Grief and the emergence of a new power are at the center of season seven episode two of The CW’s The Flash. Episode two starts with a montage of all the different Wells and a voice-over by Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) as he and most of Team Flash host a memorial service in S.T.A.R. Labs for all the Wells they have known, worked with, and loved.
Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Barry are taking it the hardest, with Cisco blaming himself for not being in town when all the Wells sacrificed themselves to power the Artificial Speed Force. Barry also blames himself for letting his emotions be viewed as a weakness by his enemies. Thankfully, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) is the voice of reason and reminds them they’ll find a way to get Iris (Candice Patton), Kamilla (Victoria Park), and Singh (Patrick Sabongui) out of the mirror dimension.
When Allegra (Kayla Compton) gets home and checks her laptop, she sees a message from Iris to Kamilla and Singh about meeting up. She quickly returns to S.T.A.R. Labs to tell the gang.
Over at McCulloch Tech, Eva (Efrat Dor) is dealing with the hard truth that she’s not truly Eva McCulloch but a mirror image of her. She gets information about more of her dead husband’s tech at one of their warehouses and decides to go handle it herself.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry and Cisco work together to try to figure out a way to open a portal to the mirrorverse. While brainstorming, Barry begins to say out loud what Cisco is theorizing before he can even draw it on the board. This freaks out Cisco until he realizes that the ASF has given Barry a new power – super-speed thinking. This is a great new ability because figuring out complex and almost impossible scientific theories, which would take hours or even days, can now be done by Barry in seconds.
Barry realizes they need to siphon off some of the dark matter that’s on Eva to use to open the portal and uses his new power to deduce which warehouse she’s likely to visit.
Over in the mirrorverse, Iris meets up with Kamilla and they go looking for Singh, hoping to team up and find a way out of the dimension.
Eva arrives at the warehouse and drives off the armed men before attempting to retrieve her tech, unaware that The Flash and Cisco are hiding behind some crates. Cisco points out they may be understaffed and Barry says, “We’re good. I called in a little bit of extra muscle.” Eva gets hit with a blast of icy cold air. She’s able to stand and turns to find Frost (Danielle Panabaker).
Frost keeps her distracted long enough for The Flash to super speed around Eva wearing a tachyon device to siphon off some of the dark matter. He returns behind the crates unnoticed as Eva attempts to blast Frost with her sonic mirror weapon. Cisco warns Barry expecting him to save Frost but instead Barry lets Eva blast the ice queen. Cisco opens fire at Eva with his own sonic blaster and she uses her mirror powers to escape.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco’s understandably upset with Barry. He believes Barry could have gotten Frost out of the line of fire. Frost’s lying in the medical lab in serious condition when Barry, seeming oddly cool and distant, gives her what he claims is the antidote that he came up with. It works and Frost wakes up alive and cured.
Barry tells Cisco he didn’t want to take a chance that the tachyon device could get damaged if he took the blast meant for Frost. Frost breaks off the argument saying she’s fine and is okay taking a hit to help get the rest of Team Flash out of the mirror dimension.
A short while later, Barry shows Cisco and Frost the footage he was able to hack with his speed thinking of Eva dying. While the mirror copy Eva is talking live on TV about her plans for her company and helping the world, he hacks in and broadcasts the footage, which Cisco and Frost don’t think is a good idea. The host of the show freaks out and asks if mirror copy Eva is a meta or shapeshifter?!
Eva, shocked and scared, uses her powers to escape using reflections and mirrors. Frost and Cisco tell Barry that wasn’t the best idea but he coldly replies that whenever he has upset his enemies in the past it usually led to them making mistakes. Now that Eva is distracted it’s time for them to open the portal to the mirror verse and extract their targets. “You mean our friends, right?” asks Cisco. “One in the same,” Barry coldly responds.
Frost turns to Cisco with wide eyes and he responds, “I know, something’s seriously wrong with Barry.”
A little later Barry realizes – with his speed calculations and Gideon’s help – that with the power he collected via the tachyon device he can either extract Iris or Kamilla and Singh but not all three from the mirrorverse. He runs through a discussion with the team in his head and sees them outvoting him three to one to save Kamilla and Singh over Iris. He decides not to tell them and prepares to open the portal and retrieve Iris.
Cisco interrupts Barry as he’s getting suited up and warns him the ASF is giving him super-speed thinking but the faster his mind becomes, the less emotional and human he becomes. The ASF is turning Barry into an unfeeling, analytical being. Barry insists this is the best version of himself but Cisco, Allegra, and Frost team up to tell him they’re going to help him find his heart again.
Barry argues that Iris would agree with him, but Cisco insists she wouldn’t and goes to blast the ASF. Barry speeds over and takes the blast. Turns out Cisco has hit Barry with Velocity 0 charge which will decelerate his speed some. Frost injects herself with Velocity X and becomes the first-ever cold speedster. Barry speeds after her and the chase across Central City is on.
In one of the best visual effects chase scenes of the series’ run, The Flash and Frost speed all over the city and up and down buildings while using their powers against each other. (It’s reminiscent of the frosty speed chase in season three). Unfortunately, Frost speeds through Velocity X quickly and is no match for the cold, calculating Flash. In a rather anti-climactic end to the chase, they both end up crashing back at S.T.A.R. Labs. The Flash knocks all three of them out, insisting they had lost the fight before it even began.
Barry now uses the tachyon device and opens the portal to the mirrorverse. He finds Iris kneeling over the bodies of Kamilla and Singh who have both passed out due to the effects of being in the mirrorverse so long. He coldly tells her to come through the portal but she says she has to help the others first. Barry explains there’s only enough power for her to come through and since she has been in the mirrorverse the longest it makes sense for her to leave, believing she has the most knowledge of the mirrorverse. Iris refuses and steps back. Barry increases the force of the portal and Iris tries to resist but is forced out of the mirror dimension and back to the real world.
As soon as the portal closes, Iris screams in pain, collapses, and starts seizing. The sight of Iris in pain shocks Barry out of his unfeeling state and he looks around to find Frost, Cisco, and Allegra knocked out cold on the floor. He screams in shock and anger at himself and throws lightning and energy at the ASF, knocking it out. He loses his speed again and falls to the ground.
Meanwhile, Eva finally decides to make the real world hers after getting over the shock and horror of her secret being televised. She uses her mirror powers to pull a female deputy into the mirrorverse.
The final scene of episode two cuts to when Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) killed and took over the identity of Harrison Wells in season one. Red lightning speeds over where the remains of Harrison Wells lie and a green light begins to glow. Someone who looks like Harrison Wells emerges from the green glow.
The Flash Season Seven Episode Two Review:
Fantastic special effects and the reunion of original Team Flash – Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin aka Frost – make episode two of season seven one of the best of the series. It’s the chemistry and performances of Grant Gustin, Carlos Valdes, and Danielle Panabaker being together and playing off each other that has always been the strongest part of the show.
Gustin again deserves accolades as he shows the humanity of Barry slowly exiting with the increase of his speed thinking. It’s a subtle and yet chilling performance that shows the hero becoming more and more like the villain he fought and defeated in season four – DeVoe.
Now that Barry doesn’t have an artificial speed force and with Eva ready to drag the real world into her mirrorverse, the question remains: how will Team Flash defeat her?
GRADE: B+
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