The Flash Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 1 - All's Wells That Ends Wells

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


Plot

When the latest attempt to restore Barry's speed fails, Nash proposes a dangerous plan. Meanwhile, Iris comes to a startling realization in the Mirror World, as Cecile has a disturbing encounter with The Top.


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (The Black Hole organization, mention of Meena Dhawan.) and the Geoff Johns (The Top's new power set.)


Goofs

The retcon that Mirror Master has always been a mirror clone created by Mirror Mistress and the retcon that The Top was always the brains of their operation are not explained very well.

Iris' apparent transformation/death in the final scene of 619 amounts to nothing, as this episode opens with her perfectly fine apart from continuing to hallucinate and suffering from migraines.

Why did Joseph Carver save a video file that proved his story about his wife dying and being replaced with an evil mirror duplicate on a portable hard drive in a file labeled FOR EVA and not ever show it to any of the authorities he was asking for help who had no reason to trust him last season? (There was no reason since Barry just unquestioningly agreed to help him.)

Given that Black Hole is meant to be a secret group, why do their jets have the group logo painted on them?


Performances

Grant Gustin does a fine job impersonating the various versions of Harrison Wells.

The scenes of Nash coming to terms with his death and the roll-call of Wells saying goodbye are a brilliant swan-song for Tom Cavanagh and would be a worthy end for his tenure on the show if, indeed, we thought he truly were done with The Flash.


Flash Facts

 As the episode opens, Chester is reading a physics textbook by Dr. Meena Dhawan. This is a nod to a character from The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson, who was briefly a love interest and ally of Barry Allen, before becoming taken over by the Negative Speed Force and becoming the Negative Flash.

The first fight between Barry and Mirror Mistress as the episode opens begins at 2nd Street and Walczak. This is likely a nod to The Flash writer Katherine Walczak. It then moves to 3rd Street and Certo, which is likely a reference to The Flash writer Lauren Certo.

This is the first episode to feature a new title card sequence which includes Allegra and Chester as part of the team. Ralph Dibny is notably absent from the new sequence.

The map of Central Ctiy which Barry uses to chart the Black Hole hideouts Eva hit mentions several districts from The Flash comics.  These include Leawood, City Center, University Town, Westminster, Petersburg, Englewood, New Brighton and Lawrence Hills. The general layout of the map also roughly resembles the map of the city featured in the 1990 Atlas of the DC Universe, save that the Arrowverse version of the city has a large river bisecting the city in a North-South direction, just to the west of City Center.

The new Harrison Wells variant introduced in this episode, Harrison Orson Wells, is a clear tribute to legendary actor/producer/director Orson Wells.

The Top's new empathic power set is taken from the Geoff Johns run on The Flash, where the original Top, Roscoe Dillon, had his power set changed to develop "mind over matter" telepathic abilities which he used to change the personalities of the other Rogues, pushing them to reform. For Rosa Dillon, this translates into empathic powers like those of Cecile Horton.

Sherloque makes reference to a villain known as the King Tut Killer of Earth-66. This seems to be a nod to King Tut - a Batman villain from the 1966 Batman show., who apparently became murderous despite the villains of that universe being relatively non-lethal.

Allegra starts calling Chester Chuck for short. This is a reference to the Chunk nickname Chester was originally given in The Flash comics, where he was a fat guy whose power was generating black holes.


Technobabble

Barry's costume now has a nanotech hood that covers his face with a touch. 

The fusion sphere powers the Artificial Speed Force. It absorbs whatever touches it while it is active, so it should not be touched while it is turned on, as it fuses the atoms of whatever touches it, bringing about complete molecular degeneration. (An important safety tip Nash relates to Chester.)

Multiversal particles made of synaptic energy, taken from every version of Harrison Wells in the multiverse, exist within Nash Wells. These particles could be used as a power source for the Artificial Speed Force but an organic receptor is required to contain them long enough for the fusion sphere to absorb them, due to the volatile nature of the particles.

Multiversal particles oscillate at certain frequencies of light. Nash theorizes that Allegra can use her powers to transfer the particles from him and into the fusion sphere. 

Chester uses the Mobile Gideon to confirm that an abundance of multiversal particles inside Barry's mind are causing his cerebral cortex to overload.

Chester says he can build a particle magnet that can contain the particles long enough to charge the fusion sphere so Nash doesn't have to die.

Chester fashions a vest covered with ionic circuits which can contain the multiversal particles as Allegra shifts them from Barry back into Nash.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Nash, Allegra and Chester are watching Barry stir, after he was zapped by the multiversal particles. He groans and they all sigh in relief... until he starts speaking with a French accent.)
Barry/Sherloque: Hello. Qu'est Ce qui Se passe? What are you all doing?
Chester: Uh, since when do you speak French?
Barry/Sherloque: Since always, no?
Allegra: Why is he talking funny?
Nash I think when the particles left the Fusion Sphere, they transferred to Barry Allen.
Chester: So all the brainwaves of all the Wellses who've ever lived...?
Barry/Sherloque: Are inside Monsieur Allen's mind!

(Harry Wells has taken over Barry's body.)
Barry/Harry: What happened to the J.V. squad?
(Nash grunts dismissively.).
Barry/Harry: Why are you moping around here instead of helping them?
Nash: Oh, they don't want my help.
Barry/Harry: Right? 
Nash: Mm. Frankly, I don't blame them.
Barry/Harry: Garcia found out the truth?
Nash: Yeah. You know what Cisco said after Crisis? He said, "An infinite number of Harrison Wells, and we're stuck with the one who killed the Multiverse." And every day I ask myself, why? Why am I the one left standing?
Barry/Harry: So who should've gotten the slot? One of us bozos?
Nash: (sighs) You're not bozos. I only called you that because I find the Wells very annoying... Present company excluded. But you know what you are? You're a daily reminder that even though we may all look the same, we're not the same. Because you're all good men. And I'm... I'm not.
Barry/Harry: So you're a selfish jerk. You think that I wasn't? That we all weren't? Hell, when I met this team, I was working for Zoom. H.R. lied. Sherloque... kept secrets. We all came here broken men. Thanks to Team Flash, eventually we learned to be better. That's why I believe in you, Nash. There's a good man in there somewhere. You just need to dig him up, let him breathe. 

(Nash has touched the fusion sphere and is charging the Artificial Speed Force)
Barry: Nash, please. I can't let anyone else die for me. I've already lost so many people.
Nash: Do you know what I feel right now, Allen? Pride. Honor. It's been so long since I felt those things. And it's not just me. The Council feels it, too. And we've made our decision. We're doing this, Allen. (groans)  Is it charging?
(Chester runs to the controls to check.)
Chester: Yeah, the Fusion Sphere is charging. 
Barry: How can I be the Flash without a Wells on this team? 

Nash: You've always been the Flash. You always will be... with or without me. 

(Nash grunts and an energy halo circles his head. When it dissipates he smiles wide. It's HR Wells.)
HR Wells: Hey, B.A. How's it going? (chuckles then sees Barry is tearing up)You're so fast. No, no, no. B.A., don't be upset. This... this is not goodbye. It's just... till our next communion. 
(HR Wells grunts and another Halo appears. This time when it dissipates his expression is cool and dispassionate. When he speaks, he has a French accent. It is Sherloque.)
Sherloque Wells: Not great, hmm? Our current situation, huh? But... it will be.
(Sherloque grunts and the halo appears again. This time when it dissipates, Wells refuses to meet Barry's gaze and speaks in a sarcastic growl. It's Harry Wells.)
Harry: Allen... you know, when I came to your stupid Earth... (chuckles) With its good burgers... I was a broken man... Lost, angry, blah, blah, blah, and you showed me... how to be a better person. And I'll always be grateful for our friendship. Now... (sighs) Run. Barry... run!


Continuity

Barry has been kept in cryogenic suspension as much as possible to preserve what Speed Force energy he has left. As the episode opens, he is down to 1%.

Barry is awoken when Chester detects a fractal anomaly at 2nd Street and Walczak. She is quickly detected moving to 3rd Street and Certo.

Mirror Mistress confirms that her fractal photons move at the speed of light.

Mirror Mistress attacks a warehouse on 199th street that is a hideout of Mirror Master (Sam Scudder) and The Top. They last appeared in an alternate future in 319.

Mirror Mistress seemingly kills Sam Scudder, but reveals to a stunned Top that he was one of her fractal duplicates - the first one she created.

Barry is knocked out and arrives at the warehouse to find The Top in shock next to the shattered remains of her boyfriend.

Iris hallucinates a "take out world tour" dinner date with Barry that includes Big Belly Burger, a hot dog chain with a bag labeled "I LOVE GOTHAM," coq au vin from Paris, sashimi from the Arctic and the funnel cake from the Kansas State Fair. This last item was apparently recommended by Superman.

According to Barry, Eva hit nine sites the previous evening and was gone before he could get to them each time.

Sam Scudder and The Top were apparently working for Black Hole and one of their pins was among Scudder's remains.

The Top and Mirror Master reportedly broke out of Iron Heights sometime within the past year.

Ralph Dibny is in hiding with Sue Dearborn, having gone deep off the grid after being framed for the murder of Joseph Carver.

Caitlin is still in the Arctic with her mother, having left for a while in 619.

Cisco is still in Atlantis, after leaving to get a part for the perpetual motion machine he thinks he can use to open a path to the Mirrorverse in 618.

Cecile takes up The Top's defense, in the hopes that she can get her to tell her where the Black Hole tech she and Sam Scudder were moving is.

Chester and Nash connect a fusion sphere to the Artificial Speed Force. This leads them only needing to find a fuel source to power the ASF.

Another new Wells variant is introduced: Harrison Orson Wells, who was a legendary film and stage director, actor and producer on his Earth.

The Council of Wells solved the problem of how to power the ASF. This information is conveyed to Nash by Harry, HR, Sherloque and Harrison Orson Wells.

The synaptic energy of all the Wells can be used to power the ASF, but Nash has to die in order for it to work. Naturally, he's less than thrilled about this plan and tries to think of an alternative. 

Iris is confronted by another version of herself in the Mirrorverse, as she thinks to try and use a laptop in her apartment to send a message to Kamila. This Iris is wearing the same dress Iris wore while working as a barista in the first episode.

Mirror Mistress discovers a video file labeled FOR EVA on a portable hard drive in Joseph Carver's office. She almost opens it, but then closes the file before she can do so, as she remembers Joseph Carver telling her that she was not his wife and that his wife died six years earlier in 619.

According to The Top, Mirror Master handled all the details of their business dealings with Black Hole. Cecile detects that this is a lie.

The Top's record shows that she ran a psychotropic drug ring while in Iron Heights.

Cecile determines that The Top wasn't really sad about her past crimes but was projecting a false emotion to her.

The Top reveals that beyond causing other people to experience vertigo, she's a powerful empath who can project emotions onto other people and sense the emotions of other people. 

The Top claims that she was the real brains of her gang and that she was made a better offer by Mirror Mistress after Mirror Master got involved with the Black Hole and got in way over his head.

The Top is apparently okay with her boyfriend having been a mirror clone, because she has been given more power and money working for Mirror Mistress then she ever had pretending to be Mirror Master's ditzy girlfriend.

The Top was placed in charge of the next step of Mirror Mistress' plan, but refuses to tell Cecile what it is.

Allegra brings Nash some coffee while he's reading up on organic receptors.

Nash has a revelation about how to power the ASF while talking to Allegra, whom he thinks can use her powers to contain the particles after blasting them out of him with a focused light burst.

Chester points out that multiversal particles are too chaotic to be contained under normal circumstances, but Barry elects to trust Nash.

The particles refuse to be contained and hit Barry when he moves to push Allegra out of the way. This results in the Council of Wells taking control of Barry's body.

Barry manifests Sherloque Wells, HR Wells, Wells the Grey and Harry Wells.

The Barista Iris claims to be a product of Iris pushing her mind too far and snapping.

Iris runs into another version of herself - the one who was killed by Savitar in a potential future. This one taunts her, saying she is insignificant and destined to be a victim.

Chester references 613 and when Grodd and Barry's minds became interlocked to describe what is happening with all the Wells inside his mind. The only thing keeping him alive while this occurs is his speed-healing.

When Chester mentions needing an organic receptor, Allegra recalls what Nash was studying earlier and puts two and two together regarding why he was trying to push her to use his powers instead of sacrificing himself.

Allegra calls Chester Chuck. He later decides that's an okay nickname.

Nash admits that he's afraid he can't be as good as the other Wellses. Harry tells him that none of them were really good men until Team Flash changed them.

Iris meets another version of herself - one who resembles the older Iris of the alternate future of 2049.

Iris realizes the different versions of herself are Eva in disguise trying to break her will.

Cecile projects all her repressed fear on The Top and gets her to confess to planting a bomb on a Black Hole private jet carrying lots of their technology, which will explode over Central City.

Nash sacrifices himself to charge the Artificial Speed Force.

Harry, HR and Sherloque get a chance to say goodbye to Barry before Nash dies.

Barry regains his speed and is able to get the bomb off the Black Hole jet before it explodes.

ARGUS is later able to capture the Black Hole jet once it lands.

Allegra keeps the photo of Nash with her alternate universe self and regrets never really getting to know him.

Barry says that he'll call Caitlin and Cisco and let them know that Nash is dead.

Allegra writes a story about The Flash stopping the bomb.

Iris attempts to send an e-mail to Kamilla and Singh.

Eva watches the file on Carver's drive and sees the real Eva McCulloch die. This causes her to realize that she is a fractal clone as well.


Untelevised Adventures

Mirror Master and The Top escaped from Iron Heights at some point in the past year.


The Bottom Line

A lackluster start to the season, made tolerable only by the scenes centered around Nash Wells and his sacrifice. Yet even those moments are underwhelming, since there's no real emotional resonance with the death being witnessed by Barry and "the JV Squad" with no Cisco to snark at Harry one more time or Joe acknowledging HR's passing. The scenes with Iris are  utterly pointless. The scenes with The Top and Eva are confusing and it's greatly disappointing that Eva's motivations have basically been reduced to her being utterly insane and not really human. This Mirrorverse storyline can't end fast enough.

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 6, Episode 18 - Pay the Piper

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



Plot

When Godspeed returns, Barry turns to Pied Piper for help in defeating him, but Crisis erased the tenuous peace that Barry Allen had worked out with the former STAR Labs employee turned supervillain. Meanwhile, Iris starts working with Kamilla to escape from the Mirror Dimension.

Influences
The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (character of Godspeed) and Mark Waid (speed cult based around Godspeed seems like the Cult of Savitar) and Ghostbusters (Nash and Cisco refer to "crossing the streams" when Piper and The Flash combine their powers.)

Goofs

Again, the episode acts like Team Flash's membership has no memory of the Post-Crisis timeline, when Crisis on Infinite Earths made it seem like Martian Manhunter restored everyone's Pre-Crisis memories without overwriting their current memories. This serves no purpose other than adding an unneeded complication, vis a vis why Pied Piper hates Barry Allen now.

Allowing that Kamilla is fairly smart, how does a photographer know how to use all the equipment in STAR Labs? She's only been dating Cisco for the better part of a year and she can't have picked up THAT much just talking to him.

Granting that everyone on Team Flash is a little distraught, it's shocking it takes them that long to work out that Pied Piper and Roderick Smith are boyfriends or that Hartley doesn't says something to the effect of "You murdered the man I love! Now I'm going to kill you!"

Why does Hartley hang around STAR Labs instead of leaving after Nash fails to save Roderick?

Why does Godspeed run right at the energy blast The Flash and Pied Piper shoot at him?

Performances

Grant Gustin nails Barry's final speech which, though written before the COVID-19 outbreak, seems to have been written as a response to it.

Artistry

The special effects for the fight between Tle Flash, Godspeed and Pied Piper are good.

Flash Facts

The twist with Godspeed - that he is apparently part of a group that wants The Flash's speed - seems to be based upon the cult of Savitar from Mark Waid's run on The Flash.

Technobabble

Nash describes the first four Godspeeds as cybernetic drones with modem speak.

The new Godspeed has a unique power to generate "thunder" along with his lightning. Barry and Cisco determine this energy is vibrational in nature The velocity of a body breaking the sound barrier transmutes into vibrations in the air,  This Godspeed found a way to reverse the vibrations and expel them outward, allowing him to pin a target with a steady wave of vibrational force and, in the case of speedsters pinned by this effect, siphon off their Speed Force energy.

Cisco describes Hartley Rathaway as an expert ton psycho-acoustics and sonic vibrations.

Nash says he has seen the same sort of molecular disembodiment experienced by Roderick Smith before. He thinks it can be fixed if they combine concentrated light energy with an inert gas with high thermal conductivity. This should slow down Roderick's molecules and stabilize him.

Cisco theorized there might be a mechanical way to open a breach to an alternate dimension by focusing subatomic vibrations.

To save Roderick, Nash asks Allegra to unleash a concentrated UV blast into the reception conduit as he releases helium into the containment unit.

Pied Piper describes what happened to Roderick Smith as a thermogenic blast which rendered him unstable at a molecular level. 

Godspeed bleeds a biogenic electrolyte secretion Nash identifies as charged sound.

Normal sound waves need a transition medium to go through (such as air or water) but charged sound creates its own medium. 

Normal sound can temporarily reattach molecular bonds. Charged sound can permanently reattach the bonds.

Cisco says a lossless self-sustaining source of perpetual energy should enable them to breach the Mirrorverse. 

Dialogue Triumphs

Barry: I'm trying to have hope that it's all gonna work out, but I can't help feeling... Joe, what if I can't save her this time? 

Joe: And I believe that you can. But do you?

(Cisco explains why Pied Piper hates Team Flash in the Post-Crisis reality.)

Allegra: I guess that's a no to Pied Piper's help. 

Cisco: Well, he did almost kill us, so... 

Nash: Let's not bicker over who killed who. We can fix this. 

The Flash: We think we can help him. Let us show you. 

Pied Piper: Who is this "we" and "us"? 

(Nash steps out of the shadows.)

Pied Piper: Harrison Wells?!

Nash: Nash Wells, actually. Harrison Wells is my doppelganger.

Pied Piper: (confused) Your doppelganger? 

Nash: How to explain? Okay, so there was this big event we call the Crisis, and- 

The Flash: He's his twin. 

Nash: He's my twin. 

Barry: I'm supposed to lead this team. Now, I-I don't even know what to tell them. 

Nash: When I lost Maya... every day since then, I wanted to say, "Hey, listen, I'm sorry. It was my fault." But she's gone. When I was Pariah and I watched my mistake burn down the Multiverse, I wanted to tell those people, "I'm sorry," but they were gone, and it was over. And this is not over for you. You can find your way out of this. All you have to do is trust yourself. 

Barry: How am I supposed to do that? I just lived with an impostor for five weeks. 

Nash: You forgive yourself. You showed me that. Now it's time for you to do it for you. And you know what? If you can't... do it for Iris. 

Godspeed: Time's up, Flash. 

(The Flash evacuates all of Godspeed's hostages.)

Godspeed: Have you come to give me what's mine? 

The Flash: You have to catch me first.

Barry: We've all lost so much this year... our power, our love, our family. At times, it's even felt like there's nothing left to lose, like everything that matters has already been taken and our lives are empty... hollow inside. Some things can't be taken. Look around this room. We still have our faith in each other and our will to fight for those we love. This is what we'll never lose.

Continuity

Barry tracks down Joe at his safe house so he can tell him about Iris' abduction. 

Joe refers to Wally telling him something was off about Iris (614) and Sunshine attacking Frost (615).

Caitlin and Frost are still healing.

Cisco says they have no way of knowing if the abducted people are still alive in the Mirrorverse, but he starts researching the idea that the Mirrorverse is on another vibrational plane.

The building where Ralph's office, Cecile's office, Nash's office and the Central City Citizen are located is identified as the Bently Building. 

Cecile says she will call Chief Singh's husband to warn him about the duplicate and see when he last saw the Chief.

Allegra says she'll check the offices for the Kamilla duplicate. Nash offers to go with her, but she rejects him. Instead, he goes with Ralph to see if they can dig up anything on Eva McCulloch. 

Iris records a video blog in Eva McCulloch's office in case Barry finds it, before going off to find Kamilla.

Iris is beginning to develop the same neural dissonance which made it harder to think straight that Eva McCulloch claimed to have developed. She also has the same facial tics and twitches.

Allegra feels stupid for not having realized all her co-workers were mirror duplicate and is horrified to realize she's currently in charge of the Central City Citizen.

Godspeed enters into STAR Labs and pins Barry to the ground with some kind of vibrational force. He is driven off by Nash and a pulse cannon he'd recently built.

It is confirmed that all four of the earlier Godspeeds from the summer of 2019 are still locked up in Iron Heights.

Cisco reveals that The Flash's first battle with the Pied Piper was dramatically different in the new Earth-Prime history. Originally, as seen in 111, Pied Piper fought The Flash alone and only had his technology to depend on. In the new timeline, Pied Piper was a metahuman with sonic powers augmented by technology and he worked with a crew. 

Pied Piper's right-hand man, Roderick Smith, tried to shoot The Flash with a sonic cannon. Barry countered the blast with a lightning bolt. The resulting explosion caused Roderick Smith to be knocked out of phase with reality and required him to be confined in a special energy containment chamber at Mercury Labs for the past five years. 

Nash says he has an idea on how to save Roderick Smith and that maybe they can get Pied Piper to agree to some quid pro quo - we help you save your man, you help us save our people.

Ralph goes to check on Frost after she texted him. She's still stable thanks to a patch Cisco made.

Frost thanks Ralph for being her life coach and for all he's done to help her.

Frost and Caitlin are making preparations to go to a Tannhauser testing site int he Arctic to heal.

Frost is nervous because she's afraid Caitlin's mother won't see her as a second daughter, given the circumstances of her creation.

Barry finds Pied Piper's hideout. He manages to persuade him to let Team Flash try to help Roderick.

Despite his best efforts, Hartley was unable to stabilize Roderick. Mercury Labs hasn't had any luck either.

Nash proposes a treatment to save Roderick based on something he saw on another Earth.

Iris finds Kamilla in STAR Labs in the Mirrorverse.

Iris convinces Kamilla that she's the real Iris after she tells Kamilla that she is the only person allowed to wear the Chewbacca shirt Cisco's parents gave him when he was 14.

Kamilla never saw Eva McCulloch in all her time in the Mirrorverse.

Kamilla tried to gather items that came from the real world into the Mirrorverse that had been shot with the mirror gun to analyze them using STAR Labs equipment but she couldn't read the screens.

Iris can read the screens in STAR Labs now but she freaks out, like Eva did, and runs from the room.

Piper figured out that Cisco was Vibe and Barry was The Flash. In Cisco's case, the hair was a dead giveaway. In the case of The Flash there's only three facilities in the state capable of building The Flash's friction-proof costume and only one of them employed someone smart enough to actually do it. 

Nash's treatment doesn't work. He later says they need a better bonding agent.

Godspeed threatens to make Central City suffer unless Barry gives up his speed.

Barry returns to work on the artificial Speed Force.

Nash credits Barry with teaching him to learn how to forgive himself.

Barry figures out that Hartley and Roderick are lovers.

Cecile makes reference to her and Kamilla escaping Bloodwork's minions in 608.

Cisco says he wants his powers back.

Iris is doubting her instincts as a reporter since Eva tricked her for so long. 

Iris says they need to find Chief Singh in the Mirrorverse.

Godspeed steals the speed from the four Godspeeds in Iron Heights.

Godspeed is now moving at Mach 5 within the city - far faster than Barry's current safe maximum speed after the Speed Force died.

Pied Piper steps in after overhearing that Barry intends to face Godspeed, despite his diminished powers.

While they are chasing each other, Godspeed says that The Flash doesn't deserve his speed and that "we do." This hints at Godspeed being part of a larger group.

Pied Piper saves Barry from falling off a building when his speed gives out while chasing Godspeed.

Pied Piper and The Flash combine their powers to make Godspeed molecularity unstable.

Nash and Cisco use the charged sound they took from Godspeed to stabilize Roderick Smith.

Roderick doesn't remember anything after the fight with The Flash five years earlier.

The 5th Godspeed was not the real August Heart either. He said that the one who sent him sought infinite velocity before he started chirping like a broken modem.

Ralph apologizes to Frost for telling her she had a long way to go in learning how to be a normal human. He declares her journey complete and gives her a Dib-Ploma.

Ralph's father abandoned him and his mother when he was 10.

Hartley tells Barry it isn't enough to forgive yourself; you have to believe that things can change for the better.

Cisco has an idea on how to get everyone out of the Mirrorverse using a perpetual-motion machine. He has everything he needs to build it except for one thing, which he goes to Atlantis to retrieve. 

In a warehouse somewhere in Central City, Eva McCulloch is seen resting in some kind of containment chamber.The episode ends as she declares that she is coming for Joseph.


Untelevised Adventures

Barry's conversation with the fifth Godspeed takes place entirely off-camera.

The Boomerang Factor

Whatever cool factor Godspeed has is negated by turning him into a rip-off of Zoom.

The Bottom Line

There is much to admire about this episode, though on reflection most of it was taken from earlier episodes and repeated. Godspeed is turned into a Zoom clone (presumably to set up Season 7's big bad) and the Arrowverse take on Pied Piper has never been as engaging as his comic book counterpart. (There's a reason we haven't seen Hartley since season 2.) Strangely enough, the best parts of the episode involve a long chain of speeches where the main characters have crises of faith and the supporting characters give them the standard John Diggle pep talk so common to Arrow episodes. Trite as they are, these scenes are well acted.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 17 - Liberation

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



Plot

Eva McCulloch makes her move and attempts to escape the Mirror Universe, as Barry begins to realize there's something wrong with Iris. But will the rest of Team Flash believe him? Meanwhile, Ralph and Cisco have to act fast to save Frost and Caitlin.


Influences

Doctor Who: Doomsday (the final scene with Barry and Iris pretty much cribs The Doctor and Rose's separation) and every science fiction story based around robots or aliens replacing someone with a duplicate and only one loved one noticing.


Goofs

How does the Iris clone know that Barry's speed has been draining non-stop over the past week when she hasn't seen him in one week?

Why does Barry set up his presentation in Joe and Cecile's living room?  Why not one of the empty spaces at STAR Labs where he can safely say the Iris clone probably won't  be going?

It strains disbelief that Barry took this long to realize his wife had been replaced, but Bloodwork realizes something is up in less than a minute. 

Artistry

The SFX team outdid themselves with the effects for the broken mirror shards and Iris's razor arms.

Technobabble

Barry says the prismatic filter on Kamilla's camera was somehow able to capture a dimensional shift: things that don't belong in this world.

Barry builds a prismatic scanner that is just a more powerful version of the camera filter.

Nash says that it's possible McCulloch Technologies' reflective-chip technology could create a mirror duplicate when Cecile suggests the possibility. 

Cisco uses Ralph as an improvised set of jumper cables, due to a lack of ionized conductive wiring, to jump-start Caitlin's body.

Mirror duplicates are said to be faster and stronger than the people they are made to resemble.

Bloodwork is held within a special bio-degenerative containment matrix with triplicate back-up protocols, far more advanced than the metahuman holding cells at Iron Heights.

With Bloodwork's blood rubbed on a mirror, Eva can activate the R-CEM in the Mirror World and zap her mirror. Together, this will reconfigure the molecular stability of the dimensional barrier that burns organic matter when it tries to pass from the Mirror World to the real world and allow her to return to reality. 

Dialogue Triumphs

Ralph (seeing Caitlin is awakened from her ice coma) Oh, thank Elsa!

Continuity

Barry, Ralph and Cisco try to activate the artificial Speed Force.  It does not work.

It has been one week since Barry last saw Iris (really the Iris copy) and he refuses to see her when Cecile suggests he come visit her at the Central City Citizen offices.

The Central City Citizen's offices are located on Matz Street.

Eva McCulloch informs the Kamilla and Iris clones that she will be making her move to escape the Mirror World that night.

The Iris clone refers to 518 and how Barry returned Nora West-Allen to her time without consulting Iris first.

The Iris clone tells Cecile she isn't sure how she feels and asks her to read her with her powers. Cecile says that she feels sad and concerned.

When asked about her and Barry, the Iris clone says that she needs to focus on herself right now, after some prompting by the Kamilla clone.

Cecile returns to her and Joe's house to find Barry has barricaded himself into her living room and set up a series of white boards with evidence boxes to prove that Iris isn't Iris.

Barry has determined that the Iris clone is not a doppelganger since those don't exist anymore. He hasn't ruled out her being a shape-shifter or a Plastoid. 

According to Barry, Cisco's binder of metahuman supervillains confirmed that the shape-shifter Everyman (last seen in 119) is alive on Earth-Prime.

Barry makes reference to the Plastoids, who were mentioned by Breacher in 404.

Barry also considers the possibility that the fake Iris might be a Martian, but dismisses that as if she were a Martian, J'onn J'onzz would have sensed her presence and alerted him.

Barry tracked Iris' phone to McCullouch Technologies on the night she disappeared. 

Barry spent the last week gathering evidence that Iris was a fake.

When explaining why he thinks Iris was replaced with a duplicate, Barry cites her suddenly being able to cook good pancakes, hitting a bar bouncer over the head with a bottle and speaking fluent Italian (611) along with her kicking him out.

Caitlin and Frost's apartment number is 301.

Ralph brings Frost a plush polar bear as a get-well-soon present. Cisco brings a portal bi-lab so she can start catching up on her work.

Cisco and Ralph find Caitlin in a semi-frozen state, having apparently put herself into an ice coma as her ice-healing powers stopped working, effectively entering a state of cryogenic hibernation. 

Iris suggests breaking the mirror Eva can control and dissecting it. Eva stops her and then storms off to work in her lab.

Iris examines the mirror and finds a button leading to a secret room behind the mirror.

Barry hacks Iris' computer at the Central City Citizen and finds Kamilla's photo with a Prismatic Filter showing Iris to be something other than human from 614.

The Singh, Kamilla and Iris clones set mirrors up around Iris and Barry's apartment.

The clones refer to each other as brother and sisters and Eva McCulloch as Mother.

Eva needs one more thing to escape and it involves Bloodwork, who was last seen in 608.

Barry lures the Iris clone to STAR Labs, where Cecile and Nash are waiting. He accuses her of being from another dimension.

Iris turns on the computer in Eva's secret room and begins to experience headaches as it shows her images of her being brought into the Mirror Dimension and Eva's argument with Joseph Carver in 616.

Eva is shown to have been watching Iris when her source died in 610.

This prismatic scanner reveals nothing when it is focused on Iris.  

Iris accuses Barry of being a fake, saying the real Barry would have tried harder to come home to her.

When the scanner is focused on Barry, it shows him to be a mirror duplicate.

Cecile puts a pair of power-dampening cuffs on Barry and Nash locks him in a cell in the Pipeline.

Caitlin says her wound ruptured whens he tried to use her ice healing to fix it. 

Caitlin says she thinks she's going to need her mother's help to fix herself.

It is revealed that Eva replaced Barry's prismatic scanner with mirror version of the same device which made Barry look like an mirror duplicate and the Iris duplicate look human.

The Singh Clone gets the Iris and Kamilla clones in to do an interview with Bloodwork.

Bloodwork determines that Iris isn't the real Iris right away, based on the fact that the real Iris would never offer to release him from his cell. 

Bloodwork is familiar with Dr. Eva McCulloch and her work. 

The Kamilla clone shorts out Bloodwork's cell  by throwing herself into the containment field. This causes a power failure.

Bloodwork says he senses that the Iris clone is almost human, maybe something more, and that she has a modicum of free will the other duplicates lack.  

Bloodwork demands to know what the Iris clone wants. She says she wants to be alive. Bloodwork says she is worthy of it and gives him a sample of her blood.

Bloodwork elects to stay in his cell, saying there's more than one way for him to be free and that he's playing a long game.

Cecile lets Barry out of his cell, saying she can't explain why but she trusts Barry and his instincts.

The Iris clone shape-shifts her limbs into razor-glass shards and is able to stab Barry through the mirrors the duplicates arranged earlier.

When the mirrors are broken, the Iris clone is able to stab Barry through all the shards, leaving him bleeding and weak.

Iris is able to disable the Iris clone remotely by upsetting Eva, asking how long it took her to realize her husband had abandoned her. This causes the Iris clone to begin having headaches and gives Barry a chance to rally.

Barry says that the Iris clone had to have been made from part of Iris but that she could be her own person if she chose it.

The Iris clone tells Barry to find Iris and save her before she starts cracking into a pile of shards, saying she feels alive before she dies.

In the real world, Eva can control all mirror shards and teleport through them. She reflexively stabs Barry when he confronts her, but says he isn't much of a threat now.

Eva steps through the mirror and tells Barry to stay out of her way if he wants Iris and the others to live. She says she's keeping them in the Mirror dimension as insurance. 

Eva says she has a whole world to liberate before she escapes. 

The Boomerang Factor

Barry is made to look seven kinds of crazy just to sell the idea that he went nuts in thinking Iris is not Iris, so he is left all alone during the battle with Mirror Master. 

The Bottom Line

Another weak episode. Barry is given the Idiot Ball while simultaneously figuring out what everyone else on the cast close to Iris already knew, but never mentioned to him. Cecile's powers prove totally useless during the one instance they should be incredibly useful. And just when you think it can't get any worse, Bloodwork comes back. Still, at least Eva is out of the mirror and the Iris clone is dead. Unfortunately, due to the shortened season, it seems unlikely we're going to see this pay off in a convincing way since there's only two episodes left this season and next week is a filler piece heralding the return of Godspeed. Meh.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 16 - So Long and Goodnight

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



Plot

Joe West is on Black Hole's radar and they hired Ragdoll to kill him. As Chief Singh pressures Joe to go into Witness Protection, Ralph has another encounter with Sue Dibny and discovers her own connection to Joseph Carver's sinister schemes.


Influences

Mission Impossible (the mask Sue uses to become January Galore), The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (concept of Black Hole) and the Secret Six comics of Gail Simone (character of Rag Doll).


Goofs

Ignoring how free Iris is with revealing her husband's secret identity to a relative stranger, why does she tell Eva that her husband is The Flash and expect her to know who that i? Eva has, as far as Iris knows, been trapped in another dimension for six years and just recently discovered she can refocus her mirror to watch other people?

As quickly as Joe recovers from being shot in the shoulder, you'd think he was the one with accelerated healing instead of Barry.

It's uncharacteristically stupid of Joe to go confronting a suspected crime boss without telling anyone he's doing so. It's even stupider that he tells said crime boss, who employs a small army of metahumans, that he just recorded him confessing to being a crime boss and expect to get out of the building alive and with the evidence intact. This also ignores all issues of whether a secret recording can be considered admissible evidence, particularly as its being recorded by a police officer harassing a citizen, even if Joe DID leave his badge at STAR Labs.

Why is only Joe put into Witness Protection? He knows Carver knows who he is and Carver has threatened his family, so why aren't Cecile and Jenna, at the very least, taken into custody with him?

Cecile's power levels are all over the place and vaguely defined enough that they can do whatever the writers need. Still, it's a bit perplexing that her empathy is so sensitive that she can be shut down from several rooms away sensing Ragdoll's physical pain yet she's unable to sense Eva McCullouch's emotions behind the Mirror World Iris and Kamila or that there's something odd about the two women, given that Wally West and Joe West noticed it without empathy powers.

The CGI for Rag Doll seems to suggest that he's a stretcher now rather than a contortionist.


Performances

Again, the chemistry between Hartley Sawyer and Natalie Dreyfuss is the best aspect of the episode and we're left wishing there was more about them and less about Joe and Barry this time around.


Artistry

The use of music in this episode is fantastic. Strangely enough, the title song isn't in the episode.


Flash Facts

The title of the episode is taken from a My Chemical Romance song.

At one point Ralph makes a reference to the musician Prince. Coincidentally, this episode was aired on the fourth anniversary of Prince's death.


Technobabble

Eva theorizes that a person with a destabilized molecular structure would be able to safely pass through her mirror into Mirror World. This means that Barry could, in theory, pass into the Mirror World and use his speed to take both Eva and Iris back into reality.

Barry determines that the only way someone could cut the brake-lines of a car and cause it to accelerate would be from inside the engine. This could be accomplished by someone capable of compacting their body into tight spaces (i.e. Rag Doll)

Carver has a device on his watch that generates a localized EMP pulse that can erase media in his immediate vicinity without frying the electronics. He uses this to erase the recording Joe made on his phone of Carver's confession to hiring Rag Doll to kill him.

The pressure bomb Rag Doll traps Cecile with is an M112 C4 Block Demolition Charge. Typically pulling the green wire will disarm it, but the version Rag Doll made has four wires and they are all green.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ralph: I need a hacker who can set up a net to help catch her. Somebody who can monitor the security feed. Somebody who speaks bandwidth and knows binary.
Cisco: Mmm - I'm not sure you know how hacking works.
Ralph: Please. I've seen "You've Got Mail" several times.

Ralph: Hello, Sue. Or is it January?
Sue: What can I say? (slipping into a flawless posh British accent) Collateralized loan obligations are deliciously robust. (grinning) Although... not half as delicious as you in a tux.
Ralph: (sighs) Still up to your old tricks, swiping diamonds and pearls?
Sue: Oh, you like Prince? Me too!
Cisco: Yes! Me three!
(Cisco laughs nervously as Ralph slowly turns his neck and gives him a death glare.)
Cisco: I'm Cisco, by the way. We met back when you were... (puts on a falsetto tone and a fake British accent) January Galore? (returns voice to normal) That was an excellent accent, by the way. Do you have any training?
Sue: Oh, thank you. I did my senior year abroad.
Cisco: London, no doubt.
Sue: Oh, Italy, actually.
Cisco: (To Ralph) Oh, she fancy. (To Sue) You fancy!
Sue: (pleased) Yeah, thank you.
Ralph (exasperated, having been doing a slow burn this whole time) Okay!

Carver: Whatever you think I've done, it's a million times worse.

Ralph: You weren't stealing anything in Paris, Shanghai or Central City. You were investigating Carver. And he must have found out their ugly little secret. (mockingly) What, do they lie on their tax returns? Bribe their way into that yacht club?
Sue: (angrily) Enough! Assume whatever you want about me, but don't do it about my parents. They're good people.
(There's a brief pause. Ralph clearly makes a decision.)
Ralph: Then let me help you.
Sue: I barely know you.
Ralph: You know everything that matters.
(Sue pauses as well, clearly coming to a decision of her own.)
Sue: For the record, I didn't enjoy tricking you.
(Ralph gives her a disbelieving look.)
Sue: Okay, I enjoyed it.
(Ralph nods as if to say "That's better." and Sue chuckles.)
Sue: But honestly, I felt pretty crappy afterwards. Why is that?
Ralph: Because you are a good person. Just like your parents. You just have some... issues.
Sue: (laughs) You're so decent, it's nauseating.
Ralph: Oh boy. You should have seen me two years ago. I was a ... I was a real crap bag. Actually, you probably would have liked that, though.
Sue: (thoughtful) I don't know. This whole "good guy" thing you've got going on? It's... tolerable.
Ralph: (mock-insulted) Tolerable.
Sue: Which is why I'm giving you this.
(Sue gives Ralph the diamond she stole when they met. He looks at her, honestly stunned.)Sue: Look into that. You might find something interesting. I did.


Dialogue Disasters

Cecile: What do you think? He's going to come after me too? (This line is said to Allegra after she asks why Cecile isn't taking precautions against Carver coming after her.)


Continuity

The events of this episode start one day after 615.

Ir is revealed that Joseph Carver is aware of the police investigation into him and that Joe West is the lead investigator.

So far, Sunshine has refused to talk about who she works for to the CCPD.

Carver has hired a specialist to deal with Joe West. This is later revealed to be Ragdoll, who was last seen in 520.

Chief Singh asks Joe to back off on the case and let someone else take lead on it. Joe refuses and leaves a family game night to question Sunshine personally.

Iris' body is starting to adapt to the Mirror World, as she can now read monitors and screens in the Mirror World with concentration. Before, it gave her headaches to even look at them.

Iris read Eva's notes and suggests that her husband might be able to phase into Mirror World if they can get a message to him.

Iris tells Eva that Barry is The Flash.

Eva tells the duplicate Iris to get Barry to lose the rest of his speed energy. She doesn't really care about The Flash but can't risk him being able to help Joe West in his investigation of Black Hole before she gets a chance to avenge herself upon her husband.

Since his last encounter with Sue Dibny in 612, Ralph has tracked her breaking into five banks in five locations, each time during a high-class event for wealthy patrons.

Ralph asks Cisco to help him with hacking the computers at First National Central City Bank so he can track Sue Dibny, having figured out that is her next likely target.

Cisco agrees to help Ralph, since he's busy running simulations to get an artificial Speed Force made, he doesn't need to be there while the computers run and he feels like he wasn't there for Ralph early on in the case.

Joe nearly dies in a car crash after his breaks suddenly fail. Barry later determines that his break-lines were cut while the car was in motion. For this to have happened, someone would

Cisco is interrupted in his hacking the server by January Galore - the British arms dealer who saw through Ralph and Barry's disguise in 606.  However, she is later revealed to be Sue Dibny in disguise.

Sue escapes from the server room after successfully hacking the bank's computers and gaining access to all their financial records.

Ragdoll enters CCPD headquarters after tucking himself into a box labeled evidence and is left inside the room where Joe is interviewing Sunshine.

Before working for Black Hole, Sunshine was a First Lieutenant in the US Army. She once rescued 14 friendlies from an insurgent work camp and was awarded the Medal of Valor and Legion of Merit.

Ragdoll is able to shoot Joe in the shoulder before escaping, due to Barry not being fast enough to stop all the bullets he fires.

Barry asks Joe to consider going into Witness Protection again. Again, Joe refuses.

Barry asks Joe to at least stay in STAR Labs until he can catch Rag Doll. Joe agrees, but winds up going to confront Carver directly.

The fake Iris nags Barry about not using his powers to keep her father safe and trying to use everything in STAR Labs to find Rag Doll first before just running around the city looking for him.

Rag Doll apparently disappeared after The Young Rogues' attack on McCulloch Technologies.  Apparently he's been working for Dr. Carver ever since.

Joe confronts Carver and tries to trick him into a confession. It works, but Carver has a device that erases the recording Joe made on his phone.

Barry reads Joe the riot act for going after Carver alone. He asks Joe to go into Witness Protection but he once again refuses.

Sue Dibny scouts out the Cleary Capital Investment bank under the assumed name Genoa.

Sue speaks Italian.

Ralph tells Sue that he figured out she hasn't been stealing anything from the banks she's been hacking - she's been investigating the man who owns the banks, who has been extorting money from her parents - Joseph Carver.

Sue gives Ralph the diamond she stole in 612 and tells him to look into it to find something interesting.

Cecile sends Jenna to stay with her older daughter, Joanie.

Both Allegra and Ralph offer to protect Cecile if Ragdoll comes after her.

Nash has tried reaching out to Allegra but she refuses to give him the time of day.

Nash saves Allegra from being jumped by Ragdoll.

Allegra tries to blind Rag Doll with a flash but can't quite escape from him.

Cecile becomes paralyzed when she imprints on Rag Doll's physical pain.

Rag Doll hooks Cecile up to a pressure-sensitive bomb.

Joe calls Nash for advice on diffusing the bomb.

Rag Doll reveals that he's not helping Carver for money - only because he's come to enjoy making people suffer and because killing Joe would also give him a way to kill himself in the bombing.

Joe takes Cecile's place on the pressure trigger and asks Barry to run her away from the blast radius.

Joe takes a leap of faith and disarms the bomb by picking a green wire at random.

Rag Doll is taken into custody.

Joe agrees to go into Witness Protection.

Chief Singh is revealed to he a Mirror Double, who has been trying to get Joe off the case and into Witness Protection so as to allow Eva McCulloch to get revenge on her husband on her terms.

Somehow, Eva arranges to have a full-length mirror sent to Carver's office. She talks to him through it. She offers him one more chance to apologize for corrupting her work.

Carver defends his actions, saying that he is protecting mankind, before breaking the mirror.

The Iris clone kicks Barry out of their apartment for not coming to get her so she could say goodbye to her dad before he left.


The Bottom Line

Insufferable on many levels, the best parts involve Ralph and Sue and Cisco. Unfortunately, their plotline is the smallest part of the episode and most of the time is devoted to Joe being much stupider than usual. The irony is that Iris' clone is meant to be horribly out of character, but Iris being unreasonable about Barry not dropping everything to make her happy does seem pretty true to form. Thankfully, the previews show that we'll be seeing this resolved next week.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 15 - The Exorcism of Nash Wells

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




Plot

As The Flash contends with a dangerous new Black Hole assassin called Sunshine while trying to conserve the last of the Speed Force energy, Cisco and Cecile try to find a way to force Eobard Thawne's mind out of Nash Wells' body.


Influences

The Indiana Jones movies (Nash and his world's version of Allegra having a relationship like Indy and Short Round, Nash having a signature hat), Fight Club (Cisco compares Nash's seeing the other Harrison Wells to Tyler Durden in this movie) and The Exorcism of Emily Rose (title, exorcism theme).


Goofs

Granting that Cecile has often been a source of well-meaning comic-relief on the show, her bringing vampire-fighting gear to help with a scientific inquiry is just idiotic.

Iris evokes the name of the Ringmaster and Cicada in talking about how metahumans have limits. Strictly speaking, Cicada was a wielder of meta-tech rather than a true meta and the classic Ringmaster in the comics used technology, not metahuman powers. (Of course given that this is the fake Iris, this may be meant to be another hint that she isn't who she says she is.)


Performances

It is a credit to Tom Cavanagh's skill as an actor that he can wring so much drama out of a scene where he talks to himself and says nothing more than "It's not my fault" and "It's all your fault" over and over.


Artistry

The fight scene between Sunshine and the CCPD is well blocked and thrilling.


Flash Facts

Thawne, posing as Nash, talks about having once stopped a swarm of psychic starfish on Earth-26. This is a reference to the classic Justice League villain Starro The Conqueror.

Sunshine is an original villain to the Arrowverse, but her powers - teleportation, invisibility and melting things - are exhibited by the classic Dr. Light in the comics. Unlike Dr. Light, however, Sunlight is dependent on ambient sunlight and does not generate energy on her own.

Iris makes reference to a villain called the Ringmaster who is nothing without his rings.This is a nod to an obscure Pre-Crisis Flash villain called The Ringmaster, who was an author named Beau Baer that had been hypnotized by the Golden Glider and outfitted with special ring-based gadgetry and made to become a rival superhero to The Flash. The Glider also abducted Iris West-Allen and tried to make her love the Ringmaster, before killing her and framing Flash for the crime. Once Baer was freed from Glider's control, he retired The Ringmaster and he was never seen again.


Technobabble

Eva McCulloch created a device she calls the Prismatic Refractor, which is capable of converting ambient light into energy.

Cisco hacked every Quantum Kinematic database on Earth-Prime and nobody knows anything about building an artificial Speed Force apart from the fact that The Reverse-Flash managed to do it in the future.

Cisco designs a Speed Gauge which measures the intensity of the velocity Barry generates whenever he uses his powers. The Speed Gauge lights up one of several colored lights based on how much energy Barry is using. Black is neutral, green is a small amount of energy, going through yellow and orange to red for maximum output.

Caitlin says that Nash's brainwaves appear to be multiple brainwaves woven together intricately when viewed as a three-dimensional pattern.

It is never explained just why Thawne was able to appear to Nash despite not being a true Wells. The most likely explanation is that Thawne was dragged along for the ride along with everyone else in a body that scanned as a genetic match for Nash Wells, given that Thawne did

Thawne, posing as Nash, claims to have a neuro-splicer in his belongings. He says that he doesn't think it could be used to separate thousands of brainwaves but Cisco thinks it could if it were super-charged using the EMP in Nash' gauntlet at 1500 volts per meter.

Whatever the device in Nash's belongings actually is, it knocks Barry, Caitlin and Cisco out long enough for Thawne, in Nash's body, to get to the STARchives and Rip Hunter's Time Bubble. Cisco later identifies this effect as a recoil loop.

Caitlin says there's no way to know what effect Velocity-X would have on Barry now, given how his powers have evolved in the past few years.

Cisco says that Thawne is just a series of negative tachyons that have gotten into Nash's body. Hitting Nash with positive tachyons should drive Thawne out, which leads Cisco to build a PTD (Positive Tachyon Device) capable of doing the job.

Cisco uses Cecile's empathy powers as a Thawne-detector, sense all she can read from Nash is pure hatred when Thawne is controlling him.

Without a physical body of his own, Thawne has to inspire negative emotions in his host to draw upon the Negative Speed Force.

Thawne's negative tachyons proliferate at a rate far faster than the output capabilities of the PTD. This means that it will only be a matter of time before he takes over Nash's body, according to Cisco, unless they find a way to help Nash fight back and stop feeding Thawne negative emotions to feed off of.

Cisco can't find any trace of Thawne's negative tachyons inside any organic matter on Earth, but he and Barry think he's just been dissipated - not destroyed.  Cisco compares him to a "red-eyed, pissed-off Voldemort.

Nash describes being possessed by Thawne as like being underwater - you can see and hear what's going on at a distance, but you aren't really in control of anything.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry runs into his lab at the CCPD, with Sunshine in hot pursuit. She easily cuts through the lock on the sliding metal security door and walks inside.)
Sunshine: Come out, come out wherever you are.
(Sunshine chuckles as the steel security shutters slam down over the windows. At the same time, Joe comes in behind her, closing the door as he draws his gun. Sunshine shrugs and raises her hands, getting ready to draw on her powers as the last of the shutters slide into place over the skylight, plunging the room into darkness. Our point of view shifts as everything goes green and several officers armed with laser-sighted rifles emerge from the corners of the room, with their sights set on Sunshine. They are wearing night-vision goggles, as is Barry, who grins as he emerges from behind a support column.)
Barry: Yep. You're helio-kinetic. So without access to sunlight, you're just an ordinary thief.
(Sunshine looks around, knowing she's beaten as four laser sights move around her chest as Barry holds up a pair of meta-dampener cuffs.)
Barry: Limits suck, don't they?


Dialogue Disasters

Caitlin: Nash needs help. Not maiming.

Iris: Metas are the ones with limits: not people.


Continuity

The opening scene reveals that Kamilla has been replaced with a mirror duplicate like Iris was.

Eva McCulloch is apparently capable of creating duplicates of items in the mirror universe, but to finish her R-CEM machine she believes she needs the original Prismatic Refractor. She tasks the mirror duplicates with retrieving the original and bringing it to her.

The R-CEM is central to Eva McCulloch's long term plans.

The original Prismatic Refractor was sold to Mercury Labs several months earlier.

Joe and Chief Singh meet at C.C. Jitters to discuss Joe's RICO investigation into Dr. Carver. 

Joe and Chief Singh agree they have to investigate the possibility of a mole in the CCPD working for Carver independent of Internal Affairs.  

Joe tells Chief Singh that The Flash is aware of the investigation as well and thinks there's a dirty copy at work in the CCPD as well. 

Nash says that he's been seeing other versions of Harrison wells from the Pre-Crisis Earths and they've been talking to him. He mentions the Wizard Wells (Earth-13), the French Wells, the New York Wells (who he likes) and Harry Wells of Earth-2.

Thawne poses as Nash as part of a plan to escape. Barry catches him before he can steal Rip Hunters' time bubble. 

Barry nearly looses his temper and vibrates his hand through Nash's chest as Thawne taunts him about how he failed to save his daughter the last time they fought in 522.

Caitlin sends Barry away since they can't trust him to maintain his cool around Thawne and that is draining his powers faster in his current condition.

Cecile brings holy water, garlic, a wooden stake, salt and a Ouija board when Cisco asks for help getting Thawne's mind out of Nash's body.

The alternate universe version of Allegra Garcia whom Nash Wells raised like a daughter was named Maya. Nash began teaching her everything he knew after finding her rooting through his tent looking for food and she found a secret hidden inside the Blood Bloom - an idol he had just stolen from the mouth of something called The Wollip..

The Blood Bloom contains a gem worth three-times more than the crystals on the surface.

Nash's first rule is that the prize is everything. Another one of Nash's rules is you don't give anyone anything for free. He gives Maya his hat as thanks for her finding the gem for him.

Thawne is somehow able to access Nash's memories and traps him inside his worst one, which involves being in a cave where he can see blinding daylight outside. This causes Nash to suffer, which Thawne can draw upon to tap the Negative Speed Force.

A new metahuman with light powers robs Mercury Labs while the Iris and Kamilla clones are trying to steal the Prismatic Refraactor.

Frost goes to fight the robber, who introduces herself as Sunshine.

The Velocity-X samples are kept inside a vault hidden inside a fake pinball machine in the main room of STAR Labs. It is unlocked by pressing your thumb against a hidden fingerprint scanner inside the change slot.

Sunshine has the power to teleport across short distances, can seemingly become invisible and has the ability to melt steel with her bare hands. She also reopens the wound Frost got from the Dr. Light in 610.

Barry's body rejects the Velocity-X outright.

Sunshine's real name is Millie Rawlins. She's a former US Army soldier, who was transferred to covert ops after she developed the metahuman ability to bend sunlight in her immediate vicinity following the STAR Labs particle accelerator explosion. Sunshine was her call-sign.

Joe recovered the Prismatic Refractor and refuses to let it out of his sight until ARGUS picks it up. The Iris clone tries to get it stored at STAR Labs but Barry says that he can't stop Sunlight so there's no point in trying to hide it at STAR Labs.

Joe tells the Iris clone twice that she should check on Barry as she keeps asking him about the Prismatic refractor.

The Iris clone tells Barry that maybe The Flash can't fight Sunshine, but maybe Barry Allen can out-think her.

Cecile says she can barely feel Nash through all the shame and guilt after Thawne traps him in his worst memory.

Thawne is able to connect to his Negative Speed Force and nearly escapes his bonds before Cisco puts a pair of meta-dampener cuffs on him and Cecile knocks him unconscious with her Ouija board.

Chief Singh shows up to oversee the transfer of the Prismatic Refractor to ARGUS personally, saying he now agrees with Joe's assessment that there is a mole in the CCPD.

Sunshine is revealed to have been in Joe's office the whole time he and Chief Singh were talking.

Barry sets a trap for Sunshine, luring her into his lab at the CCPD, which has steel shutters that can be locked over the windows and skylight. Once the windows are closed, she has no source of power.

Chief Singh suggests that Sunshine may have been spying on the CCPD all this time and altering the records for Carver instead of there being a mole.

Cecile's mother died in 1995.

Cecile describes the feeling she reads from Nash as being paternal, like how she feels about her daughters, but also being tinged with her feelings for her dead mother. This leads her to conclude that the alternate Allegra was Nash's daughter (or something close) and Thawne is feeding on Nash's feelings of loss regarding her death.

Barry suggests they use the MAD 2.0 to access Nash's mind and help him drive Thawne out, similar to how they used it in conjunction with Cecile's powers to access The Thinker's mind in 423.

Maya died trying to grab a memory cell from a sonic emitter from the highest peak of Corto Maltese on Earth-13. Rather than lose hold of the cell and pull herself up off a ledge, she lost her grip and fell off the mountain while Nash was helpless to do anything but watch.

When Nash admits that Maya's death was his fault, it cuts off the pain that Thawne was feeding on, causing his energy to erupt from Nash's body as a red lightning storm.

Cisco says there's nothing he can do to stop Nash from seeing and hearing the other Wells doppelgangers. He says that he'll be able to draw off their knowledge, however.

Cisco gives Harry back his picture of himself and Maya.

Harry goes off to explore and find some new adventure on Earth-Prime.

Cisco suggests that Nash should try and reach out to Allegra, noting that he never got along with any version of Harrison Wells at first but eventually he became good friends with every incarnation of them he worked with.

Harry Wells appears to Nash and tells him that what Cisco said was what he was trying to tell him.

Barry apologizes to Caitlin for not following her orders.

Barry says that the start for building their Speed Force is in Nora's journal, thinking that Thawne must have taught her how to make her own Speed Force.

The Iris and Kamilla doppelgangers stole the Prismatic Refractor while the CCPD was distracted fighting Sunshine and replaced it with the copy.

Eva McCulloch says her ultimate goal is liberation.


Location

Earth-719, 8 Years Ago.
Earth-13, 1 Year Ago.


Untelevised Adventures

The flashbacks reveal Nash Wells' history with an alternate universe version of Allegra Garcia, who is confirmed to have been his protege and basically his daughter and to have died because she couldn't let go of a prize.

Iris mentions a never-before seen villain called The Ringmaster.


The Bottom Line

A weak script that is salvaged only by the performances of the strongest actors in the show and the fact that most of the extraneous characters from this season aren't included in the story. It is somewhat saddening, however, that the return of the Reverse Flash is more of an annoyance than a major event but that's Season 6 of The Flash in a nutshell - everything is a distraction from the main plot and it's almost impossible to single out the main plot.