"No one else should have to pay for my sins...And they won't, ever again."
Best viewed in HD 720p + earphones. Info (song, etc.) at end of the video!
_______________________________________________________________________
So I guess I’m making a habit now of uploading videos on the night of the premiere…nothing like a deadline to get my ass in gear lol…
This one was 100% inspired by these amazing Bellamy Blake videos, without which I never would have had the idea to do this:
• guilt is all i have le... (for the style)
• Bellamy Blake | what i... (for the song…also the style, which was inspired by the first one too haha)
It’s definitely a different style from what I normally do, but I thought the concept/style of those videos would go so well with Barry’s arc* in season 3 that the idea was too good to pass up! It kinda felt like a train wreck the whole time I was working on it but I think by some miracle it actually turned out okay, haha
_______________________________________________________________________
WARNING: Rant ahead - read at your own risk ;)
*Barry’s arc in s3…okay so I used the term “arc” here a little loosely lol, if I’m going to be honest I was quite a bit disappointed with the writing for Barry and in general in s3. One thing I liked was that they brought back the consequences of the decisions he’s made, not only all the FP stuff, but way back to 1x23 with Eddie and Ronnie’s deaths, which I always felt weren’t done proper justice. Both in 3x07 and 3x16 they get brought up, and 3x16 has a huge focus on this “not letting others pay for my sins” thing…however, that’s left completely unresolved by the end of the episode, since ultimately he has to let Jay sacrifice himself instead.
What’s really ironic, is despite the whole message of that episode being “I have to be the one to save Iris, no one else can do it for me,” in the end it’s HR who saves Iris, and sacrifices himself in the process. I thought at this point Barry would be devastated, because it just keeps happening OVER AND OVER AGAIN. But no one really seems to care except for Tracy, and then the whole finale centers around Barry trying to keep his humanity by letting Savitar live, not becoming Savitar, etc. It really threw me for a loop and I felt like the writers just didn’t know what arc they wanted to write for Barry anymore.
At HR’s funeral we see that Caitlin, although not KF, is still permanently affected by what Barry did. Yet another person who’s suffering on account of him. And after the funeral he just laughs on the couch with Iris??? I mean, I thought that was a super cute scene between them, but it just felt…wrong? What happened to not letting others pay for his sins? Ever since 3x16 I’d been hoping that Barry would sacrifice himself to the speed force at the end of the season, so once I saw they were actually doing that I literally clapped my hands because I was so relieved lol! He seems to accept this fate as his penance so readily, you’d think maybe deep down he still felt all that guilt…but for me it just wasn’t showing through at the end of the season, so I was honestly a little confused.
One thing I do really love though is how nicely the finale paralleled back to 1x23 with Ronnie going into the wormhole thing and sacrificing himself…right down to the way his and Caitlin’s hands slip apart as they’re saying goodbye, same as Westallen in 3x23. It’s like we’ve come full circle and Barry’s guilt over Eddie’s/Ronnie’s deaths finally have a conclusion. Which means Barry is going to get a fresh start in s4, not be bogged down by guilt all the time (and it’ll feel right, because he did his “penance” already) and hopefully we’ll have a much lighter tone as they’ve promised us. Granted, Arrow promised a lighter tone in s4 and it was anything but light lol, but I still have hope :)
Sorry about the massive rant, just had to get that out of my system… and if you’re familiar with my db’s you shouldn’t be surprised lol
Anyway, happy premiere watching, and here's to a lighter season! :D
EDIT: THE PREMIERE WAS SOOO GOOD!!! SO MANY CALLBACKS TO SEASON 1!!! I’m trying not to get my hopes up but I already feel like this season is going to be fantastic :D