The Flash Episode Guide: Season 9, Episode 4 - The Mask of the Red Death, Part 1

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

Plot

The Red Death launches an assault on Central City and The Flash, with a surprising goal in mind. The new Rogues have to help Team Flash keep the peace as an EMP cuts out all the power in town, as Joe and Cecile have a discussion about where their relationship is going.


Influences

Injustice: Gods Among Us (Red Death is more like the corrupted Superman of this story than the Red Death of the comics, being a hero who crossed the line to fascism to try and build a safer world.)


Goofs

Red Death refers to herself as the Red Death, even though it was apparently Goldface who gave her that name with no indication that was what she called herself.

Come to that, if she thinks she's a hero, why would she choose a name liked Red Death?

Barry calls Khione Caitlin in the final scene in STAR Labs. (This could be due to the stress of the moment, but it seems like a mistake and nobody corrects him.)

Artistry

It's a small detail, but all the Rogues are shown to use ASL when talking directly to Murmur.

Flash Facts

The episode title is a play on the Edgar Allan Poe story The Masque of the Red Death, which Goldface quoted in 903.

Jenna West appears on-camera for the first time since 612.

Rainbow Raider appears for the first time since Season 1. While he doesn't have his full array of powers from comics, he can now inspire fear as well as anger.

Chester evokes the name of Otis Boykin - the inventor of the electric resistor.

Many of Red Death's lines are taken directly from various Batman comics and adaptations.

Red Death's line "I am vengeance. I am the night." is taken from the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Nothing To Fear." "

Red Death's line about criminals being "a superstitious and cowardly lot" was first said in Detective Comics #33.

Red Death's line "Everybody's got their limits. I ignore mine." is from Batman #497.

 Red Death's line "You wanna get nuts? C'mon, let's get nuts!" is from the 1989 Batman movie.

Technobabble

The Cosmic Treadmill requires enough power to light up the Eastern Seaboard.

Barry and Chester plan to reprogram the STAR Labs satellites to scan for the Red Death's tachyon signature.

The Flash's cowl is boobytrapped to administer 50,000 volts to anyone who tries to remove it.

Even with their backup generators, STAR Labs can only operate at 20% power after the EMP.

Pied Piper uses a CB frequency 160 hertz to communicate with his team.

Pied Piper's Harmonic Frequency Tracer can be used to detect Flash's vibrational biometrics anywhere on Earth. Unfortunately, it won't work if The Flash's powers are blocked by meta-cuffs.

A Red Team is a group of journalists who try to pick apart a major story before it goes to print.

Chillblaine overloads the capacitors on the Cosmic Treadmill so it shorts out after The Flash charges it. Instead of opening a wormhole, it shoots all the lighting The Flash put into it at Red Death.


Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: Mark, you don't have to do this.
Chillblaine: If I want Frost back, I do.
Barry: What happens when she turns on that treadmill and busts a hole in the timeline? Or decides it's a lot easier to just kill you than help you bring Frost back?
Chillblaine: If I die, I die. Who would even care?
Barry: You are a part of Team Flash.
Chillblaine: No, I'm not... not anymore. Now I'm just another dirtbag who double-crossed you. Aren't I?
Barry: Mark! Before Frost was one of my best friends, she tried to kill me. People make mistakes. I was so desperate not to make the same mistakes I made with Thawne that I rushed into thinking the Red Death was the new Avatar. But, actually, she's a new threat, one I wasn't ready for, and now the whole world might have to pay for my mistake, and the only one that can help me out of this is you.
Chillblaine: Me? You've got the wrong guy. It's too late for me.
Barry: No, you're wrong. It's never too late for second chances. 


Dialogue Disasters

Red Death: You want to know who I am? I'm the last glimmer of crimson a killer sees before he draws his final breath. I am vengeance. I am the night. I am the Red Death


Continuity

As the episode opens, Chillblaine is assembling the Cosmic Treadmill 

Red Death says she will take care of the power source when Chillblaine asks how it is supposed to run.

Red Death leaves Chillblaine to recruit one more Rogue for their team.

At this point, Barry believes Red Death to be a man and the new Negative Speed Force avatar.

Barry theorizes Red Death may be a corrupted innocent, like Dr. Meena Dhawan from The Flash Season 8 finale, based on the fact that they could have killed him in 903 but did not.

Iris is sent Ryan Wilder's last GPS coordinates by Luke Fox.

Cecile finds out that Joe has been talking to a realtor without her knowledge.

Joe found a house with a big backyard in a good school district. Unfortunately, it's a two hour commute from Central City.

Chester talks with his podcast follower, WookieLover77, about Allegra.

The new Rogue Red Death recruited is revealed to be Roy Bivolo, aka Rainbow Raider, who last appeared 121.

Bivolo has upgraded his powers and can now cause fear by looking at people as well as anger. This allows him to paralyze The Flash, who becomes so scared he hyperventilates and passes out. 

The Red Death uses the Negative Speed Force to generate an EMP that knocks out power in Central City.

The Flash asks Bivolo why he's working with the New Rogues when he had previously only cared about money.  Bivolo says he wants payback for being locked in the STAR Labs pipeline for nine months.

All the Rogues are revealed to know ASL so they can communicate with Murmur.

Khione suggests calling in Barry's Rogues when the Team Flash comms are shorted out.

Red Death tells Barry that their real target is Iris.

Red Death, posing as Ryan Wilder, shows up at Barry and Iris apartment.

Red Death lies, telling Iris that she was driving into Central City when her car batter got fried and her arm was burned by the EMP  She also claims to have encountered the Red Death on Gotham City and to have been nearly been killed by them after they looted her utility belt.

Red Death claims that Luke Fox told her Team Flash was looking for her and that she drove from Gotham City to Central City in a day. When Iris questions this, she says her car goes fast.

The Red Death has the ability to control their armor remotely and is confirmed to be talking to Barry through an empty suit while simultaneously talking to Iris.

The Red Death reveals they kept Barry alive to use him as a power source for the Cosmic Treadmill, as only organic speed can charge it.

Red Death claims she is a big fan of Iris podcast.

Iris catches Red Death in a lie when she notices her distaste about the idea of Barry working with Rogues and says that attitude is understandable given Ryan's foster mother was killed by the Royal Flush Gang.  In truth, Ryan's mother was killed by the Wonderland Gang.

Iris also noticed that Red Death was familiar with the layout of her apartment, when the Ryan Wilder of Earth-Prime had never been in Barry and Iris' home before.

Red Death claims that, in her timeline, Iris West-Allen was her best friend and The Flash became the world's biggest villain. She also says she lied because she knew Iris well enough to know that she'd need to build a rapport first, because she wouldn't believe her if she had just said "I am your best friend in another timeline."

Red Death also claims that there was no Batman in her world, that she was adopted by Thomas and Martha Wayne just a few days after she was born and that it was she who saw them gunned down in Crime Alley as a child.

Red Death claims she protected her Gotham City for 10 years as Batwoman, fighting villains like Hush, Simon Hurt and her own brother.

Red Death began studying the technology her enemies used and then began studying the technology of her allies in a group called The League. (Presumably The Justice League.)

Red Death created her own Artificial Speed Force to imitate The Flash, knowing that with his powers she could put criminals behind bars before they could even think of committing a crime. She claims she was so successful in stopping crime that The Flash became jealous, freed his Rogues from Iron Heights, and turned them into an army that tore apart Gotham trying to get to her.

Red Death tried to hide in the Speed Force, but was rejected and kicked into the Earth-Prime timeline. She needs the Cosmic Treadmill to return home, so she can stop her Flash from destroying her world. She claims that she needs Iris to help her do this because the Iris of her timeline is dead and she's the only one who could talk him into surrendering. 

Joe tells Cecile that he wants to move so that Jenna doesn't have to grow up knowing the hardship that Iris, Barry and Wally did.

Red Death tells Iris that she accidentally killed Iris' doppelganger in her timeline

Iris points out all the holes in Red Death's story, like how she claims her Flash was jealous of her, but she was the one who created an artificial Speed Force to imitate him.

Cecile uses her powers to save Jenna from the breaking windows as a Negative Speed Force storm rages across Central City.

Pied Piper is able to detect Barry by Route 119 once he is put on the Cosmic Treadmill.

Allegra uses her teleportation clouds from Nash to take The Rogue Squad to Red Death's hideout.

Chillblaine betrays Red Death and rigs the Cosmic Treadmill to explode.

The Rogue Squad rescue Barry and Iris, but leave Chillblaine behind as they escape.

Allegra tries to talk to Chester about their relationship but he says it should probably wait until after the crisis is over.

Cecile considers that Joe might be right, but after Jenna draws a picture of Cecile saving her, Joe decides they should stay in Central City because it would send a bad message if he made Cecile stop being the hero she is.

Red Death swears revenge on The Flash, promising to destroy his world since he won't let her go back to her own.


Untelevised Adventures

Red Death describes her world and how she became Red Death.



The Fridge Factor

Averted with Iris, for once, as she manages to see through Red Death's lies and tricks her into revealing her real plans.

The Bottom Line

A bit of a disappointment compared to the build up. Most of the cast is on stand-by while the episode focuses on the cat-and-mouse game between Iris and Red Death. This would be fine, except Javicia Leslie hams it up to show how crazy Red Death is when it would be much more effective for her to be cool, controlled and more like the Superman of Injustice her character imitates.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 9, Episode 3 - Rogues of War

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

Plot

Barry assembles an unlikely team of his enemies to counter the new Rogues menacing Central City.


Influences

The Ocean's 11 movies and every classic The Flash comic where The Flash teamed up with The Rogues to fight villains that were actively trying to hurt people instead of just stealing.


Goofs

Unfortunately, Red Death's "I am Vengeance" line falls flat when we still have no idea why they want revenge on Barry Allen.


Performances

The ensemble play off of each other well in this episode, particularly Barry's gang of Rogues.


Artistry

The special effects work for the Rogues' powers is great.


Flash Facts

This episode introduces a new version of the villain Murmur. The original Arrowverse Murmur was last seen in A417.

In the comics, Murmur was Dr. Michael Christion Amar, a surgeon who went insane and became a serial killer. He cut out his own tongue and sewed his lips together after accidentally confessing to his crimes, earning him the nickname Murmur.

The new Arrowverse Murmur is a medical student named Michelle Amar. Apart from the gender flip, the new Murmur is almost identical to the one from the comics, wearing a similar costume and mask. The only other change is that this Murmur either has metahuman sound dampening powers or utilizes some kind of technology that allows them to neutralize the Piped Piper's powers.

The new Murmur is played by a deaf actor, Alexandria Wailes. 

Reportedly this version of Murmur is also deaf and is shown to speak American Sign Language.

It is Goldface who dubs the new villain the Red Death, quoting Edgar Allan Poe's story The Masque of the Red Death - "And darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." 


Technobabble

The knife used by Murmur utilizes cutting edge nanocircuitry similar to Owen Mercer's boomerangs. The metal filings they leave behind are almost impossible to see without a microscope.

A temporal scanner measures radioactive half-lives.

A temporal scanner, Roemer accelerator battery, quantum vibration engine and Pied Piper's gauntlets can be used to construct a Cosmic Treadmill capable of using kinetic energy to open quantum wormholes in space and time. 

The quantum engine is located in a secure vault outfitted with a heavy-duty meta dampener powered by four different generators, each with their own unique power source. Two of these sources are cold fusion and thermal.

Chester helps Iris by running a comparative analysis on the fragments of Owen Mercer's boomerangs comparing them to the filings from Murmur's knife.

Chillblaine says he can eliminate the need for a fifth person for the heist by building a cryo-circuit to disable the thermal generator.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Goldface has revealed that he got out of prison early by betraying his girlfriend.)
Carver: Goldface's only sidekick is cold, hard cash. He ain't some bleeding heart.
Goldface: Ain't it the truth?
Carver: And he sure as hell doesn't stay up all night reading "Dr. Zhivago," then sobbing when Yuri dies before finding Lara.
Goldface: Damn it, Carver! You were told that in confidence. Book club will remain a safe space. 

(Barry negotiates a compromise to get the Rogues to work together.)
Goldface: Hang on. Something's rotten in Denmark. We left the city hours ago. How were you able to catch up with us? And why do we need to disable meta dampeners so you can do "forensics"?
(There is a long pause as Chillblaine and Piper look at Barry expectantly. Barry sighs, clearly aware something has to give and what it has to be.  Suddenly, The Hotness laughs.)
The Hotness: Dude, come on. Even I figured it out. Barry Allen's the Flash!
(Everyone just looks at The Hotness, stunned that he apparently figured this out on his own.)
The Hotness: They have the same Jitters order!
Goldface: Officer Chemist is the... Yeah, no, I see it now.

(Chillblaine has revealed himself as a traitor.)
Barry: Why are you doing this?
Chillblaine: You're never gonna help me bring back Frost. So I had no choice but to join up with someone who will. For the record, my new boss found me at O'Shaughnessy's right before you did, Speedo. (laughs) Made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
Barry: Look, I know you feel like you've lost Frost all over again...
Chillblaine: Shut up! You do not know what it feels like to lose the only person who's ever loved you.
(Barry looks to the exit. Chillblaine notices his eyeline.)
Chillblaine: Think you can make it? (charges his gauntlets) Run, Barry, run.

Continuity

In the opening scene, the new Captain Boomerang and new Fiddler team up with Murmur to rob Corbin Taft Industries, stealing a temporal scanner.

Barry and Iris are shown taking a French cooking class in Paris, France.

Iris is shown to speak French.

Barry reveals he and Iris went into Flashtime 40 times to perfect their dish to the satisfaction of their teacher.

Barry and Iris' plans for their babymoon vacation include getting pizza in three different countries, a sunset cruise in Kauai, seeing Big Ben at midnight, camping under the Northern Lights and a mezcal nightcap in Cabo.

Barry and Iris return to Central City after getting called about the Rogues' break-in. Iris decides to report on the crime herself to give Aariz a day off from covering lab break-ins.

Khione is shown to have something of a green thumb and brings plants into spruce up STAR Labs.

Khione is a believer in talking to plants.

Allegra and Chester are avoiding each other after their kiss in 901.

Khione names her plants Kesha and Bob.

Barry figures out that the Rogues are stealing the parts to build a Cosmic Treadmill.

Reference is made to Godspeed's use of a Cosmic Treadmill to time travel in 717.

Barry contacts Pied Piper to ask who might have a quantum vibration engine.

Piper informs Barry that the Department of Defense has such an engine at Fort LUKIA, a military base outside Central City and suggests that Barry offer to use STAR Labs as a more secure facility.

Barry dismisses this idea after learning the commanding officer at the military base is General Wade Eiling, who has not been seen since 121 but is still holding a grudge against Barry and STAR Labs. This leads Piper to suggest stealing the engine before the Rogues can.

Barry decides they don't have time to recruit reliable heroes, even if he could talk them into running a heist on the Department of Defense, given that the next night the base will have less guards than usual due to maneuvers in Masonville.

Barry and Piper decide to recruit their own team of Rogues while Iris investigates the benefactor behind the new Rogues, figuring someone has to be supplying their tech and acting as the brains of the operation trying to build the Cosmic Treadmill. 

Khione and Allegra go through the Starchives to see if any old Rogue tech has gone missing.

Jaco "The Hotness" Birch, last seen in 808, is recruited to join the good Rogue team. He is revealed to be working at CC Jitters, but quits his job to go off with Barry and Piper.

Barry and Piper recruit Chillblaine, who reluctantly agrees to help, saying that it is what Frost would want. He refuses to take orders from Pied Piper, however.

The last Rogue Barry and Piper recruit is Goldface, who was last seen in 807. 

Goldface makes reference to Barry alias of The Chemist, his criminal alias in 513.

Goldface was released after turning state's evidence on the real mastermind behind the CCPD Hostage Situation - his now ex-girlfriend Amunet Black.

According to Carver, Goldface feels guilty over what he did and stays up all night rereading Dr. Zhivago while crying.

Goldface organized a book club for his gang.

Goldface agrees to join in on the heist after Barry explains the danger posed by the new Rogues and the fact that their heists are cutting into his territory. 

The new Rogues are revealed to be spying on Goldface's meeting with Barry and Piper.

Chillblaine robbed Goldface at some point in 2016.

Chillblaine makes reference to The Hotness opening up an active volcano under Central City and being accused of murdering his favorite bartender in 808. (Jaco notes he was cleared of that crime.)

Chester confirms that Owen Mercer's boomerangs, the Fiddler's violin and Murmur's knife were all uniquely designed and made by the same engineer, but he can't figure out who made them.

The Rogues all fight over who gets ownership of the engine once they steal it. Barry says nobody gets it, which doesn't please the thieves. Hotness wants a cut if he's risking breaking his parole and he needs money to put his son through college. Chillblaine wants it because the tech was designed to be used for cryogenics. Piper wants it to power his new and improved sonic gauntlets. Goldface wants it because it is worth at least a million dollars on the street.

Barry's Rogues decide to go out on their own and steal the engine without him when it becomes clear he doesn't trust them.

Iris has had no luck tracking down the benefactor behind the New Rogues.

Iris says she's worried she won't be able to break any more big stories once she is pregnant, which is why she really wanted to help Barry with this case.

Barry reminds Iris that she's supposed to win two Pulitzer's and there's nothing that says she can't win three.

Chester tells Iris he traced the Rogues' weapons to prototypes being developed by Wayne Enterprises.

Allegra admits to feeling awkward around Khione, due to Frost being the closest thing she ever had to a big sister.

Allegra says Chester is a good kisser and she likes him, but she can't get involved with someone. 

Khione compares Allegra to a daffodil, saying it needs to be carried on the wind to grow but clings to the stem to avoid being hurt.

Barry comes up with a compromise, saying that Piper can get the engine but will pay the other Rogues $250,000 each to compensate them for their help. When Piper protests, Barry reminds him that he said the money wasn't important to him and that he specifically wanted the tech to protect his employees.

When Goldface asks how Barry caught up with them, The Hotness reveals that he is The Flash and that he figured it out because The Flash and Barry Allen have the exact same drink order at CC Jitters.

After Barry's team disable the meta dampener, Chillblaine turns traitor and attacks Barry, stealing the quantum engine.

Captain Boomerang attacks Goldface.

The Fiddler fights The Hotness, though the two seem to have a mutual attraction. If nothing else, Nine Inch Nails is both their favorite band.

Murmur is somehow able to ambush Pied Piper, despite his enhanced hearing. This, coupled with her absorbing his sonic blasts, suggest that she has some ability to muffle the sound around her. It is unclear, however, if this is a metahuman power or tech-based.

The Red Death appears for the first time and is able to dampen Barry's powers long enough for the New Rogues to escape. Barry briefly mistakes them for Thawne, based on their red lightning.

Goldface, The Hotness and Pied Piper agree to help Barry deal with the Red Death once they track them down.

Barry wonders if the Red Death is the new Negative Speed Force Avatar now that Thawne is apparently dead.

Barry noticed that the Red Death had a bat-shaped insignia on their costume.

Luke Fox confirms that the Rogues' weapons resemble advanced WayneTech designs, but their nanotech foundations are beyond bleeding-edge, so he has no idea who they are fighting.

Luke Fox also confirms that they never fought a villain in a costume like Red Death, but that Ryan Wilder did disappear while on patrol as Batwoman several weeks earlier.

Chillblaine tries to back out of the new Rogues when the Red Death says they will only help him resurrect Frost after their mission is complete.

The Red Death unmasks, revealing herself to have the face of Ryan Wilder, saying that she is vengeance.


Location

O’Shaughnessy Pub on the south side of Keystone City.


Untelevised Adventures

Chester speaks with Luke "Batwing" Fox off-camera regarding the new Rogues' weapons.


The Bottom Line

A fun little heist episode which falters in the closing moment because of the anti-climactic mystery built up around the Red Death.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 7 - Lockdown

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

Plot

When Goldface launches a bold raid on CCPD HQ, Barry will have to work around Captain Kristen Kramer to save the day. Meanwhile, Caitlin learns a valuable lesson after accidentally running into Chillblaine and Frost while on a date.


Goofs

It is impossible to believe that Barry Allen, even as a CSI, would not be intimately familiar with the procedure for arresting a perpetrator and making the charges known to the police officers when he hands them over for a formal arrest. (If nothing else, you'd think he could write up an official statement at super-speed!)

It's even more impossible to believe that neither Joe West nor Cecile Horton would approach Barry about his apparent habit of leaving criminals tied up in CCPD HQ with no indication of what they did so they could be properly charged.

It's particularly unbelievable that the CCPD doesn't have a process for making sure its many supervillains are properly processed by its many superheroes.

Allowing that it's possible for Barry to be surprised by a gas attack, he should have recovered before the other police officers given his accelerated healing.

Why, out of all the places she could take her new boyfriend, did Caitlin take him to O'Shaughnessy's - the bar all the villains hang out and and where Chillblaine used to work? (It's possible she was intentionally trying to force a confrontation but Caitlin's dialogue suggests it wasn't intentional.)

There should probably be some kind of oversight that prevents Captain Kramer from sending the experimental anti-meta bullets (which she commissioned in the first place) to ARGUS without informing anyone.

Given that she's in contact with ARGUS and military minded, you'd think Captain Kramer would consult with them about some kind of metahuman training program rather than waiting to ask The Flash about controlling her powers. (Come to that, you'd expect the CCPD to require her to be trained in using her powers safely.)

While Goldface's efforts to educate his henchmen are laudable, it seems unlikely that he'd try to get his right-hand interested in literature by giving him a rare first edition of a book he'd never read.

Frost says that Chillblaine got her tickets to an underground rave in Keystone city. Underground raves are not ticketed events.


Performances

Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin and Danielle Nicolet are to be commended for keeping a straight face reading their dialogue in their scene together.

Conversely, Damion Poitier steals the show by refusing to treat his farcical dialogue with any degree of seriousness.

Flash Facts

Frost and Chillblaine's karaoke team name is The Ice Pack. In the comics, the Ice Pack was also the name of a supervillain team made up of villains with cold gimmicks, including Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, Killer Frost, Blue Snowman, Mister Blizzard and Icicle. 


Technobabble

Chester shows off a self-flying drone based off of an AI algorithm he created on his podcast.

There are 0.35 grams of gold in a cell phone, which is apparently enough for Goldface to be able to use his powers to control phones.

Marcus tries to comfort Caitlin by telling her that last week he screwed up the blooming cycle for the Selenicereus grandiflorus he was growing at work.

The anti-meteahuman bullets contain trace amounts of dark matter.

According to Marcus, the pads of the Opuntia cacti pair perfectly with an agave spirit.

Barry is able to reset the scanner in his lab from infrared to infrasonic, turning it into a make-shift sonic stunner device that allows him and Kramer to escape Goldface.

Barry theorizes that meta-dampener cuffs short out trying to cancel out a power mimic's powers because they release RNA energy pulses that repress metagenes. Since Kramer's DNA is constantly morphing based on her adrenaline levels and proximity to other metahumans, this overloads the cuffs, which were not designed with erratic gene fluctuation in mind.


Dialogue Disasters

Too many to list, but the fact that Caitlin is dating a plant expert named Marcus Ficus pretty much sums up most of the episode's attempts at humor.


Continuity

Team Flash now has an official monitor duty roster. As the episode opens, Chester is on duty.

Chester has a Supergirl lunchbox.

Chester and his grandmother trade off on making egg salad for one another's lunches.

The events of this episode take place on a Wednesday.

Allegra shows up unannounced at STAR Labs, intending to take Chester out to lunch at Hershfield's, - a place that makes amazing chicken parmesan sandwiches.

As they are about to leave, Chester is alerted to a hold-up at Jitters, a mugging off Route 119 and a carjacking at Edwards Center.

Barry takes care of all three crimes in less than a minute and leaves the offenders tied up in CCPD HQ's lobby.

Captain Kramer complains to Barry that it will take them the rest of the day to figure out just what the criminals did since The Flash didn't leave a report or any evidence they can use. She wishes she had some way to contact The Flash directly.

Joe and Cecile think Kramer has a point, given that they had a direct line to Barry and the new CCPD doesn't have that benefit.

Barry is reluctant to give Kramer a "Flash Phone" and instead resolves to make it easier on the police by redoubling his efforts to find good evidence as a CSI.

Chester's science podcast is called The Runkyard.

Caitlin complains that Chillblaine keeps taking Frost on ridiculous dates like skydiving and clogging their social media with cutesy couple pictures.

Caitlin is meeting her new boyfriend, Dr. Marcus Ficus, for dinner at The Spanish Hamper, which is apparently the hottest restaurant in town.

This will be Caitlin's third date with Marcus.

Chester speculates on if Marcus will soon be part of Team Flash or develop plant control powers.

Barry hustles to get all the evidence needed to convict the three criminals The Flash caught, but Kramer still isn't satisfied and wants a way to talk to The Flash.

Someone gasses CCPD HQ, knocking out all the cops, including Barry.

When the police wake up, they are all wearing meta-dampener cuffs and are being held hostage by Goldface. The cuffs also explode if the wearer tries to use their powers.

Goldface reasoned that with one metahuman now running the CCPD, there were good odds that there were other metahumans on the force.

Goldface recognizes Barry as The Chemist - the villain name he used when he first encountered Goldface while undercover in 513.

Caitlin accidentally made her dinner reservations at The Spanish Hamper for January next year. She decides to take him to O'Shaughnessy's - the bar that is a frequent hangout for meta-criminals where Chillblaine used work.

It's karaoke night at O'Shaughnessy's and Frost and Chillblaine are singing Journey's "Cold As Ice."

Frost and Chillblaine suggest a double date, which Caitlin is clearly uncomfortable with. Marcus, however, is agreeable to the idea.

Goldface reveals that he's come to steal the Anti-Meta bullets that Kramer had made in Season 7.

When the bullets are not in the armor, Goldface tries to strangle Barry with his chain and says he will kill him if Kramer won't tell him where to find them.

Barry says he can use a scanner in his lab to find the bullets, based on their dark matter signature.

"Snowflake" is Chilblaine's pet name for Frost.

Chillblaine invites Marcus and Caitlin to join them in a skydiving date next week, but Caitlin is afraid of skydiving.

Caitlin tells Frost she is being naive and that Chillblaine is just going to hurt her again.

Goldface's ringtone for when Amunet Black calls him is "Love is a Battlefield." This was revealed to be their song in 611.

Amunet is apparently in London.

Barry discovers that Goldface and Amunet Black are seeing the same couples' counselor as him and Iris - Dr. Sharon Finkel. He says their relationship and their business has never been better since they started working together.

Goldface has a BA in Literature from Yale and is dismayed that his right-hand man Carver doesn't get his references to Moby Dick or even Wrath of Khan.

Goldface bought Carver a first edition of Moby DIck for his birthday.

After turning his scanner into a sonic stunner, Barry and Kramer are able to escape through a vent in his lab to a storage room for junked equipment.

Kramer's powers cause her cuffs to short out.

Kramer says her powers only work for 30 seconds at a time and only when she is stressed.

Barry suggests that Kramer use her powers to counter Goldface and take him down. She refuses to consider this, however.

Chillblaine tells Caitlin he doesn't think she hates him so much as she's afraid to take the next step with Marcus and is responding by tearing down Frost's relationship.

Kramer tells Barry that she can't control her powers, so there's no way she can copy Goldface's abilities intentionally. 

Barry realizes Kramer wants to get in touch with The Flash so he can train her to use her powers.

Barry gives Kramer a pep-talk and tells her to trust her instincts and discipline.

Kramer is able to distract Goldface long enough for Barry to remove his cuff and outrun the explosion. He is later able to make quick work of Goldface and his men.

Kramer tells Barry she sent the anti-meta bullets to ARGUS 35 weeks earlier.

Caitlin apologizes to Frost for being rude to her and Chillblaine.

Frost signs them all up for roller derby for their next double date.

Barry visits Kramer as The Flash and gives her a pager and says he wants to let her know his secret identity. However, Kramer already figured it out, saying there was no way Barry could have escaped the exploding cuff unless he were The Flash.

Joe has been studying cooking since retiring and learned how to make a doro wat.

Iris fades out of phase with time, but hides this fact from her father.


Untelevised Adventures

Frost and Chilblaine have a number of adventurous dates involving cliff diving and other extreme sports.


The Boomerang Factor

The entire episode's plot is built around the idea that The Flash has been routinely leaving criminals tied up for the police with no indication of what their crimes were and that neither Joe West nor Cecile Horton ever told Barry that this was making it impossible for them to do their jobs.


The Bottom Line

Painfully dumb on every level. The best thing that can be said about it is that it makes the ending of Armageddon seem better by comparison.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 11 - Love Is A Battlefield

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




Plot

It's Valentine's Day and love is in the air, but Barry and Iris' plans for a romantic evening are ruined by the return of Amunet Black and a gang war between the metahuman crime-boss and her old boyfriend, Goldface. As Team Flash's resident lovebirds try to figure out a way to stop the battle without risking Barry's secret identity being exposed, Frost tries to follow in Ralph's footsteps as a life coach and help Allegra get back together with a lost love.


Influences

The Flash comics of Geoff Johns (characters of Blacksmith and Goldface.) and John Broome (confirmation of the existence of Mirror World)


Goofs

Hopefully Amazon paid a pretty penny for the Alexa smart house commercial they set into the middle of Iris and Barry breakfast scene.

The script for this episode is also annoyingly meta, with Iris making reference to the villain of the week and Barry scheduling two Valentine's Day dinner dates because he knows one of them is bound to be interrupted by a super-villain.

On the one hand, Katee Sackhoff's performance as Amunet Black is so hammy it's been condemned by both the Rabbinical Council of America and the Muslim Council of Elders as unfit for consumption by anyone keeping Kosher or Halal. On the other hand, she seems to be one of the few actors making an effort to get this material to work on any level.

Barry can't go into an underworld bar because he's afraid be recognized as a cop, despite largely working behind the scenes. (Of course he did just get honored alongside Elongated Man in the press.) Yet there's no similar concerns about Iris, who has reportedly been a popular local blogger famous for writing about superheroes for five years, and is the daughter of a noted cop. In fact, Iris seems to be recognized up until she changes the subject by hitting a bouncer over the head with a bottle.

The bartender at the underworld bar is happy to give out information on where a notorious metahuman crime-boss is about to steal something. Ignoring how he has this information in the first place, why would he hand it over to some random woman he is suspicious of even before she disables his bouncer?

The security guard seems oddly reluctant to actually fire his gun on the two metahuman robbers. Nearly as reluctant as Goldface and Amunet are to do something about the man with the gun threatening them both.

It is said that the pollen of Rappaccini's Daughter can be synthesized into a narcotic drug that causes telepathy. Yet inhaling the regular pollen seems to work just fine on Goldface and Amunet.

It's unclear if Goldface and Amunet are arrested at the end of the episode or if Barry and Iris just let them work out their aggression.

The episode doesn't resolve the core problem of Amunet knowing the secret identities of every superhero in Central City and Barry not being able to move to stop her from committing any crimes with her threatening to expose him.

The episode's message of Barry learning to trust Iris and not be so protective of her and to let her build her own life outside of supporting him is severely undercut by the fact that this more confident, assertive Iris is an evil clone from Mirror World.


Flash Facts

The episode title comes from a Pat Benatar song, which plays during the fight between Goldface and Amunet.

In Geoff Johns' run on The Flash, Blacksmith (as Amunet Black is called there) was established as an ex-wife of the Green Lantern villain Goldface, who had stolen his formula and augmented it to give herself the power to merge organic and inorganic material, giving herself metal skin.

Despite being established as former lovers, this is the first time Goldface and Amunet have appeared in an episode together.

Amunet's second target is Ivo Labs. This is the same company that built the Amazo android during Invasion! and the same lab run by Anthony Ivo - the main villain of the flashbacks during Arrow Season 2.

The opening and closing scenes of the episode suggest that Iris has become trapped in The Mirror World; a fourth dimensional space that exists "behind the looking glass." It first appeared in The Flash #126 (February 1962) and was discovered by the original Mirror Master, Sam Scudder. It's history in the Arrowverse is so far unknown.

Frost enjoys some Naltorian Mead she says was left behind by one of the Wellses besides Nash. Naltor is an alien world in the DC Comics universe and the home planet of Nia Nal aka Dreamer.


Technobabble

Porca miseria is an Italian curse, literally translated as "pig misery."

Ryan Choi identifies the first item Amunet stole as a specialized UV projector. The second item is a biome simulated storage unit. Together, they can be used to transport delicate plant-life.

Nash claims he needed to give Allegra a nano-dimensional bucket auger.

Rappaccini's Daughter is a rare orchid that only blooms once every 25 years. Properly heated, its pollen can be synthesized into a telepathic narcotic. It apparently also has an aphrodisiac effect based on Amunet and Goldface's response to it.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Allegra has arrived at work to find Frost decorating the Citizen's office for Valentine's Day.)
Allegra: Did you just let yourself in?
Frost: Relax. I'm not some whack job meta-killer with crazy good aim and ulterior motives. (She thinks about this for a second.) Anymore.

Amunet: Darlings! Long time no see. Did I interrupt date night?
Barry: CCPD. Amunet Black, I'm placing you under arrest for robbery and aggravated assault.
Amunet: So very official, Mr. Allen. But aren't you just a CSI?
Barry: I'm still a cop. Who can arrest you.
Amunet: (agreeable) Oh, okay. Well, by all means, let me help you with the first bit. (clears throat) I have the right to remain silent, which will come in handy if you don't want me letting that little secret identity cat out of its flashy red bag. So why don't we just call this a warning? I'll be on my way. No harm. No cowl.
Barry: I'm supposed to just let you leave?
Amunet: Bloody right. Don't think of coming after me, 'cause if I see you, or your onesie, or any one of your frigid or bendy superhero friends, I will hold it against all of you and tell the world your real identities. Savvy? Hmm?
(Barry hesitates but clearly knows he's beaten.)
Amunet: That's right. Because behind every great man is a woman. Rolling her eyes.

Nash: Black and white, that's just for death and taxes. Everything else, everything else happens in the grays.

Joe: No. Neither one of you are ever gonna stop growing. I mean, marriage is like a tree. I mean, bear with me. Look, the branches, they grow from the center. They grow farther and farther away from the center, but what you have to remember is underneath, the roots? They're mirroring the branches. They're growing just as much. So you're growing your foundation. Now of course, you gotta tend to the soil, communicate with each other, take care of each other, look out for each other, but as the branches grow, so does your foundation. So you grow together.

Amunet: Keith and I were like fireworks when we were together. We shared the same ambitions, and it ignited us both. We inspired each other. Rappaccini's Daughter was meant to be our greatest score ever.
Iris: Even though it only blooms every 25 years?
Amunet: What can I say? We were optimists, making plans for the future. We knew that it was set to bloom this year, and once we had our hands on its mindreading powers, no one would be able to stop us. We would run this town together. I felt like I could be myself when I was with him. He's the only one who ever saw beyond all this. He saw me for me.
Iris: So what went wrong?
Amunet: Hmm, as business boomed, our relationship didn't. Our passion wilted and died.
(As Amunet says this she bends the stem of one flower and breaks it.)
Iris: I don't know, Amunet. The way you two were trying to kill each other...
Amunet: It's a fine line between love and hate, my dear.
(Amunet smiles and offers Iris the broken stem.)


Dialogue Disasters

Iris: Let me surprise my hubby before some crazy meta-of-the-week strikes.

Amunet: I'd rather date Norvock than you!
Goldface: That makes two of us! Your American accent sucks!
Amunet: So does yours!
Goldface: I'm from Connecticut! I went to Yale!

Most of Amunet and Goldface's fight dialogue and the make-up sex after. But especially...

Amunet: I should take off my gauntlet.
Goldface: Leave it on, girl. Daddy likes the metal.


Continuity

In the opening scene, Iris awakens on the floor in the AV3 office at McCulloch Technologies, where she was pulled into a mirror in 610.

Iris fixes Barry pancakes instead of his usual  breakfast banana. It was revealed that Barry usually has his favorite fruit in the morning in 605.

Iris' pancakes are good, to Barry's shock. It has been a running gag throughout the show's history that Iris is a lousy cook. Her pancakes are notoriously awful, as noted by Nora West-Allen in 504.

Iris bought an expensive juicer.

Barry made reservations for a restaurant called Giovani's on Valentine's Day at 7 pm. He decides to make an appointment for that night as well, to double their chances of having an uninterrupted Valentine's dinner.

Barry and Iris have an Alexa smart house system.

Allegra once dated an emo musician named Emerson Fairweather. Frost decides to help the two get back together.

Iris is suddenly capable of speaking Italian; an ability she's never shown in all the time Barry has known her. She claims it's because she picked up a few phrases while working on a story on Central City's Little Italy.

Amunet Black was last seen in 421.

Amunet steals a piece of technology from a man named Saul Frankel, who is eating at the same restaurant as Barry and Iris.

Amunet Black has apparently been off the grid in Central City since she was last seen before the final battle with The Thinker.

Iris goes undercover at an underworld bar.

Frost and Allegra spy on Emerson at Jitters, after finding out he'll be there on his social media. Allegra is ready to approach him until she sees him with another woman with whom he is clearly affectionate.

Lars, the bartender in the underworld bar, tells Iris that Amunet is heisting some tech from Ivo Labs.

Goldface was last seen in 513.

Goldface claims Amunet stole his Radiohead vinyl albums.

Amunet claims that she introduced Goldface to NWA.

Barry uses his powers to phase the security guard out from under the sphere he's trapped under during the fight between Amunet and Goldface.

Iris steals the second piece of equipment Amunet was taking from Ivo Labs during the fight.

Amunet and Goldface limit their attacks to criminal-run locations when their gang war breaks out.

Ryan Choi guesses that the equipment Amunet is stealing could be used to preserve a delicate plant.

Barry says that Iris is acting different - more assertive.

Iris argues with Barry about her new attitude and says he's scared because she won't be his damsel in distress or the voice cheering him on anymore.

Iris says learning how to make pancakes was her New Years' Resolution.

Iris also confesses to sneaking out in the middle of the night to check on a lead without telling Barry where she was going.

Nash is still checking up on Allegra in a clumsy fashion.

Frost is drinking Naltorian Mead when Nash finds her at the Central City Citizen's offices.

Nash advises Frost not to give up on trying to help Allegra.

Joe gives Barry some advice on coping with change in a marriage.

Joe makes reference to Iris taking down a Black Hole assassin (610), leading the charge to find Ryan Choi (609) and figuring out that Bloodwork hadn't completely taken over Barry's mind. (608)

Allegra tells Frost that she ghosted Emerson after a few dates because she was afraid he wouldn't be interested in a metahuman.

Frost convinces Allegra to go to Emerson and be honest about ghosting him.

Iris goes to Amunet with the stolen equipment and tells her what she figured out about her trying to steal Rappaccini's Daughter and why. She says she wants to help because she doesn't trust Barry anymore and wants to read his mind to make sure he isn't cheating on her.

Iris and Amunet are ambushed by Goldface as they go to steal Rappaccini's Daughter.

According to Goldface, Amunet's American accent is terrible, This suggests she honestly is British.

Goldface is originally from Connecticut and went to Yale.

Amunet lied about liking Goldface's dog and is a cat person.

Amunet and Goldface wind up having sex and forgiving each other after being exposed to the telepathic pollen.

Allegra and Emerson decide to just be friends.

The drummer in Emerson's band is bio-luminescent.

Frost seems to have deduced that Nash was Allegra's father in a pre-Crisis Earth.

Nash has a momentary vision of Harry Wells from the former Earth-2.

The episode ends with Iris, trapped in a mirror, helplessly watching as Barry kisses the fake Iris.


Untelevised Adventures

We are told that Goldface and Amunet's forces are tearing apart various gang hideouts in Central City as an all-out war breaks out, but don't see any fighting. Or any henchmen.

Iris calls Ryan Choi to identify the scientific equipment Amunet is stealing.


The Bottom Line

Easily the weakest episode of the season and perhaps the worst of the various "filler" theme episodes shot to preserve the special effects budget in the show's history. Between the illogical plot that can't be bothered to hide its tropes and everything that's left unresolved at the ending, this is easily one of the Top 5 worst The Flash episodes in history, with the only good things about it being the bad things that inspire laughter.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 13 - Goldfaced

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




Plot

Barry and Ralph go undercover to explore the black market of Central City's metahuman criminal underworld. Unfortunately, the two heroes quickly find themselves in a position where they may have to commit a crime to get what they need to defeat Cicada. Meanwhile, Iris' investigation into Cicada's whereabouts gets her into a sticky situation.


Influences

Every cop movie where the straight-arrow cop goes undercover and immediately blows their cover because of a crime they can't ignore.


Goofs

Granting that Team Flash is supposed to be all about not killing, that didn't stop Iris from killing Savitar. So why doesn't she finish the job when she has Cicada down and in pain? (Apart from ending the chief battle of the season about ten episodes early, of course...)


Artistry

The sequence of Barry and Ralph going all Call of Duty on Goldface's men to Rob Zombie's Dragula is a perfect balance of music, lighting and stunt-work blending together into a glorious whole.


Flash Facts

First appearing in Green Lantern #38 in July 1965, Goldface was originally designed as a foil for the Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan, whose power ring could not affect anything that was yellow. A criminal scientist named Keith Kenyon, Goldface developed a serum based on gold that gave him super-strength, invulnerability and a golden glow. He also utilized a gold-gun that sprayed liquid gold and wore golden armor. In time,Goldface changed from a simple bank robber to a crime boss and tried to use his powers to muscle in on existing criminal empires. This brought him into conflict with The Flash. Eventually, his elixir turned his skin into organic metal.

Goldface's background was retconned significantly Post-Crisis. Now, Goldface was the son of a union leader in Central City, who turned to crime to rebel against his family. He also acquired his powers after being exposed to a sunken chest full of gold that had been altered by toxic waste. Otherwise his career as a criminal was largely the same, except that he moved to Keystone City after his release and followed in his father's footsteps to become the Commissioner of Union 242. He teamed up with The Flash to save the city after his ex-wife, the villain Blacksmith, attempted to form a new Rogues' Gallery to take over the city's underworld. Unfortunately, his reformation didn't stick and he later died in prison, killed by the Darkstar Tomar Tu, who was trying to avenge the death of his father (the Green Lantern Tomar Re) at Goldface's hands.

The Arrowverse version of Goldface is Blacksmith's ex-boyfriend. He's said to have stolen more weaponized technology than any criminal in Central City. He's been said to have been running a black market in Central City for years and is now running Blacksmith's territory as well. He has the metahuman power to change his skin to gold, much like how Citizen Steel becomes organic steel. This makes him stronger and more durable than an average person but does make him more conductive to electricity, as Barry is able to disable him by tricking him into using his gold chain whip on a power box.

The character of Renee Adler seems to be inspired by Irene Adler in the same way that Sherloque Wells is a tribute to Sherlock Holmes. In the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, Irene Adler was a career criminal in the story "A Scandal in Bohemia" who managed to get the better of Holmes. She is often presented as a romantic interest for Holmes in the stories inspired by the original tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but many Doyle purists believe that Sherlock only admired her for her wit and there was no romantic intention at all.

Barry goes by the name The Chemist while posing as a criminal in the black market. There was a criminal known as The Chemist in Batman: The Animated Series, who appeared in the episode "Batgirl Returns." An expert on acids, explosives and poisons, he claimed to be able to identify any chemical by appearance or scent.

The maker of the 3-D printer Goldface wants to steal is Ivo Labs. This is the same company that made the Amazo robot from Elseworlds, which was named in honor of Professor Anthony Ivo - a mad scientist who was a frequent enemy of the Justice League.


Technobabble

Unfortunately, the metagene cure that Cisco and Caitlin have developed is not as simply administered as loading a chemical into a tranquilizer dart and shoot someone with a sniper rifle.

Cisco developed his cure by analyzing identical twins - one of whom became a metahuman and the other didn't. The key difference in all cases was the pituitary gland.

It seems that the pituitary gland metabolizes dark matter through the body, which results in the development of metahuman powers. Turning a metahuman into a regular human requires that the the dark matter in the pituitary gland be neutralized.

The cure does not work instantaneously. The subject has to be immobilized for one minute for the cure to take effect.

Van Horn industries created a peaceful anti-riot device called a Neuro-Stasis Field Generator.  Basically, it's a biological EMP that can immobilize any living organism within a confined radius.

Barry makes reference to a museum heist in Star City where atomized lorazepam was used to knock out the guards.

Goldface asks Barry and Ralph to help him steal a cutting-edge 3-D printer that can create artificial organs.


Dialogue Triumphs

Thawne: A man does not wear another man's face unless he understands his mind. Not just through time, but across Infinite Earths. This Sherloque... yes, he's brilliant, but.. to redirect his gaze, one only has to nudge him towards his weakness.  Love.

Ralph: I know what you're thinking.
Barry: We're supposed to pay Goldface and then just let him get away?
Ralph: Come on. You said we need to think outside the box.
Barry: This is making a deal with the devil.
Ralph: No, this is stopping Cicada. Look, I don't like this anymore than you do, but in some cases the ends justify the means. And stopping a psychotic meta-killer who we are literally powerless against? That's one of those cases.

Barry: Dude. if we make the wrong move in here, these cuffs are going to be the least of our worries.
Ralph: New game plan. The antihero of our dynamic duo will find the Field Generator. And you're just going to stay here and try not to look like a cop. Or a superhero.
Barry: Okay.
Ralph: Or really anything you actually are.
Barry: (annoyed) Just go! I'm fine!

Goldface: I'm going to ask once more. Who. Are. You?
Barry: I'm nobody. No arrests. No convictions. Not for the Star City Museum heist where atomized lorazepam knocked the guards out. Or the acid bomb that blew open the Federal Reseve vault last month.
Goldface: That was you?
Barry: Not according to the police reports. Because the only evidence I leave behind are red herrings for idiot cops to chase down. You want to know who I am? You can call me The Chemist. But I really don't care what you call me. Just stop wasting my time.
(There is a long tense moment as Goldface's henchmen look to him. He nods and smiles.)
Goldface: (To Ralph) You should let him do the talking.
Ralph: Yeah. I get that a lot.

(Goldface explains that he wants Barry to steal a 3-D printer that prints artificial organs.)
Barry: You want us to rob a hospital?
Goldface: Of course not! I'm not a monster. I want you to rob the lab before it ever gets to the hospital.

(Four of Sherloque's ex-wives are talking over each other demanding money.)
Sherloque: Ladies -
Ex-Wife #3: We know you had Superman deliver your alimony to your ex on Earth-38.
Sherloque (laughs nervously) What?
Ex-Wife #3: You think we don't all talk?
Sherloque: (To Nora) I was hoping they don't all talk.

(Ralph is struggling on the groundwith one of Goldface's men. Barry is standing there, holding a brick.)
Ralph: Brick!
Barry (nodding) Ralph!
(Barry throws the brick and hits the henchman in the head. He is out instantly and Ralph gets up.)
Ralph: Well, thank you, but for the record I meant throw the brick to me.
Barry: I was trying to throw it to you.

(Ralph and Barry walk out to see Goldface with their hands up.)
Goldface: Good boys. I was hoping you wouldn't make daddy use his belt. Since you obeyed me, I'm not going to blow your arms off.
(Goldface begins to shrug out of his jacket and turns his back on Barry and Ralph.)
Goldface: I'm going to kill you in a more traditional way. And I promise-
(As he turns back around Barry and Ralph have drawn their stun guns and open fire.)
Ralph: He really should have frisked us first.
(Goldface groans and starts to pull himself up.His skin is cut, revealing gold metal underneath.)
Goldface: See, that's the thing. My gold?  Don't just make me look pretty.


Dialogue Disasters

The whole of the Cicada vs. Iris fight.


Continuity

As the episode opens, Sherloque is still trying to translate the Time Language and wondering who Nora is working with.

Thawne is working with Nora to stop Cicada, though why he's doing so is unclear.

According to Eobard Thawne, there's always a Wells helping Team Flash. He says that every version of Harrison Wells across the multiverse is weakened by love in some form or fashion.

After one week, the Central City Citizen is failing to pick up readers and Iris is feeling depressed after reading a review that says her news site is boring. Worse yet, it is compared unfavorably to Spyn's site from 504.

Caitlin says she and Cisco have almost finished their metagene cure but it requires the subject to be immobilized for one minute to start working.

Caitlin knows that a new technology by Van Horn industries might be able to stop Cicada for that long, but all the prototypes were stolen.

Ralph has a connection who knows something about the stolen technology black market in Central City. This contact, Earl Cox, previously appeared in 413.

Amunet Black (aka Blacksmith) is still said to be at large.

Earl Cox says that the way Goldface's black market works is that he teleports the goods to an abandoned warehouse a day after the sale is arranged. That way nobody knows where his operation is being run from. He tells Barry to tell Goldface's people that Big Raf sent them.

Thawne helps Nora figure out a way to plan a "meet-cute" between Sherloque and a woman named Renee Adler.

Sherloque determines at a glance that Renee Adler is a trained ballet dancer (she says she has studied since she was four), is from the East Coast of the United States, grew up in a small village by a bay, works as a librarian at a university, lives by a train station in a small, split-level pad and that she has an old Corgi dog as a pet. It's about the time that he gets to the train station that Renee becomes creeped out and calls him a stalker.

Nora offers to help Sherloque with wooing Renee.

The password to enter Goldface's market is "The streets are paved with gold,"

When Barry and Ralph enter Goldface's market, they are teleported to somewhere Caitlin's GPS cannot find them.

Everyone who enters Goldface's market is fitted with a power-dampening cuff. It is rigged to explode if a metahuman tries to use their powers anyway.

One of the weapon's dealers in the black market sells an energy weapon he calls a Toastmaster. It fires a bolt of energy that can burn through police-issue body armor in seconds.

Barry gets Goldface's attention after he asks about buying all the Toastmasters.

Brent Osmack is Orlin Dwyer's manager at the plant he used to work at. Iris arranges an interview, nominally about union reform, but starts asking questions about Dwyer. Sheis told that Dwyer had his checks sent to a P.O. Box but he once had to forward it to a cousin's house. The cousin's name was Robbie Byrne.

Barry takes credit for a museum heist in Star City and blowing a vault at the Federal Reserve with an acid bomb.

Goldface agrees to give Ralph and Barry the tech they need in exchange for helping him with a heist that night. Goldface wants to steal a new 3-D printer that is capable of printing artificial organs before it is delivered to the local hospital

Ralph gave Iris some sort of burglar's tool for a birthday persent, which she uses to break into Robbie Byrne's house and confirm that Cicada is there.

The sketch Nora made of Cicada's home in Grace Gibbon's mind looks just like the home Iris breaks into.

All of Sherloque's five ex-wives are revealed to be alternate Earth versions of the same woman - Renee Adler. Four of them answer Nora's request to help Sherloque figure out what attracted them to him... but only so they know what Earth he is on now so that they can demand their alimony.

The one ex-wife we don't see is the one from Earth-38, to whom Superman delivered an alimony check in S409. 

All of Sherloque's ex-wives talk to each other on a regular basis.

One of Sherloque's ex-wives claims he released fruit bats at their wedding instead of doves because he thought it was romantic. (Sherloque knew she loved endangered animals and thought it would be a unique gesture.)

Another of Sherloque's ex-wives is allergic to dogs. He got her a puppy as an anniversary gift thinking she could slowly build up an immunity.

Sherloque attempted to fake his death to get away from one ex-wife. Twice. She fell for it both times.

Iris becomes stuck in Cicada's home while he is there. She is able to get to the front door and pretend that she was coming in when the door squeaks. She asks if he is Robbie Byrne and he says he is.

Iris claims she is writing a story about lead leaking into the water through old pipes in Cicada's neighborhood.

Iris asks if he has a daughter, looking at the dollhouse Nora saw in her time in Grace Gibbon's head. He says he used to.

Nora suggests that Sherloque's problem is he treats love like a mystery to be solved rather than something to be savored.

Ralph locks Barry up in one of Goldface's trucks so that he doesn't have to get his hands dirty with the robbery.

Barry is able to get out of the truck by using a slither of metal as a screwdriver to disassemble the grating on the window on the truck door.

Ralph decides to fight Goldface's men after finding a list of children approved for the donor organs the 3-D printer can me on top of the box containing the printer.

Goldface is beaten after Barry tricks him into whipping a power box with his gold chain.

Cicada notices Iris' purse that she left in his living room when she broke in. This leads to Iris desperately having to fight her way out of his house, stabbing him in the chest.

Barry says he and Ralph can be proud that they took down a metahuman with no powers.

Iris says she thinks she figured out Cicada's weakness.

Sherloque approaches Renee Adler and apologizes for creeping her out. He proves he is a detective and not a talker by observing that a random man at the coffee shop is lactose intolerant and predicting when he's about to react badly to his latte.

Sherloque realizes the Earth-One version of Renee Adler is a metahuman when a door opens for her as she is leaving the coffee shop.

With Sherloque realizing his new love is a metahuman, he throws himself back into the Cicada case instead of working on translating Nora's time language.


Location

Iron Heights - 2049


The Bottom Line

An episode so that is so fun you won't mind that it's all a gigantic shaggy dog story.