The Flash Season 6 Episode 1 Recap and Review: “Into the Void”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 1
Candice Patton, Grant Gustin, Danielle Panabaker, Hartley Sawyer and Carlos Valdes in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 1 (Photo: Jeff Weddell © 2019 The CW Network)

“So what’s new in Central City?” asks Ralph (Hartley Sawyer). “We are trying to track a black hole,” replies Barry (Grant Gustin). “Of course you are,” says Ralph in the premiere episode of season 6 of The CW’s The Flash.

As season six episode one begins, Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) are in S.T.A.R Labs when suddenly there’s some sort of extreme power surge from the Time Vault. They run back into it after having just watched Nora’s goodbye message and see it destroyed by the surge.

Jump ahead four months and Team Flash is after a fake Godspeed from the future. The Flash quickly takes him down but when he tries to get any answers out of him about why he’s in Central City, the fake Godspeed can’t speak. He can only make sounds, just like the three before him.

A little later Team Flash and friends meet up at Joe and Cecille’s for a barbecue. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) asks Barry and Iris how they’re coping with Nora’s disappearance from the timeline and Barry says that knowing they will see her in the future is helping. He quickly changes the subject and suggests to Cisco (Carlos Valdes) about putting in some extra hours tonight at S.T.A.R. Labs to get the “MAC,” a speed-thinking device, ready to use.

Cisco, who’s enjoying life without his Vibe powers after taking the metahuman cure and with his girlfriend, reminds Barry of the importance of balancing work with living life. Cisco decides what he really wants to do is just enjoy his beer.

Barry receives an alert about a crime scene and has to leave the gathering. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) also excuses herself, thanking Joe and Cecile for the barbecue but saying she needs to be somewhere.

Caitlin attends a funeral for Dr. Ramsey Rosso’s mother. Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is an old med school acquaintance of Caitlin’s and as she offers her condolences, her Killer Frost powers start to come to the surface. She’s able to quickly get them under control. He thanks her and asks if they can get coffee sometime to catch up, admitting he could really use a friend to talk to. She agrees and tells Rosso to call her.

Meanwhile, Iris is on a mission to find Nora’s speedster outfit which Joe accidentally threw out. She heads to the junkyard and while searching a mini black hole appears and almost sucks her – and a junkyard worker – into it.

Iris tells Barry about the black hole and he meets up with Cisco and Caitlin at S.T.A.R. Labs to figure out a way to track it. Cisco and Caitlin try to explain to Barry the enormous amount of data they have to go through and that no one has ever tracked a black hole before. Barry’s overly chipper and says, “C’mon, we’re Team Flash.”

Ralph rejoins Team Flash, showing up clad in a tux. He’s been working a missing person’s case all summer. Caitlin tries to decode the data stream on the black hole and has another random “Frost out,” freezing the keyboard. Ralph asks how long she’s been having them and she answers all summer. Ralph suggests she take a break from working and Barry thinks she should give her friend Ramsey a call to catch up.

Ramsey meets Caitlin at Jitters but it turns out he isn’t interested in catching up with her at all. Ramsey wants her to help get dark matter. He needs it to use on human subjects for trials for fighting HLH cancer, the disease that killed his mother.

Caitlin, a little hurt that he had an alternative motive, tells him that using dark matter on humans could turn them into metahumans against their will. She won’t take part in that. Upset with her answer, Ramsey leaves.

Caitlin waits a few moments and then as she starts to leave, Jitters begins shaking. Another black hole opens just in front of Jitters. Everyone hangs on to whatever they can to stop being sucked into it. Caitlin, who is holding onto a pole, starts to slip. She asks out loud, “Frost, where are you?!” Just as her hold gives way and she’s about to be sucked into the black hole a flash of lightning appears and The Flash saves her.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin’s upset feeling like she should be dead. Barry assures her he would never let that happen and that’s what Team Flash does – they protect each other. (Barry has been overly optimistic and positive through most of the episode, but it’s very refreshing to have this side of his personality back).

Ralph and Cisco are concerned about Frost not coming out to protect both Caitlin and herself. Ralph theorizes that maybe Frost has become afraid of dying.

Iris shows up and tells Team Flash she’s done some research on the black hole and it led her to Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight), a scientist and blogger who accidentally opened a black hole with an experiment he did in his garage. To make matters worse, he touched it and is currently in a catatonic state.

Cisco’s solution to the black hole is a Stellar Grenade which should be able to implode the black hole when The Flash tosses it in. Iris and Caitlin disagree with that solution because Chester’s consciousness is in the black hole. Destroy it and he stays catatonic.

Cisco’s not sure they have a choice and Barry finally loses it, yelling that he’s not losing anyone else. Barry walks off and Iris goes after him to talk. They both realize they’re still hurting and grieving the loss of Nora. Iris admits she went to the junkyard to find Nora’s speedster outfit which went into the black hole. Barry and Iris agree to not try to race through their grief but instead work through it together.

Ralph tricks Frost into coming out and talks to her about not showing up at Jitters. She tries to blow it off by saying The Flash had it covered and tells him she isn’t afraid of dying. Ralph says he knows that, but what she is afraid of is living. Ralph has figured out that since Caitlin’s attended a few funerals, Frost is struggling with just being used to fighting the bad guys and not getting to make her own memories. Ralph tells Frost to talk to Caitlin about letting her have a life, too.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 1
Carlos Valdes, Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Panabaker and Grant Gustin in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 1 (Photo: Jeff Weddell © 2019 The CW Network)

Alarms go off at S.T.A.R. Labs as a massive black hole has appeared above Central City. Barry instructs Ralph and Frost to help evacuate the area and protect the citizens. The new plan is for Barry to speed into the black hole and pull out Chester’s consciousness. The Speed Force should protect him from being destroyed by the hole, and once Chester’s consciousness is removed from the hole it should implode. To do this he’s going to use quantum computing tech from Nora’s gauntlet.

The Flash speeds into the hole as Ralph and Frost save citizens. Frost even saves Joe from being sucked up. All this is going on while Cisco’s back at S.T.A.R Labs playing Queen’s “Flash” theme song, lending the scene a little humor and lightness. Team Flash’s plan works.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Chester still has glowing eyes but otherwise seems okay. They’re going to keep him in the MAC for a few weeks for observation.

Caitlin talks to Frost and of course says she’s good with her “taking the wheel” for a while and making a life for herself. Caitlin admits for the first time she feels like she’s a part of Frost rather than the other way around. Frost comes out and is greeted by Ralph who offers to be her life coach. First up, changing her first name. Ralph says Killer is a bit off-putting to some people.

Somewhere in Central City Ramsey has created a makeshift lab and worked a deal with a low-life to get dark matter. He experiments on himself because he also has HLH cancer. He injects himself with the dark matter and screams in agony.

Barry shows Iris he was able to retrieve Nora’s suit from the hole and they put it up in S.T.A.R. Labs. The Monitor shows up and tells both Barry and Iris that a crisis is coming. On December 10th, 2019, The Flash will make the ultimate sacrifice. Barry says he won’t leave his family but The Monitor says in order to save billions of lives The Flash must die.

The Flash Season 6 Episode One Review:

Season six of The Flash begins with a strong episode that injects fun and humor back into the series while setting up both the major villain of the season and the epic crossover event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” It’s perhaps one of the show’s best season openers to date.

The episode had a perfect balance of fun action scenes, such as the chase after the fake Godspeed, and suspenseful scenes like when Caitlin almost gets sucked into the black hole and is saved just in time by The Flash. The episode also made time to have the barbecue with everyone on Team Flash just enjoying being together and having a good time. These scenes are crucial in keeping the show from getting too dark and only about fighting the bad guys. The Flash is at its best as a show when it sticks to the three Hs: Humor, heroics, and heart.

With Ramsey about to become Team Flash’s new enemy and the impending Crisis on its way, Team Flash will have a lot to deal with. Perhaps more than they can handle…

GRADE: B+




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