Warning: Spoiler Alert
Cisco: Dude. That was insane. I mean, even I’m having a hard time getting mad at you for dirtying up my suit.
Barry: Alright, when are we going to start considering it ‘my suit’?
Cisco: I could be comfortable calling it, our suit.
A mystery woman teleports into a prison. I’d love to say it was more than this, but just a jail break for love. Or at least that’s all it looks like at this point. The next morning, Barry is in the prison doing his forensic work. He tells Joe that he found some residual organic particulates. Or in other words when this mystery woman teleports she leaves pieces of herself. Then Joe walks into the cell revealing Henry Allen (Barry’s father). Probably the first moment they’ve had together without security glass between them.
Cisco cannot part with what Hartley said last week. Ronnie is out there and suffering from something. Despite everything telling him that letting Hartley out is a bad idea, Cisco cannot help himself. The risk/reward is too great to ignore. When they exit the building, Hartley makes it RiddleFest ’15 and eventually tries to flee Cisco. A fight ensues as Cisco actually does alright. Luckily he was carrying a remote that controls Hartley’s ear tech.
There is a robbery in progress. You guessed it, teleporting Bonnie and Clyde. Barry arrives in time to see Shauna putting the money bags in the trunk of the car. She’s arrogant about her powers and challenges Barry to catch her. Which he does. Repeatedly. But she just keeps teleporting out of it. Her male counterpart arrives and attempts to shoot Barry. He’s able to catch the bullet but not before it digs into his neck a little. Then he drops in a cheesy dig at Superman, a character he has yet to encounter based on this particular show’s timeline.
Caitlin: This is a bullet wound, you’re lucky it just barely broke the skin.
Barry: Guess I’m a lot faster than a speeding bullet.
Barry leaves to meet up with Iris and help save her job as a Flash reporter when those plans are foiled by a previous Eddie related dinner date. Barry calls up Caitlin to see what bars our bad couple used to frequent. Caitlin decides to join him. With a quirky smile. If Caitlin is to move on from Ronnie, that means looking to other men as options. Cisco really isn’t an option so the next closest option is Barry. She goes to meet Barry, and Barry notices her immediately in a way one doesn’t notice co-workers. The black outfit didn’t hurt.
Hartley is assisting Cisco in trying to discover what exactly happened to Ronnie. He keeps bringing up Dr. Stein. Eventually there is video footage of Stein at the accelerator. Stein a scientist who specializes in making two things one, merged himself and Ronnie. Then while Cisco was distracted, Hartley removed his ear tech, snapped it, and the result normally in Hartley’s head is now in Cisco’s.
After a karaoke performance that I refused to sit through, Caitlin decides to use the ladies room. Based on how drunk she seems, I’m guessing to throw up. Then “Linda” (Park-you might want to tuck that name away in the back of your mind) approaches the bar and starts talking up Barry. She even pulls out her phone to show him an app that instantly puts her phone number in his phone. Lame but effective. Caitlin didn’t go to the restroom to throw up. That came after returning from the restroom.
Side note: Why is Linda Park giving her number to Barry Allen? New fans of The Flash might not understand my meaning. By all means feel free to Google it if you’d like, but my understanding is that Linda Park becomes Mrs. Wally West. Wally being ‘A Flash’, but not the Barry Allen Flash. It might be a small detail, but one that I hope they clarify in some way later.
The man holding the debt our bad couple is attempting to pay back is very intrigued to discover Shauna’s ability. Then Joe busts through the door with SWAT. The raid is effective until the last second. They teleport away. Again.
Barry rushes Caitlin back home who is still very drunk. Barry does the gentlemanly thing and turns on the lights making sure she doesn’t fall or anything. Caitlin does what single people do when they arrive home alone. She starts undressing. Which Barry doesn’t seem to mind. His better instincts kick in and he turns around as to not see something she will regret him seeing tomorrow. She looks up and asks for a little help. Barry undresses her and then dresses her in pajamas in about 2 seconds flat. Probably so he wouldn’t see something she would regret he saw tomorrow.
Caitlin (still very drunk): There you go again. Saving me from that evil dress.
(Barry moves her towards her bed)
Caitlin: Did you sneak a peek? At my goods?
Barry: I wouldn’t be much of a hero if I did.
Barry waits at the Star Labs entrance for Caitlin. Hung over doesn’t quite cover it. When they approach the control room, Wells sits sternly in his wheelchair and tells them that Cisco has something to tell them. The first part is the Hartley misstep. The second and much more important part is the why. It wasn’t for Caitlin, not directly. Cisco comes clean on what he did that night in the accelerator and how he has always felt responsible for Ronnie’s fate. Instead of hitting him or yelling at him or anything predictable, Caitlin does none of that. She tells Cisco that if Ronnie were here, he would say Cisco did the right thing.
After devising a plan to remove Shauna’s ability to see where she’s going, Barry gets a phone call. His Dad has been stabbed. Henry Allen asked around the prison yard for information that might help Barry and Joe. After which Barry made him swear to stop the “cop stuff”. Despite Barry’s warnings, Henry was not going to pass up an opportunity to be useful. Even if that meant taking a beating for it.
Barry convinces his Dad to tell him who beat him. He races over there and removes this ‘Julius’ from his cell taking him outside the fence line. Julius is concerned with the added years they might apply to his sentence for attempting to escape. The sirens from the prison sound and Barry decides to have a little fun with Julius. Julius spills the details of this new heist, which was happening right then. Barry takes off, leaving Julius to get caught trying to escape.
Barry finds the couple fleeing their latest score and engages Shauna. The fight doesn’t go in Barry’s favor. They begin to drive off when Wells reminds Barry to limit her field of vision. So while they are still in tunnel, Barry uses wrenches to take out all the lights. When Barry finally got to her, Shauna sat dejected in the car alone.
Shauna: He left me.
Barry and Caitlin have a conversation after locking up Shauna. But it’s not the conversation it should be. They both decide they need to move on passed the people they’ve individually been hung up on. It gets awkward and Barry leaves. But Caitlin gets that look on her face that women get when the wheels in their head start turning.
Next Barry shows up at Iris’ paper, but not to see her. Barry called Linda and set up a date. (‘Bout time Barry).
Afterwards, Barry goes to visit his Dad who is still in the infirmary. Henry shows Barry a newspaper that has The Flash’s picture on the front page. Henry tells a story about how The Flash saved Joe in front of him and Barry shakes it off as if it were a story he heard. Then the bit about Julius. Barry tries to pivot and suggest that if he were The Flash, his Dad would know it. Then their conversation becomes one in the abstract. They both know, but neither calling it out. They both get teary.
Henry: Well, if the Flash were my son, I’d tell him a few things. First off, I’d tell him its a dangerous world…so be careful. Then I’d tell him he’s a hero and he’s saving a lot of lives. But the most important thing for him to know, is that his father’s proud of him.
Two city workers venture down into the sewer for what has to be maintenance. They point flashlights on the cement walls. Where one very important “Flash” word/name has been scratched in. “G-R-O-D-D”. From the darkness, Grodd pulls these men down and out of view. The image of Grodd is still very limited. He has now appeared in two episodes for a total of maybe 30 seconds. But any Flash historian will tell you (which I am not), the appearance of Grodd is huge. Wells is a character made up for this series. Firestorm is potentially a big bad, but would peril in comparison to Grodd.
