The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 18 - Heart of the Matter, Part 2

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

Plot

Three generations of speedsters join with allies old and new against the menace posed by Godspeed.

Influences

Star Wars (the lightning-blade flight) and The Flash comics of Mark Waid (creative use of Speed Force, family theme)


Goofs

In the opening scene, Nora makes reference to her father being out somewhere doing something dangerous, when he's in a different lab being projected into Godspeed's head.


Performances

Karan Oberoi's performance as the amnesiac August Heart is very honest and heartfelt. Which makes it all the more painful he spends most of his time on-screen hamming it up and the idea of an Amnesiac man being traumatized by the idea of his becoming a villain is largely ignored by this episode.

Jordan Fisher is a great singer.


Artistry

Ignoring how ridiculous some of it is, the special effects work for the various Speed Force effects is great.


Flash Facts

This is the first season finale of The Flash to not end with a cliffhanger.


Technobabble

Speedsters who get their powers from an artificial source cannot match the pure potential of a true speedster chosen by the Speed Force.

Amnesia is a side-effect of a speedster fracturing themselves into multiple speed clones.

Godspeed cannot use his speed-draining powers on a Negative Speed Force user like Reverse-Flash.

Chester modified his father's design for the SEE so that it would only target artificial speed cell membranes, making it ineffective against natural metahumans.

Cisco modifies his Entropy Trap and uses it to create an Entropy Bubble that makes him and Frost invisible to the Godspeed clones. The one downside to it is that they have to hold their breath while they are inside it, as there's no oxygen in the field.

The Entropy Bubble runs on a two-minute timer.

Barry gives August Heart a speed boost to jumpstart the artificial speed cells in his body that have gone dormant. The harness Chester makes should help shape the change and create an organic Speed Force connection.


Dialogue Triumphs

Jay: Kid? I know giving August Heart his powers back is crazy. But if we don’t, we’d better come up with another idea. A big one.
Barry: (grinning, have just had an idea) Not a big one. A fast one. 

(Thawne just struck Godspeed with a near-fatal blow.)
Barry: You could have killed him.
Thawne: Wasn’t that the plan? Didn’t you say you needed help dealing with a threat? Well, I dealt with it. And now…(chuckling) and now… it’s just you and me, Flash. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time.
Barry: I’m only gonna say this once. Walk away while you still can.
Thawne: Allen. You are too weak to stop me. (voice distorting as his eyes glow red) And I’m just getting started!

(Thawne tries to punch Barry but, as we shift to Barry's perspective, he's moving much slower. Barry has enough time to grin as he grabs Thawne's hand and throws him, easily tossing him a few dozen feet.  When Thawne gets up he is furious... but that fury hides clear terror.)

Thawne: What did you do?! I created you. I taught you everything you know! Everything you are is because of me! What did you do?
Barry: (smiling innocently) I got faster. Didn’t you? 
Thawne: No.  But I will, Flash. Mark my words. I will.

(Thawne runs. Away. Fast.)

Dialogue Disasters

Most of Karan Oberoi's lines as the true Godspeed, but especially "Are you threatening me, Flash?!" which is delivered in a manner that leads you to expect his next line will be "I am Cornholio!"


Continuity

As the episode opens, Bart is still in a coma and Nora and Caitlin are watching over him.

Joe and Kramer are still stranded on the freeway, being attacked by Godspeeds.

Godspeed acknowledges this is the first time Barry has met him, suggesting that he may have met Barry at a later point in his timeline.

Godspeed demands Barry find a way to give him an organic Speed Force connection or he will destroy Central City.

The amnesiac August Heart has a tearful conversation with Cecile about being afraid of becoming the monster everyone helping him seems to be afraid of.

Nora asks Barry to consider meeting Godspeed's demands, but Barry refuses.

Chester checks in on Allegra, who is still depressed over Ultraviolet's death.

Chester reminds Allegra that she saved Barry's life in 716 and in doing so she probably saved the city, while Ultraviolet chose to start a war instead of ending one.

Nora West-Allen refers to the Speed Force as "Big Nora" and she calls her "Little Nora."

Jay comments on how the Speed Force resembles his wife, though he is very formal in addressing her.

The Speed Force gives everyone a power boost, even granting Iris temporary superspeed powers.

Bart is able to recover from the coma in seconds thanks to the boost.

Bart addresses the Speed Force as SFN - Speed Force Nana.

Bart addresses Jay as Uncle Jay, which surprises him but does not displease him.

Kramer briefly acquires superspeed and saves Joe's life, running them away from the Godspeeds, before passing out.

The assembled speedsters attack the Godspeeds, each using a signature move.

Bart throws stars made of lightning.

Nora uses a whip/lasso made of lightning.

Jay throws his hat like a discus and ricochets it off things before it returns to his hand.

The Speed Force just drains the energy from the Godspeeds and makes them pass out.

Iris uses her hands to create compact whirlwinds.

Barry throws lightning.

The Godspeeds are able to recharge almost instantly, thanks to the presence of the Speed Force.

Allegra teleports in with the SEE and supercharges it to 500% times its maximum strength. This disables all the Godspeeds present but also wrecks the SEE.

Chester says it will take him 4-5 weeks to rebuild the SEE.

Nora once again asks Barry and Iris to consider giving Godspeed but he wants but Barry still refuses.

Cisco is able to trick the Godspeed mob he and Frost are facing into leaving them alone using an Entropy Bubble.

With the help of the Speedsters reassembling parts, Chester says he can get the SEE fixed in a day.

Barry and Iris come up with a plan to deal with Godspeed once and for all and it involves giving him an organic Speed Force connection.

Iris and Big Nora travel into the Speed Force to enact part of the plan, with Iris acting as an anchor for Big Nora.

Barry tells Jay, Bart and Nora to stand down while he works the other part of the plan, which involves trying to give the amnesiac August Heart an organic Speed Force connection.

The newfound speed restores August Heart's memories, but he renounces his previous gentle personality to become the God of Speed he wants to be. 

Bart is reluctant to hold back but is talked into it by Jay, who gives him the "sometimes you have to take off your hat speech" for the first time, from Jay's perspective.

Godspeed is stopped in his effort to kill Barry by Eobard Thawne, who was last seen in 615.

Big Nora apparently helped Thawne to rebuild his body in exchange for his help in defeating Godspeed.

Barry is now faster than Thawne and easily outclasses him when Thawne inevitably tries to double-cross him.

August Heart is said to be locked up in Iron Heights and Big Nora erased his memory of Barry Allen's secret identity.

Barry asks Iris to renew their vows with a proper ceremony, unlike their wedding, which was disrupted by a Nazi attack from Earth-X.

Kristen Kramer gets a metahuman gene test and determines that she has the power to copy the powers of other metahumans near her.

Kramer decides to take a leave of absence from the CCPD to get her head together, but she's changed her mind about depowering metahumans as a means of punishment.

Barry and Iris hold their vow-renewal ceremony on the following Tuesday. Cisco officiates the ceremony, wearing a STAR Labs sash to accent his vestments.

Jay, Joan, Nora, Bart, Frost, Caitlin, Allegra, Chester, Joe and Cecile all attend the ceremony. 

Cecile indicates to Joe that she might want to get married.

Bart sings as part of the ceremony.

Barry uses his Flashtime powers to make his and Iris' kiss last as long as possible.


Location

The Speed Force


Untelevised Adventures

Frost and Mecha Vibe fight a different group of Godspeeds at the same time that the Speedsters face the main group.

The Speed Force communes with the Negative Speed Force to reach Eobard Thawne and help him fashion a new body.


The Boomerang Factor

Somehow, nobody anticipates that the Godspeed clones, who are feeding on the Speed Force, might somehow draw power from Nora/Big Nora/Speed Force Nana being present.


The Bottom Line

Much like Season 7 itself, this is a few great moments held together by a lot of weak subplots. The only thing keeping this show running at this point is the ensemble, but even Grant Gustin's ability to deliver a stirring speech is tested here. Here's hoping the show rebounds in Season 8, like Arrow did.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 17 - Heart of the Matter, Part 1

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

Plot

The Godspeed War intensifies, threatening Central City, as Barry and Iris meet a new addition to the family - their future son, Bart!

Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson and Mark Waid (presence of Impulse and Godspeed)


Goofs

Why didn't Joan and Jay let the rest of Team Flash know they were alive before now? (Maybe they wanted to make sure they weren't going to die like all the other doppelgangers.) 


Performances

Jordan Fisher slays as Bart West-Allen.


Flash Facts

This was the 150th episode of The Flash.

The opening shot of Central City in 2049 showed the billboards for several businesses from the comics, including Ferris Air, Palmer Technologies and the Central City Sharks football franchise. The skyscraper for Iris' newspaper, now CC Citizen Media, is also visible.

While not referred to by the code name Impulse, Bart West-Allen is clearly based upon the comic book character Impulse. His name was also Bart Allen, but he was Barry Allen's grandson rather than his son. The Arrowverse Bart's costume is modeled on his comic book counterpart, however, and he makes use of the slang term "Crash" to mean something is good, like the Bart in the comics. The Arrowverse Bart is also reputedly described as impulsive.

The building where Bart and Nora stop after their first fight with Godspeed is Powers Industries. In the Batman Beyond animated series, Powers Industries was the company that acquired Wayne Enterprises in a hostile takeover. It's CEO, Derek Powers, was the chief villain of the first season and, in secret, the supervillain Blight.

Godspeed is able to time travel using the Cosmic Treadmill in the Flash Museum. In The Flash comics, Barry Allen used a device called the Cosmic Treadmill to travel in time. While the Arrowverse Cisco created a device he called the Cosmic Treadmill, this marks the first time it was used for that purpose in the show.

Adam Creyke is said to have confessed to a bombing in Polokistan. This is a fictional DC Comics country, once part of the Soviet Union, which became protected by a villain called General Zod, who was unrelated to the classic Kryptonian General Zod. 

Based on the timeline described in the episode, Jay Garrick would have been 94 when he was killed by Godspeed in the future. It might seem unlikely he'd still be active at that point, but in the original comics Jay's connection to the Speed Force slowed his aging so he still appeared to be middle-aged when he was 100 in some stories. 

Jay Garrick his held captive in the Zauriel Cathedrial on Morrison Avenue. This is a nod to Zauriel - an angel who became a superhero during writer Grant Morrison's run on JLA.


Technobabble

Nora has developed the ability to shape her lightning into a lasso that she can use to snare other people.

According to Nora, speedsters should not try to phase through other speedsters, as their molecules can become conjoined on a quantum level. However, Bart is able to effectively disable Godspeed by doing this.

According to Bart, quantum physics is not taught until the junior year of collegiate science classes.

Nora says that Future Chester improved the efficiency of her gauntlet by 200%.

The Solar Encryption Engine (SEE) is a device Chester's father created that reconverts the atomic mass of neutrino-voltaic energy cells. This allows it to neutralize artificially created kinetic energy sources, like the artificial speed Godspeed uses. However, it must be charged with an electromagnetic source - preferably microwave energy.

Bart and Nora have a combo move they can do together called the Fathwoom Boom.

Bart is said to have the power to throw lightning in the shape of stars but can't catch a ball of lightning in 20 seconds.

According to Chester, the SEE required 700 nanometers of microwave energy to be powered up. When Barry charged it with the Speed Force, it acquired 5 billion nanometers, which was channeled directly into the Godspeed variants instead.

Bart is able to vibrate so quickly he can be invisible to the naked eye and uses this power to eavesdrop on the conversations at STAR Labs.

Chester analyzes Allegera's energy output and determines she is only projecting ultraviolet light rather than microwaves, as per usual. He claims that Allegra only hits that range when she's channeling from negative emotions, like anger or pain.

Cisco creates a synthetic entropy trap with his gloves, but it is only good for one shot against Godspeed.

Barry uses Jay Garrick's neural hyper-collider to enter August Heart's mind, with Cecile's help, after readjusting the tachyon booster with a neuro-fiber housing.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Nora and Bart are working out.)
Nora: What gives, Bart? You can throw stars with your lightning, but you can't catch a ball of it in under seconds?
Bart: Nora... (breathing heavily) It's a lot harder than it looks.
Nora: Well, maybe you should stop focusing on being a badass parkouring off every wall you see.
Bart: So you agree I do look badass?

Bart: Dad and Uncle Wally taught me how to run, and how to meditate, and all that's great. Uncle Jay understood me. He was the first person that saw my impulsiveness as a strength and not as a weakness, and he would literally tell me. He'd say, "Bart, sometimes you have to take a risk. "Sometimes you have to go with your gut... and is it impulsive? Maybe. But sometimes it's right." He got me... (sighs) And now he's gone.

(Barry, Nora and Jay are surrounded by Godspeeds. Suddenly, the church doors open. It is Cisco.)
Cisco: I leave Central City for two seconds... 


Continuity

In the future of 2049, Nora and Bart West-Allen are the protectors of Central City. They work with the Central City Police and a Gideon AI. 

Bart is 19 and a Freshman in college. Nora is 26.

The address of the Flash Museum (and, presumably STAR Labs in the modern day) is given as 5724 Fontana Drive.

Chester apparently meets Nora and Bart in the future. Nora says he's the smartest person they know and Bart claims that Chester helps him with his differentials of mathematics homework. However, it seems likely Bart is lying and is hoping to trick past Chester into helping him in the future.

Bart and Nora both call Cecile Grammy Cecile. 

West-Allen Family Rule #1 is Protect the timeline at any and all cost.

Nora and Bart want to return to their time, but Barry invites them to stay a while since the Godspeeds are stopping anyone from traveling to 2049.

Caitlin and Cecile are working on a new version of the Cerebral Inhibitor (aka MAD 2.0) to unlock August Heart's memories, but haven't had any luck so far.

Chester found a device in his father's notes he think he can use to depower the Godspeed variants, but he needs Allegra to help him charge it.

No one has seen Allegra since yesterday, when she went to find her cousin.

Iris and Barry told their children about the first version of Nora they encountered in Season 5.

When Barry, Nora and Bart confront the Godspeeds, Barry is stunned when Bart says they can kill each other for all he cares.

All the Godspeeds chase after Bart and nearly kill him, referring to him as "The Adversary."

Bart eventually explains that August Heart is his Eobard Thawne and that he's devoted to killing him, for some unknown reason.

Chester finds Allegra in the lounge and catches her up on things. He senses something is wrong, but Allegra denies it. Chester also notes that Allegra's coffee is ice cold, despite her claiming she warmed it up with her powers.

Adam Kreyke is handed over to the FBI in Midway City.

Neither Joe nor Kramer report how Adam Kreyke claimed to have seen Kristen Kramer die.

Joe and Kramer are given a car to take them back to Central City.

Neither of them is able to contact anyone in Central City on their phones.

Gideon makes contact with Bhikkhuni Amala - the Buddhist nun who helped Wally hone his powers, whom he mentioned in 614  She says that Wally is in deep meditation, handling unrest on the psychic plane. This explains why Wally does not join the Godspeed War. (It is possible, however, this unrest is connected to the Godspeeds draining the Speed Force from the inside.)

Iris is returned to the present, having apparently been stabilized by Deon Owens.

Iris was able to watch everything that was happening on Earth from within the Still Force.

Iris asks what Godspeed must have done to Bart to make him equate him to the Reverse Flash.

Jay Garrick and Dr. Joan Williams are revealed to be alive and living in Keystone City on Earth-Prime. This marks their first appearance since 602.

Jay's speed has been restored with the activation of the Artificial Speed Force, which Joan says happened 40 days earlier.  He also no longer needs a cane to walk.

Jay is ambushed by six Godspeed clones before he can run to join the fight.

Deon Owens apparently talks to Nora and Bart in the future and told them about saving their mother at one point.

Barry tells Bart he wants him to sit this fight out so Godspeed isn't provoked. This makes Bart run off.

Bart goes to Joe's house, which was apparently where he always went to get away from things when he was uspet.

It is revealed that Godspeed kills Jay Garrick in the future and that is why Bart hates him so much - because Jay was Bart's mentor and the only one of his teachers he felt truly understood him and worked to turn his impulsive nature into a strength.

Wally West goes on to teach Nora and Bart, in addition to Barry and Jay.

Nora gets Bart to agree to sit out the fight with Godspeed.

Caitlin and Cecile show August Heart the Cosmic Treadmill to see if it stirs his memories. It does not.

Despite Allegra claiming to have been trying to use her powers to charge the SEE for a while, it is only 7% charged when Chester calculated it should be at least 89% charged that that point.

Barry uses his lightning to charge the SEE, since it can absorb any form of kinetic energy, in theory. Unfortunately, this only serves to recharge the Godspeeds rather than drain their power.

Frost is able to save Barry and Nora from the Godspeeds.

Barry and Iris tell Nora to stay out of the fight with Godspeed as well as Bart.

Allegra tells Chester about Ultraviolet's death in 716.

Barry recalls how Godspeed was originally Nora 1.0's arch-enemy, as seen in 518.

The Rebel Godspeed faction is revealed to have kidnapped Jay Garrick and they contact STAR Labs demanding a trade; Jay for Bart.

Bart runs off to save Jay.

Nora and Barry come to save Bart, but they are all quickly surrounded by Godspeeds.

The Godspeeds are frozen by Cisco Ramon, who arrives in his Mecha-Vibe costume, armed with a make-shift entropy trap that allows the heroes to escape.

Bart is left in a comatose state by the Godspeeds attack.

Cisco says he decided to come help after John Diggle told him what was going on.

Joe and Kramer return to Central City to find people clogging the freeways out of town.  They are attacked by Godspeed clones.

The episode ends with Barry confronting the real Godspeed inside August Heart's mind.


Location

FBI Office - Midway City
Jay and Joan's home - Keystone City


The Bottom Line

One of the stronger episodes of the season, but that's largely because all the extraneous subplots are all but over and not much time is devoted to them. Still, Nora's return is welcome and Bart is immediately likeable, which makes up for the fact that not much really happens in this episode when you get right down to it. 

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 11 - Family Matters, Part 2

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

Plot

The Forces go to war, with Central City caught in the crossfire and the world facing a second Big Bang unless Barry Allen and Iris can find a way to unite their "children."


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (concept of Strength, Sage and Still Forces)


Goofs

The plot of this episode doesn't even try to make sense, with character motivations changing from scene to scene and it being totally inconsistent as to the Forces being children in host bodies or the hosts seeing themselves as Barry and Iris' children.

Again, the power level of the Forces is inconsistent, as the Speed Force is apparently capable of destroying the other forces by itself, but it needed Barry's help to kill Alexa in 708.

Also, Nora threatens to destroy the city, only to reveal that the storm threatening Central City is due to the other forces, not her.

It also doesn't make much sense that the Speed Force can't go back in time to when it didn't exist, but Barry can using his powers.... which come from the Speed Force.

Granting that Iron Heights may not be in Central City's district (Pre-Crisis, it was halfway between Central City and Star City) why weren't Kristen Kramer and her meta-cure bullets there trying to do something about the escaping criminals? Jurisdiction didn't seem to matter when she showed up in Keystone City with a CCPD riot team to capture Frost in 707 and this would seem to be an ideal time for her to make her point about removing the powers of meta-criminals.

Why, apart from needing to give Team Citizen something to do in this episode, are Allegra and Kamilla tasked with getting people off the streets when Barry could do the job faster and more effectively?

It beggars belief that the DA's office agreed to commute Frost's life without parole sentence just days after her conviction, purely because The Flash put in a good word for her and her response to being broken out of prison was to start capturing the escaped meta-criminals, given the pressure Kramer was putting them under and her apparent grip on the CCPD. (This also raises the question of why Barry didn't testify on her behalf along with Joe at her trial.)


Performances

Trite as it is and as many times as he's given similar speeches, Jesse L. Martin nails his speech on the difficulties of being a parent.


Artistry

You can see where most of the season's special effects budget went, with the various lighting and storm effects in this episode.


Flash Facts

Central City's population is said to be 3 million. This is roughly the same as the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, which is about 2.8 million.


Technobabble

Barry gives Iris a transmat orb full of hyper-tachyon particles that will pull any organic matter in the immediate vicinity to Central City.

The storm created by the Forces generates Category 3 winds and over 22 lighting strikes a minute.

Chester rebuilds the isotopic sensor, enabling Barry to use it while sweeping through the city at super-speed. It is accurate to within 100 yards.

Cisco says an Einstein-Maxwell gravitational trap could hold the Speed Force, but the coils would need enough current to power Las Vegas to do it.

The Speed Force can be detected by the presence of kinetic isotopes in the atmosphere.

The lightning that struck Cecile is revealed to be made of electrochemical isotopes - the energy of the Sage Force.

A collider reaction over Central City threatens to achieve enough atomic mass to trigger a second Big Bang, as the four Forces return to their original state, like when they were born. To save reality, Barry must keep the Force Event from reaching optimal expansion, preventing the Forces from snapping back and destroying all existence.


Dialogue Disasters

Every thrice damned speech about The Forces being family and needing to come together.


Continuity

It is revealed that Iris, Bashir and Alexa's deaths at the end of 710 were the result of Bashir reflexively creating an illusion - something he didn't know he could do with the Sage Force.

Iris thinks Nora attacked her because she sees her as competition for Barry's affections. (This is not exactly news since Nora tried to kill her in 709 and said as much.)

Barry decided to hide Iris, Bashir and Alexa in the dead Speed Force subspace following Crisis, saying that the Speed Force can't go there.

Joe and Cecile see a news broadcast on a mass escape from Iron Heights after lighting took out a wall. Most of the escapees are metahumans. There is no word on the news about Frost being one of the escapees.

Cecile is stuck by lightning. Joe takes her to STAR Labs for treatment.

The Speed Force confronts Barry and demands it bring the other Forces to her so she can kill them. She threatens to destroy Central City if he doesn't do this.

The Speed Force was able to sense Barry going someplace she could not follow.

Cisco fixes the isotopic sensor so Barry can look for Deon Owens.

Frost did escape prison, but decided to recapture the fugitive metahumans. She's in full costume when she goes after Chillblaine, who just stole some biotech interfaces.

Caitlin treats Cecile and Joe says he is going to stay with her.

Bashir talks to Alexa telepathically and convinces her to work with him to steal the transport sphere from Iris, saying they need to confront the Speed Force and kill her before she kills them.

Barry finds Deon at Central City Stadium. Deon apologizes for killing Iris, Bashir and Alexa, but Barry tells him that he was faked out.

Deon wants to kill the Speed Force and teleports away after Barry says they're going to find another way to stop her.

Barry tells Cisco and Chester to man the coms while he keeps searching for Deon. He also says to get  Team Citizen on the street to start evacuating people to storm shelters.

Joe suggests that maybe killing the Speed Force is the only way.

Allegra asks Joe to come help her with the evacuation. She also tells Joe that he's a good man even if he isn't a cop anymore and that he helped her fulfill her dreams of becoming a reporter.

Joe declines her offer, saying he needs to be there for his wife.

Bashir and Alexa overpower Iris and take the orb, transporting them all back to reality.

Barry has no luck finding Deon and meets the Speed Force again.

The Speed Force claims that she isn't responsible for the storms destroying Central City - it's the other Forces. She points out that the Earthquakes are generated by the Strength Force and those are also a part of the storm.

Iris returns to STAR Labs having wound up halfway across town.

Frost brings down Chillblaine.

Joe tells Barry and Iris that they are good parents and are doing the right thing in trying to wrangle the forces.

Barry says maybe they need to bring the Forces together rather than keeping them apart.

Deon meets with Alexa and Bashir and they agree to work together to kill the Speed Force.

Barry meets wit the Speed Force, who knows he was plotting against her.

Barry, Bashir, Alexa and Deon are drawn into the Speed Force and an all-out fight breaks out.

Everyone is forced out of the Speed Force because of a collider reaction forming over Central City.

Chester estimates they only have three minutes before the isotopic forces return to their original state, triggering a second Big Bang.

The other Forces unite against the Speed Force to give her a vision of her worst fear - which turns out to be being alone. This caused the Speed Force to join with them all, as they help Barry to calm the storm and prevent disaster.

The Four forces join together inside the Speed Force subspace that looks like Barry and Iris's childhood home, which has now been restored to a pristine state.

Barry says he feels more powerful now that all the Forces are working together in harmony.

Cecile wakes from her coma and is expected to recover fully.

Baby Jenna was being watched over by Rob and David Singh.

Allega says she wants to refine her powers to be more than a human glowstick.

Kamilla and Cisco indulge in a public display of affection while getting coffee with Allegra and Chester. This causes Allegra and Chester to look at each other for a moment and look away quickly. This is apparently meant to hit that the two are starting to develop feelings for one another, despite having barely interacted.

Chester built an electric sock warmer for his grandmother.

Cisco gets a text, which he ignores. It is from Chip Cooper, saying that he needs an answer.

Frost shows up at Caitlin's apartment, claiming she was given probation on her life sentence after the DA's office saw her on the news catching the escaping metahuman criminals and after Barry put in a good word for her as The Flash.

Frost tells Caitlin about her crush on Chillblaine.

Barry and Iris decide to start trying to have kids.


Location

The Speed Force.


Untelevised Adventures

The escape of multiple metahuman criminals from Iron Heights occurs off-camera.


The Fridge Factor

Frost falls hard for Chillblaine, despite his repeated attempts to kill her and frame her for his crimes, because women love bad boys. I guess. Hopefully this is building to her making a statement about how she doesn't need a boyfriend because it sort of stinks to see this sort of thing after Danielle Panabaker put her foot down about Caitlin getting a new love interest every season, despite being a recent widow.


The Boomerang Factor

Joe West spends the entire episode sitting with his wife instead of trying to lead people to safety (like the rest of Team Flash) purely so he can be there to give Barry and Iris a speech about what it is to be a parent.


The Bottom Line

Without a doubt the worst episode in the series' history. Lazy writing buoyed by strong performances it doesn't deserve. The only good thing is that can be said about this episode is that it ended the Forces storyline. Unfortunately, that may just be temporary as there's still  another eight episodes to go and no clear plotline for what comes next.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 10 - Family Matters, Part 1

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

Plot

Barry enacts a training program for Alexa Rivera, as Iris seeks out Psych. Meanwhile, Joe and Cisco both make big decisions about some changes in their lives.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (concept of Still, Strength and Sage Forces) and The Incredible Hulk (Fuerza basically becomes this to Alexa's Bruce Banner, Alexa quotes the "Don't make me angry." line.)


Goofs

The Speed Force's motivation turns on a dime after the cliffhanger last week, suddenly deciding to turn on Barry and Iris rather than killing the other Forces.

The weapons delivery form Kristen Kramer uses is dated May 18, 2021. This matches the original air-date of the episode. However, given the sequence of events in The Flash Season 7 continues on directly from the finale of Season 6 and that only 17 days passed between the events of 703 and 709, it should be sometime in 2020.

Cisco says his worst fear involves being trapped in the same job in 40 years. This contradicts 705, where he was clearly hallucinating something happening to Kamilla when Psych attacked him with his worst fear.

Iris says that Lucas Sharpe is driving north on I-95. When Barry catches up to him, the ocean is on the left (or western) side of the car. This doesn't match the real world I-95, which runs along the east coast of the United States. (It's possible Iris meant US Highway 95, which does run north to south through east Oregon and Washington state, though this is still quite a distance from where Central City is meant to be in the Post-Crisis Arrowverse and not on the coast. Alternative, the highways are just different in the Arrowverse.)


Performances

The only thing that makes Joe's scenes with Kristen Kramer tolerable is Jesse L. Martin's performance.


Flash Facts

Psych's real name is revealed to be Bashir Malik. In the original The Flash comics which introduced the Sage Force, Psych's first name was Bashi, but he was never given a last name.


Technobabble

Alexa was biologically dead but now her biometrics are stable.

Barry, Iris and Alexa share the same bio-kinetic genome sequence. This is, on a cosmic level, like how a parent and their children share the same DNA. This connection gives them some ability to sense one another on a quantum level.

Chester and Cisco work on a way to track the temporal isotopes generated by Deon Owens across multiple timelines.

The billionaires attacked by Psych all exhibited signs of mental distress and symptoms consistent with narcolepsy. These symptoms do not match the experiences Barry and Iris had facing him.

Cisco has reinforced the force field inside STAR Labs with inverse surge capabilities. In theory, this will make it stronger the more force is pushed against it.

The motto of the League of Lions is Felicitatem esse virtutem. - Latin for Prosperity equals Power.

Psych's telekinesis manifests as red tentacles and can move as fast as The Flash in close quarters.

Cisco and Barry try to use isotopic arc radiators to bring out Fuerza in a controlled state.

The mental activity dampener uses neural pathways to connect multiple consciousnesses. 


Dialogue Triumphs

The Flash: Bashir, listen. Iris and I know what your parents did to you, but you can't keep punishing the world for it.
Psych: Actually, yes, I can. 

Kristen Kramer: I do things by the book, Captain.
Joe West: Maybe. But it's gonna take a whole lot more than that when it comes to protecting the people of Central City. Only, you can't see that. And since your "by the book" is nowhere near mine...
Kristen Kramer: Do you realize what you're doing?
Joe West: Yeah. I'm staying on the right side of the line. 


Continuity

The Speed Force refers to Deon Owens as her younger brother and recruits him to fight their "parents."

Barry and Iris explain the other Forces to Alexa, although they have no idea how they brought her back to life.

Barry wants to start training Alexa to harness the Strength Force.

Iris, Kamilla and Allegra go to work on trying to track down Psych and figure out who he was before he became a host for the Sage Force.

Kamilla asks Cisco how he feels about moving to Miami, having found a gallery on South Beach that is interested in her photos.

Cisco still hasn't told the rest of Team Flash of his decision to quit.

Psych attacks a tech billionaire named Caleb Fairwater in his home.  Fairwater recognizes Psych, calling him Bashir.

Joe is told four billionaires, including Fairwater, were attacked by Psych.

Iris determines that all of Psych's latest wave of victims were members of the League of Lions - an Ivy League club for overachievers with money.

Joe is called away from the Fairwater crime scene because Kristen Kramer is still in Central City and wants to talk to him.

Kramer notes that there are multiple instances of metahuman criminals mysteriously disappearing. She specifically singles out the Rainbow Raider, who was "vanished" into STAR Labs illegal metahuman prison in 108. (He later escaped custody and went on the loose in 122.)

Kramer also notes that many of the CSI technicians who worked metahuman cases for the CCPD resigned under mysterious circumstances. She mentions Patty Spivot (who quit the CCPD in Season 2) and Julian Albert, who quit between Seasons 3 and 4.

Cisco tells Alexa that he named her Strength Force persona Fuerza. 

Iris ambushes Naomi LaSalle at the LaSalle Building, asking her about the attacks. She was President of the League of Lions in college and she and another man, whom she hasn't identified, are the only people in the photo she found who haven't been attacked.

Naomi LaSalle identifies the other man in the photo as Lucas Sharpe - a do-gooder into apps and alternative energy.

Naomi LaSalle recognizes Psych's voice and also calls him Bashir. She says the last time she saw him, he was getting thrown out of her yacht club for being unable to pay the dues. She also says that she only allowed him in the League of Lions because the others thought he deserved a chance, but she thought he was a loser who would never fit in.

Barry thinks that Fuerza should be able to counter Psych's power, for some reason.

Team Citizen identifies Psych as Bashir Malik, the adoptive son of Adrita and Paul Malik, who owned the Malik Hotel chains. His parents died in a plane crash, making him an orphan two times over. To make matters worse, the Maliks were $5 million in debt at the time of their deaths and were fleeing the country to avoid tax evasion charges. They abandoned Bashir to try and save themselves and left him destitute. This matches what Psych said in 709 about hating his parents.

Iris decides she needs to look for more information on Bashir, thinking there's more to him attacking his rich college friends than a simple hatred of the upper crust of society.

Joe discovers that Kramer approved an armament delivery he didn't request. The delivery turns out to be bullets containing the metahuman cure. He notes that this ammunition is illegal, but Kramer says there is not a precedent for using them yet.

Joe threatens to go to the Governor, but Kramer says she is acting with the Governor's approval.

Alexa loses control and nearly overloads the force field when she is forcibly transformed into Fuerza. As a result, Cisco is thrown through a glass window and is knocked out.

Caitlin tries to talk to Alexa after she says she's done having anything to do with Barry of the Forces, telling her about her relationship with Frost and how they came to an understanding.

Alexa says it has been two days since the events of 708 and first finding out that she was connected to the Strength Force.

Joe discovers that Kramer has been making a number of purchases on behalf of the CCPD, along with requesting copies of case files from Keystone City, Gotham City and Coast City.

Joe tries to get Cecile to investigate Kramer's background, but she says she doesn't think she can do any better than she did in court.

Kamilla tells Cisco that the gallery in Miami wants to schedule an interview with her.

Cisco says he's qualified for 7,685 scientist jobs currently hiring in the United States and 83 of those are in Miami. 

Cisco tells Kamilla that his worst fear is still being at STAR Labs in 40 years and being the only one who hasn't moved on.

Caitlin suggests that Alexa can use her mental activity dampener to communicate with Fuerza.

Iris is able to track Lucas Sharpe's car heading north on I-95 using the STAR Labs satellites.

Iris says she thinks she knows what to say to Psych to get him to listen if Barry can get to him before he does something to Lucas Sharpe.

Psych refers to Alexa as a baby sister.

Alexa respectfully asks Fuerza to help her. She transforms and Fuerza helps save Barry from Psych.

Iris tells Psych, through Barry, that his friends didn't abandon him. All of the League of Lions except Naomi LaSalle put together a trust fund to help him get back on his feet. 

Alexa tells Bashir that she was abandoned by her family too because of her drug use but how she rebuilt her life and found friends who know her past and stand by her anyway.

Barry says that they can be the family Psych dreamed of.

Psych releases his hold on his victims and they all wake up.

Psych agrees to go with Barry and Alexa to STAR Labs.

Cisco gets a phone call from ARGUS Science Director of Science and Technology Chip Cooper, which he takes in private.

Joe resigns from the CCPD rather than follow any more of Kristen Kramer's orders.

Nora and Deon attack STAR Labs, apparently killing Iris, Bashir and Alexa in the process.


The Boomerang Factor

Joe's insistence that Kristen Kramer is a good cop doing a bad thing is perhaps the most idiotic aspect of this episode. This is even more nauseating given this is the same episode where Barry doesn't think that maybe the biologist who has some experience with dealing with a super-powered alter-ego should be consulted regarding his training Alexa and Iris going back and forth and whether or not she's the Mother of the Forces or not.


The Bottom Line

Another low-water mark for the series, with character motivations shifting from scene to scene and very little sense of drama with the cliffhanger, given we've already seen one of these characters come back from the dead once. 

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 5 - Fear Me

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

Plot

When a powerful new villain with psychic powers uses his abilities to amplify the fears of Central City's citizens, Barry must overcome his own worst fears, with Cecile's help, to save the day. Meanwhile, as Joe finds himself escorting a VIP from the Governor's office and Iris begins investigating why they're in Central City, Frost and Caitlin debate whether or not they should try and lives in separate bodies after being separated.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (characters of Psych and Kristen Kramer) and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies (general horror aesthetic of dream sequences, idea of villain who attacks people with nightmares.)


Performances

Danielle Panabaker has a fantastic double turn here as Caitlin and Frost.


Artistry

The episode does a fair job of establishing the dream-like, horror movie look of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies in the nightmare scenes.


Flash Facts

The episode introduces Kristen Kramer as a member of the Governor’s Municipal Logistics Commission. In The Flash comics, Kristen Kramer was the name of a CSI who was assigned to work with Barry Allen in the lab at Iron Height's penitentiary after Barry was demoted following repeated absences from work, due to his work as The Flash. She first appeared in The Flash Vol. 5 #1 in August 2016.

The Arrowverse version of Kristen Kramer is completely different, being a career soldier with a file with the Department of Defense that is largely redacted. Her true purpose in coming to Central City is reportedly to arrest Frost.

Cisco gives the super-strong being who attacked Barry the name Fuerza, after the Spanish word for strength. In the comics, Fuerza.was the code name adopted by Alexa Antigone; a vigilante with super-strength and gravity manipulation powers, who first appeared in The Flash Vol 5 #59 (January, 2019). In the comics, Fuerza was an avatar of the Strength Force in the same way that Barry Allen tapped the Speed Force, who used her powers to battle the corrupt police of the island nation of Corto Maltese.

The Arrowverse version of Fuerza seems to be less-intelligent than her comic book counterpart, being a lumbering rage-driven monster whom Cisco compares to the Marvel Comics character She-Hulk.

The episode also introduces a new villain called Psych, who amplifies the fears of people around him.

In the comics, Psyche first appeared in The Flash Vol 5 #61 (March, 2019). Empowered by the Sage Force in the same way The Flash drew power from the Speed Force, Psych possessed a number of psychic powers, including telepathy and telekinesis. Psych primarily worked as an information broker, learning people's darkest secrets and blackmailing them. The Arrowverse version, by contrast, seems only to be interested in spreading chaos.


Technobabble

Barry uses a spectrograph to isolate a rare geothermic isotope that can be used to track the super-strong being that attacked him and killed Abra Kadabra.

Cisco theorizes that Frost and Caitlin's separation was caused by the reflective mirror chip in Mirror Mistress' gauntlet. When Frost was blasted with the gauntlet, her cryogenes rapidly replicated a whole new body so that she could survive.

Barry says that the residual geothermic isotopes on the Speed Force indicate that she was attacked by Fuerza.

Cisco reprograms the Firestorm Matrix to merge Caitlin's DNA with Frost's RNA.

Cisco says that Psych's telepathic powers are strong enough to inspire extreme psychosomatic reactions that can literally trick a person's body into hurting itself.

Psych's powers don't just manipulate a person's fears - they amplify them, elevating their biometrics and putting their amygdala in overdrive, causing extreme panic attacks.

Frost tries to repair the Firestorm Matrix by connecting the transmitter to the output circuit.

After the third battle with Psych, Barry's frontal cortex begins healing, but the part of the brain that controls motor control is still weakened.


Dialogue Triumphs

The Flash: So let me get this straight. You made those guards hallucinate some kind of Godzilla rip-off that almost squashed them?
Psych: Well, I suppose that is an accurate, if not immensely reductive assessment of the situation. So, yes. I scared the hell out of them. And that was after showing them a vision of a dozen bystanders getting eaten alive by a very hungry kaiju. It’s horrifying when you think it’s your turn.
The Flash: Okay, um, look. Whoever you are, I really don’t have time for this.
Psych: My, my. How rude. And from a superhero? Is that actually allowed?
The Flash: (sighs) Okay, I apologize for the rudeness. But I hope you enjoy Iron Heights. ‘Cause I really do have bigger problems today.
Psych: Not yet, but you’re about to.

Caitlin: Do you want to tell me what scared you so much when Psych whammied you?
(Frost looks pensive.)
Caitlin: Come on. We used to share a brain. I know you don’t scare easy.
Frost: I was under arrest, for all the crimes I committed as Killer Frost. And you were the one who turned me in.
Caitlin: I would never do that.
Frost: I know. (sighs) Look, ever since you let me take the wheel, I got to live my life, not just half the time, but all the time. And I really liked it! And I don’t want to go back to living my life just half the time. And I was afraid you’d hate me for saying that.
Caitlin: I would never hate you. You’re my sister. You can always tell me how you feel.
Frost: I don’t know how! I mean… I may be the strong one, but... you’re the brave one. I mean, you’re fearless! I mean, ever since I got in touch with my feelings, I just… I’m scared, all the time. Sometimes I don’t even know why.
Caitlin: You think you’re the only one who gets scared sometimes? Ever since we separated, there’s been this deafening silence inside my head, where you used to be. And it terrifies me! That’s why I’ve been so desperate to put us back together. Why I got so upset when you broke the Matrix. It’s ’cause my biggest fear in life is living without you.
Frost: Mine too.
Caitlin: Well, why don’t we face that fear together?
Frost: You mean…
Caitlin: Maybe two Snows really is better than one. My apartment has an extra bedroom. I could use a roommate. What do you say?
Frost: I say… “This Is Us.”
(Caitlin laughs and Frost smiles softly as the two hug.)

(Cecile has been strapped into The Thinker's chair.)
Cisco: Cecile, you good?
Cecile: Nope! Not even close to good. I… I am sitting in a death machine! What if this thing fries my brain? Wh… what if this chair turns me evil like the Top? What about that?
Caitlin: As a medical professional, I promise you will be okay. (pauses) Probably. 


Continuity

Ralph is still overseas with Sue, according to Barry.

Frost had a bet with Cisco that Barry and Iris would freak out over her and Caitlin's seperation. Cisco lost.

Cecile has a waking nightmare about someone stalking her. She later describes it as being more like a vision.

Frost and Caitlin can no longer hear each other's thoughts now that they are in separate bodies.

Frost still has her ice powers and Caitlin retained all her medical knowledge.

Caitlin is anxious to find a way to remerge with Frost, but Frost says they should focus on the berserker who nearly killed Barry.

The Speed Force, in the form of Barry's mother, manifests inside STAR Labs and asks for help before passing out.

The Speed Force has manifested as Nora Allen since HR Wells' funeral in 323.

Barry 's powers do not seem to be affected by the Speed Force's weakened state.

Barry puts his Speed Force Gauge on the Speed Force to monitor her power levels. She's currently in the red.

Iris investigates a story about how CC Mercantile was robbed when the guard fell asleep on duty. The guard later told her that he had a nightmare about his abusive stepfather stalking him.

Joe notices the robbery occurred at 11:09 pm. - the same time Cecile had a nightmare about someone stalking her. This leads him to suggest there's a new metahuman criminal with a Freddie Krueger gimmick. 

Joe has his first official meeting with Kristen Kramer; a representative of the Governor's Municipal Logistics Commission. 

Kristen Kramer seems to recognize Iris and claims to have read her story about disappearing into the Mirrorverse.

Iris becomes suspicious because Kristen Kramer uses the phrase "if you're not early, you're late." The only other time Iris heard this saying was from her military advisor at the Central City Citizen. 

Cisco and Caitlin rework the Firestorm Matrix to help merge Caitlin and Frost together again.

Caitlin is a big fan of the show This is Us. Frost is not.

Cecile comes to STAR Labs to ask Caitlin for a check-up, thinking her nightmare could be a side-effect of her expanding powers.

Cecile has another nightmare vision and she senses that an armored truck is being robbed. Cisco later detects another geothermic isotope reading from the same location.

The armored car guards Barry saves work for Crows Security from Batwoman.

The masked robber, whom Cisco names Psych, causes Barry to hallucinate that he's fighting the Reverse Flash and Savitar and that he's impaled through the chest. This causes Barry to actually start bleeding as if he had really been stabbed.

Psych carries traces of the same isotopes linked to Fueza.

Cisco tries to repurpose the mental inhibitors used to fight Gorilla Grodd, but they prove less than effective given Psych's immense power level.

Iris pulls Kristen Kramer's file from the Department of Defense and half of it is redacted. She asks Joe to read the file because she has a gut feeling she has another reason for being in Central City.

Frost knows how to swim but Caitlin might not.

Frost is still planning a white water rapids trip with Cisco.

Frost admits to sabotaging the Firestorm Matrix because she doesn't want to recombine with Caitlin.

Psych attacks the Clearly Capital offices, leaving several stock-brokers crying that they lost everything.

Psych is able to overwhelm Cisco, Frost and Barry with visions of their worst nightmares.

Frost's worst fear is being betrayed by Caitlin and arrested for her crimes as Killer Frost.

Cisco's worst fears involve bad things happening to Kamilla.

Barry's worst fear is causing the deaths of his loved ones.

Frost and Caitlin agree to stay separated and become roommates, with Caitlin calling Frost her sister for the first time.

Cecile says that she thinks about what The Flash would do whenever she is afraid.

Barry suggests that Cecile can cancel out Pscyh's powers by projecting her courage, like how she projected her fear into The Top in 701.

Barry retrieves The Thinker's chair and Thinking Cap from storage to boost Cecile's powers.

Cecile is able to project an electric courage aura that seems to cause Psyche to dissipate.

Barry notes that his Speed Force Lightning didn't phase either Psych or Fuerza.

Barry begins having another spasm of some kind and puts himself into the cryo-pod to heal.

Kristen Kramer worked in Gotham for a while. She claims to be a big Knights fan.

Kramer finally admits to Joe that she's there, on the orders of the governor, to arrest Killer Frost.

The Speed Force wakes up and says that she was attacked by Fuerza and Psych. She also says that she thinks they are "like her."


The Bottom Line

An enjoyable episode that serves more as a showcase of Danielle Panabaker's acting talents than an expansion of the new Force storyline. The script isn't particularly strong despite Psych being an engaging villain, but the performances of the ensemble keep the story moving.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 4 - Central City Strong

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

Plot

Abra Kadabra returns, seeking revenge on Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash. Meanwhile,  Caitlin suspects something is wrong with Frost, as Iris confronts the darkness of her time in the Mirrorverse and seeks help in dealing with it.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (introduction of Strength Force), the writings of Arthur C. Clarke (mentioned by Chester, obelisks a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey)


Goofs

Ignoring the quality of Iris' writing and Allegra's comments indicating her article has been plagiarized from other sources, it seems likely the reason the Central City Citizen is losing readers is because it has taken Iris a week to write a basic news article about a major event!

It's revealed that Frost still has a warrant out for her arrest in Central City. Given how high and mighty Barry is about that sort of thing, you'd think this would have been addressed by now or that Joe (as the detective in charge of metahuman investigations) would have tried to do get the warrant cleared. Heck, get Cecile to argue for a dismissal based on good behavior!

The CGI on the Strength Force wielder looks terrible.


Flash Facts

Cisco makes mention of Kord Industries helping out with the effort to rebuild Central City This is a nod to the company of Ted Kord, aka The Blue Beetle, who has often been referenced in the Arrowverse but has yet to appear on camera.

Chester evokes the name of Arthur C. Clarke when confronted with the odd obelisks appearing around Central City. One of the founders of modern science fiction, the obelisks are a nod to Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's appropriate that Clarke is mentioned in this episode with Abra Kadabra, as Clarke's Third Law - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - is a fair justification of Kadabra's techno-wizardry.

At one point, Cisco and Chester discuss how to go about rewatching the Star Wars movies, with The Machete Order being mentioned. This is a way of viewing the Star Wars films where one starts with A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, but then watches Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith before moving on to Return of the Jedi. This allegedly offers the most cohesive story experience. (The other two most popular methods are Release Order and Chronological Order.)

Kadabra makes reference to a villain called the Chronarch, who he claims will come for The Flash in his future. There are two characters with the title Chronarch in the classic DC Comics books. One was the tyrannical ruler of 64th Century Earth, who was defeated by an unlikely team-up of The Flash and Abra Kadabra. The other was a 30th Century scientist named Circadia Senius, who was appointed head of the Time Institute during the time of the Legion of Superheroes.

The anti-matter bomb Kadabra fashions is based around a core of pure Valorium. This is the same metal used by the Legion of Superheoes to create their trademark Flight Rings. Valorium is an alloy of Nth Metal (the metal used by Hawkman and Hawkwoman to fly) but is more durable and much denser.

The super-strong earthquake-generating villain who kills Kadabra appears to be empowered by the Strength Force - an energy field in The Flash comics, similar to the Speed Force, but tied to gravity and the Earth rather than lightning and motion.


Technobabble

Cisco says the first Kadabra crime scene is infected with temporal energy. He says he can carbon date the energy as being 43 centuries from now, which seems to be Cisco dumbing down how he's actually tracking the energy given that carbon-dating is used to track the death of organic matter.

Kadabra charges his anti-matter bomb by teleporting around the city, using his kinetic energy as a power source.

A trace amount of anti-matter is enough to nearly take out The Flash's leg. A core the size of a baseball could destroy Central City.

 A routine medical scan in Kadbra's time determined that he had a sudden increase in his somatic memory cells. This is apparently a common side-effect of neuro-temporal displacement that is caused by speedsters disrupting the timeline.


Dialogue Triumphs

Abra Kadabra: The last time we met, you begged me to find a glimmer of light in myself. Well, I found that light, that hope. And then you stole it from me. Now I'm going to take something from you.
The Flash: I don't know what you're talking about.
Abra Kadabra: Let me make it crystal clear for you, Flash. You cannot defeat a man who has lost everything.

Abra Kadabra: I don't get it. We're mortal enemies in the future. Why are you doing this?
The Flash: So the next time we meet, maybe we won't be. 


Dialogue Disasters

Every time someone uses the phrase "Central City Strong." Resist the urge to make a drinking game of it. You will be dead within 20 minutes.

Abra Kadabra: I'm the greatest magician of all time, which is why you should be more than just afraid... You should be terrified. 


Continuity

In the week since the battle with Mirror Mistress in 703, Barry has taken Iris on a trip to Maui. He also brought her fresh crepes from Paris for breakfast that morning.

Central City has been experiencing a series of earthquakes over the past week, with the latest measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale.

Mirror Mistress is officially being called Mirror Monarch in the Central City Press.

Barry makes an appearance as The Flash on The Arielle Atkins Hour to encourage people to chip in on rebuilding Central City. 

STAR Labs does a lot of volunteer work in the community.

Cisco mentions that Kord Industries is supposed to be taking over for them on a construction site in an hour.

Caitlin has been tired and head a headache since the fight with Mirror Mistress.

Frost still has a warrant out for her arrest in Central City, despite her reformation. 

Kamilla has been busy taking photos of the destruction of Central City. This leaves Allegra having to act as Iris' sounding board on the Central City Citizen more than usual. 

Viewership on the Central City Citizen site is down 73%.

Allegra tells Iris her story on the battle with Mirror Mistress stinks because she says nothing about her own personal experiences during the event.

Abra Kadabra kills a volunteer at the constriction site, where a small but heavy obelisk manifests, riddling his body with razor-sharp playing cards.

Kadabra was last seen in 318. However, his picture was briefly seen among the villains resurrected by Crisis in Cisco's Who's Who Binder in 610.

The obelisk ways two tons.

Chester is now working as a CCPD-consultant intern.

Iris goes to a support group for Mirrorverse abductees and interviews a couple named Steve and Alice. Steve was abducted and watched his mirror universe clone sleep with Alice - a nightmarish scenario that triggers Iris' own bad memories of the Mirrorverse.

Kadabra refers to Cisco and his new tech suit as Mecha-Vibe.

Kadabra makes reference to a villain called The Chronarch and says he's doing The Flash a favor killing him now.

Frost is able to bring down Kadabra while he's distracted.

Kadabra is handed over to ARGUS.

ARGUS has a new Director of Technology and Science who is very literal and has no sense of humor.

Frost does not need to hide herself from ARGUS personnel, as they are aware of her reformation. 

Frost took some kind of techno cuff from Kadabra before he was taken away.

Frost is experiencing the same fatigue and headaches as Caitlin. Despite this, Cisco's tests determine that she's perfectly healthy.

Kadabra allowed himself to be arrested to gain access to a third obelisk that ARGUS picked up one week earlier.

Barry tries to steal Iris away for a night at a beach villa in Monaco, but the plans are changed when he learns of Kadabra's escape.

Iris is having a major bout of writer's block.

Kadabra merges the three obelisks into a sphere.

Kadabra claims that Barry stole something from him and now he's returning the favor.

Cisco determines the bomb Kadabra conjured is made of pure Valorium, so Barry can't phase through it.

Barry is still depressed that he didn't see through the fake Iris sooner. This is why he's been going all out to pamper Iris since her return.

Barry determines that the thing Kadabra had stolen from him was his family, based on the idea of what he nearly did because of Iris being taken from him.

Cisco determines that Kadabra's cuff contains the Martial Memory Restorer used by Laurel Lance to return Mia Queen's memories of the pre-Crisis reality from A809.

Cisco guesses that Kadabra stole the MMR at some point in the future and that something in his pre-Crisis memories brought him back to Central City in the 21st Century.

Barry confronts Kadabra at Tagaloa Plaza and confirms that Kadabra regained the memories of all his doppelgangers, including one who had a wife and infant son.

Kadabra claims that, in the future, Barry will become obsessed with the future.

Kadabra confesses to stealing the MMR from The Flash Museum and fixing it.

Barry guesses that Kadabra is trying to destroy Central City instead of him because he already did the math and realized he couldn't kill The Flash so destroying his city was the only revenge available to him.

Barry talks Kadabra out of setting off the bomb.

Kadabra reveals that his real name is Philippe. His son's name was Luca and his wife's name was Amélie.

Barry describes Oliver Queen as his brother.

A large hulking figure tied to the earthquakes appears at Tagaloa Plaza and attacks The Flash and Abra Kadabra. It somehow absorbs the full power of the antimatter bomb before killing Kadabra.

Joe is having to act as an escort to a liaison from the Governor's Police Compliance Commission.

Allegra is given a full staff writer position on the staff of the Central City Citizen.

Iris goes to a meeting of the Mirrorverse Survivors as an attendee rather than as a reporter. She reveals publicly that she was held captive for three months.

Somehow, Caitlin and Frost separate into two separate beings.


Untelevised Adventures

Precisely how Caitlin and Frost were separated occurs off-camera.


The Bottom Line

A busy episode with too much going on and not nearly enough focus on its most interesting aspects. It's a bad sign when I'd much rather watch Cisco and Chester playing Fortnite than watching Barry fight the villains.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 3 - Mother

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

Plot

As Mirror Mistress makes her move, Barry is ready to hang up his costume after the damage he did. Thankfully, a new ally with a familiar face emerges to help save the day, as Team Flash rallies to rebuild the Speed Force and save the world.


Influences

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the theme of people being replaced by duplicates) and The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson.


Goofs

Why didn't Eva send her minions to attack STAR Labs directly, when she sent one cop duplicate to try and covert Joe West and Cecile Horton?

It must be noted again that everything that happens in this episode (and indeed the second half of Season 6) is Barry Allen's fault and that the only reason Eva went about abducting and replacing people was because of Barry's efforts to expose her and his earlier refusal to work with the villain who was holding his wife hostage, even though it would be far from the first time Barry tried to find common ground with a supervillain. What makes this more maddening is that Eva gives up after Iris (of all people) tries to show her some sympathy.

Granting that the COVID-19 crisis and the firing of Hartley Sawyer limited their options, it seems incredibly short-sighted for the series to write out Ralph and Sue like they do here. It also seems incredibly unfair to Natalie Dreyfuss, who effectively lost her job because of someone else's mistakes. Hopefully the role of Ralph Dibny will be recast eventually and we'll see them again.


Performances

The scene where Cisco awkwardly says goodbye to Harrison Wells 1.0 is a great moment for both Carlos Valdez and Tom Cavanagh.


Artistry

The fight between The Flash, Frost and Vibe against multiple Mirror Mistress duplicates is the Mirror Master fight fans have been wanting to see for seven years.


Flash Facts

When seeing the melted Ralph Dibny, Cisco declares "Holy Plasmus!" In addition to be a nod to the 1966 Batman TV show's Robin and his habit of exclaiming that various things were holym ("Holy Sardines, Batman!") it's also a reference to the Teen Titans villain Plasmus, who had a similarly molten appearance.

The final scene shows four colors of energy wash over Central City after the new Speed Force is created; red, green, blue and yellow. This may be a nod to the Still Force, Sage Force and Strength Force; three forces which were revealed to be hidden within the Speed Force during The Flash comics run of Joshua Williamson.


Technobabble

When Barry pulled Iris from the Mirrorverse and she resisted, it created a molecular anomaly. All her neural pathways became disjointed, and, according to Caitlin, it looked like her brain had been remapped. 

Light photons are elementary particles that exist everywhere in nature.

According to Eva, the applications of her reflective chip technology are endless and she could increase the crop yield of world-wide agriculture tenfold overnight, ending world hunger.

Wells describe the Crisis as a temporal coalescence.

Ralph Dibny's body temperature after being caught in the McCulloch Labs explosion is 500 degrees.

A mobile biogenic containment unit is used to help Ralph heal.

Barry theorizes that he can recreate the Speed Force by drawing upon his love of Iris and the residual Speed Force energy inside of her from her time as a Speedster. This is accomplished by repurposing the Artificial Speed Force to tap an organic source instead of an artificial one. This requires that the energy coupling be rerouted along with the energy cycle and the fusion sphere being completely remapped. 

Since Mirror Mistress' body is made of quantum protons, which are capable of sub-light speed, she's technically faster than The Flash.

Cisco builds a new super suit which replicates his Vibe powers.


Dialogue Triumphs

Mirror Mistress: I'm not human. I'm something better. That is why I'm showing you mercy.

Wells 1.0: The other Wells may be gone, but they left an imprint, memories, and so let me just say that, whatever is wrong… Let me help you because they would want me to.
Barry: You can’t. This enemy that we’re facing is all-powerful, plus my speed is gone.
Wells 1.0: Aren’t you the Paragon of Love? Look, anyone can save the world with their speed, with their might, but it takes a real hero… A once-in-a-lifetime hero, to do it with his heart.
Barry: What is that supposed to mean?
Wells 1.0: It means run, Barry. Run toward love.

(Cisco and Wells 1.0 are saying their goodbyes.)
Cisco: If Kamilla and I are lucky enough to share half of what you and Tess have…
Wells 1.0: You will.
(There is an awkward pause as they regard each other.)
Cisco: This is weird.
Wells 1.0: Yeah, we just met.
Cisco: Right? It’s like I barely even know you.
Wells 1.0: We barely know each other.
Cisco: I mean, you’re nothing like him.
Wells 1.0: Like who? Oh, the Harrison Wells you used to know.
Cisco: Or the man I thought was Harrison Wells. Of course, he turned out to be a…
Both: A jerk?
Cisco: Yeah.
Wells 1.0: Yeah.
(They both chuckle.)
Cisco: How do you miss someone you barely even know?
(Wells 1.0 shrugs a bit and offers Cisco his hand. He takes it and they shake hands firmly. Cisco turns to walk away but then turns back around.)
Cisco: Before you go, how exactly do you travel in time? 
Wells 1.0:  Easy. Just… like this. 
(Wells 1.0 waves his hand and disappears in a cloud of green particles.)


Continuity

As the episode opens, Barry is in shock and Iris is in a vegetative state, as Cisco, Frost and Allegra come to after being knocked out in 702.

Caitlin takes over from Frost to treat Iris.

Barry refuses to reconnect to the Artificial Speed Force, saying it turned him into something just as bad as Eobard Thawne.

The CCPD is besieged by reports of people being attacked by hands coming from mirrors and loved ones not acting like themselves.

Joe meets with Sue Dearbon's parents, not knowing they are mirror duplicates.

Sue disguises herself as a CCPD cop.

Sue meets with Joe in secret and tells him about the mirror duplicates. This reminds Joe of the fake Iris and he puts two and two together.

According to Sue, Ralph is off tracking a lead.

Eva McCulloch's powers are now strong enough that she can grab people through any reflective surface: not just mirrors. 

Barry suggests they cut power to the city so as to reduce the light available for Eva's powers to work.

Barry is drawn into the Mirrorverse, where Eva says once again that she doesn't want to kill anyone; she wants to build a better world,, but his actions convinced her that humanity doesn't deserve it.

The Harrison Wells seen in 702.manifests inside STAR Labs. He claims to be the original Harrison Wells of Earth-1, who was murdered and replaced by Eobard Thawne.

Wells 1.0 theorizes that when Nash Wells sacrificed himself in 701, the universe required a balance. This apparently led to his resurrection as an energy being made up of multiversal particles.

Wells 1.0 has the knowledge and memories of all the other Harrison Wells. For that reason, he offers to help Team Flash because they would have helped.

One of Eva's mirror duplicates targets Cecile and Joe West, cornering them in Barry's lab at the CCPD.

Ralph Dibny and Sue Dearbon return to STAR Labs after Ralph is severely injured by an explosion at McCulloch Labs.The explosion somehow melted Ralph's face.

Before it blew up, Ralph did recover security camera footage which proved Sue didn't murder Joseph Carver.

While sitting with a comatose Iris, Barry has an idea on how to repair the Speed Force, referring to when Iris had speed powers in 416.

Joe tries to help Cecile escape by sending her into the duct work. Instead she is caught, and replaced by a mirror duplicate.

Cisco, Frost and Barry fight against Eva and her mirror duplicates.

Iris briefly manifests mirror-control powers during the fight against Eva.

Eva surrenders after Iris points out she's endangering the world she claims to want to save.

Eva sends her "children" back to the Mirrorverse and returns all the people she abducted, including Singh and Kamilla.

Wells 1.0 tells Allegra Garcia that someone else will have to train her in using her powers because their paths are heading different ways.

Wells 1.0 originally would have lived to be 92 years old on Earth-Prime.

Somehow, being reborn as multiversal particles has given Wells 1.0 the ability to see the past, present and future along his personal timeline and he can travel to any moment he wants. He considers this ability useless, however, unless he can share it with his wife, Tess, whom he only got four years with before his death.

Wells 1.0 intends to relive the 4 years he spent with his wife until he runs out of time.

Wells 1.0 tells Cisco that he and Kamilla will be lucky enough to share half of what he and Tess had.

Ralph needs to spend a few more days in the BCU before his face heals.

Sue turns down a chance to join Team Flash, saying a do-gooder team is not her style. Besides, she and Ralph have plans to travel the world and take down gangs like Black Hole.

Ralph says he'll be back someday and take Frost on that road trip they planned.

The final scene reveals that when Barry created the new Speed Force, it released red, green, blue and yellow energy over Central City.


Untelevised Adventures

Eva blows up McCulloch Labs off-camera, while Ralph Dibny was inside it.


The Bottom Line

A fragmented mess that does a disservice to some of the best things to come out of The Flash Season 6. The best thing that can be said about it is that at least its over and from here on out we'll get to see what the showrunners really had planned for Season 7.