The Ending Of The Flash Season 7 Explained

Barry Allen, who rumor has it might secretly be the super powered vigilante known as the Flash, certainly went through it during his seventh season on the CW. But nothing lasts forever, and the Scarlet Speedster's latest run around the broadcast television block came to a close on July 20, 2021. Tears were shed. Vows were renewed. Old enemies became allies, then enemies again, then fell down on the ground in a pile of shame and relative speedlessness.

But here, we're getting ahead of ourselves. The season seven finale of "The Flash" sees a number of crucial plotlines drawn to a close. In particular, the story of Godspeed, the nefarious artificial speedster with a penchant for religious imagery, needed to be dealt with. Karan Oberoi's masked menace, revealed to be the eventual doom of Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) had been a real thorn in the side of The Flash and Friends in recent days, what with the panoply of replicated versions of himself spread out over time. A veritable Speedster War was well on its way to becoming a reality. This hostility would not stand, least of all in the future, and by the time that the season finale rolled around, the Barry of the present found himself living up to the expectations of children he had yet to sire: Bart and Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy and Jordan William Fisher), the time-travelling sibling team from the year 2049.

Yes, it's a lot. We haven't even gotten to the lightning-shaped lightsaber fight yet.

Faced with the fractured mind of August Heart and his desire to achieve an organic Speed Force experience, Barry decides to allow the ne'er-do-well with the object of his desire. Unfortunately for fans of a world with fewer supervillains, this triggers the ivory speedster's lust for glory, and he jets off on a furious quest for fleet-of-foot no-goodery, with a particular design on draining Barry's recently "leveled-up" Speed Force. It's bad news all around, that's what it is.

Barry, meanwhile, isn't without a backup plan. He chases Heart down and finds himself in a one-on-one with a real doozy of a scofflaw, before revealing his true designs. He's summoned the help of none other than Eobard Thawne, the dang old Reverse Flash, played by Tom Cavanagh. Together, the two Speedsters fight the third Speedster with blades of pure speediness. Things look grim until Thawne gets the better of Godspeed, stabbing him through the tummy. His secondary foe defeated, Thawne reveals his true intentions: Killing Barry himself.

But it wouldn't be much of a lead-in to season eight if the hero died in season seven. Barry does his own reveal, pulling back the curtain on his understanding that Thawne would never let anyone but Thawne kill the Flash. With a burst of the aforementioned leveled-up Speed Force, Barry puts Thawne on his back. Promises of vengeance are made. Godspeed, his memory of Barry's identity removed, is whisked away offscreen to a life of penal confinement, basically certain never to return again, not even for the next big crossover with "Legends of Tomorrow."

The day pretty well saved, there's nothing left to do for the Flash family besides dotting the emotional I's and crossing the big-feelings T's.

Carmen Moore' Kristen Kramer, with plenty of season seven oddness in her corner to back her up, reveals that she has tested positive for Metahumanity, sporting a Peter Petrelli-esque ability to mimic the powers of those around her. As a result, she decides to take an indefinite leave of absence from the force. Cecile, dropping major hints about some stuff, makes meaningful eye contact with Joe while mentioning that she really likes weddings. Most importantly, Barry and Iris decide to renew their vows.

It's a simple ceremony, involving Carlos Valdes's Cisco/Vibe performing the matrimonial re-up that most baby boomers feverishly imagine millennials dream about, complete with a reference to "relationship goals" and an introductory sentence that makes heavy use of "Star Wars." Still, the whole thing is very sweet. Barry even slows down time so that he and the woman who likes him a lot can kiss for a while longer. Does he wait until his children are out of the room to do it? No, but in his defense, one of them ate up two whole minutes of his vow renewal so that he could sing a song. Some very fast people's kids, man.

"The Flash" is set to return for an eighth season on November 16, 2021.