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

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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

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

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

Artistry

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

Flash Facts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Technobabble

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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


Dialogue Disasters

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


Continuity

As the episode opens, Chillblaine is assembling the Cosmic Treadmill 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Red Death tells Barry that their real target is Iris.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Untelevised Adventures

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



The Fridge Factor

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

The Bottom Line

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

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

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

Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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


Performances

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


Artistry

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


Flash Facts

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

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

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

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

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

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


Technobabble

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

A temporal scanner measures radioactive half-lives.

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

Continuity

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

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

Iris is shown to speak French.

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

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

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

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

Khione is a believer in talking to plants.

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

Khione names her plants Kesha and Bob.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goldface organized a book club for his gang.

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

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

Chillblaine robbed Goldface at some point in 2016.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Captain Boomerang attacks Goldface.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Location

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


Untelevised Adventures

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


The Bottom Line

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

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 9, Episode 2 - Hear No Evil

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

Plot

As Team Flash argue about how to address the fate of Caitlin and Frost, Pied Piper comes to STAR Labs seeking help fighting a new version of The Fiddler.

Influences

Dark Knights: Metal (presence of The Red Death)


Goofs

Joe's sudden fears about Cecile putting herself at risk because of her increased powers seem illogical, given she's already putting herself at risk as a metahuman defense attorney. Also, he doesn't seem to have similar fears about both his sons who have speed powers or his reporter daughter who has been repeatedly kidnapped and taken out of reality because of various supervillains. 

When Pied Piper mentions being attacked by someone called The Fiddler, Iris makes reference to Izzy Bowin and says they were friends the last time they met. Iris apparently forgot that Izzy Bowin was killed by The Thinker shortly after they met, so this Fiddler can't be her. (It's possible that Izzy was one of the lucky metahumans resurrected after Crisis on Infinite Earths.)


Performances

Grant Gustin seems to be channeling Stephen Amell in the scene where he lays down the law with Chillblaine.

Danielle Panabaker makes Kihone into an instantly engaging character.


Artistry

The use of rainfall and storm effects in the background of this episode is fantastic


Flash Facts

Pied Piper's nightclub is called the Krakatoa Club. This is a reference to the loudest sound in recorded history, which was the 1883 eruption of a volcano on the Indonesia island of Krakatoa. The eruption was heard almost 3000 miles away and is estimated to have been nearly 310 decibels at ground zero. To put that in perspective, 200 decibels is lethal to humans and sounds measuring 150 decibels can rupture eardrums. 

This episode introduces a new version of The Fiddler. Much like the new Captain Boomerang, this Fiddler is a convicted criminal who seems to have been empowered by The Red Death. Her real name is Andrea Wozzeck and she seems to be a metahuman with sonic control powers, which she can focus through a specialized violin. Her fine control is such that she can trap people in a state out of phase with reality or cause a person to develop a arrhythmic heartbeat that will slowly kill them.

The Fiddler traps the employees of Pied Piper's nightclub out of phase with reality. This is similar to a stunt from The Flash comics where The Fiddler, joining forces with The Thinker and The Shade, caused Keystone City to become trapped in a pocket dimension. 

Technobabble

Chillblaine says the CRC was supposed to unzip Frost's neural DNA from Caitlin and isolate her brain patterns. Unfortunately, a power fluctuation caused the process to malfunction. 

The new Fiddler is armed with a teleporter, similar to the one used by Captain Boomerang.

When the CRC fails in STAR Labs, Chester detects tachyon feedback when the neural conductive readouts start surging.

A sonic cuff in STAR Labs' medical bay is able to stabilize the heart arrhythmia that the Fiddler instilled in Pied Piper. 

Chester runs a full diagnostic on the CRC. He determines that neural DNA could never unlock Frost's consciousness. He says the only way Chillblaine's plan would work is to use endogenous neural imprints, creating a literal map of Caitlin's mind.

Hartley boosts the efficiency of his Pied Piper gauntlets by 400% while planning how to fight The Fiddler.

Barry says that Dr. Thomas Snow's notes reveal that he tried to create a Caitlin 2.0 that wound be immune to ALS, but instead he created a daughter with two mixed consciousnesses Reversing the process would kill one of the two consciousnesses. . 

Rather than killing Hartley's employees, The Fiddler traps them in a vibrational phase. This is apparently painful and described as a fate worse than death.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry has a seat opposite Chillblaine at a table in his favorite bar.)
Chillblaine: You're wasting your time.
Barry: And you screwed up, Mark. Badly. 
Chillblaine: (grunts) Yeah.
Barry: I know why you did it.
Chillblaine: (amused) Okay. No, go ahead. Enlighten me.
Barry: Because you love Frost. With all your heart. And you still do. Sometimes when we love someone like that we do the wrong things for the right reasons.
(There is a long pause as Barry considers his next words.)
Barry: I know I have.
Chillblaine: (skeptical) Please.
(There is another long pause.)
Chillblaine: Are you saying you're not mad at me?
Barry: No, I am. But I understand why you lied. But there's something you need to understand now too: how we operate. You are part of this team now. And that means we have your back. But you need to have ours. Which also means no more going rogue.
(Chillblaine sighs, clearly skeptical.)
Barry: Mark.. if you lest us in... we work together... we can do the impossible. But we have to stick togehter. 

Snow: You're not a killer. I can tell.
Hartley: You don't know me!
Snow: Actually, and I can say this quite truthfully, I think I know you better than I know myself.
Hartley: I used to be a meta-criminal. A Rogue, as they say. I used to hurt people all the time. And I enjoyed it.
Snow: What changed you?
Hartley: (frustrated) Oh, Roderick, okay?  (pauses) Roderick.
Snow: You changed to keep him safe. That's beautiful. But that's not real change, is it?  Deciding to change for the person you love doesn't mean you've decided who you want to be. That's a choice you still have to make for yourself.

Continuity

This episode picks up where 901 ended, with the rest of Team Flash joining Barry in answering Caitlin's distress call.

The woman who looks like Caitlin with blue streaks in her hair introduces herself as Snow. She says that despite her appearance, she is a blank slate with no memories or powers.

Chillblaine makes reference to Barry destroying Caitlin's lab in 816.

Chillblaine explains that Snow was born of Caitlin's sacrificing herself to try and bring back Frost in 819 and that Caitlin is now dead.  Thankfully, he has a plan that will bring her and Frost back to life.

Chillblaine says he can bring Frost and Caitlin back if he's loaned a steady power source. 

Team Flash agrees to help, though Barry seems reluctant.

When the rest of Team Flash leave them alone, Snow asks Chillblaine how she did, revealing there is some kind of deception in play. While Snow is unsure about what they are doing, Chillblaine reassures her this is what Caitlin would want.

Allegra and Chester agree to discuss their kiss from 901 later, once Frost and Caitlin are fine.

Joe tells Cecile that he does not want her on the front line as a superhero. This is the main reason he wants to move from Central City. 

Hartley Rathaway (aka Pied Piper) and his boyfriend Roderick last appeared in 618.

Hartley and Roderick are revealed to now be running a dance club called the Krakatoa Club. It is located at the corner of Park and Second in downtown Central City.

Hartley is attacked outside his club by a woman armed with a high-tech violin, who calls herself The Fiddler.

Barry pulls Snow out of the CRC when it starts failing.

Snow says that the CRC hurt her.

Snow accidentally lets it slip that Chillblaine 's plan was to bring back Frost and Caitlin rather than just Caitlin.

Chillblaine defends his decision to lie to Team Flash by pointing out that Barry destroyed Caitlin's lab when he learned about her plan to resurrect Frost.

An intruder alert in the med lab informs Team Flash of Hartley breaking into STAR Labs, seeking treatment for the arrhythmia he developed after being attacked by The Fiddler.

Hartley confirms that The Fiddler who attacked him is not Izzy Bowin from 414.

The new Fiddler is confirmed to be working for Red Death. She is throttled for failing to complete her mission in attacking Pied Piper and is told that if she fails a second time she will die.

Barry tracks down Chillblaine at O’Shaughnessy Pub, getting drunk.

Barry says he will help Chillblaine resurrect Caitlin and Frost, but he will need to be completely honest to him and the rest of the team from now on.  Chillblaine agrees, albeit reluctantly. 

Chester and Chilblaine work on repeiaring the CRC while Barry gets Dr. Thomas Snow's notes about how he created Frost while trying to cure Caitlin's ALS.

Snow meets Hartley while he is upgrading his Pied Piper gauntlets. She confirms that she does not have Caitlin's medical knowledge or Frost's ice powers.

Snow realizes that Hartley is worried about Roderick being hurt by The Fiddler.

Snow believes killing is wrong and that deciding to change for someone doesn't really make you change.

Hartley says Central City is the metahuman violence capital of the world.

Barry determines that there is no way to bring back Frost and Caitlin - only one of them can survive.

Team Flash put it to a vote as to which Snow sister they should bring back. 

Chillblaine, unsurprisingly, votes for Frost, saying that Caitlin wanted to give her life to save Frost.

Allegra votes for Frost, presumably because she was closer to her than Caitlin.

Chester votes for Caitlin, saying that after his experiences with Deathstorm in 809 have convinced him that no good can come of trying to bring the dead back and that, given the choice, Caitlin is only mostly dead.

Iris votes for Frost, later telling Barry that she never really got to know Frost when she was alive, having not really given her a chance to reform and be part of Team Flash.

Barry says he needs more time to think, but Chillblaine says he'll only wait eight hours before making another attempt at bringing Frost back.

Barry admits he was mistaken to destroy Caitlin's lab in  816, saying the last thing he said to Caitlin was "I'm sorry" but that he wasn't.

Cecile speaks with Snow about how she is feeling, after discovering that she cannot read her emotions or mind. She is apparently the first person Cecile's powers didn't work on.

Snow loves rain and nature because she feels connected to all living things yet disconnected at the same time.  She says that  everything in nature has a purpose and she hopes to find a purpose of her own.

Cecile says that something about Snow seems inherently friendly and she is not scared of her, despite being unable to read her mind and emotions. 

Snow says that she is cure of only two things. First, whoever she is she likes herself. Second, she doesn't want to go back into the CRC.

Barry and Iris tell Snow that they are going to let her decide if Frost or Caitlin should come back, based on the logic that Dr. Thomas Snow didn't try to force his daughter to decide which personality would be dominant and they can't make that choice either. Only Snow can.

Hartley leaves STAR Labs to confront The Fiddler after she returns to the Krakatoa Club.

The Flash easily takes out The Fiddler and destroys her Fiddler. It is then that she reveals that, like Izzy Bowin, the instrument only focuses her powers. She is still able to attack him and Hartley with a sonic scream.

The Flash stops Hartley from killing The Fiddler and reveals that his employees and boyfriends are trapped out-of-phase with reality.

With Flash's help, Hartley uses his gauntlets to save all the people Fiddler phased. This also cures Hartley's heart problem.

The Fiddler steals Hartley's gauntlets after Captain Boomerang stuns the crowd with a trick boomerang that seems to put them out of phase with the rest of the room. They teleport away together.

The Fiddler is identified as an ex-con named  Andrea Wozzeck.

Snow decides that she wants to be her own person and refusing to go back into the CRC.

Hartley uses his powers (and a sonic scream) to destroy the CRC, saying he just helped a new friend when Chillblaine asks if he knows what he did.

Chillblaine swears revenge on Pied Piper and leaves STAR Labs, furious.

Snow decides to take the name Khione - the Greek snow goddess Dr. Thomas Snow references in his notes in 405.

Barry and Iris decide to take a trip to go see Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

The team go out and dance at the Krakatoa Club.

Allegra asks Chester to dance with her.

In the final scene, Captain Boomerang and The Fiddler construct some sort of device that seems to stabilize Red Death.

Red Death says that The Flash disgraced them, but they will have revenge.

Location

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

Untelevised Adventures

Chillblaine's interactions with Khione before she contacted Barry are undescribed.

Barry meets with Dr. Carla Tannhauser to get access to Dr. Thomas Snow's notes.


The Bottom Line

An incredibly disjointed episode. There's a lot of good moments here, but there's surprisingly little unifying the two storylines, apart from Snow/Khione pestering Pied Piper and inspiring his becoming a real hero. The Piper and Chillblaine plots are otherwise unconnected and the brilliant moments are outweighed by the bits where the rest of the ensemble gets in the way of the story. It also doesn't help that the new Fiddler is barely developed as a character or a threat.

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 13 - Grodd Friended Me

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



Plot

As Iris and Eva McCullouch continue to find a way to escape Mirror World, Barry turns his attention to trying to rebuild Giden. Unfortunately, STAR Labs' newest employee, Chester P. Runk, gets in the way trying to impress Barry and winds up setting the stage for Grodd to force himself into The Flash's mind. But Grodd isn't out for revenge... he needs help!


Influences

The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (Grodd with super-speed and a lightning bolt emblem in his first), God Friended Me (the title is the pun on another series produced by Greg Berlanti) and The Fly (Camilla makes reference to the movie)


Performances

After being a non-entity in most of her appearances, Victoria Park gives her best performance as Kamilla Hwang in this episode - probably because this is the first episode to give her anything to do beyond being a hostage or the supportive girlfriend.


Goofs

Once again, The Flash contradicts itself as to what the heroes remember about the pre-Crisis universe, with Barry having no idea where his parents are buried now and not remembering that Pied Piper is a metahuman rather than a tech-based criminal.(Presumably, even as a Paragon, Barry has trouble keeping two contradictory sets of information straight in his head as the human brain can only recall so much and his brain has shut down his memory to protect him from the trauma.)

Why can't The Flash run around or phase through the train?


Artistry

The CGI for the gorillas is quite good.


Flash Facts

The address Chester tracks Pied Piper to is the corner of 52nd and Palm. This is yet another nod to the number 52 and its significance in DC Comics.

The idea of Grodd gaining super-speed and the design where he gets a lightning bolt in his fur while merged with Barry - is taken from the most recent run of The Flash comics written by Joshua Williamson.


Technobabble

The Metahuman-Detectors developed by Harry Wells apparently still exist on Earth-Prime, as Barry is wearing one, which alerts him to Pied Piper being close by.

Chester is able to track the Pied Piper by scanning for the same wavelength of the frequency generated by the sonic boom he generates while flying.

Gideon determines that there have been 3.725 trillion changes between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.

Barry describes Gideon as a mobile interactive artificial intelligence unit.

Chester attempts to alter Gideon by flipping the positronic solenoid.

Eva was running R-CEM tests when she became trapped in the mirror dimension.

Nash assembles a residual particle catcher, which can detect and detain the molecular afterglow of things.

Frost determines that Barry is in telepathic contact with someone based on his pulse, his rapid eye movement, his vitals and two distinct brainwaves patterns.

In a mindscape, the host transmits neural signals to the guest's primary motor cortex. It the Memory Machine can be made to synch up with those neural transmitters, it can be used as a communicator to reach the host and guest.

The neural-inhibiting capabilities of Grodd's telepathic crown can only handle the strain of two minds for so long. Eventually the mindscape created by Barry and Grodd's minds will collapse. This will kill both of them.

If you die in a mindscape, you die in the real world.

Removing the crown from Grodd would leave Barry trapped inside Grodd's head.

Sedatives have no effect on speedsters.

Grodd is the only being Frost has encountered whose neurons fire at hyper-neural speeds comparable to Barry's.

It is determined that Chester is responsible for enabling Grodd to take over Barry's mind. When he tweaked the positronic solenoid, he adjusted its hypothalamic connection by a factor of 900%. This was more than enough to boost the signal to allow it to be piggy-backed by Grodd's telepathy.

The subatomic particles emitted by Eva McCulloch's machine can penetrate the mirror's surface, but it won't pierce the barrier between the worlds.

Eva burns her arms and hands trying to reach through the mirror after Iris asks why she's so sure the machine won't work.

For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality.

Barry describes the process by which he and Grodd merge their minds as the mindscape version of the Firestorm Matrix.

Exiting the mindscape while merge would ultimately kill Grodd and Barry, as their bodies would forcibly merge despite being separated in the real world. Kamilla compares this to the process that created the monster in the movie The Fly.

Chester figures out that he can sync Gideon's quantum intelligence network to Barry and Grodd's bio-analytics and let her perfectly time the neural de-splicing as they exit the mindscape

ARGUS injects Grodd with a tracking polymer and agree to release him on probation so long as he can be tracked.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry has just lost it with Chester and kicked him out of his lab.)
Kamilla:  He's just trying to help.
Barry: Oh, I know. I know. It's... So much has changed after Crisis, and... You know, this morning, when I got the meta alert, I was trying to find my parents' graves. There's not even a cemetery there anymore. I...I searched every graveyard in Central City. I still can't find them. Just feel like a piece of me is missing. And friends like Hartley Rathaway are enemies now. Just everything is so different.
Kamilla: I'll bet hearing different voices on comms doesn't help, either. You want something familiar. That's not us.
Barry: Hey, I didn't mean it like that.
Kamilla: It's okay, Barry. I understand. Just maybe take it easy on Chester.

Barry: So, what, the cage is payback? What, you want vengeance?
Grodd: Not vengeance. Understanding. Grodd wants Barry Allen to see what it's like to have nothing. No powers, no freedom. Only captivity. Caitlin used a neural inhibitor to shut down Grodd's cerebrum. Caitlin betrayed Grodd. But you gave her the authority. This is your doing, Flash.
Barry: I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Your mind is a weapon.
Grodd: You take a weapon from a man, he's still a man. You took Grodd's mind. Grodd's greatest gift. That is not punishment. That is cruelty.

Chester: I am so sorry. I- I never should've came here. This is all my fault.
(Chester leaves the lab. Frost goes chasing after him.)
Frost: Hey. How's you running away gonna help us get Barry out of Grodd's mind?
Chester: Because if I'm not around, at least I can't make things worse.
Frost: Look, I hate to break it to you, but accidentally putting Barry's life in danger is kind of a rite of passage around here. We've all done it: Cisco, me, Ralph, even the janitor. He put too much wax on the floor. But then, after we put his life in danger, we figure out a plan to get him out of it. So now it's your turn.
Chester: You know, in the sixth grade, I got into the science fair with a Millennium Falcon that I built out of used vacuum parts. I mean, it it flew and everything, like a drone. But on the day of the fair, it didn't fly. Uh, rust in the intake manifold was preventing air from getting into the combustion, which was then causing it to...
(Frost looks impatient and gives Chester a "get to the point" look.)
Chester: Sorry. Anyway, I had begged my teacher to let me fix it and then fly again the next day. He said no. You know why? He was an old school brother. And he said that in the real world, people like us we don't get a second chance.
(Chester turns around again and starts to walk to the elevator.)
Frost: Hold on.
(Chester stops and looks back at her.)
Frost: I'm not gonna pretend like I have any idea what your life has been like, and I know that some of the stuff we do in here has nothing to do with the real world. But I'm offering you a second chance. Because you deserve one. 'Cause we all do.


Continuity

As this episode opens, the only people at STAR Labs to help Barry are Chester P. Runk and Kamilla.

Isis is away working on astory.

Frost is said to be at ARGUS checking on Bloodwork.

Cisco is said to be off the grid charting differences between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.

Ralph is still searching for Sue Dearbon.

Pied Piper has not been seen since 217.

In the Post-Crisis reality, Pied-Piper is a metahuman criminal with sonic control powers, who backs his powers up with technology that enhances his natural abilities.

Pied Piper is able to fly using his sonic blasts as a means of propulsion.

Chester tracks Pied Piper to 52nd and Palm Street. However, he is able to get away because the route Barry too to try to get to him was blocked by a train.

Chester learns that Barry Allen is The Flash.

Barry is trying to upgrade Gideon.

Barry is unable to remember where his parents are buried. He can't even remember the cemetery.

Eva and Iris decide to try and rebuild the machine Eva was working on when she was trapped in Mirror World.

Nash and Allegra assemble a residual particle catcher.

Nash is now hallucinating Sherloque Wells talking to him.

Allegra finds the picture of Nash and her doppelganger from his world. She is creeped out.

Barry suddenly finds himself in a cage, where he is talked to by Eobard Thawne in Harrison Wells' body and Caitlin Snow. Eventually he figures out that he is in one of Gorilla Grodd's memories.

Fake Iris gets into a fight with Joe over accessing a police file on Joseph Carver. She apologizes and makes lunch plans with him for later that day.

When Chester was 11, he drowned his grandmother's car while trying to convert it into a hovercraft.

Grodd is still locked in a coma in a cell in ARGUS, as he was when he was last seen in 515.

Grodd says he wanted Barry to understand what his life was like and that he truly has changed.

Frost uses Sherloque Wells' memory machine from 512 to make contact with Barry inside Grodd's mindscape.

Nash denies that the Allegra Garcia of his Earth was his daughter, describing her as an ex-employee who made a bad call.

Fake Iris misses her lunch appointment with Joe, because she snuck into his office and is stealing the file she asked for earlier.

Eva burns her arms trying to reach through the mirror in her office.

For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality.   He was also able to sense that Gorilla City now exists on Earth-Prime and wishes to go there and live out his life in peace there.

ARGUS agrees to release Grodd on probation after injecting him with a tracking polymer.

Cisco calls Kamilla and tells her he is coming home.

Chester finds the cemetery where Barry's parents are burried.

Barry apologizes for losing his cool with Chester because of everything in his life that is changing.

As the episode closes, STAR Labs satellites detect Pied Piper attempting another robbery.

Nash is once again confronted by a hallucination of Sherloque Wells, whose eyes glow red and features begin to vibrate like the Reverse Flash.

In the final scene, Eva is revealed to be controlling the Fake Iris, who received the same wounds Eva developed after being burned. Eva is able to heal the wounds on the Fake Iris with a wave of her hand, however.


Untelevised Adventures

It is said that Team Flash did something to Pied Piper in the past, but Barry has no memory of what.

STAR Labs employs a never before seen janitor, who nearly killed Barry by over-waxing the floors.

The episode ends before we can see Barry and Chester catch the Pied Piper.


The Boomerang Factor

Barry acts like a judgemental jackass, which is not entirely out of character for him. Its just amusing that for as much store as Barry puts in the idea of people like Leonard Snart being basically good deep down and as much as he preaches the idea that people can be redeemed like his friend Oliver Queen, Barry is totally unwilling to believe that Grodd has changed in the face of everything else in the world that is different.


The Bottom Line

A bit of a mixed bag, overall. On the one hand, the episode does give some much-needed definition to the new supporting cast members that haven't gotten much, like Kamilla and Chester. On the other hand, this episode underscores how much the show has been suffering without supporting cast members like Cisco and Ralph around and how utterly crowded the show has become.

It doesn't help that Barry is unusually pig-headed to justify his grudge with Grodd and Iris spends her limited screen-time once again trying to tell a traumatized genius how to do her job. It's a good thing that Eva has an agenda and has been faking being crazy because otherwise Iris would just look horrible.

At any rate, the effects for Grodd are improved and we get to see the gorilla fight in broad daylight which would have been unthinkable years ago. Ultimately this episode is filler but we get a few good character moments out of it.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 17 - Flash Back

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




Plot

Inspired by the revelation of Zoom's true identity, Barry becomes more determined than ever to find a way to increase his speed without turning to the Velocity drugs. This leads Barry to travel back in time to seek the help of the one person who knows how to train as a speedster - The Reverse Flash, Eobard Thawne! But the universe has ways of dealing with time-traveling speedsters and Barry will have to outrun the so-called Time Wraiths while trying to avoid further damaging the time-line.


Influences

The Black Flash storyline from The Flash comics of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar (introduces an Angel of Death that targets speedsters, similar in appearance and abilities to The Time Wraiths), The movie 12 Monkeys (name dropped by Cisco, plot involves someone time-traveling to the past in order to find out information to prevent a future disaster), Flashpoint (The Flash inadvertently changes his present after changing the past), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (name dropped by Cisco and Pied Piper, The Time Wraiths physically resemble The Dementors) and the Doctor Who episode Father's Day (the continuing theme of time-travelers altering their present after traveling to their past and the Time Wraiths resemble The Reapers in function, destroying time-travelers who damage the time line.)


Goofs

You'd think Barry would have learned his lesson about altering the past by now. Granting that he has to improvise a bit when he arrives too early, that still doesn't excuse his thwarting Pied Piper's escape.


Performances

As usual, Tom Cavangh steals the show as he plays Eobard Thawne once again. And in his final scene as Harry Wells.

Grant Gustin gets some great moments here as well, both playing against himself and in his battle of wits scene opposite Tom Cavangh. And the final scene with Iris is Gustin at his sweetest ever as Barry Allen.


Artistry

The fight sequence between the two Flashes is nicely handled.

The script is well-written, with a perfect balance of humor, action and drama.


Flash Facts

As the episode opens, Barry is hard at work on developing a Speed Equation that will boost his powers. This is a reference to the mathematical formula recited by the speedster heroes Johnny Quick and his daughter Jesse Quick to access the Speed Force.

Later in the episode, when Barry, Caitlin and Cisco are looking at the information Thawne gave to Barry, the speed formula - 3X2(9YZ)4A - is visible at several points in the hologram.

Thawne identifies the ghost that is chasing after Barry as a Time Wraith - a being that exists to destroy speedsters who travel in time and alter the timeline before they can cause serious damage. The Time Wraiths - in appearance and power - appear to be similar to The Black Flash. The Black Flash is a being in The Flash comics who is basically an angel of Death for speedsters, trying to grab them and draw them into The Speed Force.

Cisco refers to the Time Wraith as Inky - one of the ghosts from the Pac-Man video game.

Piper's reformation in this episode is not without precedent. In the original comics, Pied Piper was the first of The Rogue's Gallery to reform and become a part-time superhero. He primarily worked as a social crusader who fought for the poor and needy. He also outed himself as homosexual and became a vocal LGBT activist, noting the irony of his being the first Rogue to "go straight".


Technobabble

Caitlin determines that The Flash, Reverse Flash and Zoom all move their legs at essentially the same speed. What allows Zoom and Reverse Flash to move faster than Barry is their feet spending less time on the ground between strides, which propels them forward at least 30% faster.

Wally's adviser wants him to help her with a project based around pushing the speed limits of smaller propulsion systems.

Thawne advises using sound stimuli in Pied Piper's cell to counteract his tinnitus after removing his hearing aids.

Time Wraiths only go after time-travelers and speedsters who do not know what they are doing, according to Thawne.

Pied Piper is able to drive off the Time Wraith by projecting a certain frequency through all the speakers in the cells of the STAR Labs Pipeline. He theorizes an exact frequency could cause the Wraith to dissipate.

Cisco is unable to repair Pied Piper's gauntlets. The electron guns are fried and the battle with The Flash shorted the wave tubes and destroyed the amplifiers. Cisco also doesn't know how to manipulate the frequency variance.

Thawne says the key to increasing Barry's speed is tachyon enhancement.

In the present day, Piper is able to disperse the Time Wraith by using a sonic blast that is low in frequency and high in intensity.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Opening Narration)
Barry: I let it happen again. I trusted someone I shouldn't have. Jay Garrick. Zoom. Just like I trusted Harrison Wells. Or Eobard Thawne. You see what I mean? I made the same mistake twice. I thought they wanted to teach me how to use my powers, train me to get faster. But they didn't come here to help me. They came to use me. And take everything I love away from me. But no more. I'm going to crack the code, figure out how to improve my speed. I'm going to train harder, get stronger and run faster than anyone's ever run before. And then I'm going to stop Zoom.

(Regarding The Time Wraith)
Barry: Can you track it?
Cisco: What is it with you guys? It's liek you all think I have ESP or something. I can't just magically sense where things are!

Thawne: Have a seat.
Barry: Is this about the speed equation?
Thawne: As a matter of fact, it is.
Barry: (sitting down) Oh, great! Okay. Good. So you figured it out?
Thawne: Mmm-hmmm.
(Thawne stands up from his wheelchair and strikes Barry across the back of the head, knocking him out.)
Thawne: Yes. I figured it out.

Barry: The Speed Force. You manipulated it. How did you do that?
Thawne:  (pacing around the room) No. (pauses) No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nooooo.  You'd only come here if something went wrong. If you're still alive, then that means... I haven't beaten you. If you're still alive. ..That means my plan fails. And it my plan fails (throws chair) I don't get to go home and if that's the case...
(Thawne begins vibrating his hand at super-speed and lowers it to Barry's head)
Barry: No! No! No! Hey! Hey! Hey! It's the opposite! You trick me. You harness my speed. We turn on the accelerator and create a path for you to go home. I go back in time. You go back to yours. You won!
Thawne: Then why are you here? Why are you here now?!
Barry: Because when I got back a singularity had formed. And now the only way for me to learn how to get faster and stop the singularity from happening was to come here. Now.
Thawne: Well that's good to know. (sighs) There's just... just one thing that occurs to me. I don't need you. Do I? Not THIS you, certainly. Oops! You probably should have thought of that before you came here. Shame... (laughs) You ran all the way back here just to die.
Barry: You kill me, Barry... this Barry - your Barry? He learns it all. There's a hidden letter telling him how it ends. How to beat you. Everything. Anything happens to me? You never make it back home.
(Thawne just stares at Barry)
Barry: Go on. Kill me Thawne. See how this all ends.
(Thawne paces around the room and then sits back down)
Barry: Now, you're going to help me get faster.

It's a quick moment but Cisco's playing Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up through the speakers of Piper's cell and staring at him expectantly is a nice gag.

Past Barry: Okay. So I'm - who are - who are you?
Caitlin: Who is he? Who are you?!
Past Barry: What do you - I'm Barry. I'm Barry! Your Barry! He's -
Cisco: Your doppleganger!
Barry: No. Not yet. I am you, Barry. Just... different.
Cisco: Wait a second - how do we know which one's the real Barry?
Past Barry: Dude! Okay. I've watched Wrath of Khan with you like five times.
Cisco: (pointing to Barry) Impostor!
Barry: Yeah. And every time, at the end, you turn to me and you say, "I have been and always shall be your friend."
Cisco: (the hand pointing at Barry makes the Spock gesture as Cisco points at Past Barry with his other hand) Haha! You impostor!
(Caitlin just squints at Past Barry, shaking her head as Cisco points to both Barrys and looks confused)
Cisco: What is going on here?
Barry: Okay guys. I'm sorry. This was not supposed to happen. The tranq dart that Caitlin made was supposed to last a lot longer.
Caitlin: I did -NOT- give him a tranq dart.
Barry:  Okay, no, yes. Not you. The you from the time that I am from.
Past Barry: The time that you are from?
Thawne: I think what he's trying to say is he's from the future.
Past Barry: The future?
Thawne: Yeah.
Past Barry: The fu-
Thawne: Yes.
Past Barry: Wait, the fu-
Thawne: Yes.
Past Barry: Are we saying I can time-travel?
Barry: One day.
Cisco: Oh. That explains the white on the symbol. But wait a second. Suppose we now change your emblem, because we got the idea from this. Or, I mean, that would mean...
Thawne: (to Cisco) Stop talking (to Barry) You stop talking too.

Harry: I don't know what I've done.
Barry: You did what you thought you had to do. You risked your life to save her. You brought her here to protect her from Zoom. You acted like a father.
Harry: Like a father. You know, my wife had to... talk me into having kids. Kids. They're small, loud, run around... All I needed was my science and my job for my joy and happiness. And then... the moment we had her, all that I wanted was... her love. Now? I wonder if I'll ever see that again.It seems every decision I've made lately has backfired on me.
Barry: You just have to trust that in the long run you made the right ones.

Eddie: What does Iris mean to me? Wow. You know, a lot of times I have a hard time figuring out what to say to people. But when it comes to you, Iris, I don't. Because with you, everything that used to feel tough just doesn't anymore. It's one of the things I love about you. You don't need me. You can handle anything on your own, because...you're fearless. And independent. Loving. Kind. You are, without question, the best decision I ever made, Iris West. And I never thanked you for choosing to be with me. Because each day with you is a gift. So, thank you. You deserve the world, Iris. You deserve to be happy. And nobody wants that more for you than me. Happy Birthday, baby!  I love you.

(Closing Narration)
Barry: Sometimes the only way to move forward is to revisit the things in the past that were holding you back. You have to deal with them head on, no matter how scary they may be. Because once you do, you'll see that you can go further than you ever imagined.


Continuity

Cisco has another vision of Zoom dangling a woman over a roof-ledge when he approaches Jay Garrick's helmet.

Cisco refers back to the events of 213 and how well Barry impersonated himself on Earth 2, when Barry suggests going back in time one year and pretending to be his old self.

Barry refers to how he saw his mother's death in 123.

Barry travels back to the time of 111, just as he was first fighting The Pied Piper.

As Barry is running to the past, we see visions of The Singularity opening and Eddie Thawne getting shot (123) and his second fight with Pied Piper (111).

Barry's first change to the past comes when the comms on his cowl cause interference due to his proximity to his past self. This interference is noticed in STAR Labs, and forces Barry to more directly take out his past self to deactivate his comms.

Barry's second change comes when he warns Cisco about Pied Piper's hearing aids also being potentially explosive. This prevents Piper from escaping as well as his second battle with The Flash from occurring.  This leaves Piper in his cell when the Time Wraith first attacks STAR Labs and he is able to use his gauntlets to drive it off.

Thawne says they'll make Piper some non-explosive hearing aids that will treat his condition. This may be what leads to the changed timeline in the crossover episode with Supergirl (S118), where Barry is able to create ear-pieces that counter the abilities of Silver Banshee.

While in the past, Barry has Eddie Thawne record a special message for Iris, so he can give it to her in the present just before the anniversary of his death.

The third change Barry makes is in revealing himself to Cisco and Caitlin, after his past self recovers from the tranquilizer much faster than expected.

The fourth change Barry makes is telling Cisco to ask Pied Piper about Ronne Raymond, since the chance Cisco had for Piper to bribe him with the information won't happen in the altered timeline.

In the altered timeline, Pied Piper is reformed and reconciled with his parents.  He also knows Barry's secret identity and is apparently on friendly terms with the STAR Labs team.

Harry Wells is still trying to find Jesse as of this episode.

Harry says it's easier to find a two-ton gorilla on Earth 1 than a teenage daughter, in reference to 207.


Untelevised Adventures

Thawne refers to having met other speedsters besides Barry Allen.


The Fridge Factor

Caitlin briefly mentions that she wants to stop Zoom as badly as Barry does. It's good that they mentioned it, but it still seems like they are brushing the fact that Caitlin's trust in Jay Garrick was abused far more than Barry's.  As betrayed as Barry feels by having had yet another mentor betray him, that's nowhere near as serious as Caitlin being romanced by a super-villain who was lying to her from day one.


The Boomerang Factor

Again, Barry totally forgets his previous experiences attempting to alter things in the past or in an alternate reality.  This time, however, things seem to work out for the better, with Pied Piper now apparently an ally of Team Flash in the present.


The Bottom Line

A great episode, flawed only in that we could have used some more time to establish how things changed with Pied Piper. It's still one of the best episode of the series ever.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 11 - The Sound And The Fury

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



Plot

Two years ago, Hartley Rathaway had a promising career at STAR Labs but a falling out with his mentor Harrison Wells left him broken emotionally.  Then the particle accelerator accident broke him physically, leaving him permanently deaf and in excruciating pain.

Now, Hartley has used his knowledge of sonic technologies to fix his hearing and empower himself. Calling himself The Pied Piper, he's out to make Harrison Wells pay for his crimes.  For Hartley knows about a secret Dr. Wells has been hiding for quite some time....even from the rest of the STAR Labs team!

Of course The Flash can outrun sound... but can he out-think the mad genius who is out to destroy his mentor and friend?


Influences

Various The Flash comics over the past 55 years, including The Flash #106 - the first appearance of The Pied Piper.


Flash Facts

The episode title - The Sound and The Fury - is taken from the name of a classic American novel by William Faulkner. That title itself comes from a line from William Shakespeare's Macbeth - "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Early in the episode, we get to see The Flash take on The Royal Flush Gang.  We don't get to see if this is the same group of criminals from the Arrow episode Legacies (A106) but it would not be unprecedented for another group to have taken on the name.

In the comics and cartoons, various groups known as The Royal Flush gang formed under the command of various super-villains including Amos Fortune, Hector Hammond and even The Joker! Most versions of the gang featured five members - Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten - although one version in Superman: Man of Steel #121 had cells in cities around the United States consisting of 52 members each.

Iris gets a job with the Central City Picture News. In the comics, this is the name of Central City's major newspaper - their equivalent of The Daily Planet.  In the comics, however, Iris started off as a photographer rather than a reporter.

Hartley Rathaway is based on a classic Flash villain know as The Pied Piper. Born to a wealthy family, young Hartley was found to be deaf at an early age. After an experimental surgery restored his hearing, Hartley became obsessed with sound and sonic technologies. A scientific genius, Hartley found a way to hypnotize people through music and to generate tremendous damage with focused vibrations.

Hartley would later reform and become a social crusader who fought for the poor and needy. He also outed himself as homosexual and became a vocal LGBT activist, noting the irony of his being the first Rogue to "go straight".

In the New 52 universe, Hartley is exclusively dating David Singh - Barry Allen's superior officer. The DCTV universe version of Captain Singh was revealed to be gay in 108.

As in the comics, the DCTV version of Hartley was disowned by his family due to his sexuality.  In the Silver Age comics, he was disowned to his criminal activities.

Iris' unwilling mentor at the Central City Picture News is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter named Mason Bridge. In the comics, Mason Trollbridge was the name of a reporter friend of Wally West - the second Flash.  Trollbridge also had a brief career as the second crime-fighter known as The Clipper.  The first Clipper was a Depression-era hero whom a young Mason had briefly assisted as an unnamed boy wonder.

Iris asks her editor if she should call him Chief. This is a nod to a running gag in the Superman comics, where Daily Planet editor Perry White continually tells people - Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent in particular - not to call him Chief.

Cisco is caught in the vibrational shockwave of Pied Piper's technology when Hartley escapes the pipeline. Could this be what triggers Cisco's metahuman powers, turning the DCTV version of Cisco Ramon into this world's version of Vibe?

At one point Harrison Wells makes reference to The Norris Commission.  This may be named in honor of Paul Norris - a Golden Age comic artist responsible for co-creating Aquaman, Roy Harper, The Sandman and Sandy The Golden Boy.

The end of the episode marks the first mention of The Speed Force - the energy field in the DC Comics universe that empowers most heroes with super-speed.


Technobabble

The glass in Harrison Well's home did not have any point of impact when it broke.

Magnetic flux is measured by Hall Effect pick-up.

The dual of a parallel R-C circuit is a series R-L circuit.

Everything has a natural frequency Since sound is expressed as a vibration, if the pitch of a sound can be made to match the natural frequency of an object, it can be made to shatter the object. This principal is most frequently observed in a singer holding a note that can shatter glass.

The radio transmitter in The Flash suit broadcasts on a frequency of 1900 MHz.

The Pied Piper has special hearing aids that treat the pain caused by the head trauma he sustained during the particle accelerator explosion.  They also enhance his hearing to the point where he can hear radio waves.

The particle accelerator's anti-proton cavities were converted into confinement cells by Cisco.

Pied Piper was able to devise a hexagonal algorithm that allowed him to track where The Flash was coming from whenever he went to stop a crime to STAR Labs.

Pied Piper's equipment utilizes sonic resonance. The intensity regulator on his gauntlets measures in decibels. The lowest setting is capable of shattering windows. At high levels, it could destroy an entire skyscraper in one blast.

Pied Piper's hearing aid is capable of being refashioned into a device capable of blowing a vault door into pieces. He uses this to escape from The Pipeline.

Harrison Wells makes reference to a 10 volume report issued by the Norris Commission regarding the STAR Labs particle accelerator malfunctioning.

Cisco is unable to track Pied Piper's broadcast signals. He finally tracks Pied Piper by monitoring seismic activity, theorizing his sonic attacks may cause tremors.

In chess, a discovered attack is one you don't see until it is too late to counter.

Wells makes use of a satellite radio to broadcast a signal that will disrupt Pied Piper's technology.


Dialogue Triumphs

Cisco: We need a picture!
Barry: Pretty sure Rule Number One of having a secret identity is NOT taking pictures in your super suit without a mask on.
Cisco: Oh, come on! Please? This is just for us. Just to document all this.
Harrison: Who knows? Maybe people in the future will want to know how all this happened.

Hartley: We both know what you did. It's time to pay the piper!

The Flash: It's over, Rathaway.
Pied Piper: You know my name? I know some names too. Caitlin Snow. Cisco Ramon. Harrison Wells. I can hear the radio waves emanating from your suit. About 1900 MHz. Is that them on the other end listening? Are they going to hear you die?
The Flash: No. They're going to hear you get your ass kicked.

Pied Piper: Being scooped up by a guy clad in head-to-toe leather is a long-time fantasy of mine, so thanks!

Caitlin: The next time you choose to put our lives and the lives of the people we love at risk, I'll expect a heads up.

Iris: I may not have a lot of experience, but I have -
Mason: Spunk? Grit? Gumption? What is this? A Chick-Lit novel?

Barry: The people we admire aren't always who we'd like them to be.

Harrison: Has Hartley made contact yet?
Caitlin: What makes you so sure he will?
Harrison: Because he's Hartley and he'll want to have the last word.


Continuity

Cisco is a competent enough hacker to change stop-lights.

Barry is now fast enough to take a picture with a camera phone, run into the shot and then run back and catch the phone before it can hit the ground.

Iris is hired as a reporter at Central City Picture News based on her blog. While she intends to become a real reporter, she finds that her editor is only interested in her ability to get scoops on The Flash.

Cisco was hired at STAR Labs one year before the particle accelerator accident.  At that point, Caitlin and Ronnie Raymond had been dating for one year but were not yet engaged.

Rathaway Industries was founded by Hartley Rathaway's grandfather and his father expanded the company. Hartley was poised to inherit everything until he outed himself.

Hartley was responsible for helping design and build the STAR Labs particle accelerator.

Hartley is capable of speaking Spanish, French and Latin.  Cisco speaks Spanish. Caitlin speaks French. Harrison Wells speaks Latin.  Barry, to his embarrassment, did not take a foreign language in school.

Wells confesses to Caitlin, Cisco and Barry that Hartley warned him that the particle accelerator might explode and that he decided to activate it anyway. He later makes the same confession at a press conference.

Cisco is caught in the vibrational shockwave generated by Hartley's technology as he escapes. He is left concussed by the experience.

Wells claimed Hartley left STAR Labs around the time of the particle accelerator explosion. We find out later in a flashback that Wells fired Hartley when he said that he knew that the accelerator might explode. Wells further threatened to ruin Hartley's career if he went public with that knowledge.

At his press conference, Harrison Wells calls on unknown cub reporter Iris West, hinting that he knows something of her destiny to become a great reporter.

Joe West and Eddie Thawne decide to start investigating Harrison Wells after being unable to find anything about his past in his house.

Hartley claims to know where Ronnie Raymond can be found, what happened to him when the particle accelerator exploded and how he can be saved.

Harrison Wells' use of a wheelchair is not entirely an act. We see him loose his ability to walk during Pied Piper's escape from The Pipeline and mutter "not again".

Later, we see Wells using the tachyon device from 109 to treat his unnamed condition,  At maximum output, the Speed Force absorption rate is at 35% and rising, though this is past the acceptable tolerance range.  This is not enough to allow Wells to stabilize. He says he cannot hang on to his speed and he can't control it.  However, Wells notes the tachyon device was only ever mean to be a temporary fix.


The Boomerang Factor

For someone with many secrets, Harrison Wells is remarkably nonchalant about walking around in front of windows that offer a clear view into his home.


The Bottom Line

An interesting episode, but not for the reasons I think the creative team intended.  The Pied Piper is decent enough but what really sells this episode is Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells.  By this point, the viewers know far more than the characters do but even we are in the dark as to what Wells motivations are and just how much of the truth we know... if indeed we even know the truth!  Wells is a manipulator - that much is certain.  But is he continuing to manipulate his employees at STAR Labs even now?  Or does he honestly enjoy their company in spite of his villainous plans?  That is the crux of this episode and Cavanagh plays it perfectly.