The Flash – What’s Past is Prologue

By starrymag | December 11, 2018

By: Malasha Parker

 

 

The 100th episode of The Flash opens with Sherloque (Tom Cavanagh) and Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) surveilling Orlin (Chris Klein). They take what they’ve found out back to the S.T.A.R. Labs team. He moved to Central City and fell off the radar until Grace came into his life. Once they’re done with their recap Barry (Grant Gustin) says, “Let’s go get him.” He’s held up when Sherloque asks how they’re going to do that. As long as Cicada has the dagger, they can’t destroy him. They need something to dampen the dagger. Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) suggests that they could make a weapon more powerful than the dagger. Everybody’s trying to figure out how they would be able to get a weapon like that when Nora says that they could go to the past to acquire it. They’ll need Savitar’s suit, the speed force transmitter and the Particle Accelerator. They’ll need these discarded objects to make it all work. Everyone thinks it’s too dangerous, but Nora says that they can do a time hack– planting something in the past so it’s available in the future. Sherloque looks at Nora suspiciously and tells her it’s quite an “off-the-cuff plan.” Nora tells Barry that they can do this, but Barry tells her he’s going alone. When the two leave from the room, Sherloque looks over at Nora’s journal.

 

In the hall, Nora tries to convince Barry to let her go on the mission, but he’s still resistant. He tells her that he barely makes it back and having her there is too much of a risk. She thinks that’s all the more reason to let her go. She just wants to fix the mess that she made. He still declines. Barry asks Iris (Candice Patton) her opinion on letting Nora go with him. Iris tells him that it’s Nora’s idea and she thinks he should let Nora go.

 

Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) are going through all of the moments in which Barry will need to visit to get the pieces needed to make the plan work. Ralph and Caitlin leave to show Barry what they have and Cisco stays behind to grab something. Sherloque pops up, scaring Cisco, and shows him Nora’s journal. He asks about the writing in it and asks Cisco if he’s seen it before. Cisco mention he saw it when Barry returned from the speedforce. He tells Sherloque to return the journal and ask Nora about it instead of snooping. Instead of doing that, Sherloque goes to Cisco’s computer to investigate some more.

 

Barry’s reviewing the time board and is ready to go. Cisco tosses him his Flash ring just in case of an emergency. He looks over at a pouting Nora and eventually tells her to “Come on.” She hops up receiving a congratulatory high-five from her mom as she follows Barry out of the room. Barry gives Nora some rules before they start running, and the two head off into time. Ralph turns on music to everyone’s dismay. He asks what they’ll do while he’s gone, but Iris tells him it’ll feel like they never left so they’ll just sit and wait.

 

They reach the battle Barry had with Savitar and as they run off to hide, a time wraith flies in right behind them. They’re hiding behind a tree as Nora watches everything happen for the first time. Barry hears the time wraith and tells Nora to collect the piece so that he can go open the portal. Nora sees her mom shoot Savitar and once she possesses the piece she needs, she races off after Barry.

 

They make it out of the speedforce and into the next date they need to visit, without the time wraith catching them. Nora starts to say something to him about Savitar, but they see Zoom and Wally race by and he realizes when exactly he is – the scene where Zoom catches Barry yet instead of taking him though he kidnaps Caitlin. Barry tells Nora to stay where she’s at so that he can go grab the object that they need. While he is doing that, Nora hears past Barry and Iris having a conversation in the hallways of S.T.A.R. Labs.  She sneaks over to see them. Iris tells Barry that he can’t let his losses hold him back and that he has to keep fighting. She assures him that everyone is there for him. Nora watches on with a soft smile as the two share this intimate moment.

 

Barry’s frantically looking for the object, when past Harry from Earth-2 walks in. Harry starts getting frantic about finding his daughter and pulls out the object that Barry needs. He almost breaks it but Barry gives him a clue about the frequency that Earth-2 people operate on, and Harry slams the object into Barry’s chest as he walks away. Just as Barry and Nora are about to leave, Zoom stops them and tells them they’re not going anywhere.

 

Before he can do anything, Nora and Barry race off. Just as Zoom grabs ahold of Barry, the time wraith snatches zoom back. Nora and Barry exit the speedforce, but the speedforce transmitter breaks. Barry gets visibly upset and says he knew they shouldn’t have done that and there is no way that they can fix things. Nora says there is a way and suggests going back to the Wells that built the Particle Accelerator. Barry tells her that Eobard Thawne – the Reverse Flash – is the one who built it. Nora says that she knows that, but maybe they can convince him to help. Barry disagrees and says that the only person Thawne ever helps is himself. As Barry walks off he spots his past body on the ground and realizes he knows where he is. located. He tells Nora he traveled back to that day to get Thawne’s help before.

 

The two appear in the time vault behind a sitting Eobard Thawne. He knows they’re from a different time and speculates to which Barry Allen he is speaking. He asks about Nora and starts guessing names of who she might be. Barry says it doesn’t matter, but that makes Thawne realize that Nora is Barry’s daughter. Thawne says, “It’s Dawn, if I’m not mistaken.” But with a questionable look, Nora corrects him. Thawne tells her that’s nice and makes a comment to Barry saying, “At least you still have one.” Barry stares at him menacingly and then tells Thawne he needs him to fix the device. Thawne instead starts to calculate things and realizes that his plan to get home doesn’t work. Barry tells him as such and says that unless he helps them he won’t make it. The two go back and forth about for whom he needs the device fixed. Barry refuses to tell him, but Nora blurts out that it’s Cicada. Barry disapprovingly looks at her and Thawne smiles because he knows that Cicada is the one that got away.  Barry tells him that they need to hurry. He goes to fix the device. He starts asking more questions and Nora continues to give him information. Thawne begins to tell Nora how much Barry hates him, but eventually fixes the speedforce transmitter. Reverse Flash zooms off back to the time vault as Nora and Barry begin to leave. Before Nora goes, Thawne waves through the camera at her.

 

They’re back to the night it all began– when the Particle Accelerator was turned on. They walk past Grodd’s cage as they enter the S.T.A.R. Labs. Wells goes to turn on the machine, but senses something and leaves before he does. Barry and Nora phase into the time vault undetected. Caitlin and Cisco run after him. He sends Caitlin back, while he and Cisco share a conversation. Wells tells Cisco how much he appreciated him.

 

Barry turns on Gideon and tells her what he needs her to do. While he’s talking, Nora sees the Reverse Flash suit. Before she can touch it, Barry yells her name. She realizes that her dad really hates him. Barry asks her if she knows what Reverse Flash did. She says that she knows he’s Barry’s arch enemy. He tells her how Reverse Flash killed his mom so that he could never become The Flash. She says she never knew and realizes that the reason Barry didn’t want her to go with him is because he didn’t want her to know about all of the painful things that happened to him. She says that it’s okay because she just wants to know her father. They share a hug and then the calibration completes. We get flashbacks of moments from that night. The dark matter retrieval is successful and Barry and Nora leave for the hospital. We see Wells on a stretcher and the doctor who has been helping Orlin. They plant the device and race back to the present. They arrive to learn that Orlin is still at the hospital and it’s time to get Cicada.

 

The S.T.A.R. Labs truck is parked outside the hospital and Barry’s on top of the building. He flashes down to catch the eye of Cicada and draws him out. Barry tells him that not all metahumans are responsible for what happens to Grace. Cicada says this is about making the world safer for her. Barry asks about him because he’s a meta too and Cicada says he’ll follow behind them once it’s all over. He throws the dagger and they successfully get it to dampen his powers. Barry fights him as Cisco opens a breach and sends his dagger back from outer space. Cicada recalls the dagger back. Caitlin and Sherloque race out, but get zapped by Cicada. Before Cicada can stab Barry with the dagger, Killer Frost appears blasts him with her powers. Cicada seems severely out of breath but manages to get away.

 

They’ve lost Orlin again, but they’ll be able to catch him when he visits Grace again. They ask how Killer Frost is still able to come out and realize that she might be the key to stopping Cicada. She’s not from dark matter so Cicada’s powers have not affect on her. Nora turns to see her missing journal. She goes to ask Sherloque if he’s seen it, but before she finishes he turns around with it in his hands. He asks her about the writing. He says he doesn’t recognize it and Nora explains that it’s a time language. She says that she is the one that created it and Sherloque comments on her cleverness. Once Nora is gone, Sherloque goes to the computer to see one of the messages deciphered to say, “The timeline is malleable.”

 

As Nora walks down the halls, she looks at the empty space where Reverse Flash’s suit used to be. She flips through the back of her book where she has photos of her family and friends. She turns to a page with Barry’s parents on it and decides to go back in time to see them. She gets there and enjoys a moment of seeing them happy and laughing outside on their porch. Barry comes up behind her commenting on it and tells Nora he understands her wanting to see them. She asks if he ever thinks about stopping what’s happening and he tells her he does every day. Barry looks as his parents head into the house. Nora hits him playfully and they share a sweet moment as she runs off.

 

Nora goes into the time vault and adds another data entry into Gideon’s system. Gideon asks if there is anything else and at first Nora asks her to deliver a message. She instead decides to deliver it herself and flashes through time to 2049. She’s at Iron Heights and tells a person in a cell that they need to talk. He turns around and emerges from the shadows to reveal himself as Reverse Flash.

 

An explosion occurs and we span over a field of bodies of superheros on Earth-90. A version of The Flash is crawling towards a book, but before he can reach it a man picks it up telling him that he failed. He tell The Flash that he did this to himself and not all of them will perish. He opens the book to release something blue into the air and The Flash races off in the opposite direction.