In the mid-season finale of The Flash, Barry and Team Flash race to figure out how to stop Savitar before he and Doctor Alchemy create an army of meta-humans to take over the world. There were alternate worlds, things got meta (and I don’t just mean meta-human) left and right, and there may even have been some Christmas cheer. Here are some of the events that happened in episode nine, “The Present”.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?! | Barry (Grant Gustin) and Team Flash focus on unlocking the mystery that is Doctor Alchemy (voiced by Tobin Bell) and his magical power stone that allows him to create metas. Barry makes a pit stop on Earth 3 to pick up Jay (guest star John Wesley Shipp) aka Papa Flash (he is in my heart so let me have this) and has a run in with The Trickster (guest star Mark Hamill). It was wonderful and cheesy and the best holiday gift ever. Unfortunately, Papa Flash doesn’t know much more about Savitar (also voiced by Tobin Bell) than our Team but will stick around to lend a hand. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is dealing with his first Christmas since his brother died and has started having vision flashes of him. Barry and Papa Flash go after Doctor Alchemy and while Papa Flash ‘distracts’ Savitar by being a flying punching bag, Barry manages to close Alchemy’s magic box causing Savitar to disappear. Barry takes off Alchemy’s mask revealing that it’s Julian (Tom Felton). They lock him up in the pipeline only to learn that he doesn’t actually know what he is doing and is more of a puppet than a servant. They figure out they can use Julian to talk directly to Savitar (trapped inside his magic box) by syncing Julian’s brain with the box (which looked like they hot-glued probes to but I digress). Savitar doesn’t leave his audience waiting long and spouts a prophecy, “One shall betray you. One shall fall. One will suffer a fate far worse than death.” The Team decides it would be best to destroy the evil box (with Savitar inside) but Papa Flash says their only hope is to throw it into the speed force. Barry and Papa Flash team up to build up enough energy to open a breach and Barry chucks the box through. The breach repels backwards though and rockets Barry into the future (a new trick). He watches in horror as Future Savitar KILLS Future Iris (Candice Patton). Before he can react Papa Flash grabs him and brings him back to the present (5 months previous). Before returning to Earth 3, Papa Flash warns Barry to focus on the now (a la Edna Mode) and that every decision he makes creates a new future.
INDIANA JULIAN | The team is trying to figure out everything they can on Doctor Alchemy and the stone he uses to create metas. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) finds an article all about it, written by non-other than Julian. When Barry asks him about it however, he tells him he searched but never actually found it. Thanks to flashbacks of Indiana Julian (hat and all) we know that is absolutely not true. When his sister Emma died back when he was twenty, he started having visions of her. The visions told him about the stone and where to find it. She told him that if he found it, it would bring them back together.He traveled to India in search of the stone box and when he finds it, he immediately opens it, setting Savitar free. All it did for him however was cause him to start blacking out and losing big chunks of time (when he became Alchemy).
KID POUT | H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) has officially (and secretly) begun training Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale). Wally wants to tell the rest of the team when they discover he is surpassing Barry’s speed but H.R. tries to explain how dumb of an idea that is. When Cisco tracks Alchemy’s energy burst, Wally wants to join Barry so he tells the team about his secret training. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) goes off on him once again for going behind their back and is also angry at H.R. for training Wally when he knows Joe doesn’t approve. After a few more Wally-pouts and some family discussion, The Team gifts Wally with his very own super suit for Christmas.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
• The name on the paper Julian wrote showed his full name being J. Albert Desmond. Albert Desmond is the real name of Doctor Alchemy in the comics so I see you, show. I see what you did there.
• Every time they referred to it as “The Philosopher’s Stone” my brain immediately started playing “Hedwig’s Theme”.
• Serious question: How many speaking characters are there who haven’t been told Barry is The Flash yet? I only needed one hand to count and that feels wrong.
So what did you think? Will Barry be able to change the future? Does that mean Julian is on Team Flash now? Who do you think the prophecy is talking about? Let us know in the comments below!
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.