Look, I know that part of the fun of The Flash is that it is a decidedly less dark and brooding superhero show (even much lighter than Arrow).

But, when Barry Allen decided, at the end of Season 2, to save his Mother's life by stopping "reverse-flash" aka Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher) it highlighted one of the major character flaws of all of the members of "Team Flash."

What problem?

In almost every instance in the first two seasons, when "Team Flash" was faced with a security threat (to themselves of society) they always opted for a solution that ignored or abused any notion of due process or the rule of law (this despite the fact that they admitted at times that there was a facility in the 'central city' area that was designed to hold metahumans.

Tonight's episode offered a particularly stark proof of the lack of difference between the "good team" and the "bad teams" on the show. If you remember during last season's battles with Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) the 'cells' Garrick kept people in on Earth 2 were virtually identical to the cell Barry Allen was keeping Eobard in tonight.

To be 100% clear, the cells in Star labs (where the majority of meta's were housed over the first two seasons) were actually even smaller than the cell Eobard was in. And let us not forget, that as near as anyone could tell, all of the meta's were kept without any Due Process of Law, Legal Assistance, or any kind of trials (not even a military tribunal).

In fact, it appeared they were left in those cells 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Without taking this in too political a direction, if you were to substitute terrorists for meta's you might consider what was happening on The Flash as being a form of fantasy fulfillment similar to the role Rambo or Rocky 4 played toward the end of America's war with the Soviet Union.

What is even more devastating is that this fascism was enabled and being carried out with the explicit support of one of the nicest characters on television Barry Allen (Grant Gustin).

One might actually wonder, after watching a few episodes, how anyone as nice as Barry could ever do anything improper. The first two seasons seemed to intentionally play out Bertram Gross's famous book "Friendly Fascism" which suggested something that we all know very well now, that people with the best intentions can do some truly awful things.

I think it was been hard to tell if behind the "fun" of the first two seasons of The Flash was an intentional nod to a smooth and seamless fascism or if they were planting the seeds of what would make the character grow in depth and complexity later in the series.

In fact, my biggest concern about the show was that it was cost-free, fun, fascist ideology. I was very excited to see these tendencies problematized at the end of last season. For good or for ill, the three reasons I decided to cover the show were:

1) The writers put Barry in some really interesting positions in regards to timelines, alternate worlds, theoretical physics, and philosophy.

2) The writers are starting to consider the implications of the decisions "Team Flash" has been making. It seems like they might be reflexive about the moral implications of the choices Barry has made.

3) The Flash is a surprisingly fun show. My whole worry was that it was so fun that it might become easily swallowed ideology.

I am thrilled to see the writers choosing to focus on Barry's mistakes at the beginning of season 3 (and not because I think the show should become more serious).

I am thrilled to see it because it means that The Flash is unlikely to become a "festival of sameness" like virtually every show on the CBS Network (where the characters are mostly perfect and the drama only comes from external events or imposed illnesses or catastrophes imposed upon them and not from inner-struggles).

"Has Anybody Seen Detective West?"