Who doesn’t love the gimmick where a TV episode shows you something wild and unexpected before cutting to some point earlier in the day? Well, get ready for a whole lot of that. The Flash starts off with Cisco about to get arrested by men with very large guns. Before we can even begin to make sense of what we’re seeing, the show cuts to 12 hours earlier. Barry is taking Iris on vacation. Partially to spend as much time with her as he can before he vanishes, and partly to give Cisco practice at protecting Central City without him. Cisco appears to be feeling slightly better about that than he did last week. He even made himself an AI modeled after Barry to help him decide what to do. See? Totally handling it. This is what handling it looks like.
I’m so excited to see a Cisco-focused episode. He’s the best character on this show, and he deserves the spotlight even without his vibe powers. He and Kamilla are sleeping when he suddenly finds himself standing upright with a pair of scissors. Apparently he’s been sleepwalking lately. There’s a fun bit where he almost says “I love you” to Kamilla and turns it into something lame and awkward instead. Yeah, it’s going to be one of those episodes. The awkward moment is broken up by Breacher suddenly appearing in Cisco’s bedroom. Cisco tries to break the ice with some humor, but it’s no use. Gypsy’s dead. She was tracking a notorious hacker named Echo, who somehow got the drop on her and vaporized her.
Danny Trejo as Breacher, Victoria Park as Kamilla and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
You’d think this situation could get real awkward for Kamilla. Her boyfriend is about to tell her he loves her, and then his ex’s father shows up with news that brings up a whole host of unresolved feelings. I’m glad the episode doesn’t go that way. The drama doesn’t come from a relationship squabble or characters being stubborn and not listening to each other. That would have been the easy way to take this story. Instead, Kamilla wants to help Cisco through this. She’s understanding and proactive. They might actually be endgame here. She accompanies Cisco to Earth 19 to check out the crime scene, where the lead investigator immediately starts a dick-measuring contest with Cisco. I guess he had some kind of feelings for Gypsy too. He acts so suspicious, particularly how quickly he closes the crime scene, that Cisco decides to start investigating him
He rigs up himself and Breacher to a device that lets them vibe to the moment Gypsy died. While he does that, Kamilla traces the location of the murder weapon. Both pretty damning against Cisco. Kamilla finds the weapon inside S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco and Breacher see the face of Gypsy’s killer: It’s Cisco. There’s even an explanation for why. If you suppress vibing powers, it can lead to something called breach psychosis. Symptoms include unexplained blackouts, and Cisco has been having weird sleepwalking episodes lately. It doesn’t look good. Breacher gives him an hour to get his affairs in order and turn himself in. Cisco’s about to do it too. It takes Kamilla asking why he doesn’t have any faith in himself to make him see reason. He created an AI so he wouldn’t have to make decisions. Now he’s accepting that he’s a murderer without even questioning why or how.
Victoria Park as Kamilla — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
That’s enough to get him thinking straight. He realizes his white noise machine is hooked up to wifi? Why? What use could that possibly have? Does it download new white noise? Would anyone be able to tell if it did? That’s stupid. In any case, Cisco realizes it’s been hacked to induce sleepwalking spells. The goal was to frame Cisco for Gypsy’s murder and convince him of his own guilt. Cisco recognizes the code too. It’s something he would have written. I’ve loved the parallel universe stuff since The Flash really went all in on it in Season 2. It’s led to a ton of fun story twists, and this is no different. The Cisco that got arrested in the episode’s cold open is revealed to be a hologram. It distracted the cops just long enough for him to find the real killer: Echo, an alternate Earth’s version of Cisco.
Barry is barely in this episode at all, and it makes for a better story. We get to watch Cisco, with the help of his very smart girlfriend, grow into a leader. He even fights his doppelganger by himself. It’s not as fast or thrilling as a standard Flash fight, but that’s what makes it so exciting. The Flash rarely ever gets this rough with its fights. Here, we just see two people having a hard knock-down brawl. We really feel every hit. The way it ends is super satisfying too. Cisco beats Echo with his brain. He makes Echo think he has the upper hand, letting him get the drop on him with the vaporizor. When Echo pulls the trigger, he’s trapped in a forcefield. Just in time for Earth 19’s cops, all caught up to speed, to show up.
Victoria Park as Kamilla and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
Now, I seriously doubt the show is actually going to kill off Barry. Arrow is already ending after Crisis on Infinite Earths, they’re not going to kill off two main characters. Even if it does though, this episode shows they can still tell great stories without The Flash. Cisco is a great character, and you can tell so many cool superhero stories around him. I will say though, the “I love you” moment felt like a bit of a cop out. You spend the entire episode with Cisco ready to say it and getting interrupted. Then at the very end, it’s just “I know, me too”? It’s not even a cool Han Solo “I know.” Lame, show. Real lame.
The main story of the episode was so good, it was kind of impossible for either of the B-plots to live up to. One involved Joe tracking down Harrison Nash Wells and getting trapped in a cave-in. They have a conversation about faith in friends and the greater good, and Nash learns they’ve actually met the Monitor. That’s when Elongated Man breaks through the pile of rocks and saves them. He apparently did some amazing detective work to track down Joe’s location. Man, wouldn’t it have been cool to see all that? Instead of just being a hand-wavy explanation? The show could have built in some tension over whether Ralph would find them in time. Nope. All we get is a deus ex machina and some dialog to make it seem like it wasn’t.
Tom Cavanagh as Nash Wells — Photo: Jeff Weddell/The CW
Caitlin’s story isn’t any better. She tracks down Ramsey and finds him. He tries to get her to join him in immortality and reveals he can control blood now. He tries to kill her, she escapes and that’s it. Both sidestories felt like they were just here to fill up time. Not to be interesting plots in their own right. It’s disappointing because they let down an otherwise great episode. It’s only at the very end that we see their real purpose: To set up a plot for future episodes. Nash, now that he knows Team Flash has seen the Monitor, wants to work with them. He knows how to save Barry Allen, he says. The road to get to that line was boring and unnecessary, but at least it’s an intriguing line to end on.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW
Previously on The Flash:
- The Flash Season 6 Episode 4 recap
- The Flash Season 6 Episode 3 recap
- The Flash Season 6 Episode 2 recap
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