  So, now I'm just gonna catch up.

Episode 18:

Zoom:  

I'm real sad baby Zoom had a bad childhood, but Barry should have put him down the instant he had the chance.  Old Yeller was a great dog, but when he got rabies they shot him.  Sometimes shit happens that you can't come back from.

Caitlin:  

Oh, for fucks sake.  You mean the reason I had to sit through that whole insipid, lackluster, yawn-fest of a romantic sub-plot was so that she could talk Zoom out of killing Barry, and then get kidnapped?  GROW BETTER PLOT DEVICES, DAMNIT.

Hardass:  

You are even more hardass then I ever gave you credit for, and everything you say is 100% the truth.  People should listen to you more.

Iris:  

Get on with it, already.  You like him, he likes you.  Done.

Wally: 

I am dreadfully sorry you're getting plot deviced like this, but look on the bright side!  Soon you'll have speed force yourself, and you can effect your own rescue.

Joe:  

Man, that took balls.  To acknowledge that Barry giving up the speed force to Zoom would be catastrophically bad, even at the potential cost of Wally's life.  We all talk about making sacrifices, but that was hardcore, and you have my respect.

Barry:  

You are the dumbest superhero ever, with the sole exception of SG.  You opened a portal, put your entire world at risk, and then DIDN'T finish the bad guy when you had the chance.  I am VERY disappointed in you.  Not to mention, when faced with a hard choice, you made the wrong one.  This whole "it's worth risking the whole world to save one life" thing is idealistic nonsense. 

Look... superheroes get a raw gig.  They get beat to shit, they have constant threats not only to themselves but also to everyone they love, and they have to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.  I'm not saying it's easy.  But the truth is, sometimes it's harder to refuse to sacrifice.  Sometimes you have to be willing to live with the guilt, when you make choice you don't want to make, but have to make.  If, say, there is a villain with speedforce, and you are the ONLY one who can stop them, you CANNOT give up your own speedforce.  Not for any reason.  Not even to save someone else's life.  And that's not selfish, it's the opposite.  Because you have to rip your own soul in half to do what has to be done.  You have to keep your own speedforce, knowing you will bear the guilt, knowing that death will haunt you all your days, because the alternative is to sacrifice literally EVERYONE ELSE to the mercy of the villain.

Being a superhero is a raw gig.  And Barry, you f'ed it up.