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FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 3×20- “I Know Who You Are”

The Flash (3×20) – “I
Know Who You Are”
Written by:          Bronwen Clark & Joshua V. Gilbert
Directed by:        Hanelle
Culpepper
Greetings
from the Bluegrass State!  Let’s talk
about the Flash, so we start with Barry and Savitar facing off and Barry tells
him the episode title that he knows who our villain is.  Then it’s back to the previous day where Joe
is lamenting his lady love’s commitment to her exercise routine but don’t worry
Joe.  Cecile loves you anyway… No really,
she loves him she even says the words and like the male stereotype that
television writers thinks we all are he starts to freak-out.  But before I can roll my eyes Joe is called
to STAR Labs for Barry to recap his visit to the future and the gift he gave
himself.
We get a
quick rundown of our soon-to-be new friend of Team Flash, Dr. Tracy Brand.  She has a bunch of credentials that are say
super genius but Julian doesn’t really care because his would-be girlfriend is
evil now and apparently Cisco has his own claim to angst and they are quick to
start arguing.  But before it can come to
blows the computer tracks down Tracy at the University so it’s road trip time!
Barry, Cisco
and HR find this super-genius torching her research notes, because like all
super-geniuses she’s unappreciated in her time and she’s been kicked out of
school.  To make things worse, Caitlin
shows up at just about the worst time possible and if not Barry and a blowtorch
she probably would’ve killed Tracy and or Cisco. 
Even worse
than that, when they get to the Police Station, Tracy turns out to have a
really good eye for detail the sketch artist was apparently poached from DC
because there is no way on earth anyone will not be able to id Caitlin with
it.  So how much worse can things
get?  Well, Cecile wants to have relationship
talks and Tracy has bailed out.  But
things are not all that great for Caitlin since Savitar is riding her ass about
failing.
That night
at Jitters, HR finds Tracy trying to calm down with a triple espresso and I
begin to really doubt her genius credentials. 
HR tries to both gain her confidence and score a hot date with Tracy,
meanwhile Julian had noticed that Cisco’s not exactly giving it 100% effort
when faced with Killer Frost.  But that
was probably just a fluke! Just wait until Killer Frost shows up next time,
Cisco will be ready!
So Killer
Frost shows up again and after she commits grievous gimmick infringement on one
of the founding members of the X-Men:
Barry manages to lure her to Cisco for the
knockout blow and… it was definitely not a fluke.  Cisco’s got the yips and she stabs Barry in
the leg to slow him down enough to escape. 
Just fit Cisco for the robot hands now and get it over with.
Back at STAR
Labs, the team fill Tracy in on the future. 
That won’t overwhelm her to the point of her bailing out or
anything.  It’s not like she’s firmly
established herself as a runner already. 
But first let’s have part three of Cisco and Julian’s argument.  Cisco is terrified that he could kill Caitlin
in a fight and that’s what causing him to hesitate.
While we’re
dealing with Cisco’s angst, Tracy has shockingly run off again.  Good thing future Barry gave them her 2024 Instagram
profile and HR is able to locate one of her favorite haunts is the statue of Galileo
in the Central City Park and he heads off to bring her back.
Meanwhile,
paperwork rest for no man so Joe heads back to the West Home to do some.  Cecile shows up which is convenient because
Joe wouldn’t be the TV trope of the “man that’s afraid of love and commitment”
if he didn’t break up with her.  But Good
News!  She’s really good looking so she’ll
have someone new in her life before you know it.  Bad News! 
Someone new turned out to be Killer Frost, but that’s only because she’s
taking Cecile hostage and not with a bottle of wine and a copy of the poetry of
Sappho.
Caitlin
wants Tracy Brand or she’ll kill Cecile. 
Time for the start Act III confrontation, which means they need a
plan.  Good thing for them, Barry has one
and even better Julian has some words of encouragement for Cisco.  At the factory, Barry, Joe and Tracy meet up
with Caitlin and when Barry tries to talk her down she recites Barry’s pleas as
though she’s heard them before telling them that Savitar’s already given them
the script for tonight’s fun and she uses that to her advantage by neutralizing
Cisco then Barry.
But while
Cisco’s able to recover enough to take Caitlin on and knock her out, but before
he and Barry can take Caitlin back to STAR Labs Savitar shows up at exactly the
right time to rescue her.
Back at STAR
Labs, the gang try to figure out what happened and how the time-travelling bad
guy seems to know everyone’s next move but they’re all stumped.  Meanwhile, Tracy seems to be on the path
imprisoning Savitar thanks to getting an up-close look at his suit.
Meanwhile at
the Police Station, Joe has completed the “man that’s afraid of love and
commitment” trope by pledging his love to Cecile and making up with her then
letting her in on the secret.  Later at
the West Home, Barry, Iris and Joe are catching Wally up after his trip to see
Jesse on Earth-3.  But while Joe is
telling them about making up with Cisco he triggers Barry’s Dr. House moment
for this week and he suddenly figures out who Savitar is which brings us back
to where we started.
Barry tells
Savitar that he finally understands why Savitar has been able to so completely
screw with everyone on the Team AND stay at least one step of him this whole
time.  He’s Barry from the future!  Savitar “unmasks” and proves him right.  Dun. Dun! DUH!
So, remember
LAST WEEK when I said: “There’s only two
or three people it could possibly be and after building this up this long and
with only four episodes to really do anything with it I don’t really see how
they’ve set this up to  be anything but
underwhelming…
”  Yeah… a little
underwhelmed this week.  Not just by the
reveal but by the episode as a whole. 
This felt
pretty paint-by-numbers.  Of course, Joe’s
afraid of commitment.  Of course Cisco’s
so afraid of hurting Caitlin that he’s unable to help.  Of course Tracy’s an unappreciated
genius.  Why go above and beyond? It’s
not like this is a pivotal episode or anything!
The idea of
Barry being his own worst enemy is great, it really is.  The idea of him suffering severe PTSD and
breaking as a result then setting out to travel back in time and destroy himself
is really good and depending on how they finish things up I think this season’s
arc will be one I can look back on as satisfying.  For example, imagine if Barry becoming
Savitar is the result of whatever happened in the Red Sky incident the future newspaper
and Savitar was trying to undo it by killing Iris in the hopes of stopping his
past self from being the Flash.  Or it
turns out that the point in the future isn’t far off.  Imagine if that time is before 2024 and
2024-Barry is aware of who Savitar is.  Or
what if he’s not from the future but like Zoom is a dimension hopping lunatic
speedster out to destroy Barry?  What
would that mean?
But this
episode was just a letdown, and it felt a bit like the producers were more
interested in getting past this story point than establishing it.  That’s fine, but this is the result.
Things We Learned
This Week:
1)     
Cecile is in on the secret.
2)     
Tracy Brand is on the path to creating the Speed
Force prison that captured Savitar.
3)     
Savitar is most likely Barry from some future
point.
Unanswered Questions:
1)      How
far or near in the future is Savitar from?
2)      Has
Julian helped Cisco avoid his injury at the hands of Killer Frost?
3)      Just
because Tracy knows what she could do to stop Savitar, is it even possible that
she CAN stop Savitar?

Just another guy on the internet.