The Flash – Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash

By: Stacy Miller

Joe (Jesse L. Martin) is assembling a crib for their new baby. “I used to plop Iris on some cushions and call it a night.” “I’m glad to see that you got all your parenting mistakes out of the way with your first child,” Cecile tells Joe. Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) says that she can’t believe the weight she’s already gained as she wasn’t this big at this stage in her pregnancy with her first child. Then, a strange thing happens. Cecile hears Joe comment on her clothes being too tight, but Joe didn’t say anything. “I think I can read minds,” Cecile realizes.

At Star Labs, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) exams Cecile and tells her that there’s no trace of dark matter in the amniotic fluid so the baby isn’t a Meta. “It’s a perfectly healthy baby,” Caitlin adds. “Girl…you were going to say girl,” Cecile with her new ability realizes. She also guesses all the numbers Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is thinking. Cecile wonders where these powers are coming from since she wasn’t on the bus that created all the new Meta Humans.  Caitlin reasons that it could possibly be dark matter that has been in her brain since the first particle accelerator accident so the telepathic ability could be temporary and may disappear over time. But Cecile can hear Joe worrying about her and the baby.  She assures that everything is going to be okay.  On the positive side, she’s always wanted to know what he was thinking. Harry (Tom Cavanagh) is frustrated that while they’re concerned over Cecile’s new mind reading ability, they haven’t figured out a way to spring Barry (Grant Gustin) out of prison. And Cisco hasn’t been able to hack into the prison’s security system which would allow them to have eyes on Allen from the inside. Even with his computer hacking skills, Cisco admits that hacking Iron Height’s security system hasn’t been as easy as he thought.  But at least Barry Allen is The Flash and if he gets in any real trouble, he could phase out of jail.  Harry finds it hard to believe that they got Barry out of a temporal prison but can’t get him out of a county one. Iris (Candice Patton) says that Barry will have to remain strong for the time being but adds “I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

At that moment in Iron Heights, Barry just won another round of poker with the inmates.  It seems that the fastest man alive is quite a card shark. A remark from another inmate Mayor Bellows (Vito D’Ambrosio) about Big Sir (Bill Goldberg) being in prison for shooting an unarmed man causes Barry to question Big Sir about what really happened. Big Sir explains how another guy with his same height and frame was the actual shooter and how he was arrested while trying to help the security card; a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Big Sir doesn’t have hope that he’ll ever be acquitted; if he was the shooter, he would have ditched the city a long time ago.

Meanwhile, Mayor Van Buren (Kendall Cross) is unveiling Kord Industries new research and development building that is equipped with Meta Human dampening capabilities. “Believe me, no one is breaking into this building any time soon,” she says. Suddenly, there’s a weird electric surge to the building.  Then, it vanishes!  “I hate this city,” Mayor Van Buren says.  We sees a man pick up a miniature version of the Kord Industries building, put it in his pocket, then walks down the street.

Cecile arrives at the site of the disappearing Kord Industries building as Cisco said he could use a helper.  She tells Joe she figured that now that she’s a Meta she could help him gather clues. Cecile is so excited that she can hear everything that everyone is thinking. “I can hear everyone! This is so fun!” she says. But as Joe prefers to work the case without her new abilities, Cecile agrees to leave and let Joe be a cop.  Cisco views security footage from an ATM across the street. He and Joe see a guy pull a car from nowhere. Joe gets a call from Barry.

Joe tells Team Flash about Barry’s request for them to help get Big Sir out of prison. They decide to take the case as it is the only thing Barry has asked of them since he’s been in jail. Joe gets the information of the plates of the car pulled from nowhere. It’s registered to Sylbert Rundine (Derek Mears). “Why does every name of every villain in this city sound like it came from a comic book?” Iris asks. Because this is The Flash! Anyway back to the episode, Joe, Cisco and Ralph will go question Rundine while Cecile will work on Big Sir’s case.

At Iron Heights, Barry tells Big Sir that he called some friends he thought could help with his case. But Big Sir asks Barry to call his friends back and tell them to stop, saying that Barry is playing with something dangerous, which is hope. “I’ve been here long enough to know that hope is the most dangerous thing.  Tell your friends to stop wasting your time,” Big Sir tells Barry.

Joe, Cisco and Ralph arrive at Sylbert Rundine’s apartment.  Cisco admires Rundine’s life like collectibles. Joe spots a photograph of Sylbert when he was into going to the gym and was buff. When Detective West asks whether he was anywhere near Mercury Labs fifteen years ago (when the security guard was shot and Big Sir was arrested for the crime), Rundine grabs a weapon and shoots at Joe, Cisco and Ralph.  Then, he takes a parachute off the desk and jumps out the window into the alley. Cisco creates a breech to get them into the alley. Joe confronts Rundine, who zaps Detective West’s car.  But that’s not the only thing Sylbert Rundine makes miniature. He zaps Cisco and Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) who then escapes. “Joe, he’s getting away,” Cisco says.  “It seems we’ve got bigger problem,” Joe response looking down at his tiny sized friends.

Joe comes back to Star Labs with tiny Cisco and Ralph. Caitlin asks Ralph whether he’s tried stretching back to size. Ralph attempts it, but it doesn’t work. The same thing happens when Cisco tries to breech. Iris was able to contact Felicity and she told her about Palmer Technology’s being stolen. Rundine is using this to help shrink things, then make them large after he’s stolen them.

Joe and Cecile go to couples therapy and speak with Dr. Sharon Finkel (Donna Pescow). Cecile can hear everything Dr. Finkel is thinking and accuses her of taking Joe’s side. Cecile also realizes that Joe has been constantly thinking about a pink elephant in order to block her out so she’ll be unable to hear his thoughts.

As putting them in a hamster cage wouldn’t have been a nice thing, Cisco and Ralph are placed in the Lego replica of the city that Team Flash used last year when Iris’ life was in danger from the villain who looked like Barry. When Harry uses the Speed Bazooka on Cisco and Ralph, but it unfortunately messes with their cells.  Now Cisco and Ralph have approximately ten hours before they explode.

At the West house, Iris serves Cecile some herbal tea with a side of advice: “If you really want to get closer to my dad you need to stop focusing on what he’s thinking and find out what he’s feeling.”

Harry blames himself for not being able to get Barry out of prison and for also not being able to help Cisco and Ralph get back to normal size. Cisco is getting tired of Harry’s self-pitying. He understands that running into a super mind like DeVoe has been unnerving, but Harry must know that he is a genius.  And with that pep talk, Harry realizes that if Cisco and Ralph are able to get in the path of Rundine’s shrink gun again, it will enlarge them.

Warden Wolfe (Richard Brooks) warns Barry that Big Sir is a monster and if Barry doesn’t watch out for the monsters, it’ll be his downfall.

Meanwhile, Team Flash goes to the museum where Rundine is attempting a robbery. As predicted, Rundine shoots at Cisco and Ralph and they are big once again. Rundine is captured but refuses to confess to the Mercury Labs security shooting. He’d rather rot in prison than take the D.A.’s deal of a lighter sentence in order for the confession that would free Big Sir.

When Joe calls that there will be no confession from Rundine, Barry tells Big Sir the bad news and apologizes for getting his hopes up. Big Sir says Barry has nothing to apologize for; he gave him something he hasn’t has for a long time. Later, Barry uses his super speed and breaks Big Sir out of prison, taking him to China.

Cecile admits she understands how hearing his thoughts makes Joe feel.

Warden Wolfe tells Barry that the camera installed outside his cell showed that Barry is The Flash and the one who broke Big Sir out of jail. Warden Wolfe drugged Barry’s pudding and takes him to another cell where his abilities won’t work. Then, he calls Amunet Black (Katee Sackhoff) and tells her that he has a big fish to sell her.