THE FLASH 7.16

 

RECAP - THE FLASH  7.16:  "P.O.W."

We've got a war on our hands---and it's moving at hyperspeed!  Team Flash is under siege, as it desperately tries to figure how how to stop to warring armies of Godspeeds from tearing apart Central City.  Barry has been certainly distracted enough with trying to start a family with Iris (and she's been missing as of late, being off camera for "illness" reasons), as well as trying to protect the city from the throes from destruction by velocity.  We've also had Frost dealing with Mr. Chillblaine himself roaming free on the streets, and Allegra is hoping to re-bond with her cousin, Esperanza, whom just had successful surgery courtesy of Caitlin to restore her voice.  But can those fences be mended between the two?  And there's Joe and Kristin Kramer's status, as they were caught by her former friend Creyke, who tried to blow the two up.  What shook out this week?  Let's find out...

As the news reports attacks to citizens in their homes, the Godspeeds are wreaking havoc all over Central City.  Barry is watching this with concern, and then dreams of his daughter Nora yet again, only THIS time, Nora is warning him that things are bad, and he needs to stop it.  He has been out there trying to stop them, but he's taking a beating, and this last time he's gotten some bruises.  Caitlin orders him to rest, but you know he won't.  Cecile is concerned that she can't get ahold of Joe since he and Kramer went out looking for Creyke.  They realize that the Godspeed's power is causing electronic disruptions, thus Cecile unable to call Joe.  They've also begun to operate without rhyme or reason, and it's gotten hard to track them.  Chunk goes to work on an algorithm to see if he can find a pattern to help the team track them.  

Out in the woods near Midway City, Joe and Kirstin manage to bail out of the car before Creyke blew it up.  They know he's on the hunt for them.  And they seek refuge in the woods, and Joe cannot connect into town for backup, because there's no cellphone signal.  So, like it or not, they're on their own against her former friend and teammate. 

Barry talks to Caitlin about his dream with Nora.  He is worried that Godspeed can destroy her future, because Godspeed is Nora's arch enemy in 2049.  Caitlin suggests to Barry that he race to the future to check on her, but he shoots that down, saying that there's a risk of creating another Flashpoint.  Help, however, arrives in the form of John Diggle...who's got a device he believes can help Barry and the team fight the war against Godspeed and win it. Cisco sent Diggle with something called an Entropy Trap.  The device will actually capture a Godspeed and keep it in stasis, thus allowing them to question it, or analyze it to figure out the other Godspeeds' next move.  John offers himself to help out, though he's still experiencing headaches.  The same one's he was going through when he saw the specailist in Gotham City.  

Caitlin also checks in on Esperanza, and tells her that her progress is going well, but just to take it easy.  Of course she's NOT going to listen, because she's got vendetta on her mind.  With the info she got from Dr. Nelson, she's going to track down all the other doctors who've had a hand in creating people like her, and kill them before they hurt anyone else.  Allegra tells her cousin she should take it easy, and wait until she's healed, and this Godspeed War to be over, and then she'd help her.  But Esperanza isn't going to wait.  She's off, leaving Allegra frustrated. 

The team puts their plan into play, as Flash is racing around town until he picks up a tail...and he's off running, with a Godspeed in tow.  The plan works, as Diggle helps Flash capture the pursuer.  Once they have him, he's not much for talking at first, but eventually, he opens up, and tells Flash they have much to discuss.  This Godspeed says he and Flash have the same agenda:  to stop the other Godspeeds from taking over.  They serve August Hart, who wants ultimate power.  However, his crew wants to do one thing:  live.  The Godspeed says they have a common enemy, but they want to kill August Hart before he destroys them.  However, Flash says that he refuses to kill...even an enemy.  This puts the Godspeed off, and he breaks free of the confines of the entropy machine, and he attacks Flash, and says that if he doesn't help them, then he's an enemy.  He takes down Flash, and steals some of his speed before he bolts out of there, but not before destroying the machine before taking off.  Flash is frustrated, and orders Chunk to fix it, but Chunk can't with what they have at STAR Labs, and Barry lays into him to figure it out.  Diggle orders everyone out of the room, and he asks Barry what's up.  Barry fills him in on his dreams about Nora, and wondering if he's okay.  He wants to check up on her, but he's afraid of messing up the timeline, and the fact that the Godspeeds need to be dealt with first.  Diggle says he should go...and that he would do ANYTHING...no matter the risk...to save his family.  That includes risking time and space.  Unbeknownst to them, Allegra overhears this, and makes the choice to take off and find Esperanza, and help her before she gets hurt. 

So, Barry decides to race to 2049 to check on Nora, and informs Cecile of his plans.  She says she's purused Nora's journals to get any info about Godspeed, and she says that there was a building in town that August Hart used as his base of operations, and she's going to check up on it.  She says she'll take John and Allegra with her, but Allegra is gone, and Diggle offers his help nonetheless. Caitlin and Chunk are keeping tabs on everything in the present while he's gone.  He races into the time stream, and is almost to 2049, until Gideon warns him that there is trouble up ahead.  A few Godspeeds are in the timeline, and blast him back, preventing him from reaching Nora.  He winds up in the Force Space, where Deon is there to inform him that the Speed Force is busy trying to fight off the Godspeeds, and that they're being stretched thin.  So, there are no trips through time until they're able to fend off the Godspeed threat.  Besides, his powers alone are weakened because he's had to protect someone else:  Iris.  It turns out, Iris' illness is more than just a cold or because of pregnancy....she's phasing in and out of time, and it's taking Deon's powers to keep her stable and safe.  He has to get her to another zone in order to keep her from fading out, and before the other Godspeeds find her.  

Before Cecile and John take off to find August Hart's hideout, John has another mental attack, and Cecile tries to help him, but she herself is overwhelmed by the impact of what's hitting John.  He recovers, and she says that he may want to sit this out.  What she felt it was...infinite.  But Diggle shrugs it off, and they're off to find the building where August Hart hangs out.  Once there, they end up facing off with a Godspeed, which Spartan shoots with nanites (courtesy of Ray Palmer), and it weakens the Godspeed enough for Spartan to start beating it down....but yet ANOTHER mental attack takes him down, and Frost blasts the Godspeed to send it racing away, saving Diggle.  Cecile comes upon a man who seems weak, but stable.  However, he has no idea who he is, but feels he can't leave the building.  

Allegra catches up to Esperanza, only to find a room of strewn bodies about, all looking like they're dead, and she comes across her cousin, who is mortally wounded.  Allegra apologizes for not being there for her, and for choosing her friends.  Esperanza says but she did, and now she will die alone.  Allegra begs her cousin to keep fighting, but Esperanza disintegrates in Allegra's hands....dying in the process. 

Creyke has been hunting Joe and Kramer, whom they think he only believes there's one person out there he's after.  They use that to their advantage, and then when he catches up to Kramer, he surprised to see her.  Joe slaps a dampener on him, and they talk.  Kramer wants to bring him in for killing their unit.  He says he's a mercenary, and he did it for the money.  He also said that he took that money, and gave it back to the people on their reservation.  He also questions Kristin, asking her just who SHE really is....considering Kristin Kramer was killed in the blast that killed the unit. Joe wonders what he's talking about, but she has no idea.  He says he can't die because he's immortal. She wants justice for her unit, and wants to kill him, but Joe once again talks her down.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin shows the team what's wrong with the man Cecile and John found, because there are gaps in his brain.  She says she has a way to get some of that info, and Barry gives the okay...as long as the man is okay with it. They need to know if they have August Hart. It's at this point, Diggle decides to take his leave---he's finally got to address this mental issue he's been having, and it's had to do with the night he almost got killed...and when he found the container with the green light in it.  Barry needs his help, but understands Diggle has to do what he has to do.  They give their farewells, and Diggle is off. 

Caitlin administers the drug to the man, and all can admit to is that his name is August...but not much more than that.  So, Barry is distraught because he feels they're right back where they started.  He's despondent because he couldn't see Nora, and they are no closer to solving the Godspeed riddle...and now he's worried sick about Iris.  Cecile tells him that she understands he's down....but that he needs to have some hope...they've gotten through worse, and they'll get through this.  Once alone, Barry is thinking when Nora shows up from the future.  She knows she's not supposed to be there, but she has something important to tell her dad.  Barry is just overjoyed to see her, and is glad she's okay.  She lets him know she's okay, and things turn out alright...for both of them.  He thinks that she's thinking of her and her mother, but Nora tells him that Iris will be fine, and they're fine....because she's there, living and breathing.  But she didn't come alone----because as happy as he is to see her...she brought company---and Bart Allen zips in, and Nora introduces her dad to his son.  

This episode really picked up the steam in the story department, as they have amped up the danger for Team Flash with all of these Godspeeds racing about, and an August Hart who has NO CLUE who and what he is.  And with him under the care of Team Flash, how long will it be before he regains his memory, and executes his final plan?  We have two episodes to go in this season, so the arc will wrap up in two parts.  But with no clue as to how to stop the threat, the stakes have been greater than it has been in previous seasons.  

With the appearance of Nora in the flesh this time...with Bart now in tow---XS & Impulse have arrived just in time to help their dad stop the Godspeed threat.  Also, we FINALLY got an appearance from Iris in this episode, as she's been missing the last few episodes.  And we also find out that she hasn't been experiencing morning sickness or a cold, but she's been phasing in and out of time.  Now, I am not sure how much this has to do with the leftover superpowers she has, or this plays into the actual origin of the comics version of Iris:  which is that Iris was not born in the same century as Barry, and was adopted by Ira West.  So, not sure how much they'll tap into THAT at all, but it DOES have me curious if this will be a way where she DOES get pregnant, and that she'll eventually LOSE her powers.  But at least we now have reason for her being offscreen.  

Diggle making his sojourn through the Arrowverse is nice welcome, as he's now our focal point from the Arrowverse from the perspective that Ollie had.  A regular guy in a superpowered world.  But now we got more in depth with the reason for his mental issues:  Cecile called it "infinite", and I have a feeling that the RING he got has been calling to him---or the Guardians.  Either way, this gives us even MORE reason to believe that John is THIS much closer to becoming Green Lantern. We can only hope....end the tease.  I also DID like Diggle's reference to Ray Palmer when he hit the Godspeed with nanites.  Letting us know that Ray is still in the loop in the superhero community, and is willing to lend a hand, even though he's no longer with the Legends. 

I have to admit---I was VERY disappointed with Allegra's arc in this.  To have her battle her cousin, beat her, then HELP her get her voice back....only to have the show runners KILL Esperanza off---that's a cop out and a let down.  I get that Esperanza wanted revenge, but we didn't get much of a redemption arc, we didn't get to see the two reconnect...it was just Esperanza still being bitter even when Allegra DID show up...but it was too late.  Was their story ALWAYS supposed to end tragically?  We'd already seen villains this season "see the light", and renounce their ways in some aspect, I guess they couldn't do that with everyone.  Plus...after I had time to process it---I think that by eliminating Esperanza, it propels Allegra forward, and gives HER some uniqueness as the ONLY person in her family with those powers....thus, now there's only ONE Ultraviolet...IF Allegra decides to run with that name.  And I HOPE she doesn't take her cousin's death out of Barry or the team---she AND Caitlin gave Esperanza fair warning about going after those Black Hole doctors in her weakened state...but she didn't listen.  Esperanza's death is on herself...not Allegra.  But we know Allegra won't see it that way.  But if they do this to turn Allegra villain...I'm gonna be pissed.  

The whole issue with Joe/Kristin/Creyke is one that I hope wraps up soon...her story is losing me fast.  We now know Creyke is immortal---this mean he's like Vandal Savage now?  And what's with his jab at Kramer being dead?  She know something WE don't?  Does SHE even know she's supposed to be dead?  Are they making HER a metahuman as well...just to spin the irony onto her after her issues with Frost?  Just put an end to it....you're needed in Central City.  And is this guy going to be a Flash villain down the road?  I dunno...but wrap it up, because the main story needs much more of the stage at this juncture. 

Well, boys and girls....did we LIKE the little surprise at the end of the episode with Nora returning and the first appearance of Bart?  I will admit...they got the outfit spot on.  Now...if they give him the goggles...I'm there.  But what about YOU guys?  What did YOU think?  Subscribe and comment below your insights.

Two to go until this season reaches the finish line, folks----so, until then....Keep on running!