‘The Flash’ Season 6 Episode 16 Recap: “So Long and Goodnight”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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The Flash Season 6 Episode 16
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen and Jesse L. Martin as Captain Joe West in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 16 (Photo: Colin Bentley © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

The CW’s The Flash season six episode 16 saw the return of a person of interest for Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) and the exit of a main cast member.

Episode 16 begins with Joseph Carver (Eric Nenninger) hiring Rag Doll (Troy James) to kill Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) because of his RICO investigation.

Over at the West home, Joe, Barry (Grant Gustin), Mirror Iris (Candice Patton), Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) are enjoying game night when Joe receives a message from Chief David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) about the investigation into Carver.

In the mirror dimension, Iris tells Eva (Efrat Dor) she thinks if she can get a message to her husband, who she reveals is The Flash, he should be able to vibrate them out of the dimension. Eva fakes being exhausted from controlling the mirror and says she needs to rest, but suggests Iris should keep looking into her idea.

Once alone, Eva tells Mirror Iris to get The Flash to drain the rest of his superspeed.

Meanwhile, Cisco teams up with Ralph to help him find and bring to justice Sue Dearbon, who Cisco knows has gotten under Ralph’s skin. Ralph and Cisco head to a big financial company’s event which Ralph believes Sue is targeting.

In another part of Central City, Joe’s driving when he realizes his brakes aren’t working. His car starts to accelerate all on its own. In a very suspenseful scene, Joe speeds across the city steering the car away from hitting people and other cars. When his out-of-control car aims itself at a wall, Joe dives out just before the car slams into it and explodes.

After the accident, Joe tells Singh, Barry, and Iris about what happened. Singh pushes Joe to go into Witness Protection but Joe refuses. Barry promises Joe he’ll figure out how Joe’s car was sabotaged.

At the investment gala, Cisco and Ralph are trying to double-check the security when they come across Sue Dearbon (Natalie Dreyfuss) who used a disguise (a Mission Impossible-type mask) to get into the party. Cisco’s quite impressed by her accent and role play but Ralph is not pleased at all. Sue once again gets what she was looking for – access codes to most of the investment branches in Central City – and escapes.

Joe interrogates Sunshine in lockup to try to get her to turn on Carver. As he’s talking, Rag Doll slowly and creepily emerges out of a large evidence box. Luckily, Barry has discovered by going through Joe’s car that it was Rag Doll who sabotaged it. He races over just as Joe fires three shots at Rag Doll, who uses his unique meta-powers to boomerang the bullets back at Joe. Barry speeds to grab the three bullets and grabs two before his speed hiccups and he falls. The third bullet hits Joe in the shoulder.

Over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry argues with Joe about possibly stepping back from the Carver investigation. Joe says he won’t stop but Barry’s finally able to convince him to stay put until he can figure out a way to catch Rag Doll.

At their apartment, Barry brings Iris up to speed about Joe. She pushes him to just use his speed to find Rag Doll but Barry reminds her he can’t because of his speed depletion. He assures her he’ll find a way to track him.

Joe decides to pay Carver a visit at his home. He warns Carver he knows he hired Rag Doll to kill him. During their conversation, Joe gets the overconfident Carver to slip up and implicate himself with Rag Doll. Joe shows him he has recorded their conversation on his phone, but Carver’s able to destroy the recording by using a small EMP pulse. He threatens Joe’s family saying he can eliminate anyone, anywhere.

Joe punches Carver and leaves.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry yells at Joe for confronting Carver and suggests Joe reconsider going into Witness Protection until he and Iris can find a way to bring down Carver. Again, Joe refuses.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 16
Natalie Dreyfuss as Sue and Hartley Sawyer as Dibny in ‘The Flash’ season 6 episode 16 (Photo: Sergei Bachlakov © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

Ralph tracks Sue to another investment company and blows her cover story. He speaks to her alone and tells her he knows she’s going after the organization called “Black Hole” and Carver because he’s blackmailing her parents who are decent people. He offers to help and she gives him the big jewel she stole earlier, advising him to check it out. Sue also admits she felt guilty about tricking him before when they first met.

Over at The Central City Citizen, Allegra (Kayla Compton) and Nash (Tom Cavanagh) are attacked by Rag Doll who’s able to knock out both of them and kidnap Cecile.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Joe shows the message he received from Rag Doll about kidnapping Cecile to Barry. Barry says he can coordinate her location and they will go together to save her. The Flash speeds Joe over to an abandoned building where Cecile is being kept. The Flash takes on Rag Doll while Joe goes looking for Cecile.

Joe finds Cecile strapped to a chair that has a pressure bomb connected to it. Joe calls Nash to try to help him disarm it. Nash explains there should be four wires and instructs him to cut the green one. Unfortunately, Joe says there are several wires and most of them are green.

Joe decides to try something else and tells Cecile to move with him like they did last year dancing in sync to switch places. It works and Joe is now on the chair with the bomb and time is ticking down.

The Flash, who is at first losing the fight against Rag Doll, uses his smarts more than his speed and gets the upper hand on him. He cuffs Rag Doll to the very same steam pipes the meta was using to hide in.

The Flash speeds over to Cecile and Joe’s location. Joe tells him to speed her to safety. The Flash does and then tries to speed back in time to save Joe. As he superspeeds, The Flash’s speed again starts to falter. Joe sits on the chair as the seconds count down 5…4…3…2 and that’s when Joe, in a last-ditch effort, tries disconnecting one of the green wires. It stops the bomb’s countdown with 2 seconds to spare.

Joe agrees to go into Witness Protection. He hugs Cecile goodbye and wants her to tell their baby he is coming home soon. Barry promises to tell Iris and also promises to bring down Carver so Joe can come home.

After Joe’s taken away, Singh (who also said goodbye) gets in his car and looks in his rearview mirror. Singh talks to Eva in the mirror and tells her that Joe West is out of the picture. Eva tells Singh that if anyone is going to destroy her husband, it’s going to be her.

Back at home, Carver gets a gift delivered and it’s a large mirror. He looks at it, surprised and then shocked when he sees his wife, Eva, in the mirror. She demands an apology but he refuses. They argue about him letting her rot in the mirror and Eva says, “I had a vision for humankind.” “So did I, and now I’m making it a reality!” replies Carver. He breaks the mirror and shards of glass with Eva’s face in them fall all over the floor.

Barry returns to his apartment to tell Iris about Joe but she already knows because Singh called her. She yells at Barry, upset he could have used his speed to save him and stop Rag Doll. Barry explains it’s not that simple, but she refuses to listen saying that now, like him, she has lost both parents. Iris tells Barry she’s done with him and to get out.

Barry, shocked by her behavior, believes they can get through this but Mirror Iris is adamant. Barry leaves but turns to look at her just as she slams the door. Barry, with a quizzical look on his face, walks down the hall.

The Flash Season 6 Episode 16 Review:

Action-packed, suspenseful, and dramatic, episode 16 titled “So Long and Goodnight” sees the exit of the patriarch of Team Flash and the beginning of the team-up of Ralph and Sue. The episode is noticeably missing a key Team Flash member – Caitlin Snow/Frost – and her absence is never explained in any of the dialogue.

The standout performance in the episode is delivered by Jesse L. Martin as Joe who becomes determined, and even bullheaded, to bring down Carver and the Black Hole organization. Martin, who sadly has been underused in the last few seasons with almost no storylines for his character, shines portraying Joe as the tough, smart, seasoned, and unstoppable cop determined to bring Carver to justice. He also displays the loss and defeat his character is feeling when he realizes he must go into witness protection to keep his family safe from Carver.

With Barry finally realizing Mirror Iris is not acting towards him the way his wife would, it looks like Team Flash will finally discover the imposter and hopefully free Iris from the mirror dimension.

GRADE: B-




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