THE FLASH - SEASON 6.14

REVIEW:  THE FLASH - SEASON 6.14:  "Death of the Speed Force"


Welcome back!  It seems, folks, that our boy Barry has been dealing with some old, familiar foes.  If it wasn't the Pied Piper back to make some noise, it's been his ordeal inside the mind of Gorilla Grodd a couple of weeks back.  Now, it seems Grodd has turned over a new leaf...how long will THAT last?  Ralph is still on the hunt for Sue, Frost has actually started to gain more of Caitlin's attributes, Chester is now a part of the team, and Cisco returns!  What will HE have to say about the world beyond Central City?  And then there's Iris...trying to escape the mirror world, unawares that her companion, Eva McCulloch, is really a meta who is actually controlling things---even going so far as to have a fake Iris out in the real world, hunting down the gun that the original Mirror Master, Sam Scudder, used...all the while trying to find a way to take down Black Hole.  On top of THAT mess....it seems that Nash has some ghosts he's dealing with---all dopplegangers of the past---and informing him of one thing:  The Reverse Flash is coming!  As we run into Central City---let's see what's going on THIS week....


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We start off our story this week, we happen upon a very well-to-do socialite with a Russian accent on the phone talking about having come from Santa Prisca, when, out of nowhere, the helicopter starts slowing down, and it looks like it's rusting of sorts.  The helicopoter then begins to freefall, and the pilot can't control it, and she and her male counterpart are panicked.  Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin gets the distress signal, and Camilla jokes about the fact that everytime she shows up, there's always some kind of distress.  Caitlin tells her not to worry, because it looks like Flash is on the job.  However, Barry walks in, eating, and wondering about WHERE he is.  They look at each other, and we cut back to the helicopter, and we see this yellow streak racing up the side of a building and jumping onto the helicopter, and rescues the lady and her counterpart, and the pilot, and gets them to safety.  It's Kid Flash, who then hops back onto the helicopter, and begins dismantling it piece by piece before it strikes one of the buildings.  He is eventually joined by Flash, and they managed to save the day, and prevent any damage.  Barry jokes about Wally always wanting to make an entrance, and they hug, happy to see each other.

Back to STAR Labs, where everyone is welcoming Wally home, and he is demonstrating to them how to use the lighting portion of his powers.  Barry very much wants to learn that.  He's been doing work with the Peace Corps, and still in his zen mode.  Meanwhile, Iris and Eva are watching from the mirror world.  Iris is sad, because she is watching her family comiserate, and enjoying seeing Wally in a good place.  She's losing time in the mirror universe, and hard to keep track.  She needs to get back to her family.  She comments that she hates that "thing" as she calls it, living HER life.  Eva talks about losing time herself, and the fact that her husband hasn't seen her for awhile.  He USED to come and visit her while she was trapped in the mirror, and he used to think of ways to get her out.  She's not sure if he even knows if she's still here.  Iris says that Barry calls her his lightning rod.  That they would always find a way back to each other.  Eva says that he sounds like he would do anything for you, which Iris replies "yes".  Eva says that she hasn't seen Joseph in years, and she hasn't even been able to touch him.  Her hand shakes with a glass of water in it, and at the same time in the real world, we see "Iris" pouring a glass of wine, looking into the mirror, shaking as well, almost pouring the wine all over the place.  The real Iris goes and comforts Eva, while in the real world, "Iris" stops shaking, and Camilla comes up to her, asking if she's okay.  She replies yes, and they go back to the party.  Just at that time, Cisco returns, and everyone's happy...even if he smells a bit from his trip to Atlantis.  Later on, Cisco has passed out, and everyone is ready to take off for home.

As everyone's leaving, Barry and Wally decide to do some speed cleaning, and as they do so, Barry's powers start tripping out.  Wally catches notice of this, and Barry tries to pass it off as nothing.  Wally knows better, and asks what's going on.  Barry says he's had a couple of incidents where is speed is hiccuping.  Wally says that being back for a family visit wasn't the only reason he came.  He says that he had talk to a zen master about connecting with the Speed Force mentally, not just physically.  Wally would be able to "talk" to it, while it would just COME to Barry.  A few months back, however, Wally tried talking to the Speed Force again, and it got quiet.  Barry feels that there HAS to be an explaination.

The Russian socialite who Kid Flash rescued is at Jitters getting an order, then giving grief to the barista who made it that the order is wrong, is on her phone, when another woman comes in wearing a green hooded coat.  She calls out to the socialite, named Maria Volkov, and wants something from her.  The entire coffee shop is frozen in place.  She is the one who tried to kill Maria earlier.  Maria calls out to her as Vida, pleading for mercy, but Vida then envelops her in a bubble, and we hear Maria scream.  Then, Vida disappears, and the shop goes back to normal...until the barista and Maria's male companion scream out at the floor.  

We then see Barry and Joe at the crime scene, getting samples and trying to figure out how she died.  It turns out that Maria was mummified...aged rapidly to death.  Joe says that her name is Maria Volkov, and she was a wealthy socialite.  Barry's analysis says that she was 110 years old when she died.  Cisco arrives to assist, and his readings says that her kinetic energy was severely drained, thus the reason for the rapid aging.  Cisco has seen this before, and it turns out, the culprit---Vida Nomikom, used to run a crime ring, when Joe and other authorities arrested her and had her deported.  Her powers are like that of The Turtle...but Cisco says this is Turtle 2.0, and SHE is the reason Cisco cut short his worldwide expedition.  They need to stop her, and fast.

Cisco is working away on finding something to nullify Turtle's powers, by using Velocity X.  At this point, Nash returns, and asks how Cisco's trip was.  Said it was okay, but he's really gotta work on finding a way to take down this new villain.  Nash asks him for help in solving the mystery of these ghosts of alternate earths that he's seeing.  Cisco tells him that it's physically impossible.  Nash asks why, and Cisco says that you can't have a doppleganger here on this new Earth, because it would cause a neurological degeneration between the two beings (see:  Batwoman's Beth & Alice).  Nash desperately needs his help, but Cisco says that he's got to find a way to stop this new threat.  Nash calls out Cisco for being selfish, and storms off.  Caitlin tries to ask what's going on, but Nash blows by her.  She goes to Cisco, and asks what he's doing, and he doesn't answer.

"Iris" and Wally have a chat, and she comments that since Crisis, Barry hasn't been the same.  Wally asks what happened, and she comments about his argument with the Speed Force.  Wally didn't know, and she feels that he needs to talk to him about it.  Camilla walks in, and takes a picture of the two, showing off her new camera.  Wally leaves, and asks Camilla for the pic, and she agrees to send him one, and he takes off.  "Iris" then says that she needs to delete the picture.  When Camilla asks why, "Iris" goes into this aria about Black Hole getting to them if the pic is posted on social media, and they attack again.  Camilla buys into the story, and she hits delete on it, not wanting to piss off the boss.  "Iris" leaves, and Camilla is curious about her request.

Wally goes to see Barry, and Barry explains what happened when Bloodwork took over, and how he struck the Speed Force, and was upset with it.  Wally now understands what is going on, and blames Barry for betraying the Speed Force.  Barry apologizes, but Wally continues on about how he used to mentally enter the Speed Force, and witness various futures, especially with him and his kids.  He also knows what happened to Nora.  He has seen all those futures destroyed, and it's all on Barry.  He wishes Barry would've contacted him, and they could've worked together.  Barry again tries to apologize, and believes they can fix it, but Wally says he's on his own, and takes off.  

Nash is back at the lab, and he's trying to work on something to help figure out why he's seeing ghosts.  He then walks out in to the hall, and notices two red eyes vibrating through the wall, and it attacks him.  

Barry is in the Time Vault, and has hooked up the Speed Enhancer to Gideon, and has her monitor him, as he enters the Speed Force.  Once there, he sees it (as the image of his mother Nora, of course), and she looks sick.  She's lying in bed and sees her.  She says that something contaminated it, and all this green lightning is the end result.  He blames himself, but she says it wasn't anything HE did.  Barry then realizes that because he asked the Specter to help him get into the Speed Force during Crisis, that it unnlocked his potential, but the Spectre's powers have played havoc with it, and thus has caused the Speed Force to break down.  He begins to blame himself again, and she replies that he did the right thing---he saved the universe.  She says that the lightning is in him...it CHOSE him for a reason.  She tells him to use it wisely.  Then, sadly, the Speed Force dies.  Barry comes back, and blames himself for all of this.

Wally is at his dad's office, informing Joe of what's going on with the Speed Force.  With it gone, there's only so much residual energy left for his powers to work before it's gone.  Joe offers his sympathies, and says that he can't imagine what he and Barry are going through.  Wally snaps, and says that it's all Barry's fault that this is happening.  Joe sits him down, and says that, take all the zen stuff aside, when he first met Wally, he was brash, had an attitude problem, and walked around with a chip on his shoulder.  Since then, he's done the work to become a better man.  He needs to continue doing the work.  And while HE is upset that his powers are fading, he has to take into account how Barry feels...and know that if there is ANYONE who is beating themselves up MORE....it's Barry.  Wally realizes that he's been hard on his brother.  Just then, one of Joe's officers comes in with information about the Volkov case, and he has to take off, but not before reminding Wally that whatever he's going through...Barry's going through it too.

Cisco is still working on a plan to stop the new Turtle by bioengineering Velocity X, and Caitlin takes offense to that, because she IS a bioengineer, and he didn't ASK her for help.  She calls him out on snapping at Nash when he needed help, and completely ignoring people when he got back.  Cisco then admits that while he was out there having his adventures, he was hoping he'd come back different, be a different man.  But, as it turns out, he didn't.  He feels he's back at square one.  Cait tells him that he needs to start mending some fences, and resolve his personal issues.  She's got this...after all, they're Team Flash.  With that, he hands her the job of bioengineering the Velocity X to stop Turtle, while he goes to see Nash.  

Wally finds Barry in the Time Vault.  Barry blames himself, because he used the Spectre's energy to enter the Speed Force to save the universe during Crisis.  And because of that, the Speed Force had a meltdown.  Wally understands, and says that he made the right call, and had it been HIM, he would've done the same thing.  Wally then spins a lesson learing Buddhist story to Barry to help him understand.  Wally said he forgot that when the Speed Force was dying, not only did it effect HIM, but effected Barry too.  Wally then says what is he going to do about it.  At that moment, Caitlin chimes in, and alerts them that the Turtle is back at it.  

At the CCPD, Joe has extra officers ready for the assault, just to take precaution, but the Turtle shows up, capturing Joe, and slowing things down.  She wants the body of Maria, or else everyone is going to die.  

Cisco goes to see Nash, but then realizes that it's NOT Nash...it's Eobard Thawne!  He and Eobard begin to fight around the office, and Thawne tries to kill Cisco using his speed powers---only he CAN'T.  Since he's occupying Nash's body, he can't use his speed.  They continue fighting, and Thawne wraps his hands around Cisco's neck, and tries to kill him.  Cisco's about to black out, but Thawne gets tased by Cecile, and he's out for the count.  

Flash and Kid Flash map out a plan to save Joe and everyone at the CCPD, and try to save the day without exerting much of their speed.  They then figure out a straight line is the direct day there.  They'll have to phase through buildings.  They get the weapon from Caitlin, and they're on their way.  They race to save Joe, and battle Turtle inside the precint, and avoid her bubbles for the most part, but Wally gets caught in one.  Flash tries to appeal to her to let Kid Flash go.  He offers to help her out, but she refuses.  However, she let Joe go to fight the speedsters, and is distracted enough that Joe administers the biochemical serum, and takes the Turtle out.  The threat is ended and Flash and Kid Flash save the day.

Barry is then chatting with "Iris" about what's happened, and how he's on borrowed time with this powers.  "Iris" says that maybe this is a GOOD thing.  That, for all he's gone through and suffered, that losing his powers will allow him to have a normal life...something she feels they deserve.  Cisco then calls them to the pipeline..it's URGENT.

Barry arrives at the pipeline, and Cisco informs him that Thawne is now occupying Nash's body.  Barry and Thawne renew acquaintances, and asks what Thawne wants.  Thawne puts it simply:  he wants to kill Barry.  He knows that the Speed Force is gone, and he knows Barry's powers will be gone in about a month.  But that's why he created the Negative Speed Force.  And when he gets free, he's not only to kill Barry, but all his family and friends too.  

Wally is taking off for his next Peace Corps assignment, when he bumps into his dad.  Joe wishes he'd stay longer, but Wally says he's gotta catch the next ride out.  He has come to peace with the fact that his powers are going to be gone eventually, but he will not stop doing what's right.  He tells Joe that those who believe, will never give up.  And no matter what, those that DO believe, they will win in the end.  He tells his dad to keep an eye on "Iris"....she seems different.  Joe agrees, and Wally is off.

Barry relays his story about the Speed Force and the eventual loss of his powers to Caitlin and Cisco.  But he remembers what Thawne said about having created a Negative Speed Force, and he wants Cisco and Caitlin to help HIM create a Speed Force.  

Camilla is back at the Citizen when she gets a beep from her camera.  It turns out the picture she thought she deleted couldn't be...there was a problem with it.  She looks to see, and there's a weird anomaly with "Iris" in the picture.  She then sees "Iris" who reveals that she is NOT, in fact, Iris.  She says she hated to reveal herself this way, and aims the mirror gun at Camilla, and blasts her into the mirror universe as the episode ends.


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After the quick week off, we are back with yet another solid episode with a brand new villain, and old arch rival comes back (and we wondered just WHERE in the hell he WAS), the return of our favorite engineer, and the reveal of "Iris".  

This episode brought us the return of Wally West, who was inconspicuously absent from CRISIS, and that gets a little explained away.  Barry did not ask Wally to assist him in Crisis, and he took offense to that.  It was the first time in awhile that Barry and Wally had an argument.  Wally didn't hold back, either.  But...thanks to yet another great fatherly chat from Joe, Wally realizes that---as much as HE is suffering from the loss of the Speed Force---so is Barry.  And Barry will ALWAYS shoulder the burden of the world on himself...even though he did what he THOUGHT was right.  I also find it interesting that it was the Spectre's powers that caused the downfall of the Speed Force.  But this is also just the thing that can change the Flash around. The dependency on the Speed Force has been rampant since Season 1, and has been part of a problem for Barry....being dependent upon a force with which he draws his power from.  If he creates his OWN Speed Force (which has been depicted in the comics), it will free him, of a sort, from depending on an OUTSIDE force for his powers---it will be internal.  And if Eobard can do it---why not Flash himself?  He's gotten to be as equally fast as Thawne.  Another little tidbit I got from this show---how Wally is able to manipulate the lightning aspect of his powers in ways that not even Barry can.  That's gonna come handy down the road as the season draws to an end.  

Cisco returned as well, and he went right back into Cisco mode---but, as we see in this episode, he's alienating everyone, because he's actually feeling self conscious.  For all his travelling abroad, and mapping out this new earth...nothing changed for him.  He's still the same Cisco, and he feels there was no personal growth.  He feels let down by that, and kind of takes it out on Nash.  But, that's what we love about Cisco---his personality, and his willingness to NOT give up, and his humor, is what makes him so appealing as a character.  Plus, he keeps it light.  And honestly...the fact that he's been MORE responsible, MORE vigilant..WITHOUT the powers of Vibe---that's growth.  

This is the first episode in awhile where we had only Caitlin, as Frost took a back seat.  And, as always, the crew worked well around Danielle Panabaker's pregnancy...and her role was light, but still impactful.

Eobard Thawne...oh, where have you been?  We haven't seen you since last season finale, and you had SAID that we'd be seeing you in the next Crisis---well, it came and went, man!  But YOU were gone!  Now...the universe is reset, and you have now taken control of Nash's body.  But...can't use your powers while occupying his body.  That's interesting.  That makes me wonder about Thawne's ability to be "fluid", or is he just another ghost like the Wells characters warning Nash before him?  Hard to say, but we KNOW his mad-on for Flash has increased ten-fold.  I gotta tell you---I'll never get enough of a superspeed fight between Flash and Reverse Flash...and the aspect of getting a Round 3 is exciting stuff for me.  

Iris is still naive about Eva's TRUE purpose, and when we saw the fake Iris shaking, as Eva was shaking, because she's controlling that Iris---she didn't notice in the mirror, but the writers made sure we noticed.  And, I find it funny how WALLY was able to see that "Iris" was a bit off...so much that he asked his DAD to keep eyes on her---but BARRY can't!  I mean, I THINK Barry has an idea that "Iris" isn't quite right, but he's been a bit slow on the uptake, lately.  But I feel, in the back of his mind, that he knows there's something OFF about his "wife".  I hope he figures it out soon...more people will.  Ask Camilla---she just got blasted into the mirror universe for HER troubles.  Now, will she join Iris, or will she be in another part of that universe?  And how long before they put it together that Eva is working against them?  What is Eva's next move?  What is her endgame?  Revenge on her husband?  

Finally...villain of the week.  Well, we didn't get the original Turtle, but a new, souped up version.  This one has the same powers, but she can also manipulate them in other ways.  And while she tried to give Team Flash a tussle, the combined effort of Flash and Kid Flash saved the day.  So, she really wasn't anyone to write home about, but will be someone we see again down the road.

I liked this episode, as it finally exposed the fake Iris to at least ONE person, who know has been blasted into the mirror universe.  We got Cisco back, and look forward to him and Chester inertacting, which should be hilarious.  Not sure how much Frost we'll get, and will we get another Ralph sighting before too long?  And a return of Sue, since SHE is now VERY entrentched in this whole Black Hole deal.  Will Barry catch on that this "Iris" is not his wife before it's too late?  Will Iris figure out Eva is playing her?  So many questions...we shall see the answers coming up starting next week.

Alrighty...that's all for this week.  Please subscribe, tell your friends, and leave some comments on what YOU thought of the show!  

Until next time...keep on running.