“Crisis on Infinite Earths” is over. I mean, it has been for a few weeks, but now that The Flash has had its midseason premiere, it’s all the way over. Every CW superhero show has reckoned with it in one way or another. Some more directly than others, but The Flash might have the most to unpack. After all, Barry was supposed to vanish. It’s been the looming threat behind the entire series up until this point. Ever since Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne revealed the “Flash Missing in Crisis” future newspaper in Season One, that knowledge has been part of the show. Now it’s not. In one big crossover, that driving force is gone. So what now? The show is still going, Team Flash is still here, but what do they do now?
That’s the big question of the episode. Everyone wrestles with the fact that their stories are now continuing after they all planned for them to end. At this point, even Bloodwork has been defeated, so they don’t even have a big bad to stop. I’m sure that’s going to change before too long, but until then, all Team Flash can do is figure out how to start their lives again. For Cisco, that means protecting the remaining Earth as best he can. He reveals at the beginning of the episode that a bunch of different villains from each Earth have been brought to this one. There are a whole lot of evil metahumans out there and Cisco has no way of knowing when or if they’ll strike.
Victoria Park as Kamilla and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW
I love that decision. One of my main worries after Season 4’s Thinker arc was that they had burned too many great Flash villains. So many metahumans died in that season that would have made great villains of the week in future episodes. Now, “Crisis” fixed that in the most comic book way possible. Alternate Earth versions of those classic villains are all here now. We have potential episodes for days. In-universe though, that’s exactly what’s causing Cisco a ton of stress. He repeatedly lashes out at Nash Wells for causing Crisis, maybe going a little far with one of his insults. Something is clearly bugging him, and it takes a heart-to-heart with Killer Frost to bring it out.
This is one of the better, more natural can-I-talk-to-you moments in a while. Cisco’s response to Crisis is entirely rational, even if he isn’t handling it in the healthiest way. And nobody actually says “can I talk to you,” which is a plus. Killer Frost just comes right out and asks him what’s wrong. It turns out he feels guilty for giving up his powers right before the anti-matter wave. He thinks if he hadn’t, he could have felt it coming and saved more people. That’s a totally valid reason to be lashing out, and that’s why this scene feels like a natural moment between to characters, rather than a forced moral. Frost tells him he still can protect people, he just has to slow down. He doesn’t have to find a solution today, and it’d be better if he took his time doing it. He also realizes that without his vibe powers, he can’t do that from a lab in Central City. He has to leave for a while. Does this mean we won’t see Cisco for a while? He leaves Nash in charge as an apology. I’m excited to see where that takes the story, but I’m going to miss Carlos Valdes on this show. He’s consistently my favorite part of every story.
Tom Cavanagh as Nash Wells, Kayla Compton as Allegra and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW
Barry’s story has a similar arc in the wake of Oliver’s death. It’s a bold move for the first episode of The Flash in nearly two months to have the titular character take such a small role. It works though. Not only does it mean other characters get time to shine, but it allows Barry to have a moment of growth that doesn’t drag on to long or become overwrought. It starts when John Diggle delivers an item Oliver left Barry. It’s the mask Barry had made for him years ago. Thinking it strange that Oliver would do anything sentimental, he thinks it must be a warning of some kind. He finds a stain on it with traces of a chemical associated with Deathstroke. Barry thinks it’s a warning that a stash of it still remains on Lian Yu.
I love it whenever Diggle makes an appearance on The Flash. The show is a lot lighter and more comedic than Arrow, so we get to see David Ramsey flex some different acting muscles. Sure, the show tells the same motion sickness joke every time he shows up, but it’s still funny. He takes a ton of motion sickness pills before The Flash runs him out to the island. There, they find the chemical box that Barry thinks Oliver was warning him about. It’s empty. Barry starts freaking out, thinking they were too late, but Diggle pieces everything together. The stain on the mask comes from a fight between Oliver, Thea, and Slade that happened a couple years ago. It’s incidental. The mask was a message to Barry, but it wasn’t a warning. It was about Oliver entrusting Barry to protect the remaining Earth now that he can’t. Now that Crisis is over, Diggle understands that Barry has an Oliver-like tendency to immediately search for the next threat. But he doesn’t have to do that anymore. Barry has time to slow down for the first time in 6 seasons, and that’s what he needs to do now. It’s a fantastic moment of character growth for Barry, and it provides a final bit of satisfying closure to the Crisis storyline.
David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW
So what does the show do when The Flash himself has so little screen time? It’s Iris’ time to shine. This episode let her be the hero, and it’s one of the season’s most exciting episodes so far. After avoiding having to write about her husband disappearing in Crisis, she turns her attention to Allegra’s sister and the people who kidnapped her. A source tells her that the organization is called Black Hole, and that they stole a photon rifle from his former place of work, McCulloch Industries. She meets with the CEO for comment, and he claims that the rifle was stolen by a competitor. Her source, he claims, is an emotionally unstable former employee who wouldn’t let a wrong idea go. That doesn’t sit right with Iris. She publishes her story anyway, and McCulloch sues the Citizen. Iris recognizes the lawsuit as an attempt to bury her with legal fees until she shuts down. You know, the Peter Thiel approach.
As soon as she hears about the lawsuit, an assassin attacks the office, wielding a gun that shoots high-powered light particles. It completely burns away whatever it hits. You know, if you try to claim a story about a secret organization is a lie, I’d think having the organization try to assassinate the reporter that wrote it would undermine the case somewhat. Iris tries to find her source and get him to safety, but the assassin catches up. He takes a light blast right to the chest. Before he disintegrates, he’s able to pass Iris some evidence: A McCulloch badge and a Black Hole emblem. Iris escapes in her car, but some of the assassin’s shots graze her arm, leaving fifth degree burns.
Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen and Jesse L. Martin as Captain Joe West — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW
The action scenes are exciting, moreso in this episode because Iris doesn’t have any powers and The Flash is miles away on an island. He can’t save her, so the stakes feel that much higher. It makes me so happy when the show lets Iris take a more active role in the story, and I wish it would happen more often. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco identifies the assassin as Dr. Light, who’s using the stolen photon rifle to amplify and weaponize her powers. When Iris recovers from her burns, she pieces together the evidence her source gave her. Joe and Killer Frost lure Dr. Light into a trap with a hologram Iris, while the real Iris confronts McCulloch’s CEO again. She tells him she figured out that McCulloch wasn’t robbed by Black Hole, they’re the same outfit. Right down to the materials used in their ID badges. Iris threatens to release all the information she has about McCulloch’s ties to Black Hole unless he calls off the assassination. He does, just in time. Back at Iris’s apartment, Dr. Light had shot Killer Frost in the shoulder and was about to go for the head.
Between Iris and Ralph (who strangely isn’t in this episode at all), I’m loving the turn for detective stories that The Flash is taking this season. Here, we saw Iris uncover an intriguing conspiracy and face down the bad guy with no help from her speedster husband. It made for a genuinely thrilling comeback for the show. It also left things on a surprisingly scary cliffhanger. Iris remembers the final word her source said to her: “Mirror.” She realizes that office umber AV3 is actually “EVA”. That’s the name of the original founder of McCulloch. She breaks into the office and starts taking pictures. Inside, she uncovers a large mirror. Just as she turns around to walk out, reflective arms reach out from the mirror and pull her inside. The whole scene is so creepy and effective. I was even waiting for something like that to happen and it still got a gasp out of me. Guess we’re dealing with a new meta next week. What a great way to welcome The Flash back.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on The Flash:
- Crisis on Infinite Earths Parts 1-3 recap
- The Flash Season 6 Episode 8 recap
- The Flash Season 6 Episode 7 recap
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