The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 17 - Keep It Dark

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

Plot

Barry goes off the grid to track down a new meta criminal, as Allegra pulls out all the stops to protect a story source.

Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (creator of Dr. Meena Dhawan/Fast Track), The Silence of the Lambs (Barry interviewing Thawne in his cell) and Assault On Precinct 13 and other "base under siege" stories.


Goofs

Taylor is awfully high and mighty about journalistic ethics for someone who had a contact illegally break into sealed juvenile records to dig up dirt on her supervisor. 

Given that Sunshine and Dr. Light are already wanted for multiple murder charges, it really shouldn't make a difference that their running the Arañas is revealed to the public in a CCC Media report and there really shouldn't be anything stopping them from killing everyone at that point. 


Performances

Tom Cavanagh's performance as Thawne here is brief, but delightfully unhinged. 


Artistry

Danielle Panabaker's direction is suspenseful. 


Flash Facts

This episode was directed by Danielle Panabaker, who plays Caitlin Snow and Frost.

The episode title was taken from a song by the band Genesis. 

Jenna West's backpack has a Batwoman logo on it.

This episode features the first appearance of Dr. Meena Dhawan. She was originally meant to be introduced during The Flash season 7, but her storyline was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her existence was teased, however, with 701 opening with a scene where Chester was reading a book written by Dr. Meena Dhawan.

First appearing in The Flash Vol 5 #3 (September, 2016), Dr. Dhawan was a scientist at STAR Labs who put in charge of a new Speed Force Testing Center after a series of storms began giving random Central City citizens speed powers. This included Dr. Dhawan, who started assisting The Flash in fighting crime and adopted the codename Fast Track. She chose this name due to a unique ability she developed that allowed her to sense other sources of Speed Force energy.

Meena and Barry Allen briefly became romantically involved before she mysteriously disappeared. She reemerged later ,as an agent of the Black Hole crime syndicate, having been brainwashed by Gorilla Grodd. She also became the avatar of the Negative Speed Force and took on the identity of the Negative Flash.

The Arrowverse version of Dr. Meena Dhawan apparently created her own process for moving at super-speed independent of the Speed Force. She seems to be much the same character as she was in the comics, in terms of idealism and knowledge, though she works for her own company, Fast Track Labs, rather than STAR Labs.

Technobabble

Chester confirms that the new speedster doesn't use the Speed Force by tracking tachyon readings using STAR Labs' satellites. 

Barry figures out that the fire in Ivo Labs was started by the mystery speedster, based upon the friction generated by their movement and the low flash point of the acetone used as an accelerant. 

Ivo Labs' Newton Battery is a strong electrochemical cell which requires a temperature-controlled polymer case.

Chester designed a AI-generated filter program that will conceal Lydia's voice and face while she is on camera.

Chester also designed a photo-kinetic energy shield which is bullet-prof, teleport-proof and basically everything-proof.  However, he only designed it to be a temporary measure until help could be summoned, so the enemy could potentially wait out the clock.

Chester says he can build an oscillating transmitter which can block a cell phone jammer.

Thawne cannot sense connections to the Negative Speed Force anymore.

Sunshine is able to use her powers to alter one of Dr. Light's bullets so that it can break the bonds of the photo-kinetic energy shield.

Dr. Meena Dhawan explains that she stole the Newton Battery because she thought it could extend how long her temporary speed powers last and that she borrowed it rather than spend four years calibrating sodium nitrate cells.


Dialogue Triumphs

Allegra: Look, I know you're scared, but the Arañas, they operate in the shadows. The only way to take away their power is bring them into the light.

Dialogue Disasters

Continuity

As the episode opens, The Flash responds to reports of multiple fires at Ivo Labs.

By the time The Flash gets to Ivo Labs, the fires are all out.

The staff think that he's come back and describe a speedster carrying them to safety and creating a wind funnel that extinguished the fires. This leads Barry to conclude that there's a new speedster at work.

Barry checked and made sure August Heart was still locked up in Iron Heights and Eobard Thawne is still powerless and under heavy guard at ARGUS. He also confirmed that all the Velocity X drugs are secure inside STAR Labs.

Barry still cannot contact Speed Force Nora or any of the other Force avatars. 

Caitlin is not returning Barry's calls.

Joe tells Barry that he did the right thing trying to stop Caitlin's experiment but he points out that he may have caused her to lose all hope.

Cecile and Joe are busy with Jenna's kindergarten interviews, so they can't help Barry with this case.

Allegra is running the Central City Citizen in Iris' absence and is currently overseeing a profile regarding the retiring Judge Hankerson and the closing of the nearby Fort Delaney.

Taylor proposes an expose on the light-empowered meta who works with The Flash. She has pulled photos of her revealing that her face is always obscured by lights in security camera footage, but she thinks she can get the images cleared with the right resources.

Allegra shoots down the expose idea, even after Taylor claims Iris approved of it before she left.  Allegra tries to stall and tells her to wait until Iris comes back.

Allegra gets a text from Lydia - the old friend and former gang member she helped in 808.

Lydia tells Allegra that their old gang, the Arañas, are expanding out of Keystone and are trying to pull her back in, because of all she knows about the group.

Lydia also tells Allegra that the gang have become cold-blooded killers under their new leadership, as opposed to the simple car thieves they once were.

Allegra asks Lydia to help her expose the Arañas, promising to quote her as an anonymous source. 

Allegra and Lydia are filmed by a member of the Arañas in Jitters, who takes the footage to the gang's new leaders - Sunshine and Dr. Light.

As Barry and Chester are examining the Ivo Labs fire scene, they discovered an open case with a biometric lock. This leads them to believe the fire was meant to distract from a theft.

Barry decides to go off the grid for a while to talk to Thawne about who the mystery speedster might be, since he has no other leads and it seems clear this speedster isn't a hero.

Allegra outlines how Ultraviolet founded the Arañas as a teenager, before gaining light powers and teaming with Dr. Light and Sunshine as the Assassins Three of the Black Hole Syndicate. She asks for Taylor, Aariz and Vanya to help her with the interview.

Taylor objects to the fact that Allegra is only citing one source regarding the Arañas story and that there's no way of collaborating it. Allegra does not mention that she knows because she fought Ultraviolet and is a former member of the Arañas.

Aariz and Yanya agree to help.

Chester shows up to help with some advanced shielding tech for the interview.

Chester asks Allegra if she told her reporters why this story is so important to her. Allegra says no, because she's afraid they won't trust her anymore if they know she's a former gang member and car thief.

Dr. Light tries to shoot Lydia through the window as Sunshine appears in the CCC Media offices.

Chester is able to blind Sunshine with a flash-bang and sets up a force field around the building that will keep her and Dr. Light out.

Allegra covers Chester's advanced tech by saying that Sue Darbon hired him special to secure their building because he's more than a simple IT guy.

Yanya tries to call for help but discovers her phone isn't working. Chester concludes that Sunshine and Dr. Light must be using some kind of signal jammer to block their phones.

The reports question Allegra about whys he knows so much about Sunshine and Dr. Light's power limits when she starts trying to come up with a plan to counter them.

Thawne mourns the loss of his powers, saying he was once able to run around the world in 5 seconds.

Thawne knows about Frost's death, but says she was in over her head from the beginning.

Yanya writes a letter to her children in case they get killed. 

Lydia wants to surrender herself to Sunshine and Dr. Light in the hopes that they will spare everyone else.

Taylor is in favor of Lydia surrendering herself.

Allegra refuses to let that happen, saying that reporters are supposed to protect their sources. 

Taylor says she saw the code Chester typed into his shield generator so she can shut it down, but she tries to talk Yanya and Aariz into turning on Allegra.

The scene which Barry and Deon saw in the Still Force of Allegra and Taylor arguing in 815 plays out, with Taylor revealing that she learned Allegra used to be part of Arañas after one of her contacts broke into her sealed juvenile records.

The reporters turn on Allegra, saying she can't be trusted since she tried hiding her past from them.

Allegra tells Chester that she was never meant to be a leader and that the whole reason she and her cousin wound up being arrested in the first place was because of her mistakes trying to plan her first idea for a job. 

Both Lydia and Chester say that Allegra is a born leader and that she has to be the one to get them out of this.

Thawne mocks Barry for not being able to figure out an obvious truth about the mystery speedster and refuses to answer Barry when he asks if he ever sensed a mystery speedster hiding themselves in 2022 during his travels.

Barry eventually goads Thawne into explaining it by going on about how this new speedster is going to replace Thawne as Barry's worst enemy.

Thawne says that it's clear that the new speedster created the fire by accident, saved the people because they honestly care about not hurting other people and that they are hiding because they can't control their powers and were afraid of The Flash coming after them. 

Allegra reveals her powers to the other reports and confirms that she is the light meta who has been working with The Flash for the last few years.

Allegra fights Sunshine and Dr. Light as Chester and the other reporters get ready to send out a signal with Lydia's story.

Allegra is shot by Dr. Light but she somehow uses her powers to heal the wound.

Sunshine and Dr. Light flee once they see the news report identifying them as the leaders of the Arañas.

There are APBS out for Sunshine and Dr. Light across the whole state and the information Lydia provided allowed the police to freeze their accounts and seize their assets, which shuts down the gang forever.

The story on the Arañas is CCC Media's biggest yet with 20 million views over the first few hours.

The reporters agree to keep Allegra's identity a secret - even Taylor.

Taylor is stunned that Allegra isn't firing her, but Allegra says that she's a good investigative reporter and she was only trying to save everyone's lives - not just her own.

Taylor reveals she got the photos of Allegra helping The Flash from a social media app called Chirper.

Chester tells Barry about Allegra being an awesome leader, describing her as a combination of Captain Janeway, AOC and Angela Davis.

Caitlin calls STAR Labs and says she's not sure she can ever come back that in person. She tells Barry that she's still not sure how to feel, but she's hurting, and she's going to stay with her mom while she figures some things out.

Barry confronts the mystery speedster at Ivo Labs as they are trying to return the battery they stole.

The speedster can run at the speed of sound, but The Flash is much faster. She also reveals that her speed is temporary, lasting only a few minutes.

The speedster makes reference to creating her speed source with an associate.

The speedster claims to have invented the Newton Battery whens he was a young engineer working at Ivo Labs. This leads Barry to figure out that she is Dr. Meena Dhawan - the CEO of Fast Track Labs.

Barry has read her book - Quantum Gravity and the Universe - three times.

Barry offers to mentor Dr. Dhawan in mastering her powers and helping people.


Location

The ARGUS secure facility on Lian Yu.


Untelevised Adventures

Chester reportedly started a fire by overcooking chicken tenders in the microwave in the STAR Labs lounge. According to Barry, it took forever to get rid of the smell.

Reference is made to The Flash using a wind tunnel to stop The Hotness - something that did not happen in his previous encounters with The Hotness in 416 and 808.


The Boomerang Factor

When you get right down to it, this is another Arrowverse story where the conflict wouldn't exist if people didn't keep needless secrets.


The Bottom Line

Well directed and well-acted, but certain aspects of the story don't make sense if you think about them for more than a second. Despite this, this is one of the best episodes in recent memory.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 19 - Success Is Assured

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




Plot

With Eva McCulloch free and out for revenge, Joseph Carver turns to the CCPD and STAR Labs for help after all of his bodyguards mysteriously vanish. But as Sue Dearbon returns to Central City with a new wrinkle in her case and Iris becomes increasingly unhinged in the Mirrorverse, can Barry bring himself to protect the man who threatened his family? Even if he manages that, can he stand against this new Mirror Mistress to save Carver?

Influences

Charlie's Angels (the theme with the three female assassin/bodyguards and the editing of their fight with Team Flash) and The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson. (Black Hole organization.)

Goofs

The central conceit of this episode - the team's conflict regarding Barry considering allowing Eva McCulloch to have Joseph Carver just to save Iris - doesn't ring true. Ignoring Nash being the one to call Barry out on this (even with how much he's changed, Nash is still the most amoral member of the team), he complains that every version of Wells in his head says it isn't like the Barry Allen they know to negotiate with a villain. Clearly they weren't paying attention last week when Barry cut a deal with Pied Piper to get his help fighting Godspeed, to say nothing of all the other times Barry let a villain he knew to be a killer walk free in the name of protecting his loved ones. (i.e. every time he cut a deal with Captain Cold, his letting both Amunet Black and The Mechanic walk in The Flash season 4.)

Nash's line about Iris not approving of Barry doing something questionable to save her doesn't ring true either. Or was the timeline rewritten so Iris didn't kill Savitar to save Barry and herself in the Season 3 finale?

While Barry says he couldn't use his super-speed to save Carver from the Mirror Singh without revealing his secret identity, he doesn't seem to have any concerns about Carver getting the chance to know that Ralph Dibny is Elongated Man.

Nash gives Allegra instructions on how to neutralize Sunshine's powers only for Allegra to not fight Sunshine.

Granting that Carver seems more like a corporate weasel than a scientist, you'd think even he would be smart enough (or paranoid enough) to think that a reflective computer screen might be accessible by a mirror-manipulating ex-wife. He also has liquor bottles and drinking glasses in his panic room.

There is no logical reason, other than pure plot contrivance, why Eva McCulloch doesn't just release her hostages once Carver is dead. She's already proven she can outmaneuver Barry in terms of raw power and his refusal to bargain with her seems to be fueled more by his outrage over having Iris taken away than any real righteousness about Carver's being murdred.

Come to that, why doesn't Eva reveal the truth of what happened to the world and how her husband was an abusive jerk who got what was coming to him? Any decent lawyer could make a case that her killing him was self-defense given the deadly technology at his disposal or cop a temporary insanity plea. Effectively, what he did was no different than forcibly confining his wife in the basement for six years and faking her death to collect her inheritance. 

The revelation that Eva framed Sue Dearbon comes out of nowhere and seems like a hastily written excuse to keep her in the series for another season and to make Eva do something actively villainous to turn the audience against her. (Given how the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, it probably was.)

Performances

Again the chemistry between Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfus is perfect and you really wish the show was focused on Ralph and Sue instead of Barry and Iris.

Artistry

The editing of the fight scenes is tight and well-styled.

Technobabble

Eva McCulloch has a special suit that is speeding her acclimation to the real world when she is outside of her special reflection modulation chamber.

Nash describes the diamond Sue Dearbon gave Ralph as a Triangulation Cartograph - a treasure map.

Joseph Carver claims that the Mirror verse is incompatible with the human brain and it warps people until they are no longer the person they once were. Nash later says this is possible, having come across an alternate Earth in his travels where visitors suffered neural dissonance - a traumatic psychological state.

According to Dr. Tannhauser, the stoichiomnetric ratio of Frost's blood is manifesting in an abnormal way.

McCulloch Technologies has a biogeneic ionization field that can surround their building.

After Iris was abducted, Carver had the mirror she was taken through coated with protective nanites.

Nash notes that Sunshine now has two bracelets that act as solar energy battery packs, allowing her to use her powers at night. He says the cells can be overloaded by increasing their internal temperature.

The stone that Nash gave Allegra, used in conjunction with her powers, generates a ray that causes a person to relive their worst experiences.

Dialogue Triumphs

Ralph: You're not here to rob the place. And Carver didn't have a change of heart on your parents. You... you offered to take their place in Black Hole. 

Sue: Carver agrees. I'm more valuable than my parents.  

Ralph: Sue, you... you don't have to do this. 

Sue: Yes, I do. I've been trying to collect leverage on Carver for over a year. He's untouchable. 

Ralph: Untouchable unless you have one of those handy-dandy Black Hole pins. You joined Black Hole to get close to Carver. Because you're gonna kill him. That's why you're here, isn't it? 

Sue: Carver's never gonna let my parents go. 

Ralph: Sue, damn it... 

Sue: It's the only way it ends!. 

Ralph: You gotta listen to me. There... there is always another way. Do you understand what happens if you kill Carver? Every time you look in the mirror, you won't recognize the person looking back. You'll lose yourself. 

Sue: Why do you care? 

Ralph: Because I believe in you! And I know there's still good in you. I can see it. 

Sue: I'm sorry about this, slick. 

(Sue pulls out her breath spray and sprays it into Ralph's open mouth. Ralph breathes reflexively and starts to sniff franatically.)

Ralph: Oh, come on. 

(Ralph collapses to the ground as Sue turns and continues down the hall.)

(Eva shatters the mirror that once trapped her and looks at Joseph Carver.)

Carver: Let's talk about this. 

(Eva raises her right arm and a laser cannon forms around it. She chuckles.)

Eva: About what? How you weaponized my technology? Extorted charitable donors? Kidnapped and blackmailed innocent meta-humans like Kimiyo, Esperanza, and Millie? This is me talking!

Carver: I did what I had to do. 

(Eva looks at him sadly and powers down the laser cannon.)
Eva: (sighs) Then I'll do what I have to do. Good-bye, Joseph. 

(Eva raises her hand. The mirror shards on the ground begin to float up, pointing at Carver.) 

Carver: No, Eva! Wait! 

(The shards fly but The Flash runs in at the last second, throwing himself between Carver and Eva, screaming as the shards embed themselves in his costume.)

Eva: No! What don't you understand? He's not worth saving!

The Flash: (strained) Maybe... But it's not your decision. 

Eva: (determined) Oh, yes, it is.

(One of the larger shards begins to push through the Flash's shoulder, coming out through his back, striking Carver dead on in the chest.)W

Eva: My husband... let me rot in that world for years! He does not get to live in this one. 

Carver: You're not my wife! (choking) My wife died in the particle accelerator explosion!

Eva: Well... I've never felt more alive. 

Continuity

The Chief Singh Mirror-Clone is explaining his absence from work by claiming to be with his sick mother.

Nash, Allegra and Cecile help Frost with packing for her trip to the Arctic Circle.

Frost and Allegra are established as friends and Frost agrees to let her borrow one of her jackets while she is gone.

Cecile senses Frost's anxiety over meeting Dr. Tannhauser.

It's been 24 hours since Eva McCulloch was last seen.

The artificial Speed Force still isn't finished.

Barry meets with the rest of the team at his lab at the CCPD Headquarters as he has a backlog of CSI work to finish.

Barry speculates that Eva McCulloch was being literal when she said she had unfinished business to attend to. This leads Ralph to reveal the diamond that Sue gave him in 616. Ralph says that Black Hole's logo is embedded inside the diamond.

Allegra senses serious UV energy coming out of the diamond.

Projected onto a map of Central City, the diamond points towards a warehouse on 42nd Street and Darby which turns out to have five subterranean levels.

Allegra says she doesn't like coffee, but this later revealed to be a lie. She just didn't want coffee Nash had made in an effort to be nice to her.

All five guards in the Black Hole warehouse were stabbed to death when Ralph and Barry get there.

The warehouse apparently holds all the blackmail material Joseph Carver had on various people, including Sue Dearbon's parents. The box with their name on it contains bank statements and finanical records, which Ralph intends to take with him.

Other boxes Ralph finds are labeled with the names Garcia, Rawlins, Hoshi and Merkel. These are the last names of Ultraviolet, Sunshine, Dr. Light and Ragdoll.

Barry smells gasoline and follows the scent to discover the Singh clone in the middle of dousing the warehouse. 

The Singh clone says that Eva is not interested in The Flash's brand of justice and explains that Joseph Carver was there the night Eva became trapped in the Mirrorverse. He was well aware of what happened to her and made no effort to rescue her, instead using her inventions to create Black Hole and become rich selling her technology as weapons and blackmailing people.

Singh uses a flare gun to ignite the gasoline. Barry and Ralph are forced to flee the warehouse after Barry proves to be too slow to create a vortex that can extinguish the fire.

The warehouse is burned to the ground along with all of its contents.

Joseph Carver meets with his lawyer at CC Jitters. After confirming everything that might incriminate him has been destroyed, he instructs him to replace all the items but not to use "The Three" as they can't find out they are "off the leash." This is a reference to Dr. Light, Sunshine and Ultraviolet, who we find out later in the episode were all being blackmailed into working for Carver.

Joseph Carver meets with Barry at CC Jitters. He knows that Barry is married to Iris, but has no idea he is The Flash. 

Carver admits to knowing that Iris was abducted into the Mirrorverse weeks ago, but didn't tell anyone as Eva abducting her solved one of his problems - i.e. nosy reporter investigating his connection to Black Hole.

Carver claims he had the greatest minds in the world study the Mirrorverse and they all concluded that it drove anyone who entered it went insane near-instantly and that the woman claiming to be Eva McCulloch was a thing that thought it was Eva McCulloch rather than a real person.

Carver denies owning the warehouse at 42nd and Darby and says he needs no help protecting himself.

In the Mirrorverse, Iris sees a map of the city on a screen and sees a thermal energy scan that she thinks is Chief Singh's location.

Ralph meets with the Dearbons to let them know that the blackmail material has been destroyed. However, he is cut off by the sudden arrival of Sue Dearbon, who claims to have been at a retreat in India for the past year.

Ralph tries to tell Sue that the blackmail material Carver had on her parents was destroyed. Sue says it doesn't matter because Carver called her last week and said he had a change of heart.

Eva McCulloch is able to draw all three of Joseph Carver's bodyguards into the Mirrorverse using reflective surfaces in his house.

Carver figures out what happened after finding a burn mark on the mirror, where Dr. Light tried to shoot a reflection of Eva.

Carver goes to Barry and requests federal witness relocation protection. He promises to call off the killers he has hunting Joe West if that happens.

Caitlin's mom bonds with Frost. They both agree they'd like to get to know one another better.

The Captain Singh clone shows up to intercept Barry taking Carver to meet the feds. He makes an offer on behalf of Eva McCulloch - hand over Carver, and she'll set Iris free.

Nash uses his teleporting smoke bomb to take everyone back to STAR Labs.

Harry Wells appears to Nash and says that the Barry Allen he knew would never agree to trade another person's life for Iris. 

Team Flash shows Carver the footage of the Mirror Camilla sacrificing herself in 617 to explain the idea of Mirror Duplicates.

Carver says that he has a panic room Eva doesn't know about and a force-field that can prevent anyone from getting inside the McCulloch Technologies building.

Nash knows a away into McCulloch Technologies using the sewer system.

Nash confronts Barry over the fact that he let a mirror duplicate get that close to Carver 

Barry defends his actions, saying he had to protect his secret identity and that any husband would do whatever it takes to safe his wife. Wells agrees, but asks what Iris would think of Barry trading another person's life for hers.  

Carver stole protective nanites from PalmerTech to make the mirror in what was Eva's office safe.

The panic room Carver thinks Eva doesn't know about is hidden in the AV3 room that was her office. It has concrete walls, no mirrors, and a bank of monitors watching the whole facility.

Nash gives Allegra a rock and tells her to blast her UV rays through it if things go bad during the fight.

Ralph recognizes Sue Dearbon in the crowd at McCulloch Technologies.

Sue cut a deal with Carver to become a Black Hole agent in exchange for him stopping the blackmail of her parents.

Ralph figures out that Sue only took the deal so she could get close to Carver and kill him.

Sue knocks Ralph out with some kind of narcotic breath-spray so she can hide in the building and kill Carver one he thinks she's safe.

Sunshine, Dr. Light and Ultraviolet start working for Eva McCulloch, having learned that she destroyed all the blackmail material Carver had on them. They also want a chance at revenge as well. They fight Team Flash and Carver's bodyguards as Eva makes her move against Carver.

Eva uses the Singh clone as a skin-suit to enter McCulloch Technologies, knocking Barry out when he goes to start the back-up generator.

Nash saves Allegra from Ultraviolet

Allegra is able to use the stone Nash gave her to neutralize Ultraviolet, causing her to have visions of being experimented on by Black Hole.

Sue joins the fight and disarms Dr. Light.

Eva attacks Joseph through the monitor in his panic room and eventually kills him with the broken shards of the mirror she was trapped in, despite Barry trying to throw himself between her and Carver.

Eva orders The Three to let Team Flash go, though she does warn Barry to get off her property before she calls the police.

Eva calls a press conference saying she was held captive for six years by an international crime syndicate and watches as her inventions were weaponized. She lies and says her husband continued looking for her before he died saving her.

Dr. Light is at Eva's press conference in her civilian guise, apparently now working for Eva officially.

Sue is framed for Joseph Carver's murder, requiring she stay in hiding in Central City.

Barry gets a chance to talk to Caitlin and wish her well before she goes to the Tannhauser base in the Arctic.

Barry promises to take a whitewater rafting trip with Frost when she and Caitlin get back.

Allegra confirms she does, in fact, like coffee.

Allegra seems to be warming up to Nash.

Joe West joins the rest of Team Flash in Barry's lab, having been released from Witness Protection on account of Carver being dead.

Iris figures out that Chief Singh is at Central City Hospital in the Mirrorverse, just before she suddenly screams, crystallizes and vanishes.

The Boomerang Factor

The central conflict of the episode (and, apparently season 7) would evaporate completely if Barry were willing to negotiate with Eva McCulloch or she let her hostages go once she killed her treacherous husband.

The Bottom Line

A bit of a mess and that's only partially due to the episode being hastily rewritten and reedited to turn it into the Season 6 finale because of the coronavirus outbreak cutting the shooting for the planned finale short. In truth, Barry comes off as more pig-headed than usual and becomes almost slavish in his efforts to protect Carver, despite Carver's allowing Iris to be kidnapped and his threatening Barry's family. It doesn't help matters that, until the final segment of the show, Eva's motivations, bloody though they are, are wholly sympathetic and comparable to Barry's reaction to the Reverse Flash. Still, the whole thing feels rather slapdash and fans will always be left wondering what we might have seen had there been time for the actual finale to be finished. Of course given that it was apparently going to end with the return of Eobard Thawne, we may, ironically, be better off with this ending.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 5 - The Darkness And The Light

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


Plot

The good news is that the Harrison Wells of Earth 2 (a.k.a. Harry) has come to join the battle against Zoom. The bad news is that he's an arrogant dick and everyone is reluctant to work with him. And that's ignoring that he's the spitting image of the man who caused the STAR Labs team so much pain.

But they will have little time for bickering when Zoom's latest minion - a thief called Dr. Light - begins robbing banks to lure The Flash into a fight. And after Barry's first encounter with Dr. Light leaves him blinded, he'll have to do something truly heroic - go on his first date with Patty Spivot while unable to see!


Influences

Doctor Who (The Earth 2 Harrison Wells acts like some of the more arrogant incarnations of The Doctor, even mistakenly calling someone Ricky as The 9th Doctor did when speaking to Micky Smith), The Steve Martin film Roxanne (the scene of Cisco trying to guide a blind Barry through a date through a headset) and The Flash and Vibe comics of Geoff Johns (Cisco's ability to sense things about "breachers" mirrors the comic-version's ability to find and track inter-dimensional disturbances.)


Goofs

How did Harry travel from Earth 2 to Earth 1 when a speedster's power is needed to jump worlds? Or were they wrong about that when they stabilized the breach in STAR Labs basement?

Why do the Earth 2 meta-humans need to kill their Earth 1 counterparts? It made a sort of twisted sense in the case of Atom Smasher, who was already a hardened killer and actively looking to lay low in Central City. But Dr. Light was actively looking to escape from Zoom and get out of town and it wasn't like anyone was in danger of confusing her and the Linda Park of Earth 1.

Jay Garrick seems to change his tune on helping Barry and proving he isn't a coward pretty quickly between Barry going after Dr. Light and Barry's return to STAR Labs.

Kendra says she just moved to Central City, but we saw her in town the day of The Singularity opening some seven months earlier. Was she lying for some reason?


Performances

The date between Patty and Barry is the high-point of the episode and Grant Gustin and Shantel VanSanten make the whole affair fun and uplifting to watch.

Tom Cavanagh is always a joy to watch but his turn as "Harry" is amusing in a totally different way. You can tell he's having fun playing yet another variation on the Harrison Wells character at this point.


Artistry

The special effects for this episode - with Barry catching Joe's bullets before they can hit Wells, dodging light blasts in his first encounter with Dr. Light and the speed mirages during Barry's final fight with Dr. Light - are of particularly high quality, even by the standards of this show.


Flash Facts

Harry Wells, indifferent to the deaths his Earth 1 counterpart caused, refers to Ronnie as Ricky, much to Caitlin's annoyance. This may be a nod to Doctor Who, where some versions of The Doctor were arrogant and didn't bother remember people's names. Indeed, the Ninth Doctor continually addressed Mickey Smith - the boyfriend of his companion Rose Tyler - as Ricky.

There are several characters in the DC Comics universe who go by the name Dr. Light.

The first Doctor Light was a Justice League villain with the unlikely name of Dr. Arthur Light. Dr. Light possessed an advanced power suit that gave him the ability to project and manipulate light energy. There are two conflicting stories as to how he acquired the suit. One says that he stole advanced technology from the planet Thanagar after accidentally opening a portal there. The other had him developing the suit with the aid of his partner, Jacob Finlay. In either case, Dr. Light eventually internalized these powers and no longer required a special suit.

The second Doctor Light was a Japanese scientist by the name of Kimiyo Hoshi. Both a medical doctor and an astronomer, she was empowered with the ability to generate and control light like a living star by The Monitor during the Crisis On Infinite Earths. Arrogant and spiteful, Kimiyo was a reluctant hero, at best and continued to live her life as a scientist, only utilizing her powers when absolutely necessary. Still, she did serve in Justice League Europe for a time and became good friends with the Wally West incarnation of The Flash.

The DCTVU version of Dr. Light appears to be an amalgam of both versions of Dr. Light. Like the first one, she is a thief by trade. Like the second one, her powers are natural rather than technologically based, though she is described as drawing power from starlight rather than generating it naturally. She is also an Asian woman, though the comic-book Dr. Light was Japanese and Linda Park (in the comics at least) was an American of Korean ancestry. (Strangely, the actress who plays Linda Park on the show - Olivia Cheng - is a Canadian of Chinese ancestry!)

The ability to channel energy by absorbing starlight is the main power of the man DC Comics heroes who went by the name Starman.  The first Starman, Ted Knight, was a member of the Justice Society of America along with Jay Garrick.

The DCTVU version has the ability to generate blinding bursts of light as well as focused lasers capable of cutting through a bank vault. She also seems to be able to convert the light into explosions with a concussive element capable of knocking people over.

Dr. Light's costume on the show uses the same black and white color scheme of both Dr. Lights from the comic.

Curiously, no version of Dr. Light until now, has ever worn a mask.

Cisco's powers, as described in this episode, are consistent with those of his New 52 counterpart.  In the comics, Vibe is described as having the power to find and track inter-dimensional breaches. He acquires these abilities after his DNA is rewritten following his being caught in the event horizon of an Apokolyptian Boom Tube.

The trick Harry suggests to Barry - running so fast that he creates a speed mirage of himself - is a trick that The Flash used in the classic comic books to confuse those enemies who had a chance of hitting him. This trick was also used by The Reverse Flash in 109.

The new barista at C.C. Jitters that Cisco asks out is named Kendra Saunders. She has the same name as the modern Hawkgirl in the DC Comics Universe and we will discuss her history in a future entry.

At the episode's end, Cisco adopts the name of his comic book counterpart - Vibe.


Technobabble

A human from Earth 1 is genetically indistinguishable from their Earth 2 counterpart.

Stars have a temperature of 5,300 degrees Kelvin and a blinding luminosity.

Cisco claims he can use STAR Labs satellite to scan for any irregular solar radiation emissions to track Dr. Light.

Barry temporarily acquires solar retiinopathy. His retinas are severely damaged but, owing to his faster-than-normal healing abilities, Harry estimates that he will recover fully within 6.25 hours.

Harry's Metahuman Awareness App watch flashes red when pointed at a metahuman and blue when pointed at a regular human.

Barry creates a speed mirage of himself by running so fast that he creates multiple after images of himself.


Dialogue Triumphs

Cisco: So let me get this straight? You're the doppelganger of the man who murdered his (Barry's) mom, and is responsible for both Ronnie and Eddie's deaths?
Caitlin: Yeah, but he's not even the doppelganger of the Dr. Wells that we knew, because that Dr. Wells' body was taken over by The Reverse Flash, who was really Eoboard Thawne and Eddie's distant relative from the future.
Harry: (pause) Yeah, I didn't follow any of that. I'm my own man. I had nothing to do with the murder of your mother or your friend Ricky.
Caitlin: His name was Ronnie!
Harry: Him either.

Joe: I just want one week where we're not surprised by somebody from our past!

Cisco: (To Harry) You know, our Dr. Wells may have been evil but you're just a dick.

Harry: What did he do to you? I know he caused The Singularity. He killed Barry's mother. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. What did he do to you? You can barely look me in the eye? Why is that? What did he do to you?
Cisco: He shoved his hand through my chest. He stopped my heart.
Harry: (chuckles) Ouch. Okay THAT would do it.

(Iris sees Harry and tenses up)
Iris: You... look just like him!
Harry: I'm guessing my counterpart did something to offend her as well?
Cisco: Her fiance died because of him.
Harry: (pause) Oh.
(Harry turns and leaves the room)
(Cisco is monitoring Barry's date with Patty through the sunglasses Barry is wearing)
Cisco: Dude, she looks amazing! You have to tell her how amazing she looks.
Barry: You look amazing, Patty.
Patty: Uh, thanks. I actually had a really hard time trying to figure out what to where. Like, if I should wear a dress or if this color was a little weird?
Barry: No! You look great!. Um, yeah, no, that - what WOULD you call that color?
Patty: Um - huh.. I don't know?
Cisco: I can't tell! The feed's black and white!
Barry: Yeah, well, whatever it is, that color should thank you for wearing it.
Cisco: (laughs) My man!

Party: I think another thing too. I think you can't see me.
Cisco: Abort!
Barry: What?! What do you mean?
Patty: I think you can't see me. Come on, I would not be a good detective if I couldn't have figured this one out.
(They both laugh)
Barry: Uh - yeah.
Patty: Yeah.
Barry: I'm really sorry and embarrassed that I didn't say anything.
(Barry tucks his glasses into his jacket pocket) 
Cisco: Barry?
Barry: I had my pupils dilated earlier and I really didn't want to cancel.
Cisco: Barry! I lost my eyes!
Barry: No, you have a great smile.
Patty: Really? How do you know I'm smiling?
Barry: Just a hunch.

(As Patty guides a still-blind Barry)
Patty: Funny how we've skipped straight to the hand-holding part.
Barry: Yes.
Patty: We've arrived at my car.
Barry: Ah. (pauses) Well, do you think we've reached the good night kiss stage?
(Patty guides Barry's hands onto either side of her face. He smiles and they kiss. They both break the kiss,  laugh and Barry opens his eyes, which have finally focused again)
Barry: This is burgundy, by the way, And you look great in it.
Patty: Now you can see?
Barry: I can.
Patty: That must have been some kiss.
Barry: I guess so.


Continuity

Harry Wells created a series of Meta-human Awareness Apps. They are capable of instantly detecting the presence of a meta-human and can even sense the approach of a speedster seconds before they arrive.

Eight months earlier on Earth 2, Jay Garrick, as The Flash, publicly accused Harry Wells of creating the metahumans with his experiments and dark-matter radiation being expelled beneath STAR Labs.. Wells denied the charges and Garrick was unable to prove anything.

Harry Wells has a daughter.

The breach in the basement of STAR Labs on Earth 1 connects to the basement of STAR Labs on Earth 2.

Harry Wells now takes responsibility for creating the metahumans of his world.

Once again, it is confirmed that the Big Belly Burger franchise exists on both Earth 1 and Earth 2.

Joe tells Barry about the break-in at Mercury Labs from 204 and how Dr McGee claimed to have seen Harrison Wells.

Barry refers to Eddie's sacrifice erasing Eobard Thawne from existence in 123.

Linda Park is seen for the first time since 203. It turns out her Earth 2 counterpart is Dr. Light.

Eric Larkin, the editor-in-chief of the Central City Picture News, is seen for the first time since 111. He is killed by Dr. Light.

Joe taught Iris how to fire a pistol and gives her one to protect herself.

Patty refers to the shark-monster from 204. She named him King Shark. Cisco approves.

Cisco decides - to avoid confusion - that the should call the Earth 2 Harrison Wells "Harry".

Cisco gets a "vibe" of Dr. Light robbing a bank. This is the first one he's had since 202.

The local newspaper on Earth 2 is called The Central City Citizen. This also the name of the future Earth 1 newspaper Eobard Thawne consulted regarding the stability of the timeline.

Jay Garrick and Harrison Wells know each other. They don't like each other. At all. Wells is determined to beat Zoom as quickly as possible. Garrick wants to train Barry further before attempting a direct confrontation

Jay says that Dr. Light was a thief, not a killer and could be reasoned with. Wells says Zoom has the ability to manipulate people into doing what the wants now and they can't count on that fact.

Eobard Thawne and Harry have very different musical tastes. According to Cisco, Thawne's were better.

Zoom apparently knows that Barry Allen is The Flash and that he dated Linda Park.

Patty once arrested her boyfriend (soon to be ex-boyfriend) while on a date, after he got drunk and insulted the waitress.

Coffee does exist on Earth 2. Indeed, Jay thinks it may be the one constant in the multiverse.

Jay Garrick fought Zoom many times and nearly died in all of those encounters. He admits to being afraid of Zoom and maybe shying away from fights with him. Garrick does not trust Wells at all and notes that Wells was happy to deny responsibility for creating the metahumans on Earth 2 so long as he was making money off the crisis with his Metahuman Awareness Apps.

When Patty was 9, she drowned and was legally dead for two minutes before her dad revived her.

Earth 2 has a Tahiti, but Jay Garrick has never been there. He has, however, been to Atlantis and loved it. Atlantis in Earth 2 is above water and Jay has a close friend from there. He describes it as the kind of place you never want to leave.

Jay and Caitlin are blasted by Dr. Light before they can have their first kiss.

Barry and Patty have their first kiss.

Barry is much faster than Jay, despite Jay having more practical experience and having mastered a few more tricks with his speed than Barry.

Harry deduces that Cisco has powers and uses his Metahuman Awareness App to prove that Cisco is a metahuman  The watch also detects Barry as a metahuman and says Caitlin is not a metahuman. He reveals this fact to the rest of the STAR Labs team.

Cisco is able to use the mask to get a "vibe" on where Dr. Light is.

The trick Harry suggests to Barry - running so fast that he creates a speed mirage of himself - is a trick that The Flash used in the classic comic books to confuse those enemies who had a chance of hitting him. This trick was also used by The Reverse Flash in 109.

At episode's end, Dr. Light is locked up in the pipeline and the STAR Labs team - minus Jay Garrick - decides to go with Harry's plan to use Dr. Light as bait to lure Zoom into a trap.

We first saw Kendra Saunders in 123 among the people watching The Singularity open. She says that Central City is bigger than she's used to and very different from where she used to live. She agrees to a date with Cisco.

Harry is seen stalking Barry, Caitlin and Cisco at CC Jitters.

Zoom has Harry's daughter held hostage.


Location

The opening scene, where Jay Garrick accuses Harry Wells of creating the metahumans, takes place at STAR Labs on Earth 2, eight months earlier.

We see Harry's daughter being held captive by Zoom in a cage somewhere on Earth 2.


Untelevised Adventures

Jay Garrick refers to having fought Dr. Light before, saying that she is a thief rather than a killer and that she can be reasoned with.


The Fridge Factor

Averted hard in the case of Patty, who figures out that Barry is blind on their date. Granted, it wouldn't take a detective to figure that out, but it's a welcome change from the usual comic cliches where the hero's love interest never notices things like the hero wearing sunglasses at night.

Averted again as it is Iris who stops Dr. Light with a well-placed gun-shot.


The Bottom Line

It isn't bad. But there's a lot going on and very little of it (the new Harrison Wells, Cisco's powers being revealed to the team, Dr. Light being an evil version of Barry's ex-girlfriend/Iris' co-worker) is given the weight it deserves. Ironically the best parts of the episode are when things slow down and we get to see Barry and Patty's first date and Jay flirting with Caitlin, talking about how Earth 2 is different from Earth 1.