The timeline changed once again on The Flash, bringing back an arch nemesis. In “Negative, Part 2,” the return of Reverse Flash/Evil Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) brings out the worst in Barry Allen (Grant Gustin).
RELATED: The Flash Recap (S08E19): Negative, Part 1
After evil Thawne revealed his return, he proceeded to taunt Barry about not only killing his mother, but Iris (Candice Patton) too. Barry immediately attacked Thawne, forcing his kids to return to 2022. Bart Allen/Impulse (Jordan Fisher) and Nora Allen/XS (Jessica Parker Kennedy) say their mom is still alive. Otherwise, they wouldn’t exist. The only reason Barry backs down is because Thawne disappears.
Team Flash reconvenes at Fast Track labs. Barry wants to enter the negative speed force and find Thawne. Cecile (Danielle Nicolette) picks up on Barry’s rage and realizes that he wants revenge. No matter what Cecile or the Allen kids say, Barry is convinced that Iris is gone. Iris is actually alive. And in the time stone with Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough). He says Iris is not supposed to be dead. That’s why the time stone saved her.
The Negative Forces, Deon/Still Force (Christian Magby), Alexa/Strong Force (Sara Garcia), Bashir/Sage Force (Ennis Esmer) send Thawne to the loft he shared with Iris in another timeline. They are the ones who also killed and resurrected Thawne. They say the Negative Speed force chose him and allowed him to tap in. Now they want to use him to wreak havoc on this timeline.
Chester (Brandon McKnight) comes up with a way to send Barry and his kids to the negative speed force, but the attempt fails. Meena (Kausar Mohammed) volunteers to help send Barry to the negative speed force. She was able to transfer some of her power to good guy Thawne before he died. The source of that power is the negative speed force. Cecile tries to talk Barry out of going, but is interrupted when she starts hearing voices. It’s Bashir, the positive one. He says he needs her help to save him and the other positive forces.
Joe (Jesse L. Martin) gets a visit from Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) and Dr. Joan Williams (Michelle Harrison). They’ve been tracking Iris’s particles and tracked her to Joe’s safe. Inside that safe is the time stone and it’s glowing. They realize that Iris is inside of the stone. Now they have to figure out how to get her out.
Cecile and Allegra (Kayla Compton) go to the Citizen to try and reconnect with Bashir. They bring along Rosa (Ashley Rickards) and Mona (Agam Darshi) for help, despite their power loss. The three psychics are able to bring Bashir back. He says Iris’s time sickness affected all of the forces. He was able to tether himself to Cecile so she could save them.
Bashir also gave Cecile the ability to absorb more psychic power to make her strong enough to bring him back. Bashir’s mask appears. He tells Cecile to put it on so her powers will transfer to him and he can save everyone. She does, screams around for a bit, and then Bashir and the mask disappear.
Barry enters the negative speed force at the exact spot where Thawne is. The negative forces are upgrading Thawne and protecting him while the upgrade is in process. They tell Barry that this whole thing is his fault. It happened when Barry disconnected Thawne from the negative speed force. They gave Iris the time sickness to weaken the positive forces and now they plan to destroy the world. The negative forces send Barry back to his timeline and at the same time, they begin their attack on Central City.
Damien helps Iris realize that she has unfinished business. She hasn’t reached her limit yet. And she’s a survivor. There’s only one way to return home. She has to reignite her spark.
Reverse Flash’s upgrade is complete. He shows up in Central City, attacking anything that moves. The Flash, XS, Impulse, and Fast Track stand together to face Reverse Flash, but he’s pretty powerful. He sends XS, Impulse and Fast Track to the past so he can face Flash one on one.
The fight starts tearing up Central City and even causes an earthquake. Reverse Flash has the upper hand until the positive forces arrive, including the Speed Force (Harrison). They combine their powers and put everything into the Flash. Now the fight is even.
Iris returns to the timeline. She and the others realize the fight between the speedsters will start Armageddon. She asks Jay to take her to Barry to stop the fight. Barry is happy to see Iris and realizes the destruction they are causing. The only way this ends is if one of them, the Flash or the Reverse Flash, dies.
Jay takes Iris to a safe place. Flash sits down and Reverse Flash continues to attack. Flash isn’t being affected so Reverse Flash asks the negative forces for more power. Thawne pushes out a destructive wave of power that halts and retreats back into him, causing him to implode. Bart, Nora, and Meena return to the timeline and they witness the universe resetting.
Joan examines Iris before she leaves. There is no sign of the time sickness left. And there is no sign of Thawne anywhere in the timeline. He is gone for good. Meena’s speed force chamber no longer works and she’s glad. She realized she was just a means to an end for the negative forces.
Cecile’s powers are back to normal. Rosa and Mona got their powers back as well. Chester brings her coffee but mixes up the cups. Cecile says it’s okay but then the cup moves from Chester’s hand to Cecile’s hand. Cecile is telekinetic.
Iris invited Tinya (Mika Abdalla) back to the Citizen offices. Shortly after, the Flash shows up with Renee (Meghan Gardiner). They reunited mother and daughter at last.
Mark (Jon Cor) fell asleep waiting for the process to complete Frost’s (Danielle Panabaker) resurrection. The pod malfunctioned. Mark open the door to check on Caitlin and sees someone knew. He asks who she is and she replies that she’s a friend, she thinks.
Barry and Iris finally return home. He asks how she was able to get home. It turns out that Barry is her lightning rod. They are safe for now, but they both know the negative speed force will have to choose another avatar. But they will be ready. In 2049, a blue crystal in a glass case lights up in a lab somewhere.
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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