THE FLASH 7.2

RECAP - THE FLASH  7.2:  "The Speed of Thought"

One step forward.....two steps back.  That seems to be the motto for Team Flash in critical situations when a supervillain is about to pull off their master stroke.  And this week was no different, as Flash and his cohorts tried to find a way to rescue Iris, Kamilla, and Singh from the Mirrorverse, while Eva pondered her own sense of self, as well as try to finish off her husband's gang, and destroy his weapons.  What resulted in happening was---well....putting it mildly---highly illogical.  Let's break down what happened, and the shocking little twist at the end of the episode, and the ramifications THAT will have on the future of the team.  

While the team held a memorial for the lost Nash Wells (and, therefore, ALL the Wells from the other worlds), Iris was on the hunt for Kamilla, now that she's been able to adapt to using the Mirrorverse to her advantage.  It was great to FINALLY get Cisco back from his trip to Atlantis (as I had mentioned last week, he was looking for tech to help get their friends out of the Mirrorverse), and Caitlin, who returned from working with her mom in getting treatment (for Frost as well), but Chunk was absent this week....family issues.  But the core of the original team was intact, and they were trying to find a way to get their friends out of this other world.  

Sadly, the tech Cisco obtained from Atlantis wasn't up to snuff, and the team tried to brainstorm a way to get it to work.  Cisco had an idea how, but before he could finish his thought out on one of the boards, Barry had logically deduced everything Cisco was going to write down.  We soon discover that Barry has developed a new power:  speed thought.  Barry was able to use his superspeed cognitively to put together a plan to retrieve Iris, Kamilla, and Singh.  It was around this same time that Allegra, mourning the loss of Nash herself, and had the picture of him and her doppleganger from his world, was at the Gazette office when she saw and email from Iris to Kamilla, saying she was going to the hospital to look for Singh, and get to the Lab in the Mirrorverse.  Upon showing this to the team, that's when they theorized how to get their friends out.  

Eva, meanwhile, is contemplating upon the revelation that SHE is the mirror duplicate and NOT the real Eva McCulloch.  She asks Sunshine, one of the new villains in her employ, if she noticed anything different about her, and Sunshine didn't. But she informs her boss about the latest Carver Tech being moved, and Eva says she's going out to destroy it---flex her muscles, so-to-speak.  So, the team is alerted, and Cisco joins Flash and Frost, as they try to absorb some of Eva's energy to help power the machine to get their friends back.  Flash takes the hit, but he's able to absorb her power.  Frost provides a distraction while he does it, but she ends up getting hit when they're pinned down.  Instead of rescuing her immediately, however, Flash hesitates.  Turns out that in getting his speed back from the artificial Speed Force, Barry's cognitive powers have a negative effect:  he's using all logic for his solutions, and not basing anything on emotion.  So, now the team is concerned with Barry becoming more Mr. Spock-like, and less human.  

We got a nice calm interlude between Cecile and Allegra, as they discuss their lives.  We learned a few things from Allegra, such as her father abandoning her as a kid, and we learn from Cecile about her family's legacy of being in the military...and she went against the grain to become a lawyer.  Cecile tells Allegra that only SHE can carry on the memory of Nash, and it's up to her if she wants to.  

Eva is being interviewed on TV about the future of her company, and what her plans are.  Barry manages to hack into McCulloch's computer system to discover the video of her dying the night of the Particle Accelerator exploding.  Barry than makes a brash move, and hacks into the TV feed to show the video to the viewers and the host, causing them to question Eva.  This sets Eva off, and she bails, all the while Sunshine is watching from behind the curtain.  The team then realizes that Barry's logical outcomes are coming without thought of consequence, and lack the emotional input.  It really hits the fan when Barry decides to go into the Mirrorverse to rescue Iris....and Iris ONLY.  He theorizes that the ONLY logical outcome is to rescue HER, because she has the most knowledge of Eva, and it will be effective in stopping her, but the decision would cost two lives:  Kamilla and Singh.  The team isn't having it, and they try to stop Barry from carrying out this plan, even so much as attacking him, with Frost even using Velocity 9 to try and bait him into a surprise attack, and subdue him long enough to shut down the Artificial Speed Force.  Sadly, their plan backfires, and they're taken out, as Flash's speed thinking calculated all outcomes before they could attack.  With them incapacitated, Flash executed his plan to save Iris.

Meanwhile, Iris DOES find Kamilla, and they both head to the Lab in their universe, and they eventually find Singh.  But things go from bad to worse, when BOTH Kamilla and Singh start suffering from the dissonance from the long term exposure to the Mirrorverse.  With them in danger, their at risk of dying.  It is just then that Flash appears, trying to get Iris OUT of the Mirrorverse.  When she realizes that Barry isn't QUITE Barry, she resists him as long as she could, using the powers she's getting from the universe to try and stop him from taking her without their friends.  However, Barry's increasing the power on his end, and she can no longer resist.  Iris is pulled through, and Barry succeeds in rescuing her.  She then begins to convulse, and Barry finally realizes what he's done...so he eventually shuts off the Artificial Speed Force, and gets hit with a blast of energy.  Everyone is still out on the team.  Iris is back...but she's in danger.  Barry just shut his speed off, and now the team has to start back from the beginning.  Cisco realized that when Thawne powered his Negative Speed Force, he was using his emotional response to his hatred of Flash and everything related to Team Flash...and when they created THIS Speed Force....it was made with inert energy---no emotion driving it.  So, until they can figure THAT out...they are back to Square One.  And now Iris' life hangs in the balance...as does Singh's and Kamilla's in the Mirrorverse.

In the end...we see Eva curled up by the big mirror in her office....rocking back and forth, telling herself that this isn't her world.   But then she stops....looks at the mirror....and theorizes that it COULD be...thus putting Eva on the fast track to her new master plan.  But NOHTING prepared us for the shocker in the final scene---where we got a flashback of Eobard Thawne killing the original Harrison Wells....and taking over his identity.  We saw where Thawne had buried the body of Wells...and for some reason, after Barry had shut down the Artificial Speed Force...it appears that SOME neural energy got out...and reconstituted right at the burial site of the original Harrison Wells...and now he's BACK!  OR...is he?  What does this mean?

This episode moved very quickly it seemed, and we got a team that acted out of desperation...and for Barry....the price of having a brand new power---the loss of humanity within himself.  Now with this revelation....will he sulk and blame himself for everything, or will the team realize it was a collaborative mistake when they though this whole plan through in getting him his powers back?  Barry is NOTORIOUS for shouldering the blame...as the hero always does....but this time around...I think the team can share SOME of the heat for Barry's actions.  Look, I know it's not a popular opinion, but it's fact.  But we KNOW Barry is going to feel the WORST about it....because HE was the one that committed the act.  And now....Iris' life hangs in the balance.  

Eva's been exposed as a fraud, and that is NOT good news for Central City.  This is a woman whose own employees, as well as Sunshine and any OTHER minions she may have will now question her, and will it lead to them attacking HER instead?  There's nothing more dangerous than when a villain has their back against the wall.  And what HER game-changing plan is will spell disaster now that Team Flash put the truth out there.  To reshape the real world in her own image...she's already beginning, by putting out a mirror image of a female cop...looking to make EVERYONE into a duplicate...and eliminating the REAL people.  We've now reached the apex of this story, and the resolution has to come quick.  

And WHAT THE HELL?!!!  The ORIGINAL Harrison Wells is BACK?!!  Or is this Eobard Thawne?  THIS has become an interesting development.

Overall, another enjoyable episode...with us getting some more insight into Cecile and Allegra's background (and it was cool that Allegra had Nash's bandolier on her to honor Nash.  Eva's in total maniacal villain mode, and Team Flash's back is against the wall.  Going to be an interesting couple of episodes to get to the end of this arc.  What did YOU all think of this week's installment?  Subscribe and comment below....would love to hear YOUR theories!

Until next time...Keep on running!