DJ Watches: The Flash Season Three: Episode Six: Shade
We begin this week with a dream, a vision, of another world. Wally, it seems, is beginning to have strange flashes of memory, yet another far reaching effect of Flashpoint. Wally rather excitedly recounts how he has memories of being a speedster, and seems rather thrilled with how everyone in that world called him Kid Flash, running around and saving people. Joe, as one might guess, is more than a little disturbed by all of this, as it’s exactly what occurred to Frankie/Magenta a few weeks back. Despite that, Wally refuses to see this as a bad thing, and points out that this all has to do with him being hit by the Dark Matter wave alongside Jessie. Meanwhile, it seems that whatever heady Barry made into trying to get along with Julian isn’t quite as substantial as he had hoped, though much to the latter’s chagrin, the former is transferred into Julian’s division full time in order to deal with the husks and other metahuman threats. After flirting with the DA a bit, Joe enters and explains his current predicament with Wally, and Barry is notably disturbed by how he knew the name Kid Flash.
Over in Star Labs, HR is still attempting to find his niche within the team, and points out that the fact that everyone keeps working at a seemingly empty laboratory will eventually lead people to figure out The Flash works there. HR reveals that he intends to turn the building into a museum, with him as the head curator…which Cisco and Caitlin quickly shoot down since after all, the original Harrison Wells (Thawne in disguise) had admitted to murdering Barry’s mother, and thus, HR’s face will lead to him being immediately arrested and charged with murder. The dimension shifted Wells is not pleased with this news, though he can’t say much since he himself lied to get to this Earth. Still, he’s stuck on the idea of this museum as he leaves to try and solve the problem. Caitlin, Cisco notices, is rather distant and not quite all there, which she passes off as no big problem. Back in the West Household, Barry admits to Wally, Joe, and Iris about Kid Flash’s fate in Flashpoint, which Wally takes somewhat personally. Ignoring how Barry says it was dangerous, he instead cites that the reason Joe doesn’t trust him with these on coming powers is purely because he’s not Barry, to which Joe does a not too great job of dispelling.
While all that is happening, a random stock broker gets murdered horribly by his own shadow. While investigating the next day, Barry attempts to invite Julian to the movie night at the park, which h declines. They figured out that the death, while routine, doesn’t make much sense. After a small talk with Joe about Wally, we join Caitlin and Cisco back at the labs, where the tinkerer is wondering where the special power dampening cuffs he’s been working on have went. Some stranger wanders into the room, who it turns out is HR in disguise as his partner back on his Earth to disguise his face. Brushing it aside despite being impressed, Cisco accuses HR of stealing the cuffs, which he denies, as Caitlin is oddly silent. Barry arrives in time to relay the crime, and explains how it seemed like the man was killed by a shadow. Taking a look at security camera footage of the scene, everyone is weirded out by the metahuman, which HR dubs Shade. Barry also reveals the situation with Wally, which Caitlin is definitely interested in. Over at the CCPD, Joe also has a conversation with Wally about what’s going on, and for once does a better job articulating his fears about these on-coming powers.
Back at the lab, Caitlin comes clean to Cisco and admits she stole the cuffs, and shows her oncoming cold powers. She also requests that Cisco vibe into the future to see if she turns into Killer Frost, and while he’s uneasy about it, Cisco acquiesces to her demand. He sees…nothing good, as he witnesses himself fighting Caitlin in full on Killer Frost mode, though he lies to Caitlin about it, giving her a false sense of relief. A bit later, they’re investigating the new batch of memories Wally is revisiting, this time ones that are not so fun and heroic. After some deliberation, they agree that Wally should stay in the pipeline to keep him safe from Alchemy. While Iris and Barry stay behind, the rest go with Joe to the movie night, though Caitlin notices that Cisco seems more than a little nervous to be around her.
Shade, unfortunately, also decides to take a gander at Movie Night at the Park, attacking the event after some awkward conversations in the group with the varying issues flying about. Cisco, for one, came clean to Caitlin about what he really saw, which upsets Ms. Snow as one would imagine. Still, after an underwhelming performance, Flash manages to take down Shade, with some help from Caitlin’s power dampening cuffs. Back in the lab, Iris had admitted to Barry that she, too, wished she could help out more like Wally, and speaking of whom, the pull of Alchemy is getting stronger, to the point that it’s beginning to physically hurt the younger West. When Barry and the others return, they discuss their options, to which Cisco forces Caitlin to reveal her predicament with the onset of her powers, and again, she’s not too pleased by this. Barry, for one, has a heart to heart with her and tries to calm her down somewhat, though his off handedly mentioning that his meddling with the time stream may be the cause of her powers manifesting gives her something to think about. Wally, meanwhile, suggests they use him as bait and follow him to wherever it is Alchemy is leading him. While no one’s too keen on the idea, ultimately Joe and everyone agrees, and Joe, for his part, does everything he can to ensure his son’s safety. That would be having an entire squad of Central City’s finest tag along with himself and Flash to trail Wally.
It works, as Wally leads them to Alchemy’s base in an abandoned sewer area, where the plague mask wearing figure is surrounded by a handful of followers. Joe and the rest of his squad interrupts the ritual, though Alchemy isn’t all that bothered by it, as he merely warns that this is only the beginning. After which, he successfully goads Wally into grabbing the strange crystal he was holding, and that in turn surrounds the would-be Kid Flash in a weird crystal cocoon. As if on cue, a streak of lightning appears and completely takes out the accompanying officers, and with no effort hoists the Flash into the air by the throat. Menacingly, he declares himself Savitar, the god of Speed.
So, an awful lot happen on this episode, where they get a lot of things out of the way that would’ve normally been told over the course of a few episodes, but all for the better. It looks like we’re starting to see more of what Alchemy is up to, and Caitlin’s little issues are starting to come to a head. Caitlin’s actress for sure gets a lot of credit this time, as just the little subtle movements and looks she gives, such as her ears perking up when Cisco mentions the power dampening cuffs, or the look on her face at Barry admitting he might be at fault for the current problem are very well done. Everyone comes across generally okay, though Wally is a might bit too hard headed about how these on coming powers are maybe not a good thing.
I’m curious exactly what Alchemy’s relationship is with Savitar, and while I like the twist, I’m a little annoyed that it seems like our season big bad is yet another speedster. So long as he doesn’t turn out to BE HR or some other mentor figure, I think I’ll be okay so long as the story makes sense. HR’s reaction to his counterpart’s total destruction of his ability to walk freely in public was decent, and his solution to the problem is a little convenient, but since they hired an actor to play his business partner’s likeness, I wonder if the actual guy will show up sometime.
Overall, nice to see at least some of the set up and character growth are starting to bear fruit, though with the episode after next being the crossover, I have to wonder how much will be addressed and how much will be set aside for afterwards. Still, the show seems to be in a good place right now, so hopefully this cliffhanger won’t disappoint.