We start the second-to-last episode of this season of The Flash with some poignant drama at Jitters: Iris looking longingly at some return address return labels that she was supposed to share with Eddie, but may no longer have a need for. The CW, ladies and gentlemen!
Barry enters and reassures Iris that they’re going to find Eddie, and that he won’t let Wells take someone from Iris the way that his mother was taken from him. His pep talk is interrupted by Cisco, who tells Barry to come down to S.T.A.R. Labs immediately.
Down at the lab, Cisco reveals his discovery: a strange glowing battery built into the bottom of Wells’ wheelchair. Cisco postulates that this battery was used to charge up Wells’ Reverse Flash abilities, but their discussion is cut short by an alarm on the computer. The particle accelerator has come back online. In a twist that’s the 21st science-nerd equivalent of “the call’s been coming from inside the house,” they find out that they’ve been unable to find Wells because he’s been in S.T.A.R. Labs the entire time.
Joe, Barry, and Cisco go to investigate the accelerator, and Wells races out past them. Barry gives chase, which leaves them vulnerable to Peekaboo, who Wells released before his departure. Peekaboo goes after Caitlin, but is unable to kill her when Iris intervenes and cold-cocks her. Iris is useful now? What’s happening???
Wells gets away from Barry, but the team manages to get Peekaboo back in her cell. Suddenly, they hear faint cries from the accelerator tube: it’s Eddie! They find the secret chamber where Wells has been holding Eddie and help him back up the ladder, but not before Iris finds the box with the engagement ring on the floor…
Barry returns to the lab where Eddie is on an IV to combat his dehydration. Eddie reveals that he and Wells (aka Eobard Thawne) are relatives, and that Wells was working on the “key to getting back everything that was taken from him.” Cisco ventures into the accelerator and finds the spoken-of “key,” which is a glowing tube that’s powering the accelerator. There are only 36 hours until it’s fully functional, which raises a conundrum: when it comes back online it will kill all of the prisoners contained within. Unfortunately, Iron Heights isn’t equipped to handle metahumans, but Barry comes up with a different solution: sending them to the ARGUS prison on Lian Yu.
Back at the CCPD, Joe consults with the District Attorney about getting a route cleared to Ferris Air for their illegally incarcerated inmates. The DA refuses, citing the multitude of human rights violations that are being committed by S.T.A.R. Labs. She recommends that Joe stay as far away as possible from this situation, as it could cost him his job or even his freedom. She leaves, giving Barry the opportunity to enter and fill Joe in. They got a plane from ARGUS that will meet them at Ferris Air, they just need to find a way to safely ferry the villains to the runway.
We then cut to a seedy bar called Saints & Sinners, where Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, is enjoying a drink. Barry enters and asks Cold for help with transporting the metahumans, which Cold scoffs at. Why would he bother helping his nemesis?
“You won’t be able to rob anyone if everybody’s dead,” Barry explains. Heh.
Snart reluctantly agrees, but tells Barry that he needs something in return. Snart hands him a note with his demands, which Barry doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about. Snart departs, leaving Barry to consider his mysterious list of demands.
Side note: the fact that “Cold as Ice” by Foreigner was playing on the jukebox during this season was completely frigging awesome.
Eddie decides to head back to work, but Iris intercepts him to ask him about the ring. Eddie backs out, but Iris keeps pushing the issue. Eddie finally snaps and reveals that Wells showed him the future, and Iris is destined to marry Barry. Pretty scary.
With only 16 hours before the accelerator powers on, Snart shows up at the lab to make his demands. He wants all of his criminal records, his identity, everything about him erased. Barry gets to work, deleting electronic records from the CCPD computers and hauling out all of the hard copy records, where Lisa Snart and her golden gun destroy them.
Cisco cobbles together a transport for the metahumans using a meat truck and Wells’ wheelchair battery, which will bathe the interior of the truck with tachyons and neutralize the metas’ powers. The convoy rolls out, with Barry setting up roadblocks to keep the route secure. The gang makes it to Ferris Air, which was shut down after “one of their test pilots disappeared.” Hal Jordan, maybe? Fan service!
The dampener in the truck fails, and the various metas within start using their powers with explosive results. The Weather Wizard summons a bolt of lightning to down the ARGUS plane as it approaches for landing, and the rest of the metahumans start wreaking havoc. Just when it seems the situation is under control, Captain Cold turns on Barry and reveals to him that he’s responsible for their release: he figures that they’d make excellent additions to his “Rogues.”
With Cold and the metahumans on the run, Barry returns to the lab to brood, only to have the accelerator come online. Wells returns outside the lab, taunting Barry to come out and face him. Barry meets him, expressing his anger over everything Wells has done, to which Wells responds that he’s only done what he had to do. However, Barry has evened the odds for this fight, and Firestorm and the Arrow show up (in his snazzy League of Assassins getup) to help the Flash fight the Reverse Flash.
The Reverse-Flash suit pops out of a ring on Wells’ finger (a winking reference to the absurd suit storage in the Flash comics) and the four men fight. Ollie hits Reverse Flash with an arrow filled with nanites from Ray Palmer, which temporarily slow Wells down, but they are quickly expelled by a super-speed vibration (stop laughing). The fight continues until the Reverse Flash is finally subdued and dosed with another shot of the nanites. Ollie and Firestorm go to depart, but not before Ollie tells Barry that he will need a favor from him in the near future…
As lean and cheesy as this episode was, it was an absolute hoot. As much as the soapy drama adds a layer to the series (it’s on the CW, after all), episodes like this that are full of goofy soft-science and comic booky action are just fun. This is the clear advantage that The Flash has over its sister show Arrow, which has tried to become more comic-like while still maintaining its more serious tone. I’m a little heartbroken that there is only one episode left in the season…it’s gonna be a looooong summer.