THE FLASH - SEASON 6.12

REVIEW:  THE FLASH - SEASON 6.12:  "A Girl Named Sue"



Our Scarlet Speedster had an interesting case to deal with last week, having to endure a near total gang war between crossed lovers Amunet Black and Goldface, as well as a more gung-ho, somewhat different Iris, who staked her claim to belonging in the field.  While our favorite married couple dealt with that, we had Frost dipping into the lessons from the Book of Ralph to aid Allegra in her broken heart troubles, while getting some advice from Nash.  And as for Nash himself...well---let's just say that the END of last week's episode was QUITE the shocker...as he saw Harrison Wells standing there staring him down at Jitters---or was it his imagination?  Well, time to check back into Central City to see what's going on THIS week...

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We begin our tale with Iris watching her doppleganger with Barry in the real world.  She is then interrupted by a woman.  We find out that it's Eva McCulloch herself, who has been trapped in this "mirror universe" for about the last 6 years (so...turns out MY theory about Eva being the one who  took Iris' place in the real world is ENTIRELY incorrect---I'm okay with that).  Eva explains that they are in a mirror version of Central City--everything looks the same, but backwards.  She is a quantum engineer, and she had been working on a project involving different dimensions.  During the particle accelerator accident six years ago, the blast hit her office, and the antimatter hit the mirror, giving it metaphysical properties, thus sucking her into it.  This dimenstion is empty except for her.  Iris starts suffering from a headache, but Eva has been there long enough, she says you get used to them.  Iris asks how a clone of her appeared on the other side of the mirror, and Eva says it may have something to do with the mirror itself when it sucked Iris in.  But Eva says she's permanently trapped in there.  She's tried every means of escape, and has failed.  

Ralph is in his office, talking about being on day 274 of the Sue Dearbon case.  He's not been able to find any new leads, and her trail has gone cold.  Cecile comes by to visit, and sees that he's been working on his board and not getting anywhere...and he smells.  She offers to help him out.  Every Holmes has a Watson, but Ralph prefers to go solo.  Then, he gets a notice on his computer, and he goes to see what it is.  Turns out, he's placed notices on Sue's spending activity everytime she uses her credit card.  He's able to pinpoint her at an address right there in Central City.  He's off to find his missing woman.

Barry and "Iris" are at home, and she's working on her case, and he's feeling a tad sore from their run in with Amunet Black and Goldface.  "Iris" suggests that he take it easy, but he says he's got work to do at the lab.  He notices she's working on her story, and sees that she has the diagram to the mirror gun.  She was hoping to look at it, and see if she could tie it into whatever it is Carver is doing, and finally take him down.  She wants Barry to retrieve it from the STAR Labs inventory where they've stashed it.  Barry is not entirely sure it's a good idea...considering that if it falls into the wrong hands, things can get bad.  She eventually relents, and says she'll find a different angle.  Barry goes to kiss her and leave, but she just presents the cheek, and he heads out...a tad suspicious.

Ralph arrives at a rundown apartment building, and finds the room where Sue supposedly is.  As he's about to knock on the door, he hears a woman's voice behind the door, and some kind of noise.  She bursts through the door as an explosion happens.  She lands on him...it's Sue Dearbon.  They then head back to his office, where he explains that her parents hired him to find her, and he's been trying to find her for nine months.  He wants to know WHY she is on the run.  She talks about her ex-boyfriend, a man named John Loring, who is dealing shady.  He's an arms dealer, and she found out too much about it, and saw his ledger with his clients.  She felt if she had it she could take him down.  Ralph goes to call her parents, but she throws his phone out the window, saying that Loring can track their cellphones.  He says what about the police, and Sue says that they can't call them, either.  Loring has cops and sever other city officials in his pocket.  Ralph says that he's going to help her regardless, and she says that she's coming with him.  

Back in the mirror universe, Eva is unsettled and talking to herself.  Iris is trying to convince her that they WILL find a way out.  Eva doesn't believe her, and says that she's tried 1322 times to escape.   She doesn't want to hear about another chance.  Iris says she needs to get back to Barry, but Eva says she should just give up.  Iris then thinks about it for a beat, and remembers Sam Scudder.  She recalls when Barry was trapped inside a mirror by Mirror Master, and they used nitrogen to freeze the mirror, and help him escape.  Eva says they have nitrogen in her lab, and they go to get it, hoping the plan will work.

Barry arrives at the CCPD, and Joe immediately comes up to him with a case he needs to look into.  Barry says he's got a lot of work in the lab to catch up on, but he'd look at it.  Joe shows him the file, and says that there was a house that burned down a few months back, and though the case was closed, because they said it was arson, Joe wants Barry to look at it from a fresh perspective.  And anything he finds, report immediately to him.  

Ralph and Sue are on a stakeout, and banter a little about her going with him to get dirt on Loring.  Ralph says that Loring will recognize her, but not him, so they have the edge.  He's snapping pics of a gun deal going down with Loring, when he gets caught by one of Loring's goons.  Ralph ends up getting beat up for his troubles, and his camera busted. Just as the goon is looking to drown him in a barrell of water, Sue comes up from behind, and takes him out with  some martial arts kicks.  She's no shrinking violet.  Back at Jitters, they're safe for now, since Loring won't come after her in the open. Ralph comments on the building, but she says that building was scheduled for demolition.  They know Loring is going to come after her now.  She feels she needs to go solo on this, but Ralph insists on helping.  So, they look at a schematic of Loring's offices, and try to plot a way into there to find the ledger she's looking for.  Just then, Cecile appears, and her and Sue finally meet.  As Jenna looks on from her stroller, Ralph and Cecile have a sidebar to discuss what's going on.  Cecile says she can feel something between the two---it's as if they think alike.  There's a certain vibe that comes from them.  

Eva and Iris are setting up the nitrogen to blow onto the mirror, and see if it breaks, just like when they tried the same trick to get Barry out.  They turn on the machine, and it freezes the mirror.  It then begins to crack, and eventually shatters.  However, unfortunately, the plan doesn't work, which confuses Iris.  Eva is once again feeling defeated.  Eva then talks about how she had watched her husband from inside the mirror...watched him grieve, and then move on.  Yet...she can't.

"Iris" has made her way to the storage area of the STAR Labs building, and finds the mirror gun.  She's about to take it, when Nash suddenly appears.  He has a notebook or something in his hand, and inquires as to what she's doing there.  She makes up a story about having lost Nora's notebook, and hasn't been able to find it.  She asks Nash why HE is down there, and he says that since Cisco left him to hold down the fort, he's "taking inventory", but then Harrison Wells shows up behind "Iris", and tells him that's a lie, and he should fess up for why HE is really down there.  She then gets his attention back by saying that she doesn't want him to tell Barry she was there, because Barry would be upset that she lost Nora's journal.  Harrison looks at Nash, and says that they have a lot of unfinished business.  "Iris" then tells Nash she knew she liked him, and strolls off out of the storage area.  Nash sees Wells one more time, and then blinks.  Once he opens his eyes again, Harrison is gone.  We look down at the notebook in his hand, and it's the journal of Harrison "Harry" Wells.  

Ralph and Sue try sneaking into Loring's building, but they're eventually caught, and immediately shot at.  They hide in Loring's office, where they frantically search for his ledger, but Ralph discovers a key.  A key for what should be a safety deposit box at the bank.  The guards are coming, and they need to escape.  They head to the top of the roof, and Ralph asks Sue if she trusts him, and he uses his powers to get them down to the ground safely.  It's then she realizes that Ralph is the Elongated Man. Once again at his office, she's amazed that she's met a superhero, and he gives her an all-too-brief explanation of how he got his powers.  They know they need to get the ledger from the bank.  Ralph says that he can call down to the CCPD and get a warrant to search it, but it will take a day.  Sue says they don't have a day, and has an idea to break into the bank and get it.  Ralph says he can't do that.  Sue figures he's the kind of guy that doesn't always play by the book.  He agrees to get the ledger, but only on the condiditon that they immediately turn it into CCPD.  Sue agrees. 

Barry goes to see Joe in his office, and he says that he did some digging into the case Joe asked him to look into.  Turns out, Joe was right.  Something was amiss.  Tests that Barry ran indicated that the burn marks on the building were made by ultraviolet light rays, much like Dr. Light and Ultraviolet.  Joe and Barry see that other cases had the same similar M.O., and  Joe thinks there's a dirty cop on the inside doing a cover up for Carver.  Carver is dangerous, and Barry mentions that Iris has been working on a story about Carver, and she had asked for the mirror gun earlier.  He was hesitatnt about giving it to her, because he's worried about it getting into the wrong hands.  Joe says he needs to trust Iris, and let her do her thing. 

Eva is still a wreck, and Iris is trying to console her, and trying to not let her give up.  But Eva is just sick of it all.  Sick of trying to have any hope of escaping.  While she rages on in anger, Iris looks on, and the mirror shards begin to move.  Eva eventually turns towards it, while still angry, and a shard flies into her hand.  Both are in shock at what just transpired.

Joe and a female guard are with the bank manager, going over the security of the vault.  As he continues to talk to Joe, the bank manager doesn't see the guard come up from behind him and knock him out.  She pulls off her mask to reveal she's Sue, and Ralph had disguised himself as Joe.  They get into the vault, and take out the safety deposit box. White they do that, she discusses how she hated the whole socialite life, and she didn't know who she was.  Ralph could relate, saying that he used to be a cop, who went down the wrong path.  Sue opens it and takes out a metal box.  It turns out, there is no ledger, and Sue's entire story was just an act, as she kicks Ralph down, and locks him inside the vault.  Turns out, inside the box was a diamond.  Sue is nothing more than a thief, and she set everything in motion.  She dosn't care about Loring, and she also rigged the bomb in the apartment building, so she could purposely run into Ralph, and get his help in getting the diamond.  She locks Ralph inside the vault, and upon doing that, is immediately met by Loring and his men.  Turns out, he put an alarm on his safety deposit box, should it get broken in to.

They're about to fire on Sue, when Ralph, who had been working on a way to get out without using the bars, because they're electrified, breaks out the super suit, and squeezes through the vents to break out, and protect Sue before she gets shot.  He elongates his hand to shield them, and while Loring and his men are firing on them, he and Sue bicker.  She's ditching the cop uniform, and reveals a catsuit.  Suddenly, the firing stops, and when Ralph pulls his hand away, Loring and his men are out.  And behind them, Ultraviolet...looking for the diamond Sue has.  Sue says come and get it, so they fight...obviously familiar with each other.  They fight, and Ultraviolet tries to blast the bank manager trying to escape, but Ralph saves him by absorbing the blast, and it taken down.  Utlraviolet seems to get the better of Sue, so Sue shoots the box with the diamond at Ralph, and Ultraviolet looks on, but doesn't notice that Sue makes off with the diamond, winking at Ralph as she bolts.  Ralph tells Ultraviolet they both got taken.  Ultraviolet screams, and disappears.  Ralph is now too weak to fight, and Loring's men awaken, ready to shoot Ralph.  Just then, Flash zips in, cuffs them up, and the threat is over before it starts.  Flash goes over to help Ralph, as Joe and his men talk to the bank manager.  Ralph is upset that he let Sue use him, and she escaped.

Back at STAR Labs, they try to run a trace on Sue, but she's gone dark again.  Ralph says he got played, and he isn't happy about it.  Barry understands.  He knows what it's like to trust someone, only for them to betray you. But sometimes, you also have to trust family.  We then see Barry at home, talking to "Iris", and giving her the mirror gun.  He says he hopes that it will help her in her investigation.  She's happy.  

In the mirror universe, Iris and Eva discover that her time there apparently made her connected to the mirror and it's energy.  Iris encourages her to use that ability to reassemble the mirror.  With a little effort, Eva manages to do such.  Iris then is able to look through the mirror, and see Barry at home, working on a case.  She says to him softly that she's still with him.  He then looks back at the mirror in their apartment,and feels something weird...like he can feel something's off.  The image fades and Iris turns to Eva, and says that they're going to find out about her powers, and use them to find a way out.  

We end our episode with Sue in her little hideout, where she has pictures of Ralph and others, having been spying on everything going on.  She then takes the diamond, and runs it through some laser spectrometer.  It shows the Black Hole symbol on it.  She's been keeping tabs on the Carver/McCulloch story closely...saying that it's "game on" for Carver now, possibly.  


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Wow!  This episode had a couple of twists and turns in it, didn't it?  It was VERY good, because now all our central characters for the most part, are getting directly tied into the whole Black Hole case.  Plus...we are getting some more interesting vibes from Nash Wells, and his connection with Harry.  

I was SOOOOOO wrong last week, when I as under the impression that our fake Iris was, in fact, Eva McCulloch.  Turns out, it's just a mirror clone of Iris herself---with parts of her personality, but she's darker.  Her insistance on finding the mirror gun isn't just about part of the investigation Iris had started---THIS Iris has her OWN agenda, and I feel we're going to see that play out in the next few weeks.  As for the REAL Iris...she's got to be frustrated because all she can do is LOOK at Barry, and watch as her evil clone takes her place.  However, at the end of this episode, Barry looked back in the mirror...like he felt something was watching him.  He's offset by "Iris", and her new behavior---she's not herself, and that's making him uneasy.  Now, with Joe having him looking into several arson cases, he's now discovering that his path is now crossing Iris' investigation.  Iris now has to teach Eva to use her powers, so that they BOTH can find a way out.  Eva has been gone 6 or so years, so life for her will be hard when she gets out.  Iris is desperate to stop her clone from taking over her life and hurting Barry.  But now we got to know more about Eva, and what she was all about this episode.  Was great to have Joe doing cop things this episode...miss that!

Nash has got some SERIOUS issues.  He's got this ghost of Harry Wells haunting him, and knowing that Nash has some pretty intersting skeletons in his closet.  Finding Harry's journal is part of that.  Many have speculated---and it's not a bad theory---that Nash is really Eobard Thawne, who was knocked out of space time or something, and that he's been hiding in plain sight before, during, and now, after Crisis.  Since his last encounter with Barry, when he stated that they'd see each other in the NEXT Crisis, Eobard floated with the wind.  THEN Nash shows up.  We STILL don't have any clue as to what he's looking for, and I'm curious as to how Allegra fits into all this.  But we DO know this:  The haunting by Harry Wells has got me VERY intrigued.

The centerpiece of this episode was Ralph and Sue.  We finally meet Sue Dearbon, and we find out that she is NOTHING like what we were led to believe in the little known facts about her.  She's a thief, a martial arts expert, has SOME familiarity with Ultraviolet apparently, and has been keeping tabs as to what's going on in Central City---especially Ralph.  Cecile was right about one thing---these two have GREAT chemistry!  They gave me, as I had predicted they would, a very His Girl Friday appraoch with snappy and quick banter, and their little escapaes.  Sue is very resourceful, and---as we saw at the end of the episode--is extremely well tied into this Black Hole threat and McCulloch Industries with Carver.  What the depth of that is, we don't know as yet, but I know that Ralph right now is hurt...rightfully so...and will hopefully be determined to find her, if not only to bring her to justice, but to learn more about her.  But one thing for sure is this:  I LIKE them together, and they mesh very well.  I look forward to seeing Sue's story play out, and LONG for more stories with her and Ralph.  I can see them easily having a show of their own.  Plus..I also did like that Ralph got that twitch in his nose again when he smelled a mystery.  And Sue has now become an even BIGGER mystery for Ralph.  One that I feel he will definitely take on.  

That wraps up this week...but I AM curioius as to what YOUR guys' theories are about what's going on.  Shout me out!!  Plus, do me a solid and subscribe to this page, and give all your friends the skinny on where I'm at.

Until next time...Keep On Running!