This week’s episode of The Flash, entitled “Shade”, left us with the harrowing introduction of arguably the scariest villain Team Flash has faced yet (and we only got him for ten seconds). Wally’s quest for powers came to a head and we got a closer look at Caitlin’s quest to get rid of her own powers. Here are some of the events of episode six.
OH BROTHER | Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) has started having dreams of being Kid Flash and decides to tell Joe (Jesse L. Martin) about it. Joe is understandably concerned given that these dreams are exactly how The Rival (Todd Lasance) and Magenta (Joey King) were drawn in by Dr Alchemy (Tobin Bell). Wally argues that this is “totally different” and Joe all but looks into the camera like he’s on The Office. He thinks this is just his powers finally manifesting. Put off by Joe’s lack of enthusiasm, he leaves for class. Joe tells Barry (Grant Gustin) about Wally’s dream and Barry confirms that this is indeed very bad. Barry calls a West family meeting and talks to Wally about it, telling him about the Wally from Flashpoint who was seriously injured while fighting The Rival. Wally (bastion of wisdom) argues, “That’s THAT me. It’s not THIS me.” Joe tries to explain why that logic is not sound but Wally continues to argue, saying the only reason they’re ok with Barry being a speedster and not him is because they don’t trust him (to be fair, I don’t trust Wally either). Wally storms out. After ignoring everyone’s calls all day, Wally shows up to the station to let Joe know he is in fact still alive. Joe tells him that he treats Wally differently because he reminds him of a young Joe. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Wally, he just doesn’t trust the situation they’re in. Wally begrudgingly agrees to let the team run some tests on him but as they’re leaving he gets an Alchemy vision and he collapses, screaming in pain. Back at the lab, H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) suggests putting “Wallace” in the Pipeline until they’re able to sort this all out. To my shock and delight, Wally and Joe both agree it is probably for the best. Joe goes to cancel his group movie date night with Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) but his kids won’t let him. Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) volunteer to be on Wally duty while the rest of the team is on board to go to the movies with Joe and Cecile.
When Barry is called away to go deal with the monster of the week rearing it’s shadowy head at the movies, Wally starts to hear Alchemy’s voice in his head. He gives Wally another vision and Iris runs to his side, trying to talk him through it from the other side of the glass door. He demands that Iris opens the door but she says she can’t. He is hit with another vision and is in so much pain Iris can’t sit by anymore. She opens the door to help him but he jumps up and slams her against the wall, telling her to stay out of his way. She tries to stop him but he throws a punch that she dodges. Then Iris gets to do what I’ve wanted to do for WEEKS which is PUNCH WALLY IN THE FACE, knocking him out cold. She fills the team in on what happened once they are back and Wally is safely in the Pipeline. When he wakes up, he tells them they need to use him as bait to catch Alchemy. While not happy about it, they agree it is their best shot. But Joe isn’t about to let them walk in there without the best protection so he gets a SWAT team to assist. Before they leave, Barry makes a seemingly out of place comment that Julian (Tom Felton) hasn’t been answering his phone and didn’t come in to work that day (I’ll get to this later). The Flash, Joe, and the SWAT team all follow Wally to an abandoned subway to find Dr. Alchemy who is there in all his Darth Sidious glory. He quickly realizes it is a trap and shoots Barry with his phantasm ball. Joe manages to shoot the phantasm ball out of Dr. Alchemy’s hand and the SWAT team surrounds him. Dr. Alchemy tells them they have made a grave mistake. Suddenly there are a bunch of flashes of light that only Barry can see, picking up the SWAT team members and throwing them around like rag dolls. Barry yells to Joe and Wally to get out of there but Wally is a little busy making heart eyes at the discarded phantasm ball on the ground that is calling to him. He picks it up and turns into……a stalagmite? Then MEGATRON shows up?! He grabs Barry by the neck and calls himself Savitar: God of Speed.
THROWING SHADE | The monster of the week this week is a Shadow Nogitsune the team affectionately refers to as Shade. His first kill is a businessman that he kills by snapping his neck and then poofing out of existence. When Barry and Julian are investigating they discover it left no fingerprints or DNA. Barry takes that moment to invite Julian to movie date night (fight me that’s what I’m calling it) with Joe, Cecile, and the whole gang. Julian turns him down, telling him he actually has plans to meet up with his girlfriend (Julian has a girlfriend?!) and Barry is as shocked as I am. At the movie in the park, just as the movie begins, the Shadow Nogitsune rises in front of the screen, really setting the horror movie mood of running and screaming. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) beeps Barry who was on Wally duty. When Barry arrives, Cisco hacks all the cars in the parking lot so that he can turn on all their headlight, slowing down Shade’s molecular vibration so they can catch him. They use Cisco’s power dampening cuffs to capture Shade who is really just an average guy (minus the power to channel the Shadow Realm).
COLD SHOULDER | Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is still struggling with her powers and whether or not to tell anyone when the episode opens. While Cisco and H.R. are arguing about H.R.’s latest plan, she eyes a pair of power dampening cuff’s Cisco invented. Cisco notices that Caitlin isn’t acting like herself but she plays it off as not getting enough sleep. Later, Cisco accuses H.R. of stealing his power dampening cuffs but he points out that he would have no use for them at this current time (only H.R. could make power dampening cuffs into something kinky). Caitlin later tells Cisco that she was the one who stole the cuffs and reveals her powers to him. She wants him to vibe her and see if she becomes Killer Frost. He does and sees her, as Killer Frost, shooting icicles at him. He lies and tells her he didn’t see anything. At the movie in the park, Caitlin calls Cisco out for lying about what he really saw. He gives in and tells her the truth and begs her to tell the rest of the team. After they defeat Shade, Cisco makes a very pointed comment about not hiding from our problems in front of the whole team. He backs Caitlin into a corner, forcing her to tell the team about her powers and she is pissed. She makes the very valid point that it wasn’t his secret to tell. Barry goes to talk to her and apologizes. This is all happening because he created Flash Point. Later, Caitlin and Cisco make up and he promises her that the whole team is going to help her beat the impossible.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Where is Jesse (Violett Beane)? Can Jesse come back? I miss her.
- Cisco, it isn’t just Earth19 where people are a few crayons short of a box
- H.R.’s Metamorphmagus Want (fight me that’s what I’m calling it) is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I need a thousand.
- Am I crazy that I believe in my heart of hearts that Julian is connected to Dr. Alchemy and his merry band of cult members?
So what did you think? What is going to happen to Wally now that he’s touched the phantasm ball? Exactly how screwed are they now that Savitar is here? Will Caitlin be able to stop herself from turning into Killer Frost? Let us know in the comments!
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.