The Flash Season 6 Episode 15 Recap: “Exorcism of Nash Wells”

The Flash Season 6 episode 15
Danielle Panabaker as Killer Frost and Natalie Sharp as Sunshine in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 15 (Photo: Katie Yu © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

“Barry, no!” yells Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) as he’s about to kill Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) with a speed-phasing hit to his heart in season six episode 15 of The CW’s The Flash.

Episode 15 begins with Eva (Efrat Dor) talking to Mirror Iris (Candice Patton) and the new Mirror Kamilla (Victoria Park) who was created when Mirror Iris shot Kamilla with the mirror gun at the end of last week’s episode. Eva sends them on a mission to retrieve a device she built called the prismatic refractor. Her husband sold it to Mercury Labs.

Over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin talk to Barry about building a new Speed Force, admitting they don’t know where to begin. They have also created a device to monitor his speed use since the Speed Force is now gone and the more he uses it, the quicker he loses his super speed.

Caitlin strongly advises him to monitor his use of not just running but speed healing, thinking, and Flashtime because all will drain his powers. Barry starts to voice concern about not being able to protect the city but then Nash, who they locked in the pipeline because Thawne’s trying to take over his body, keeps calling to them begging to be let out.

Meanwhile, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) meets with Captain David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) and brings him up to speed about his fear and concern that Carver has a mole in the CCPD. Singh’s concerned that Joe might be jumping to conclusions but Joe gives him the file and asks him to look at it.

Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco head to the pipeline to talk to Nash, and he confesses to the trio he’s been seeing different versions of Wells – including Harry. Caitlin checks Nash’s brainwaves and sees there are multiple brainwaves tied to Nash’s. It seems all the different Wells throughout the multiverse are now connected to Nash’s mind.

Nash wants Thawne out of his mind and tells the team he has a neural splicer device that should work to get him out. Cisco boosts the power of it and just before he activates it, Nash looks at Barry, grins and winks. “Cisco, wait!” yells Caitlin but it’s too late. The machine activates and Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry are knocked off their feet while Thawne’s able to get out of the pipeline by the use of the device. It turns out it was Thawne pretending that Nash was still in control.

Barry speeds around and finds Thawne trying to escape with the time sphere. Thawne’s thwarted when Barry grabs him and pins him up against a wall. Thawne taunts Barry saying they are alike – two speedsters frustrated by the limits of their speed. He promises to take control of Nash’s body and reconnect with his Speed Force. Thawne brings up Nora and how Barry couldn’t save her which gets Barry so angry he speed-phases his hand and gets ready to kill Thawne. Fortunately, Caitlin and Cisco stop him.

Caitlin tells Barry he can’t be around while they try to figure out a way to get Thawne out of Nash. She reminds him if he had killed Thawne, he would have also killed Nash. Barry tries to assure Catlin he’ll stay in control but Caitlin refuses to listen, reminding him Thawne knows how to get under his skin and he can’t trust himself around him. Barry, hurt by Caitlin’s words and tone, replies, “You mean, you don’t trust me,” and walks off.

A little later, Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) shows up to S.T.A.R. Labs with holy water, a cross, and a Quija board to help perform an exorcism on Nash. Cisco says the things she brought won’t work but needs her to monitor Nash’s psyche while they use a device to try to drive out Thawne.

Flashback to eight years prior on Earth-718 where Nash first meets Allegra’s doppelganger, Maya, who helps him with an artifact. Nash learns she doesn’t have any parents so he takes her under his wing and they become myth-busting adventurers together.

At Mercury Labs, Mirror Kamilla and Iris do a fake interview while trying to figure out a way to get the device Eva wants retrieved. A new meta nicknamed Sunshine (Natalie Sharp) bursts in and tries to get the device. Mirror Iris sends a distress signal to Barry.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and Caitlin receive the alert. Barry says he’ll meet Frost at Mercury Labs but Caitlin tells him Frost can handle it and he needs to stay put per doctor’s orders. An unhappy and antsy Barry monitors from the lab.

Frost shows up and tries to stop Sunshine whose powers are from the sun. Frost keeps missing her with icy blasts and Sunshine threatens to melt her. Barry can hear what’s going on so he takes Velocity X to give him a boost and speeds over…against Caitlin’s orders.

He speeds in and Frost warns him, sharply, that she can handle it. The Flash goes to take down Sunshine but he trips over his own feet and falls after experiencing a negative reaction to Velocity X. Frost gets distracted and Sunshine hits her with a sunblast that knocks her off her feet. Sunshine bends down and tells Frost she heard she was a badass from the Black Hole group and that she could have been one of them.

Sunshine is about to kill Frost when Joe enters with a small army of cops. Sunshine quickly exits using her powers but fails to get the refractor.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry’s feeling guilty about Frost/Caitlin getting hurt. Sunshine reopened Frost’s old wound from fighting with Dr. Light and is now healing. Joe’ telling Barry he needs to be more careful, especially with his speed, as Mirror Iris walks in with intel on Sunshine. Before she was a meta, she was military Special Ops. Joe says he’ll hold onto the energy refractor until he can arrange for ARGUS to pick it up. Iris keeps focusing and obsessing about the item and Joe notices, suggesting she talk to Barry who’s obviously upset about his failing speed and Caitlin.

Mirror Iris talks to Barry and reminds him he has always been a hero long before he was ever The Flash. She believes metas are the ones with limitations and this gives him an idea of how to stop Sunshine. He leaves and Mirror Iris calls Mirror Kamilla to tell her to get ready.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 15
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen and Tom Cavanagh as Nash Wells in The Flash’ season 6 episode 15 (Photo: Katie Yu © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

In another part of S.T.A.R. Labs, Nash is strapped down after his mind is increasingly being taken over by Thawne. Thawne’s using the memory of Maya’s death and the guilt and refusal to grieve over her to weaken Nash so he can take over his mind and body. Thawne connects to the Negative Speed Force and Nash’s eyes open and glow red. He breaks out of the straps but Cisco snaps the power-reducing cuffs on him and Cecile knocks him out. Cisco thinks if Thawne connects to his Speed Force again, they’ll lose Nash forever.

Joe’s at CCPD waiting for the ARGUS transport when Singh walks in and confirms he agrees with his theory about the mole and he wants to help with the transfer. ARGUS guards and transport pull up and Sunshine appears and starts burning the guards with her powers. Barry shows up and tells Joe to throw him the device. Barry catches it and runs at human speed to his CSI office. Sunshine follows and enters looking for him. Suddenly all the window shades come down and the door closes behind her. Barry closes the skylight above them and by doing this no sunlight can enter the room. Sunshine is now powerless. Joe enters with more ARGUS guards and arrests Sunshine. “Limits suck, don’t they?” says a smiling Barry to the captured meta.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cecile senses Nash is suffering pain and grief. Barry shows up and tells them they’re going to use the 2.0 device they used to defeat DeVoe to save Nash.

Using the device – and with Cecile monitoring – Cisco and Barry enter Nash’s mind. Barry distracts Thawne while Cisco tries to convince a devastated Nash to face his worst memory, the death of Maya. Thawne again threatens Barry with taking over Nash’s body and taunts him about the death of Nora. Barry begins to get angry but instead focuses on his love for her. “I miss my daughter every day, but I’m done letting that give you power over me,” says Barry to a taken aback Thawne.

Barry informs Thawne his and Nash’s emotions give them their strength and that metas are the ones with limits, not people.

Cisco tells Nash he must face his memory and grief of Maya or he’ll never move on. Nash finally agrees and witnesses how Maya, trying to reach an artifact, unhooks her safety line. She reaches it but then loses her footing and falls into the darkness of the cavern to her death.

“Nash has taken hold of his pain. You can’t feed off of him anymore,” says Barry to Thawne who starts saying no as his lightning goes wild. In a thrilling scene, Thawne disappears and his lightning exits Nash’s body and travels through the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs and up into the sky.

Later, Cisco and Barry double-check and discover there isn’t any sign of Thawne in Central City. He’s not dead just part of the Negative Speed Force, formless but still alive. Cisco checks on Nash while Barry goes to talk to Caitlin.

Cisco finds Nash who thanks him for saving him and Cisco encourages him to create a friendship with Maya’s doppelganger, Allegra. Nash is hesitant but Cisco confesses that when he and Harry Wells from Earth-2 first met, all he could see was Thawne. However, eventually, he got to know Harry and they became friends. Nash says he’ll think about it.

Cisco leaves and Nash sees Harry grinning at him, saying, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

In the med bay, Barry apologizes to Caitlin for not listening to her and letting her get injured. Caitlin says it’s okay and that she’s almost fully healed. “So, we’re okay?” asks Barry. “Always,” replies Caitlin.

Cisco comes in happy the two have made up and says he’s bushed. Caitlin voices concern over creating an artificial Speed Force because anyone who came into contact with Thawne’s Speed Force got hurt. Barry assures them their Speed Force will be different. Cisco points out they don’t know how to start and Barry surprises them by claiming he does. He pulls out Nora’s journal and says, “Thawne taught Nora how to build a Speed Force. Now she can teach us.”

The final scene shows Mirror Kamilla and Mirror Iris talking to Eva and giving her the refractor. During the fight with Sunshine they were able to lift the device and put a fake one in its place. Eva praises them and reveals she’s one step closer to liberation.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 15 Review:

Suspenseful, emotional, and exciting, season six episode 15 titled “The Exorcism of Nash Wells” uses almost the entire cast of The Flash and reveals why Nash has been seeing so many Wells. It also revealed his backstory with Allegra’s doppelganger. Plus, the episode brought together and focused on original Team Flash – Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin – as they once again do battle with Eobard Thawne.

The stand-out performance goes to Tom Cavanagh who portrayed Nash as he suffers and relives the worst day of his life as well as Thawne who relishes the opportunity to live again and torment Barry and his team. Since season one Cavanagh’s performance as Thawne has always been one of the strongest elements of the show. He brought to life the perfect nemesis of The Flash to which all other major villains are compared, with most falling short.

With Eva closer to getting her freedom and Team Flash working to create a new Speed Force, the remainder of season six should be interesting to watch as it all plays out.

GRADE: B+