The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 12 - Good-Bye Vibrations

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

Cisco and Kamilla announce their plans to leave Central City, but before Vibe can retire he must join with the original Team Flash one last time to face an new version of the Rainbow Raider.

Influences

The Flash comics of Cary Bates. The general tone mimics the more light-hearted tone of The Flash Season 1.


Goofs

Caitlin says the new Rainbow Raider's powers should wear off after 24 hours, although it hasn't been a day since her first known attack. 

Cisco addresses Barry by first name in front of Rainbow Raider.

How the heck does Iris schedule multiple photographer interviews on less than a day's notice?

Despite it being a major plot point, modern blimps do not use hydrogen and it's hard to believe that any modern blimp, particularly a cutting-edge stealth model, would use it, after the Hindenburg Disaster.

The wrap-up of the episode is completely unbelievable. It's improbable that the same DA's office that was ready to forcibly remove Frost's powers to make a point about dangerous metahuman criminals mere days before this episode occurred would be willing to allow a telepathic robber to work in the mayor's office in lieu of jail time - particularly since Kristen Kramer is still in town and looking for an excuse to use her new anti-meta weapons.

It's also a bit odd that Carrie Bates didn't face criminal charges for erasing medical debts illegally, given that she was fired six times in three months for doing that. (Presumably she used her powers to get off with merely being fired, and then persuaded five other agencies that her record was a mistake?)


Performances

Carlos Valdes delivers one masterful last turn as Cisco Ramon.


Artistry

The script hits all the right notes in looking back at Vibe's career and giving him a proper send-off.


Flash Facts

Cisco mentions an obscure agency called CEMA - Cosmic Emergency Management Agency - which nobody else has ever heard of. This is an incredibly deep cut reference to Green Lantern Vol. 3 #166, which marks the first and only appearance of CEMA in the DC Comics universe. Similar to FEMA, the group delivers aid to refugees following disasters such as giant monsters eating planets.

When Chester is going through Cisco's things, he finds a box of T-shirts and holds up one with a melting Rubix's Cube. This was the shirt Cisco wore in his first Arrowverse appearance in A219.

The photo of Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Thawne Wells that Cisco looks at was taken during 111.

In another nod to 111, which showed Cisco's first day of work at STAR Labs in flashback, Cisco gives the T-shirt he wore on his first day of work to Caitlin. It says "Keep Calm and Han Shot First." 

This episode introduces a new female Rainbow Raider whose real name is Carrie Bates. This is a nod to writer Cary Bates, who co-created the original Rainbow Raider.

The new Rainbow Raider is somewhat closer to the original concept from the comics than the Arrowverse version of Roy G. Bivolo. While her powers are based around one emotion (happiness rather than anger), she can also generate blasts of rainbow-colored light. However, she cannot fly or form constructs from this light.


Technobabble

Caitlin notes that ARGUS owns three bionic neural integrators.

Caitlin determines that Stanley Ellis had huge levels of dopamine and serotonin in his system, indicating that the new Rainbow Raider can control the cingulate cortexes of other people. This allows her to force people to feel euphoric and susceptible to suggestion.

Caitlin theorizes that Roy's powers made use of one color of the spectrum - red, but the new Rainbow Raider uses the whole rainbow, making her powers much stronger than those of Roy G. Bivolo. This is why Cisco's revised light grid failed to work - it became overloaded.

Cisco says he had to upgrade the goggles for his costume because the convex filtration coating wore off over time.

Chester counters Rainbow Raider 2.0's powers by filtering her full-spectrum light particles through a vibrational filter based on Cisco's powers. The resulting fractal energy counteracts the whammy effect.

Rainbow Raider 2.0 plots to steal a stealth dirgible with auto-navigation and a two-ton payload. It can hide itself from satellite detection. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Cisco has been caught in Rainbow Raider's light show and is loving everything. He forcibly hugs The Flash.)
Cisco: Dude, I am so happy to have you in my life!
The Flash: Okay, this is happening. On a very public street. 

(Cisco has just given Chester all of his blueprints and control of his workshop.)
Cisco: Oh, I know that look. You're gonna bail on me so you can spend all night organizing your stuff in that space, aren't you?
Chester: Uh-huh. But I promise I'll be there tomorrow morning at the epic goodbye breakfast at Jitters.
Cisco:  I know you will.
Chester: Thanks for showing me the ropes, man.
Cisco:  Keep 'em safe for me, will you?
Chester: Roger that. 


Continuity

Cisco calls a STAR Labs staff meeting at 9 AM on a Saturday to tell everyone he is quitting.

Cisco says that he's taking a job with ARGUS at the Star City office, where he will be the new Director of Science and Technology.

Cisco says that the previous director, Chip Cooper, has been reassigned to CEMA - The Cosmic Emergency Management Agency.

Cisco was also recommended for the job by both Lyla Michaels and John Diggle.

Cisco and Kamilla plan to leave Central City tomorrow.

Cisco shows Chester the STARchives and starts clearing some of his personal belongings out of it. As they are going through it, they find the Cosmic Treadmill, the helmet Barry wore when first testing his powers, the Speed Force bazooka, the back-up Captain Cold gun, the Thinker's chair, the Samuraoid, and Cisco's T-shirt collection.

Cisco notes that apart from Chester, everyone seems to be taking his leaving really well so far.

Cisco discovers that Barry already packed all his belongings at super-speed.

Caitlin says she's fine with Cisco leaving when he asks her how she is feeling.

Frost is apparently at her mother's lab. She sends Cisco a message regarding his leaving; "You suck forever, but I love you anyway."

A woman in a rainbow jacket robs a bank by using a metahuman power to make the cashier, Stanley Ellis, happy and agreeable, leading to him giving her a cashier's check for $10 million. She is later dubbed the Rainbow Raider 2.0.

Caitlin determines that the new thief is a meta based on a high level of dark matter in the immediate area around the bank.

Kamilla, Iris and Allegra cover the bank robbery scene together.

While going through her photos, Kamila notices that Cecile Horton was at the crime scene at one point.

Allegra interviews a Detective Finn, whom she apparently recognizes.

Iris asks Kamilla to help her interview new photographers.

Cisco pulls out his Who's Who of Metah

Cisco dubs the new thief Rainbow Raider 2.0, based on Stanley Ellis' brain showing the same signs of manipulation as the victims of the original Rainbow Raider, Roy G. Bivolo - only happy, instead of angry.

Cisco says he can adapt the prismatic light grid he built to reverse the effects of the first Rainbow Raider's powers in 108.

Barry says Cisco should take his designs with him to ARGUS.

The new Rainbow Raider catches Barry and Cisco off-guard by unleashing her powers with a prismatic energy blast rather than just making eye-contact. Barry is forced to let her escape after she zaps a valet and he suddenly gets the urge to take one of the cars in his care for a spin.

Cisco was also caught in the blast and is left feeling very happy.

Barry has Chester babysit Cisco while he and Caitlin work on tracking down Rainbow Raider 2.0.

Iris isn't happy with any of the replacement photographers

Kamilla recommends a photographer named Kenji, but Iris dismisses her as too inexperienced and not having done much besides cover local politics and football games.

Cisco becomes convinced Chester is trying to keep him distracted because everyone else is preparing a surprise party for him.

Caitlin tracks the new Rainbow Raider to Ferris Airfield.  She also tracks her vehicle to a former correction's officer named Carrie Bates.

Barry runs off to confront Bates, but is distracted by Cisco's latest enhancement to his costume: a HUD which displays neon kittens shooting lasers from their eyes. This causes Bates to use her whammy on Barry, letting her escape after telling him that she's on a mission.

Barry and Cisco start having a dance party in the comms room.

Barry learned how to breakdance by speed-watching break-dancing videos on-line.

Chester is able to reverse the effect of Bates' powers with a modified camera.

Cisco determines that Bates was trying to steal an experimental stealth blimp.

Cisco gets upset when Barry suggests going to ARGUS and seeing of they have anything that can detect a stealth blimp.

Caitlin and Barry say they were just putting on a brave face because they were afraid they'd ruin Cisco's happiness over his new job if they made a big deal about not wanting him to go.

Cisco tells everyone his worst fear from 710 - still being at STAR Labs in 30 years when everyone else has moved on.

Bates was fired six times in three months from six different agencies, after cancelling the huge medical debts of various clients she was meant to be getting money from. This leads Barry to believe she's planning to give away everything she stole by making it rain riches out of the blimp during a major football game.

The Gotham Goliaths are playing the Central City Sharks.

Rather than using an electric power source to counter Bates' powers, Barry and Cisco use Allegra's powers to break up her light waves.

Allegra uses one of Nash Wells' teleporting clouds to get them onto the blimp, since Barry's lightning could risk causing the blimp to explode.

Barry is able to put power-dampening cuffs on Bates after her first blast.

Barry gets Bates to surrender after saying he will vouch for her and get her a job working with the mayor's economic development committee in lieu of a jail sentence.

Barry phases himself, Allegra and Bates out of the blimp while Cisco stays behind to manually stear it away from the stadium after the auto-pilot is fried.

The DA approves of The Flash's plan to let Carrie Bates work for the mayor's office.

The Sharks apparently beat the Goliaths.

CCPN is reporting that Rainbow Raider's crime spree inspired a wave of charitable donations after the reasons for her crimes were revealed.

Chester says the rest of the team is throwing a surprise party for him at the loft.

Cisco gives Chester a flash drive holding all his designs from the last six years.

Chester says he's going to skip the party to look at everything and prepare his new workshop.

Iris and Allegra throw a going away party at the Citizen offices for Kamilla.

Cecile shows up for the party, and when questioned about being at the crime scene, says she was meeting an old contact regarding a case.

Caitlin, Joe, Barry and Cisco have a karaoke party at Barry's place. The first song of the night is Lady Gaga's "Pokerface," which was the song Cisco used to wake Barry from his coma.

In the final scene, Cecile returns home to hear a voice talking to her and to see a masked woman in her reflection saying that she will find her.


Untelevised Adventures

Cisco locked himself inside STAR Labs cryo-vault on his first day at work.


The Bottom Line

Illogical and idiotic at times, but it's still probably the best episode of Season 7 so far by sheer virtue of being funny and fun in equal measure.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 6 - The One with the Nineties

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

As Iris forms a connection with the Speed Force, Cisco and Chester travel back in time to 1998, where they experience the same day over and over after discovering a third new Force.


Influences

Jurassic Park (the opening scene parodies the first appearance of the T-Rex), Groundhog Day (idea of same day looping), Back to the Future (general time travel theme, Chester's interacting with his father when he was younger) , Friends (the episode title mimics the format used by Friends' episode titles) and The Matrix (idea of people trapped in a fake reality)


Performances

Brandon McKnight and Carlos Valdes have amazing chemistry together as "Team Chesco" and pairing the two of them for an episode was a brilliant idea. It's hard to believe we're just now getting a chance to see the two biggest engineering geeks on Team Flash interact extensively together over a year after Chester's introduction.

This is the first episode to truly push Chester beyond being another goofy nerdy character and Brandon McKnight delivers a truly heart-breaking performance as Chester interacts with the father he thought had abandoned him.


Flash Facts

This episode introduce the Still Force to the Arrowverse. In the comics, the Still Force is an energy field first theorized by The Turtle, which was to inertia was the Speed Force was to momentum. He was eventually able to find a way to tap into it after deaging himself to infancy, whereupon he became tapped as a weapon by Gorilla Grodd as part of Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom.

The Still Force of the Arrowverse is tied to temporal energy and is said to resemble the powers of Turtle 2.0, according to Cisco Ramon.


Technobabble

Chester designs an amplifier device that can boost isotopic signals making them easier for the STAR Labs satellites to detect. They are also capable of detecting foundational isotopic signatures. (This means they will be able to identify individual force users rather than just their presence or absence.)

A reference is made to neutrino filtrations glitching.

The amplifier showed an isotopic surge when the green energy wave hit Cisco and Chester and picked up a temporal energy wave unlike anything that coincided with the appearances of Psyche or Fuerza. This leads them to conclude there is a third Force that is tied to the time stream.

Adding a transmitter diode to the censor can localize the isotopic circuits enough to detect the new Forces within a 20 yard radius, but requires the kind of receiver that can't be bought commercially in 1998.Chester is able to jury-rig the necessary technology using parts from an UltraFax 4000.

The censor was able to absorb the temporal energy and shield Chester from its effects.

Creating a device that can disrupt the temporal isotopes requires an X-76 power converter.

Dialogue Triumphs

(Chester and Cisco are walking into Masonville. Suddenly they slow their pace.)
Cisco: Tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing.
Chester: Does it have anything to do with “Space Jam” being back in stock?
Cisco: At that Blockbuster Video that doesn’t exist anymore! 

Cisco: Look, is this freaking awesome? Yes. Do we desperately need to figure out a way to get back home? Also yes.
Chester: Well, how are we supposed to do that without a DeLorean or a hot tub?


Continuity

The opening scene shows Natalie; the barista at CC JItters whom Chester had a crush on.

Natalie sees a man in Roman armor, a submarine and a Tyrannosaurus Rex manifest in the street outside CC Jitters after getting off work.

The Speed Force, still in the form of Nora Allen, is using all her strength to heal Barry while he's in a coma. However, she is still weak after being attacked by Psych and Fuerza.

The Speed Force claims to remember light and love after being reborn, before being attacked by Psych and Fuerza. She believes they were trying to feed on her energy.

Cisco and Chester begin driving around Central City and the suburbs, setting up scanners to detect the other Forces before they come after the Speed Force again.

Frost and Caitlin are still adjusting to living together.

Frost has taken up painting and wanted to make something to hang on one blank wall in the apartment. Caitlin had already bought a painting to hang there, which Frost vandalizes.

Chester grew up in the town of Masonville but he and his grandmother moved to Central City once he was done with high school.

A green energy wave envelopes Chester and Cisco as they're working on a censor outside Masonville. It causes their phones and van to disappear.

A forcefield (which Cisco compares to the dome from Under The Dome) prevents Cisco and Chester from leaving Masonville.

Iris tells the Speed Force that when Barry is stressed, he wraps himself up in a blanket. She refers to this as a BBB - Barry's Blanket Burrito.

The first sign that Cisco and Chester traveled in time is that they discover that a Blockbuster Video store is still open in Masonville as they walk into town. The marquee for the store is promoting "The Best Movies of 1998" and guaranteeing that the movie Space Jam will be in stock.

The Blockbuster Video store also has posters promoting several 1998 movies, including Practical Magic, Fallen, Why Do Fools Fall In Love? and Sphere.

Chester makes reference to Back to the Future and Hot Tub Time Machine in speculating on how the can return to their proper time.

Cisco and Chester are able to rework their censor to track the Force to Masonville High School.

Chester and Cisco steal clothes from the school's Lost and Found to fit in and pose as students while they try to detect the Force-user.

Cisco and Chester interview a student named Parker, who remembers the movie The Matrix, despite it not having come out yet when Cisco makes a reference to it. This triggers a reset of the day because something figured out that Parker had broken free of its control.

The reset sends Cisco and Chester back to the town square of Masonville. This time, however, Cisco thinks he is seven years old and has no memory of Chester.

Cisco wore orthodontic headgear as a child.

Chester makes reference to Cisco visiting Atlantis (618) and the battle between King Shark and Gorilla Grodd (515).

Chester is able to restore Cisco's memories by reminding him of Game of Thrones.

Cisco makes reference to the horror movie Get Out in describing Parker's reaction.

Chester and Cisco find that the day that is looping is December 4, 1998. 

Iris tells the Speed Force that the blanket Barry swaddles himself in when he is depressed is one that his mother made for him when he was young.

The Speed Force realizes that taking the form of Barry's mother must be upsetting him more than it comforts him.

Cisco and Chester attempt to buy an X-76 power converter, but the last one at the local electronics store was bought by Chester's father.

Chester says his father was a genius who was always working on inventions as part of his get-rich-quick schemes when he wasn't working. As such, he never had time for Chester as a kid.

Coincidentally, December 4, 1998, is the day before Chester's father died in a car crash while on a business trip.

Chester goes to talk to his father, giving the alias John Boyega. 

Chester discovers that his father bought the X-76 power converter for him, but that rather than giving it to him he was going to leave it among a bunch of junk Chester was sure to dig through while he was out of town.

Chester's dad defends his actions when Chester questions him, saying he is trying to teach his son to be resourceful and a problem solver as well as the joy of seeing treasure where others see trash.

Chester's dad helps him to build a make-shift X-76 power converter using odds and ends in his workshop.

The temporal Force manipulator is revealed to be Deon Owens, who was (in 1998) the star quarterback of Masonville's high school football team. Unfortunately, an injury during the state championships that year cost him his chance to play college football and go on to play professionally. Deon would grow up to become a used car salesman with four pins in one knee.

Empowered by the temporal Force, Deon has pulled the town of Masonville back 23 years into the past and is forcing everyone to relive the best day of his life - the last day he was still treated like a star - over and over.

Outside of Masonville, Deon's manipulation of the temporal energies is causing random time fluctuations. These include the anachronisms witnessed by Natalie and the clothing of Team Flash's members to change randomly.

Joe West winds up in a 1940's zoot suit with a fedora.  Frost is left wearing some 1960's Hippie wear.  Caitlin winds up with teased hair and a 1980's power suit.  Iris suddenly has her hair reshaped into an Afro and winds up in a mini-dress that leaves her looking like a Pam Grier character.

Frost's tablet is turned into an abacus. 

Chester is able to get Deon to stop the time loop by telling him that he needs to let go of his past and focus on trying to change his future for the better. Unfortunately, this seems to inspire Deon to start trying to alter the future for everyone.

Barry comments that Deon seems more reasonable than Psych and less lethal than Fuerza, but that his powers could make him the most dangerous of the Forces.

Cisco officially dubs the power Deon manipulates the Still Force. He also gives Psych's power the name of The Sage Force and Fuerza' power is dubbed The Strength Force.

Iris invites the Speed Force to stay with her and Barry in their guest room.

Frost decides to make the Hippie look a new part of her aesthetic.

Joe warns Frost about Kristen Kramer and suggests that she lay low for a while.  Frost says that is not going to happen.


Location

Masonville - 1998


The Bottom Line

A solid character-building episode that does more to develop Chester than any episode since his premiere and sets up an interesting new enemy in the Still Force host Deon Owens.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 2 - The Speed of Thought

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

The Artificial Speed Force gives Barry a new power in the form of speed-thinking, which he feels may hold the key to saving the captives of the Mirrorverse. Cisco, however, is skeptical, and fears there may be a downside to Barry's new power. Meanwhile, Eva must face a harsh truth about herself.


Influences

JLA: Tower of Babel (mention of Babel Protocols and explanation they are plans to disable various superheroes.)


Goofs

Why didn't Cisco destroy the Artificial Speed Force while Barry and the rest of the team were away during their fight? He was all alone in the Speed Lab and had enough time to do it.


Performances

Grant Gustin is unnerving as the completely logical "Spock" Flash.

Carlos Valdes gets some great silent acting moments throughout the episode, as he is seen to be thinking of things and reacting to Gustin's increasingly unstable unemotional state.


Artistry

The special effects for the Frost vs. Flash high-speed fight are phenomenal. 


Flash Facts

Despite Nash and the Council of Wells dying one episode earlier, they are still included in the title card sequence for this episode.

Cisco makes mention of having expanded the Babel Protocols so they are no longer entirely tech-based. This is a nod to the JLA: Tower of Babel storyline in the comics, which was written by longtime Flash writer Mark Waid. In it, Ra's Al Ghul enacted a plan to cause wide-spread chaos using towers that broadcast a signal which hindered humanity's ability to understand spoken or written language. To ensure the Justice League did not stop him, he utilized a series of plans, formulated by Batman, to disable Earth's greatest heroes. The same storyline was adapted to make the animated movie: Justice League: Doom, but in the movie it was a newly formed Legion of Doom led by Vandal Savage that attacked the Justice League with plans stolen from Batman rather than Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins.


Technobabble

Cisco says he thought he could use Atlantean technology to tackle the problem of perpetual motion and open a portal to the Mirrorverse.

According to Chester, there are two big problems that need to be solved to fix Cisco's Mirrorverse portal. First, they have to find the method to reconfigure the molecular stability of the dimensional barrier that damages organic matter. Next, quantum entanglement from reversed Higgs boson particles disrupts the geospatial algorithm, preventing them from being able to locate people inside the Mirrorverse. This means they have to know precisely where their friends are in order to retrieve them.

Barry determines that Iris' neural pathways have likely achieved an equilibrium with the harmonic frequency of contained within the fractalized dimensional plane and this is why she was able to use the computers in the Mirrorverse to send messages.

According to Cisco, Barry's neurons are now constantly firing at super-speed ever since he became bonded to the Artificial Speed Force, with synaptic connections that are off the charts. Barry is now capable of thinking faster than a quantum computer, resulting in enhanced cognition by way of a Speed Force booster shot. In short, Barry can think faster than ever, in addition to running fast.

Cisco invents a Quantum Ball - a ball which amplified kinetic energy, firing in directions that can only be described as unpredictable. Unpredictable, that is, except to Barry with his new speed-thinking powers.
 
Bloodwork's unique cells created a polar covalent bond with the molocules in Eva's mirror portal. This is why she needed his blood; to create a bio-friendly skin on the interdimensional barrier.

Barry says they do not need Bloodwork's blood, because it would have bonded with the electro-negative particles and become dark matter photons. These particles would not just stay on the mirror portal - they would have attached themselves to Eva as she passed from the Mirrorverse into the real world.

Cisco says if they could collect those particles from Eva, they could use those to open their Mirrorverse portal, but it would take them years to build a prototype to do it. Barry is able to fast-track the process, by integrating the neural net in the Thinker's chair to synch to a nanite bridge, fed into the Tachyon enhancer's non-reductive loop. 

Factoring in geographic analytics and concealment probability, Barry is able to locate the remaining Black Hole safe-houses in Central City and estimates with a 97.6% certainty which one Mirror Mistress will attack. 

Barry creates a cure for the light attack that injured Frost; a cryogenically fortified paracetamol cocktail that fortified her cellular walls. 

When asked why he allowed Frost to get shot, Barry says there was a .0002% chance that the Tachyon Enhancer would be damaged by his attempting to save Frost, while the odds that he would fail to find a way to heal her injuries were much smaller. Logically, the best thing to do was allow her to be injured and then trust that he would be able to heal her.

Barry says Frost should recuperate from her injuries for 14.2 minutes. 

McCulloch Technologies' black box servers run a hybrid theorem-proving system with model checking. 

Gideon says it will take 18.4 hours to run the quantum computations needed to analyze all the temporal-spatial data behind the Mirrorverse portal. Barry suggests the data can be processed more quickly by inverting the Feynman shortcut and applying it to one-half mass times velocity squared, compensating for tachyon decay. This allows the numbers to be processed in seconds.

According to Barry, the longer someone is in the Mirrorverse, the more dark matter photons are rquired to pull them back to reality. Unfortunately, the quantity that they have limits them to being able to retrieve Kamilla and Singh or Iris.

People brought into the Mirrorverse using the mirror gun develop a condition similar to neural dissonance, which causes them to feel intense physical pain. Iris somehow knows this, for no apparent reason.

Eobard Thawne used negative emotions to stabilize his Negative Speed Force machine. To avoid the same mistakes he made, Cisco used an inert substance - an argon-xenon hybrid - that would generate no emotional fallout in constructing their Artificial Speed Force. Unfortunately, in doing this, Cisco accidentally wound up making it so that the ASF increased Barry Allen's cognitive function by a factor of 1000, but his emotional responses have decreased by the same factor.

The anti-speedster gun Cisco built releases a charge of what he calls Velocity-Zero, which temporarily dampens a speedster's speed.


Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: (voice-over) He was the most brilliant mind I ever met. They all were. Whatever the problem, you could count on a Wells - a council of them - to have the answers. Now, they're all gone. And we've got to find the answers ourselves.

Cisco: Why does it always feel like for us to win some of us have to lose?

(Barry has explained his plan to build a jerry-rigged device to absorb the particles they need from Mirror Mistress herself, using two blackboards worth of formulas.)
Allegra: But isn't Eva still holed up behind McCulloch Tech's forcefield? We'll never get close to her!
(Barry's jaw drops and he gestures with his marker.)
Allegra: (sighs) You're going to bring out another board?
(There is a woosh as Barry runs off to get another blackboard.)

(Cisco explains that the Artificial Speed Force has enhanced Barry's intelligence, but is repressing his emotions by an equal factor.)
Barry: I am better this way. The team is safer this way.
Cisco: (putting a hand on Barry's shoulder) Look, man. I know you think your heart has been used against you. But's not a weakness. It's makes you human. I mean, without it...
(Cisco glances to one side and sees the targeting screen for the Mirrorverse portal. There is a long pause as the significance of it hits him. Still, he hesitates to ask what he already knows.)
Cisco: Why is the portal target set to Iris?
(Barry does not respond.)
Cisco: What about saving the others?!
Barry: We do not have enough dark matter photons to save all three of them.
(There s another long pause as Cisco mulls this other, blinking.)
Cisco: So... instead of consulting your team, you just decided on your own?
Barry: I've already seen the outcome of this debate. You eventually vote to save Kamilla and Singh.
Cisco: Like hell! I would never vote on something like that! If you had come to me,  would've told you we'll find another way. That's what we always do!
Barry: Your emotions are making you irrational. 
Cisco: And your lack of them are making you wrong! 

(Frost has just landed on a car after being sent flying several blocks by a super speed punch.)
The Flash: Your defeat is inevitable. The Velocity-X in your system is nearly depleted. Your time as a Speedster is coming to an end.
Frost: (panting) Maybe. But I'm not only a Speedster.
(Frost suddenly spins around in imitation of Barry preparing to throw lightning. As she does so, a ice blue bolt mixed with lightning jumps from her fingers, racing toward Barry. He is unable to dodge as the thunder shower blows him back off his feet. As he goes flying, Allegra runs out from behind a car and hits him with a smoke bomb. Suddenly he is on the floor in the Speed Lab, where Cisco Ramon is waiting and shoots him again with the Zelocity-Zero gun.)


Continuity

Team Flash have created a memorial space in STAR Labs, which has displays for every friend they've lost in the fight against evil. 

Cisco says the memorial room is nano-engraved with the names of the fallen, so that even if reality is rewritten and the timeline changes they will not be forgotten. 

The displays in the Team Flash memorial room include Captain Cold's goggles, Ronnie Raymond's jacket from his Firestorm costume, XS' costume jacket, Jesse Quick's jacket, and a large display holding Harry Wells' glasses, HR Wells' drum sticks, Sherloque Wells' magnifying glass, and (after Cisco adds it to the mannequin in the center) Nash Wells' bandoleer satchel. 

Allegra still has the picture of her alternate self and Nash, which she took in 701.

Allegra gets the message which Iris sent to Jamilla and Singh, telling them to meet her ni the Speed Lab at STAR Labs at 19:00.

The technology Cisco retrieved from Atlantis (which he left to get in 618) doesn't work like he'd hoped.

Chester is apparently visiting his grandmother, but is continuing to do some science work in between rounds of bingo.

According to Cisco, Eva used Bloodwork's blood to tackle the first problem they have with creating a Mirrorverse gate when opening her portal in 617; they need something to recofigure the portal's natural tendency to destroy organic matter.

Barry begins to have visions of the complicated concepts Cisco is about to explain before he can explain them.

Allegra tells Cisco and Barry about Iris' message.

Sunshine says she thinks Eva looks like she hasn't slept in some time and that she has a look in her eyes similar to the one that her husband had when she was hiding something from his followers. Eva denies that she is hiding anyuthing.

Sunshine refers to herself, Ultraviolet and Dr. Light as The Assassins Three.

Eva elects to go after the next Black Hole safehouse herself.

Cisco invents a quantum ball to test Barry's newfound ability to think quickly. Barry is successfully able to predict exactly where an allegedly unpredictable ball will bounce.

Using his new speed-thinking powers, Barry is able to figure out that the particles they need to open their portal can be taken directly from Mirror Mistress, builds the advanced technology they need to do that and predicts the next Black Hole safehouse she's likely to attack, which can be the setting of an ambush instead.

Iris finds Kamilla outside STAR Labs, spray-painting a message for her on the wall outside the building.

Iris thinks she's been in the Mirrorverse long enough that she's gained the ability to manipulate the realm. 

Kamilla says she wasn't able to find Singh at the hospital.

Kamilla and Iris go off to look for Singh together.

Barry called Frost back earlier, to have her act as a distraction while he absorbed the particles they needed from Mirror Mistress.

Barry's plan works, but he hesitates as Mirror Mistress attacks Frost with another focused light blast. Cisco sees Barry not move as Frost is shot.

Barry creates a cure for Frost's injuries after running 2,371 tests in his head in a span of seconds.

Barry describes superspeed thinking as experiencing a barrage of images flying at him or having a scene play out in his head.

Based on Iris' message and the warning that Eva is watching, Barry says the next step is thinking of a solution to that problem and making sure Eva doesn't try to stop them from rescuing the Mirrorverse captives.

Allegra tells Cecile that she's always rejected father figures in her life, since her dad abandoned her before she could walk. This was why she resisted Nash trying to get close to her.

Cecile's grandfather was the first Black paralegal in Oklahoma. Her mother was the first female independent counsel in the state of Texas. She keeps her grandfather's filling cabinet and mother's briefcase as mementos of them. 

Barry figures out that Eva is a fractal clone of the real Eva McCulloch and how to hack her computers to find the video file Joseph Carver left behind. He did this after overhearing her refer to herself as a phantom, thinking back to Carver's dying words in 619 about Mirror Mistress no really being his wife, and going on to analyze her behavior patterns, body language and graphological handwriting.

Eva appears on a local talks how, The Arielle Atkins show, to talk about her plans to develop fresh water, healthier crops and clean renewable energy.

Barry elects to broadcast the hacked security footage of Eva McCulloch's death. This leads Mirror Mistress to have an emotional breakdown on live television, destroying a glass which cuts the face of Arielle Atkins and Eva fleeing the show set, disappearing into a reflection.

Sunshine abandons Mirror Mistress. 

Barry says there were 141 ways to distract Mirror Mistress. Exposing her to the world was the most effective way to ensure she'd be unable to stop them from opening their portal. Barry says making their enemies emotionally upset makes them prone to making mistakes, despite Frost and Cisco saying getting Mirror Mistress upset doesn't seem like a good idea.

Barry determines, and confirms with Gideon, that there are only enough dark photos to safely retrieve either Iris or both Kamilla and Singh. He then runs a simulation to see how the rest of the team would react to this news. Unsurprisingly, they all vote to save the larger number of people and leave Iris in the Mirrorverse. As such, Barry elects not to tell them and tries to open the portal and retrieve Iris on his own.

Cisco determines that the protocols he put into the Artificial Speed Force to prevent Barry's emotions from influencing the device have instead repressed his emotions while enhancing the logic centers of his brain.

Cisco notices, as he is explaining his mistake to Barry, that the portal is set to target Iris and no one else.

Barry denies that his decision to save Iris is based on emotion - it's because Iris has knowledge of Eva they need to fight her. As such, Singh and Kamilla are expendable.  When he uses that word, Cisco pulls a gun from one of the cabinets in the speed lab and calls in Frost and Allegra.

Allegra enters the fight wearing a white bandoleer satchel, similar to Nash's.

Frost injects herself with Velocity-X, temporarily giving her super-speed to combat Barry in a running battle across Central City.

Allegra is able to ambush Barry with one of Nssh's teleporting smoke bombs. This sends him back to STAR Labs, where he falls on the ground and has the wind knocked out of him, giving Cisco time to shoot him with another blast of Velocity-Zero.

Cisco makes mention of the Babel Protocols, which were first mentioned in 402. Originally limited to a self-destruct mode built into The Flash suit, they now consist of multiple plans to take down Barry Allen (and, presumably, other superheroes) in case of an emergency.

The Quantum Ball Barry threw at the start of the fight hits Cisco, knocking him out and causing him to accidentally blast the crystal Allegra is holding - the same one Nash gave her in 619 that causes a person to relieve their worst memories, when Allegra uses her powers on it. This causes Allegra to blast herself, which causes her to blast Frost and knock her out before she passes out from shock.

As Barry opens the portal, Iris is in the middle of trying to get Kamilla and Singh to the medical bay.

Iris refuses to go and leave the injured Singh and Kamilla behind. Shockingly, Barry did not predict this happening. 

Barry forces Iris to come through the portal, but seems to injure her in the process as she passes out once the portal is closed.

The realization of what he's done thanks to his hyper-logic leads Barry do throw lightning into the Artificial Speed Force, destroying it. This also seems to cause a feedback loop, which causes Barry to experience a debilitating electric shock of blue lightning. 

In her office, Mirror Mistress begins muttering to herself that this isn't her world anymore, but it can be.

At CCPD HQ, one of the cops is grabbed by Mirror Mistress, through her reflection, while in an elevator.

The final scene, labeled "Once Upon A Time..." replays the flashback scene from 117 where Eobard Thawne replaced the original Harrison Wells of Earth-1. This time, we also see Thawne burying Wells' remains in a shallow grave. The scene ends with a focus on the grave as green specks of energy appear around the grave, rebuilding the body of the original Harrison Wells, before fading to black and giving us a "To Be Continued..." notice.


The Bottom Line

A step-up over the last few episodes, thanks to a smart script and some solid performances. The opening scene gives the Wells the send-off they should have gotten last week and the last scene suggests Tom Cavanagh isn't quite done with the show yet. Between that, we get some great CGI fights and a reminder of how smart these characters are meant to be... ignoring that Cisco probably could have shut down the ASF while Frost was running around with Barry. 

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 5 - Kiss Kiss Breach Breach

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

While Barry and Iris are away on vacation, Cisco is left in charge of Team Flash. Unfortunately, he soon finds himself preoccupied with a murder mystery where all the clues point to him being the killer. At the same time, Killer Frost puts herself in charge of the hunt for Ramsey Rosso while Joe West confronts Nash Wells over his business on Earth-1.


Influences

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (the title, general neo-Noir theme, including a story of an unwitting hero solving a murderous conspiracy involving his ex.)


Performances

Carlos Valdes gets two nice turns here as Cisco and as Echo.


Flash Facts

There are several DC Comics characters who use the codename Echo. One of them is a Legion of Super-Heroes villain who has sonic powers similar to those of Vibe in the comics.


Technobabble

Cisco creates an artificial intelligence modeled on Barry's thought patterns to help him make decisions - Barry Allen Replicated Intelligence or B.A.R.I.

Each Collector is equipped with a QT-Net - a quara-temporal containment barrier that is impenetrable to breacher technology and powers. When a Collector is killed in the line of duty, a QT-Net is activated and creates a planet-size force-field. This prevents their killer from breaching to another world, as the barrier can only be lifted by the Collector Agency.

Breach Psychosis is a condition that metahuman breachers sometimes suffer if they represss their powers. The symptoms include hallucinations, blackouts and dry mouth.

Earth-1's vibrational frequency is calibrated at a molecular level. This is what caused Nash Wells' gauntlet to trigger a large explosion.

Cisco finds a way to allow himself and Breacher to artificially "vibe" the weapon that killed Gypsy.  By using his white-noise sleep aide to generate low-level delta wave vibrations to stimulate harmonic resonance in his prefrontal cortex and thinking about Gypsy, Cisco can absorb the residual vibe energy from the object that killed her, using the shell casing as a trigger .

Cisco discovers a code programmed into his white-noise generator that converted it into a micro neural impulse disruptor, capable of creating effects similar to Breach Psychosis.


Dialogue Triumphs

Cisco: (opening voice-over) Sometimes the truth is the hardest lie to see through. And when you can't put your faith in the truth, all you have left is yourself.

Ralph: Frost, as your life coach, going after Ramsey alone is probably gonna put me out of a job.
Frost: This isn't a joke. This is a fight. My fight. So stay out of it.
Ralph: We're a team. Your fights are my fights, so why don't you just take a breath and try trusting a friend?
Frost: I knew from day one not to trust this guy. But we did. And now people are dead. So I've gotta fix this.

Joe: (To Nash) You selfishly don't believe in anything or anybody. I used to be like that. When my ex-wife left me and my daughter I was broken. So much so that I went somewhere where I almost never go. Church. I didn't go there to pray or anything. I went there to yell at the universe for destroying my life. Next thing, I'm at home. I'm so hurt that I can't even cook dinner for my for my daughter. Doorbell rings. I open the door to what looked like my whole neighborhood standing on my lawn who had cooked food for us. You can have faith in anything, but it was then I realized that I... I have faith in people.


Continuity

The opening scene where Cisco is confronted by the Breachers of Earth-19 takes place 12 hours after Barry and Iris left on vacation in Tahiti.

According to Barry, it's been two weeks since Ramsey Rosso has been seen.

Cisco's middle name is Baracus, after the character of B.A. Baracus from The A-Team.

Ralph wishes his first name were Hannibal, after the leader of The A-Team.

Barry's favorite food for breakfast is bananas.

Barry's favorite movie is Jurassic Park, though his first instinct was to say The Empire Strikes Back.

BARI tells Ralph and Killer Frost to stake our Ramsey's lab, while Cisco holds down the fort at STAR Labs.

Joe and Nash become trapped in the sewer after Nash accidentally triggers a cave-in.

Cisco and Kamilla are sharing a bed together but it is not clear if they are sexually active or not.

Cisco has apparently started sleepwalking. Kamilla noticed it several nights earlier but didn't say anything.

The night before, Kamilla found Cisco standing at her apartment door with his keys in his hand and his shoes on. This night, Cisco was holding a pair of scissors.

Breacher arrives and tells Cisco that Cynthia (Gypsy) is dead.

Breacher was last seen in 417.

Breacher tells Cisco that Cynthia had been tracking an infamous hacker called Echo, whom she had mentioned to Cisco before. Breacher thinks Cynthia figured out who he really was and he killed her after somehow getting the jump on her.

Matthew Norvock was last seen as the DJ at Killer Frost's birthday party in 603.

According to Norvock, Ramsey Rosso killed two regulars at his bar called Rat and Pops.

Frost decides to go after Ramsey as Caitlin, thinking she can talk sense into him.

Zak Zeal is the Breacher Agency officer put in charge of investigating Gypsy's murder.

Zeal says that due to multi-dimensional signal speed, their best guess is that the murder happened some time between 2:30 and 4:30 a.m.

The agency also uncovered a 301-H energy cartridge. Standard issue, with no finger prints.This, coupled with the Sigma Baryon residue they found suggests that the murder weapon was a transonic-demolecularizer.

Cisco says they can use STAR Labs satellites to track the murder weapon based on its energy signature.

The vision Cisco and Breacher share show him killing Gypsy.

Kamilla finds the murder weapon in a drawer in Cisco's lab.

According to Breacher, every other version of Cisco Ramon in the multiverse is a pencil pusher. None of them are scientists or superheroes capable of killing Gypsy.

Kamilla recalls that Cisco was sleepwalking at 4 am on the night Gypsy was killed. This is within the window of when she was said to have died.

Ralph saves Joe and Nash, having figured out where Joe was based on where his car was parked and the map he left behind that had the collapsed tunnel marked.

Caitlin fails to make Ramsey see reason. He says he will kill her the next time he sees her.

Cisco determines that someone hacked his white noise generator to make him look like the killer

Cisco determines that Echo is his Earth-19 counterpart.

Echo's specialty was hacking multiversal databases to create new identities for people who wanted to take over the lives of versions of themselves who were living better on another Earth.

What enabled Echo to kill Gypsy was that she was stunned to recognize his face as that of her ex-boyfriend and it made her hesitate just long enough for him to pull his disintegration gun.

Gypsy's last action was to send herself and Echo to Earth-1. Breacher guesses this is because she trusted Cisco to be able to figure out who the killer was.

Breacher invites both Cisco and Kamilla to Cynthia's remembrance ceremony.

Cisco and Kamilla admit they love one another.

Barry and Iris visited 15 beaches in 24 hours.

Chester's energy level in the MAC is said to be at 87%.

Cisco says he'll be out for a week because of the remembrance ceremony.

Nash says he knows how to save Barry Allen's life.


The Fridge Factor

Gypsy is killed off purely to give her father and Cisco angst and to push a narrative where Cisco has to prove he's still capable of being a hero, even without his powers


The Bottom Line

A decent enough filler episode, with a strong focus that Carlos Valdez proves more than capable of holding up on his own. That does little to keep this episode from feeling weak given how poorly developed Kamilla is and how repetitive Killer Frost going off on her own and Joe being proven right in a contest of faith are based on earlier episodes. Still, at least Ralph gets to prove his worth in two different moments that have nothing to do with him being comic relief and Danny Trejo is as delightful as ever as Breacher.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 1 - The Flash Reborn

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

In the wake of Barry Allen's disappearance into The Speed Force several months earlier, it has fallen to Iris West, Kid Flash, Vibe and Joe West to keep Central City safe from hostile metahumans. When a new armored villain - a flying samurai - threatens to destroy the city if The Flash doesn't show his face, the rest of the team go behind Iris's back and make a risky decision to try and rescue Barry, seeking out an apparently-recovered Caitlin Snow to do so. However, the Barry Allen they retrieve is not the same one they lost...


Influences

The Flash: Rebirth by Geoff Johns (the title), The Flash #180-181 (characters of The Flying Samurai and The Samuroids) and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (a character suggests an unlikely means of deciphering a secret message only to get a seemingly useless answer.)


Goofs

Cecile says that Barry was found on "the 112 outside of Ivy City", 300 miles away from Central City. This seems like it could be a flubbed reference to Ivy Town - the suburb where Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak lived during the time between Season 3 and Season 4 of Arrow and where Professor Martin Stein met his wife back in the 1970s, according to the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.

Where did Caitlin get the cold gun from?  (Maybe Cisco finally had time to build a second one?)


Performances

Honestly, the only thing that makes this episode work as well as it does is the performances of the ensemble cast, particularly Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes playing off of one another.


Artistry

The special effects on the sequence where Kid Flash chases Peek-A-Book look amazing.


Flash Facts

The episode opens with a quick recap of the last season of The Flash. It conveys the following scenes - Barry proposing to Iris, Caitlin declaring she needs to go away for a bit to figure out who she is following her transformation into Killer Frost, Joe West telling Cecile Horton he loves her and The Speed Force Storm threatening Central City until Barry goes into The Speed Force to fill the gap left by Savitar's non-existence in The Speed Force Prison.

The episode also opens with a special narration from Iris instead of the usual one from Barry.

Iris notes that Peek-A-Boo is teleporting to every third tower, guessing that her eventual target will be The Broome Tower. This is a nod to John Broome - a prominent comic book writer of the Golden Age and Silver Age, who is most famous for his co-creation of Hal Jordan - the second Green Lantern. Broome also had a lengthy run on The Flash, during which he created several key characters including Kid Flash, Captain Boomerang, Elongated Man, Abra Kadrbra and The Reverse Flash.

The Flying Samurai is a character from a relatively obscure Flash story which started in The Flash #180 (June 1968). The Flying Samurai was revealed to be one of several samurai-themed robots called Samuroids who were the minions of a Baron Katana .  

The DCTVU Samuroid is eventually revealed to be under the control of The Mechanic and The Thinker.

Vibe addresses The Flying Samurai as Mifune and later calls him Kurosawa. These are nods to actor Toshiro Mifune - perhaps the most famous Japanese film actor of all time - and director Akira Kurosawa, who directed several films in which Mifune portrayed a samurai.

Vibe also calls The Flying Samurai "Samurai Jackass." This is a riff on the classic cartoon Samurai Jack.

Vibe says "Great Ceaser's Ghost!" at one point. This exclamation was also the catch-phrase of The Daily Planet editor Perry White in the Superman comics.

Cisco and Caitlin both make reference to the novel The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, with Cisco suggesting that Barry's message may hold "life, the universe and everything" and Caitlin asking if Barry's ramblings mean "The answer is 42."

Vibe makes mention of Danville. This is a suburb of Centeral City in the original Flash comics. It was a middle-class resident suburb, where Iris and Barry lived upon getting married.

Caitlin's newfound ability to control her powers and Killer Frost personality are apparently because of someone named Amunet, for whom she was working by working at the bar where Cisco found her. This is likely a reference to Amunet Black a.k.a. Blacksmith.

First appearing in Flash: Iron Heights (August 2001), Blacksmith was a villain who ran a black market for super-villains in Centeral Ciy. Briefly married to the super-villain Goldface, Blacksmith stole his formula, which gave him super-strength and a golden glow and used it herself. It left her with the ability to bond metal to her body and control any metal around her.

Clifford DeVoe a.k.a. The Thinker first appeared in All-Flash Comics #12 (September 1943), created by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard.

A District Attorney in Keystone City, DeVoe froze up while questioning a witness during his first big trial against the crime boss Hunk Norvock. Driven to drink by his failure and the realization that crime COULD pay, DeVoe went to Norvock and offered his services as "a thinker" - a fixer who could use fake alibis and obscure legal precedents to help Norvock and his men get away with anything. DeVoe would come to take over the gangs of Keystone City, who elected him as their new boss after DeVoe's cleverness allowed him to survive several attempts on his life including an attack by Boss Norvock himself.

Brought to justice by The Jay Garrick Flash, DeVoe sought revenge, outfitting himself with various bits of advanced technology. Chief among these was his "Thinking Cap", which increased his already considerable intelligence as well as giving him the powers of mind-control and telekinesis. Reforming in later years, he became friends with Jay Garrick before he died peacefully of old age. Unfortunately, a new Thinker - an artificial intelligence based on the brainwaves of a younger Clifford DeVoe - would go on to become an enemy of the Wally West Flash, The Justice Society of America and Cyborg.

The character of The Mechanic seen in this episode is a new creation, unique to the DCTVU. It is worth noting, however, that the name of The Mechanic has been used by other DC Comics properties, most famously in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series which focused on Earl Cooper, the man responsible for designing and building Batman's cars.

The Mechanic was also one of several British superheroes to appear in the Paul Cornell/Jimmy Broxton Knight and Squire (2010) mini-series. A character called The Mechanic was listed among the membership of the criminal gang The Average Joes in Batman Incorporated #6 (June 2011). The Mechanic was apparently the code-name of one of The Huntress's enemies on Earth Two, in the Pre-Crisis DC Comics Universe. Finally, The Mechanic was the code-name of Thomas Hague - a telekinetic member of the superhero team The Shadow Cabinet in the Dakotaverse.


Technobabble

The Quark Sphere is a device which is filled with Barry Allen's unique genetic marker, programmed to track his DNA using the electrical current of The Speed Force. Used in tandem with The Speed Force Bazooka, The Quark Sphere will trick The Speed Force into thinking Barry is still there once The Speed Force Bazooka pulls Barry out of it.

Shock results from a drop in blood pressure. Barry's instability is neurological in nature, according to Caitlin.

Schizophasia is a neurological condition where a person assigns the wrong definitions to words.

A sliced fibula would be severe enough an injury that Caitlin would amputate if the victim were anyone but a speedster.

Cisco suggests that the code Barry is writing in is a poly-alphabetic language like Greek, where the symbols are a unique alphabet rather than a mono-alphabetic substitution cipher.


Dialogue Triumphs

Iris: My name is Iris West and I was supposed to marry The Fastest Man Alive... but six months ago he left. I promised him I'd run. So that's what I've been doing these past six months. Running as fast as I can.

(Cisco drinks the drink Caitlin made for him.)
Cisco: Oh, this is good!  Is there anything you can't do?
Caitlin: Move on, apparently.

(Pokerface by Lady Gaga plays. We see an unfocused shot from Barry's point of view, looking at the ceiling. Caitlin and Cisco are standing above him.)Caitlin: Are you sure this is appropriate?
Cisco: Yeah. It's a good luck charm. I mean, it worked before.
Caitlin: Last time he was in a coma - not a pan-temporal extra dimension.
Cisco: Well... waking up to Gaga shouldn't seem too freaky...

(We see one of the Samuroid robots having it's face replaced by a woman. This is The Mechanic.)
The Mechanic: The Samurai served his purpose.
Unseen Man: As in 12th Century Feudal Japan. A time when the military class was powerful. The execution methodical. Like ours.
(The Mechanic moves to a touch screen and pulls up an image of that day's newspaper in Central City, reporting on The Flash's return.)
The Mechanic: Well, it worked. The Flash is back in Central City.
Unseen Man: It appears things are going as planned.
The Mechanic: As if there were any doubt.
(A chair turns around. We see a figure with a metal cap wired to his head sitting in it. This is The Thinker.)
The Mechanic: What's our next step?
The Thinker: I'm thinking...


Continuity

The villain Vibe and Kid Flash are fighting at the start of the episode, the teleporter Peek-A-Boo, last appeared in 122.

Vibe's control of his power to create controlled breaches within a single dimension seems to have improved considerably over the past six months to the point that he can follow along behind Kid Flash with little effort. He is also able to use his powers as a tractor beam to hold Peek-A-Boo in place and force her through a breach.

The CCPD is now armed with special taser guns that Joe West is able to use to neutralize Peek-A-Boo.

Iris has taken over the leadership of Team Flash, organizing the team from STAR Labs while Joe, Cisco and Wally are in the field.

Iris says that 1 out of every 3 fights with a metahuman criminal they've had in the past six months has ended in the villain escaping.

Cecile Horton is in the process of moving in with Joe West.

Julian Albert has moved back to London. Joe has apparently been covering for Barry's absence for the past six by telling Captain Singh that Barry was on a sabbatical in the Czech Republic. With two CSIs out, the CCPD Crime Lab is woefully backed-up.

Joe refers to HR's funeral in 323.

Wally West can speak Japanese.

Cisco reveals he has been consulting with several people on a way to free Barry from The Speed Force. These include Harry (i.e Harry Wells, The Harrison Wells of Earth Two), Tina (i.e. Dr. Tina McGee of Mercury Labs), Tracy (i.e. Tracy Brand, who helped build The Speed Force Prison in Season Three), Felicity (a.k.a. Felicty Smoak a.k.a. Overwatch) and Curtis (i.e. Curtis Holt a.k.a. Mister Terrific.) He claims to have been working on the problem for over six months, since the night Barry entered The Speed Force.

Cisco is able to track Caitlin by Vibing her. She's apparently restored herself to normal and is "just Caitlin" again but has been working as a bartender in a rough bar in Central City rather than returning to STAR Labs for some reason.

Caitlin has two doctorates and a PhD.

Caitlin reveals that she somehow learned about Barry going into The Speed Force.

Iris makes a reference to a Mockingbird Satellite that Cisco has to pull up to track The Flying Samurai.

Cisco sets up his rig to removed Barry from The Speed Force at the old Ferris Aircraft facility where they first tested Barry's powers in the first episode.

Joe forgives Caitlin for everything she did to him and Cecile as Killer Frost.

Cisco and Caitlin calibrate The Speed Force Bazooka from 322 to pull Barry from The Speed Force.

Barry makes two references to "Nora (his mother) shouldn't be here during his rantings when the rest of Team Flash first see him. The rest of Barry's dialogue suggests he is experiencing moments in time out of sequence, with Barry saying something about not killing anyone as if speaking to a judge, asking if everyone can hear the stars singing, that someone told him the city was safe and there would be no residual danger but that wasn't true, saying the stars are melting like ice cream, that the stars are loud, that he and his dad are going to be okay, that he's not sure he can be like Oliver (a nod to his conversation with Green Arrow in the pilot) and various bits of rhyming nonsense along with a speech about revolutionizing how physics is looked at.

Barry also writes on the walls of his cell in a strange code.

Barry's neurotransmitters are functioning at five times normal speed.

Caitlin theorizes that Barry either developed schizophasia or dementia as a result of his time in The Speed Force.

Cisco plays Pokerface by Lady Gaga while trying to revive Barry. This is the song that was playing when Barry awoke from his coma in the first episode.

Caitlin uses a cold-gun like the one stolen from STAR Labs by Captain Cold to knock out Barry.

Wally attempts to impersonate Barry by wearing his costume and vibrating his face while fighting The Flying Samurai.

Cisco's translation of Barry's scribblings comes up with the phrase, "This house is bitchin'!".

Wally can heal a sliced fibula in four to five hours.

The delirious Barry says to Joe "You said it yourself. She goes looking for danger." - a line he said once about Iris to Joe.

Joe West has apparently rediscovered religion since dating Cecile. He has come to believe that "Strength means nothing without faith.". Iris is amused by this, saying that Joe hadn't attended church since she was a child.

Joe West is apparently a practicing Catholic.

Cisco made Barry a new bright red suit over the past six months - one exactly like the one worn by the future Flash in 319.

Barry is now capable of moving faster than ever before - even faster than Wally West.

Barry has no idea how he sensed that Iris was in danger. He says he has no memory of anything after he entered The Speed Force.

Caitlin rejoins Team Flash.

Caitlin returns to the bar she was working at and tells one of the men there to tell Amunet that she is out. The man responds violently which causes Caitlin to transform into Killer Frost. Frost says something about having fun while he can before Caitlin changes back to her normal self. Judging by her reaction, Killer Frost's attempts to take her over again are not supposed to be happening.

Iris couldn't bring herself to sleep in her and Barry's bed alone over the past six months.

The Samuroids were the work of The Mechanic, who we see with The Thinker in the episode's final scene.


Location

Barry is recovered from "the 112 outside of Ivy City" - a town 300 miles away from Central City.


Untelevised Adventures

Iris, Joe, Wally and Cisco spend six months trying to keep metahuman crime in Central City under control.

Caitlin is able to reassert herself at some point within the past six months, apparently putting herself into the debt of someone named Amunet.


The Fridge Factor

It really does not make a damn bit of sense for Iris to be opposed to Cisco trying to bring Barry out of The Speed Force and it only seems to happen so there can be one more bit of forced drama between the team members.

For all of the confidence Iris built in the last six months, it seems a damn curious message that she should force herself into the damsel-in-distress role as some means of "saving" Barry.

Once again, Caitlin's character arc for the season is built around her inability to control her power.


The Boomerang Factor

Kid Flash and Vibe are dumbed-down to make Peek-A-Boo a threat in the opening sequence, with the whole "duck duck" scene.


The Bottom Line

Easily the weakest Season Opener to date on The Flash. Most of the ensemble is useless outside of a few brief character moments and The Flying Samurai isn't an engaging enemy. The Barry/Iris relationship continues to be less engaging and well-developed than literally every other romantic relationship on the show, despite it getting the lion's share of the screen-time. What's worse is that the episode is honestly trying to make Iris into a stronger character but still requires her to become a hostage in order for Barry to be able to function. Between that and them reviving the idea that Caitlin can't handle her powers without being corrupted, there's a lot of disturbing implications in this episode.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 20 - I Know Who You Are

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.





Plot

Barry, Cisco and the rest of Team Flash seek out Tracy Brand - the physicist Barry's future self said would one day help him to trap Savitar in The Speed Force. Unfortunately, Killer Frost is looking for her as well, promising a battle between the former friends. Meanwhile, Joe's ponders his relationship with Cecile and how it can grow with half of his life hidden from her.


Influences

The Terminator (a future threat tries to kill the woman who is destined to bring about his downfall, name-dropped by Tracy Brand) and The Flash: Out of Time by Robert Venditti (basic idea for Savitar's identity),


Goofs

As showy and impressive as it is, why did Killer Frost freeze HR's drink - a trick showing more fine control of her powers than she's ever shown before - when all it did was tip him off that she was close? (Caitlin's influence trying to warn him?)

After taking Tracy to STAR Labs, Barry asks Joe why he hasn't told Cecile about Team Flash. Given that all of the events of the episode take place in one night (we know this because Cecile says that she told Joe that she loved him that morning whens he visits him at his house later) when has Joe had time to talk to Cecile?


Performances

The chemistry between Anne Dudek and Tom Cavanagh is brilliant and salvages what might be an otherwise creepy subplot with HR hitting on a woman under severe duress.

Carlos Valdes and Tom Felton do a good job playing off of each other, exploding the underdeveloped dynamic between Cisco and Julian.

Jesse L. Martin is a treasure. Not a lot else needs to be said.


Artistry

The sequence in which Barry saves Tracy Brand from Killer Frost's attack in the lab is a new high-mark for the show's excellent slow-motion effects work.

Ignoring that Killer Frost really should not be able to out-pace The Flash on ice-slides, the chase sequence looks amazing.


Flash Facts

In this episode, Killer Frost shows the ability to create ice-slides - bridges of frozen water on which she can move at great speed. Ironically, while this ability is often utilized by ice-manipulating heroes and villains in comic books (Iceman from The X-Men being the most famous example.) no version of Killer Frost in the comics made use of this ability. This may have been due to the pre-New 52 Killer Frosts being heat-vampires rather than an ice-creating elemental. The Killer Frost in the Justice League cartoon, however, did have the ability to create ice slides.

While not creating ice-slides, the Killer Frosts in the classic comics did have the ability to fly - presumably by using cold air to provide lift or through some latent telekinetic ability that also allowed them to shape and manipulate the ice they created by draining the heat from objects.

At one point Tracy Brand compares herself to Sarah Connor in The Terminator. Cisco corrects her and says she's more like Miles Dyson. In the Terminator mythology, Miles Dyson is the scientist who creates the neural-net processor that leads to the development of Skynet - the artificial intelligence that tries to take over the world but is defeated by John Connor, son of Sarah Connor.

"Eppur si muove" is Italian for "And yet it moves." As HR notes, this statement is attributed to the astronomer Galileo who reportedly said this phrase after being forced to recant his research which proved that The Earth moved around The Sun rather than the reverse, which was the accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church at the time. Since then, the phrase has become a rallying cry for scientists whose research is held back or decried by political or religious pressure.

Tracy theorizes that Savitar's armor is made of a theoretical substance capable of dispersing heat at high temperatures. This sounds remarkably similar to how - in the modern The Flash comics - Wally West was able to create a costume of pure Speed Force through sheer force of will to protect him from the effects of friction and static build-up.

The concept of Barry Allen having to fight a future corrupted version of himself lies at the center of the New 52 Flash story Out Of Time.


Technobabble

Tracy Brand's dissertation was on the purely suppositional nature of extra-dimensional energy. Barry tells her - not realizing she hasn't talked with anyone about her hypothesis yet - that her work on relativistic quantum mechanics and its application to interspatial theory to manipulate matter on a sub-atomic level is groundbreaking.

Barry is able to use a spark of his speed lightning to ignite a gas torch as a weapon against Killer Frost.

Tracy Brand's theories of quantum mechanics involve ideas of wave-particle duality, quantization of energy and time- symmetric formulation of quantum theory and how the boundary conditions lead to principle causality and the psychological arrow of time.

Tracy Brand studied speedsters and theorized the idea of The Speed Force's existence based on the energy produced by a speedster in motion being more than they could generate through sheer kinetics. She theorizes this energy could be manipulated or controlled... perhaps even turned into a prison of sorts.

Barry's costume is made of vulcanized Teflon. It neutralizes any electron imbalance and prevents the friction of Barry's movements from generating a lethal dose of static charge.

"Eppur si muove" is Italian for "And yet it moves."

Tracy Brand notes that the way light reflects off of Savitar's armor is unlike any metallic compound she's ever seen.

In Fermi liquid theory, any sort of non-Fermi liquid is called "strange metal". This is a theoretical compound capable of dispersing heat at high temperatures.

Tracy theorizes that Savitar moves so fast that he needs his armor - which is made of this "strange metal" to neutralize the charge that builds up around him.  This seems to be like Barry's vulcanized Teflon costume, but on a much larger scale.

Tracy further theorizes that without the suit, Savitar would just be a man with a major case of static cling. She also guesses that Savitar's own velocity could be used against him with the right device and he could be trapped in The Speed Force.


Dialogue Triumphs

HR: So our hopes of defeating an evil speed god hinge on a grad student?
Barry: Yep.
HR: ... could be worse.

(The window in the door of Tracy Brand's lab ices over and shatters. Killer Frost enters.)
Killer Frost: Admission here is so easy.

(Barry has been knocked down by one of Killer Frost's blasts. Cisco nervously approaches her.)
Cisco: So... you've gone full-on Killer Frost, huh? New threads and everything.
Killer Frost: No more pencil-skirts for me.
Cisco: (raising his hands defensively) I don't want to hurt you.
Killer Frost: You won't. But I will hurt her.

Tracy:You're interested in my theories on quantum mechanics?
HR: Your ideas of wave-particle duality. Your quantization of energy. And your time-symmetric formulation of quantum theory. And -
(Cut to the STAR Labs portable lab van, where Cisco and Julian are manning the station. Cisco is talking into a walkie-talkie.)
Cisco: - how the boundary conditions lead to principle causality and the psychological arrow of time.
HR: ... and the psychological arrow of time.
Tracy: You really know your stuff!
HR: Well... je suis... smart.
Cisco: (over HR's ear-piece) Lay off the French. And lay off the improv too, please?

(Team Flash explains to Tracy why Killer Frost is trying to kill her.)
Joe: We know it's a lot to take in.
Tracy: Well, to be fair you're basically telling me I'm Sarah Connor in Terminator.
Everyone Except Tracy: Wellll...
Cisco: More like Miles Dyson.

Julian: Caitlin could be home now. Had you stopped her, she would be here. But you didn't! You couldn't! Tell me why!
Cisco: Because I'm afraid!
Julian: Afraid of what?!
Cisco: Afraid of killing her! (holding up his hands) I'm walking around with two loaded guns here, ready to go off. I mean, what if she's hurting Barry or Joe or you? And I have to save you and I can't control my powers and I end up killing her?! She's my best friend. And I rather it be me than her.

Tracy: How did you know I was here?
HR: (clears throat) I may have done a bit of holographic stalking. I stalked you. Holographically.
Tracy: You mean, in the future, I'm still obsessed with a 500 year old Italian polymath?
HR: (laughs) It would appear so.

The Flash: I know who you are.
Savitar: It's about time.
The Flash: Yes, it is. Everything with you is about time, isn't it? The past? The present? The future? You know all of it, right? And you know everything about me! About Joe! About Wally!  And Iris?! You know our strengths. You know our fears. You know how much we love each other. And you know how to use that love against us. All this time we thought we couldn't stop you because you were one step ahead. But that's not it! You don't just know what's going to happen to us. You were there. You lived it. You remember... when you were me!
(Savitar kneels down and his armor begins to unfold. Out of it steps a somewhat familiar figure.  The hair is longer and dirtier and the face is scarred... but it's clearly Barry Allen)
Savitar: Like I told you.from the beginning.. I am the Future Flash.


Continuity

According to the data from Future Barry, Tracy Brand will win the 2021 Nobel Prize, The Copley Medal and a Presidential commendation.

In 2021, Tracy Brand develops the technology that traps Savitar in The Speed Force.

During the events of this episode, Wally is on Earth Three visiting Jesse Quick.

In 2017, Tracy Brand is a graduate student enrolled in Central City University's theoretical physics program. She failed her dissertation and is in the process of burning her notes when Barry, Cisco and HR find her.

On Earth 19, the great physicist Einstein's first name was Norbert. Not Albert.

On Earth 19, the fried potato snack Americans call Fries and the British are Chips are called Finger Chips.

HR's drink of choice at CC Jitter's is a triple-shot no-whip mocha Flash.

Tracy Brand's drink of choice is on the CC Jitter's secret menu. It is called The Zoom - triple espresso with a shot of cayenne.

Team Flash wipes the security footage at Central City University to protect Caitlin's identity.

Team Flash tells Tracy Brand about her future and that her theories regarding The Speed Force are right.

HR claims to have written a book of motivational speeches on Earth 19 - All's Wells That Ends Wells.

The Galileo of Earth 19 also coined the phrase"Eppur si muove".

HR is familar with the writings of Galileo and knew that there is a statue of him in one of Central City's parks. It is because of this that he recognizes the landmark in one of Tracy's photos from the future.

Joe dumps Cecile just before she is taken hostage by Killer Frost.

Killer Frost is able to repeat the exact words Barry is going to use as he tries to talk sense into her. She claims this is because Savitar knows what Barry did in his past and told her what Barry said.

Savitar tells Barry that the time of his ascension is almost about to happen.

Cisco takes a blood sample of Killer Frost while she's fully mutated. Julian thinks he can use that to reverse engineer a permanent cure for her condition.

The team notes that Savitar rescued Caitlin rather than kill Tracy Brand, indicating that he needs Caitlin for something.

Joe takes off his wedding ring and tells Cecile that he loves her, promising there will be no more secrets between them. We later learn that he told Cecile about Barry and Wally's secret identities and his work at STAR Labs.

Barry figures out that Savitar is a corrupted future version of himself.


Untelevised Adventures

We don't get to see HR's talk with Tracy and how he convinces her to try and help Team Flash build a speed trap for Savitar.


The Bottom Line

Flawless. Absolutely flawless.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 17 - Duet

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

Team Flash is surprised when Mon-El and Hank Henshaw emerge from a breach with an unconscious Supergirl in tow.They tell everyone about The Music Meister - a new telepathic villain who put Kara under his spell. Soon Barry is similarly enscrolled and both heroes find themselves trapped in a world right out of a musical. And if they hope to get out of this one gracefully, they're going to have to sing and dance their way to the end of the story!

Influences

The Mayhem Of The Music Meister! episode of Batman: The Brave And The Bold, the MGM film version of The Wizard of Oz (various lines refer to songs from it, Barry notes that the people around them in the dream world look like people from his and Kara's lives) and various Mr. Mxyzptlk stores from the classic Superman/Supergirl comics (Music Mesiter's powers and general M.O.)

Goofs

Very little about The Music Meister makes sense in terms of powers, power limits and motivations. But hey, it's a musical, so don't worry about it.

Performances

The entire ensemble does a great job with the musical numbers.


Artistry

The set design, costuming and lighting of the musical dream world are fantastic.

The original songs are toe-tapping numbers that will stick with you after the episode is over.

Flash Facts

Grant Gustin (who plays Barry Allen), Melissa Benoist (who plays Supergirl) and Darren Cris (who plays The Music Meister) all previously appeared together in the musical comedy/drama Glee.

The Music Meister was originally created for the cartoon Batman: The Brave And The Bold. A powerful telepath who was bullied for his love of singing and musicals as a child, he discovered that he could control the minds of other people by singing. This resulted in the people under his control bursting out into song, as if they were in a musical production. The episode in which he appeared - The Mayhem Of The Music Meister! - was nominated for an Emmy and frequently places in the top rankings on lists of Television History's greatest musical episodes.

Precisely what The DCTVU version of Music Meister is never explained. J'onn says he was an alien, but his species is never identified. He is able to steal both Barry and Kara's powers and clearly possess some kind of telepathic abilities - presumably how he is able to know so much about everyone and their secrets. He claims his motivations are purely to help mend Barry and Kara's broken hearts. This makes him very much like Mr. Mxyzptlk, whom Kara has already fought once. Oddly enough, nobody else makes this connection in the episode.

The songs featured in this episode include Singing In The Rain from Singing In The Rain, Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Put A Little Love In Your Heart by Jackie DeShannon and More I Cannot Wish You from Guys And Dolls.

The backstage area where Barry meets Kara features several posters for Thurston The Great Magician. This is a reference to Howard Thurston - a stage magician who was certainly the most famous of his time and one of the "Royal Dynasty" of magicians.

John Barrowman - who plays Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow - appears in the dream world as club owner/gangster "Cutter" Moran.

Jeremy Jordan - who plays Winn Schott on Supergirl - appears in the dream world as Grady The Piano Player.

Carlos Valdes - who plays Cisco Ramon on The Flash - appears in the dream world as Pablo The Waiter.

Victor Garber - who plays Dr. Martin Stein on Legends of Tomorrow - appears in the dream world as Digsy Foss's husband/ Millie Foss's other father (who is never named in the whole episode!)

Jesse L. Martin - who plays Joe West on The Flash - appears in the dream world as crime boss Digsy Foss.

Candice Patton - who plays Iris West on The Flash - appears in the dream world as Millie Foss.

Chris Wood - who plays Mon-El on Supergirl - appears in the dream world as Tommy Moran.

The original song - Superfriends - was written by actress/singer/songwriter Rachel Leah Bloom, who is perhaps most famous for her work on the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

The original song - Runnin' Home To You - was written by Pasek and Paul, who also wrote the 2017 Academy Award winning song City of Stars for the movie La La Land.

Technobabble

Kara's vital signs are low after a few hours in The Music Meister's trance.

Caitlin determines that the Speed Force levels in Barry's cells and the amount of solar radiation in Kara's body have been severely depleted by their comas. She speculates that their powers are being drained by The Music Meister.

Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: Who are you exactly?
Mon-El: My name's Mon-El. I'm Kara's...(struggles before spitting out the word) friend.
(Barry just raises an eyebrow.)
Mon-El: We're more... more than... friend?
(Barry looks to Wally.)
Mon-El: We've been kissing a lot.
Caitlin: Oh! She never mentioned she had a boyfriend.
Mon-El: It's a recent thing, so...
J'onn: I thought you two broke up?
(Mon-El looks away as everyone goes awkwardly quiet.)
H.R.: (laughing nervously) I'll tell you what. I know enough not to mention the break-up between Barry and -uh-
Iris: (quietly) H.R.?
H.R.: Sorry...

(Kara and Barry speculate on where they are and how to escape.)
Barry: We just need to figure a way out.
Kara: (smiling) I guess I could click my heels together three times?
Barry: Yeah!
Kara: I was kidding.

(Wally runs into the lab. Everyone is watching Music Meister on a monitor trying to break into a bank with his stolen heat vision. Cisco has changed into the leather jacket for his Vibe costume.)
Mon-El: We've got to bring him in.
Wally: No. Not we. Me. I'm the reason Barry got whammied.
Cisco: We win and we lose as a team. I'm coming with you.
J'onn: I'm coming too.
Cisco: Look, John - I respect this whole special agent situation you've got going on, but this problem right here needs someone with...
(Without saying a word, J'onn shape-shifts into his Martian form.)
Cisco: ... green skin and a sick-ass cape.
J'onn: Call me The Martian Manhunter.
Mon-El: I think you'll find that J'onn is a lot more than just a pretty face.

Millie: Dads, there's no reason to be concerned!
Barry: (stunned) Dads?

Millie's Dads: (in unison) You got a problem with that?
Barry: No. I love musicals. So...

Barry: Wow. Things really are easier in musicals.

Barry: I'll be there in the nick of time if you're ever in a spot.
Kara: And if you're not there in time, you can just go back in time, and give it another shot.
Barry: (spoken) I'm actually not supposed to do that any more.
Kara: (spoken) Oh. Okay.

Continuity

This episode immediately follows the events of S216.

The episode opens with a flashback to Barry's childhood, where he is seen watching Singing In The Rain with his mother.

Kara did not say anything about Mon-El to the heroes of Earth One during the Invasion! storyline.

Kara and Barry are powerless in the dream world.

According to The Music Meister, Kara and Barry created their shared dreamworld together due to their shared love of musicals.

Cisco is revealed to have the power to vibe other people into the dreams of other people.

The Music Meister escapes, with no explanation as to who or what he is.

Kara and Mon-El seem to be back together again as a couple.

Barry proposes to Iris again. She accepts.

Location

The opening flashback takes place at some point in Barry's past before his mother died.

The Bottom Line

Those hoping for a full musical ala the Once More With Feeling episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer may leave this episode sorely disappointed since there's only two original songs and nothing within the context of the original action of the show. Those hoping for something as funny as the classic Brave And The Bold Episode with the cast being forced into a kick-line will be likewise let down. Taken on its own merits, however, this is a solidly amusing episode... except for my own personal opinion that there's better chemistry between Kara and Barry than their respective love interests.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 11 - Dead Or Alive

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here. 



Plot

When a bounty hunter shows up looking for the Harrison Wells of Earth 19, Cisco must fight a duel to the death to save HR's life. Meanwhile, Iris pursues a lead on the high-tech weapons dealer who has set up shop in Central City over both Barry and Joe's objections.


Influences

The Terminator (leather-clad assassin travels across reality), Die Hard (HR parodies a line from the movie in his dream sequence while dictating his new book), Star Wars (Gypsy uses red energy as opposed to Cisco's blue energy, Gypsy's pinning Cisco over a lava flow resembles the Obi-Wan/Darth Vader duel in Revenge Of The Sith), The Fellowship of The Ring movie (Cisco quotes Arwen), This Is Spinal Tap (Gypsy says it is time to turn things up to 11.) and Geoff Johns' Vibe comics.


Goofs

If Gypsy has the power to create precise breach portals, why did she break the windows to gain entry to CC Jitters?  Why not just teleport in?

Why does Gypsy refer to her world as Earth 19?  Isn't the numbering of the Earths based on Cisco's system?  (Maybe he uncovered an official map during his travels cataloging the Earths?)

For that matter, why does Gypsy call her powers vibing when that was Cisco's term for it?


Performances

The whole ensemble does a fantastic job, however brief their roles this week.

Candice Patton finally gets to play the gusty reporter from the comics Iris West is supposed to be for a change and she gets a wonderful metatextual line about needing to be someone besides a daughter, sister or girlfriend.

It's always a nice change when Carlos Valdes gets to play serious and while there is a lot of comedy in this episode (the interactions with Gypsy are cute as hell), Valdes also gets to be an honest to goodness badass as Vibe.


Artistry

There's not a lot of complicated stunt work or complex acting to it, and yet the scene of Wally reveling in the love of his fans (i.e. the bus full of cheerleaders he just saved) and leaving behind a lighting-streaked flame-pattern on the ground after stopping to take a quick selfie with the girls fawning over him (after looking to Barry for approval, of course) is the sort of cheesy, hopeful and upbeat scene that The Flash is all about.

Not quite as upbeat but no less impressive in how everything - direction, acting, special effects, set design - comes together to form something more than the sum of its parts is the whole of Gypsy and Vibe dueling.


Flash Facts

The collector seeking HR is named Gypsy.  In the pre-New 52 DC Comics universe, Gypsy was also the code name of Cindy Reynolds - a metahuman with illusion-crafting powers as well as limited precognitive and astral-projection powers who was part of the same Justice League team as Paco "Vibe" Ramone.

In the New 52 universe, Gypsy was the codename of Cynthia Mordeth - a refugee from a parallel Earth. Here, her connection to Francisco "Vibe" Ramon was that she was on the run from the villain Rupture, who was an evil version of Vibe's older brother from her Earth.

The Gypsy from Earth 19 we see in this episode appears to have the exact same powers as Cisco Ramon but with a far greater degree of control and awareness of how to utilize her power..

Like Vibe in the New 52 universe, Gypsy is able to use her powers to negate the power of The Speed Force and stop speedsters dead in their tracks. She does this with Kid Flash.

Gypsy's costume here resembles that worn by her comic-book counterpart in Gail Simone's Birds of Prey.

There is a brief cameo by the Earth 38 version of Eve Teschmacher - James Olsen's secretary on Supergirl - when Vibe and Gypsy briefly teleport into James Olsen's office.


Technobabble

Cisco calculates that Barry must cover a certain distance in less than .21 seconds to save Iris in the future.

Julian crafts a speed timeline which charts Barry's maximum speed starting out, his current top speed, the rate of improvement across time and notes that assuming the rate of improvement is constant, there is no way Barry can become fast enough to run the required distance in less than .21 seconds before May 2017.

Gypsy has a signature move which Julian dubs "The Breach and Blast" where she jumps through a portal, disappears, reemerges from another portal and blasts the target in the back. Julia discovers that, for a split second when she exits the second portal, her feet are off the ground. This means she is off-balance and vulnerable.

Gypsy and Vibe resonate on a similar frequency.


Dialogue Triumphs

(A group of criminals look over the high-tech gun an arms dealer has assembled.)
Criminal: Looks like Christmas came early.
The Flash: (from behind them) You know what the only problem is?  You're on Santa's naughty list. Christmas is canceled.

(HR stares down the criminals, wielding an improbably large gun.)
HR: Look who has a vortex cannon. Ho-ho-ho.
(HR laughs madly as we pull back and fade to see him sitting behind a computer at STAR Labs. The rest of the team are doing actual work as HR is talking into his recorder.)
Cisco: HR? HR?
HR (dramatically) With a blast from my trusty vortex cannon, I dispatched the miscreants!
Cisco: HR!
HR: Hey, yeah! Here we are!
Cisco: Barry needs help!
HR: Yeah! Barry needs help!
Caitlin: Where's Kid Flash?
HR: He's on his way! (quietly, into his communicator) Are you on your way? They need you at Keystone Bridge.
Julian: (curtly) Surely all your adventures are not -this- disorganized?
Cisco: (in a mock British accent) There is a method to the madness, mate.
(Caitlin smirks at Cisco.)

(Cisco knocks the stun-gun from Gypsy's hand with a vibe blast. She looks at him stunned as Caitlin runs to HR.)
Caitlin: Where does it hurt?
HR: (wincing) Oh... everywhere.
Gypsy: You can vibe?!  (smiles) Oh, I like it.
Cisco: Slow down there. Let's just talk about this. Like two adults. Over coffee. Or maybe dinner, if you prefer that? There's a great Thai place up the road if you like Thai. I'm Cisco, by the way. You must be Gypsy. It's nice to meet you.
(As he speaks, the hand Cisco holds up defensively slowly extends and lowers as if offering to shake hands instead.)
Caitlin: Are you asking her on a date?!
HR: Are you kidding me?!
Cisco: I am negotiating!

(Barry tells Iris about HR's arrest and his wondering if HR's absence will save her in the future.)
Barry: How do we ever know if our actions now impact the future?
Iris: Yeah. You know, sometimes I wish we had normal people problems.
Barry: Yeah. That would be nice.

Cisco: (dramatically) By the laws of Earth 19,  I hereby challenge you for possession of HR Wells! (pauses) If you want, we could solve this another way. There's a great spot for drinks-
Gypsy: You realize that trial by combat is to the death?
Cisco:  Yeah! (smirking) For the loser.
(Gypsy laughs)
Cisco: Listen - you want him? You have to come and claim him.
(Gypsy just smirks and hmms.)
Cisco: (To Barry) That's Arwen!
Gypsy: I take it you also want the customary 24 hours to prepare?
Cisco (laughing) Do I want the customary-
HR: (deadpan) Yes, you do.
Cisco: I would love to take advantage of the customary 24 hours, if you don't mind?

Caitlin: So why exactly did you agree to fight her?
Cisco: I don't know...
Barry: You did what any of us would have done.
HR: I might... not have done it. Just being honest.

Iris: I want my life to mean something. More than just a daughter or as a sister or as a girlfriend, but as a reporter. This story can do that. It can stay that I, Iris West, mattered.
Wally: You know, my life was a lot easier before I had a sister?
Iris: But it's a lot better now, isn't it?

Iris: Why do you think that you're the only one allowed to risk your life to do good?!
Barry: I don't!
(Iris turns away and looks down at the model Cisco made of the future scene of her death.)
Barry: It's okay to be afraid of the future, but I won't let you die.
Iris: I am not afraid to die, Barry! I'm not!
Barry: Then what?
Iris: I'm afraid... what if I end up just like my mom? Just.. gone without making a mark? Without leaving anything behind?
Barry: Iris... your mom... she left something behind. She left a brave, wonderful son. And the woman that I love. All right?
(Barry reaches out and stroke's Iris' face, wiping away her tears.)
Barry: I don't know what the future holds. None of us do.
(Barry takes Iris' hands and kisses them.)
Barry:  I know that we will face it together.

(Eve Teschmacher watches as Vibe and Gypsy fight in James Olsen's office. Gypsy opens a portal and tosses Vibe through it while hiding behind a chair.)
Eve Teschmacher: Is it me or is this city getting weirder?

Gypsy: In all the multiverse I have... never.... met anyone like you, Cisco.
Cisco: Please. Call me Vibe. (quickly) Or... or you can call me Cisco. That's also allowed.


Continuity

Barry and Wally chase a group called The Electrical Gang in the opening scene.

HR's nickname for Julian is Bond - presumably because his British accent reminds HR of James Bond.

Iris mentions Plunder from 310 and says a new arms dealer seems to be selling high-tech weapons to the criminals in Central City.

HR has been broadcasting his stories, chapter by chapter, back to Earth 19.

Caitlin refers to Cisco's flirtation with Golden Glider back in Season One.

The punishment for unauthorized breach travel on Earth 19 is death. The reason for this is because 25 years earlier a neighboring Earth attempted to invade Earth 19  through a breach and nearly destroyed it. To prevent it from happening again, all inter-dimensional travel was banned and The Collectors were set up to enforce the law.

HR dodges the question of why he would risk his life by traveling to Earth One from Earth 19. He eventually tells Cisco that it's because he was unsatisfied with his life on Earth 19 and that despite his fame and success as a fiction writer and idea man he wanted a chance to be one of the heroes he wrote about.

Iris refers to what Barry told her about The Flashpoint Reality and how - in that reality - she and Wally were a crime-fighting team.

There are no soap operas on Earth 19. HR says it's the one thing about Earth One he'll miss the most.

HR puts mustard on his fries instead of ketchup. This may be an Earth 19 custom but it is not confirmed.

The only appeal for the crime of unauthorized breach travel is a trial by combat. Other people are allowed to fight The Collector on behalf of the accused and multiple people may challenge The Collector, fighting in the order of who issued the challenge first.

Gypsy is a legend on Earth 19, according to HR.

HR learned slight-of-hand magic from a friend and became capable enough to plant objects on people without them noticing. He uses this talent to plant a tracker on Gypsy.

Gypsy is so skilled at using her powers, she is able to grab a hold of Barry while he is running and toss him into a breach portal.

This Is Spinal Tap is one of Cisco's favorite movies.

Gypsy agrees to let HR go and tell her superiors that she killed him in exchange for HR agreeing never to return to Earth 19.

Cisco tells HR about how the first Wells (really Eobard Thawne) told him that he would be a hero one day in 123.

Wally's top speed is just below Mach 3.

Barry tells Wally that he's done the math and there's no way he can save Iris... but Wally can.


Location

Central City on Earth 2
James Olsen's office in the CatCo Worldwide Media building in National City on Earth 38.
A rocky outcropping above a lava-flow on some unknown Earth.

The Fridge Factor

Granting there's a lot of flirtation before that point, Gypsy's quick surrender once being knocked down once and offering her life to Cisco feels like the worst kind of Red Sonja-style fan-fic regarding female heroes being defeated.


The Bottom Line

A surprisingly solid and all-around fun episode. This is everything The Flash should be.