The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 20 - Negative, Part 2

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

Plot

With Barry having suffered a major loss, the team rally around him in the darkest hour yet.

Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson. 


Flash Facts

This is the last episode to feature Jesse L. Martin as a series regular.

With this episode, The Flash surpassed Arrow as having the most episodes of any Arrowverse series.

Reportedly, this was originally planned to be the series finale, but a new ending was written when the series was renewed for Season 9.

Impulse describes a situation as "all aster, no dis." This is a nod to Young Justice, where the young heroes routinely took apart words, such as when Robin wondered why people were overwhelmed or underwhelmed but never just whelmed.

The flash forward at the end of the episode takes place on June 29, 2049. This episode originally aired on June 29, 2022.

The blue crystal in the future shown in the final scene may be a nod to the villain Cobalt Blue - a Flash villain from the comics with connections to both the Allen and Thawne families.

Technobabble

Barry plans to enter the Negative Speed Force by using a concentrated blast of dark matter and negatively-charged lightning in conjunction with his tachyon harness.

Chester reports detecting a huge influx of negative kinetic tachyons right before the Reverse-Flash appears in downtown Central City. He later detects negative kinetic isotopes with temporal, geothermic, and electric chemical readings, corresponding to the effects of the other Forces.


Dialogue Disasters

Impulse: (on seeing Reverse-Flash's new costume) Who's his new tailor? Satan? 


Continuity

The reborn Reverse-Flash confirms that the Negative Forces brought him back to serve as the Negative Speed Force avatar, due to them being too weak to function without a fourth member of their circle.

Barry tries to kill the Reverse-Flash, but is stopped by XS and Impulse.

Barry finally relents on killing Reverse-Flash when XS and Impulse point out that if they're still alive, Iris couldn't have died yet. (Or that there's still a chance of fixing the timeline.)

Barry plans to go into the Negative Speed Force, theorizing it is the only place Thawne could hide from him after Chester can't find any sign of him on Earth-Prime.

Barry continues to insist that he felt Iris die and that he can't feel their connection anymore. He also fears she may have been erased from reality completely but the changes haven't caught up with them yet.

Iris wakes up in the same empty space dimension from 805 and is greeted by a remnant of Damien Darhk's memories.

Meena volunteers to use her powers to give Barry the Negative Speed Force charge he needs to enter the Negative Speed Force.

Cecile tells Barry she can feel him radiating anger.

Cecile suddenly feels an intense sensation of frustration, right before having a vision of Bashir (aka Psych) the Sage Force Avatar.

Cecile believes Bashir wants her to find him and the other Positive Force Avatars.

The Negative Force avatars take the Reverse-Flash into a space resembling the Reverse-Flashpoint from 804.

The Negative Forces reveal that Eobard Thawne did not tap into the Negative Speed Force with his machine.  The Negative Force tapped him, choosing him as an avatar because it fed off of his hatred for Barry Allen to empower itself.

Damien confirms that the Negative Forces used Iris as an incubator to create a new Negative Speed Force, in much the same way Barry and Iris' love allowed the Speed Force to be reborn.

Damien explains that the Time Stone he gave Joe acted to save Iris, because she wasn't meant to die at this point in time and that there's something important she's meant to do in the future.

Meena almost destroys her Artificial Negative Speed Force trying to give Barry a jump-start. Barry persuades her to charge herself up so that she can give her power to him.

Joe West is shown at his home, praying for Iris to return home safe, when the Jay and Joan Garrick of 2049 show up. They explain that they followed Iris' particle trail across time to Joe's house. This eventually leads them to the Time Stone, which Jay recognizes, having heard about it in his travels.

With the reluctant help of Queen and Top, Cecile attempts to make contact with Psych. He appears briefly and confirms that the time sickness that infected Iris and Deon Owens spread to the Sage Force and Strength Force.

Psych also explains that he saw potential in Cecile and opened the floodgates in her mind. This caused her to steal the powers of Queen and Top by accident.

Barry travels into the Negative Speed Force and confronts the other Negative Forces.

The Negative Forces explain that Barry disrupted the cosmic balance in 805 when he depowered the Reverse-Flash instead of allowing him to be erased from existence. Before that, they had no idea it was possible to upend the balance in such a fashion, This gave them the idea do the same thing, but to their benefit, turning the Reverse-Flash into an avatar of all the Negative Forces.

The Reverse-Flash dons a new black version of his original costume when he returns to Central City.

Damien Darhk gives Iris a pep-talk, telling her that she is a survivor who is too stubborn to die and that even if the spark between her and Barry is dead, it can still be reignited.

Reverse-Flash hits Impulse with lightning and sends him back in time a billion years.

Using the Psych mask, Cecile is able to transfer her power to Bashir. This somehow allows him to heal the rest of the Positive Forces.

The Positive Forces Show up and give their power to Barry, giving him the chance to fight Reverse-Flash evenly.

Iris reappears at Joe's house.

Barry is able to hold his own against Reverse-Flash, but the two of them wielding all the Forces is threatening to destroy Central City, if not all of reality.

Jay runs Iris to the battle so that Barry can see she is alive.

Instead of fighting Reverse-Flash, Barry meditates on maintaining everything. 

Reverse-Flash burns himself out trying to summon more power to destroy Barry.

Barry uses all the power he has to restore things so his children and Meena return.  

The universe rights itself after.

Chester confirms that Barry's extra Force powers are gone and that Iris' time sickness is cured.

Gideon confirms there are no more Eobard Thawne remnants anywhere in the timeline.

Jay, Joan, XS and Impulse return to 2049.

Meena confirms the BLOC is no longer working and that she's lost her powers.

Barry and Iris give Meena the yellow tie worn by the reformed Eobard Thawne she loved.

Barry and Meena both offer each other help with whatever they might need help with in the future.

The Top and Queen are both confirmed to have their powers back, with The Queen being locked up in Iron Heights again.

Cecile is revealed to have developed telekinetic powers.

Allegra, Chester and Cecile decide to collective call themselves Team Badass.

The Flash reunites Tinya Wazoo and her mother Renee. 

The cryonic chamber Chillblaine build malfunctions. He tries to take Caitlin Snow out of it, but is confronted by someone he doesn't recognize. She has the same voice as Caitlin and Frost, and introduces herself as "A friend, I think."

Barry and Iris enjoy a quiet night in, but Iris worries that the Negative Speed Force will find another avatar to replace Thawne.

Location

Central City - June 29, 2049


The Bottom Line

A messy end to a messy season. The best that can be said is that it does tie up all the loose ends except for what is happening to Caitlin and Frost. (This was likely due to the need to work around Danielle Panabaker's second pregnancy.) Hopefully Season 9 can give the series and the Arrowverse a proper ending.

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

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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

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

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

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

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


Performances

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


Artistry

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


Flash Facts

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

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

Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chillblaine asks how they can restore Frost's soul.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Location

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


Untelevised Adventures

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

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


The Bottom Line

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

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 13 - Death Falls

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

Plot

Deathstorm attacks each member of Team Flash individually, confronting them as their dead loved ones to feed on their grief and claim Caitlin as his bride.


Influences

Green Lantern: Blackest Night


Goofs

For all their talk earlier in the season about not killing, Team Flash is surprisingly eager to "snuff out" Deathstorm.

Caitlin tries to treat Frost's cardiac arrest with a defibrillator, despite her problem being a slowed heart rate. (Defibrillators are used for restoring a natural rhythm when 


Performances

Jon Cor and Danielle Panabaker have great chemistry as Frost and Chillblaine.


Flash Facts

At one point the fake Eddie Thawne mentions an uncle Robern. In the comics, Robern Thawne was the brother of Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash.

Deathstorm makes reference to being born before Maltus. In the DC Universe, Maltus was the home of the first sentient life and eventually gave rise to the Guardians of the Universe.

The lightning at the end of the episode is tinged blue, in Frost's honor.

Technobabble

Deathstorm is made up of pure thermodynamic energy, so Team Flash use the Mental Augmentation Chamber to harness particles from its home dimension and then beam them into Frost's consciousness. The reaction should transform her into a being like Deathstorm. who can create fire, defy gravity, and consume Deathstorm's fuel source. 

Chester makes reference to the cryo-circuits of the MAC.

Barry puts Gideon to work on tracking extra-dimensional energies and cold fusion anomalies in Central City.

The walls and door of Chester's lab are made of titanium. 

Human beings go hyperthermic at 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chester notes that blood flow starts to decrease in a human body at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Organs fail and brain function slows at 107.  At 109, the body will die to end its suffering.

The MAC makes use of augmentation receptors. 

Caitlin tries to save Frost by injecting her with cold fusion.


Dialogue Triumphs

Deathstorm: I was born a long time ago-- before Maltus, before the stars, during that lonely, blackest of nights. I was there when the first gas cloud sank and collapsed. I was there when the first beings drew their final, hissing breaths. I am decline. I am entropy. I am the master of death and all of its inhabitants.

Eddie: I thought my sacrifice would mean something. That I could erase the Reverse Flash from existence. That, finally, I could be a hero. But then Eobard Thawne came back, again, and again, and again, and again. What I did didn't matter at all. I died for nothing, and now you've made the same mistake. You sacrificed yourself for nothing.
Iris: I saved Barry, and I helped stop Armageddon.
Eddie: And then, what happened? The timeline got reset, but you're still suffering the consequences. Can't you see? Your death is gonna be just as pointless as mine.

Frost: Boy, was I stupid for ever thinking that was possible, because it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter how many life coaches I get, or if I get my own body, or do a bunch of art, or get my own boyfriend, because I'll always just be a copy of the original. An echo. 'Cause I've never been really alive. And now, that's gonna get Caity killed.
Chillblaine: Frost... If you are not really alive, where does that leave me? You're the only person I've ever cared about more than myself, or at least equal to myself.
Frost: I guess we're both screwed up then.
Chillblaine: Yeah, that's definitely true. Look, the way I see it, you and I have been through a lot, right? And through all of those ups and downs, I, for one, have seen you have loads of emotions-- all kinds-- especially when it comes to Caitlin. You love your sister like crazy. And wherever that love came from-- you know, whether you were born with it, or your dad gave it to you, or you put it together yourself over time, built it with pain and heartache-- that love is as real as it gets. Believe me.

Continuity

The episode begins later the same evening as 812.

Central City is still under a city-wide curfew.

Eddie Thawne, apparently live and well, suddenly shows up in Iris and Barry's apartment.

Chester confirms that he spent six weeks living in the Mental Augmentation Chamber during Season 6.

Cecile says that Caitlin's biometrics are stable, but she can feel her grief intensifying. 

Caitlin says she keeps having visions of her father's death from 519.

Frost calls Chillblaine in to help.

The power in STAR Labs goes out, as Chester is finishing the upgrades on the MAC.

Barry has Gideon working on identifying the cause of Iris' time sickness.

Allegra is confronted by an illusion of Ultraviolet.

Chester is confronted by an illusion of his father.

Barry is confronted by an illusion of his mother, Nora Allen.

Frost is confronted by an illusion of Ronnie Raymond.

The fake Ronnie tells Frost that he isn't appearing to her as anyone she knows because her grief isn't real. He claims that all her feelings are just echoes of Caitlin's and that she isn't really a person.

Allegra and Chester seal themselves in Chester's lab to escape from Ultraviolet. Unfortunately, she fries the temperature controls and the heat starts building up.

The fake Nora tells Barry that there's no cure for Iris and that he is doomed to lose her forever.

The fake Eddie offers to make Iris some of his Uncle Robern's famous chicken noodle soup.

The fake Eddie is able to burn Iris and Sue when they try to go for the exit and their phone respectively.

Cecile tells Frost that Caitlin's vitals are spiking and her temperature is going up. She can also feel the team's grief and says it is being channeled into Caitlin.

Chillblaine broke into Fast Track Labs to get Frost the cryo-circut needed to compete the modified MAC.

The thermostat in Chester's lab burns out at 137 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The fake Nora taunts Barry with the knowledge that if Iris dies, Bart and Nora will never exist either. She also says that his real legacy is heartbreak, rather than heroism.

The fake Eddie torments Iris with how pointless his death was since it didn't really stop the Reverse-Flash.

Sue was able to use her phone to summon Joe while Deathstorm was focused on Iris.

Deathstorm is able to incapacitate Sue with images of her grandmother and Joe of his former partner, Chyre.

The MAC fails to transform Frost. At first, Frost thinks this is because she doesn't have a true consciousness to manipulate, but Chilblaine figures out the chemical reaction is missing one key ingredient to fuel the transformation - grief. Once Frost allows herself to grieve, she transforms.

Frost's earliest memory is of Caitlin being hit by a car as a child.

Frost calls her new form Hellfrost. She has black hair instead of white.

Chillblaine learns Barry's secret identity.

Frost uses HR's image inducer to make herself look like Caitlin to lure Deathstorm in.

Frost is able to kill Deathstorm, but her vitals crash just after she transforms back to her normal self.

Frost goes into cardiac arrest.

Caitlin tries to save her, despite having just gotten out of a coma herself.

The final scene has Caitlin and Barry entering the lounge in silence, with everyone's reactions suggesting that Frost died.

The Fridge Factor

Frost is killed purely to give the team angst and make Caitlin look incompetent for failing to save her.


The Bottom Line

Some of the best moments of The Flash Season 8 have centered around Frost and her development, so naturally the showrunners have to put a stop that by killing her off, in an episode that seems to be both full of padding and yet underdeveloped in equal measure.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 11 - Resurrection

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

Plot

Barry and Chester think they've found a way to stop the Cold-Fusion Killer once and for all, but Caitlin may endanger everything when she enacts her own plan, believing the "Black Flame" to be a resurrected Ronnie Raymond.

Influences

Green Lantern: Blackest Night (character of Deathstorm and references to raising the dead.) and Ghostbusters (the Cold Fusion trap resembles the ghost traps)


Goofs

Virtually every character in the show is out of character in this episode. Caitlin, usually the cool, emotionless voice of reason, is pushed to make a leap of faith based on a hunch. Barry, ever the optimist who believes in the power of love, says they can't take the chance Caitlin is wrong in trying to resurrect Ronnie. And every single person who said the sanctity of life prevented them from letting Thawne die six episodes earlier is suddenly all in favor killing Ronnie to prevent further deaths.

Cecile claims she is sure the Blackfire Killer is Ronnie after making mental contact with him. It's unclear how, given that she didn't know Ronnie.

Why did Sue come back to Central City to deliver the news of Iris' disappearance in person? Even allowing that her phone had blipped out of existence, it's not like she couldn't access another phone and call STAR Labs or the Central City Citizen to get a message to Barry. 


Performances

Danielle Panabaker and Robbie Amell have real chemistry in the flashback scenes showing Caitlin and Ronnie's romance. It's a real shame they didn't get to work together more in the earlier seasons of The Flash and their courtship here makes the reveal at the end all the sadder.


Artistry

The design for Deathstorm is nice.


Flash Facts

The Cold Fusion Killer/Black Flame of earlier episodes is revealed to be an entity called Deathstorm. Originally making his first official appearance in Brightest Day #10 in November 2010, Deathstorm was born of a fusion of the Firestorm Matrix and the power of the Black Lantern Corps following Ronnie Raymond's resurrection as a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night event.

The Arrowverse version of Deathstorm seems to have been born as a result of Ronnie Raymond's death. However, it is unclear just what the source of his power is.

Allegra name drops the Blackest Night event, in which the Green Lantern villain Nekkron attempted to take over the universe with an army of the undead. This seems to be teased when Allegra discusses the potential of the Firestorm splicer to resurrected the dead if used improperly.

Technobabble

Chester encodes the Cold Fusion Sphere with Frost and Dr. Tannhauser's cryokinetic RNA signatures. This will enable them to use it to track the Blackfire Killer without risking their lives.

Using the data on the Blackfire Killer gathered from it's brief time within the NCCU, Caitlin determines that the cold fusion radiation readings are 10-to-the-negative 28 watts, aka Hawking radiation. This kind of radiation is only found within a singularity.

The first law of thermodynamics dictates that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. Caitlin theorizes that the pressure from when the horizons of the singularity merged broke down Ronnie's body into pure thermodynamic energy. 

When a human body dies, the brain becomes flooded with ACTH - the same hormone the human brain creates when it experiences grief. Caitlin guesses this gave him an attraction to the same hormone, which is why he's been seeking to merge with grieving people and killing them in the process.

Chester says they can combine the Quantum Splicer that created Firestorm with Eva McCulloch's R-CEM chips to grow a new body for Robbie.

The Quantum Splicer works by bombarding the user's atoms with energy to create fission, but it requires the participant to be willing. If the user rejects the splicer, their atomic structure would become unstable, resulting in an endothermic explosion.

Chester determines that once they trap the Black Fire Killer in the Cold Fusion Sphere, they can kill him by removing the oxidizing agents.

Apart from an occasional irregularity in his amygdala function, Ronnie seems to be perfectly fine according to this post-resurrection physical.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Caitlin reveals that she planned to propose to Ronnie.)
Ronnie: Whoa, whoa, whoa, you were gonna propose?
Caitlin: Yes. Because I love you so much, Ronnie Raymond, it freaks me out. But everything is ruined now.
Ronnie: No, no, no, no, it's not ruined, okay? I know you wanted to go to that bed and breakfast where we first fell in love, but maybe we need to stop trying to recreate the past and focus on the future, okay? Because when I look at you, I see forever, and I want forever to start right now. 

Frost: I'm really worried, Catie.
Caitlin: Then why won't you help me?
Frost:  Not about Ronnie, about you. Look, when Ronnie died, you and me weren't even you and me. I was still in your subconscious. But even then, I could feel your pain the moment you realized he was gone. And that night when you went to bed, and every night after that. But as bad as that was, watching you pull away from everyone who loves you was even worse, and it's happening again.
Caitlin: I'm sorry you felt all that pain. But did you feel anything else?
Frost: I remember how happy you were before he died. Which is why I got this.
(Frost holds up the Quantum Splicer.)
Caitlin: What about Barry?
Frost: Sure, Barry's family, but you're blood, and I will always have your back. (sighs) But you got to promise me something, all right? You will never shut yourself off from me or the rest of the team, all right?
Caitlin: I promise. And, Frost... Thank you.
Frost: You got it.


Continuity

The episode opens with a flashback to 2012, showing how Caitlin and Ronnie met. She mistook him for a plumber when he came down to the medical lab at STAR Labs seeking treatment for a second degree burn while fitting a high-pressure coil.

Caitlin and Ronnie bonded over a shared love of kit building, with Ronnie saying his job is basically him playing with LEGOs of steel and concrete.

In the present, the Blackfire Killer appears to Caitlin and tells her that she can save him. When asked how, he says "memories in the snow."

Picking up from her last scene in 810, Tinya becomes upset, thinking that Iris just killed her mother and runs off.

Iris passes out while having a time sickness seizure.

Sue tries to call Barry, but her phone disappears in a puff of green Still Force particles.

Joe and Cecile went through Captain Kramer's files and found three people who died in a fire of undetermined origin within the past six months. They are Colin Smith, Megan Landa and Veronica Binning. 

Running on the theory that the Blackfire Killer feeds on grief, Joe determined that Megan and Colin both recently lost a parent and Veronica lost her sister as a child.

Caitlin determines that she is the common link between all the Blackfire Killings and tells Team Flash about her encounter with the killer and her belief that it is Ronnie Raymond resurrected somehow.

Caitlin says Parker Stefano, the third Blackfire Killing victim from 809, was her yoga instructor. The first two victims from 808, Stan Mullen and Donna Winters, were working at O'Shaughnessy during Caitlin and Frost's double date in 807.

Caitlin says the three latest victims attended a bio-chem conference where they were all panelists on an Applied Sciences lecture.

Barry points out that they know the Blackfire Killer is telepathic and can read minds after its encounter with Chester in 809.

Caitlin refers to the events of 201 and points out that Ronnie died in a singularity, which is consistent with the energy put out by the Black Fire Killer.

Barry urges Caitlin to take it slow and give him time to double-check the radiation data. She agrees to let him work on it while she talks to her boyfriend, Marcus, about what is going on.

Caitlin tells Marcus that she works with The Flash and that she thinks her husband has come back from the dead.

Marcus cuts Caitlin off before she can give him the break-up speech and quotes Plato before leaving her.

Frost talks to Barry about what's going on, as they both independently decide to prepare the Cold Fusion Sphere.

Frost says she wants to believe Caitlin, but she shares Barry's concerns about why, if the Black Fire Killer is Ronnie, it's just now coming back.

The events of 810 are confirmed to have taken place one day earlier.

Frost points out Barry's hypocrisy for being reluctant to trust Caitlin's hunch, pointing out that he'd be all on-board for taking a chance if it was Iris' life in danger.

Allegra tells Chester that he should sell merch for his streaming series.

Allegra is shocked to find out Chester is sharing the specs for the Quantum Splicer on his show.

Chester defends his actions, saying that science is all about sharing and cooperation. He points to one follower, WookieLover77, who is using his drone design to deliver supplies to refugees in starving countries.

Allegra says there is a lot of difference between a drone and a quantum splicer and that it isn't worth the risk if someone less ethical than Chester used that technology to raise the dead.

Allegra refers to her cousin's death and says that death is a part of life and should not be experimented with, referring to death as "noche mas negra," - the blackest night. 

Chester finally agrees to keep the splicer specs off-line.

As Cecile arrives in STAR Labs, the lights around her begin flickering and she feels great pain as the Blackfire Killer speaks to her and asks where Caitlin is.

Cecile says that she believes the Blackfire Killer is Ronnie, but that he is in great pain and begging to be set free.

Barry tells Caitlin they can't go through with her plan and should try to end Ronnie's suffering rather than try to bring him back to life. He justifies this decision by referring to the events of 301 and the problems caused by Flashpoint and by his inability to cope with his father's death.

Caitlin points out Barry's hypocrisy and recalls all the times Team Flash moved Heaven and Earth to try and save Iris over a lot less evidence than she has.

Caitlin says that if Barry and the rest of the team won't help her, she will work on her own.

In a flashback to 2013, Caitlin and Ronnie plan to celebrate their one year anniversary with a trip to Mapleville, to the bed and breakfast they went to on their first weekend together as a couple.

Ronnie apparently was forced to stay up all night with Cisco waiting in line to get the new Call of Duty game.

Tinya attacks Iris at her hotel room and seems to phase her out of existence.

When Sue asks what Tinya did, Tinya says Sue will find out if she ever tries to come after her again.

After talking with Cecile, Barry decides to use the Cold Fusion Sphere to trap the Black Fire Killer.

Frost offers to talk to Caitlin about what the team has decided.

In the flashback to 2013, it is revealed that Ronnie and Caitlin got stuck in the snow near Piedmont State Park on the way to Mapleville. Caitlin reveals that she was going to propose to Ronnie. Ronnie, in turn, reveals that he was going to propose to her and he already had the ring picked out.

Frost steals the Quantum Splicer and gives it to Caitlin.

Caitlin remembers where Ronnie proposed and guesses that is where he was talking about "Memories in the snow."

A group of campers is attacked by black fire in Piedmont State Park while telling ghost stories.

Allegra creates a light path to guide the civilians to safety.

Frost freezes the Cold Fusion Sphere before Barry can use it.

Caitlin uses the Quantum Splicer and seemingly restores Ronnie to normal.

Barry admits that he was wrong and says he should have believed in Caitlin and Ronnie.

Caitlin says she thinks the rest of the team who never met Ronnie will like him.

Ronnie reportedly played Dungeons and Dragons in college.

Cecile doesn't understand why her powers were so off-the-mark when it came to Ronnie.

Barry goes home, where Sue is waiting for him and tells him that Iris disappeared.

Caitlin discovers Ronnie has gotten out of his hospital bed. As she looks for him, the lights go out.

When she finds Ronnie, he transforms into a man of black fire and introduces himself as Deathstorm. 

Deathstorm confirms that Ronnie is dead and that he was born when he died.


Location

Central City - 2012
Central City - 2013
Coast City - 2022


The Fridge Factor

Caitlin is made to look unreasonable and overemotional throughout the episode, culminating in the reveal that she's responsible for making Deathstorm more powerful than ever.


The Boomerang Factor

Honestly, it's weird that it took them three weeks to figure out Caitlin was the link between all the Cold Fusion killings and that was somehow because nobody told Caitlin about all the victims until now, despite her working on the case for a week!


The Bottom Line

If the writers aren't intentionally trying to make the audience hate Caitlin's character at this point, I'd be shocked. As it is, this episode is a prime example of bending your characters to suit the story you want to tell rather than the other way around. The only thing that redeems it is how cute Caitlin and Ronnie are together and how well the performances make us want to root for them. It is also gratifying to see Caitlin and Frost call Barry out on his BS, even though it turns out he was right all along.

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

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

Plot

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

Influences

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


Goofs

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

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


Performances

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


Artistry

The black fire effects are more convincing this week.

Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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


Dialogue Disasters

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


Continuity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Black Fire senses a trap and knocks Frost out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tinya's mother is a woman named Renee Wazoo.

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

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

Tinya says that didn't happen.

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


Location

Coast City

The Bottom Line

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

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 9 - Phantoms

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

Plot

Iris follows a story to Coast City, as the rest of Team Flash focuses on the mystery of a fire-wielding serial killer.

Influences

Legion of Super-Heroes (character of Phantom Girl), X-Men (Tinya seems more like Kitty Pryde than her comic book countpart, particularly with her power to short out electronics) and It. (a serial killer with monstrous powers who feeds on fear.)


Goofs

Deon's demand that Iris not tell her family about her worsening time illness is idiotic and a prime example of the kind of random decision to keep secrets needlessly that has made the later seasons of The Flash painful to watch.

Where is Ralph Dibny in all this? Sue says the Black Hole has finally been defeated so what happened to her partner in crime fighting? 

Iris tracks the Coast City Phantom using a metahuman tracking app that measures the ambient levels of dark matter tied to the meta using their powers. However, as has been shown in earlier episodes (as in the case of Frost and her father) that only works with metahumans created by the STAR Labs particle accelerator explosion. Given Tinya is implied to be a Coast City native, the app shouldn't have worked for her. (It's possible Tinya lived in Central City eight years ago.)

Iris' decision to try and drag Tinya into the limelight seems really exploitative, even ignoring her age and the fact that Tinya has no desire to be a superhero.


Performances

Natalie Dreyfuss is a delight, as always, as Sue. Her interactions with Candice Patton as Iris are the high point of the episode, primarily because it's the most convincing friendship with another woman Iris has had on the show with someone who isn't a work friend of Barry or a subordinate at her work.


Artistry

The special effects for the black fire are generally good.


Flash Facts

A billboard in Coast City advertises Ferris Air. This is the employer of both Carol Ferris (aka Star Sapphire) and Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) in the comics.

This episode introduces the Arrowverse version of Phantom Girl, aka The Coast City Phantom (CCP). She is revealed to be a teen runaway named Tinya, who is trying to find her mother, who was a barista at the CC Jitters in Coast City, California.

In the comics, Phantom Girl first appeared in Action Comics #276 in May 1961 and was created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and artist Jim Mooney. A native of the planet Bgztl, Tinya Wazzo had the power to phase through solid matter, which was innate to her people due to Bgztl existing partly in the fourth dimension. She joined the Legion of Super Heroes and also used the codename Apparition. 

Technobabble

Chester installs a cold fusion alarm module for the STAR Labs satellites, capable of detecting any rapid drops in barometric anomalies around Central City.

The Cold Fusion Killer's fire powers are cryokinetic, meaning that their power output is detected as extreme cold pockets.

Chester is able to trap a sample of the Cold Fusion Killer's black fire using a micro-catalyzed containment unit. He and Ray Palmer designed the device together as part of the foundation Ray started in 801.An an 8-inch vacuum-sealed borosilicate canister with an ionic-fused base and cap, it preserves the vaporized integrity of gases.

Chester hopes to analyze the black fire and, after learning its molecular properties, reprogram the STAR Labs satellites to seek out the source.

Iris' metahuman tracking app measures dark matter readings.

STAR Labs' fire suppression system detects carbon dioxide. As such, it does nothing to try and stop the cold fusion fires, which do not generate carbon dioxide like normal flames.

Sue bluffs Tinya with a molecular destabilizing matrix she claims can knock out any metahuman in a three block radius by destabilizing their powers. (It's actually a paper weight.)

The cold fusion fires start in a subzero state, but they still give off high levels of kinetic energy, which is what allows it to burn people despite a lack of measurable heat.

Chester begins searching STAR Labs for cold catalyzed reactions by tracking muon-catalyzed heat signatures. He determines that the cold flames are converging on the Speed Lab.

Dialogue Triumphs

(Sue threatens to hurt Tinya with an exotic weapon.)
Tinya: Yeah, I thought you two helped people?
Sue: (gesturing to Iris) Oh, she does. Me, it depends on my mood. 


Continuity

Deon, the Still Force avatar, agrees to give Iris a check-up even tough she's been stable for months.

Iris tells Deon about the lost time she experienced in 808.

Iris has vague memories of her meeting with Deon in 803, but neither one of them remember the incident.

Deon still has no idea how someone gets a time sickness, but he plans to look into it.

Deon detects mutations in Iris' aura which may be a result of his treatment. He promises to look into that as well, but asks Iris not to tell anyone until he knows for sure what is going on.

Joe takes some of the evidence from Barry's investigation into the Cold Fusion Killer to look into on his own.

Caitlin is said to have gone on a spontaneous getaway vacation with Marcus to see Dear Evan Hansen in Metropolis. 

According to Frost, Caitlin and Marcus have becoming nauseatingly weepy watching musicals together at home. 

Chester creates a new module to track the Cold Fusion Killer.

Sue Dearbon is in town, making her first appearance since 714.

Sue says she's on a tour of her family's companies, having taken over management in the wake of her parents being sent to prison and the destruction of the Black Hole syndicate. 

Sue is going to Coast City to inspect part of a line of luxury hotels she owns, but is hoping to see the Coast City Phantom.

The Coast City Phantom (or CCP) is reportedly the first metahuman to ever be reported in Coast City.

Sue invites Iris to come with her and look for the Phantom.

Chester detects a cold spot at 138 South Devon Road, but the Cold Fusion Killer is gone before he can get there. The location is a yoga studio.

The third victim of the Cold Fusion Killer was a yoga instructor named Parker DeStefano.

Iris and Sue search around downtown Coast City, as that's where most of the sightings of the Phantom took place.

Sue guesses that Iris wanted an excuse to get out of town and asks about how her relationship with Barry is. Iris changes the subject, having used the meta-tracking app on her phone to find a ping on the Phantom.

The app leads Sue and Iris to a teenage girl named Tinya in a CC Jitters, who is not interested in talking to them.

Sue observes Tinya placing something through her backpack.

Tinya is able to short out Iris' phone by phasing a fingertip through it.

Chester falls asleep while working in the lab and dreams that he hears voices before the black fire grows out of control.

Cecile claims to have felt Chester's fear.

Frost notes that Chester is the most touchy-feely person she knows and he is clearly upset about something and hiding it.

Allegra volunteers to try and get Chester to open up.

Sue tries to download Chester's app, but with her substandard data plan it will take over seven hours.

Iris says they don't need to track Tinya. They just have to research her.

Iris opens up to Sue about her illness and the mutations.

Sue says she was in the same place Iris is after finding out about her parents, but advises her that you can't run from a problem like that.

Iris realizes that Tinya may be on the run as well.

As Allegra is talking with Chester, black flames fill his lab, like in his nightmare.

Barry puts out the flames.

Chester reprograms the satellites again to include the interior of STAR Labs, which is why the alarms didn't go off.

Barry realizes the Cold Fusion Killer must be projecting the flames remotely. This leads him to search the city until he finds where they are hiding.

Sue and Iris ambush Tinya as she's going into an apartment.

Iris reveals that she found out who Tinya is by searching the database of missing people in Coast City. This led her to discover that she was a runway who was in foster care.

Iris and Sue agree to help Tinya find her missing birth mother, who was a barista at the CC Jitters where Iris and Sue first found Tinya.

Chester tells Allegra about his father died in a car fire 24 years ago and how he's been afraid of fire and corpses burned to death ever since.

Chester says he thinks the killer is his father's ghost, because he's started having visions of his father's death.

Allegra says there is no way Chester's father, who he said was a loving man, would ever become a vengeful ghost.

Allegra doesn't believe in ghosts.

Cecile claims to feel the pain of thousands of people, maybe more, radiating from the black fires.

The black flames manifest an illusion of Chester's father, which tries to take his hand so they can join togehter.

Cecile claims that whatever intelligence is behind the illusion feeds on grief.

Chester is able to drive away the killer by affirming that his father would be proud of him and what he does every day.

Joe determines that all three of the Cold Fusion Killer's victims were also suffering from depression following bad circumstances.

Stan Mullen, the bar manager, lost all his belongings to foreclosure.

Donna Winters, the waitress, lost her sister a week before her death. 

Parker DeStefano had just lost her fiancé and childhood sweetheart to cancer. 

Cecile says it is almost like the black fire itself was sentient, as she felt passion, desire and determination from the flames.

Barry concludes that the flames must be alive.

Iris decides to stay in Coast City for a while longer to help Tinya.

Deon appears to Iris and says he figured out what is wrong with her and it is not good news.

Location

Coast City, California.


Untelevised Adventures

Sue Dearbon claims to have encountered a number of metahumans while she was traveling around the world fighting the Black Hole.

Whatever Iris and Sue do to figure out who Tinya is.


The Boomerang Factor

One wonders if Deon really knows what he is doing in regards to treating Iris' time illness since he isn't even sure how someone catches one.


The Bottom Line

Passable, largely because of the mystery of the Cold Fusion Killer, if not the actual horror show built around him. My money is that it's the Flame of Py'tar, now free to rage without Despero controlling it. In any case, the show continues to tease stories that are far more interesting than what is shown on camera and I think most fans would rather see more of Sue traveling the world and meeting other metahumans than the adventures of Team Citizen.