The Flash season 8 continues! Before the break, Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) renewed their vows after defeating the Godspeed clones to save Central City and stop Armageddon. Bart (Jordan Fisher) and Nora Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy) were among the guests. Will the timeline be affected by their presence? Maybe …
In “Impulsive Excessive Disorder,” upon returning to the future, Bart and Nora realize things are different in 2049.
RELATED: The Flash Recap (S08E05): Armageddon Part 5
WHAT’S NEW?
The renewal ceremony is over. It’s time for Bart and Nora to return to 2049. Luckily, Barry says the timeline wasn’t affected by their presence. When the kids return to their timeline, they reminisce about seeing their uncle Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp). Bart really missed him. A flash of green light flows through the apartment and Uncle Jay shows up with burgers. Bart pulls Uncle Jay into a hug and starts to cry. Looks like their timeline was definitely affected.
Nora is a little worried about the temporal wave that came through the apartment. They remember fighting the Godspeeds, but she’s worried about why the changed happened and what did it change. Bart asks Jay if their parents are coming. Jay says they are celebrating their wedding vow renewal. Jay senses there’s something up with the kids. Nora says their fine. Jay says it’s all thanks to Bart. Bart saved Jay from Godspeed and prevented him from destroying reality. Everything seems like its unchanged, but then Jay mentions that he has a wife … Rose.
Bart and Nora go to the Hall of Heroes to find out what happened. They chased Godspeed back in time, they used the cosmic treadmill to do so. It wasn’t built to handle the energy of three speedsters and caused massive temporal fissures. And that cause them to erase Aunt Joan. Bart wonders if its fixable. Nora says the need to find out when things changed and what changed. They scroll through history to find a starting point.
They trace the change back to December 31, 2013. Nora finds an article that says Grandpa Joe (Jesse L. Martin) was shot during a robbery, but he’s okay. Barry was in a coma at the time and couldn’t help him. Bart thinks if they go back and save Grandpa Joe from getting shot, they can restore the timeline and get Aunt Joan back.
2013
This was also the same day that Joe tried to talk to Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) for the first time to ask her on a date. Cecile isn’t interested. She says all men are jerks. She just got divorced so that may be why she’s so aggressive. Nora reminds Bart not to interact with anyone from their family while they try to stop Joe from getting shot. they are caught though, by Iris’s ex, and dead boyfriend Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett).
Nora tells Eddie that they are intern CSIs there to help out because one of the CSIs is under the weather. Eddie says things are tense since the accident at STAR labs. He mentions that his partner barely talks to him. Bart suggests that he take his partner out for coffee. Eddie likes the idea and gives Nora his credit card. He asks her to buy coffee for the entire department. Bart and Nora know exactly who Eddie is. Now they are fetching coffee instead of watching over Joe.
While waiting for coffee, they go over their plan to save Joe. Nora says she has an alarm set for when Joe is supposed to get shot. Bart bumps into a young woman and helps her pick up her papers. He’s a bit taken with, especially seeing that she’s interested in time travel. While Bart flirts … and nerds out with the cute girl, Nora’s alarm goes off. Nora has a little bit of trouble getting Bart to leave. He at least gets the girl’s name, Avery (Piper Curda). Avery tells Bart she’s an intern at Fast Track labs and makes a coffee run every afternoon.
A LITTLE TO THE RIGHT
Joe and Eddie drive up to a bank robbery as the robber exits the jewelry story. The robber is wearing the jewelry he stole because he forgot to bring a bag. The robber also admits this is his first heist and he doesn’t steal blood diamonds. He drops the gun as it goes off. Bart and Nora arrive just in time to move Joe a tiny bit to the right, so the bullet misses him. Unfortunately, saving Grandpa Joe changes a lot more things in the timeline.
As the siblings walk away, a woman in a hood stops nearby. she can hear them talking and realizes the pair are metahumans. This woman is named Queen (Agam Darshi), as in the Queen of Royal Flush from episode one of this season.
Nora is annoyed. She tried to explain to Bart that they needed to move the bullet’s trajectory to avoid messing up the timeline. Bart was too busy flirting to listen the first time and then he rushed in to move Joe out of the way. And now the timeline is all screwed up. Bart thinks they should just back in time 15 minutes to fix it, but that would probably make things worse. Nora thinks if they watch the footage from the security cameras, they can see what went wrong and fix it. She tells Bart to follow her lead and not to go rogue. They ask Eddie if they can take the flash drive with the security footage to the lab. Eddie declines and send them on another coffee run.
ROYAL FLUSH
This is the year that the Royal Flush was created. The Queen has plans to rob the Utopia Casino. They only have six hours to plan, but the Queen can see the cops coming before the cops know to be there. The Queen learned a new word that day. Metahuman. It means they are more than human. And they are all tired of hiding who they really are.
The flash drive ends up on Joe’s desk. While Eddie tries to connect with Joe, since they are new partners and all, Nora devises a plan to swipe the drive. Eddie mentions that Cecile turned down Joe. Everyone is talking about it. Nora puts a cup of coffee down and tells Joe to try lilacs and crumb cake … Cecile’s favorites. She switches the flash drive for another and leaves quickly. Joe doesn’t even look at her.
Bart and Nora go to work in Barry’s lab where he was struck by lightning. Nora finds the exact moment when Bart saves Joe. They also see Mona Taylor, The Queen standing nearby. She isn’t supposed to for the Royal Flush Gang until after Barry suits up as the Flash. She does so when she realizes there are other metahumans out there. Nora checks the news and there is supposed to be a bombing at the Utopia Casino on New Year’s Eve that kills 30 people. Then she realizes that Mona must have overheard her and Bart talking about metahumans. Now they have to stop the heist.
Bart gets anxious. They don’t know what to do. Both of them are afraid no matter what they do, they will screw up again. Nora says it’s both of their faults, but Bart disagrees. He says everything he did that day made things worse. He says he’s not good enough to be the Flash and runs away.
CLASSIC ESPIONAGE TRICK
Bart visits Barry while he’s in a coma. Nora catches up to him. He starts crying, saying he’s a failure while Nora is perfect. She knew when to come back, how to fix Joe and Cecile’s relationship and how to get the flash drive. Nora says she failed a lot and fumbled her power. That’s how she learned. Every time she failed; their dad picked her up. She will do the same for Bart. No matter how fast your run, life is about the journey. They are going to make it right; it just takes time. Bart feels better. He says to get out of their predicament, they need an expert in time travel.
Bart and Nora visit Avery at Fast Track labs. Avery is shocked to see the siblings and accuses them of trying to steal the labs secrets. Bart admits they are from the future and need her help to stop a crime. At first Avery doesn’t believe them. The she sees Nora’s gauntlet wrist thing. Avery examines the gauntlet and realizes the technology is far advanced. Nora says they caused some serious temporal shifts. They need to stop 30 people from dying.
Nora shows Avery the heist bombing headline. The death toll keeps going up, but the headline doesn’t change. Avery says it’s solidified to a fixed point in time. That means the heist and death aren’t causally entangled. It’s too late the stop the heist, but the death toll changes because it’s not fixed in time. They can still save those people’s lives if they let the heist happen. Avery wants to with them, but they can’t risk her getting hurt. Bart promises they will return.
THE CASINO MANAGER
The Royal Flush Gang arrives at the casino, using their powers to rob the place. The Queen says if they run, call for help or annoy them, the King (Ryan Jefferson Booth) will pop their skulls. Jack (Eston Fung) and Ten (Megan Peta Hill) make their way to the vault. XS, aka Nora and Impulse, aka Bart, show up. Impulse quickly removes people from the casino while XS looks for the bomb. It doesn’t’ take long for the King and Queen to notice that people are missing.
The King takes a hostage while the Queen uses her telepathy to tell Impulse to show himself. XS is having a hard time finding the bomb, so Bart moves to Plan B. Bart poses as the casino manager to stop the King from killing his hostage. He says he will look the other way if they just take the money and leave. That way no one gets hurt because dead people is bad for business.
The Queen reads Bart’s mind to find out if he’s a cop. He thinks about fixing the timeline and coming from the future, but quickly changes his thoughts to Avery. In his head, he says Avery is so cute and she is his future. The Queen buys it and tells Bart to sit down. The king lets go of his hostage. The Ten and the Jack return with the money and the gang leaves. The Queen tells the casino patrons to stay put and enjoy the fireworks.
IMPULSIVE EXCESSIVE DISORDER
Bart tries to stop the Royal Flush Gang, but the King punches him. Bart lands hard on a table, breaking his arm. He calls for Nora, who just found the bomb. The bomb is set to go off at midnight. They realize there’s more than one bomb and less than minute to find them all. Nora realizes the water tanks in the casino is masking the bombs thermal signature. Bart tells her to get excessive.
Nora finds five bombs and quickly runs away from the casino. She runs to the top of a building and jumps off. As she jumps, she throws the bombs into the air. The bombs go off at the stroke of midnight and the real fireworks start. They breathe a sigh of relief.
Later that night, Eddie and Joe go over the statements from the casino. Some of the people reported a streak saving them from the heist. Iris shows up with coffee and pastries from Jitters. It was also the same night that Iris met Eddie and fell in love. Speaking of love, Cecile apologizes for being harsh with Joe that morning. Joe understands, but he’s still interested in taking her out. Cecile says she’s not ready, but whoever left the lilacs in her office will be the first to know. Joe can’t help but smile.
Bart and Nora go over their day and decide it’s time to go home. First, they get into the CCPD group photo. Bart visits Avery before leaving. He made a promise to return, and he followed through. Before he goes, he has a question for Avery. It is New Year’s Eve. Bart has a hard time asking Avery for a kiss, so Avery pulls him to her and kisses him. Nora comes into the room with her eyes covered, saying it’s time to go. Avery asks if they will see each other again. Bart promises they will. After the Allens leave, Avery sees a flash of light under the door.
2049
Bart and Nora tell Jay how they changed the timeline and fixed it. Bart feels bad for messing up so much and understands if he can never be the Flash. Jay laughs because both him and Barry messed up a lot. And they both ended up as the Flash. He’s also happy to be alive and Joan is back. He says the kids are on a journey. They will make mistakes, some that can’t be undone. But they can always try to make things better. Jay leaves, saying he has a meeting with President Luther … it’s a joke!
Back to the present timeline …
Joe yells for Iris to hurry. The gang is going to brunch together. Chester (Brandon McKnight) asks if anyone has any new year’s resolutions. Frost (Danielle Panabaker) decided to forgive Mark Blaine aka Chillblaine (Jon Cor) for committing crimes. She says he’s turned over a new leaf and she made him swear to stay on the straight and narrow. Everyone gives Frost a funny look, so she changes the subject by asking about Caitlin’s (Panabaker) new boyfriend Marcus. Wait … when did that happen? Allegra’s (Kayla Compton) resolution is to party less. She’s suffering from a hangover.
Iris joins them downstairs while brushing her hair. Barry helps her put on her coat and she lays the brush on the couch. She says her resolution is more family time. Barry tells everyone to bundle up and hold hands. He puts his hands on Joe and Iris’s shoulders and speeds them away to Paris for brunch. After they leave, Iris’s brush disappears in a green flash.
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.
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.
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E07) I Could Not Prevent It - June 24, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E06) Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light - June 17, 2024
- INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Recap: (S02E05) Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape - June 10, 2024
