Television

FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 7×16- “POW”

The Flash (7×16)- “POW”

Written by:         Kristen Kim & Dan Fisk

Directed by:           Marcus Stokes

The episode opens on Barry watching the news coverage of the Godspeeds rampaging through Central City. Only a few seconds pass before he decides to head back out. He yells up the stairs to Iris to tell her he’s leaving. (Guessing no Candice Patton again this week.) Before he can leave Nora appears to him again and tells him something’s wrong with the future before she starts fading out of existence and he starts choking. Fortunately this is just a dream but chances are it’s not a good sign anyway.

Did I mention rampaging Godspeeds because they’re all over the place and according to the talking heads on TV they’re attacking people seemingly at random but the way the scene is playing it looks more like they’re canvasing. Chest and Caitlin discuss what’s going on at STAR Labs before Barry shows up after taking a beating. Apparently they show up every few hours, look for something and disappear.  Even better, Cecile shows up and points out Joe is still missing and Chester explains that all the Godspeed activity has basically cut off Central City from the outside world.

Since we’re talking about Joe, he and Kramer did survive Adam blowing up their car but judging by the tac gear and big honking gun he’s got Adam isn’t done with them.  The next morning at STAR Labs, Barry is clawing his way out of the medical bed and when Caitlin asks him why he explains what happened in his dream the night before.  They start talking about Barry traveling to the future but he decides it’s not worth it yet. Fortunately John Diggle is back.

Even better! He’s brought some Anti-Godspeed Cisco tech. The device is design to basically freeze something in time so Barry want to capture a Godspeed and question him. Kind of a bad idea but not such an idea for Diggle to get a suspicious headache over. Relax man, you worked with Oliver all those years you should have a way higher tolerance for bad plans.

Speaking of Tech, Caitlin’s showing Ultraviolet a new piece of tech she hopes will replace the mask that Black Hole forced upon her.  Which means it’s time for her to return to killing surviving members of Black Hole.  Allegra tries to stop her so Ultraviolet asks her to help her bring them to justice, even going so far as to promise no killing but Allegra doesn’t want to leave Team Flash in a lurch which causes Ultraviolet to go off on her own.  Later in the episode, Allegra finds her cousin mortally wounded after a fight and she basically curses Allegra for abandoning her when she needed her before she died.

Back in the A-plot, the Godspeeds are back for another round so it’s time to catch one. Chester uses Barry’s suit to send out a signal to attract the Godspeed and after a chase Barry leads one right to where Diggle is waiting with the trap.

At STAR Labs, they have the Godspeed in the Pipeline. Diggle lets Cecile know that she’s starting to get noticed by ARGUS and Allegra is using her powers to keep Godspeed from communicating with the others.  Just when Barry decides that they need Chester’s translation program from last week the Godspeed speaks.

They cutaway to Adam tracking Kramer and Joe and it seems our pair is still not agreeing on how to proceed. Joe wants to head back into town and get back up but Kramer’s very much in “I must avenge my fallen comrades” mode.  However Joe points out that he doesn’t think Adam knows Kramer is involved which gives her an idea.

Back in the Pipeline, Godspeed explains that they’ve been observing Barry in the hopes of finding an ally in their civil war and apparently it all hinges on a man named August Heart. The other Godspeeds want to take Barry’s speed and give it to Heart but the rebel Godspeeds wish to live and that means August Heart must die and he’s in present day Central City.  After Barry refuses him, the Godspeed breaks out of the Pipeline, destroys the trap Diggle brought and escapes.

Barry asks Chester to fix it but when Chester tries to explain that he can’t just salvage the parts to make it Barry goes to a 9.5 out of 10 on the Oliver Queen scale of being a jerk to your friends.  That’s when Diggle steps in and does what Diggle does best: Explain to the hero that he’s lost his damn mind.

Barry explains that between the dreams and his dashed hopes of Iris’ pregnancy and Iris being sick and last but not least the Godspeed Civil War he’s just about at his wit’s end.  He needs to go check on the future but he also needs to stay and save the city so there can be a future and it’s eating away at him.  Diggle finally tells him that the best thing he can do right now is see to his family and that means going to the future.

I had forgotten that while a Joe speech is pure awesome, Diggle speeches are just as good.  Barry goes up to the control room and when he tells Cecile that he plans to head to the future in the hopes of easing his fears for Nora and his family Cecile explains that Iris has been going through Nora’s time-travel journal in the hopes of figuring something out and she found a lead on August Heart.

Barry asks her to take backup so she calls Diggle and Allegra. (Allegra doesn’t show as she was listening to Barry and Digg’s talk and she decides to go after Ultraviolet as I mentioned earlier in the recap.)  As Cecile and Diggle are heading out, Diggle has another headache only this time it’s much more painful and what Cecile’s able to read from his thoughts, much more serious than he’s let on.  Diggle explains that he knows what it is and he’ll handle it once they’re done.

After apologizing to Chester, Barry runs into the Speed Force to see the future but he encounters several Godsppeds that knock him out of the Speed Force and encounters Deon.  Deon explains that whatever the Godspeeds are doing is feeding on the Speed Force and he’s helping to deal with it.  Barry asks for help getting to the future but Deon’s using most of his powers to protect Iris.  She’s starting to come unstuck in time which is why she’s been “locked up in her room.”

Diggle, Cecile hook up with Frost and find one of the places on Iris’ list. There they find a homeless man with amnesia and an attachment to the place they found. Not even the tiniest bit ominous there, let me tell you!

Outside of town, Adam corners Kramer and things get a bit interesting.  It seems Adam’s callsign expresses a lot more than a love of Russian History.  It seems he’s died seventeen times and none of them took so he’s not really concerned about what she can do to him.  Even better, he believed that Kramer died in the attack that wiped out their unit.

Back at STAR Labs, the gang has figured out that the man Cecile found is most likely August Heart but his amnesia could be treated according to Caitlin.  Barry sends her and Cecile to ask if Heart wants their help while Chester and Barry say good-bye to Diggle. He explains that he’s been putting off dealing with the green glowing box that totally didn’t have a Green Lantern Corp Power Ring in it so he’s got to deal with it before his headaches kill him.

Down in the medlab, they give the shot to Heart and he starts to recover his memories… In a very ominous way.

In the coda, Barry and Cecile are talking in the Speed Lab about his failed attempt to go to 2049. She asks him to try and keep his chin up before she leaves.  Just in time for Nora to arrive from 2049… and she brings someone with her. Barry’s “son” from the future, Bart Allen…

Huh?

Anyway, I’m digging this Godspeed Civil War story. Especially now that they’re making it feel like it started way back when Nora came back in season four. I’m also interested in both Nora’s return and the introduction of Bart “Impulse” Allen… Even though it’s a bit odd that they’ve seemingly replaced Don and Dawn Allen. I guess it’s just that someone felt those names were too alike when spoken.

Adam being some sort of un-killable meta is definitely interested and I’m guessing that there’s more to Kristen’s survival now considering what Adam said.  I did find it strange that they pulled the trigger on killing Ultraviolet so fast. The introduction of August Heart as the villain that doesn’t know he’s the villain was predictable so I’m fine with them not wasting time with that reveal.

Lastly, I assume that the John Diggle storyline is the lead in for either a Green Lantern crossover or a lead in for the Green Lantern series currently in production for HBO Max but I find it interesting Cecile used the word “Infinite” because I made me think of this:

Another good episode and I’m happy to be looking forward to the next episode instead of worrying about it.

Things We Learned:

  1. In the future, a man named August Heart will Godspeeds into the past to gain power by stealing Barry’s speed. This has triggered the Godspeed Civil War in 2021.
  2. Adam is an immortal to some degree or another.
  3. Iris is unstuck in time and Deon is devoting much of the Still Force to keep it from becoming worse.
  4. In the future as it stands now Barry and Iris have twins Nora and Bart.

Questions:

  1. Does Diggle have an actual Green Lantern Ring?
  2. Is there more to how Kramer survived the murder of her unit?
  3. What happened to August Heart both leading up to his Amnesia and what lead him to create Godspeeds to attack Barry?
  4. Are Nora and Bart what they appear to be?
  5. What’s happening to Iris?

Just another guy on the internet.