The Flash “Shade”

The Flash - Shade-0

The Flash has been slowly building up their side plots for the season. Caitlin in particular is starting to pay off for them. I’m wondering how she’ll affect the crossover, though.

Speaking of, Caitlin’s transformation continues to progress. To the point that she’s so worried, she steals Cisco’s metahuman suppression handcuffs. She initially lets HR take the heat for it too. It really isn’t until Cisco’s really blown up at him that she admits that she took them, and why. She’s worried enough about turning into Killer Frost that she asks him to Vibe her future. He sees them fighting, but lies about it to spare her worry. Cisco’s bad at keeping a secret, though, and winds up telling her anyway once she starts to suspect. The rest of the team finds out shortly afterward. It does, however, seem to be the major problem next week. HR’s just glad he’s not being accused of stealing anymore.

The Flash - Shade-1
Freezing the entire glass was a neat trick.

HR, on the other hand, has suddenly found out that his face marks him as a wanted man thanks to Eobard Thawne Evil Wells. It begs the question of where, exactly, he’s been getting all of that coffee. And where he got the money to buy it, specifically due to the fact that Earth-19 currency seems to be Pizza Planet fun chips. He remembers that he has a face holo-emitter that lets him look like his partner, conveniently enough. Little problem solved, he moves on to annoying Joe for the remainder of the episode.

The Flash - Shade-2
Probably a bad idea to poach a date from a guy who always has a gun, dude.2

Wally’s been having dreams of being Kid Flash recently. This worries Joe quite rightfully, since this is his son, and he really can’t stop Barry at this point. Wally’s initially upset at this treatment from his father, but he eventually comes around. That just happens to be the time Alchemy starts working on him in earnest, really getting into his head. HR suggests that they put Wally in the pipeline to keep Alchemy away from him. Joe’s resistant to it, but even Wally sees the logic in it. Sans Wally, Barry and Iris, the rest of the team goes to the movie night in the park.

Their Alchemy metahuman is somewhat incidental; HR names him Shade. Cisco was less than happy about it, but there happened to be a metahuman named Shade on Earth-19. They find out about him when he kills an investment banker for no particularly defined reason. He winds up attacking the movie night pretty much as a cover for Alchemy to lure Wally in. They literally defeat him with car lights, because why not. He’s not really the focus of this episode.

READ:  The Flash "The Race of His Life"
The Flash - Shade-3
I wasn’t joking.

Wally, on the other hand, was being driven nuts by Alchemy while that was going down. Iris wound up letting him out due to concern that he’d been hurt. She had to deck him just to keep him from following Alchemy’s beckoning. They realize that the longer Alchemy plays with his mind like that, the more likely he is to suffer brain damage. So they decide to let him bait Alchemy into a false sense of security.

Their plan goes off without much difficulty. They stop Wally from getting powers, capture Alchemy and his cult, and none of the faceless, nameless SWAT guys die. Before they can unmask Alchemy, though, he lets them know just a bit about how badly they screwed the pooch. Another speedster shows up, significantly faster and more powerful than Barry. He frees the cultists and knocks Barry to the ground. Wally picks up the philosopher’s stone and winds up in some crazy cocoon. Barry, on the other hand, gets pinned and introduced to Megatron Savitar, God of Speed.

The Flash - Shade-4
Not to be confused with Highsenburg, God of Meth.

The Flash has set next week up to be seemingly Caitlin-centric. The only problem I have with that is due to the fact that the teaser shows that Barry is okay. Kinda deflates your cliffhanger just a little bit.

Final Thoughts:

  • Earth-19 has their own Gorilla Grodd, and HR didn’t refer to him in favorable tone.
  • They’re clearly trying to make you think Julian has something to do with Alchemy/Savitar. I’m guessing it’s a red herring.
  • I still haven’t figured out where HR’s been getting all of that coffee with his Monopoly money.

3/5
“Good”

About Author

B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT's resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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