“I swear on both my parents’ lives I will protect you,” says Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) to his girlfriend, Iris (Candice Patton), after having revealed to her he saw Savitar kill her in the future in The CW’s comic-book inspired fantasy action series, The Flash.
As season three episode 10 begins, Barry wakes from a nightmare about Savitar killing Iris who’s currently snuggled in bed beside him in their new home. Iris asks if he wants to talk about it and he tells her he would rather “do” something else. Just as the happy couple start to make out, both their phones go off and they see an alert about a fire in town. Barry races off to help put it out.
After putting out the fire with Kid Flash’s help and saving a detective who tried to help and ended up trapped, Barry and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) race over to S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry notices Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) struggling with her power-reducing cuffs and asks if she’s okay. She tells him her cuffs aren’t working right and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) advises Caitlin she’s not charging them often enough. The two argue until Caitlin asks Cisco sweetly if he would fix her cuffs which, of course, he agrees to do.
Meanwhile, H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) is very excited about the grand opening of the S.T.A.R. Labs Museum. Cisco, however, is not too happy when he sees that H.R. has created a malfunctioning hologram of him giving a tour of the museum that doesn’t even sound like him. Caitlin excuses herself from the demonstration saying she needs to run an errand.
Over at the CCPD, Caitlin pays Julian (Tom Felton) a visit which startles him into asking if he’s going to be kidnapped again. She apologizes again for what she put him through and asks if he’s okay. “We haven’t seen much of you since Christmas,” says a concerned Caitlin, and Julian lies and says he’s been busy. Caitlin confesses she needs his help and hopes if they work together, they can find a way to get rid of her powers. Julian gives her a dirty look and tells her he helps catch meta-humans not cure them, letting her know she’s on her own. Caitlin is both surprised and saddened by his answer but sees her cuffs are on the fritz again so she hurries out to the hall and pulls on the battery charger. “Please, no! Oh please,” says a desperate Caitlin as her eyes turn crystal blue. She manages to power the cuffs enough to control her powers and her eyes return back to their original brown.
Barry gets word of a robbery in progress at a jewelry store and races off to stop the thief who it turns out is Jared Morillo, nicknamed Plunder by H.R. because he has an eye patch and deserves a pirate nickname. Plunder is the armed robber the news report in the future credited The Flash with capturing. Surprised, Barry hesitates just long enough for Plunder to use his heat-seeking missile gun on him and escape.
After treating Barry, Caitlin receives a text and announces she needs to run another errand. Barry asks H.R. if he thinks it’s possible to change the future, referencing the novel H.R. wrote back on his Earth about a man trying to stop his own murder. H.R. admits he believes man’s fate is set and therefore not able to be altered. Their conversation is cut short when Barry gets word that Plunder is robbing a hotel. The Flash heads out to stop him with Wally tagging along, supposedly just to observe.
Caitlin heads back over to see Julian at the CCPD after receiving his text. He apologizes for being such a jerk the other day and admits that when he saw her it brought back what Savitar did to him and the guilt he felt being involved with the deaths of innocent people. Caitlin tells him what he feels is normal. “It’s survivors guilt,” she says and offers him a spot on Team Flash. Surprised, Julian thanks her and asks if he can think about it.
The Flash arrives on the rooftop and takes down Plunder but is hesitant to bring him into the authorities fearing it brings Iris one more step closer to her doom. Just as Plunder is about to use his gun on Barry, Kid Flash races in and takes away the weapon, cuffing the jewel thief – all while a huge smile is plastered across his face. (Wally loves getting to be a part of the action!)
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, everyone congratulates Wally on his first big bad guy take-down but Barry isn’t in the mood to congratulate Kid Flash. He yells at Wally about not following orders. “You were supposed to observe, that’s all!” yells Barry, threatening Wally that if he doesn’t listen to him, then their partnership will be over. Everyone’s surprised and taken aback by Barry’s reaction. Just then H.R. enters and wants everyone upstairs for the museum’s grand opening which turns out to be a complete failure when no one shows up. Julian walks in and tells the gang he’s decided to accept their offer. Barry asks him what he’s talking about and Caitlin looks a little guilty. (Oops, seems she forgot to tell everyone about her conversation with Julian).
Barry calls for a Team Flash meeting and everyone expresses their concern about Julian joining the group. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) points out he was Doctor Alchemy doing Savitar’s bidding until they freed him of the mind control. Caitlin reveals she needs Julian to help her get rid of her powers because they can’t do it all alone. She reminds them all how they always support each other, pointing out to Barry that when his mother died Joe took him in. She reminds Cisco that when he lost his brother, she slept on his couch for a month so he wouldn’t be alone. Caitlin’s words reach her teammates and Barry tells her to tell Julian they will think it over.
Barry pulls Iris into the secret room where the newspaper article from the future used to have her byline and confesses he accidentally went into the future and saw Savitar kill her. Iris is upset and understandably frightened, but Barry is adamant that they’ll change the future. Jay said it was only one possible future that Barry saw. Iris tells Barry they can’t do this alone and so Barry finally reveals to Team Flash what they’re up against.
H.R. explains, using dominoes provided by Cisco, that the future wants to play out the way it is and for them to change it they need to change certain, specific events to affect the outcome for Iris. The trick is knowing which events. Barry remembers seeing some news headlines on a television, so Cisco and Barry vibe to the date in the future to check out the headlines again so they can hopefully set out to alter them, thus changing the future.
Barry and Cisco arrive in the alley and see The Flash from Christmas Eve show up. They follow him and spot a television, paying close attention to the headlines. H.R. tells them to read the headlines out loud and he’ll write them down. Barry reads one which says “Music Master getting a six-figure book deal. Joe West Being Honored at City Hall.” Cisco starts to read “Killer” and then he and Barry exchange looks. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin tells them to read what it says with a concerned look on her face. “Killer Frost Still At Large,” reads Cisco and Caitlin becomes visibly sad and upset. “Central City still recovering after Gorilla Attack” reads Barry with a question in his voice. The two young men hear yelling and run over to see The Flash pleading with Savitar to let Iris go. He doesn’t and once again kills her, but Cisco notices that H.R. is on a nearby roof with some sort of rifle. Upset, Barry tells Cisco to vibe them back to the present.
Barry believes they already changed the future a little since H.R. was there this time which means they can change Iris’ fate. Iris says her future is not the only one they need to change, referring to Caitlin. Wally shows up to let Team Flash know Plunder has escaped. (Seriously, they need to start putting these villains back in the pipeline instead of the CCPD jail.) Barry knows that Plunder’s next target is the CC museum because of the news headlines and after quickly apologizing to Wally for what he said the other day, the two team up and go out after Plunder.
Wanting to change yet another detail from the headlines, Barry says Wally is the one who needs to capture the thief. With a little help …okay, a lot of help… from Cisco, Kid Flash captures Plunder and gets the credit. Bystanders chant his name while shooting Plunder’s capture on their cellphones.
Altering yet another detail from the future, the museum is starting to become popular after Cisco called the local schools and offered them half-price tickets to bring their students. He also fixed the hologram tour guide version of himself, and H.R. thanks him for it. In the future, the museum closed due to lack of attendance, but Team Flash has now fixed that.
With the future looking a little brighter, Barry and Iris host a house-warming party and everyone shows up with gifts including a turtle from H.R. Julian arrives with some wine and Barry and Caitlin welcome him to Team Flash, and he responds by being very grateful and excited. Cisco and Julian pull Caitlin aside and give her a present they’ve been working on together…a solar charger pendant to keep her cuffs powered. Touched and happy, Caitlin thanks them, saying, “This means so much to me.” H.R. gathers everyone around and leads a warm toast to Barry and Iris.
The final scene shows a portal open up and a woman breacher coming through with a hologram image of H.R.
The Flash Season 3 Episode 10 Review:
Dramatic, funny, and a little heartbreaking, season three episode 10 of The Flash maps out the events our heroes must change in order to, hopefully, save both Iris and Caitlin from disastrous fates. It also officially added a new member to Team Flash and launched Kid Flash into action.
There were two stand-out performances in this episode. First, Candice Patton as Iris stole the scene in which Barry reveals her murder at the hands of Savitar. Iris trying to be strong and finally breaking down and asking how long before she dies is truly heartbreaking. It’s great the writers are finally giving her character a major story arc. Another stand-out performance was once again delivered by Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin. The scene with Caitlin talking to Team Flash about giving Julian a chance and taking him in is filled with heartfelt reason and emotion. Her character is truly the heart and soul of the show.
Another big plus with episode 10 is that the humor and tongue-in-cheek moments which helped make the first season of the show a big hit are back. Cisco and H.R. (Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh) arguing and then launching an uneasy but genuine friendship show the humor and wit from season one has returned to season three.
Now that they’re armed with the knowledge of the events they need to change in order to save Iris from dying and Caitlin from becoming Killer Frost, here’s hoping Team Flash can pull off altering the future.
GRADE: B
