This episode has a lot of things that needed to happen in the space of an hour (or less, counting commercials). We are wrapping up the Mirror Master storyline. Barry needs to get his speed back after trashing the Artificial Speed Force at the end of last episode. And, what about the OG Wells’ return? Like I said, a lot is going on here. Wanna know more? Follow us after the jump!
SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
NOTE: This review is posting before THE FLASH is aired in the Pacific Time Zone USA. If you haven’t already seen the show, STOP HERE and come back after watching the episode. You’ll be glad you did!
Barry has come to his senses after all the things he did under the influence of the Artificial Speed Force. While he’s apologetic, Team Flash is more than ready to forgive and forget. After all, there’s a big bad who seems more powerful than ever. It will take everyone to stop this threat.
And what a threat! There are mirror duplicates everywhere, creating havoc all over Central City. Eva has enhanced her power to work out of any reflective surface now, not just mirrors. And her “children” are taking over. It’s an invasion, as she believes humans have failed and her creations should have the real world now.
At the CCPD, Sue Dearbon has reappeared in disguise. She plays a tangential role in this episode, in part giving an explanation to the change in Ralph Dibny (preparing us for the new actor who will take that part). We’ll come back to that later, but for now…
Iris is still in a coma-like state. While Allegra sits by her side, the city is going into a partial blackout to prevent more mirror duplicates from appearing. It’s a vain effort, but it’s all they can do for now, especially with Barry depowered.
Eva pulls Barry into the Mirrorverse, and challenges him to bring all humans to that dimension while her “children” take over the real world. Eva believes Barry has failed to make the world a better place, but that she can do that – if she repopulates the world with her creations. She sends Barry back to our reality to think about it, knowing that he isn’t a threat to her right now.
Barry is by himself in the lounge at S.T.A.R. Labs, when the original Harrison Wells appears. We learn over time that all the multiversal particles from all the other Wells’ went to him when Nash sacrificed himself. More on that below. Wells is introduced to the rest of Team Flash, and they work together to…
Bring back the Speed Force!
Wells tells Flash to “Run, Barry, Run – toward love” – and that’s the key to getting the Speed Force back. I know it sounds a little forced but let’s go with that for a moment:
- In CRISIS, we found out that Barry was the Paragon of Love. That was just as much a testament to the love he and Iris share, “as strong as the lightning” that hit Barry. That’s a key here.
- Iris has also been a speedster in a previous season, however briefly.
- When Barry touches her hand, a spark travels between them…indicating that the Speed Force isn’t really dead, and that she might be the key to reviving it.
Wells theorizes that the Speed Force is an elemental force in the universe, and that it could never actually die out. They decide to use the ASF equipment to extract Speed Force energy from an organic source this time (Iris) to bring back the original Speed Force for Barry.
Of course it works. And now we have the Flash back again!
They still have to face Eva. And, due to the nature of her powers, she’s actually faster than Flash. They try a team up with Cisco (using equipment to mimic his Vibe powers) and Frost. This is an epic battle, with Eva creating endless duplicates of herself to get the upper hand. Eventually, Iris realizes a couple of things:
One, Barry can’t win with speed alone.
Two, Iris (at least for now) has some power left over from her time in the mirrorverse.
Iris steps into the battle, and creates a stalemate with Eva (now aka Mirror Monarch). But, what wins the day are Iris’ words. She shows Eva that her efforts are not creating a better world. Her duplicates are violent, creating nothing but misery and fear. That’s not what Eva wanted to do, and she now realizes she needs to stop all of this.
The problem is, the duplicates now have grown so strong that they are out of her control. That’s when Iris and Barry join hands with her, somehow amplifying Eva’s power to get rid of the duplicates. After that, Eva frees everyone from the Mirrorverse that she had captured. And, she returns to the Mirrorverse, to try to make that world the utopia she had planned with (hopefully) kinder “children”.
After that we say goodbye to Sue and Ralph (completely covered in a mask and costume due to damage he had received in an earlier explosion). And, we also say goodbye (at least for now) to the original Wells. All that leads to…
EPILOGUE – we go back 18 hours to Iris at the sphere and Barry being hit with Speed Force lightning. What we didn’t see before is that the lightning also went up into the sky and spread out across the city. New metas? Possibly, but that’s where we end things for tonight.
NOTES:
- This OG Wells has some Doctor Manhattan type qualities – not full reality shifting ability, but the ability to see past, present and future all at once. He knows how long he will live, he knows what will happen to Cisco and Kamilla, and he knows where he wants to go. Wells had only four years with his wife before Thawne killed them both. He can’t change the past, but he can relive those four years over and over again – and that’s his plan.
- Having Ralph Dibny “melt” due to the explosion, and later being contained in a suit that made his voice sound electronically altered, gave a good excuse for the change in actors. When Ralph and Sue return (hopefully soon) we will see the “new” Ralph.
- Yes, the “power of love” was a little heavy handed in how it came up again and again in the show, but in the end it was a way to explain how the Speed Force could return. It was a neat twist to go back to Iris’ time as a speedster to make it happen.
- As Barry was regaining his powers, we got to see the people he loves in flashbacks…including Nora. Interesting to see her here – will we see her again with all the changes in the timeline?
SUMMARY:
Love and compassion win the day. Even though we heard “Paragon of Love” maybe a little more than we would like, this was a solid show that wrapped up a lot of story threads. While there was a lot of comic-book-physics in the show, it still worked. I’ll give this an 8/10. Of course, that’s just my opinion. What do YOU think? Leave your comments below!