The Flash – The Runaway Dinosaur

By: Stacy Miller

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) has spent most of this season questioning himself and what it means to be a hero. Yes, Barry knows that being a hero is about doing what’s right, saving people and the world. But for the most part, Barry feels that he’s not a hero. He believes he is just a normal guy who happens to have been given special abilities due to an accident. So, if he didn’t have these abilities, would he still be a hero?

In the previous episode Rupture, Barry continued to question his usefulness because he gave up his speed to Zoom (Teddy Sears) in order to save Wally’s life. He determined that he did, in fact, need his ability to save Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and the world. Barry then agreed to Harrison Wells’ (Tom Cavanagh) risky plan to recreate the particle accelerator accident. And at the conclusion of the episode, it looked like Barry paid the ultimate price. Poof! Our hero was gone and all that was left was the charred suit of The Flash.

This episode picks up in Star Labs where the team is grief-stricken when it looks like the particle accelerator destroyed Barry. Harrison remembers Jesse (Violett Beane) and when she doesn’t answer his request to come out, he, Cisco, Joe, Iris and Henry (Carlos Valdes, Jesse L. Martin, Candice Patton and John Wesley Shipp) rush out of the lab and find Jessie and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) unconscious.

When they return back to the lab and Cisco touches The Flash suit, he gets an image of Barry. “Barry is alive!” He exclaims. This is less exciting for me because, c’mon, the show is called “The Flash” for a reason and Barry Allen IS The Flash so he had to survive. Unless they were going to change the name of the series to “Zoom Wrecks Havoc” and make the show be about that other speedster?

When we see Barry Allen, he appears to be in his old room. He goes downstairs to find Joe. But he finds it isn’t really Joe, but the speed force’s (where Barry appears to be trapped) manifestation of Joe. So for the sake of this recap and to avoid confusion, I’ll call all the speed forces (Yes, there will be more in the episode) ‘Speed Force’ and whatever person it is when Barry meets it. Anyway, Speed Force Joe tells Barry that before he returns home, he must catch the speedster that just ran past the window. Barry needs to catch and confront himself? Is this a metaphor? Probably.

Barry meets Speed Force Iris next and she urges him that he needs to accept his ability without always questioning it. Meanwhile, Cisco is able to vibe through the speed force thanks to the genius mind of Harrison Wells and the machine he created. Cisco sees Barry through the speed force and urges him to take his hand so he can pull him through to bring him home, but Barry refuses. Instead, he decides to chase after Speed Force Barry instead.

While all this is going on, the real Iris and Cisco see a face from the Meta Human past: Tony, aka Girder, who was brought back to life due to the second particle accelerator accident. But Tony appears to be a zombie version of himself, proving the genius of the writers of The Flash. You see, Tony is played by Greg Finley, who last played a zombie named Drake on “iZombie.” That is The CW being meta with a Meta Human from both of their shows! Regardless, the team realizes that the only person that can defeat this Meta Human is The Flash. So, they need to get Barry out of the speed force in a flash! (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

In the ‘Speed Force: This is Your Life Barry Allen,’ world, Barry next faces the Speed Force version of his father at his mother Nora’s grave. Speed Force Henry tells him that he’s there because he was never able to accept his mother’s death and that he ended up sacrificing a chance to save her when he travelled to the past in favor of saving others.

At his house, Joe tells Iris he wonders if the second particle accelerator accident has changed Wally into a Meta Human. They hear a noise outside. It is Tony. Iris tricks Tony into following her back to Star Labs where Cisco and Wells have a trap set up for him in an attempt to kill Zombie Tony again.

The last speed force manifestation Barry meets is perhaps the one that can convince him to accept who he is: Speed Force Nora (Michelle Harrison). She tells him that his mother is proud of the man he’s become. “Even The Flash can’t out run the tragedies the universe is going to keep sending your way,” she laments. Speed Force Nora reads from Barry’s favorite book as a child The Runaway Dinosaur, which Barry is able to recite passages from. The moral of the book is that the little dinosaur didn’t think he was special, but he was because he had the right mother who loved him for who he was. And with that, Barry Allen is able to catch Speed Force Barry because he now realizes he is who he was meant to be.

Meanwhile, the Star Lab team is unable to stop Zombie Tony. They need The Flash! Cisco tries vibing into the speed force again, but this time Iris holds his hand and joins him. Barry sees her and Iris urges him to come back to her. He reaches for her hand and Iris pulls him through the speed force. Once back home, Barry is back and is able to defeat Zombie Tony. Plus, Jesse finally wakes up!

Barry and Iris visit Nora’s grave. Barry is finally able to say goodbye to his mother. Meanwhile, on Earth 2, Zoom tells Caitlin it’s time to take over her Earth and calls forth his minions.

With his new understanding, is Barry now equipped to defeat Zoom? Stay tuned.