The Flash – Marathon

By starrymag | February 11, 2020

By: Malasha Parker

 

 

CC Jitters is having another grand reopening when a robber crashes the party. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Frost (Danielle Panabaker) get an alert, but before Frost can go to Jitters we hear Barry (Grant Gustin) tells them he’s got this through the comms. After realizing there isn’t much money in the register, the gunman starts shooting up the coffee shop. The Flash rushes in and saves the day. He apologizes for his tardiness and proceeds to get praise from the citizens. 

 

Frost is watching as Cisco draws a map while trying to make sense of all the post-crisis changes. There is now only one earth with Superman, Supergirl and Black Lightning that have all always lived there. Cisco doesn’t think it’s a good thing because according to Cisco’s “Who’s Who Binder” there are a lot more villains to keep track of. Nash (Tom Cavanagh) starts yelling and banging on the door from where Cisco’s locked him. He wants his cryptogram that Cisco is withholding from him. He wants to ensure that no one ever opens the antimatter universe again.

 

Iris (Candice Patton) is talking to a friend about her “Flash Returns, Stops Crisis” article when Barry comes in with Diggle (David Ramsey). Diggle has a gift from Oliver to give to Barry. It’s his original Green Arrow mask – the one that Barry made him. Barry sees a smudge on it and immediately thinks it’s a clue to something. He thinks Oliver left it on purpose. Diggle asks Iris what she thinks, but she has to go talk to someone about a lead on a story that can’t wait. She leaves Barry and Diggle to work on it. 

 

Iris meets her guy, Gene Huskk (William MacDonald), in a parking garage. She asks him if he recognizes a symbol. He says he worked for McCulloch technologies in the classified division. A man named Malcolm Strombard who had no technical knowledge. He caught the man with a prototype the company had been working on for years, which was stolen the next day. He started looking into it and was fired for it, but the man doesn’t really exist. Iris shows him a photo of the man’s dead body because the group found out that Iris was looking into them. He starts to get worried, but Iris says that she needs help bringing this group to light. He agrees as long as he stays anonymous. He tells her that these people live in the darkness and call themselves Black Hole. As he says this, an upgraded Dr. Light (Emmie Nagata) kills a man by shooting him and turning him into black ashes, literally creating a black hole. She tells her boss she finished the job and they send her their next target – a picture of Iris. 

 

Iris is in her office discussing what she knows with Kamilla (Victoria Park), Allegra (Kayla Compton) and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet). She tells them that the group is called Black Hole and recaps their findings. Cecile asks if she mentioned it to Joe, but he can’t be involved. Cecile warns them about this being a big legal issue, but Iris says, “Reporters don’t run away from the truth.” Iris leaves to meet the CEO of McCulloch Tech, Joseph Carver (Eric Nenninger). She says they’ll run the story no matter what.

 

Barry flashes some equipment to the loft so that they can uncover what’s on the mask. He discovers that the mask has Mirakuru on it from the island and jumps to conclusions. He thinks Oliver wants Barry to find the last stash of Mirakuru left on the island and talks Diggle into letting him flash them to the island. 

 

Iris and Carver are walking through McCulloch Tech as she asks him about the rifles stolen. He asks for a comment and he offers to speak somewhere private with her. He tells her there’s something she needs to see and she sees a sign beside a door that says AV3. Carver comes back out and tells her that Obsidian Tech tried to steal one of their prototypes and that Huskk couldn’t trust what they said. He tells her there is no story, but Iris says that there is and it is just one he wouldn’t like. He asks her not to run the story. She says she “understands, but she has an obligation to the truth.” She’s running the story either way. 

 

They post the story which gets many views in an hour. Cecile comes in with a memo to sue The Citizen for defamation. While they discuss it, Dr. Light is outside locking in her target on the roof across the street. Cecile feels something and manages to move Iris out of the way before she gets shot. The shot captures the wall creating a literal black hole.

 

Iris tells everyone to leave so that she can warn her source about what’s going on. Dr. Light shoots again and this time at the board with all of their information on it. Kamilla gets pictures of the disintegrating board before she leaves. Iris says she’ll make it out through Nash’s tunnels. 

 

The other women make it to S.T.A.R. Labs and inform Cisco about what’s going on. Cisco can’t get in touch with Barry because breaches work differently now. Kamilla shows Cisco her pictures as Nash rushes in to make sure that Allegra is okay. He immediately starts arguing with Cisco, who tells him that he isn’t really a part of this team. Cisco says he only works with them when he wants something and reminds him that things happened because of a Crisis he started. Nash says he paid for it in many ways as well. Cisco reminds him that many died, like Jesse and Harry. Nash storms out. Cisco tells them they need to figure out who the assassin is and get Iris. 

 

Iris is back in the parking garage to meet Huskk. He has a key card from McCulloch Tech in his hands that Iris sees before he is shot. As his body gets encompassed by the black hole he yells out “mirror.” Iris sees Dr. Light come for her and grabs the key card before getting in the car and trying to escape. She gets out of the parking garage, but not without one of the shots hitting the back window and the fragments cutting through Iris’ coat and into her arm. 

 

Iris rushes into S.T.A.R. Labs looking for Cisco’s binder. She finds Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi who has the power to fuel starlight. They realize that the black hole upgraded her abilities. Iris tries to tell them that she got the key card, but it’s missing. When she takes her coat off there’s a huge burn on her arm. Allegra suggests she sit down, but Iris is running on adrenaline. She turns to say she’s fine, but passes out before she can.

 

Barry finds a case and discovers that there is no more Mirakuru left. Diggle tells him to take the win, but Barry isn’t so sure that’s all there is to it. He starts rambling off and gets so hyped up that his powers start to fire off. Diggle tells him how Oliver last came back to the island and that’s probably how the Mirakuru got on his mask. Diggle tells Barry he doesn’t want him going down the same path as Oliver. He says, “Life’s a marathon, not a sprint, Barry. Slow down and enjoy it.” 

 

Caitlin checks on Cisco who’s been watching Harry’s mini hologram. He blames himself for Earth-2 being wiped out. He thinks about what it would have been like had he never stopped being Vibe. It’s the reason he’s been obsessing, but things aren’t so simple anymore. Caitlin mentions that they need somebody who knows everything about the way it is and the way it was. Cisco says it can’t be done in Central City and Caitlin replies that some time away may be good for him. 

 

Iris is sitting in the med bay when Joe (Jesse L. Martin) comes in giving her water. He’s visibly upset and wants to know what’s going on because she had fifth degree burns and the police haven’t found any evidence at her office. Iris tells him that she has to honor the people that are being attacked because of this story. Joe says that she can’t win this war in a day, but Crisis is over and they don’t have to live in Crisis-mode anymore. She asks what she’s supposed to do and he tells her not to go running in like she has nothing to lose. He asks if she knows if her source told anyone. Iris says no, but sees an image of Carver on the screen and realizes that someone else did know about what she was doing. 

 

Carver tells Dr. Light to go after Iris again. She gets inside of Joe’s house and shoots Iris, but it’s only a hologram version. She gets surrounded by Joe and Frost.

 

Iris catches Carver coming through the hallway at McCulloch Tech. He’s shocked, but she tells him reports of her death were extremely exaggerated. He goes to reach for his phone, but Iris says it might not be the best time to call his meta-assassin. She informs him that the microchip is the same one inside McCulloch’s reflector gun and Black Hole’s badges. She tells him that he wasn’t robbed by Black Hole as he is Black Hole. He’s been using McCulloch’s resources to traffick metas, weapons sales and murder-for-hire. He doesn’t seem worried and tells her that he doesn’t think she has the whole story. 

 

Back at the house, Dr. Light throws a decorative plate at Joe and shoots Frost. 

 

Iris says she can’t stop Black Hole tonight, but if any of her employees, sources or loved ones die that any of the information she has tying him to Black Hole will be released. 

 

Frost gets the bullet shot into her out and Dr. Light gears up for the kill shot. She gets a call from her boss and she stands down like Iris wanted. 

 

Carver immediately turns to the media swarming and tells them that McCulloch Tech will be dropping their charges against The Citizen. 

 

Cisco tells Nash that he’s going away to hunt down their threats and hopes that he’ll hold down the fort while he’s gone. He also apologizes for his outburst earlier. Cisco tells Nash he hopes he finds what he’s looking for. Once he’s gone Nash pulls out a photo of him and Allegra. 

 

Iris and Barry are sitting in front of the fireplace when Iris asks him about Lian Yu. Barry says he remembered why he gave the mask to Oliver in the first place. Iris admits that she’s been in overdrive since she learned he was going to die in Crisis. She forgot to slow down and now they both just want to take it easy. They share a kiss and we see the mask sitting on a side table. 

 

Iris is downstairs getting water when she remembers what Huskk said about a mirror. She writes down AV3 and looks at it in the mirror to see it as EVA. She looks the name up and finds that the original founder and CEO Eva McCulloch is missing. She leaves a quick note for Barry and goes to McCulloch Tech with the key card she has. She gets into the AV3 room and sees everything covered. She unveils the desk, which has information. She then takes pictures of it and the large mirror behind it. She begins to reach for the mirror, but hears a beep on the computer. She turns around but before she can see what it is a silver hand reaches back and pulls her inside the mirror.