The Flash – Untouchable

By: Stacy Miller

As the episode begins, Barry (Grant Gustin) is given the opportunity to prove that he is indeed the fastest man alive as The Flash participates in a race with Kid Flash as part of Wally’s (Keiynan Lonsdale) training. H.R., Iris, Joe, Cisco and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) are back at STAR Labs monitoring the training and begin taking bets on who will cross the finish line first. Everyone but H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) bets on Barry. As the race progresses and Kid Flash seems to be taking the lead, H.R. puts all his money on Wally. It looks like Kid Flash will win the race until The Flash phases through a wall, a skill Kid Flash hasn’t mastered yet. Because Kid Flash has to scale the wall taking extra time, The Flash wins the race. H.R. has to ask whether I.O.Us are accepted. It’s interesting to see how Barry has become the Harrison Wells to Wally’s Kid Flash as he is working with Wally on his abilities in the same way Wells worked with him.

But training will have to wait when Barry learns that there are murders happening in Central City in which the victims’ bodies are decomposing at a rapid rate after death. The first victim is the chef of a restaurant that will be closing in the future. This is of particular interest to Barry as it may help him stop Savitar from killing Iris (Candice Patton). Then, musician Julio Mendez (Alex Désert) is killed by the touch of mummification. Caitlin and Julian (Tom Felton) perform tests on Mendez’s corpse and Julian is shocked when he realizes that as Doctor Alchemy he helped to create the killer, Clive Yorkin (Matthew Kevin Anderson).

Barry learns an interesting tidbit about Clive Yorkin. In the Flashpoint timeline, he was arrested so now he’s going after all the police officers that were responsible, even if they are no longer cops in this timeline. This explains his murder of Julio Mendez. Barry is worried for Joe’s (Jesse L. Martin) safety, suggesting that his surrogate father stay out of the line of fire. But, unfortunately, Joe is very visible at Jitters since Cecile’s (Danielle Nicolet) daughter Joanie (Riley Jade) is in town. And it seems that Joanie is an uber fan of Kid Flash and gushes about the newest Central City superhero. Wally is happy at the attention, but soon the group is interrupted by the arrival of Clive. Wally leaves and reappears as Kid Flash. But what good will that do? Even with super speed, Kid Flash is unable to touch Yorkin or he’ll suffer the same fate as the other victims. Barry gestures to Wally to use tornado arms and Kid Flash is able to blow Clive across the room without laying a hand on him. But Clive escapes.

In spite of the danger he is in from being Yorkin’s target, Joe refuses to hide in STAR Labs. Iris decides to tell her father the truth about her impending death by Savitar in the future. Joe is scared, but also angry and hurt that Iris and Barry kept this secret from him for so long.

Since he can’t kill Detective West, Clive decides to go with the next best thing – he’ll kill Joe’s daughter. Yorkin confronts Iris at the loft. Wally rushes over to save her, but Clive is still able to lay his deadly touch on her arm. Wally brings his sister back to STAR Labs and Barry is angry with Wally for not calling him for help. In order to save Iris from the fate of rapid decomposition, it is determined that her arm must be frozen to stop necrosis from setting in. Caitlin is asked to use her Killer Frost abilities to perform the task. She fears that she’ll overdue it and give Iris frostbite. If worse comes to worse, she could turn completely evil if she gives into her Killer Frost powers. But Iris tells Caitlin that she trusts her.

Barry goes to Wally to apologize for lashing out at him. He realizes that he hasn’t been a very good teacher to Wally as he is honing in on Kid Flash’s abilities instead of inspiring him. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and HR interrupt the moment by telling Barry and Wally that they’ve come up with a way to determine who Clive plans to target next. Cisco will vibe the Flashpoint timeline. The plan works and Cisco is able to see PI Laura Stone (Caitlin Stryker), a police officer in Flashpoint’s timeline, is Clive’s next intended victim. Julian is able to reason that Barry’s superhero blood will work as a countering agent to Clive’s blood and render is decomposing touch useless.

Joe tracks down Laura Stone to warn her about Clive Yorkin, but she doesn’t take him seriously and boards a train. So, Yorkin makes his attack on the train. The Flash is unable to stop the fast moving train so Barry phases the entire train to keep it from falling off the destroyed tracks. However, this leaves him too weak to take on Clive. Although he’s never done it before, Wally will have to phase his blood into Clive’s body since her can’t touch the Meta Human. Wally is worried that he won’t be able to do it, but Barry’s belief in him helps Wally to succeed. Yorkin and his killer touch is defeated. Luckily, Iris survives her almost death. Joe tells Team Flash that in order for them to function, they have to be completely honest with each other. This means no more secrets or half-truths.

The episode closes with Jesse (Violett Beane) coming through a breach and telling Wally that Grodd has kidnapped her father. Next stop for Team Flash…Gorilla City!