The Flash returns for season eight and this season is starting off with a bang. In “Armageddon, Part 1,” Team Flash is pushed to the limit when an alien with mysterious motives arrives in Central City. Whew! A lot happens in this episode! Let’s go!
RELATED: Catch up on The Flash Season 7 Recaps Here!
CATCH UP
First, let’s update everyone’s lives since season seven. Barry, aka the Flash (Grant Gustin) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) go for coffee in the new “CC Jitters” cafe. Frost (also Panabaker) is sad because she thinks she’s in love with Mark Blaine, aka Chillblaine (Jon Cor) and he ghosted her. Caitlin doesn’t understand the appeal. But she doesn’t have time to think about it. Caitlin tells Barry that after 7 seasons, she is ready to start dating again. Barry gets an alert about a train collision that’s about to happen. He quickly saves everyone on the train, in like 12 seconds! And then he returns to Caitlin.
Iris’s (Candice Patton) Central City Citizen newspaper is now Central City Citizen Media. She hired more reporters and office staff. She even has a podcast called Citizentopia. We catch up with Iris as she is interviewing Captain Kristen Kramer (Carmen Moore). Captain Kramer dismantled the Meta Task Force after, 1) becoming a meta herself, and 2) realizing metas deserved the same kind of liberties and security that non-metas have. As for Allegra (Kayla Compton), Iris needs some help with managing the place. She promotes Allegra to manage the bullpen, despite Allegra’s reservations that she’s not ready.
Iris still has some kind of temporal sickness that the Still Force, Deon (Christian Magby) has to help regulate. As for the Flash kids, Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and Bart (Jordan Fisher) still visit from time to time, but to ensure that future, mom and dad need some alone time. Too bad that time is not now.
WELCOME OLD FRIEND
Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) pops in for a visit. He is the Legacy Honoree at the Central City Technology Con, but his hotel is overbooked. Luckily, the West-Allens have a guest bedroom. Oh and he keeps mentioning that he’s not a Legend anymore. Hmmm …
Ray meets Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) and it’s a dream come true for Chester. He volunteered for the Con just to be Ray’s handler for the weekend. Barry and Iris leave Ray in Chester’s capable hands. They stop at Jitters for come coffee and some pitches. Chester set up some young science entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to Ray in hopes he will work with them on their start up. Ray informs Chester that he’s not interested in starting another tech company. Chester is so crushed that he leaves.
ROYAL FLUSH
Meanwhile, four individuals, dressed like cards show up at Mercury Labs to steal a microchip. There’s a Ten, a Jack, a King and a psychic Queen who knows what people are going to do before they do. The Jack has laser beam eyes and renders the guards helpless. They take the microchip with no effort at all. This fabulous foursome is known as the Royal Flush Gang.
Barry works the case with Captain Kramer and finds the burns at the lab match the burns on a case he found on the train. The case contained a beryllium core which is a highly unstable power source. He thinks the Royal Flush Gang stopped trying to steal money and is now stealing technology.
Barry gets word that the power went down at Iron Heights. He rushes over there to put all of the inmates back in their cells and finds burn marks on the power grid. One inmate is missing.
NOT READY BOSS
Allegra attempts to host her first bullpen meeting. She’s enthusiastic about the work the reporters are doing, but it’s obvious she’s nervous. The reporters dismiss her ideas and say they are going to do what they think Iris wants.
Allegra catches up with iris at the conference. She says she’s not ready and the reporters can sense that. Iris expected there to be some push back, but she has confidence in Allegra. Allegra’s stories have something the rest of the team doesn’t have … a hometown perspective. That’s what Iris wants more of in the stories. She wants to show how the Central City happenings are affecting the citizens. She tells Allegra to keep trying.
WHAT BEATS A ROYAL FLUSH?
Cecile senses Chester’s sadness about Ray. He didn’t find anything specific about the stolen microchip either, so he feels like a failure. He thinks he should just take his paycheck and gamble it away, even though it’s in cryptocurrency. The con and the casinos both take cryptocurrency. That makes Barry think the Royal Flush Gang is after the cryptocurrency instead of cash.
From the research, they found out the casinos are holding over 50 million in cryptocurrency. This heist will take a computer with a next level microchip, a high power source, and an expert in cyber espionage to execute the hack. The Royal Flush Gang has all three. Chester says as soon as they start the heist, they can find them. As they speak, the gang completes the transfer of 50 million in cryptocurrency to a bank account.
Turns out that the inmate helped plan the heist, but the Royal Flush Gang isn’t interested in splitting the money five ways. Flash arrives just in time to stop them from killing the inmate. The Queen reads his mind and psychically tells the others how to attack the Flash. She doesn’t know that Flash has speed thinking. He uses Flashtime to change the game. He moves Ten in position to hit the King and then Jack in position to blast Ten. Once he restores time, Flash quickly puts meta dampening cuffs on the gang, rendering them powerless.
JUMPING BACK INTO THE GAME
Chester live streams at CCTC with Barry when Ray joins them. Chester is still upset about what happened at Jitters and runs away from Ray. Barry asks why. Ray tells him that he decided not to return to the tech field because he didn’t want to get lost in his work again. Barry says he can still get excited about tech and live a balanced life. He had to learn how to do that as well. Ray isn’t sure how he’d even begin to get back into the game. So Barry advises him to find something that doesn’t exist and invent it.
Allegra meets with the reporters again and returns their stories with lots of red ink. They are all upset with her and try to walk away again, saying they know what Iris wants. Allegra tells them what she wants. She wants them to interview the public to include their voices in their stories. The Central City citizens need to see themselves represented in the news. She releases the reporters to make the edits and tells them to remember who they are writing for.
ARMAGEDDON
Iris interviews Ray about his Legacy Honoree and asks what’s next. Ray looks at Chester who is still pouting and looking sad. Ray says he’s not sure, but maybe everyone will find out at next year’s con. This gives Chester hope.
A man appears behind Iris and Ray and tells everyone to run. He’s not interested in the people there. In fact, he specifically asks the Flash to show himself. When the Flash appears, this man says he’s going to kill him. Ray, Chester, and Iris return to watch what happens.
His name is Despero (Tony Curran). He sizes up the Flash, saying he’s not what he expected. But those who were once good die just as easily. The man turns into a large, three-eyed, red alien. Flash is ready to fight and runs circles around the alien. Chester picks up and energy scanner and detects seriously advanced tech readings. Ray thinks Barry needs a hand and runs to put on his Atom suit. This makes Chester very excited.
TEAM ATOM
The fight moves outside as Flash and Atom try to find the alien’s weak spot. Despero throws a taxi at the duo. Atom shrinks Flash and himself to avoid being hit. Barry almost throws up because of the experience. Flash stops Despero long enough to find out why the alien wants to kill him.
Despero shows Flash the world in ten years. He says Flash creates armageddon when he tries to destroy the world. Now he has to kill Flash to save their world. Atom hits Despero’s belt, making him disappear.
The team returns to STAR labs to assess the situation. Barry is fine, but Cecile says the residual feelings that Despero left behind are real. They have so many questions about Despero and the future he comes from. Ray isn’t really sure where or when he sent Despero. The tech in his belt is highly advanced, which makes sense that he’s from the future. They need to find out what kind of alien he is and what his weakness is.
NEXT STEPS
Later that night, Allegra edits Iris’ story about Despero and is ready to publish it immediately. She says the people need to know they can survive this latest crisis. As for the other journalists and their stories, Iris is pleased with Allegra’s work with the team. The team isn’t happy with Allegra though, but that’s how management goes.
Ray offers to stick around to help out with Despero, but Barry says they have it under control for now. Ray tries to make up with Chester, who’s still pouting. He says what Chester did for him was a gift. And it gave him the idea to start a foundation that will fund young scientists and their work. He wants to call it the Quincy P. Runk Foundation after Chester’s dad. Chester is speechless and gives Ray a big hug. Before Ray leaves, he tells Barry the best way to prove to Despero that he won’t destroy the world is to show the alien who he is.
7 DAYS
Despero returns and Flash is ready. He says he won’t fight the alien, making Despero curious about Flash. Despero returns to his human form to talk. He thinks they could have fought side by side in another time on another world. He sees Flash’s strength but he also sees his future. Despero says Flash is the most dangerous kind of killer because he hides in the body of a hero.
Flash asks for a chance to prove he’s not a killer. Or Despero can take an innocent life just to prove he’s right. Flash tells Despero to scan his mind. He finds no deception. Instead he finds truth and honor. But he would be risking the future yet to unfold. There are too many lives at stake and this is his purpose.
Flash says Despero is wrong about him, he spent his whole life protecting the world. He wants a chance to prove he’d never turn his back on it. Flash removes his cowl and introduces himself as Barry Allen saying he has nothing to hide. Despero backs down and gives Barry seven days to prove he’s not a monster. If Barry can’t prove it or if Despero detects even a little bit of darkness; Despero will kill Barry.
RELATED: The Flash And Friends Team Up to Face Armageddon in Season 8
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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