Has it been a year since the last episode of The Flash aired? Ten years? Life has changed so rapidly over such a short time that it feels like forever since we’ve caught up with Team Flash, and honestly it’s a relief to do so. I don’t think I’m overrating this episode just because it provided an hour of respite from our current hellscape, but if I am, so be it.
It may be hard to remember now, but we left off with Mirror Iris zapping Kamilla with the mirror gun. We learn now that this presumably sent the real Kamilla into the Mirrorverse, replacing her with a mirror double connected with Eva in the same way as Mirror Iris. (Question about these mirror duplicates: Shouldn’t they be the reverse of the real deal in every way? For instance, if Iris is right-handed, shouldn’t her double be left-handed? Just wondering.) Their next mission is to retrieve another of Eva’s gadgets, the Prismatic Refractor, from Mercury Labs, which purchased it from her husband Joseph Carver.
Their efforts are thwarted by the meta-of-the-week, Sunshine, another light-based villain affiliated with Carver. Her powers are particularly amorphous even by Flash standards, but she can burn people and disappear, so those are both handy. Iris sends an emergency signal to Barry, but he’s benched. In an effort to conserve what remaining speed he has in his body, Caitlin has equipped him with a smart watch that gives him the red light if he uses too much of it. Frost responds to the call instead and gets zapped in the same spot Dr. Light got her for her trouble. (Is it Barry’s fault? It is indeed Barry’s fault.)
The Sunshine plot is negligible and ends with Barry and Joe setting a trap that cuts off her access to sunlight. Joe delivers the Prismatic Refractor to ARGUS…except Mirror Team Citizen has already switched it for the replica Eva passed them through the mirror. (The physics of this is still unclear; she can pass objects back and forth but can’t walk out, I guess?) Along the way, though, Mirror Iris draws more suspicion, this time from Joe, who can’t help but notice she isn’t as concerned about Barry as she usually is.
The heart of the episode, however, is the titular exorcism of Nash Wells. It turns out that it’s not just Thawne who has taken up residence in his mind, but every Wells from the multiverse that ended during Crisis. (How this fits in with the new multiverse created in the aftermath, which nobody knows about yet, remains to be seen.) Thawne, who is not technically a real Wells anyway, has his hooks in deepest. He’s trying to take over Nash’s body permanently by trapping the real Nash in a loop of sorrow and remorse.
And so we get Nash’s back story, some of which we’ve gathered over recent weeks, though not in detail. Allegra isn’t a doppelganger of his real daughter, but rather an orphan named Maya who Nash more or less adopted as his protege while myth-busting in the multiverse. Something terrible happened, and Nash has been in denial about it every since. In his mind, Thawne has him cornered in a cave that I at first took to be the one where he released the Anti-Monitor (which, to be fair, would also be a powerful source of guilt for Nash). Cisco and Barry enter his mind using some of their old Thinker tech, and while Cisco uses his natural Wells rapport to connect with Nash, Barry holds off Thawne, who he almost killed (along with Nash) earlier in the hour. Despite his usual stubbornness—in this case manifesting in Frost getting injured—this was a good episode for Barry. He used his smarts rather than his speed to defeat Sunshine, and here he is able to tune out Thawne’s attempts to leverage his own guilt about Nora’s death.
Nash confronts the memory he’s been avoiding all this time: that he does bear responsibility for Maya’s death, as she slipped off the side of a cliff while trying to claim one of his all-important prizes. Thawne has no more purchase in his mind, and dissolves into flashes of red lightning. His tachyons still exist, however, and it probably won’t be long before they reassemble. As for Nash, he is now All The Wellses, which is one way of keeping Tom Cavanagh on his toes.
Stray observations
- The Flash is off for the next two weeks, returning on April 7. But for how long? Production shut down on March 13 for the same reason everything else has shut down, and there’s no telling when it will start up again. My best guess is that this season is going to end rather abruptly, with the Mirrorverse arc unresolved until the fall or beyond.
- Cecile bringing holy water, garlic, stakes, and a Ouija board to the “exorcism” is a reminder that Danielle Nicolet is a strong comic talent and an underused member of the ever-expanding supporting cast. And hey, the Ouija board actually came in handy!
- Once again, no Ralph and Sue this week. Granted, it was an overstuffed episode, but I hope the powers that be know they hit on something good with this pairing.
- It’s always one step forward, two steps back with Barry. Congratulations on confronting your feelings of responsibility for Nora’s death, but combing her diary for tips on building your own Speed Force is, I can almost certainly assure you, a terrible idea.
- Stay safe, people. April 7 feels like a long, long time from now.
73 Comments
I’m glad that Nash Wells banished Thawne but he for sure is to blame for Maya’s death, not sure I can forgive him for that any more than he could himself Losing future Nora still hurts too and I was glad to hear Barry say that he misses her every day So is Singh the mole? He was super-shady in this episode
As soon as Singh came back to Joe and agreed to work with him on finding the mole, I guessed it was probably him.
Maybe Singh is being framed, he is a good guy (right?)
Especially since he pivoted Joe’s attention to Sunshine. It’d be a twist if he wasn’t the mole.
Singh is totally the mole.
What if he was mirrored of screen? Admittedly haven’t seen the episode yet
There was a random female officer who was highlighted multiple times. Singh can’t be the mole. It sounds weird but he’s a prominent lgbtqaa+ character in the show and the writers wouldn’t dare make them villainous in the age of the awful Donald Trump. Historical significance has a way of making writers conform and if I was writing a show like The Flash, I wouldn’t want the backlash of being cancelled on Twitter for adding such depth to a character.
While I think that recreating the Speed Force will bring Nora back into existence, another person had a different theory. The new Speed Force will be represented by Nora the daughter instead of Nora the mother.Also, Singh is the mole.
I want Nora back as Barry & Iris’s daughter, but would accept her as the new face of the new Speedforce, too
I want Nora back as Barry & Iris’s daughter, but would accept her as the new face of the new Speedforce, too
I mean, Singh’s basically the only other named cop, I don’t know how it could be anyone else without it being totally out of left field.
I’m betting the Mole is that same female deputy that always shows up to hand Singh or Joe some file and gets a banal line. “Here’s the file, boss.” Why else is she in there? Either that or she’s the one who outs Singh to Joe.
I would prefer it to be her
It would be weird if it was her. She’s a uniformed cop, and the stuff that they’re talking about should be way above her.
It would be weird if it was her. She’s a uniformed cop, and the stuff that they’re talking about should be way above her.All this is true. And yet we keep seeing her. So I dunno. Singh would be the most logical mole, as much as that would suck.
My mental name for her is Officer Cutie-Pie.
OR…it’s Toth.
Or, it’s Toth.
It’s so obvious that Singh is the mole that I’m really hoping he’s not the mole.I haven’t read the comics for a while, but Singh is generally a good–if antagonistic–guy, right?
As soon as Singh appeared I thought that he’s either the mole, or he’s going to die this episode (long-standing and long-missing guest characters tend to die on sudden returns).
And he didn’t die, which means he’s 99.99% the mole.
I already hated Nash as it is. He came off as whiny and kinda killed the multiverse and caused the death of a few of my favorite characters because he was so full of himself.
I was going to say, it’s a little surprising that that bit of guilt hasn’t stuck with him that heavily
is Singh the mole? Ebert’s Law of Conservation of Characters says he is.
Singh is the mole. Also I want Matt Letscher as Reverse Flash as a villain for a while. Dude is perfect. For that matter, isn’t it time to bring back Zoom too? Teddy Sears says he’s in!
I’d hate for singh to be the mole but it makes so much sense if he is
I’m still baffled over the fact that we’re sort of glossing over that… Kamilla’s probably dead? And WTF this is gonna do to team dynamics?Presumably she’s not in the Mirror Universe with Iris… because then she’d tell Iris “Hey, you killed me!” and Iris would probably put 2 + 2 together?Also, we really don’t want Singh to be the mole since we love him so (we want that lady deputy that kept showing up to be the mole)… but, yes, probably the mole… 🙁
I don’t think Kamilah is dead, I think she is in the mirror world, but Eva who controls that world has her stashed away somewhere there, but maybe she and Iris eventually will find each other & figure out what is up (?)
It was very obvious, which leads me to think perhaps it’s a mislead. I give it 50/50.
I never thought I’d miss seeing Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco all working together so much. More please.I really like Crisis of Infinite Wells. Not only does this mean that we can still see other Wellseseses crop up as a sounding board for Nash, but there’s a lot of potential in finding ways to bring people like Harry out to visit again sometime in the future.I know I complained last week about everything being Barry’s fault, but this week I found it almost predictably stupid and in-character for him to ignore Caitlin’s warnings and join in the fight. When he apologized at the end, I kind of wanted her not to forgive him for it – which just seems to enable the behavior – but actually really give it to him for putting her in danger like that because of his own hubris.I’m sad to think the Mirroverse plotline is going to come to an abrupt end, as the buildup for it has been pretty fun and interesting. Though like Scott, I agree that they need to be clear about the rules. I really like to think Iris is the version of herself she wishes she could be – but it would be helpful if they’d explicitly say so.
Cisco flopping over face first on the lab bed (“I’m beat.”) was the moment I got that same feeling. Love Cisco. This is why Cisco is here. And this week was another goofy-great scene where you can tell the actors are having fun – Wells in bed with the possessed shakes while Cisco, Barry, and Cecile hold hands and shimmy likewise. Can you imagine the director saying “and … action!” and the smile the whole crew would have on their faces after, “Cut!” … ? These guys have the best job.
Behind the scenes footage is especially hilarious.
Assuming we’re not all dead, they can always just tack on a season 5 finale onto the start of season 6. An ongoing successful show like The Flash will be pretty safe from a hiatus (again, assuming we’re not all dead).
Tiny correction, I think you mean Season 6 finale on Season 7’s start. I know, I’m still surprised sometimes when I realize we’re on Season 6 of this show already.
Oh yeah, my bad. I lose track of how these shows have gone after a while.
I am afraid once they figure out Iris is actually mirror!Iris (and it’s been months, someone should have by now??), the rest of the season – if it happens – is going to be about Barry and Iris separating or something because Iris is going to be YOU DIDN’T RECOGNIZE ME?!?!?
Oh man, don’t even put that out in the universe.
– I think that it’s only Eva that can’t cross over.
– Why don’t they use other means to temporarily boost his speed? Velocity X, a tachyon device, or something else? (Guess that one is answered.)
– Hey, it’s little Allegra.
– I hate how they keep downgrading Frost. She can do a multi-directional blast.
– Why does Blackhole have so many light metas?
– Well, I was wrong. It actually was Thawne.
– Why didn’t they bring in Allegra to help Nash?
– Maybe in restoring the Speed Force, they’ll restore Nora. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s just a feeling that I have.
Little Allegra was super cute. Grown up Allegra/Maya is cute too. Don’t mind the blatant Indiana Jones references. Rip-off or homage? Don’t care.
The adopted-dad stuff also gave Nathan Drake/Sully vibes.
Frost CAN chill the entire room to nearly absolute zero, and almost instantly create huge blocks of solid ice.
…but by this stage, I’m just glad any time they show her do any more than try to stab someone with a small icicle…
Black holes absorb light :3
It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but…When has that ever stopped them?
So Thawne is basically immortal now, like the boogeyman. Saves them having to come up with a new explanation every time they want to bring him back.I wish we had a little bit more clarity as to what the doppelgangers are, how they’re created, and what Eva’s agenda actually is (aside from, presumably, escaping the mirror world).
Not only is Thawne immortal, but at this point he’s basically transcended the fourth wall and become indistinguishable from Tom Cavanaugh. There’s really no credible explanation for why he should be rattling around inside Nash’s head, and unfortunately the show’s willingness to mention that fact for half a second only made matters worse. Lampshade fail.
They’d have a better chance curing cancer than they’d have providing a sensible through-line of how Thawne has existed across all shows. I have no idea what timeline he was supposed to be from, is in, will be in, how the LoT season places in the timeline, etc etc.
I think you are confusing the doppelgangers with the mirror versions.
The mirror versions ARE doppelgangers: “an apparition or double of a living person.”
It’s always one step forward, two steps back with Barry. Congratulations
on confronting your feelings of responsibility for Nora’s death, but
combing her diary for tips on building your own Speed Force is, I can
almost certainly assure you, a terrible idea.
Yeah, I mean, the whole reveal last season is that Thawne had been conning her the whole time, why would you take advice from someone who had no idea what she was getting into? It’s basically taking advice (indirectly) from Thawne himself. Plus, there really shouldn’t be anything in that journal to help. Thawne didn’t tell Nora how to make a Speed Force, he told her how to access his own Negative Speed Force… which seemed to boil down to “think negative thoughts”. Unless we’re gonna retcon a whole lot of offscreen teaching last season
Oh, I’d like to see Thawne try to possess Darth Vader, who has plenty of guilt, misery, pain, etc.
I, for one, wondered what happened to the “Let’s build our own Speed Force!” plot. Did they decide it was too difficult since last week? And, as much as I like Cavanagh, Thawne remains a dull one-note villain.
Did anyone else laugh when Caitlin talked about looking at Nash’s brain waves in three dimensions? Because I sure did. Just…what?Also, Eva says her refractor doo-hickey can “convert light into energy”? Um, light already is energy. And if you’re talking about converting it into power or something, I’m…pretty sure that’s what a solar panel is?Mirror Iris seems to be slipping. People were noticing that she was acting weird. I wonder if this means the doubles have some kind of limit on how long they can imitate the people they’re copying before Eva starts to shine through. Or maybe the more doubles there are, the harder it gets.
Ok, no one was shocked Team Flash completely fell for Thawne’s obvious bait pretending he was Nash in act one, right? At this point, we know they’re not smart enough to suss out that kind of stuff.
To be fair, one of the most prominent theory after last week’s episode was that Nash was just having a sort of psychosis where he believes he’s Thawne, thanks to all the Wellses messing with his mind. I think the show at least intended to try and throw us off a bit in regards to what was actually happening.
Thawne himself acted pretty dumb (or maybe just stupidly overconfident) himself when he attacked Cisco. If he’d had kept his head down he could have enacted his revenge plans by now.
And then his escape from the pipeline went so swimmingly, he eventually got taken out by a tranq.
Did anyone else notice the creatively placed monitors, laptops and camera angles designed to conceal Danielle Panabaker’s baby bump? Austin Powers, baby.
The lengths they’re going to hide Danielle Panabaker’s pregnancy has reached comical status. Even that first scene where she’s just behind the monitor, so her head and shoulders are sticking out. Her whole fight scene was filmed from the chest up, or far away from behind with a body double. She’s always carrying big charts and other things.
It’s very funny. 🙂
My guess is that we get special summer episodes, hopefully, that are the final eps.
Eva can’t cross over because something of her new nature is inimicable to ‘our’ reality – which is presumably what her goal is to fix. Can’t really fault her even if her methods are shady (though so far she hasn’t killed anyone at least).Singh is almost certainly the mole which sucks because the character deserves better.
Yeah the way the actor was playing it so heavily made me think it was a misdirect— it would also super out of character, but who knows.
Can we have more Sunshine? She was surprisingly fun.
I just want Harry and Jesse back
Thank the gods for the Nash sub plot and Barry trying to devise a way to get the speed force back because this mirror woman plot is um well…ick!?!
In both cases, it was MirrorIris that reached through to do the exchange. I guess people get burned, but MirrorCritters don’t?
In both cases, it was MirrorIris that reached through to do the exchange. I guess people get burned, but MirrorCritters don’t?They appear to be “solid” light constructs of some sort, and not real, so I guess it tracks.
I’m so far behind on these shows. I sort of forget TV is on and just play video games and work… yes still working…
I guess Nash Wells finally learned the lesson that Indiana Jones did in the Last Crusade that the prize is not everything….
“Maya … let it go.”
Well, we were one day short of finishing ep20, so you guys are about down to your last eps, now. Savour them. Space’em out.
There isn’t a new multiverse on these shows..or at least there is not supposed to be. I read an interview with the writers of Crisis and they stated the “new multiverse” was mandated by DC and the CW because they have shows that obviously are not set in the “Flash-verse (nee arrow)“. On every show, they have stated they cannot see a new multiverse. The network was concerned that audiences would get confused when their new show “Stargirl” comes out (plus other DC properties on their streaming service)and it is not on this Earth and did not want it to be “cannon” that these others show must exist on Earth Prime or that there is some continuity error.I do not know if they will ever back off from that, and I know that seems confusing, but it would not make sense on the CW shows after crisis to just have a new multiverse..because why would they go through all that trouble? On Batwoman, Supergirl, Legends, Flash and Black Lightening, there is now only one universe to them.
Finally got around to watching this. I have a question. How exactly did Frost get over to the lab so quick? Barry didn’t run her over, obviously, Cisco lost powers again after Crisis (and was otherwise busy with Thawne), and the breach devices were established to not work anymore.
I thought Cecile bringing mostly Vampire repellents was a nod to her vamp character on the greatest episode of Angel ever. She was Harmonys rival
Something that’s been bothering me for a while now: Considering that Barry originally disappeared during Crisis and that Nora was his daughter, shouldn’t Iris be noticibly pregnant by now?