New beginnings are common theme in season premieres and The Flash seriously need a new beginning. So much happened that led up to Barry (Grant Gustin) leaving Central City…specifically Flashpoint. Barry had to make up for the changes he caused when he created Flashpoint, a world where his parents never died. The changes affected his relationship with Iris (Candice Patton) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes), gave Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale), Jessie Wells (Violett Beane) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) meta powers and also created a dark version of Barry that called himself Savitar.  

The team suffered a major loss when HR Wells (Tom Cavanagh) sacrificed himself to safe Iris from Savitar. But they made some new friends in Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) and Tracy (Anne Dudek). Joe (Jesse L. Martin) found a girlfriend Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) and Iris and Barry got engaged! 

In the end, the speed force won.  The speed force was Savitar’s prison, so when Barry released him…he had to be replaced. There must always be a speedster inside the speed force. First is was Wally, then Earth 3’s Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp). Finally the speed force required Barry.  And that’s where season 3 ended.  Barry is in the speed force and the team has to go on without him.

Check Out Our Recaps of THE FLASH Season 3

The Flash Reborn

Six months has passed since Barry entered the Speed Force. Iris has been leading the team. Vibe and Kid Flash work with Joe and the CCPD to keep the peace.   

Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon/Vibe and Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West/Kid Flash on CW’s The Flash, cwtv.com

The team is chasing Peek-A-Boo (Britne Oldford), a meta teleporter that we haven’t seen since season 1. Iris watches from STAR Labs. Iris notices that Peek-A-Boo teleports to every third building. She tells Vibe and Kid Flash where Peek-A-Boo will appear next. Vibe stops her and opens a breach.  Kid Flash pushes her through the breach and Joe uses his fancy new gun to stun Peek-A-Boo.

At STAR labs, the team talks about their awesome catch. Cisco calls them Team Vibe. Wally calls them Team Kid Flash. And Iris basically tells them to focus because there’s no one else to protect the city. They lose 1 out of every 3 metas that they encounter. She makes Wally train, Joe leaves before Iris orders him around and Cisco says they’d be better off if they weren’t one man down.

At home, Cecile and Joe have dinner with Iris. Cecile is moving in with Joe and they just have too much stuff. Cecile leaves so Joe can talk to Iris.  

Joe says Julian moved back to London and the crime lab is short staffed. He told the station that Barry was on sabbatical to explain his absence. They are going to hire someone to replace Barry. Iris understands and knows Barry is not coming back.  

Joe says he’s worried about her. They lost Barry. It’s okay to be sad. Iris says she is being strong for Barry. Joe suggests they have a memorial for Barry to give everyone a chance to grieve. Iris doesn’t’ like the idea and leaves.

The Samurai, CW’s The Flash, cwtv.com

Iris goes home and there is an explosion. Wally, Cisco and Joe get to the scene and encounter an armored Samurai. The Samurai only wants one thing…The Flash. They have 24 hours to get the Flash or the Samurai will destroy Central City.

Oh no! How are they going to save the city now? Barry is in the speed force. There’s no way they can locate him in 24 hours. Wait! Cisco has already been working on a device to bring Barry back. He’s confident that he can finish the device within 24 hours. He’s been working with some of the greatest Arrowverse minds.  

Iris is annoyed that Cisco has been working on this device instead of focusing on crime fighting. She orders Cisco to focus on defeating the Samurai instead. Cisco says okay and gets to work.

Not really, he goes to a bar and meets Caitlin! Caitlin is Caitlin again. She doesn’t admit or deny that Killer Frost is gone, but she’s Caitlin.  

Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow in CW’s The Flash, cwtv.com

There is a weird guy listening in on their conversation and he checks in on Caitlin. She gives him a weird look. Cisco makes the guy go away, but it’s obvious that this guy and Caitlin have some kind of secret. Cisco tells Caitlin that he needs her. He’s going to get Barry back and he wants her on the team. Of course, Caitlin can never say no to Cisco.

Wally and Joe meet Caitlin and Cisco at a racetrack. No one invited Iris though. Caitlin apologizes to Joe for what she did to him and Cecile.  Joe forgives Caitlin for the things Killer Frost did.   

The device is the ol’ Speed Force Bazooka made to defeat Savitar. The plan is to send a cork sphere (a ball) of Barry’s DNA into the speed force. After they extract Barry, Cisco believes the cork sphere will trick the speed force into believing Barry is still in there. (Ahh Science…)

The test commences. Caitlin thinks she has Barry and Cisco shoots the corks sphere into the speed force. The system fails. To make things worse, Iris found them.

What they don’t know is that a huge breach opens up in the middle of Central City. Someone runs out of it, through the city and into the country. It’s Barry!

The team goes back to the lab and Iris lays into them. She lashes out at Caitlin for being absent for the last six months. Iris tells them they need to focus on stopping the samurai. Cisco finally lashes back and wants to know why Iris doesn’t want Barry back.  

Danielle Nicolet as Cecile, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Jesse L. Martin as Joe West, and Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West in CW’s The Flash, cwtv.com

Joe stops them from fighting. He gets the call that Barry has been found. They go to the CCPD to meet him. Cecile tells them to prepare themselves. Barry isn’t quite the Barry that left six months ago. The speed force broke him. He’s talking nonsense, draws symbols on the wall..it’s like someone took his brain.

They knock out Barry and take him back to the lab. Caitlin examines him and says he’s healthier than before. Caitlin says one of two things is happening. Barry’s gibberish makes sense to him, but he’s using the wrong words to speak to them. Cisco says they can make an algorithm to decrypt what Barry wrote on the walls.

The other thing that could be happening is Barry has dementia. Time moves differently in the speed force.  What was 6 months on Earth could have been thousands of years. They decide to wake Barry up in the same manner that used when was in his coma…with Lady Gaga.

Barry wakes up and recognizes Cisco immediately. He looks around and starts talking gibberish again. Barry starts drawing symbols again. Iris asks everyone to leave and she talks to him. She tells him she didn’t hope because she was afraid of losing him again. But she can’t handle it if that’s all that’s left of him.

Barry starts vibrating and running through the lab, destroying equipment. Caitlin freezes him. And reveals that she used a gun, not her powers.

An alarm goes off and reveals that the Samurai is back. Wally disguises himself as The Flash and goes to meet the Samurai. The Samurai knows it’s not the real Flash. He stabs Wally in the leg. He gives them until nightfall to bring the real Flash to him.

Back at the lab, Caitlin patches up Wally. She goes to check on Cisco’s decoding program. Cisco thinks he figured it out, but the message doesn’t make sense. And that makes Cisco sad. Cisco tells Caitlin the main reason he wanted to bring Barry back is because he missed his friend. And not to save the city.

They put Barry in the pipeline as a safety precaution. Joe shaves Barry’s face (he needs a haircut too). Barry obviously recognizes Joe, so he’s not completely gone. Iris meets Joe and they talk about Barry’s condition. Joe tells Iris that he started going to church when Barry left to restore his faith. He says Iris seems to have lost hers. “Strength means nothing without faith.” Cisco calls Joe away. Samurai’s 24 hours are up.

Iris looks in on Barry and says “come get me.” At the showdown with the Samurai, Iris walks up to him. She tells him The Flash will come for her. The Samurai takes Iris and flies away.

Joe rushes back to STAR labs to tell everyone what Iris did. He goes to the pipeline and begs for Barry’s help. The words, “Iris is going to die” trigger something in Barry and he breaks out of his cell.  Barry takes the new Flash suit. An excited Cisco exclaims “Flash is Back!”

The Samurai takes Iris through a bunch of wind turbines. The Flash easily navigates through them. He catches up with the Samurai, grabs Iris and gets her to safety. The Samurai runs into one of the turbine’s blades and is injured. Barry goes to unmask the Samurai, but it’s a robot! The robot’s final words are “Flash, Welcome home.”

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash in CW’s The Flash, cwtv.com

Iris calls to Barry, saying he came back to her. He says ‘always’ and kisses Iris. The Flash is officially back!

Caitlin examines Barry again and he’s better than ever before. Everyone is happy to have him back. He says he feels like he’s been reborn. Barry says the last thing he remembers is going into the speed force with his mom. He thanks Cisco for bringing him back. Iris thanks Cisco for believing when she couldn’t.

Their new mission is to find out who created the “Samuroid” and why. Cisco asks Caitlin if she will return the next day. Caitlin says she will. The band is back together!

Caitlin returns to the bar. She tells the weirdo guy to tell Amunet (Black) that she’s out. The guy says things don’t work that way. He threatens Caitlin and she transforms into Killer Frost to fight him off. She repeats that she is done and walks out of the bar.  

As Killer Frost walks down the alley, ready to have some fun, she stumbles. She is fighting off becoming Caitlin again. Caitlin wins, but is disturbed that she was Killer Frost again.

Barry and Iris go home. She admits that she hasn’t been sleeping in their bed. Barry says he’s back and he’s not going anywhere. He says he thinks his ‘vacation’ was a blessing. It’s like his pain and guilt has been washed away. All he can see is his future with Iris. They hear a police siren and Barry has to go. Iris looks worried as the Flash races off.

Elsewhere, the Mechanic (Kim Engelbrecht) puts the Samurai away and says it served it’s purpose. The Flash is back in Central City.  She is talking to a man (Neil Sandilands) who says things are going as planned. She asks what’s their next move. He replies, “I’m thinking.”

Check Out Our Recaps of THE FLASH Season 3

Thoughts…

I love all of the geeky references!  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Stan Lee…it was great! I have think that Barry was actually saying something cryptic. I hope they explore that. It would be neat if there was a hidden message in his gibberish…especially “This House is Bitchin”  What does that mean?

It was good to see the villains from the start. Thanks for bringing Barry back and all, but…what does the Thinker want with him?

I’m glad Barry is back…don’t get me wrong…but did anyone else feel like he just eased back into his old life too easily?  IDK y’all…I have a feeling there’s more wrong with Barry than is being revealed…

The Flash is back and all’s right with the world! Or is it?

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