The Flash faces a ‘what if’ situation. In “Armageddon Part 4,” Barry (Grant Gustin) travels to the future to discover the source of his madness and finds himself in an alternate reality.
Despero (Tony Curran) traveled back in time to kill The Flash and to prevent the end of the world. He revealed that Barry Allen goes insane and creates Armageddon in the year 2031. Barry believed him and drastically tried to get rid of his powers. That drained his speed and he’s weak. When Despero found him at the end of episode three, Iris told Barry that someone in the future is messing with the timeline. Barry decides to travel to 2031 to find out what drove him so mad. He found something completely unexpected.
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When Barry arrived in 2031, he ran into a party. A party celebrating the wedding of Iris West (Candice Patton) and Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh). But there’s some other things going on her. Iris is best friends with Batwoman Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie). Iris was even matron of honor in Ryan’s wedding to Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy). They are talking about having a baby, but disagree on who should carry the baby. Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) is dealing with an angry teenager. It must be fun being able to read your daughter’s mind. Yikes! There’s some tension between Allegra (Kayla Compton) and Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight).
Eobard makes his toast to Iris and Barry walks in. No one is happy to see Barry. Barry tries to tell them that he’s the good guy that travel from 2021. He runs to change into his Flash costume and returns in the Reverse Flash suit instead. Thawne is the Flash in this story.
REVERSE FLASH
One by one they take shots at Barry. Ryan Choi, aka The Atom (Osric Chau) and Alex Danvers, aka Sentinel (Chyler Leigh) round out the team. Barry is the villain who killed Joe (Jesse L. Martin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes), the Legends of Tomorrow, and Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh). Barry runs, taking Iris with him. Frost (Danielle Panabaker) and Mark Blaine/Chillblaine (Jon Cor) come out of the bathroom, sorry that they missed the action.
Barry takes Iris to their loft, but it’s now her home with Thawne. He tries to get through to Iris, calling her his lightning rod. Iris looks at him with disgust and calls him psychotic. Thawne runs through and takes Barry far away from Iris. He reveals his master plan to defeat the Real Flash.
Thawne created a Reverse Flashpoint. He went back in time to create the radiation leak in STAR labs so Barry wouldn’t have the technology to find him. Then he pushed Joe onto the railroad tracks, killing him. Thawne stole Barry’s life. He went back to 2013 to make sure he was the one that was hit by lightning; the one Iris fell in love with; he leads Team Flash.
Barry realizes that Thawne also wore his face to attack the city, making Barry think he was crazy. Barry tries to tell Thawne that what he did is going to create Armageddon. The only thing ending is Barry. Thawne went back to the night he killed Nora Allen and he made sure to kill Barry as well. Barry has until the stroke of midnight and then he disappears.
UNEXPECTED ALLY
Barry goes to Jitters to regroup. He hears a news report that Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) is out of jail. Damien and the Reverse Flash teamed up to kill the Legends, Cisco, and Ray. Barry decides to pay Damien a visit. He asks for Damien’s help to destroy the Flash.He tells Damien how the Flash changed the timeline so he defeats the Reverse Flash. Damien assumes the Flash created multiple anachronisms. Those would have to be reset at the same time. He knows of a device that can erase any type of matter. The Particle Eradication Distributor should reset everything. Damien thinks if they connect the PED to his Time Stone, any anachronisms on that temporal plan will be erased. He even knows where the PED is hidden. In STAR Labs.
Back to the drama … Thawne’s Team Flash continue their search for Barry. Chester is consumed with Allegra. Alex sees the tension between the two. They can’t track Barry because of his reduced speed. Thawne gives everyone an assignment to find Barry. Iris check to make sure he’s okay. She’s a little bothered that Barry called her his lightning rod. Only Thawne calls her that. Thawne says Barry is attacking their love. They can’t let him pull them apart. Iris assures him that Barry Allen won’t be able to do that.
Here’s the deal with Chester and Allegra. Ten years ago (2021), they hooked up after playing a lusty game of D’n’D. (huh?) Allegra says when she woke up the next morning, Chester was gone. It was a long time before they talked. When they did, they decided to just be friends.
SURPRISE ATTACK
Alex and Allegra are thrown in the air by some unknown force. Chester and Ryan Choi get the satellite hooked up the Atom Bracelet and find tachyon traces in the same room they’re in. Damien appears and holds them by their throats while Barry searches for the PED. He finds the device easily, knowing all of the hiding places in Chester’s lab. Damien and Barry start to leave, but Cecile stops them. She uses her empathic powers to stop Barry and Damien from escaping. She pulls back just enough for Damien to throw her across the room.
Barry drops the PED and when he tries to pick it up, his hand is transparent … like a ghost. Damien sees Barry look at his arm, but didn’t see the transparency. He wants to kill Flash’s friends, but Barry races him out of the room and back to Damien’s penthouse. Now Damien knows that Barry isn’t the Reverse Flash that he knows.
Barry tells him the truth about how Thawne is really the Reverse Flash and erased Barry from the timeline. Damien is really starting to like Eobard Thawne. Barry asks Damien to continue to help him. He mentions Damien’s daughter Nora (Courtney Ford), who’s dead in the Reverse Flashpoint. But she is alive in Barry’s timeline. Barry shows Damien how he took Nora’s place when a demon tried to possess her. Damien takes out the Time Stone and sees that Barry is telling the truth. He agrees to help Barry restore his timeline.
LISTEN TO YOUR HEART
Ryan Wilder and Iris have a heart to heart about Eobard Thawne. Iris is having a hard time writing her wedding vows because she keeps thinking about Barry. Ryan tells her to stop thinking so much. That’s the same advice that Iris gave her about the baby. When Ryan stopped thinking so much, she talked to her wife and they decided to adopt a child. Ryan says if Thawne is the one, the vows will come.
Alex confronts Chester about ghosting Allegra. Chester says he didn’t ghost her. He woke up before Allegra and left to get coffee and muffins. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Allegra that morning. When he returned, she was gone. Allegra ghosted him. Chester never told her because they were attacked by the Legion of Doom. He tried talking to her after, but she cut him off, saying the night was a huge mistake. Allegra is the one who decided they should be friends.
Ryan Choi is annoyed that Alex would interfere. He says love is just chemical flood of dopamine and oxytocin. He spent years helping Chester be okay without Allegra. Ryan says he doesn’t need Alex telling him about how good love is and how perfect her life is. Alex says okay, but one day Ryan is going to wake up alone and missing out on the best part of being human. (didn’t Ryan have a wife and kid in the other timeline?) Ryan just smiles at her until she walks away.
WON’T KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY
Barry calculates that he has to hit Mach 20 to open a portal. There’s no runway long enough to hit it. Damien suggest he run around the world. Barry could do it but it would cause cataclysmic damage to the Earth. It would create Armageddon. In order to restore his timeline, Barry has to destroy the world … just like Despero said he would.
Damien says Barry has to do it, otherwise he leaves eight billion people in a world where Eobard Thawne has everything he wants. Barry doesn’t think he can hit Mach 20 in the time he has left. He’s not fast enough. Damien says he also has love. He saw Barry be the Paragon of Love. He restarted an entire universe because of love. Barry doesn’t think it will be enough. But it’s the only thing guiding him and Damien right now.
Damien says he doesn’t want to die. But if his sacrifice means Nora gets to live then he will do whatever it takes. He reminds Barry that their family is what motivates them. Barry says Iris doesn’t remember what they had. Damien says only Barry needs to remember.
Alex confront Allegra about Chester. She wants to know why Allegra cut him off. Allegra is worried that Chester would leave her like everyone else in her life. She pushed Chester away because she was scared to lose him. Ryan Choi interrupts and says Allegra will never know how good life with Chester can be if she doesn’t try. He says the reason he hates love is because it scares him. But he’s more scared to wake up alone for the rest of his life. Chester is Ryan’s boy. And his boy needs Allegra in his life.
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
An alarm goes off. They’ve tracked Reverse Flash. He’s at Iris’ loft. Barry says he just wants to talk and holds his hands up. His hand starts to phase out. Iris sees it and asks if he’s dying. Barry says it’s something like that. He’s about to do something impossible and he may not succeed. He couldn’t leave the world without telling her something. Thawne interrupts and says Iris loves him. And to show Barry that’s true, he asks Iris to shoot Barry Allen.
Iris hesitates. Barry finishes what he came to say. He says Thawne took everything from him, but he can’t take his feelings for Iris. Barry says he loves her. Thawne goes to attack Barry and Iris shoots him with a paralyzing ray. She tells Barry to go before she changes her mind.
Damien meets Barry in the streets of Central City, Barry’s point of origin. He will fight off anyone who tries to stop Barry. Barry thanks him for his help and he runs. Team Flash watches as Barry runs as fast as he can around the globe. They also see the damage he is causing the planet. Frost calls for backup, so Alex and Ryan Choi leave to help. Ryan says since its the end of the world and if there’s anything that needs to be said, now is the time to do it.
Eobard chases Barry around the world. Damien uses his magic to warn Barry, but is hit by a blast of cold air. He faces off with Frost and “Chil-lame” (ha!). Damien tries to use his magic, but John Constantine put a protection spell on Frost and Chillblaine.
ARMAGEDDON
Chester watches Eobard chase Barry. Allegra takes advantage of the moment and tells Chester that she loves him. He says he loves her too and they kiss. Caitlin is shocked and asks when did this happen? (Good question). Meanwhile, Damien is able to overpower Frost and Chillblaine by blocking their cold blast and throwing it back at them. Atom and Sentinel show up in time to stop Damien from actually killing Frost and Chillblaine. Sentinel knocks out Damien, but then the city starts to shake. They are out of time.
Barry has 60 seconds to open a portal. Thawne is closing in on him. Barry isn’t sure he can make it so he starts thinking about Iris. She can feel him and remembers that she loves him. Barry feels her love and speeds up enough to open the portal.
In 2021, Despero has Cecile tied up and is torturing her mind to get the answers he wants. He already killed the rest of Team Flash, including Iris. Cecile doesn’t know where the Flash is and Despero believes her. But he still uses his telepathic powers to hurt Cecile. Something gets in Despero’s head and causes him pain. A wave of energy passes through the room. The members of Team Flash disappear. The timeline is restored and only Despero remains.
BACK TO NORMAL
Barry appears in his red Flash suit. He tells Despero that he went to the future to restore the timeline. He had to start Armageddon to do that. Despero left 2031 before the world ended. The destruction that Despero saw was cause by the speed wave the Flash and Reverse Flash created. Barry says the Reverse Flash was chasing him to stop him from restoring the timeline. Iris helped Barry reconnect to the Speed Force. Now the future is safe.
Despero uses his third eye to see into Barry’s mind. He can also see that the world has been altered. But he’s still suspicious of Barry and his true reason for starting Armageddon. Barry tells him to go to 2031. Despero says he will go, but if Barry is wrong or if he finds out the world is still in danger, he will return to kill the Flash.
Barry goes up to the lounge where the team has gathered to eat lunch. Barry is so happy to see Iris. Cecile senses that something happened to Barry but he doesn’t want to talk about it. He says he will tell Iris later. Iris says they need to call Joe and Frost. Barry asks if he can call Joe. When Joe answers, Barry is happy to hear his voice.
The Reverse Flash followed the Flash into the restored timeline. He ends up in the time vault. He says nobody uses time against him. Thawne will live and change what’s about to happen. And he says “you will help me.”
Armageddon isn’t over yet folx!
RELATED: Catch up on all of The Flash recaps here
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.
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