The Flash Season 6 Episode 10 Recap: “Marathon”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 10
Candice Patton, David Ramsey, and Grant Gustin in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 10 (Photo: Katie Yu © 2019 The CW Network)

“Our Earth has more threats than ever and we don’t even know where they are coming from,” remarks Cisco (Carlos Valdes) to Frost (Danielle Panabaker) in season six episode 10 of The CW’s The Flash.

Episode 10 begins with The Flash (Grant Gustin) stopping a robbery at the grand re-opening of the newly remodeled Jitters followed by a new and very stylish open to the show using the classic Flash theme and photos and special effects of the cast as their characters.

Next it’s to S.T.A.R. Labs we go where Cisco is worried and freaked out that only their Earth exists after Crisis and that their entire timeline has been re-written. Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Superman now share Earth-1. He’s also concerned all their old villains are back in action.

Frost, who has dropped “Killer” from her name, doesn’t share his concerns and is kicking back, relaxing. She is, however, impressed with his new “Who’s Who” binder of villains. Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh) wants to go run tests on his dig site to make sure no one ever accidentally opens the Anti-Matter Universe.

At Barry and Iris’ place, Barry brings home Diggle (David Ramsey) who isn’t just visiting but has something for Barry. Oliver left his very first mask as The Green Arrow to Barry in his will, the same mask Barry made and gave him. Barry notices some markings on the mask and believes it’s a clue Oliver left Barry to find. Barry and a reluctant Diggle team up to work on the mystery of Green Arrow’s mask while Iris (Candice Patton), preoccupied with her investigation into McCulloch Technologies, excuses herself to go meet a source.

Iris meets her source in a parking structure and it turns out he’s a former employee of McCulloch Tech. He informs her that a secret organization called Black Hole is connected with the company and is involved with weapon theft.

Iris meets up with Cecile (Danielle Nicolet), Kamilla (Victoria Park), and Allegra (Kayla Compton) in her office to bring them up to speed about what her source told her. She plans on running the story even though Cecile warns her they don’t have enough evidence and could be sued.

Iris calls on Joseph Carver, the CEO of McCulloch, to get a quote for her story. She explains what she’s learned and asks for a comment. Carver assures her that her source is a troubled and disgruntled employee who they had to let go due to his conspiracy talk and that, yes, they had a theft of a new weapon but are working to improve security. Iris warns him she’s going to run her story anyway.

Diggle and Barry find a little Mirakuru on Oliver’s mask and Barry thinks that means there might be a new threat of someone trying to create a new Deathstroke. Barry and Diggle speed to the island Lian Yu, where Oliver was trapped on and off again for five years, to investigate.

At Iris’ office, she’s thrilled with her website getting so many hits on her story about McCulloch and the secret organization. Cecile ends the celebration early by letting her know that she and the site, The Central City Citizen, are being sued for defamation. Cecile gets a feeling from her meta abilities and yells for everyone to get down. Seconds later a blast of energy is shot into the room, hitting the wall. Iris tells everyone to go to S.T.A.R. Labs, saying she’ll use Nash’s tunnels to meet up with them there. But first, she has to go warn her source he’s in danger.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 10
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, Victoria Park as Kamilla, Kayla Compton as Allegra and Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 10 (Photo: Katie Yu © 2019 The CW Network)

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco’s relieved Kamilla is all right. Frost is out looking for the gunman who shot at them after Cisco figured out the shooter uses a high-intensity light as ammo. Cisco also explains that since the multiverse is gone, the physics of breaching has changed entirely so he can’t breach to Lian Yu to get Barry to help.

Nash shows up, relieved Allegra is safe and giving Cisco grief about not keeping him in the loop. Cisco yells at Nash that he caused the Crisis to happen and blames him for all those who died on all the different Earths and didn’t get a do-over, including Harry and Jesse from Earth-2 and Oliver Queen from their Earth. Kamilla’s surprised by Cisco’s anger and outburst.

Iris heads to the parking structure to warn her source but just as they start talking, he’s blasted by the assassin. He tries to tell Iris something as he dies but only manages to say “mirror.” Iris takes his truck and speeds off just as the shooter blasts the rear window.

Iris rejoins the group at S.T.A.R. Labs and they do some research to discover the identity of the assassin. She’s Dr. Kimiiyo Hoshi, a metahuman who can control light and is now the new Doctor Light in life after Crisis.

Over on Lian Yu, Barry and Diggle check all over but find no new Mirakuru. Diggle remembers a few years ago Oliver and Thea fought Deathstroke on the island and the Mirakuru on the mask is probably from that. Diggle tells Barry there’s no mystery and that Oliver was just reminding Barry to live his life and not live mission to mission the way Oliver did. “Life is a marathon, not a sprint, Barry. Slow down and enjoy it,” says Diggle to a still-grieving Barry.

Caitlin checks on Cisco after hearing about his outburst at Nash. Cisco shows Caitlin a holographic message from Harry before Crisis where he told Cisco he was making new strides in regaining his intelligence. Cisco blames himself, thinking if he had still been Vibe he might have sensed the first Anti-Matter wave that destroyed Earth-2 and he could have saved Harry and Jesse.

Caitlin realizes that’s why Cisco has become obsessed with all the new threats and wanting to protect everyone on Earth-1, now known as Earth-Prime. Caitlin suggests with all the new threats and changes to their reality he should be the one to compile all that data. Cisco says he can’t do that in one day and while remaining in Central City. “Maybe some time away from Central City will allow you to figure out who you want to be in this post-Crisis world,” suggests Caitlin.

Joe (Jesse L. Martin) talks to Iris who’s bandaging a few burns she received from the energy blast. Joe explains this secret organization she’s trying to expose has been around for years and she isn’t going to be able to expose them in one day. He reminds her they’re not in Crisis mode anymore. He asks if her source told her anything else and Iris says no but realizes that Carver, the CEO, is involved.

Carver calls Doctor Light and tells her to deliver the “gift basket” – meaning kill Iris. Dr. Light arrives at Joe’s home and blasts at Iris only to discover she’s just a hologram. Joe and Frost corner Dr. Light and tell her to give it up.

At the same time, Iris arrives to talk to Carver. He’s obviously surprised to see her alive and she confirms she knows he’s the leader of the Black Hole. She says if anything happens to her, her family, or her friends she’ll release all the information she has on him and Black Hole.

Carver immediately calls Dr. Light who has managed to knock out Joe and blasted Frost with high-intensity light. Frost used her powers to heal herself, but Dr. Light figured out she needs to shoot Frost in the head. As she’s about to pull the trigger, Carver calls and orders her to stand down. She leaves, telling a surprised Frost that she follows orders. A little later Carver announces he’s dropping the lawsuit against The Citizen.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco’s packing up to go on his data-gathering adventure when Nash walks in. Cisco tells him what he’s off to do and asks him to hold down the fort. Cisco confesses he’s offering Nash an olive branch and apologizes for what he said to him. He leaves telling Nash he hopes he finds what he’s looking for. After Cisco walks out, Nash looks at a photo he has of himself and Allegra together.

Barry and Iris meet up at home and Barry tells Iris that Oliver’s gift of the mask was reminding him to protect the ones he loves. Iris confesses she has to get used to slowing down and living life post-Crisis. Later that night as Barry sleeps, Iris realizes her source was trying to tell her to write AV3 and look in a mirror. She does and it reads Eva. Eva is Carver’s wife and she must have secrets hidden in a room in McCulloch Technologies. Iris leaves a note for Barry and takes off.

The last scene shows Iris sneaking back into the building and getting into room AV3. She looks around and just sees furniture. She then unveils a giant mirror and turns her back to it. Two silver arms come out of the mirror, grab Iris, and pull her into the mirror. (Is Mirror Master back?!)

The Flash Season 6 Episode 10 Review:

Intriguing and emotional, season six episode 10 titled “Marathon” shows how losing so many lives in Crisis – especially Oliver, Harry, and Jesse – is affecting some of the main members of Team Flash. It also opens up and reveals the new dangerous secret organization Iris came across a few episodes back.

The standout performance in the episode is given by Carlos Valdes as Cisco who’s still clearly hurting from the loss of so many people he cared about. He blames himself for getting rid of his powers, believing he may have been able to save lives had he stayed Vibe. The scene where he tells Nash it’s his fault so many lives were lost and the scene where he reveals to Caitlin how much he blames himself over Harry’s death are the two best scenes in the episode. They’re full of emotion but never go over the top.

With Iris trapped inside a mirror, it’ll be interesting to see how she gets out and what’s in store for Team Flash post-Crisis.

GRADE: B




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