It’s been just over a month since we last saw a new episode of THE FLASH. Wow, did they pack a LOT into this one! The season looks to end earlier than planned due to the impact of COVID-19 on production, so that makes sense. Still, there is a lot to unpack here, in an episode with significant implications for whatever is left of this season. Want to know more? Follow us after the jump!

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

NOTE: This review is posting prior to THE FLASH being aired in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, STOP HERE and come back after watching the show. You’ll be glad you did!

Let’s hit the main story for tonight first. Joseph Carver has called a hit on Joe West. He sends none other than Ragdoll after him – and nearly succeeds in finishing him off. At first, Ragdoll hides somewhere in the inner workings of Joe’s car, severing the brake lines during the drive and forcing the car to run at top speed. Joe barely escapes, jumping out of the car just before it crashes and explodes! Singh tries to get Joe to go into Witness Protection, but Joe refuses. Singh’s reaction is less than what you would expect, for reasons we’ll explain soon. 

As Barry does his CSI thing, he finds evidence that it was in fact Ragdoll. Flash speeds to the CCPD, where Joe is interviewing Sunshine (who was captured and arrested before this extended break). Ragdoll has popped out of an evidence box and is ready to kill Joe, but Barry stops the attempt…sort of. Flash grabs all of the bullets that Ragdoll is flinging back at Joe…except for one. That one bullet hits Joe in the shoulder. He recovers, but Ragdoll and Sunshine get away. More proof that the Speed Force is fading for Barry.

Joe confronts Joseph Carver, and for a moment thinks he has the upper hand. Joe actually gets Carver to confess, and Joe has secretly recorded it. But, Carver activates an localized EMP pulse and erases the confession. Carver threatens Joe and his family. Joe punches him before leaving.

While this is going on, Ragdoll appears at Cecile’s office, knocking out Nash and Allegra and kidnapping Cecile. Ragdoll puts Cecile on a pressure plate bomb, with a twist. As soon as Joe enters the room where Cecile is being held, a 5 minute timer on the bomb starts. No matter what, someone looks to die. Joe contacts a recovering Nash, who gives him the schematics and tells him to pull the green wire. Ragdoll was ahead of them…the wires are ALL green. So, Joe pulls a quick maneuver to take Cecile’s place in the chair. He convinces Barry to get her to safety. Can Barry activate enough speed to save Joe as well?

He doesn’t need to. Joe takes the risk and pulls one wire…and thankfully it was the right wire. He’s safe, but Joe is now willing to go into witness protection. As he goes, we see David Singh get into his car, adjust the rear view mirror…

…and communicate with Eva McCulloch! They had planned together to get Joe out of the way. Eva wants revenge on her husband…but it has to be her way, and not by Joe getting the goods on him. That’s the main story….now let’s go to the equally important sub-plots:

• The real Iris is adapting to the mirror dimension, and thinks that she has a way for both she and Eva to get back to the real world…with the Flash’s help. Eva puts her off for now…then contacts the mirror-Iris to get her to drain whatever is left of the Flash’s speed.
• “Iris” spends the rest of the episode guilt-tripping Barry to use his speed more. In the end, she fakes outrage that she didn’t get to say goodbye to Joe. “Iris” then kicks Barry out of the apartment! His watch (the one monitoring his remaining speed) has been going from green to yellow to red and back…and now is definitely at red as he leaves the apartment.
• Ralph gets Cisco’s help to track down Sue Dearbon. Ralph has figured out her next caper, and they almost stop her…almost. She gets the records from the bank that she was looking for and gets away, Batman-like, with a cable hoist to the roof. 
• Just a quick note – Cisco is working off-screen on the new Speed Force. He is running simulations, but we don’t know the results of those in this episode.
• Later, Ralph tracks Sue down again…and this time he knows what is really going on. Sue isn’t there just to steal…she is trying to take down Joseph Carver on her own! Carver is blackmailing Sue’s parents, and she is tracking his nefarious activities through all the institutions he owns. Ralph offers to help her, and she accepts at least for now, even handing back the gem she stole in an earlier episode. Sue lets Ralph know that there is some interesting info to be found there.  
• In a less-explored thread, Nash continues to try to connect with Allegra, who wants nothing to do with him. Hopefully this can be resolved in our shortened season, but we will have to wait to see.

NOTES:

• There was no “last time on THE FLASH” review as normally expected…and there are at least two potential explanations. One is that they simply can’t afford to waste air time while trying to pack everything in for the shortened season. The other potential explanation is that the original “last time” intro for this episode may have covered plot threads that they no longer have time to explore. Either way, it was a bit of a surprise, especially with a full month between new episodes. No big deal, I’m okay, just noting it here for any discussion.
• Just a question…how did Joe bail out of a car that was going 120 miles per hour and not have a scratch on him? It made for GREAT drama with the exploding car, but that point nagged at me just a bit.
• Singh has been acting a bit suspicious this season, and we finally see why. Glad they did the reveal here, instead of prolonging the point. It works here.
• Candice Patton is still knocking her dual Iris roles out of the park. Enjoying her manipulative turns in this episode. Wow, how many guilt trips can you put someone on in one episode? Looks like “Iris” is showing us how that’s done.

SUMMARY:

It was SO GOOD to see a new episode of THE FLASH again. It pulled me away from the worries of the pandemic for a while, and that alone is worth a high score for tonight. And, given the amount of good storyline that was packed here, I’ll give this one a 9/10. Of course, that’s just my opinion – what do YOU think? Leave your comments below!

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