The Flash Episode Guide: Season 9, Episode 13 - A New World, Part Four

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

Plot

With Eddie Thawne embracing the identity of Cobalt Blue and assembling a brute squad of the worst evil speedsters in history, Team Flash will be tested as never before.

Influences

The Flash comics of Mark Waid and Mike Baron.


Goofs

Cecile wears her Virtue costume from the future in the fight with the evil speedsters. (While it's entirely possible she asked Chester to make her a suit based on the design she saw, it's unlikely he would have had time to make it in the space of time since Cecile saved Barry in the last episode.)

Cecile's being able to fly with her telekinesis comes out of left field, even if Virtue had that power in the comics. (Maybe Cecile got the idea while making mental contact with her future self?)  

When Khione says goodbye to Team Flash, Barry says it has been one week since the battle with Cobalt Blue and his gang and, logically, one week since Nora's birth. The next scene opens with a title card reading "One Week Later," with Joe saying that Iris gave birth to Nora a week ago. By that point, it should have been two weeks since Nora's birth.

Performances

Jesse L. Martin steals every brief scene he is in.

Artistry

The montage of Iris remembering her life with Barry as Joe sings Baby Nora to sleep is nicely done.

Flash Facts

The subtitle of this episode is Finale, according to the title card, but the subtitle does not feature in the actual episode title.

This marks the final episode of the first and only four-part episode in the show's history.

The episode was supposed to feature the return of Cisco Ramon, but actor Carlos Valdes was unable to appear due to schedule conflicts.

The episode was rewritten at the last minute to give Barry a happier ending. The original plan had been for him to sacrifice himself to become the new personification of the Speed Force and replace Speed Force Nora. We can see vestiges of this in the final scene, where Barry shares his power with three new speedsters.

Barry's opening and closing monologues mirror his opening monologue in 101.

Jay Garrick steals the speed from Cobalt Blue. This is a classic trick perfected by the Wally West Flash, who could boost his powers by draining the kinetic energy form other objects in motion. 

This episode confirms that Chester Runk has black hole powers, In the Mike Baron Flash comics where Chester P. Runk was introduced, Chester was a morbidly obese man who became a living black hole capable of absorbing almost anything into his mass.

Chester's powers are generated by a consciousness-honed universally neutralized Kerr anomaly in his genes. This is a shout out to his codename in the comics, Chunk.

Upon learning that he has powers, Chester says "Dazzling Dwayne McDuffie." This is a nod to legendary comics writer Dwayne McDuffie, who is best known as one of the founders of Milestone Media and for his work writing the Justice League Unlimited show.

Barry shares the Speed Force with three new Speedsters. The first of them is Avery Ho. In the comics, Avery Ho is the Flash of the Justice League of China. 

The Arrowverse version of Avery Ho first appeared in 806, where she helped XS and Impulse to fix the timeline.

The second new speedster to be empowered is Max Mercury. In the comics, Max Mercury was an alias used by a time-traveling speedster  Originally the Quality Comics hero Quicksilver (no relation to the Marvel Comics character),Mark Waid fleshed out his background to make him an 1830s US Army cavalry scout who befriend several Native American tribes. Max has gone by many names, including Windrunner, Whip Whirlwind and Lightning.

The Arrowverse Max Mercury lives in modern times and is apparently a motorcycle enthusiast.

The last new speedster Barry empowers is named Jess Chambers. In the comics, Jess Chambers is the non-binary Flash of Earth-11. The Arrowverse Jess Chambers resembles the comic book version.

Technobabble

Barry tells Team Flash to execute delta maneuvers before they split up and fight Cobalt Blue's team.

Chillblaine determines that Chester's blood generates Hawking radiation at a molecular level. This is the same kind of energy found in black holes. 

Chester's genes contain a consciousness-honed universally neutralized Kerr anomaly, or CHUNK.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Reverse Flash reveals himself to Zoom and Godspeed.)
Zoom: You're Harry Wells. You're the man who helped the Flash defeat me.
Godspeed: No. That's Thawne. The man who helped the Flash defeat me. Any last words, Thawne? 

Reverse Flash: Never wear white after Labor Day. And Zoloman-- ( chuckles ) Love your work. Although slightly derivative, don't you think? Pretending to be the Flash's ally. Let's see. Who's playbook is that from? 

Zoon: Are you mocking me? 

Reverse Flash: Now, you're catching on. 


Khione: The more I embrace who I truly am, the more I see the natural order of things. You say balance is about violence and death, but it doesn't have to be that way. Nature is about more than balance. It's about coexistence. All things living together. Not in conflict, but in mutual trust. 

Barry: Khione, the last avatar I faced... I sat down. I stopped fighting. Thawne didn't. You want coexistence, but I'm sorry. It's impossible. 

Khione: Then you need to believe in the impossible because it's the only way to create a better world.

Continuity

Barry returns to 2023 and runs to the hospital where Iris is still giving birth to Nora.

Chester reports that there's no sign of temporal fracturing yet, but Barry says it has already started in 2049.

Zoom, who died in 223, is pulled out of time at the moment of his death, into the Negative Speed Force.

Eddie's  lair in the Negative Speed Force resembles Dr. Malcolm Gilmore's house, which was Joe West's home.

Godspeed is pulled out of time from an undetermined point. He says he was about to slit Impulse's throat.

Eobard Thawne, in the guise of Harrison Wells, explains that they are in the Negative Speed Force.

Zoom thinks Thawne is Harry Wells at first, but Godspeed recognizes him as Thawne in Wells' body.

Savitar appears next, apparently pulled from time just before Iris West shot him in 323.

Eddie Thawne reveals himself and explains that all four evil speedsters are dead, resurrected by the Negative Speed Force from just before the moment of their death. This is the first confirmation that Eobard Thawne finally died for good in 820.

Eddie says that Godspeed dies in 2052.

Eddie creates a suit of armor for himself and invites the other villains help him destroy The Flash and his legacy.

Barry gets to the hospital about an hour before Iris is expected to give birth.

Eddie shows up at the hospital calling himself Cobalt Blue. He brings blue flowers for Iris 

Eddie plans to kill Barry, which will kill the Speed Force, and allow for the creation of a new world where the Negative Speed Force will rule unopposed. Eddie doesn't care because, in this reality, he can be the hero Barry was and have the life with Iris he wanted.

Nora runs in and saves Barry. She says that Cecile telepathically called to her across time.

Chillblaine, Khione, Allegra, Cecile and Nora join with Barry to face Cobalt Blue, Savitar, Zoom, Godspeed and Reverse Flash. This collective of villains is later named the Legion of Zoom.

Barry faces Cobalt Blue

Cecile takes on Godspeed.

Chillblaine and Khione fight Zoom.

Allegra goes after Reverse-Flash.

Nora goes after Savitar. 

Savitar attempts to impale Nora like he did Iris in the future where Iris died. Nora phases through his blade, breaks it, and uses it to shank Savitar.

Godspeed creates multiple clones of himself to fight Cecile, but she brings him down with a telepathic attack.

Reverse-Flash goes to STAR Labs and attacks Chester with a lightning attack. For some reason, it doesn't kill Chester (although it does hurt him) 

Zoom is hemmed in by a CCPD roadblock set up by Chief David Singh, Captain Kristen Kramer and Officer Daisy Korber.  Apparently Khione called them in.

Reference is made to Zoom killing multiple CCPD officers in The Flash Season 2.

Barry confronts Cobalt Blue in CC Jitters.

Khione absorbs the lighting Zoom throws at her and throws it right back at him.

Reverse-Flash makes reference to Nash Wells and his relationship mentoring Allerga.

Allegra takes Reverse-Flash out with a major light blast. She then tends to the unconscious Chuck, who suddenly wakes up gasping.

Cobalt Blue threatens to kill the people in CC Jitters unless Barry allows himself to be killed.

Jay Garrick shows up and steals the speed energy out of Cobalt Blue. He says this was a trick his Earth-90 counterpart taught him.  (The Earth-90 Flash did the same thing to Barry in 609, so he could sacrifice himself in Barry's place.)

Cobalt Blue drains the Negative Speed Force power from the resurrected speedsters and retreats into the Negative Speed Force. As he does this, the temporal fracturing reaches 2023.

Jay says that is Cobalt Blue tries to absorb too much Negative Speed Force energy, he will overload and kill himself, like Eobard Thawne in 820.

Chillblaine and Jay think that letting Eddie kill himself may be the only way to save the timeline, but Barry thinks he can make Eddie see reason. 

Khione says she can get Barry into the Negative Speed Force.

Khione says that Barry needs to change Eddie's viewpoint and that they need to encourage coexistence between the Positive and Negative forces.

Barry confronts Cobalt Blue in a Negative Speed Force space that now looks like his and Iris' loft, but with photos of Iris and Eddie together.

Eddie punches Barry, shouting that he always wins. This echoes a line repeated by the Reverse Flash when he fought Barry in 123. This prompts Barry to point out that Eddie is becoming the very villain he sacrificed himself to stop.

Eddie smashes the Cobalt Blue crystal and agrees to remain the Negative Speed Force avatar in order to maintain the balance. He asks Barry to tell Iris he is happy for her.

Barry returns to the hospital just in time for Nora's birth. 

Jay Garrick confirms the temporal fracturing has stopped.

Chester says he feels fine, apart from being oddly hungry after his fight with Reverse Flash.

Chillblaine theorizes that when Chester bonded with a black hole in 601, some of the cosmic energy bonded with him. This gives him some passive ability to absorb energy.

Joe West, Cecile, Chester, Allegra, Chillblaine and Khione all wait at the hospital.

Cecile makes reference to giving birth to Jenna during 423.

Nora also joins the team, but wonders if she is breaking some kind of timeline rules by being present at her own birth.  Chester and Chillblaine say they think they are okay.

Timeless Wells, the original Earth-1 Harrison Wells, appears to Khione. He confirms the threat of the Negative Speed Force is past and it is time for Khione to ascend and become the protector of the natural order she is meant to be.

Khione says she has to say goodbye to her family first. 

Nora is born without complications.

Chester agrees to take care of Khione's plants.

When Khione ascends, Caitlin Snow is left in her place. It is presumed that Khione was just using Khione's physical body.

A homecoming party is held for Nora and Iris one week after Khione ascends.

Future Nora and Timeless Wells attend the party along with Jay Garrick, Joan Garrick, Chief Singh, Captain Kramer, and several of Iris' employees.

Caitlin is overheard talking to her mother on the phone and promising she will visit her soon, so she can run more tests to make sure she is fine.

Barry apologizes for destroying Caitlin's lab in 816.

Caitlin says she will carry Frost's legacy with her and that what she was doing trying to bring her back was unnatural. 

Joe proposes to Cecile. She accepts.

Barry is shown reading a copy of The Runaway Dinosaur. This was his favorite book as a child, as revealed in 221.

Barry creates lightning bolts to give three people a connection to the Speed Force: Avery Ho, Max Mercury and Jess Chambers.  He runs along the same landing strip at Ferris Air where he first used his speed voluntarily in 101 to do this.

Avery Ho was last seen in 806.

When we see Avery, she is calling in late to work, claiming she had car trouble despite not having a car. Barry Allen did the same thing in 101.

Barry made reference to Max Mercury in 815, as he was looking through time using the Still Force.

Untelevised Adventures

Reference is made to a fight between Impulse and Godspeed, in which Godspeed was about to slit Impulse's throat before he was pulled out of time.

Godspeed dies in the year 2052.

Jay Garrick met The Flash of Earth-90 at some point and learned how to drain the speed from other speedsters.

Nora says the 24 hours around Bart Allen's birth is even crazier than her own.

The Boomerang Factor

The resurrected evil speedsters are beaten far too easily.


The Bottom Line

A lackluster end to a lackluster season, drowning in nostalgia for better days. The best parts of the episode are shot-outs to the show's greatest moments, but those only serve to highlight just how bad this show became toward the end.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 8 - What's Past is Prologue

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



Plot

Team Flash comes up with a plan to stop Cicada, but it requires time travel and Barry showing Nora some parts of his life he'd rather not revisit. Meanwhile, Sherloque approaches Cisco with his concerns over Nora and Caitlin discovers a surprising asset to use against Cicada.


Influences

Every show that's ever had a clip show. Back To The Future (Ralph plays Huey Lewis' "Back In Time.")


Goofs

Barry and Nora are running around the past in their civilian clothes with none of the usual problems when a speedeter runs above a certain speed (i.e. catching on fire.)

After the Speed Force Transmitter is broken, why doesn't Barry take it to Harry Wells before he lost his intelligence? (Well, we wouldn't get to have Thawne in the story otherwise...)

We are told that Cicada fought Supergirl and a number of other metahumans with no trouble. How is that possible if, as this episode suggests, his powers only work on metahumans created by dark matter exposure?  (Perhaps his meta-tech works on aliens and magicians as well?)


Flash Facts

The episode title comes from William Shakespeaere's The Tempest. Act II, Scene 1.

When Eobard Thawne meets Nora, he makes several guesses as to who she is. These include Jesse Chambers (maybe Lawrence) and Danica Williams.

Jesse Chambers was the real name of Jesse Quick in the comics, though her mother's maiden name was Lawrence and she did go by Jesse Lawrence for a time.

Danica Williams is the name of The Flash from Justice League Beyond.

When Thawne realizes Nora is Barry's daughter, he guesses that her name is Dawn. In the Pre-Crisis DC Comics Universe, Barry and Iris had twins - Don and Dawn Allen - who inherited Barry's powers and became known as The Tornado Twins.

The Gideon AI in The Time Vault in 2014 recognizes Nora West-Allen as XS and says that she is the fifth recruit for the rebooted Legion. In the original DC Comics Universe, The Legion of Super Heroes was rebooted for the first time in 1994 and XS (who, in this reality, was Barry Allen's granddaughter Jenni Ognats) was created specifically for the new team.


Technobabble

Nora suggests creating a weapon more powerful than Cicada's dagger, akin to a super-charged magnet. Cisco says they don't have anything that powerful as the old STAR Labs satellite was was made of a heavy-duty, micro-composite alloy.

What Nora's suggestion requires is an indestructible alloy with super-magnetic properties and the ability to negate dark matter.

Eventually, they realize they could make such a thing out of a piece of Savitar's armor, the Speed Force transmitter Zoom used to steal Barry Allen's speed and the exact same energy released during the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator explosion.

They then need to plant the item near the hospital where Grace Gibbons is resting so it will be accessible in the present. This is known as a time hack.

Nora tells Sherloque that the language in her journal is a special time language she invented that is used to record events regardless of changes in the timeline. That way, no matter what happens on her trip to the past, she'll be able to remember what she learned about her father.


Dialogue Triumphs

Sherloque: Look, as always, I respect your spirit, Barry Allen, but as long as Cicada has his dagger to dampen your powers, there's no stopping him. 
Barry: So let's destroy his dagger.
Ralph: How are we gonna do that? Unless we have some kind of... power-dampening dagger power dampener hidden away in storage?
Cisco: We don't. But if we did, we'd come up with a much better way of saying that.

(As Barry and Nora begin to run around the pipeline building up speed to time travel, Ralph reaches over and turns on his music player.  "Back In Time" by Huey Lewis and The News begins to play. Iris, Caitlin and Cisco slowly turn to look at him with disapproval.)
Ralph: What?! When am I gonna get the chance to do that?

Thawne: You know what's funny about your dad, Nora? He hates me. Hates me with a passion. And yet ... a version of him, this Savitar, is a much bigger jerk than I ever was.

(Cicada is moving in on The Flash with his dagger. Everyone is downed except Caitlin, who had her gun knocked away. There is no one to stop him. Until...)
Caitlin: No!
(Caitlin changes into Killer Frost in a second and unloads a full icy blast into Cicada, sending him flying into the side of a van, crumpling its wall.  Cicada picks himself up, looking confused as to why his dagger isn't working on this metahuman.)
Killer Frost: Let's dance, cricket freak.

(Nora stops running in front of a cell in Iron Heights prison in 2049. We see a figure looking at a video screen opposite the glass cell wall.)
Nora: We need to talk
(The figure shuts off the monitor and slowly turns around.)
Thawne: Yes, Nora.
(The figure steps out into the light, revealing himself to be Eobard Thawne, in the guise of Harrison Wells.)
Thawne: Yes we do.

(A Caption Box reads Earth-90 as we see the aftermath of a war and numerous people in costumes lying on the ground, dead. Eventually we come to a figure in a somewhat familiar red suit crawling on the ground toward a large book that is glowing purple. A figure walks over and picks the book up before he can reach it.)
The Monitor: You failed.
(The figure in red pulls himself up to his knees. It is The Flash. Not the Flash we know, but definitely The Flash.)
The Flash: (gasping) Why are you doing this?
The Monitor: You did this to yourselves. And now... all of you will perish.
(The Monitor opens the book and light pours from it. As he does so, The Flash stands and runs toward the camera, as a familiar theme to older comic book TV show fans plays, as we zoom in on his chest symbol....) 


Continuity

Ralph and Sherloque determine that Orlin Dwyer grew up somewhere in the American Midwest, was in and out of the Juvenile Offenders program as a teenager and went off the grid before emerging in Central City a few years earlier. He works part time at Szrek Chemicals. His boss says he keeps to himself, is kind of a lonerand gave a fake address on his application. He was given custody of his niece, Grace Gibbons, after her parents were killed by a metahuman.

Cisco determines that the best dates for Barry to attempt to retrieve what they need are May 23, 2017 (The date of the final battle with Savitar where his armor was destroyed in 323), August 19, 2016 (the day Zoom drained Barry's speed in 218) and the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. (December 11, 2013, as seen in 101.)

Sherloque asks Cisco about the code in Nora's journal. Cisco says Barry was writing in the same language when he left the Speed Force in 401, but Cisco was only able to translate one sentence of it - "This house is bitchin'." This turned out to be the first thing Nora said upon visiting Joe West's house in 423.

A Time Wraith shows up because there are three versions of Barry Allen at one point in time. Barry distracts it while Nora retrieves the piece of Savitar's armor they need.

Nora is stunned to see that Savitar was another version of Barry Allen and that Iris West killed him.

Nora sees Iris comforting a disheartened Barry after he's lost his powers.

Barry runs Harry Wells in STAR Labs. It is Barry who gives Harry the idea to try and track Jesse Wells by taking advantage of the fact that people from other Earths have different vibrational frequencies.

Barry stops Harry from destroying the Speed Force Transmitter.

Before Barry and Nora can escape into the time stream, Zoom senses them and chases after them. They are able to evade him and send the Time Wraith after him, but the Speed Force Transmitter is broken in the process.

Barry realizes they have traveled slightly further back in time, to the events of 217, when he traveled back a year to get training in going faster by Eobard Thawne when he was still masquerading as Harrison Wells.

Thawne repairs the Speed Force Transmitter for Barry and Nora. It is suggested by the way Thawne acts toward Nora that he knows who she is and is just playing dumb to that fact.

As Barry and Nora sneak around STAR Labs, they go past Grodd's cage.

Nora had no idea why Eboard Thawne was her dad's arch-enemy or that he had killed her grandmother.

Dr. Ambres is revealed to have been the doctor on duty when Barry Allen and Harrison Wells were brought into the hospital on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion.

Barry vibrates the weapon they've created into the middle of a column in front of the hospital.

Cicada's command of his danger has a great enough range that he can affect it even after it has been vibed into space.

It is determined that Cicada's powers do not effect metahumans like Killer Frost who were created without being exposed to Dark Matter.

Cicada flees before Killer Frost can totally immobilize him.

Sherloque asks Nora about the code in her journal. She says it is a time language she invented that can be used to record events regardless of changes to the timeline.

Sherloque was able to translate one sentence of Nora's journal - THE TIMELINE IS MALLEABLE

Nora goes back in time to see Dr. Henry Allen and Nora Allen on their last night together.

Nora is revealed to have been using Gideon in The Time Vault to send her journal entries forward in time to someone else.

Nora goes forward in time to 2049 deliver a message personally to the person she is sending information to in the future. The person is revealed to be Eobard Thawne, still in the body of Harrison Wells, who is incarcerated in Iron Heights Prison.

The final scene on Earth-90 was also shown at the end of .S408.


Location

Earth-90.


The Bottom Line

Lackluster as a 100th episode and fairly flat as a mid-season finale. Everything of importance happens in the last 15 minutes and nothing really changes apart from us having a more specific idea of why Nora can't be trusted and how Cicada will ultimately be beaten. Still, that teaser for Elseworlds.... wow!

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 23 - Finish Line

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



Plot

The Speed Force Bazooka has failed and Iris West is dead. Now, Team Flash struggles to move past their grief to find some way of stopping Savitar before he kills again.


Influences

The Flash: Terminal Velocity (Savitar, The Flash trying to save the life of the woman he loves after witnessing a dark future), The Flash: Out Of Time (The Flash fighting a corrupted future version of himself), The Flash: Lightning Strikes Twice (the Speed Force storms at the end of the episode) and Doctor Who (general wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey shenanigans and the use of the phrase Reverse The Polarity Of The Neutron Flow)


Goofs

Why didn't Savitar go chasing after HR and Iris himself? Even without the armor, he's got to be faster than Killer Frost.

Why doesn't Barry try to run HR to the hospital? If he's hanging on long enough to explain what he did and say his goodbyes, there's plenty of time for the Fastest Man Alive to get him to the ER.

How is it that everybody except HR forgets that Barry knowing about their plans is a bad thing?

Given the relative eternity Savitar had to hone his powers and become The God Of Speed, why didn't he also take the time to develop the skills he needed to build a quantum splicer himself?

Harry's speech to Tracy, while well-delivered, turns out to be completely pointless since Tracy doesn't wind up having to do anything for the rest of the episode except be heart-broken.

With Savitar having been removed from existence thanks to Iris not dying, shouldn't The Speed Force trap that contained Savitar also have blinked out of existence since there was no need for it ever to be made?

The one thing missing from this episode?  Jesse Quick. We really needed her to show up again to make this tribute to Season 3 feel complete.


Performances

It's hard to say who does a better job playing multiple versions of the same character here - Grant Gustin or Tom Tom Cavanagh,

After being given precious little to do this season, Candice Patton makes up for it here.


Artistry

The image of Barry outrunning the exploding Philosopher's Stone while carrying Iris is a striking one.


Flash Facts

Barry makes reference to begging his parents to take him to a science expo in Midway City as a child.  In the DC Comics Universe, Midway City was home to the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Depending on the story, it was either in Illinois and was based on Chicago (in much the same way Metropolis was based on New York City) or was located in Michigan, near Sault Ste. Marie.

Savitar makes reference to a villain named Devoe that Barry has yet to face, whose defeat required the use of a cerebral inhibitor. This is likely a reference to Cliff Devoe a.k.a. The Thinker - a Golden Age super-villain and enemy of the Jay Garrick Flash. Devoe was the District Attorney of Keystone City and - frustrated with his inability to put a major crime-boss away -  decided to switch sides. He offered his skills as a strategist to other criminals, eventually coming to head his own gang. He also took possession of a device he called The Thinking Cap, which further enhanced his intelligence and gave him the powers of telepathy and telekinesis.

In assessing the damage at STAR Labs, Cisco asks Wally to "reverse the polarity on the neutron flow". This is close to a stock phrase, "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", which was used in a good deal of science-fiction television.

The phrase was first used in the original Doctor Who series and was said by The Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee. Writer Terrence Dicks recalled that Pertwee had trouble remembering some of the technobabble the writers came up with but he did like the line "reverse the polarity" and asked Dicks to use the line more often. Dicks obliged. Curiously, while The Third Doctor often said "reverse the polarity", he only uttered the full phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" twice in the show's history. Future Doctors, however, did make use of the full phrase.


Technobabble

Julian - with the help of Caitlin's mother - develops an experimental gene therapy that will rewrite Caitlin's meta-DNA and restore her to normal.

Savitar asks Vibe to turn the Speed Force Bazooka into a intradimensonal quantum splicer. This device, once connected to The Speed Force, will allow Savitar to splice himself across all of time, existing at every possible moment.

Savitar refers to a device called a cerebral inhibitor that was used to stop a villain named Devoe.

By changing the polarity of the climbing arc on The Speed Force Bazooka, Cisco changed it into a Speed Force Skeleton Key which retrieved Jay Garrick from the prison in The Speed Force.

Cisco asks Wally, in trying to access the damage at STAR Labs following the Earthquake, to reverse the polarity on the neutron flow.

The earthquakes recorded by Central City University measured 6.6 and 7.2 on the Richter Scale.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry pulls up the future newspaper image in the Time Vault. It has changed back to how it originally was, with Iris-West Allen writing the story about The Flash's disappearance.)
Iris: Iris West-Allen.
Barry: It changed back!
(Iris gasps as the two hug. Joe looks at the image in disbelief.)
Joe: Does that mean what I think it means?
Barry: Yeah, Joe. The future is ours again.
(Barry pulls Joe into a group hug with Iris.)

(Savitar staggers as he has flashes of new memories. He begins to slowly and uneasily walk away from where Killer Frost has Vibe pinned down.)
Killer Frost: Savitar?
Savitar: (frantically) Something's...wrong!
Killer Frost: What is it?
Savitar: She's... not dead.
(Vibe looks up, hope starting to fill his face.)
Killer Frost: How is that possible?
Savitar: HR!  He took her place!
Vibe: (softly) HR...
Killer Frost: I- I thought you said HR lived?
Savitar: Not anymore!
Killer Frost: (thoughtfully) If Iris doesn't die...
Vibe: ... that means the future's changing.
Savitar: (moving towards Vibe) So is yours!

Barry: I wasn't sure you'd come. Must be an odd sensation? Getting new memories? You having an uncertain future.
Savitar: What do you want? I'm busy.
Barry: (laughs) Doing what? Getting erased from existence?
Savitar: We'll see which one of us gets erased.
Barry: Are you still planning on becoming a god?
Savitar: Cisco and Caitlin are still alive. If that's what you're worried about.
Barry: Oh, I know. You need them, right? To pull off your grand ascension?
Savitar: Look, Barry - if I wanted to talk to myself, I could have done that back at my lair. What do you want?
Barry: I want to help you.
Savitar: (scoffs) Really?
Barry: You don't have much time before the paradox reaches you. Come back to STAR Labs. Let Cisco and Caitlin go and let us figure out a way to save you.
Savitar: You really think I'd trust you?
Barry: You showed up. So you remember me coming here. Did I have any tricks up my sleeve? Was I.. was I planning on blindsiding you?
Savitar: I dunno, Barry. Maybe I get off on watching you grovel.
Barry: No, I don't think that's it. I think you're hearing me. I'm still in there. Deep down, buried beneath the scars and the pain, that part of you that... it must feel so lonely. But it also knows what it's like to have a family. To have friends. You can have all that back.We can stop hurting each other.
(There is a long pause as Savitar seems to consider this. Barry finally speaks again.)
Barry: I remember when I was six, and ah...I begged Mom and Dad to let me go to the science expo in Midway. And uh, well. we got a flat tire on that dirt road, no spare, so we were towed to that garage in a tiny little one-street town. Of course we were stuck there all day. And we got ice cream. And French fries with gravy at that little diner. And then that night we watched the local fireworks show.  Actually turned out to be a great day. And it's my favorite memory of Mom and Dad. What was the name of that town?
Savitar: (quietly) ... Masonville.
Barry: I'm still in there. Come home.

(Tracy is in her lab space at STAR Labs. Harry Wells enters behind her. Tracy sees his reflection, and spins around, gasping.)
Harry: I - uh, I'm not HR. My name is Harrison Wells. I'm from a different Earth.. in the Multiverse... how to explain this?
Tracy: ... you're his doppelganger?
Harry: ... yeah. Something like that. Look - these people? They're good people. And they need your help.
Tracy: By helping the bad guy that I spent weeks trying to stop? No! I won't do it. The only reason I agreed was because of HR.
Harry: HR needs your help.
Tracy: HR is dead!
Harry: That's why you need to stay! Because of what Savitar took from you! Because of what Savitar took from HR! Everything! HR paid the price that he did because he loved these people. Because he loved you. And because when the moment came, HR didn't run.

(Killer Frost blasts Savitar with the gun that Cisco made. Energy arcs between the gun, Savitar and the portal into The Speed Force. Suddenly, the energy shifts and Savitar, who momentarily seemed to be splitting into infinite versions of himself, is suddenly quite solid and held by the beam.)
Savitar: What?! No!
(Suddenly, a streak of yellow lightning comes from the portal and circles around, knocking Savitar down. Killer Frost drops the gun in shock as Jay Garrick - The Flash of Earth Three - comes to a stop before her, smiling.)
Jay Garrick: I've been waiting a long time to do that.
Savitar: Garrick?!  How did you-
Vibe: He didn't. I did.
(Vibe enters the scene with The Flash, Kid Flash and Gypsy. Vibe is holding Jay Garrick's helmet, which he tosses to him.) 
Vibe: By changing the polarity of the climbing arc, I changed your Speed Force Splicer into a Speed Force Skeleton Key. Didn't think I was actually going to let you become a god now, did you?

(Savitar charges at Barry, whose back is turned to him as he approaches Caitlin and Cisco. Suddenly, a shot rings out as Savitar falls to the ground. Everyone turns to see Iris West, holding a gun. Savitar stars to crumble into nothing as everyone looks at his body. Barry then moves to Iris, who hugs him.)
Iris: All these months you were trying to save me from him. Look at that - I saved you.

(Iris reaches to one side of the couch and pulls up a box.)
Iris: I can officially mail these.
Barry: What are these?
Iris: Save The Date cards for our wedding. On one of my braver days, I filled them out. I never mailed them not knowing if I would live to see the.ceremony... but now, I guess, it's safe to -
(There's a sudden rush of air as Barry disappears along with the box of invitations. He arrives back two seconds later, smiling widely.)
Barry: Delivered.
Iris: (slapping his shoulder) I wasted a lot of money on stamps, thank you very much!


Continuity

After Iris was captured, HR used the piece of Savitar's armor they still had from 316 to track him and find where Iris was being held. He then used his hologram generator to make himself look like Iris, and vice-versa, allowing Iris to escape while HR was captured in her place.

Before he dies, HR asks Barry to tell Cisco something for him. He also tells Tracy that he loves her and that her future will be glorious.

Barry confirms that the future newspaper story about his disappearing on April 25, 2024 is once again written by Iris West-Allen.

Julian is revealed to have been working on a cure for Caitlin with Caitlin's mother.

Savitar reveals that his Plan B was using Cisco to build a device that would allow him to spread himself across the whole of time. His claims his reason for kidnapping Caitlin was to use her as leverage in getting Cisco to work for him.

Harry Wells is retrieved from Earth Two to convince Tracy to help save Savitar.

Savitar refers to the medical lab at STAR Labs as being the place where they thought up the cerebral inhibitor they used against a villain named Devoe. He then states that they haven't gotten to that point yet.

Gypsy sensed that Cisco was in danger from across the Multiverse because they are connected.

The one thing The Black Flash cannot fight, according to Savitar, is cold. This is the true reason why Savitar kept Killer Frost around - to kill The Black Flash before it could stop him.

Vibe ultimately shows Killer Frost mercy and offers her the cure to her condition. Killer Frost then saves Vibe when Savitar is about to kill him for ruining his plan.

Barry is able to vibrate through Savitar's armor and knock him out of it, taking control of it. When Barry is in the armor, it glows red rather than blue.

Barry destroys Savitar's armor by vibrating through it.

Savitar is ultimately killed by Iris, who shoots him as he is about to try and kill Barry.

HR is buried with a tombstone with a statement that is often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain - "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." (Thanks to JeffRo for pointing out that Mark Twain never said this.)

Barry, Wally, Joe, Iris, Tracy, Jay, Harry, Julian, Cisco and Gypsy all attend HR's funeral.

Iris tells a story about John Lennon at HR's funeral. The story goes that, as a child, Lennon was asked by a teacher to write down what he wanted to be when he grew up. Lennon wrote a single word. "Happy." The teacher told Lennon that he didn't understand the assignment. Lennon told the teacher that they didn't understand life.  HR Wells, Iris concludes, did understand life. (It is worth mentioning that there is no evidence that John Lennon ever said this. Thanks to JeffRo for pointing this out.)

Cisco leaves HR's drumsticks on his grave.

At HR's funeral, Barry tells Cisco what HR's message to him was "That doing this took strength that he gave to me."

Caitlin shows up at the end of the funeral. She returns the cure to Julian, saying that she's not Caitlin Snow or Killer Frost and she needs time alone to figure out who or what she is now.

Iris refers to the song Barry sang to her in 317 and they agree it should be the song for their first dance as husband and wife at their wedding.

Central City does not experience earthquakes.

Jay and Barry realize that the storms causing the Earthquakes are being caused by the release of the energy from The Speed Force Trap. Someone has to go back into it to balance the energy and - it is revealed - The Speed Force wants Barry.

The Speed Force manifests to Barry in the form of his mother.

Barry asks Wally to carry on for him as The Flash.

HR agrees to stay on Earth One to help out.

Julian agrees to stick with Team Flash as well.

Barry says Cisco will have to be the one to lead the team now.


The Fridge Factor

Averted hardcore, with Iris being the one to save Barry from Savitar after a season of being the damsel in distress.


The Bottom Line

Much like Season 3 itself, it's a mixed bag made more tolerable by some fantastic performances. The most vexing part is the lack of some of the best bits of the season (i.e. Danielle Pannabaker as Killer Frost is largely sidelined for most of the episode and Jesse Quick is completely absent) while bits that didn't really work at all (i.e. Gypsy's "romance" with Cisco) are given a prominence that doesn't feel deserved.

I may stand alone on this, but I felt more grieved by the loss of Tracy and HR's love than I did Barry and Iris' separation at the end of this episode. Is that because we know that this loss is temporary and that Barry has to return, if only because we have a newspaper from the future that says so?  Maybe.  Either way, this season finale wasn't bad but it could have been a lot better.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 22 - Infantino Street

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



Plot

With only twenty-four hours to go until Iris's death at the hands of Savitar, Barry is more desperate than ever. He has an idea on where to get a power source for Tracy Brand's Speed Force Bazooka but it will require the expertise of a master thief to acquire, leading Barry to seek out the help of Captain Cold. Meanwhile, Vibe gears up for his own fateful battle with Killer Frost.


Influences

The Flash: Terminal Velocity


Goofs

The last episode ended with Barry seeming to have some idea about where to find a power source for the Speed Force Bazooka and a teaser shot of King Shark with some alien technology. This episode starts with Barry completely clueless about what they will do until Cisco detects the alien technology in ARGUS using STAR Labs satellite.

Barry thinks to have where Iris is being hidden kept secret from him so Savitar won't know it but doesn't think about how Savitar will know all about his plan to build the Speed Force Bazooka four years early?

Where the heck is Julian Albert while all this is going on?


Performances

Grant Gustin is genuinely terrifying as Savitar.

Wentworth Miller steals the show as Leonard Snart, as per usual.


Artistry

The cold-open, set to Aurora's 'Murder Song', is a brilliant scene on every level. Direction. Cinematography. The non-verbal acting. Everything fits together perfectly.

However briefly, it's always a treat to hear Jesse L. Martin sing.


Flash Facts

The episode title - and the name of the street where Barry saw Iris die when he traveled to the future -  is a nod to artist Carmine Infantino, who co-created Barry Allen and drew a number of classic Flash comics, including The Flash Of Two Worlds story where Jay Garrick and Barry Allen first teamed up. He also co-created the character of Doctor Alchemy.


Barry makes a reference to the movie Taken, when he describes Snart as having "a particular set of skills."

One of the cells Snart and Barry pass in the ARGUS high-security wing is labeled with the name Cheetah. This is presumably a reference to a DC Comics super-villain best known for her rivalry with Wonder Woman. Given the close proximity of Gorilla Grodd and other bestial villains, it seems likely that this is the Barbara Ann Minerva incarnation of The Cheetah.

The third Cheetah - and the incarnation best known to modern audiences - is Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, who first appeared in Wonder Woman #7 (August 1987). An ambitious and selfish woman, Dr, Minerva was an archaeologist who became magically cursed. Details differ as to what god did the cursing depending on whether one goes by the pre-Crisis, New 52 or Rebirth origins but the end result is the same regardless. Dr. Minerva was trapped in the form of a were-cheetah. This version of the Cheetah had super-speed and super-strength of a level high enough to go toe-to-toe in a fight with Wonder Woman.


Technobabble

During the Dominator Invasion, ARGUS acquired a piece of technology from the ship that crashed in Central City.

ARGUS headquarters is covered with meta-human power dampeners. These will prevent Barry from just running in and out of ARGUS to steal the Dominator technology.

Additionally, ARGUS HQ is equipped with surveillance cameras, eye-scanners palm-print scanners, heat-sensors and laser-sensors. Cisco notes this is just what he was able to find out about the first floor of the building.

ARGUS HQ uses key cards, retinal scanners and a verbal password to let people past the front desk. Not even the director is exempt from this requirement. Cisco makes a fake key card and contact lenses to get bast the scanner.

Barry uses HR's personal transmogrifier to make himself look like Lyla Michaels.

The alien technology is kept in an ARGUS cell behind a 25-ton door that can withstand a 30-megaton nuclear blast. Additionally, the door is protected The Montgomery 3000 - an advanced lock that is not only bomb-proof but also requires the voice-prints of three different people reciting three different passcodes. According to Cisco the whole system cost 10 million dollars to build.

Most sharks are cold-blooded. Some, like the Great White Shark (which is what King Shark is, in part) are partially warm-blooded or endotherms. This means that sufficiently cold temperatures (i.e. anything below 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit) can make a shark fall asleep.

The Philosopher's Stone is made of calcified Speed Force energy.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Lyla Michaels has agreed to meet with Barry and Cisco but requires they explain what they need.)
Cisco: Soooo... we're building a cannon.
Barry: Right!
Cisco: Bazooka... thing. It's a sort of trap.
Barry: In order to turn it on, we need something to power it. Something extremely powerful and regenerative.
Lyla: Okay...
Cisco: Yeah, so, I tasked our satellite to look for anything that might have our specific power requirements. And - wouldn't you know it? We found something that has exactly what we need. (laughs exaggeratedly) And it's right there in that building! Crazy, huh?!
Lyla: I really don't think you should be spying on me, Cisco.
Cisco: (smile fading) Is it spying if we're friends?

Barry: I wanna recruit you for a mission.
Snart: I'm already helping a bunch of idiot do-gooders. Sorry. I'm up to my fuzzy hood in teamwork.
Barry: (cheerfully) Would it help if I said please?
Snart: No. And you already have a bunch of superhero types in your life. Why ask me?
Barry: Well, you have a... particular set of skills.
Snart: (nodding) Great movie. Last time we tried to be buddy-buddy it didn't work out so well. For you. Why trust me now?
(There is a long pause as Barry bites his lip.)
Snart: Spit it out, or I'm going to step onto that ship and pretend like this conversation never happened.
Barry: (hesitating a moment longer)  Iris.
Snart: Oy! The girlfriend.
Barry: Fiancee.
Snart: Mazel Tov. What about her?
Barry: If you don't help me, she's going to die.
Snart: True love. That's your pitch?
Barry: (shrugs) It's all I've got.
Snart: And I assume saving your girlfriend requires us doing something... less than lawful?
Barry: We need to break into ARGUS and steal an alien power source.
Snart: The Flash? A thief?
(Snart looks to one side and waves his hand as if "weighing" the option.)
Snart: That's my kind of mission. One condition: My rules.
Barry: Your rules.

(Killer Frost watches Savitar repairing his armor.)
Killer Frost: Pretty badass. Very god-like.
Savitar: (scoffs) Well... "dress for the job you want."

(Killer Frost questions if Savitar is ready to kill Iris at the appointed time.)
Savitar: Well, it's either her or me. If she doesn't die, I'm never born.
Killer Frost: Right. But... behind that pretty little face of yours, you still remember everything that Barry does. So you remember growing up with Iris? Falling in love with her? Kising her? You sure you're ready to end her life?
(Savitar stands, slowly and deliberately, looking Killer Frost right in the eyes.)
Savitar: What I remember... is being created as a disposable life. Something to be thrown away when Barry Allen was done with me. He didn't care about me. Why should I care about his love?

Snart: There are only four rules you need to remember. Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan.

(Barry has just knocked out two ARGUS guards.)
Snart: My, my, my. Getting rather violent in your young age?
Barry: Yeah, what were you doing?!
(Snart shrugs his wrists and holds up the handcuffs that were binding him a second ago.)
Snart: Magic.

(Barry and Snart have reached a cell in the high-security wing of ARGUS. They can see the technology through a window in the door. Barry gets on the radio as Snart moves to look at the lock.)
Barry: Hey - uh, so... we found it.
(Cut to STAR Labs. Cisco and HR are listening on the comms.)
HR: Jack! Pot!
Barry: (over the radio) But there seems to be some kind of signal interference at the end of the hall and the lock is The Montgomery 3000.
Cisco: (sighing) The Montgomery 3000!
HR: Is that bad?
Cisco: Well, we're looking at a 25-ton door that can withstand a 30-megaton nuclear blast. And aside from being completely bomb-proof, The Montgomery 3000 can only be unlocked by a voice-recognition system, necessitating three different passcodes from three different people. And as if that weren't already enough, the thing costs ten million dollars to build!
(Cut back to ARGUS HQ where Barry looks crestfallen... until he hears a click behind him. He turns and we see Snart standing by the now open lock panel, smirking.)
Snart: 37 seconds. I must be out of practice.
Barry: (To Cisco) Well... ARGUS should ask for their money back.

(As Barry and Snart enter the fog-shrouded room holding the alien technology, Barry jumps as he hears King Shark growl before remembering that the beast-man is asleep.)
Snart: Reminds me of 'Jaws'. They didn't show the shark because they couldn't afford to make it look good.

Barry: Tell me, Snart. Did you think I had it in me? To leave you behind?
Snart: I wasn't sure. Always known you had the potential to be as ruthless as they come. Your history made sure of that, same as mine. Who knows? Maybe that's why we get along? You see the good in me. I see the bad in you.
Barry: Maybe.
Snart: Piece of advice. Stop trying to beat Savitar at his own game. Your goodness is your strength. And call me sentimental, but The Flash should remain a hero.
Barry: (offer a hand) Take care of yourself, Snart.
Snart: (taking the hand and shaking it) No strings on me.
(Barry runs off as Snart turns and walks to The Waverider, shaking his head.)
Snart: (confused) No strings on me?


Continuity

Infantino Street was identified as the site of Iris's murder in 309.

Cisco is seen reviewing a text from Felicity Smoak, reporting that she can't think of a power source for the Speed Force Bazooka that will work either.

Iris makes a video for Barry while he's out getting her caviar.

Lyla Michaels from Arrow makes an appearance, telling Barry and Cisco they can't borrow the power source Cisco detected.

Lyla refers to the Dominator ship crashing in Central City in 308.

ARGUS HQ is said to be more secure than The Pentagon.

Captain Cold refers to the events of 123, saying that the last time he and The Flash teamed up it didn't end well for Barry.

Wally takes himself, Joe and Iris to Harry Wells' lab at STAR Labs on Earth Two.

Barry is competent enough as a fighter to take on two ARGUS agents at once and knock them unconscious without using his powers.

Captain Cold is capable enough as an escape artist to slip out of a pair of handcuffs.

Iris and Barry switched rooms when they were 16 so that Iris would have a window she could sneak out of past curfew.

Joe once stopped the family from eating out for a month so that he would have the money to go on a cruise with a bunch of famous blues singers without the kids.

Joe used to sing Junior Walker's 'What Does It Take' to Iris when she was younger.

Iris gives Joe her engagement ring for safe-keeping.

While going through the ultra-secure wing of ARGUS, Barry and Snart pass the cells of Grodd, Cheetah and Cupid. Barry guesses this is where Waller kept her Suicide Squad agents.

Barry refers to the events of 314 and how he captured Grodd.

Cupid - the murderous Green Arrow fan-girl - was last seen in A514 but was being held in Iron Heights Prison. It was mentioned in A416 that she was released from custody in exchange for her services rendered to the Suicide Squad during A317. Presumably she was sent to Iron Heights instead of ARGUS since Amanda Waller was no longer around to make use of her at that point.

King Shark was last seen in 215.

Captain Cold is a big fan of Shark Week and has a surprising amount of information on sharks committed to memory.

The Waverider was equipped with Cable TV.

HR asks Tracy Brand to join Team Flash on a permanent basis.

Snart refers to the events of L109  where he lost a hand while fighting Chronos, after seeing King Shark's hand removed by a door slamming down on its arm.

King Shark has the power of near-instantaneous regeneration.


Snart's last words in the episode - "No strings on me" - are a reference to his final words before his death in L115.

Savitar breaks Wally West's knee.

Savitar is able to resist the effects of The Speed Force Bazooka since - after escaping from the trap in the first place - he made sure he'd never be able to be trapped by the same energy again. He does this by using The Philosopher's stone, which he originally acquired after Barry threw it into The Speed Force.

As the episode ends, it appears that Savitar was successful in killing Iris and that Killer Frost has injured Cisco, if not outright killed him.


Locations

A forest in Siberia -1892.
Earth Two - STAR Labs.
Star City - ARGUS HQ.


Untelevised Adventures

At some point during their first year together, The Legends had a mission in Siberia in 1892. This is where Barry retrieves Captain Cold. We don't know precisely when this took place in the timeline of that series, but - based on Snart's reference to having lost a hand like King Shark - it took place sometime after the events of L109.


The Fridge Factor

It's worth mentioning again that Iris had no role in the second half of this season apart from being The Girl Hostage.


The Bottom Line

I'll say this for Infantino Street - I genuinely have no idea what will happen next week. I can give it credit for surprising me if nothing else. Unfortunately, the emotional center of the episode - Iris' death - still fails to feel as heavy as it should. The best bits of the episode, unsurprisingly, involve Wentworth Miller playing it cool against an agitated Grant Gustin. It really drives home how this show might be better if it had focused more on utilizing The Rogues in a capacity like in the comics rather than focusing on big over-riding arcs focused upon a single criminal mastermind. But that's neither here nor there. I admire the craft and the art that went into the episode even if I fail to feel much in the way of emotional catharsis regarding it.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 21 - Cause and Effect

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



Plot

Armed with the knowledge that Savitar is a future version of himself, Barry takes desperate measures to rob Savitar of his knowledge of their future - a decision that leaves Barry with total amnesia! Meanwhile, HR continues to push Tracy Brand to develop a "speed trap" for Savitar and Killer Frost approaches Team Flash with an offer they can't refuse.


Influences

The "Mirror, Mirror" episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (mentioned by Cisco, dealt with evil twins) and every stupid sitcom episode where hilarity ensues when the main character gets amnesia.


Goofs

Even if Cisco's memory machine had worked as intended, how the heck were they supposed to use it to defeat Savitar? Barry wouldn't be able to remember any details of any plan they made!

Couldn't Julian - as Barry's supervisor - step in to take his place in court if Barry was unable to testify due to illness?

Barry's speech at the end - where he talks about needing darkness to define himself - seems to be totally opposed to everything that has ever been said about Barry being a positive, hopeful, light-filled hero in damn near literally every episode of the show before now!


Performances

Grant Gustin does triple duty this episode, playing both the normal Barry, Savitar and the "happy" Barry with amnesia.


Artistry

The sequence of Barry losing control of his speed after kissing Iris is well shot and directed - a great use of the show's special effects budget.


Flash Facts

The amnesiac Barry asks to be called Bart. In the DC Comics Universe, Barry Allen's grandson, named in his honor, goes by the name Bart Allen. Bart Allen goes on to become The fourth Flash, after using the codenames Impulse and Kid Flash.

This episode introduces an arsonist called Heat Monger, who was apparently brought to justice by The Flash. In the DC Comics Universe, there was a supervillain called Heatmonger who was part of the Nazi super-villain group known as The Aryan Brigade. Never given a real name in any of the stories she appeared in, Heatmonger was a Caucasian woman with blonde hair and robot arms that fired focused blasts of intense thermal energy.

The DCTVU version of Heat Monger is a man named Lucius Coolidge. He uses a backpack-mounted flamethrower to set things on fire.

Barry suggests that "The Streak" might be a better name for him than The Flash. This is the name that Iris originally used for him on her blog in Season One before Barry told her he called himself The Flash.

Iris says at one point that "happy Barry" seems like the way Barry is supposed to be. In the original DC Comics Universe, before the story The Flash Rebirth mini-series, Barry Allen was a happier, more positive character. This is because - as revealed in The Flash: Rebirth - Barry had an entirely different life before The Reverse Flash went back in time and killed Nora Allen, changing Barry's past to make Barry a more miserable person while still ultimately becoming The Flash.


Technobabble

The device which Julian and Cisco create uses a magnetic disruption to break the chain between the hippocampus (the part of the brain that absorbs new information) and the cortex, where long-term memories are stored.

Julian guesses that Barry's psychogenic retrograde amnesia is due to his and Cisco not accounting for Barry's increased neural velocity.

Tracy Brand is working on an "accelerated matter micro-generator projectile" - a.k.a. The Speed Force Bazooka. This is the device that will trap Savitar in The Speed Force.

The accelerometer of The Speed Force Bazooka sucks up a lot of air watts.

Shellac is a resin secreted by female lac bugs, found in large quantities of the trees in Thailand. Shellac flakes are the accelerant used in all of the arson cases associated with Heat Monger.

Flame temperature and burn patterns are calculated in order to determine the accelerant used to start a fire.When shellac is burned into potassium perchlorate or ammonium perchlorate, it is a tell-tale sign of a high-temperature accelerant fire.

Tracy becomes inspired by HR's mention of sparks and imagines "a modified high-voltage climbing arc" with sparks "jumping between two parallel wires..."

Killer Frost asks for a girard processor, saying that it will help her to prime Barry's neocortical and medial frontal lobes.

The parts for the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator included a synchotron with iridium plating and a dubnium capacitor.

Cisco builds a device that can send electrical charges through the transmitters in Barry's Flash costume, hoping that the shock might jolt his memories. This puts "fuel in the tank", but they still need a visceral memory to "turn the ignition". Iris does this by telling Barry about how his mother died and how she comforted him when the shock finally wore off and he began crying when they were kids.

CODIS is an acronym for Combined DNA Index System.

The Speed Force Bazooka will magnetize Savitar's radial field and keep him in in a state of perpetual stasis. Unfortunately, it requires 3.86 terajoules of energy. This is more power than can be found in the sun.


Dialogue Triumphs

Savitar: It's like looking in a mirror. (gestures to the scarred side of his face) Well, not quite.
Barry: You're not so scary without your armor.
Savitar: What can I say? I outgrew red.
Barry: I know what you are. You're a time remnant.
Savitar: A temporal duplicate. Created when you run back in time and meet yourself. You brought a remnant to life last year to defeat Zoom. (mock-cheerful) Your duplicate died saving the Multiverse and you continued your happy little life. And it would have stayed that way... but then you decided to play God. You created Flashpoint and changed everything.
Barry: I went to the future. My future self told me that he created time remnants to stop you. That you slaughtered them all!
Savitar: All but one. Me. I lived. But a funny thing happened when I did. You, Joe, Wally, Cisco? You all shunned me because I wasn't the true Barry Allen. (mockingly) I was an aberration. A disposable hero. Future you failed to mention that, didn't he?
Barry: How did you become Savitar?
Savitar: I was broken. And alone. I wanted the pain to end. And that's when I realized the truth, Barry. God feels no pain. All I had to do was become one. And I only needed two more things. (holds up a finger) For Iris to die so that you are driven so far into the dark that I can be born.
Barry: And the other?
Savitar: (smirking) It may sound ironic given who I'm talking to... but I'll keep that one to myself.
Barry: (starting to vibrate his hand at super-speed) What happens if I kill myself? If I die, then you'll never be created.
Savitar: Cause and Effect's a tricky thing. Didn't work so well for Eddie, did it? Shot himself in the chest? Thawne's still kicking around? See, that's the thing about time-travel, Barry. The more you do it, the less the rules apply to you!
Barry: But us having this conversation now - we're changing the future!
Savitar: Are we?

Barry: (To Iris) Jay told me that we're not gods. He was wrong. We could be. Any speedster, and it wouldn't take much. When the love that we feel in our hearts is drowned in anger? When the bad memories outweigh the good ones?  What am I going to have to become to stop him?

Cisco: Okay! Ready for zapping!
Joe: Can we not call it zapping?

(Killer Frost enters the room where Savitar is kneeling.)
Killer Frost: What's that saying? "Man plans but then God laughs?" Well, men are planning. And what is The God of Speed doing? Kneeling. Brooding time is over. You revealed yourself. Now what? Any idea what to do with Flash and Friends? Because we are getting pretty close to your big becoming and if we don't take them down, neither one of us gets what we want.
(Killer Frost knocks on Savitar's head.)
Killer Frost: Hello? Anybody home?
(Savitar is suddenly standing, gripping Killer Frost by the throat, choking her as he forces her against the wall.)
Killer Frost: (choking) What are you doing?
Savitar: Who are you?
Killer: Frost: What's wrong with you?!
Savitar: Who... am... I?

Killer Frost: You got rid of Barry's memories. What Barry remembers, Savitar remembers.
Julian: So Savitar's lost his memories too?
Joe: Savitar loses his memory. He doesn't go along with the plan to give Wally powers.
Killer Frost; Cause and effect. But, if you let me help you figure out how to give Barry's memories back, everything goes back to the way it was.
Cisco: Kid Flash runs again...
Iris: And Savitar survives...
Wally: And Iris dies.
Killer Frost: Life is full of difficult choices.
Iris: Or it isn't. If Savitar gets his memory back, what's in it for you?
Killer Frost: That's my business. You think -that- Barry can become The Flash?
Iris: Yeah... he can learn.
Wally: I still know how to do everything. I can teach him.
Killer Frost: Okay. Maybe this is how you defeat Savitar. But there's still a lot of villains in this city and no Flashes to protect it. Is that really a chance you're willing to take?

(HR and Tracy have just kissed.)
HR: Sparks...
Tracy: (as if thinking) Sparks...
HR: You felt them too?
Tracy: No.
HR: No?!
Tracy: No! I mean, yes, obviously, but...
HR: (relieved) Okay.
(Tracy moves past him to her computer.)
Tracy: Sparks! Jumping between two parallel wires....a modified high-voltage climbing arc...
HR: I guess my work here is done...

(Cisco is telling a Julian a story while Killer Frost is working in the same room.)
Cisco: There was this one time we had this very strict deadline, and Dr. Wells was super hard on us. All of us! Even Hartley.
Julian: Who - who is Hartley?
Cisco: Oh, he was this guy we used to work with. Such a dick. You actually reminded me a lot of him when you first came on board. Anyway, so we were working on the iridium plating for the, um... (snaps fingers and looks to Killer Frost) What was it called again?
(Killer Frost ignores him and moves to another work station where she can have her back to Cisco and Julian.)
Cisco: The synchotron. That's what it was. So anyway, we were struggling. And we were burning the midnight oil. And we could not get the dubnium capacitor to hold a single charge. And so all of a sudden, Ronnie just loses all his chill. He turns beet red and he starts yelling at the thing like, "C'mon you dumb-nium capacitor!"
Killer Frost: "... take charge."
Cisco: (pointing at Killer Frost) Yes! Yest! Oh, My God! (sighs) I think about all the memories I cherish most... and you're in every single one of them, Caitlin.
(There is a long pause. When Killer Frost speaks, her voice is noticeably softer. Like Caitlin's was.)
Killer Frost: Let's figure this out. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to.

The Flash: I don't think I can put this fire out alone!
Kid Flash: You don't have to.
(Barry looks over and sees a second lighting bolt moving alongside him.)


Dialogue Disasters

Barry: So... how do we know each other?
Wally: Oh, I'm your brother.
(Barry looks down at his hand as if checking the color of his skin.)

Barry: Yes, I am a CIS at the CCPD under the expert direction of Julian Albert. Smiley face.
(Barry blinks as the judge gives him a strange look. Cisco glares at Julian, who is typing the words Barry is reading off of his smart glasses.)
Cisco: You want to cut it out with the emojis?

Barry: Pain and darkness? It's a part of me. You know, I need it to fuel me. To push me to be a better person. To be a better hero. To keep me from ever forgetting who I am.
Iris: Now that is the Barry Allen I know and love.


Continuity

Savitar reveals that he is a time duplicate made by a future Barry Allen - ironically, the only one who survived being killed by Savitar before he was trapped in The Speed Force. It was his being shunned by Team Flash - who saw and treated him as a disposable aberration - that pushed him over the edge.

Savitar refers to the events of 123 (Eddie Thawne committing suicide to stop Eobard Thawne from ever existing) and 223 (Barry's creation of a time remnant to stop Zoom).

According to Savitar, the rules of time travel apply less and less the more one does it.

Savitar's armor is capable of independent motion - with Savitar either controlling his armor to move telekinetically or the armor having some sort of artificial intelligence that responds to his commands.

Earth 19 has Star Trek, but only the Voyager series.

Cisco theorizes that the message that The Legends found in the secret room on The Waverider (which Team Flash learned about in 308 but Jax and Professor Stein discovered in L203) from a future version of Barry saying that his present-day incarnation could not be trusted was referring to Savitar - not the original Barry.

HR Wells and Tracy Brand both use coffee - a notorious stimulant - to calm themselves down. They both enjoy piping hot Indonesian dark roast with raspberry and coriander.

HR and Tracy kiss.

Barry cannot remember if he is a warm-weather or cold-weather guy.

Barry was in the Science Club, Key Club, Astronomy Club, Yearbook Committee and Anime Club in high school. He was a big fan of Dragonball Z. Iris was not.

Wally loses his speed powers because now Barry never becomes Savitar to give him his speed powers.

Cisco mentions Hartley Rathaway - last seen in 217. He says Julian reminded him of Hartley, at first.

Iris recalls that Barry was in shock when Joe brought him to their house. She held him later that night when he finally started crying. She thinks that was the night they fell in love with each other, though they wouldn't realize it for years.

Barry's mother's maiden name was Thompson.

In third grade, Barry renamed the class hamster to Alexander Ham Bell.

As she is leaving STAR Labs, Killer Frost's eyes momentarily flash back to Caitlin Snow's normal eye color, suggesting that Caitlin is warring to take control of her powers.

In the final scene of the episode, we see King Shark, last seen in 215.


Untelevised Adventures

Apparently, The Flash brought The Heat Monger to justice in a previous adventure and Barry was the CSI who handled the evidence on his case.


The Boomerang Factor

The entire episode is dependent on an unrealistic depiction of amnesia and Cisco being a total idiot in order to work.


The Bottom Line

Quite possibly the most profoundly stupid episode of The Flash ever. And yet, despite the amnesia plot being total rubbish and the villain of the weak being a forgettable Heatwave rip-off, there's a lot of good moments here. Unsurprisingly all these moments have nothing to do with the main plot and involve Cisco trying to provoke a feeling in Killer Frost, the sudden romance between HR and Tracy and Iris reveling in an honestly cheerful and happy Barry Allen. If we could have gotten these moments without a hackneyed Amnesia story-line, it might have been worth it.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 20 - I Know Who You Are

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





Plot

Barry, Cisco and the rest of Team Flash seek out Tracy Brand - the physicist Barry's future self said would one day help him to trap Savitar in The Speed Force. Unfortunately, Killer Frost is looking for her as well, promising a battle between the former friends. Meanwhile, Joe's ponders his relationship with Cecile and how it can grow with half of his life hidden from her.


Influences

The Terminator (a future threat tries to kill the woman who is destined to bring about his downfall, name-dropped by Tracy Brand) and The Flash: Out of Time by Robert Venditti (basic idea for Savitar's identity),


Goofs

As showy and impressive as it is, why did Killer Frost freeze HR's drink - a trick showing more fine control of her powers than she's ever shown before - when all it did was tip him off that she was close? (Caitlin's influence trying to warn him?)

After taking Tracy to STAR Labs, Barry asks Joe why he hasn't told Cecile about Team Flash. Given that all of the events of the episode take place in one night (we know this because Cecile says that she told Joe that she loved him that morning whens he visits him at his house later) when has Joe had time to talk to Cecile?


Performances

The chemistry between Anne Dudek and Tom Cavanagh is brilliant and salvages what might be an otherwise creepy subplot with HR hitting on a woman under severe duress.

Carlos Valdes and Tom Felton do a good job playing off of each other, exploding the underdeveloped dynamic between Cisco and Julian.

Jesse L. Martin is a treasure. Not a lot else needs to be said.


Artistry

The sequence in which Barry saves Tracy Brand from Killer Frost's attack in the lab is a new high-mark for the show's excellent slow-motion effects work.

Ignoring that Killer Frost really should not be able to out-pace The Flash on ice-slides, the chase sequence looks amazing.


Flash Facts

In this episode, Killer Frost shows the ability to create ice-slides - bridges of frozen water on which she can move at great speed. Ironically, while this ability is often utilized by ice-manipulating heroes and villains in comic books (Iceman from The X-Men being the most famous example.) no version of Killer Frost in the comics made use of this ability. This may have been due to the pre-New 52 Killer Frosts being heat-vampires rather than an ice-creating elemental. The Killer Frost in the Justice League cartoon, however, did have the ability to create ice slides.

While not creating ice-slides, the Killer Frosts in the classic comics did have the ability to fly - presumably by using cold air to provide lift or through some latent telekinetic ability that also allowed them to shape and manipulate the ice they created by draining the heat from objects.

At one point Tracy Brand compares herself to Sarah Connor in The Terminator. Cisco corrects her and says she's more like Miles Dyson. In the Terminator mythology, Miles Dyson is the scientist who creates the neural-net processor that leads to the development of Skynet - the artificial intelligence that tries to take over the world but is defeated by John Connor, son of Sarah Connor.

"Eppur si muove" is Italian for "And yet it moves." As HR notes, this statement is attributed to the astronomer Galileo who reportedly said this phrase after being forced to recant his research which proved that The Earth moved around The Sun rather than the reverse, which was the accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic Church at the time. Since then, the phrase has become a rallying cry for scientists whose research is held back or decried by political or religious pressure.

Tracy theorizes that Savitar's armor is made of a theoretical substance capable of dispersing heat at high temperatures. This sounds remarkably similar to how - in the modern The Flash comics - Wally West was able to create a costume of pure Speed Force through sheer force of will to protect him from the effects of friction and static build-up.

The concept of Barry Allen having to fight a future corrupted version of himself lies at the center of the New 52 Flash story Out Of Time.


Technobabble

Tracy Brand's dissertation was on the purely suppositional nature of extra-dimensional energy. Barry tells her - not realizing she hasn't talked with anyone about her hypothesis yet - that her work on relativistic quantum mechanics and its application to interspatial theory to manipulate matter on a sub-atomic level is groundbreaking.

Barry is able to use a spark of his speed lightning to ignite a gas torch as a weapon against Killer Frost.

Tracy Brand's theories of quantum mechanics involve ideas of wave-particle duality, quantization of energy and time- symmetric formulation of quantum theory and how the boundary conditions lead to principle causality and the psychological arrow of time.

Tracy Brand studied speedsters and theorized the idea of The Speed Force's existence based on the energy produced by a speedster in motion being more than they could generate through sheer kinetics. She theorizes this energy could be manipulated or controlled... perhaps even turned into a prison of sorts.

Barry's costume is made of vulcanized Teflon. It neutralizes any electron imbalance and prevents the friction of Barry's movements from generating a lethal dose of static charge.

"Eppur si muove" is Italian for "And yet it moves."

Tracy Brand notes that the way light reflects off of Savitar's armor is unlike any metallic compound she's ever seen.

In Fermi liquid theory, any sort of non-Fermi liquid is called "strange metal". This is a theoretical compound capable of dispersing heat at high temperatures.

Tracy theorizes that Savitar moves so fast that he needs his armor - which is made of this "strange metal" to neutralize the charge that builds up around him.  This seems to be like Barry's vulcanized Teflon costume, but on a much larger scale.

Tracy further theorizes that without the suit, Savitar would just be a man with a major case of static cling. She also guesses that Savitar's own velocity could be used against him with the right device and he could be trapped in The Speed Force.


Dialogue Triumphs

HR: So our hopes of defeating an evil speed god hinge on a grad student?
Barry: Yep.
HR: ... could be worse.

(The window in the door of Tracy Brand's lab ices over and shatters. Killer Frost enters.)
Killer Frost: Admission here is so easy.

(Barry has been knocked down by one of Killer Frost's blasts. Cisco nervously approaches her.)
Cisco: So... you've gone full-on Killer Frost, huh? New threads and everything.
Killer Frost: No more pencil-skirts for me.
Cisco: (raising his hands defensively) I don't want to hurt you.
Killer Frost: You won't. But I will hurt her.

Tracy:You're interested in my theories on quantum mechanics?
HR: Your ideas of wave-particle duality. Your quantization of energy. And your time-symmetric formulation of quantum theory. And -
(Cut to the STAR Labs portable lab van, where Cisco and Julian are manning the station. Cisco is talking into a walkie-talkie.)
Cisco: - how the boundary conditions lead to principle causality and the psychological arrow of time.
HR: ... and the psychological arrow of time.
Tracy: You really know your stuff!
HR: Well... je suis... smart.
Cisco: (over HR's ear-piece) Lay off the French. And lay off the improv too, please?

(Team Flash explains to Tracy why Killer Frost is trying to kill her.)
Joe: We know it's a lot to take in.
Tracy: Well, to be fair you're basically telling me I'm Sarah Connor in Terminator.
Everyone Except Tracy: Wellll...
Cisco: More like Miles Dyson.

Julian: Caitlin could be home now. Had you stopped her, she would be here. But you didn't! You couldn't! Tell me why!
Cisco: Because I'm afraid!
Julian: Afraid of what?!
Cisco: Afraid of killing her! (holding up his hands) I'm walking around with two loaded guns here, ready to go off. I mean, what if she's hurting Barry or Joe or you? And I have to save you and I can't control my powers and I end up killing her?! She's my best friend. And I rather it be me than her.

Tracy: How did you know I was here?
HR: (clears throat) I may have done a bit of holographic stalking. I stalked you. Holographically.
Tracy: You mean, in the future, I'm still obsessed with a 500 year old Italian polymath?
HR: (laughs) It would appear so.

The Flash: I know who you are.
Savitar: It's about time.
The Flash: Yes, it is. Everything with you is about time, isn't it? The past? The present? The future? You know all of it, right? And you know everything about me! About Joe! About Wally!  And Iris?! You know our strengths. You know our fears. You know how much we love each other. And you know how to use that love against us. All this time we thought we couldn't stop you because you were one step ahead. But that's not it! You don't just know what's going to happen to us. You were there. You lived it. You remember... when you were me!
(Savitar kneels down and his armor begins to unfold. Out of it steps a somewhat familiar figure.  The hair is longer and dirtier and the face is scarred... but it's clearly Barry Allen)
Savitar: Like I told you.from the beginning.. I am the Future Flash.


Continuity

According to the data from Future Barry, Tracy Brand will win the 2021 Nobel Prize, The Copley Medal and a Presidential commendation.

In 2021, Tracy Brand develops the technology that traps Savitar in The Speed Force.

During the events of this episode, Wally is on Earth Three visiting Jesse Quick.

In 2017, Tracy Brand is a graduate student enrolled in Central City University's theoretical physics program. She failed her dissertation and is in the process of burning her notes when Barry, Cisco and HR find her.

On Earth 19, the great physicist Einstein's first name was Norbert. Not Albert.

On Earth 19, the fried potato snack Americans call Fries and the British are Chips are called Finger Chips.

HR's drink of choice at CC Jitter's is a triple-shot no-whip mocha Flash.

Tracy Brand's drink of choice is on the CC Jitter's secret menu. It is called The Zoom - triple espresso with a shot of cayenne.

Team Flash wipes the security footage at Central City University to protect Caitlin's identity.

Team Flash tells Tracy Brand about her future and that her theories regarding The Speed Force are right.

HR claims to have written a book of motivational speeches on Earth 19 - All's Wells That Ends Wells.

The Galileo of Earth 19 also coined the phrase"Eppur si muove".

HR is familar with the writings of Galileo and knew that there is a statue of him in one of Central City's parks. It is because of this that he recognizes the landmark in one of Tracy's photos from the future.

Joe dumps Cecile just before she is taken hostage by Killer Frost.

Killer Frost is able to repeat the exact words Barry is going to use as he tries to talk sense into her. She claims this is because Savitar knows what Barry did in his past and told her what Barry said.

Savitar tells Barry that the time of his ascension is almost about to happen.

Cisco takes a blood sample of Killer Frost while she's fully mutated. Julian thinks he can use that to reverse engineer a permanent cure for her condition.

The team notes that Savitar rescued Caitlin rather than kill Tracy Brand, indicating that he needs Caitlin for something.

Joe takes off his wedding ring and tells Cecile that he loves her, promising there will be no more secrets between them. We later learn that he told Cecile about Barry and Wally's secret identities and his work at STAR Labs.

Barry figures out that Savitar is a corrupted future version of himself.


Untelevised Adventures

We don't get to see HR's talk with Tracy and how he convinces her to try and help Team Flash build a speed trap for Savitar.


The Bottom Line

Flawless. Absolutely flawless.

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 16 - Into The Speed Force

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




Plot

Desperate to rescue Wally from the prison that Savitar escaped, Barry once again enters into The Speed Force and experiences visions of friends and enemies lost to time and space. Meanwhile, Iris considers the state of her relationship with Barry as Jesse pushes the rest of Team Flash to find a way to track down Savitar.


Influences

The Flash comics of Mark Waid, particularly Terminal Velocity.


Artistry

The lighting and direction of the sequences in The Speed Force are genuinely creepy.


Flash Facts

HR says he is not going to be held responsible by his Earth Two counterpart if Jesse gets stuck in a negative world. Cisco recognizes this as a reference to the original Super Mario Bros. game, where a glitch could cause the player to get trapped in World - 1 - an endless water level. This world is more typically identified as Minus World rather than Negative World, however.

Cisco says "To Infinity and Beyond!" when Barry enters The Speed Force. This is the catch-phrase of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films.

Cisco refers to the movie The Iron Giant when speculating on how a piece of Savitar's armor might seek out the rest of it once broken off.

The fake Snart in The Speed Force makes a remark about how Jay Garrick is "getting slow in his golden age." Jay Garrick was the first superhero to use the name The Flash, back in what is commonly known as The Golden Age of Comics from 1938 to the mid-1950s.


Technobabble

HR asks why they can't come up with some kind of tether to keep Barry from getting lost in The Speed Force. This leads Cisco to say he could do that and Julian to develop a biological component that can measure Barry's vitals when he is in The Speed Force, letting them pull him out if something happens.

The electrode halo - in addition to being the device that allowed Team Flash to channel Savitar through Julian Albert - is also part of the device that Cisco used to pull Barry Allen out of The Speed Force the last time he entered into it.

Goldtooth is the Cisco Ramon designed inter-dimensional equivalent of Bluetooth.

The electrode halos are electromagnetically linked via Goldtooth. It gives them all the relevant locus information no matter where in the multiverse Barry is. If he needs help, it will automatically stimulate Cisco's prefrontal cortex, letting him open a breach to wherever Barry is and pull him back to Earth One.

Julian speculates that Savitar's blade is made of  some kind of new metal akin to a Luttinger liquid - a theoretical model describing interacting electrons in a one-dimensional conductor such as carbon nanotubes.

HR refers to the theory of Schrödinger's Cat - a paradoxical thought experiment involving trapping a cat in a box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be released upon the emission of radiation - the result of which is that the cat will be both alive and dead until the box is opened and it can be observed.

Caitlin says that the metal of Savitar's blade is made of a near-frictionless material that is a constant state of flux. While totally motionless on the outside, it is constantly moving on the inside as if being affected by an outside influence. Julian likens this to how tides are affected by the phases of the moon. Jesse suggests that the outside influence is Savitar and that he somehow has the ability to control the metal despite it being separated from his armor.

Cisco describes feeling a lot of harmonic feedback when trying to vibe into The Speed Force.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Barry and Iris are alone in the hallway at STAR Labs.)
Barry: I'm gonna find Wally.  Whatever's holding him, whatever's keeping him trapped in there? I'm gonna get him back.
Iris: Okay.
Barry: Okay.
(Barry looks down at Iris' hand. She still isn't wearing her engagement ring.)
Barry: Iris?
(Iris doesn't meet his eyes.)
Barry: Did I lose you?
(Iris says nothing and just walks away quickly. Barry turns and watched her sadly. Joe enters from behind Barry.)
Joe: Baar?  What's going on?
Barry: Nothing. I'm just trying to.. make her not worry so much.
Joe: About Wally?  Or you?
Barry: Joe, now is not the time, alright?
Joe: Look, you are about to risk your life to save her brother. I think now is the perfect time.
Barry: (sighs) She's having doubts about us. About marrying me.
Joe: She... call off the engagement?
Barry: Guess I changed the future one too many times.

Barry: Where is Wally West?!
Eddie: He's not exactly here per say. He's in the prison you created. Well, your future self, that is.
Barry: How do I get him out? (more intensely) How do I get him out?!
Eddie: I think you' ll find we're not going to be as accommodating as we were the last time you visited us.
Barry: What the hell does that mean?!
Eddie: It means things have changed. We gave you your speed back because you said you'd come to terms with your mother's death. But you lied to us. You went back in time and saved her. And in doing so, you created Flashpoint.
Barry: Zoom had just killed my father -
Eddie: We know. And we understand. Which is why we allowed you to do that. But choices have consequences and I'm afraid we can't let you make any more choices like that.
Barry: Wally's just a kid...
Eddie: He's a Flash. He made his choice. Now he has to live with it. Just like you do.
Barry: I'm not going anywhere until Wally is free.
Eddie: Then be prepared to spend an eternity in here.

(Jesse wants to run off and find Savitar.)
HR: Hold your roll, Jesse Quick. This hesitation that you feel on behalf of the group is our realization that this "go for broke" attitude is the very attitude that got Wallace in his predicament in the first place. Am I right?
Julian: I can't believe I'm uttering the words but... I actually agree with HR.
Cisco: Ditto.
HR: Thanks boys.

(Barry looks on Caitlin holding a baby, singing her to sleep. Ronnie Raymond stands by his side.)
Ronnie: This troubles you. Another life that could have been and never was.
(Ronnie walks over and kisses the baby on the forehead. Caitlin mutely walks off with the baby.)
Barry: Caitlin and Ronnie should have had that. A family... a future.
Ronnie: The future doesn't always turn out as we want it to.
Barry: I see what you're doing. First Eddie. Now Ronnie. Showing me all the people who sacrificed themselves for the greater good...

Ronnie: No, Barry - their sacrifices were for you. As was Wally's when he attempted to stop Savitar.
Barry: Savitar tricked Wally! And now he's trapped. Wally doesn't belong in The Speed Force. You have to let me take his place. (pauses) That's why I'm here. 

Ronnie: Or the other reason, Barry.
Barry: I want to sacrifice myself for Wally. 

Ronnie:: We can't allow that.
Barry: Why not? 

Ronnie: Because where Wally has gone is a hell all his own.
Barry: Savitar said "one would suffer a fate far worse than death".

Ronnie: And it's not for you. Leave Barry. While you still can.
(Ronnie turns his back on Barry and starts to walk away.)
Barry: No.
(Barry pulls up his hood and looks at Ronnie, who turns back to face him.)
Barry: Whatever hell Wally's trapped in, I'm going to set him free. And I'm not leaving here until I do.
Ronnie: Very well. But you were warned.
(There is a growl from behind Barry as The Black Flash runs out of nowhere and shoves him across the bank of computer desks.)

(HR block's Jesse's path as she tries to leave the lab with the piece of Savitar's blade. He tells her that he is not letting her pass.)

Jesse: You done?
HR: Yeah. Said my peace. And guess what? I'm still. Not.
(Jesse punches him once at super-speed.)
HR: ... moving.

(HR falls to the floor. Jesse kneels down and checks to make sure the unconscious HR isn't seriously hurt. She nods to herself.)
Jesse: That was oddly satisfying. 

(Barry watches Wally West through the window of the door to a hospital room. Wally is starring at an empty bed, eyes watery. unable to look away. Leonard Snart comes to stand besides Barry.)

Barry: What's happening to him?
Snart: Wally West is caught in an endless temporal loop, just like Savitar after you imprisoned him here in the future. No wonder he hates you.
Barry: What's he seeing?
Snart: He's reliving the single most painful moment of his life. Over and over again. His mother's death.
Barry: Wally... he doesn't deserve this
Snart: And let me guess - you do?
Barry: I know what my hell is. I've already seen it. In the future.
Snart: You don't like the future, Flash? Change it!
Barry: I can't ! Don't you get it?!  I can't! I'm not fast enough! He is! (he sighs and looks back to Wally) That's why you have to let me take his place. Wally can save Iris.
Snart: (annoyed) Not learning your lesson, Barry. You keep telling us one thing and then doing another! (pauses) You want to know what inspired Leonard Snart to sacrifice himself? It was you. Barry Allen. You inspired him to be... better. You inspired him to be selfless. To sacrifice himself for others. To be a hero. Just like you.
Barry: I'm no hero. Not lately.
Snart: So... what? Had enough, Scarlet Speedster?  Time to hang up the cowl and give it all up? Well,, if you're out...
(Snart draws his cold gun and powers it on.)
Snart: ... you're out.
Barry: (tiredly) I'm done fighting.
Snart: We know. And that's exactly the problem.

(Snart blasts Barry, sending him flying against the wall. Barry is pinned to the wall, gasping for breath as the ice sticks him up against the wall unable to move.)

Snart: You think seeing Iris' death is hell? You ain't seen nothing yet.

(Suddenly a red streak appears and knocks Snart down. It is Jay Garrick.)
Jay Garrick: (looking to Barry) Let's get you out of here.

(Barry guides Wally to the door out of the hospital room.  Jay moves to stand where Wally had been.)

Barry: Jay? Let's go. 

Jay: Sorry kid. This is where I stay for a while.
Barry: What? What are you talking about?
Jay: We both know that a speedster needs to take Wally's place. That's why I'm here.
Barry: No. No, Jay! You already lived your hell when you were Zoom's prisoner.
Jay: And you set me free! And I owe you for that.
Barry: Jay -
Jay: I've run a hell of a race. But every marathon has a finish line. Time's finally come for me to cross it. But you? You, Barry... you need to put an end to this once and for all and stop Savitar.
Barry: How?
Jay: Do what you do best. Be The Flash. (Jay holds up his helmet and hands it to Barry.) Cisco said that he could use this to track you and bring you home. 

(Barry reluctantly takes the helmet.)
Barry:  I'm gonna get this back to you again. When I break you out of here.
Jay: (nodding) See you soon, Flash. 

Continuity

Helium is used to power gas stoves on Earth 19. This fact is revealed with HR says "Now we are cooking with Helium!"

The Super Mario Brothers game series exists on Earth 19.

Barry's shoulder is still injured from the last episode.

The electrode halo - the device Cisco used to pull Barry out of The Speed Force in 221 - is given an official name. This is also the same device Julian wore to channel Savitar.

The place where Barry arrives in The Speed Force looks like the Central City Police Department on a stormy night.

Barry saw Eddie Thawne die in 123. He took a trip to the past, where he saw Eddie before his death in 217.

The motto of the Central City Police Department is "Justice For All."

A Time Wraith - last seen in 223 - blocks Barry's path in The Speed Force.

The second location Barry travels to in The Speed Force resembles the hallway and main medical lab of STAR Labs.

Barry last saw Ronnie Raymond when he sacrificed himself to close the super-breach in 201.  He saw Ronnie's Earth Two counterpart, Deathstorm, die in 213.Barry sees a version of Caitlin holding a baby girl. He is told, by the vision of Ronnie Raymond, that it is her daughter.  Barry quickly figures out that this is a vision of the life Caitlin and Ronnie would have had together if Ronnie hadn't sacrificed himself.

Caitlin says that the metal from Savitar's blade, much like the box that held The Philosopher's stone, both exists and does not exist at the same time.

On Earth 19, according to HR, the theory of Schrödinger's Cat is called Schroeder's Cat.

On Earth 19, according to HR Charlie Brown was the kid with the piano in the Peanuts cartoons rather than Schroeder. The joke was that Charlie Brown was a terrible piano player.

HR wears a men's size 11 shoe. Presumably American size, assuming Earth 19 shoe sizes are the same as Earth One's.

The third place Barry finds himself in The Speed Force is a hospital hallway.  Wally is trapped in one of the rooms, seemingly starring at an empty bed.

Barry last saw Leonard Snart in the flesh in 209. A hologram of him appeared in 304. Snart apparently died in L115.

Wally West's personal hell is watching his mother's death over and over for all eternity.

According to The Speed Force, Leonard Snart chose to sacrifice himself because of Barry Allen's example.

Savitar claims to have already lived through all of the events that are about to happen to Team Flash.

Jesse Quick is able to throw lightning like Barry Allen.

Savitar is apparently immune to lightning and can either throw lightning without having to run around first or can absorb and redirect the lightning generated by other speedsters, as evidenced by his throwing a bolt of blue-white lightning at Jesse.

Jesse is able to hurt Savitar by stabbing him with the piece of his blade aiming for a gap in his armor.  HR correctly guesses that Savitar wouldn't be wearing armor if he didn't need it. This confirms that Savitar is mortal and not a god, no matter how fast he is.

Jay Garrick was last seen in 309. He says that Cisco came to his Earth (Earth Three) and asked for help when the team lost contact with Barry.

Jay takes Wally's place in The Speed Force.

Jesse decides to travel to Earth Three until Savitar is defeated - partly to thwart whatever plans Savitar had for her and partly to protect Jay Garrick's Earth until he can return.

Iris declares that she wants to marry Barry.

Barry says that he thinks they need some space while they figure out everything and that he's afraid he did propose to her for the wrong reasons.

Iris will stay in their apartment while Barry stays with Cisco.


Location

The Speed Force


The Fridge Factor

Averted hard in the case of Jesse Quick, who makes all the correct intellectual leaps to figure out how to use the piece of Savitar's armor to find him and hurt him.  Honestly, I'd rather the show follow her and see her adventures on Earth Three than watch Barry whine about saving Iris for another seven episodes this season.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode but not for the reasons you'd think. The sequences in The Speed Force are powerful, precisely because they keep Barry off-balance and knock him out of the "I must save Iris!" rut he's been in for the past few episodes.  The sequences with Jesse Quick are strictly standard in terms of writing yet are made engaging by Violett Beane's performance. As good as Grant Gustin and Candice Patton are, however, they can't make the continual drama between Barry and Iris engaging and reducing Iris to the role of She Who Must Be Saved has killed all of the character's momentum. Still, it's nice to see Wentworth Miller snarking it up as Snart, regardless of the circumstances. And John Wesley Shipp continues to get more and more impressive with ever appearance he makes as Jay Garrick.