The Flash – Death of The Speed Force

By starrymag | March 16, 2020

By: Malasha Parker

 

 

A woman speaking in French becomes distressed when her helicopter starts to malfunction. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Kamilla (Victoria Park) see it on the screens, but become calmer seeing that The Flash (Grant Gustin) is on it. However, it’s not him because Barry comes walking into the room sipping a cup of coffee. We then see a speedster flashing around the city. They save the passengers and then we see Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) on the wing of the helicopter as he quickly moves to break down pieces of it and brings it to the ground. The Flash arrives just as he’s done giving him a teasing greeting before they give each other a hug. 

 

Wally is showing everyone a new skill he picked up while he was away. Wally tells them what the lotus flower he made means and where he got it from. Iris (Candice Patton) and Eva (Efrat Dor) watch everyone gathered around through the mirror. Iris tells Eva that Wally is her brother and gets teary-eyed saying how she misses him. Eva says she couldn’t hold the window longer. Iris lets her know it’s okay because at least she got to see them for just a moment. Eva says she hopes they don’t forget about her the way her husband forgot about her. She notes he used to come to the mirror daily to try and figure out a way to get her out, but she doesn’t know if he still comes now. Iris tells her how Barry calls her his lightning rod and he says he would always be able to find her. Eva explains she hasn’t seen her husband in 72 months, 312 weeks. She starts repeating 2,190 and she begins shaking. This causes Iris tell her to calm down. We then see Evil Iris begin to repeat the same thing and accidentally overfill a wine glass when Kamilla comes up behind her. Just as Kamilla asks if she’s okay, they hear Cisco (Carlos Valdes) loudly greet everyone in the room. He has an Atlantean fish smell on him and thinks the Welcome Home sign is for him, but it isn’t. Iris offers to make him a drink. 

 

Kamilla tells a snoring Cisco that it’s time for them to leave and Joe’s (Jesse L. Martin) and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) head out as well. Iris goes with Cecile to the office to finish some work. Barry tells Caitlin they have the clean up. Barry and Wally flash around the room to clean, but Barry trips and runs into a table. Wally asks what’s going on and Barry explains that he’s had a few hiccups lately. Barry says it’s fine and his body is just recovering from Crisis. 

 

Wally tells him that he came back for more than just a visit. He says he’s sensed a disturbance in the Speed Force. He says his mentor helped him see into the Speed Force while leaving his body behind. He says the voice he usually hears has gone quiet. Barry says the Speed Force hasn’t come to him in a while, but he isn’t worried. 

 

The woman from the helicopter Maria (Elizaveta Neretin) is getting a coffee at Jitters when a green smoke appears freezing everyone but her in the room. We see a woman named Frida (Vanessa Walsh) say that she “thought she’d go down easier.” Before the woman from the helicopter can do anything, Frida throws a green energy source at her that captures Maria as she twists her hand. Frida quickly leaves and the man with Maria screams as we see that she has gotten the life sucked out of her and is laying on the ground. 

 

Joe explains that Frida is a Russian socialite. Wally says it was the same young woman he saved from the helicopter, but Barry says based on their tech she was 110 years old when she died. Cisco brings a device that shows how she aged so quickly. Barry says this sounds familiar and Cisco notes it is because Turtle did something similar because this is Turtle 2 – she can create force fields around individuals. Joe says they deported her back to Russia, but Cisco can’t figure out why she came back. 

 

Nash (Tom Cavanagh) greets Cisco in the lab and asks him about his travels. Cisco tells him he wants to focus on Turtle 2. Nash asks Cisco if he’s seen anyone from another earth. Cisco says they would have died and Nash replies, “What if they were already dead?” Cisco says it’s not possible and the two begin to argue because Nash believes he needs help finding an answer that makes sense. Nash says he’s still only worrying about himself and leaves as Cisco throws something at him.

 

Wally tells Evil Iris that Barry is still saying nothing is wrong, but he doesn’t want to get frustrated. Evil Iris says she doesn’t think Barry will have the same kind of connection with the Speed Force that he does because of an incident he had with it earlier this year. Wally thinks maybe he’s trying to work up the nerve to tell him, but Evil Iris replies asking if he really needs to wait. Kamilla sneaks in on them and takes a picture that she says she’ll send to Wally. Once Wally leaves Evil Iris tells Kamilla to delete the picture because someone like Black Hole may see it and come after them again. Kamilla says okay, but looks at her strangely as she leaves.

 

Wally goes to Barry’s lab and asks him what happened with the Speed Force. Barry tries to tell him to leave, but Wally says that he believes he can solve this if he talks to the Speed Force. Barry says he can’t because he attacked it, but Wally tells him that they’re already there. There is a storm inside the Speed Force and they go upstairs to see the Speed Force in the version of Nora (Michelle Harrison) tell Barry that they’re dying because of what he did. They come out and Barry tells them that they have to go back while Wally asks him what he did.

 

Wally tells Barry that this is his fault and Barry says he didn’t have a choice. Wally says it’s about what he did after he realized he was having problems with the Speed Force. Barry says he’s sorry, but Wally is still furious. He tells Wally that they are all connected and that the Speed Force showed him different futures. He says there was always a speedster that could pick up their mantles like a chain of lightning stretching through centuries. He says his kids running with their kids. He tells Barry he saw Nora. Barry says they can fix it, but Wally doesn’t want to take him back into the Speed Force. 

 

Nash is working when he hears something. He goes into the hall to see what it is and sees Reverse Flash’s eyes come out of the wall and quickly move towards him. 

 

Barry uses the Tachyon device and Gideon to help him get back into the Speed Force. Speed Force Nora tells him it’s too late. It says that a substance entered the Speed Force and set things off balance of their energies. Barry realizes it is green and white lightning flying around and we see a flashback of when he talked to the Spectre about getting his energy so that he could get into the Speed Force. He realizes the choice he made during Crisis is what caused this to happen. They tell them that they forgive him because he saved their universe. It says that the lightning chose him and there are only a few more steps that he needs to take. The Speed Force’s last words are, “I love you, my beautiful boy.”

 

Wally tells Joe that the Speed Force is dead, but they still have some residual power inside of them but once it’s used up it’s gone. Wally is still frustrated and Joe explains that Barry would probably beat himself up enough. Wally realizes that and Joe tells him to sit down. He reminds him how he was when he first met him. Joe says he’s this amazing man now because he did the work and now it’s time for him to do the right work again. Someone comes to tell Joe they’re ready for him and Joe shares with Wally that they were a part smuggling ring. He tells Wally he’ll find him later and that he and Barry are going through the same thing with their powers. 

 

Caitlin comes in to yell at Cisco about trying to come up with the formula to stop Turtle-2. He says maybe his trip didn’t turn out like he thought. He says he thought his trip was going to change him like it did Wally, but everything is still the same. She tells him not to blame himself and she says there may be other responsibilities he could address that are close to home. He agrees and lets her help with the formula. 

 

Wally finds a crying Barry in the vault. He tells him that he isn’t ready to tell Iris. He isn’t ready to tell anyone. He tells Wally how the Speed Force died because of him and Wally tells him he was trying to save the universe and any hero would have made that call. He says his mentor told him a story about a mother who lost her son. She asked him to revive her son and he said he would but he needed a mustard seed from a family who had never lost a loved one. She went around asking if anyone in their family had lost anyone and he wanted her to realize that everyone had lost someone and had gone through that pain. He said he forgot that when he became mad at Barry. He tells Barry to do something because they can take responsibility for their own actions. Caitlin says that facial recognition picked up Frida at CCPD over the comms. Frida gets into CCPD and pauses for everyone but Joe. She wants Joe to bring the other woman they have in custody. Caitlin tells Wally and Caitlin that Cisco is working on a way to stop Frida. 

 

Cisco gets to Nash and apologizes only for him to suddenly realize after he’s in the office that it’s not Nash, but Thawne (Tom Cavanagh). When he goes to vibrate his hand through his chest, he realizes he doesn’t have powers and Cisco fights back. They battle until Cecile taizes Thawne off of Cisco.

 

Caitlin says the new Velocity-X is ready to use and Barry says all they have to do is use it responsibly. The two speedsters flash down to the precinct where they avoid Frida’s attempts at striking them until Wally gets captured. Barry tries to talk her down, but she doesn’t want their help. Joe comes behind her and injects the Velocity-X that Barry sneakily handed to him. Wally gets released and Frida gets handcuffed. 

 

Barry tells Iris what happened to the Speed Force and says it was because of his choice. Evil Iris tells him that none of this is his fault. He wonders what he’s going to do without his powers. At that Evil Iris tells him that maybe he wasn’t supposed to have his powers forever. She asks him if he think he deserves a real life without all the world’s problems on his shoulders. Barry wonders if she’s serious and she says she is. She says he deserves to be happy like everybody else and they can finally start a family. She asks him, “Don’t you want that?” with tearful eyes. Cisco calls him to the room before he can answer, so he leaves and Evil Iris stares off at her reflection in the window. 

 

Thawne says hi to Barry from inside a cell. He tells Barry he can’t wait to slit his throat and that when he gets out he’ll kill his family and friends. He’ll start with his Nash – the body he is inhabiting. Thawne says he can’t stop him because his Speed Force is ruined. He goes on to state that he created his own because the Speed Force was puny and pathetic. Barry says they’re done and Cisco asks him about the Speed Force. 

 

Joe is coming up the steps as Wally is leaving. He asks him if he’s sure he wants to leave and Wally says he needs to walk to be able to embrace others without his powers. Wally says that even if things don’t unfold like you expect it, don’t give up. Joe tells Wally to be careful and Wally asks Joe to keep an eye on Iris because there is something different about her. 

 

Barry says he wants Cisco and Caitlin’s help with making his own artificial Speed Force so that he can get his speed back. 

 

Kamilla is packing up to leave the office when she grabs her camera to see the photo of Evil Iris and Wally that she thought she deleted. She sees the way Iris appears like a cluster of mirrors in the picture. She turns to see Evil Iris standing in the doorway. She tells Kamilla, “Yea, I’m not Iris,” right before she shoots Kamilla with the mirror gun.