The Flash Season 6 Episode 12 Recap: “A Girl Named Sue”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 12
Hartley Sawyer as Dibny and Natalie Dreyfuss as Sue in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 12 (Photo © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

“Wait, I know you! You and your husband Joseph McCulloch…you founded McCulloch Technologies. You’re Eva McCulloch, but you’re supposed to be dead,” says a very confused Iris (Candice Patton). “Not dead – just trapped,” replies Eva (Efrat Dor) as Iris discovers she’s not alone in a mirror dimension in season six episode 12 of The CW’s The Flash.

The episode begins right where episode 11 left off, with Iris pounding on the other side of the mirror trying to tell Barry that the Iris with him is not her. She soon meets Eva McCulloch who disappeared six years ago and has been presumed dead. Eva explains she ended up trapped in this mirror dimension the night of the particle accelerator explosion. She was sent crashing into and through the mirror along with dark matter.

She and Iris are trapped in a “fractal dimension” that humans can’t see – a mirror world where everything is backward.

Over at Ralph’s (Hartley Sawyer) office, he’s obsessively going over the case of Sue Dearbon looking for a new lead. Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) suggests he take a break and that they should team up on the case. Ralph thanks her for her interest but would rather go it lone wolf-style.

Ralph then sees a hit on a marked Sue Dearbon account which he follows to a broken-down apartment. He’s about to go in when a woman races out and tackles him just as the apartment explodes. It’s Sue Dearbon (Natalie Dreyfuss).

Mirror Iris asks Barry if he can get her the mirror gun for her research on the Black Hole organization. Barry tells her no because it’s too dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands.

A little later at Ralph’s office, Sue explains her ex is trying to kill her because she discovered he’s an illegal arms dealer. Ralph thinks they should go to the police, but she’s sure he has cops on his payroll. So, Ralph and Sue team up to get evidence on her former husband so Sue can get her life back.

Back in the mirror dimension, Iris and Eva discuss finding a way to escape. Eva’s convinced after six years of being trapped that there is no way out. Iris remembers when Barry was trapped inside a mirror by Mirror Master that Caitlin got him out by freezing the mirror below zero to get it to break. Eva thinks that might work and retrieves liquid nitrogen from her lab.

Over at the precinct, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) asks Barry to look into a closed case that was ruled an accident. Barry asks why and Joe confesses he has suspicions about an insider working with the person committing crimes. Joe asks Barry to report only to him about his findings.

Ralph and Sue attempt to take photos of an arms deal but a thug catches Ralph and destroys his camera. Sue surprises the thug and high-kicks him; it seems she knows some karate.

Later, the unlikely duo case the office of Sue’s ex, Loring. Ralph finds a key to a safe deposit box and then they’re forced to run from guards who’ve discovered them. Ralph uses his stretch abilities and lowers them to the street, revealing himself as the Elongated Man to Sue who is noticeably impressed.

Iris and Eva freeze the mirror and it breaks into pieces. Unfortunately, they’re still trapped in the mirror dimension. Eva’s upset and starts to vent to Iris, telling her about having to watch her husband through the mirror grieve her and eventually move on after six years.

Meanwhile, Mirror Iris sneaks into the Starchives looking for the mirror gun when she bumps into Nash (Tom Cavanagh) who tells her he’s standing watch over things while Cisco’s away. Mirror Iris lies and says she was looking for Nora’s journal and asks Nash to not tell Barry because she doesn’t want to upset him. Nash agrees to keep it a secret.

While they talk, Nash keeps seeing Harry Wells from Earth-2. Earth-2’s Harry taunts him about what he’s really doing in the Starchives. Iris leaves empty-handed; Nash leaves with Harry’s diary.

Sue talks Ralph into helping her steal the evidence, which she says is a ledger full of her ex’s illegal activity that’s locked up in a safety deposit box. Ralph and Sue pose as Joe West and a cop to get access to the safety deposit vault. Once inside, Sue opens the box and removes an object that doesn’t look anything like a ledger. That’s when Sue high-kicks Ralph and locks him in the vault. (He really should have seen that coming.)

At the CCPD, Barry confirms Joe’s suspicions about his case were right. It was not an accident. Barry says the fire was started by UV light rays the same way Dr. Light torched Iris’ newspaper’s office.

Joe confesses several cases of accidental deaths he’s given a second look don’t appear to be accidental. All the victims are associated with a man named Joseph Carver. Joe thinks Carver has a mole in the CCPD.

Barry reveals Iris is already investigating Carver and wanted the mirror gun but he didn’t give it to her fearing it was too dangerous. Joe encourages him to give it to her and that right now they can only trust family.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 12
Efrat Dor as Eva and Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen in season 6 episode 12 (Photo: Colin Bentley © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

Back in the mirror dimension, Iris and Eva argue about trying to get out and Eva gets angry which causes a piece of the broken mirror to fly right into her hand. Iris encourages her to try to rebuild the mirror focusing her anger and mind. It works and the mirror’s pieced back together.

Back in the vault, Ralph realizes Sue has played him. Almost everything she told him was a lie. It seems she’s a thief and she doesn’t want Ralph telling her parents or she will out his secret identity. As she leaves, she finds Loring and his thugs waiting for her. Ralph uses his powers and snakes himself through the sprinkler system pipes and pops out just in time to create a protective shield from Loring and his thugs’ bullets.

The shooting stops and Ralph and Sue discover the thugs have been knocked out by Ultraviolet (Alexa Barajas) who hits Ralph with a ray and knocks him across the room. Sue and Ultraviolet engage in hand-to-hand combat and Sue wins, escaping with a large diamond that was in the safety deposit box.

Ultraviolet leaves but Loring and his thugs get up to take out Ralph. That’s when The Flash and Joe show up and take them down.

The next day at S.T.A.R. Labs Ralph tells Barry and Iris all about Sue and how she played him. Barry and Mirror Iris try to be supportive but Ralph isn’t in the mood for listening.

That night Barry gives Iris the mirror gun in their apartment saying he trusts her. Mirror Iris thanks Barry, turns, and smirks.

The last scene shows Sue holding the very large diamond and scanning it.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 12 Review:

Tongue-in-cheek and at times a bit too cute, episode 12 titled “A Girl Named Sue” introduces the long-lost Sue Dearbon and provides answers to what happened to Iris as well as some information about the mysterious mirror dimension. It also introduces a sense of paranoia about who can be trusted at the CCPD.

After such a slow, steady, and interesting build-up to finding Sue Dearbon, the episode plays out like a third-rate private eye feature with Ralph suddenly becoming unbelievably and uncharacteristically naïve and taking everything Sue says at face value. (If he had this kind of intuition and training when he was a detective, he would have been killed long ago!) Another problem with the episode is the fact Danielle Panabaker is missing completely as Caitlin and Frost. Her absence, along with Carlos Valdes as Cisco, is felt greatly.

With Iris working with Eva to try to escape the mirror dimension and Mirror Iris now having the mirror gun in her possession, things are about to get exciting and troubling for Team Flash.

GRADE: C




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