The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 19 -- Negative, Part 1

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

Plot

Team Flash go into the fight of their lives, as Iris discovers the true cause of her time sickness. 

Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson. 


Goofs

It's weird that nobody at STAR Labs in 2022 didn't check Iris to see if she had negative tachyons in her system after all the work they've done previously with tachyons and negative tachyons.


Performances

Matt Letscher and Kausar Mohammed have great chemistry together as Eobard and Meena.


Artistry

The effects for the fight between the three speedsters and the Negative Force Hosts are good.


Flash Facts

The video game which Impulse and XS play as the episode opens feature a race of squid/clam warriors known as the Klamulons. In Young Justice, the Klamulons are a fictional alien race in the fictional television series Space Trek 3016.

Chester is able to briefly trap the Negative Strength Force host using an inverse energy trap that generates a stronger force field the more power is thrown against it. This is similar to the technology used by the hero Rocket in Milestone Media's superhero universe. 

Technobabble

As of this episode, Mena's top speed is Mach 1.78, which is double her last recorded speed. She tries to push herself to Mach 2, but her heart gives out.

The satellites at STAR Labs can detect major temporal isotopic energy surges.

Chester can't track Deon using STAR Labs isotopic sensor.

The pod Chillblaine designed uses cerebral circuitry that should stimulate, and then reactivate Frost's residual subconscious left inside Caitlin's mind. Once that is done, they can work on creating a new body for her.

Chester uses an inverse energy trap to contain the Negative Strength Force.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry has revealed his secret identity to Meena.)
Meena: So the fastest man alive is a badge with a day job? That's so... Ordinary.
Barry: Yeah, that's my point. You'd be surprised at people's capacity to rise up and help others during a crisis. They just need to be given the opportunity. That suit, that's your opportunity. I think you're gonna be surprised at how well it fits, but you have to give yourself the chance.


Continuity

As the episode opens, XS and Impulse are playing video games together in 2049. XS is naturally talented at the game, to Impulse's disappointment.

Impulse tries to lie to Iris about studying for midterms, but she sees through his deception.

By 2049, Iris has won two Pulitzer Prizes for her reporting.

Iris called to ask Nora to write a follow up to her last article, but suddenly fades out of existence on the phone.

Just after the older Iris vanishes, the 2022 Iris appears in the loft apartment.

Iris says the last thing she remembers is being in her office with Taylor. This occurred in 814.

The 2049 Barry is said to be off world with Jay Garrick.

XS tries to run Iris back to 2022, but a barrier prevents her from doing so. She recognizes the particles that she runs into as being part of the Still Force and thinks that Deon is trying to keep Iris in the future, for some reason.

Back in 2022, Chester and Barry have made a superhero costume for Meena, modeled on the Flash suit, but in black. Like Barry's suit, her costume has sensors that allow her vitals to be tracked at STAR Labs.

Meena doubts that she'll ever be a hero.

Barry reveals his secret identity to Meena and tells her that if someone ordinary like him can help people, so can a genius like her.

Meena struggles with an idea for a superhero name. Barry suggests Fast Track, like her lab.

On Lian Yu, Deon uses his powers to kill the Reverse Flash, seemingly aging him to death in seconds.

Barry runs to Lian Yu after Chester detects a major energy surge there.

Cisco installed a secure comm link on Lian Yu after the last time Barry visited there in 818.

Barry discovers what is left of the Reverse Flash.

Joe discovers that Cecile was patrolling the streets as a superhero. He is upset because she lied about working late.

Cecile says she can now induce vertigo in people, like The Top.

The Top is confirmed to be the figure who was watching Cecile in 818.

Cecile reveals that she got the idea that she could temporarily borrow the mental powers of nearby psychic metahumans.

The Top says it is not temporary and Cecile stole her powers outright.

Joe calls in a favor with Chief Singh to get two visitor passes to the metahuman wing of Iron Heights to test the theory that is why Cecile had done.

In 2049, Jay's wife, Dr. Joan Williams, confirms that the cause of Iris time sickness is her body being flooded with negative tachyons.

Iris has a vison of the Force Hosts - Deon, Bashir and Alexa - but they seem different some how.

XS tries to go back in time to get the 2022 Barry, while Impulse stays behind to protect Iris.

Meena is continuing to push herself harder, despite Eobard telling her she's risking her life doing it.

Deon, Bashir and Alexa appear to Meena and Eobard, saying they've come to kill him.

Deon, Bashir and Alexa claim to be incarnations of the Negative Still Force, Negative Sage Force and Negative Strength Force. They claim to be manifestations of "the true Forces of the universe, ones written in darkness" and say they have come to kill Eobard, the last variant of Eobard Thawne in the timeline, so that he can fulfil his purpose. 

The Negative Force Hosts are responsible for the disappearance of the regular Force Hosts, including Speed Force Nora.

When Eobard asks why they are trying to kill him he is told that he is "not the Avatar" and that his being here makes the Negative Forces weaker.

The Negative Force Hosts also tell Barry that he will pay for what he did.

XS arrives in 2022 at STAR Labs.

Back at Caitlin's apartment, Caitlin and Chillblaine have finished work on the pod he designed.

When XS asks why there is no Negative Speed Force Nora, Barry guesses that he might have erased her from existence when he broke the connection between Reverse-Flash and the Negative Speed Force. He guesses that maybe they think killing all the Thawnes will somehow bring back the Negative Speed Force.

Barry sends XS back to 2049 to help Impulse protect Iris.

STAR Labs detects massive energy spokes of three isotopic energy masses - Electrochemical, Temporal and Geothermal - the energies controlled by the Sage, Still and Strength forces respectively. 

Cecile and Top confront Queen of the Royal Flush Gang (i.e. Mona) while she is in custody.

Cecile steals Queen's telepathic powers and is able to read the mind of every person in Cenrtal City, despite being in a meta-dampened prison cell.

Meena continues to push herself because she's afraid of letting Eobard down.

Eobard says that Meena makes him proud and that he loves how she's using the gift she wanted to give him to help others.

Barry says he thinks he knows a way that Meena can share her power with Thawne, using the connection they share through their love for each other.

Barry gives Eobard a ring containing the Reverse-Flash costume.

Cecile, Allegra and Chester work together to try and delay the Negative Force Hosts as Barry tries to help Meena empower Thawne.

The Negative Still Force sends Cecile, Allegra and Chester away.

In 2049, Iris has more time visions, saying that she can see things changing, but not with any clarity.

Iris goes back to 2022 to see what is happening, arriving just as Barry is trying to throw lightning at the Negative Force Hosts. This seems to kill Iris, who vanishes in a puff of green particles.

The Reverse-Flash with the face or Harrison Wells emerges from the body of Eobard Thawne, after ripping himself out of it.


Location

Central City - 2049
Lian Yu - 2022


The Bottom Line

A bit of a mess, all over. Nobody was clamoring for the Force Avatars to return, and their evil twins are even more shallow and nonsensical somehow. One suspects the story doesn't really make sense and there's way too many subplots that don't go anywhere. Maybe the ending can make this worth it, but I doubt it.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 15 - Into the Still Force

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

Plot

When Iris disappears, Barry and Deon must travel into the Still Force to find her. Meanwhile, Chester makes a horrifying discovery when the CCPD call him in to look at some strange technology, as Caitlin forms an unlikely alliance with Chillblaine to bring Frost back to life.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson and Frankenstein (Chillblaine compares Caitlin to Dr. Frankenstein in her efforts to create life.)


Goofs

Sue Dearbon disappears from the storyline without explanation at this point. (Come to that, we didn't see her at Frost's funeral...)

Chillblaine's sudden decision to help Caitlin after refusing to do anything seems to be based around the need to stretch out her storyline and add some drama to it and nothing else.

Deon's heel-turn similarly comes out of nowhere.

The CGI saber-tooth tiger that randomly appears outside of Joe's house in the Still Force is completely random and not that convincing to boot.

The revelation that Bart and Nora are okay seriously undercuts all the tension regarding Iris' disappearance.


Performances

Jessica Parker Kennedy is as engaging as ever as Nora and single-handedly steals the episode.


Artistry

The direction used to distinguish the Still Force from reality is rather effective.


Flash Facts

While Barry is in the Still Force and having visions of his past, present and future, he joyfully says the name Max. This is likely a reference to Max Mercury - a time-traveling speedster from the comics who was a mentor to Barry Allen and, later, the guardian of Bart "Impulse" Allen. 

Barry also makes reference to seeing XS's wife in the future. This confirms that the new XS is a lesbian. The original XS from The Flash season 5 was also a lesbian according to showrunner Eric Wallace, but it was never referred to beyond the suggestion that Nora had a crush on the best friend who was killed by Godspeed and her flirting with Spin in 504.

Technobabble

By using one of Mirror Monarch's R-CEM chips to replicate Frost's cryogene, Caitlin thinks she can create a new body for Frost and recreate her through the same process that gave her a separate body.

Caitlin says she has identified Frost's latent empathic genes within her own DNA and believes she can extract her active imprints from the DNA of Frost's body.

Caitlin says the keratin in the sample of Frost's hair she took is decaying too quickly, so she needs a stronger DNA sample.

Barry uses an isotopic sensor to find the particle Deon planted in Iris.

The strange device Chester is asked to analyze emits trace radioactive particles and contains quantum coiling.

Chester confirms that the strange device from the halfway house is based on his quantum coil transformer, after he discovers that the interior was hardwired with a unique energy converter he designed.


Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: I'm proud of you.
Nora: So you're not mad I didn't join CCPD like you and Grandpa Joe?
Barry: No, of course not. I'm just... I'm glad you found a path that's right for you.
Nora: Phew. So, um, the thing is, is that I'm having a really hard time finding my voice as a reporter. But Mom is teaching me to have faith in myself and listen to my instincts. And if she were here right now, she'd tell you to do the same. And that everyone loses faith in themselves sometimes, even heroes. But learning how to keep believing in yourself when the whole world is telling you the opposite, that's what makes a hero.
Barry: You really are your mom's daughter.
Nora: (beaming) Well, I'm yours too.


Continuity

Barry wakes up to find Iris isn't there for breakfast. He checks his phone and finds a text message informing him she planned to pull an all-nighter at work.

Barry goes to the Central City Citizen with breakfast to find Iris isn't there either. She left her phone behind, which has 8 text messages she didn't respond to and 5 missed calls. Also, her latest article, about Fast Track Labs, is barely started and still pulled up on the computer..

Barry can't find Iris after running around Central City.

Cecile is at STAR Labs when Barry arrives, intending to use the satellites to search the globe for Iris. She claims to be hanging out there to avoid a new metahuman client. for some reason.

Cecile is unable to sense Iris' presence with her empathy powers and is confirmed to be powerful enough now to scan a 5-state radius around Central City.

It is suggested that Tinya Wazoo's powers might have had a hand in causing Iris to vanish, leading Barry to travel to Central City to search for her.

Caitlin tries to get Chillblaine to help her make a new body for Frost.

Chillblaine asks how they can restore Frost's soul.

Chillblaine objects to Caitlin's plan, even before she talks about an exhumation, which she can order as a medical doctor and Frost's next of kin. 

Chillblaine makes reference to Caitlin trying to resurrect Ronnie Raymond in 811 and that being a total disaster. He compares her to Dr. Frankenstein and says he wants no part of her plan.

Tinya Wazoo tells Barry she doesn't care about Iris and won't help him, because she ruined her life.

As Tinya leaves Barry, time stops around him and Deon Owens shows up.

Deon says that Iris is in the Still Force, but that the time sickness is making it hard for him to stay focused, so he needs Barry to come with him to find her.

Chester plans to repair the isotopic sensor so Barry can use it to find Iris in the Still Force. He says it will take him less than an hour.

Joe asks Barry how they can be sure Deon can be trusted, being skeptical of his statement that he needs Barry's help.

Barry says he tried to speak to the other Force avatars, but can't find them. Deon says he thinks the time sickness may have spread to them as well. 

Captain Kramer calls Chester to ask for his help in analyzing a strange high-tech device they found at a crime scene. Chester agrees to help having just finished getting the isotopic censor fixed.

Barry and Deon return to the same point where Deon first explained the time-sickness to Barry in 716. This is later identified as Central City Memorial Park, though Deon refers to it as his front porch since he can see everything from there.

Barry sees first-hand what Deon said about the Still Force becoming more dangerous and unstable, with night suddenly shifting to day in the blink of an eye and people aging and de-aging at random.

Barry picks up a newspaper which originally described the explosion of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator in 2013. It changes to a May 4. 2024 edition, which discusses the destruction of Central City at the hands of Zoom and Godspeed teamed-up.

As Barry and Deon track the particle into the Central City Citizen offices, they see a hologram of Taylor and Allegra arguing. Allegra keeps saying "Taylor, don't. This is my life, my decision. It's not what you think." as Taylor repeats " They need to know... they... they need to know what you've been hiding." This seems to suggest that Taylor, who was wanting to investigate Team Flash and had threatened to destroy Allegra's career, will figure out that Allegra is a metahuman and part of Team Flash at some point in the future and threaten to expose her.

Barry and Deon discover Renee Wazoo, who disappeared into the Still Force after she touched Iris in 810.

Barry wants to stop the search for Iris to try and find Renee after she disappears, but Deon says they have to stay focused on Iris.

Captain Kramer has decorated her office with Indigenous artwork, which reminds her of the reservation she grew up on.

The device the CCFD found came from a halfway house in downtown Central City, where there was an explosion. The device in question was attached to the water heater of the house. Thankfully, nobody was harmed thanks to a tip being called in regarding the explosion before it happened. All 37 occupants of the house were evacuated before an energy wave took out the building.

Chester seems to recognize something about the device after opening it up, but lies when Captain Kramer notices him looking stunned.

As Barry and Deon move further into the CCC offices, they walk past screens with a headline about Trickster invading Tibet at some point where Vanya is now the Editor-In-Chief of the Central City Citizen instead of Iris. This event was referred to in 806 as XS and Impulse read the records at the Flash Museum in 2049.

Deon turns on Barry and traps him in a part of the Still Force resembling Joe West's home.

It is revealed that the new XS is a reporter in 2049, like her mother, and she's writing a story about her latest solo adventure, saving a crowd at Shark Stadium while Impulse was busy partying.

XS uses her father's Gideon AI as a personal assistant.

XS becomes trapped in the Still Force as well after following Deon's voice.

Barry and XS find Iris' brush which disappeared from Joe's home during the final scene of 806.

Chester confirms that the device from the exploding half-way house is based on a design he put on-line as part of his streaming science show.

Chester references Allegra's warning in 811 that bad people might use his tech to do harm. 

Allegra points out that someone called in a warning to evacuate the halfway house, suggesting that what happened was an accident rather than a planned terrorist attack.

XS tells Barry that she's a writer rather than a CSI, like the original Nora from Season 5.

Barry tells XS that he's proud of her regardless of what her job is.

Nora's speech about the connections between their family causes him to remember that he has a small connection to the Still Force, which he should be able to use to escape.

Barry and Nora appear to Joe as green-tinted ghosts at his home in 2022 as Barry connects to the Still Force.

Barry says he has visions of Cisco and Frost from the past, and also sees future visions of Bart's children and XS's wife. He also sees someone he seemingly recognizes and forgets named Max.

Barry and Nora are able to escape the Still Force and emerge in Central City in 2022, because Barry figured out he must somehow escape if Nora was still alive. This also causes him to belief that Iris must be okay and will turn up eventually, given that his children are okay in the future.

Barry loses his connection to the Still Force and still has no idea why Deon turned on him.

Chester identifies the bomber as one of his followers, Wookielover77, who worked as a volunteer at the halfway house and was trying to fit the water heater with a clean power source. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite good enough to install the device safely.

Someone hacks Chester's computer and starts downloading his designs remotely after he leaves his lab with Allegra.

Chillblaine changes his mind and agrees to help Caitlin bring Frost back to life.


Location

Coast City - 2022.
The Still Force.
Central City - 2049.


Untelevised Adventures

Wally West taught Barry how to meditate to access the various forces besides the Still Force at some point in the past.

Wally also teaches Bart how to create constructs made of lightning in the future.


The Bottom Line

Somehow manages to feel packed with filler while being completely underwritten.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 12 - Death Rises

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

Plot

With Deathstorm on the rampage in Central City, Joe comes out of retirement to help coordinate the police response, as Team Flash uses Cecile's empathy powers to try and track the cold-fusion killer.

Influences

Green Lantern: Blackest Night


Goofs

Iris' sudden reappearance in Central City is perhaps the laziest bit of plot convenience in the show's history, as whatever Phantom Girl did to her is forgotten and never explained.

Deathstorm's motivations suddenly shift from killing the grieving to claiming Caitlin as his bride.

It's pointed out that Deathstorm haunts Allegra for no apparent reason. (If this were like Blackest Night, her light based powers might hold the key to beating him. Unfortunately, this plot point is dropped immediately.)

The "ride the lightning" sequence makes the Speed Force lightsabers from the Season 7 finale look plausible by comparison.


Performances

Danielle Panabaker does a great job playing off herself as Frost and Caitlin.


Artistry

As ridiculous as it is, the effects for the "Ride the Lightning" sequence are well-executed.


Flash Facts

The opening monologue by Deathstorm mimics some of Nekron's musings on life being an aberration and wanting to restore the peace of the early universe by killing everyone from Blackest Night. 

The Metallica song "Ride The Lightning" is used in the sequence in which Barry chases after Deathstorm by "riding lightning."

Technobabble

According to Iris, all time existence at once in the Still Force, allowing a person to see their past, present and future. However, for some reason, she was unable to see her future.

For some unexplained reason, Deathstorm's transformation changed the nature of his powers enough that Chester can no longer track him by the energy signature of his black flames.

Team Flash track Deathstorm by using a wireless neurogenic array synced with the Med Lab's synaptic monitoring relay to connect Cecile to STAR Labs' satellites.

Deon tries using a modified version of the metahuman tracking app to track Iris' movements in time and space.

Chester describes Allegra's powers as a light-based detonation on the electromagnetic spectrum which registers as a category-three spectral discharge.

Barry's gold boots can redirect most energy sources. This include currents equal to the kinetic output created when he run. According to Chester, the force of those two equal energies cancel each other out. but would create a sensation like running into a brick wall. Barry uses this to create lightning platforms he can use to chase after Deathstorm.

After being abducted by Deathstorm, Caitlin's vitals are elevated, her blood pressure is lower, and so is her body temperature. The strangest thing, however, is that her cells are in a constant state of regenesis, as if she's stopped aging normally.

Chester says they can use the Mental Augmentation Chamber (MAC) which saved his life and use it to emit cosmic radiation instead of absorbing trans-dimensional particles (i.e. the material that makes up black holes) in order to turn someone into an anti-Deathstorm.

Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry laments that he can't really plan against Deathstorm.)
Joe: A long time ago, I met someone who was as unprepared as it gets. Young, inexperienced, thrust into this whole new world that was sink or swim. You know what happened that he didn't see coming next? DeVoe. Zoom. Cicada. Bloodwork. But you're still standing, ain't you?

Frost: Okay, that's it. I am done waiting around for the Bachelor from Hell to come give Caity a rose. We need to find this sicko and end him, before he does anything worse to my sister.


Dialogue Disasters

Barry: Time to ride the lightning. 


Continuity

The episode picks up where 811 ended, with Deathstorm seemingly trying to burn Caitlin to death.

The Flash chases Deathstorm off, who flees even though Barry's lightning doesn't seem to effect it.

Caitlin does not have any burns when Barry examines her, despite being engulfed in Black Fire.

Caitlin explains to the rest of the team that Deathstorm is not Ronnie but was created by his death.

The cold fusion sphere is confirmed to be destroyed.

Cecile comes to STAR Labs offering to help, having heard about the attack on Caitlin.

Cecile senses that Barry is truly hurting - more than concern for a friend would cause.

Barry tells Cecile about Iris' disappearance and explains he hadn't told the rest of the team yet because he didn't want to distract them from the Deathstorm problem.

Sue texts Barry and tells him Iris is back.

Barry guesses that Iris' time sickness must have pulled her into the Still Force before Tinya could do whatever she was trying to do to Iris.

Iris tells Barry about her apparently accidentally killing Rene Wazoo in 810.

Deathstorm kills an old man who was apparently visiting a loved one's grave.

Captain Kramer uses the pager Barry gave her to summon The Flash for the first time since she received it in 807.

Sue stays with Iris while Barry is away.

The police field multiple reports regarding Deathstorm going on a rampage, kidnapping one man's wife and one body being burned but nothing else around the body.

Kramer says that there have been 10 Deathstorm victims in the past five months before getting reports of three more confirmed downtown, another two uptown, and at least four reported on the lower East side of Central City.

Kramer says she is out of her depth dealing with this.

Joe agrees to help Kramer lock down the city and coordinate the protocols needed to keep the police safe. This includes keeping any cops grieving loved ones off the street.

Some of the officers involved in the effort to fight Deathstorm are Korber, Matlin, Martinez, and Howe.

Allegra says there are no media tips regarding Deathstorm on the Central City Citizen hotline.

Barry hits upon the idea of using Cecile to track Deathstorm.

Cecile risks overloading her neural synapses using her powers in this way, but she says she has to risk it given that Deathstorm has killed over a dozen people at this point.

Caitlin tells Frost that she feels guilty, blaming herself for Deathstorm's rise to power.

Caitlin also says she feels like she's lost Ronnie a second time.

Sue is shown reading Uncaged Desire by Rebecca Silver - a romance novel by Mick Rory's penname. 

Deon shows up and introduces himself to Sue.

Iris' headaches are getting worse.

Deon already knows about Tinya's mom. However, he didn't learn about it until after it had become a part of the past, which is now how the Still Force is meant to work.

Iris' illness has apparently infected the Still Force, as near as Deon can figure. This is why his powers are weakening.

Deon says he will look for Renee Wazoo once he has his strength back, but right now it's taking all he can do to keep Iris and himself stable. As it is, he can see the future of everyone except Iris.

Deon suddenly dissipates into a cloud of Still Force particles, the same way that Rene Wazoo did..

Once Cecile is connected to STAR Labs tracking satellites, Chester is able to locate Deathstorm inside of STAR Labs.

Deathstorm speaks through Cecile and threatens to kill everyone if they don't give him Cailin.

only way they all live is if he gets Caitlin

Allegra is confronted by a vision of Ultraviolet in the hall of STAR Labs.

Allegra knocks herself out releasing a Spectral discharge trying to fight the fake Ultraviolet.

They determine this was another Deathstorm illusion, but have no idea why he would be trying to haunt Allegra now.

Sue once crashed a royal wedding in some country and bought the castle, which prevented her from being arrested. 

Sue talks Iris through her pain by telling her to fight for her future with Bart, Nora and Barry.

Joe makes mention of  The Thinker, Zoom, Cicada and Bloodwork

Deathstorm attacks Frost and kidnaps Caitlin.

The Flash chases Deathstorm to a carnival, Ripley's Wild World, where it burns several people in a crowd.

Deathstorm abandons Caitlin, saying she is not ready yet.

Cecile says she can feel an intense level of grief inside Caitlin

Deathstorm has killed four more people.

Caitlin says that Deathstorm seems to be trying to change her - not kill her.

Barry noticed that when Deathstorm disappears, there is portal and the space behind it resembles the place he saw in 601 when Chester's consciousness became trapped in a singularity. 

Frost volunteers to be turned into an Anti-Deathstorm with the MAC.

The final scene shows something seeming to stalk Iris and Sue outside Iris and Barry's apartment. This is revealed to be Eddie Thawne, apparently alive and well. It is unclear if this is a Deathstroke illusion or a side-effect of Iris' time sickness.

The Fridge Factor

Captain Kramer is made to look completely incompetent. Granting, that's a completely fair assessment given the way the character was hired into a job for which she had no qualifications, she has a breakdown only to allow Joe to come in and save the day.


The Bottom Line

An utterly nonsensical episode, even ignoring all the technobabble.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 10 - Reckless

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

Plot

When the Cold-Fusion Killer targets Frost in her own apartment, she begins planning how to use herself as bait to trap them, despite Barry and Caitlin's objection. At the same time, Iris' efforts to help Tinya find her birth mother cause more harm than good.

Influences

Doctor Who (technobabble regarding Iris' time sickness) and Legion of Superheroes comics (character of Phantom Girl).


Goofs

Caitlin is said to be on vacation with her boyfriend in the Wine Country, but returns when she hears about Frost's injuries. It is implied that Barry brought her back to Central City, yet at the end of the episode Caitlin goes to call her boyfriend to tell him what is going on, saying that "He has no idea what happened today" and she hasn't told him about working with The Flash yet. So did Caitlin just leave her boyfriend on the other side of the country with no excuse?

Cold fusion, it should be noted, is not cold. It is cold in that it can occur at temperatures below that found inside a star. It is certainly not "like frostbite, only a thousand times more lethal."


Performances

Danielle Panabaker does a great job playing against herself as Caitlin and Frost. She also gets a great silent acting moment, as Frost, hugging her mother for the first time... looking uncomfortable but slowly settling into it.


Artistry

The black fire effects are more convincing this week.

Technobabble

Deon claims that the temporal mutations he's been tracking are all coming from Iris.

Deon says that he had been treating Iris' condition like a virus giving her symptoms but now it seems that she is the cause of the time fractures forming around her.

An SR37 Alert on the Team Flash warning app is a break-in at STAR Labs' medical lab.

Dr. Tannhauser theorizes that the Black Fire is targeting Frost because her powers are cryokinetic, like the fire.

A fusion containment housing is needed to trap the Black Fire - one that can absorb and amplify Frost's cryokinetic signature. So long as she's in proximity, the unit can amplify her cryokinetic signature and attract the fire.

Chester suggests using the fusion sphere from the Artificial Speed Force to speed up the process.

At one point Chester has to compensate for the possibility of a reconfiguration flip at the subatomic level while getting the fusion sphere set up.

Dr. Tannhauser suggests that two cryokinetic signatures could create a signal too enticing for the Black Fire to resist.

Dr. Tannhauser scanned herself for residual meta-genome signatures in her body, determining that a latent cryogene had been activated. 

After the second attempt, Chester says that with a strong enough signal the sphere could work without someone's cryo-kinetic RNA in close proximity. This means there is no need to use anyone as bait.


Dialogue Triumphs

Joe: Sometimes, the hardest part about being a leader is letting go and trusting the ones you've trained to make the call themselves.


Dialogue Disasters

Frost: Right now I kinda feel like the stupid person in the horror movie who runs into the house instead of running away from it. 


Continuity

This episode picks up right where 809 ended, with Deon talking to Iris about her time sickness.

Deon and Iris figure out that her increasing instability is due to her asking Deon to reverse her treatments in 803. (Curiously, Deon has no memory of this, despite his power.)

Deon says Iris needs to stay in Coast City for the time being to stabilize, but she should be able to move around the city without issue.

Barry offers to stay with Iris, but she insists he needs to return to Coast City and deal with the Cold-Fusion Killer - now called Black Fire.

Frost is attacked by black fire in her apartment, while working on a new art piece.

The black fire's heat is so intense it can make Frost sweat and it burns her trying to touch her.

Joe, Cecile, Barry, Chester and Allegra discuss what they've found, affirming that all the Black Fire victims so far, except Chester, were suffering from depression.

Parker DeStefano, the yoga instructor who was the Cold-Fusion Killer's third victim, is revealed to have been going through grief counseling following the death of her fiancée and to have started dating again before her death.

Allegra has Vanya and Aariz at the Central City Citizen researching the other victims looking for common links.

Joe and Cecile go through all the files Captain Kramer gave them regarding suspicious fires that might be related to the Cold-Fusion Killer dating back to 2013.

Barry finds Frost breaking into the medical lab at STAR Labs, trying to treat her burn herself.

Caitlin is said to be on a wine country tour with her new boyfriend.

Frost says she isn't grieving anyone, so she can't think of why the Black Fire targeted her.

Frost meets with her mother, Dr. Carla Tannhauser, and asks for her help in trapping the Black Fire.

Frost plans to use herself as bait, while Dr. Tannhauser builds something to trap the Black Fire.

Barry doesn't want to risk Frost's life, saying it is too risky to use her as bait.

Frost asks Barry if he really believes Iris isn't risking her life right now and asks how that is different than her doing the same.

Dr. Carla Tannhauser is said to be the world's top specialist in cold fusion.

Carla offers Chester a job, impressed with his work on the trap. He declines, saying he likes working at STAR Labs too much, even though the pay would be better.

The Black Fire senses a trap and knocks Frost out.

Barry gets Caitlin to return to STAR Labs to treat Frost. She is furious Frost is risking her life.

Iris and Sue take Tinya to the agency that handled her adoption. Unfortunately, there's a no-contact rule that prevents them from giving Tinya any information on her birth mother. Only their board of directors could override it.

Sue's uncle Leroy is the chairman of the board of directors for the adoption agency and is also an orphan himself. One phone call gets him to override the no-contract rule.

After Iris, Sue and Tinya leave, all the furniture in the waiting room of the adoption agency blinks out of existence.

Tinya wonders if her mom is even going to want to meet her. Iris reassures her by talking about her making peace with own mother during Season 2.

Frost's stabbing herself to catch Chillblaine in 707 is held up as proof of her reckless behavior.

Caitlin accuses her mother as seeing Frost as a science experiment instead of a daughter and threatens to abandon her mother if Frost dies.

Barry tells Joe he still thinks Frost's plan is too dangerous, but Joe suggests he's really worried about Iris and that sometimes, when you're a leader, you have to trust your followers.

Dr. Tannhauser thinks Caitlin had a point and tells Frost, frankly, she needs to be more of a mother to her. This includes straight talk about her needing to stop being reckless.

Dr. Tannhauser says that Frost is just like her father, who would do anything to protect his loved ones.

Dr. Tannhauser reveals that her cryokinetic metagene was activated after the events of 519. She hasn't manifested powers yet, but has the potential to do so.

Caitlin is not happy about risking her mother and sister, but agrees to help check their plan.

The Black Fire is released after Dr. Tannhauser has a cardiac arrest while in the middle of trapping it.

Joe and Cecile found nothing in the records of all the old fires.

Barry and Chester are confident they can now use the trap to catch the Black Fire without using Frost as bait.

Dr. Tannhauser stays with Caitlin and Frost for the night.

Dr. Tannhauser tells Frost that she loves her and hugs her for the first time.

Tinya's mother is a woman named Renee Wazoo.

Renee reveals that she was an unwed 16 year old when she got pregnant and she wanted to keep Tinya, but her parents were furious and insisted she put the baby up for adoption.

Renee says that giving up Tinya was the biggest regret of her life, which was spent moving from crummy retail job to crummy retail job. She said the only thing that kept her going was the thought that her daughter might have had a better life with a loving family.

Tinya says that didn't happen.

Iris has a seizure and Renee tries to comfort her. Shortly after that, she disintegrates into a cloud of still force particles.


Location

Coast City

The Bottom Line

A filler episode, apart from the final two minutes. It is tolerable, however, because of the focus on Frost and the Phantom Girl storyline being limited to two scenes.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 3 - Armageddon, Part 3

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

Plot

As Barry and Jefferson Pierce meet to discuss Barry's problems and the possibility of removing Barry's powers, Iris begins to investigate her father's death and the possibility that maybe he didn't really die.

Influences

Armageddon 2001, The Flash comics of Geoff Johns and The Flash comics of John Broome.


Goofs

Jefferson Pierce makes reference to living in Atlanta. In the Black Lightning series, Jefferson lived in Freeland - a fictional city based on Atlanta. (It's possible Freeland was a specific suburb in Atlanta. Or Jefferson may just be making reference to the largest major city, like how Dallas is often used to describe all the cities surrounding it, not trusting Barry to know where Freeland is.)

The character motivations are all over the place in this episode. Iris jumps between thinking Barry is right to thinking Joe is dead from scene to scene. Despero decides to wait for the heroes to lead him to The Flash only to suddenly boot up the STAR Labs particle accelerator to boost his own powers so he can do it himself.

It also beggars belief that neither Despero nor Cecile/Top would require a nation-wide telepathic scan when Barry was in Central City at the Hall of Justice the whole time. 

Also, wouldn't Team Flash be aware of the Injustice protocols, in case one of them needed to call in the other heroes if Barry were too far gone to request it himself? 


Performances

Cress Williams give a great performance as Jefferson Pierce that will leave you wishing for a fifth season of Black Lightning.


Artistry

The special effects are of cinematic quality, particularly during the Black Lightning vs. Flash fight.


Flash Facts

Barry says that the Injustice Protocols were created by all of the major heroes working together after a battle with a villain named Faust. This seems to be a reference to Felix Faust - an evil magician and classic Justice League villain in the comics, who had the ability to trade souls between bodies. Faust appeared in C110 where he was killed by Chas Chandler, but since this occurred before Crisis on Infinite Earths, it's possible Faust was one of the villains resurrected on Earth-Prime. It's also possible that Faust found a way to escape from Hell, which he also did in the comics.

The Injustice Protocols, which are used to take out a superhero who has gone rogue, seem to have been named after the Injustice games and comics, where Superman went rogue and took over the world.

The basic idea of the Injustice Protocols is similar to the plans created by Batman in the JLA: Tower of Babel storyline, which allowed him to neutralize any member of the Justice League. Batman devised the plans after a group of villains (including Felix Faust) swapped bodies with their enemies in the Justice League.

Chester makes reference to Cerebro - the psychic-power boosting computer used by Professor X from the X-Men - in describing a device that could boost Cecile's empathy powers to counter Despero. This is one of many occasions where the Arrowverse reference Marvel Comics characters as being fictional creations in their reality. 

When Despero attacks the government agents at STAR Labs, he is briefly seen toying with a chess set. The shot where this occurs is a mock up of the cover of Justice League of America #1 (November 1960) where Despero first appeared.

The scene in which Barry and Jefferson discuss soul music is based on an idea proposed by Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil. In an interview with EW.com, Akil discussed his idea for a Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen appearance in Black Lightning, where Barry would discuss having been raised in a Black family and how Joe West had shared his love of soul music with Barry. While the cameo never happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was intentionally referenced here.

The idea of the Negative Still Force is unique to the Arrowverse. Presumably it acts in a similar manner to the Negative Speed Force, mimicking the regular Still Force but being more destructive in nature. So far the only difference between them is that the Negative Still Force seems to allow the wielder to alter the timeline without creating paradoxes.

In the comics, in the New 52 era, the Reverse-Flash originally had the ability to alter the flow of time rather than being super-fast. His newfound command of the Negative Still Force seems to convey the same ability.

The ending, in which Eobard Thawne marries Iris West, is a nod to The Flash Vol. 1 #165 (November 1966) in which the Reverse-Flash took Barry Allen's place at his own wedding.

The name Robern's, the restaurant where Iris and Thawne's wedding reception is held, is a nod to Eobard Thawne's younger brother in the comics, who was a police officer who tried to thwart his brother's crimes before he traveled back in time. Eobard Thawne altered the timeline so that his parents never had any children after him, according to The Flash Vol. 3 #8 (February 2011).


Technobabble

The Injustice Protocols were designed to neutralize the most powerful heroes on Earth-Prime in case they should go rogue. Each member of the team was assigned a teammate to be the one to step in for one another. In The Flash's case, the designated teammate is Black Lightning.

Kalanorians have four hemispheres in their brain, as opposed to humans, who only have two hemispheres. This makes Despero effectively twice as powerful as any human telepath by sheer virtue of having double the processing power.

The security officer at the Scott Railway depot confirms the missing frames on the footage from when Joe died, but explains that is because of the CCT system being on the same power grid as Sharks Stadium and their upload always being interrupted on game days.

Barry alters the conduits in Jefferson Pierce's costume to enable him to generate enough voltage to disrupt Barry's connection to the Speed Force.

Chester's Neural Conjoiner allows telepaths and empaths to pool their powers and amplify them. This allows Cecile and The Top to search for The Flash across a continent, allowing Chester to triangulate his location using the visual data they pick up. Part of the device is a pair of television rabbit-ear antennas. 

Unlike Still Force isotopes, the Negative Still Force isotopes don't decay; they linger.


Dialogue Triumphs

Black Lightning: My father had a saying, one that I even teach my students today. "Where's the future? Right here. "Whose life is this? Mine. "What are you gonna do with it? Live it by any means necessary." So don't worry. I will honor my promise. I will do whatever is necessary to keep folks alive. But remember... when we take away your powers, they are gone permanently. 

(Jefferson refuses to help Barry lose any more of his power.)
Barry: Fine, you want to ignore the protocols? Now imagine millions dead all because of me!
(Barry throws a lightning bolt at Jefferson. He side-steps the bolt, grabs it and spins, throwing the energy back at Barry and knocking him down.)
Black Lightning: It's your lightning. You keep it. 

(Barry ran Jefferson around the room in a rage and accidentally destroys the case holding Green Arrow's costume. Barry sees the broken case and is stunned.)
Black Lightning: You think this is what he would have wanted? You told me that before Crisis, Oliver went to the Monitor to trade his life for yours. Now, I never met the man, so you tell me: why'd he do that? 'Cause he was afraid? Nah. A man like him lays down his life for a man like you for one reason: because you are the best of us. Now, Oliver Queen wasn't a quitter. He'd never quit on you. So don't you dare quit on yourself. 

Barry: Jefferson, I'm so sorry.
Black Lighting: It's okay.  Just tell me this. Where's the future? 

Barry: It's right here. 

Black Lighting: Whose life is this? 

Barry: Mine. 

Black Lighting: So what are you gonna do with it? 

Barry: Live it... by any means necessary. 

Continuity

Barry called Jefferson Pierce to the Hall of Justice to enact something called the Injustice Protocol.

Jefferson is hesitant, saying that the Injustice Protocols are a one-way trip and meant to be used as a last resort.

Barry tells Jefferson about the events of 802 and how he is apparently losing his mind and attacking his friends and city.

Jefferson suggests they call in Kara, J'onn and Sara to discuss this, referring to Supergirl, Martian Manhunter and White Canary.

Jefferson finally agrees to go forward with Barry's request after he says that he forgot about Joe dying six months earlier.

Despero is shown to be psychically scanning Central City looking for Barry.

Cecile makes reference to the mental health crisis she had in the past, revealed in 713.

Cecile can sense Despero's presence and his watching Team Flash.

Joe West reportedly died after falling onto the tracks at Scott Railway after tripping.

Iris started looking at the evidence connected to Joe West's death and discovered a glitch in the video. Joe seemed to disappear before the train hit him. This leads Iris to theorize that something might have happened, like he was taken by a metahuman or swapped with a mirror clone.

Allegra makes reference to the fight with Bloodwork in 708 and how Iris trusting in Barry paid off before.

Cecile loses it and tells off Iris for even daring to think Joe might be alive.

Iris goes off to research her father's death on her own. Allegra goes after her.

Cecile, Caitlin and Chester go to work on trying to find Barry.

Chester says he can build a device to boost Cecile's powers.

Cecile says she can get someone to help further boost her abilities.

Iris is revealed to sometimes see things because of her time sickness. In this case, she sees some kind of green pixelated energy, similar to the Still Force, around the spot where Joe died.

Iris has an appointment with Deon Ownes to stabilize her that night.

On the day that Joe died, the Red Line train arrived 15 minutes early.

Iris suddenly changes her mind when the security officer at the depot offers to let her see the backed-up local files of the security footage of Joe's death.

Cecile recruits The Top, last seen in 701, to help her search for The Flash.

The Top has been reduced to hustling pool at O'Shaughnessy's in Keystone City.

The Top has recently been released from Iron Heights and tells Cecile that cheers broke out at the prison when they heard about Joe West's death.

The Top agrees to help in exchange for Cecile working to get her parole restrictions lifted.

Barry plays "Blue Monk" by Thelonious Monk while working on fixing Black Lightning's costume.

Barry loves soul music, which Joe West introduced him to when he was a kid.

Barry says Joe's favorites were Miles Davis, Johnny Hartman and Ella Fitzgerald but Thelonious Monk was his very favorite.

Jefferson tells Barry about the death of Bill Henderson in B316 and how he was a cop, like Joe, who Jefferson saw as a brother.

Jefferson makes reference to Peter Gambi, his foster father, who created his costume.

Jefferson says he's sure Joe is proud of Barry.

Allegra does some investigating on her own and determines that the Red Line never runs early. In fact, it almost always runs late. More, she determines that the train that hit Joe passed a routine inspection two days earlier, yet somehow had the hydraulics fail. Additionally, dozens of other little things went wrong that could have prevented the disaster, even ignoring Joe's tripping for no apparent reason.

The files on Joe's accident Allegra assembled show the same particles Iris saw at the site of Joe's death.

Top advises Cecile to close herself off from her emotions and her sadness over Joe's death to focus her powers more effectively. 

Top and Cecile overload the Mark I. version of Chester's neural conjoiner.

Despero senses what Cecile and Top did and decides to let them lead him to The Flash.

Deon Owens, the Still Force avatar, finds Iris at the site of Joe's death and is surprised because they usually meet at the STAR Labs Speed Lab. 

Deon says that nobody has been screwing with the timeline, because he would sense it if they were.

Iris asks Deon to undo all her treatments, thinking that her time sickness is tied to whatever is altering reality and leaving these particles behind.  

Deon says the particle Iris is seeing are temporal isotopes, but instead of decaying they are growing. He says the reason he couldn't sense them until Iris pointed them out was because someone was using the Negative Still Force to rewrite the timeline. He confirms that Joe West wasn't meant to die six months earlier, but someone changed the past so that he did.

Caitlin tells Cecile she thinks Top is wrong about closing herself off, saying that didn't help her when Ronnie Raymond died and that Cecile's strength comes from her connections to those she loves.

Chester's phone alerts him that someone turned on the particle accelerator at STAR Labs.

Despero is revealed to have done this, so he could use its power to boost is own psychic abilities.

The second time Cecile and Top use the neural conjoiner, Chester is able to get a picture of Barry with Black Lightning, but doesn't know where they are.

Chester recognizes Jefferson Pierce and knows he is Black Lightning.

Despero shows up at Chester's garage and demands to know where The Flash is.

The Top betrays the heroes and tries to bargain with Despero, trading the information for a chance to help him kill The Flash. Despero denies her and attacks her psychically. She is left alive, but comatose.

Cecile is able to drive Despero away by thinking about Joe.

Barry tells Jefferson that Despero is from the future and offered convincing evidence that Barry will destroy the world ten years from now.  Jefferson does not believe it.

Barry accidentally destroys the case holding Green Arrow's costume and bow as he and Jefferson fight.

Despero finds Barry at the same time that Deon and Iris show up.

Barry no longer has the power to travel in time.

Deon sends Barry forward in time to find out who really caused the end of the world in 2031, as Black Lightning holds off Despero.

Barry arrives in 2031 outside a restaurant called Robern's, which is hosting a "West Party." This turns out to be a wedding reception for Iris and Eobard Thawne.

The West Party includes Cecile, Allegra, Chester (who now has dreadlocks), Alex Danvers (Sentinel), Ryan Wilder (Batwoman) and Dr. Ryan Choi. At the time of this episode, it had never been indicated that Ryan knew Barry Allen or any of the Central City or National City heroes.

Ryan Choi last appeared in L501.


Location

O'Shaughnessy's - Keystone City - 2021.
Central City - 2031


Untelevised Adventures

Barry makes reference to a battle between multiple heroes with Faust, which led to the creation of the Injustice Protocols.


The Bottom Line

An odd episode that seems to be running in place and padding out the crossover. The scenes of Grant Gustin and Cress Williams interacting as The Flash and Black Lightning are magical and will leave you wanting to learn more about their off-camera adventures together. Unfortunately, most of the episode is centered around Cecile and Iris arguing and more of the Force God nonsense from Season 7 nobody wanted to see return. It is worth it, however, for the final two minutes and the reveal that everybody saw coming but still hits like a brick wall.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 16 - P.O.W.

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

Plot

John Diggle arrives in Central City with a weapon to help Barry stop the Godspeed War. Meanwhile, Allegra and Ultraviolet’s new bond following he surgery is put to the ultimate test, as Joe and Kristin Kramer are hunted by her former colleague. 

Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (use of Still Force and Godspeed characters), Ghostbusters (general design of the entropy trap),  and The Most Dangerous Game (Joe and Kramer being hunted.)

Goofs

The official show summaries keep changing Kristen Kramer's name, spelling her first name with an "i" and an "e' (Kristin/Kristen).

Cecile mentions that it is the year 2021. However, the events of The Flash season 7 have taken place within a four week period following the events of 703, which was firmly set in mid-2020 based on the Season 6 episodes leading to the battle with Mirror Monarch.

Joe retrieves his oversize gun seemingly from nowhere during the final confrontation with Creyke.

It's a minor point, but the episode never addresses if Caitlin (who knows more about metahuman neurology than most) examined Diggle while he was in Central City or after his breakdown facing Godspeed.


Performances

It's always good to see David Ramsey as John Diggle and the scenes between him and Grant Gustin improve this episode immensely.


Flash Facts

The entropy trap which Diggle delivers is said to be a one-of-a-kind due to it being constructed from some unique Time Trapper tech. This is a reference to a classic villain from the Legion of Superheroes comics - a time-traveler from the future who became the Living Embodiment of Entropy. This also confirms that the Time Trapper exists in the Arrowverse.

August Heart is said to have worked for Dayton Labs' Central City branch in the future. In the DC Comics universe, Dayton Labs is a research facility owned by Dayton Industries - a company owned by the superhero Mento, who was part of the Doom Patrol.

Adam Kreyke claims to have the power to die over and over. There are a few DC Comics characters who have a similar power of immortality, but most of them (such as Resurrection Man and Multi-Man) gain a new superpower each time they die.

At the end of the episode, Nora West-Allen's lightning is only purple when it was purple and yellow in Season 5. This is believed to foreshadow that the newly introduced Bart Allen Jr. is her twin brother, as his lightning is yellow, like his father's.

In the original The Flash comics, Barry and Iris did have twins, a boy and a girl, who inherited Barry's powers, but they were named Dawn and Don and were known as the Tornado Twins. 

Bart Allen Jr. desribes the Speed Lab as "crash." This is a future slang term from the comics, used by Impulse to describe good things.


Technobabble

The Godspeed War generates a build-up of electricity, shielding Central City from outside electrical signals, basically acting as a giant Faraday Cage. This prevents Cecile from calling Joe, who is outside of the city.

Adam Creyke is armed with an advanced pulse rifle and a scrambler program that prevents people close to him from using a phone.

The motion-detection plate on the entropy trap has a response time of a picosecond. The plasmatic wave it generates eliminates all entropy from any object or person, freezing it in time.

The metal band that Caitlin creates to replace Ultraviolet's mask is made of the same unique metal alloy, so her body won't reject it and it will still maintain the laryngeal structure.

Diggle confirms that the doctors at the neurology clinic in Gotham didn't find anything wrong with him physically.

Chester's algorithm confirms the Godspeeds are returning at an exponential rate. 

Caitlin's scan of August Heart's brain and body show no sign of speed powers, organic or artificial. However, his neurological scans show severe memory degradation yet his somatic memory cells are still intact, but inactive. She says a nano dose of neurogenic dark matter might reactivate the cells, but the procedure is risky and it would still only restore his memory temporarily.


Dialogue Triumphs

Diggle: So you want to tell me what's really got you so upset that you're talking to your teammates like that? And don't tell me it's about some broken tech, Barry.
Barry: It's my daughter. Nora. Before she came to join us, she lived in the future. The exact time Godspeed's from.
Diggle: Okay, and with everything that's going on, you think it affects the future somehow?
Barry: Dig, if... If August Heart is here, what does that mean for Nora? And the future of our family? Is she okay? Will Iris and I still have a family? Is Nora even alive in the future anymore? (breathing heavily) Now all I want to do is run to and make sure Nora's okay. See with my own eyes that my daughter's safe. But I can't do that.
Diggle: Why not?
Barry: Dig, you know better than anyone what could happen if I did. Besides, man, with this civil war destroying the city staying here to fight is the right thing to do.
Diggle: No, it's not. Barry, I lived a long life here on this earth. I've been a spy, a vigilante, a soldier... hell, I've even been the Green Arrow. The most important job I've ever had is as a dad. And there's not a bullet I wouldn't take, there's not a timeline that I wouldn't risk changing if it meant protecting my family. I know that now. Lyla... my kids, they're my heart, man. My soul. My entire world. How far would I go for them? As far as it takes. Everything else be damned. Don't be afraid to do the same.


Continuity

The events of this episode take place sometime after the Batwoman episode Rebirth (B216) as Diggle makes reference to his clinic visit in Gotham City from that episode.

As the episode opens, the Godspeeds are randomly running around Central City attacking people when they aren't fighting each other.

Barry has another dream vision of Nora West-Allen, like the one in 715, where she tells him that the future is changing and something happened to their family.

Iris is still suffering from a sickness that has her confined to her and Barry's apartment.

Cecile hasn't heard from Joe since he left Central City with Kristen Kramer 8 hours earlier

Joe and Kramer are revealed to have escaped their exploding car and hide in the woods as Creyke hunts them.

Kramer recognized Creyke's attack coming because she knew what the light of his pulse rifle looked like.

Barry is said to have six broken ribs and internal bleeding after his latest battle with the Godspeeds, but he says he'll be fine after an hour thanks to his speed healing.

Barry tells the rest of the team about his vision of Nora and wonders if he should go to the future to check on her.

Diggle arrives from Star City with a device Cisco constructed  - an entropy trap - which he thought might help with the Godspeeds.

Diggle volunteered to deliver the entropy trap personally, as he is still working with ARGUS.

Chester is aware of who John Diggle is (presumably having read up on previous Team Flash adventures) and says that he is a big fan.

Barry plans to use the entropy trap to catch a Godspeed so they can question him as to why the Godspeeds are fighting.

Caitlin heals Ultraviolet and says she won't need any more surgeries or bio-chip updates to live.

Ultraviolet plans to go after another Black Hole team right away. Allegra says that's stupid.

Ultraviolet asks Allegra to help her. Allegra agrees, but says they will only work to capture the Black Hole forces - not kill them - and that it will have to wait until after the Godspeed War is over. Ultraviolet agrees to those terms.

Barry attempts to lure the Godspeeds into the entropy trap by broadcasting one of their signals through the speakers built into his suit. They manage to catch one.

The Godspeed refuses to answer questions, which Diggle takes as a sign that he's a soldier and will talk when he is ready to volunteer information.

Diggle tells Cecile that ARGUS is aware of her empathy powers, despite her efforts to keep her status as a metahuman a secret.

Cecile tried to read the Godspeed but could only sense hatred and determination.

The Godspeed was trying to contact his other selves but was blocked by Allegra's powers.

The Godspeed finally speaks and reveals that he knows Barry Allen's secret identity.

Joe wants to flee and get back-up but Kramer wants to confront Adam Creyke.

Joe asks why Creyke would be trying to kill Kramer now when he tried to save her before. She says that he must not know who he is hunting, which gives Joe an idea.

The Godspeed reveals that there are two factions within the Godspeeds - those loyal to August Heart, who want to take Barry's speed and deliver it to him. The other Godspeeds wish to live freely, as they "did not ask to be born, but we do ask not to die" which is the inevitable fate of all the Godspeed clones.

The Godspeed reveals that the original August Heart has come to the present day from the future and the Godspeeds are trying to find him. It also says the only solution is to kill August Heart before he becomes Godspeed.

The Godspeed escapes after Barry refuses to help kill August Heart, thanks to Barry forgetting that the anti-meta safeguards in the Pipleine only work on naturally created metahumans - not artificial speedsters created by a Velocity drug.

The Godspeed also breaks the entropy trap, which can't be rebuilt as it was made using repurposed Time Trapper tech that ARGUS didn't have much of in their possession. 

Barry snaps and yells at Chester when he says he can't fix the entropy trap. This prompts a lecture from Diggle.

Allegra overhears Diggle's speech about the importance of family and resolves to help Ultraviolet against Black Hole now.

Diggle references having been the Green Arrow for a time during Arrow Season 6.

Iris gave Cecile Nora's journal to search for information on August Heart. Cecile found mention of a few places Nora found that seemed personal to Heart which might be worth searching.

Barry agrees to let Cecile search for the original August Heart, but asks her to take Diggle and Allegra with her.

Cecile winds up going with Frost and Diggle, as Allegra isn't answering her texts for some reason.

John has a massive migraine, which he says is the worst one that he's ever had.

Cecile feels John's pain, describing it as like fighting a hurricane. She also claims to have sensed something behind the pain which felt infinite in power.

Barry tries to enter the Speed Force to visit Nora in 2049 but is ambushed by a mob of Godspeeds.

Barry is pulled out of the Speed Force by Deon Owens (aka The Still Force) who tells him that the Godspeeds are feeding on the Speed Force and that "big sis" (i.e. Nora Speed Force) has her hands full trying to deal with them.

Deon refuses to send Barry to the future, saying it is too risky until the Speed Force is done cleansing herself. Besides that, it is taking all of his strength to protect Iris, who is being pulled out of time by some outside force, which is causing her illness.

Deon promises to protect Iris, but tells Barry he's needed to fight the war in the present.

Diggle attacks the Godspeeds using a dose of nanites devised by Ray Palmer that neutralize superspeed. (The same nanites were used by Oliver Queen against Eobard Thawne in 122.)

Diggle has another headache, this time hearing a chorus of voices say "Worlds Await," over and over.

Frost saves Diggle while he is down.

Allegra is revealed to be tracking Ultraviolet, who ran off without her despite her promises to wait. She finds her in the middle of a massacre, critically wounded.

Ultraviolet has just enough time to curse Allegra for letting her die alone, but she says that she will not die afraid.

Ultraviolet's body dissolves into dust upon her death.

Frost, Diggle and Cecile check out the future site of Dayton Labs' as Nora's journal said August Heart worked there for a while in her time.  That lab doesn't exist in the modern day, however.

They find a man they think is the original August Heart, but he's amnesiac and was only at the Dayton Labs site because he felt it was important for some reason.

Adam Creyke claims to have died 17 times and been reborn over and over.

Adam Creyke recognizes Kramer and asks who she really is, claiming that the real Kramer was killed during Operation Griffin.

Creyke defends his mercenary actions, saying he gave half of the money he earned back to the reservation they grew up on.

At Joe's urging, Kramer doesn't shoot Creyke.

Chester calculates they have 90 minutes before the next wave of Godspeeds.

The only thing Cecile can sense from August Heart is the same confusion and fear an amnesiac would have.

Chester tells Diggle to thank Cisco for the Time Trapper tech and to tell him that he's going to do what he can to repair it himself.

Diggle leaves Central City, telling Barry there's something he's been putting off for far too long and it nearly got him killed. This coincides with a quick flashback to A810 and Diggle's discovery of a glowing green object in the meteor that nearly hit him when he was loading his moving van.

Barry and Diggle hug before he leaves and Barry offers whatever help he can.

The mystery man confirms his name is August after Caitlin injects him with dark matter.

Cecile has still not gotten in touch with Joe at the episode's end.

Nora West-Allen appears and tells Barry she wouldn't have come to the past if it weren't important.

Nora points out that the fact that she is there is proof that Iris will be all-right, as is the person who traveled with her. This leads to the introduction of her brother, Bart Allen Jr.

Location

A wooden area somewhere near Midway City.


Untelevised Adventures

Iris is off-camera for most of the episode, being protected by the Still Force.

Barry is ambushed by several Godspeeds while evacuating City Hall.

Frost is said to be out in Central City fighting the Godspeeds for most of the episode.

Iris gave Cecile Nora's diary so she could search for information on August Heart.


The Fridge Factor

Iris is reduced to a damsel to be protected by this episode.

Ultraviolet is killed off an episode after being cured, purely to give Allegra angst about abandoning her family and likely setting up her inevitable conclusion that Team Flash is her family now.


The Boomerang Factor

Barry's forgetting that the safeguards in the Pipeline only neutralize the powers of natural born metahumans seems like a major oversight, as does the safeguards somehow not working on those who get powers from temporary means like Velocity-9.


The Bottom Line

Overstuffed but comfortable, like an old easy chair. The scenes with Diggle are enjoyable and expand well upon his mystery. Unfortunately, the urgency of the Godspeed War is seriously undercut by all the subplots involving Iris' disappearance, Joe helping Kramer and everything involving Ultraviolet. It's clear they didn't have as much time to develop everything with the shorter season order and, ironically, it's probably for the best they had to abandon the Elongated Man storyline they had planned lest this seem even busier. That being said, the final two minutes bode well for the 150th episode and the arrival of Impulse.

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.