Cat’s out of the bag on The Flash. In “Pay the Piper,” Barry’s (Grant Gustin) feelings of helplessness are at an all time high when Godspeed reappears.  Iris (Candice Patton) searches for Kamilla (Victoria Park) and Chief Singh (Patrick Sabongui). 

RELATED: Recap the Latest Episode of THE FLASH, “Liberation”

After Mirror Iris disappeared, Barry ran to Joe (Jesse L. Martin) for a hug.  And to tell him about Iris.  Joe says Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) warned him about Iris and then noticed the change himself.  Barry admits feeling like he won’t be able to save Iris this time.

The next day, Barry tells Team Flash about the Mirror-verse. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is afraid that creating a duplicate might have killed the original.  He gets emotional about the situation.  Barry is emotional too and lashes out at Cisco.  Nothing like superheroes who feel powerless.  Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) calms them down, saying they will get through this, but the boys obviously lost faith. 

Cisco says there might be a way to get to the Mirror-verse vibrationally.  Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is recovering from her ice coma so he’s flying solo for this one. Cecile stays behind and tries to talk to Barry, but he is more interested in working on the speed force.  There’s no point in going after Eva (Efrat Dor) if he doesn’t have any powers. 

RUN BACK TO YOU
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon on The Flash

The Flash — “Pay the Piper” — Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

In the mirror-verse, Iris starts displaying some of the same symptoms that Eva has from being in that realm for too long.  She leaves a video message for Barry documenting her time and reassuring him that she will always be with him.

Allegra (Kayla Compton) admits to Barry that she feels foolish for not realizing that Iris and Kamilla were different. They are interrupted when Godspeed shows up to steal Barry’s speed. Nash (Tom Cavanagh) shows up and blasts him with a pulse cannon, but Godspeed runs away before they can shoot him again. 

As if they needed another problem, Team Flash reconvenes to talk about Godspeed.  Allegra says he had a ‘thunder’ that caused a blast.  Cisco figures out that ‘thunder’ was Godspeed’s vibrations.  He figured out a way to reverse the vibrations to steal speed. They will need someone who knows about vibrational sonics to stop Godspeed. 

Barry knows of someone, but that someone really hates Team Flash.  Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper (Andy Mientus) is an expert in vibrations. Barry and Cisco know him from when Hartley used to work at STAR Labs, but he was a serious jerk.  And when the Crisis happened, the timeline changed some things.

Cisco found out that Hartley hates the Flash because of one battle that left Hartley’s right hand man, Rodrick Smith’s (Joel Semande) body in shambles.  Rodrick is in an energy containment unit at Mercury labs. It’s the only thing that’s keeping his molecules from disintegrating. Nash has an idea about how to fix Rodrick. And then maybe Hartley will help them with Godspeed.  

FROSTY GOODBYE 

Frost texts Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) asking him to see her and Ralph races to her side.  She’s okay.  She’s wearing a patch that will keep her from freezing Caitlin again.  Frost called Ralph over to thank him for being her Life Coach. She is going away to get treatment from Caitlin’s mom. She doesn’t know when or if she will be back. Frost just wanted to say goodbye. This alarms Ralph and he asks what’s really wrong.

Frost doesn’t want to talk about it anymore and tries to get Ralph to drop the subject. Ralph keeps talking and figures out that Frost doesn’t want to see Caitlin’s mom.   Ralph tries to convince Frost that Caitlin’s mom cares about her just like Team Flash does.  And if she can’t see that for herself, then she has a long way to go.

The Flash finds Hartley and is immediately attacked.  Hartley can see there’s something wrong with Flash’s speed.  He rears back to blast Flash, but Flash says he can help Rodrick. Flash asks for Hartley’s help with Godspeed in return, but Hartley isn’t interested. And he doesn’t think there’s anyone who can help Rodrick.  Hartley tried to fix Rodrick but nothing worked.

Flash brings in Nash.  Hartley thinks it’s Harrison Wells and Flash describes Nash as Harrison’s twin.  That’s much simpler than explaining he’s a doppelgänger.  Nash says if they combine light with helium, it could slow down Roderick’s molecules. Hartley agrees to let them try and then he’ll consider helping Flash. 

CITIZEN REUNION
Candice Patton as Iris West - Allen and Victoria Park as Kamilla on The Flash

The Flash — “Pay the Piper” — Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen and Victoria Park as Kamilla — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

Iris finds Kamilla at STAR Labs in the Mirror-verse, but Kamilla thinks it’s evil Iris. She asks for something that only Kamilla and Iris would know.  Iris says Kamilla is the only person Cisco will allow to wear his Chewbacca t-shirt that his parents gave him when he was fourteen.  Bingo!  So nerdy! 

The two ladies exchange notes about what’s been going on.  Kamilla never met Eva. She’s been by herself this whole time. Kamilla gathered the things that came with her into the Mirror-verse, but she can’t read the data.  Iris can read it though. The neural dissonance of the Mirror-verse gives Iris the ability to read the computer screens in the Mirror-verse.  Kamilla hasn’t been there long enough for the dissonance to affect her. The only problem is that Iris gets a big headache when she tries to read Eva’s notes.  Iris runs out of the lab, scared of what’s happening to her.

Hartley shows up at STAR Labs and reminds Cisco of why he’s superior to them.  He knows that Cisco is Vibe and Barry is the Flash. But he doesn’t understand why Cisco doesn’t use his vibe powers to stop Godspeed.  Cisco admits he gave up his powers.  They are interrupted with news that Rodrick is in the lab. 

The plan is for Allegra to release her UV light on Roderick while Nash fills his containment pod with helium.  At first it looks like it’s working, but the Roderick starts screaming in pain.  They shut down the helium and Rodrick goes back to sleep.  It didn’t work and Hartley is upset.  He says his world is over and hopes Flash’s burns.  Godspeed shows up. He says Flash has one hour to give up his speed or people will die.  

FORGIVENESS AND TRUST

Nash tells Barry that they need a bonding agent to fix Roderick, but Barry is working on the Speed Force.  Nash starts erasing the equations on the board saying Barry is wasting time. He realizes that Barry has some things he needs to talk about, but won’t talk to anyone by Iris and Joe.  

Basically Barry feels powerless and doesn’t know how to lead the team.  Nash tells Barry to trust himself, but Barry doesn’t trust himself after living with an imposter for weeks.  Nash says he has to forgive himself and if he can’t, then he has to do it for Iris.  That triggers something for Barry and he leaves.  He says he knows why Hartley is so upset. 

Cisco continues his work to find a way into the Mirror-verse.  Cecile senses his frustration and lends her ear to him.  Cisco says when Kamilla is around, he wants to show her that he’s strong. She gives him confidence but now she’s gone.  It makes him think about being Vibe and how confident and strong he was. Cisco doesn’t feel like he has lost everything.  Cecile reminds him that Kamilla didn’t fall in love with Vibe’s powers. She fell in love with Cisco the engineer.  And he has never backed down from doing the impossible.  That’s just what Cisco needed to hear.

In the Mirror-verse, Kamilla finds Iris in the lounge.  Iris is afraid of the neural dissonance. She doesn’t feel like she can trust herself.  Kamilla says Eva wants Iris to see her strength as a weakness. If she wants to escape, iris has to trust herself again.  Kamilla trusts her and asks what they need to do to get out of there. First, they have to find Chief Singh.  

Barry finds Hartley in the pipeline crying. He figured out that Hartley is in love with Roderick and feels responsible for his injuries. Hartley admits that Rodrick is his boyfriend .  Barry tells Hartley that he has to forgive himself.  

GODSPEED

They are interrupted by Cisco saying there’s a problem at Iron Heights Prison.  There’s a massive energy surge in the meta wing.  They pull up video of the prison and the other Godspeeds are dead.  The new Godspeed took all of their speed. Godspeed races through Central City, gathering hostages.  He stops in front of a camera crew to let Flash know he has one minute to give him his speed or someone dies every 60 seconds until Flash shows up.  

Barry starts to leave, but Cisco stops him. He says they can get CCPD or ARGUS to handle Godspeed, but Barry says it’s up to him. He has enough speed to stop him. Hartley hears Barry say that he has to try and leaves to find the speedsters.  

Flash arrives and moves everyone out of harm’s way.  He makes Godspeed chase him through Central City, but Godspeed eventually catches up with Flash and knocks him down.  Godspeed starts to take Flash’s speed, but Flash is able to get up and start running again.

CROSSING STREAMS
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Tom Cavanagh as Nash Wells and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon on The Flash

The Flash — “Pay the Piper” — Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Tom Cavanagh as Nash Wells and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

They run up a building and Godspeed beats Flash to the top. He looks over the side of the building and sees Flash’s speed disappear.  Flash starts falling to the ground, and Hartley uses his sonic power to slow down Flash’s fall.  Hartley says they need to recreate the blast that hurt Roderick.  The Flash’s lightning combined with the vibrational force of Hartley’s powers causes a thermogenic blast.  Flash starts running to build up the power for a lighting bolt and he throws it at the building. Hartley blasts the bolt at the same time. They cross streams that hit Godspeed, blasting him through the air. 

Godspeed lands on a car and he is hurt. His blood is blue and it has electricity in it.  Cisco does an analysis and finds it’s charged sound. They can use this as a bonding agent for Roderick.  They set Roderick up for another round of helium.  Cisco and Nash explain that charged sound can permanently reattach molecular bonds.  The procedure works and Roderick wakes up asking for Hartley.  Team Flash leaves them alone to catch up.  

Barry, Cisco and Nash go to the control room where Barry informs them that they did not capture the real Godspeed.  When Flash questioned this Godspeed, all he would say is the one who sent him wants infinite velocity.  He stopped talking, just like the other fake Godspeeds. 

DIB-LOMA

Ralphs returns to Frost’s apartment and apologizes for being harsh.  He gives her a “Dib-loma” for graduating life-coach school.  He says it’s normal to be intimidated by a parent.  Frost admits that she felt like Caitlin’s mom would get to know the real her.  Ralph understands. Frost rejected Caitlin’s mom before she could reject Frost.  Frost says she’s not afraid anymore.  All’s well that ends well.  

Hartley and Rodrick thank Barry for helping them.  Roderick reminds Barry that he has to believe that his world will change. It’s the only way to get his world back.  Barry takes those words and addresses Team Flash.  

They have lost a lot. Their power, love, and family.  Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing left to lose.  They still have their faith in each other and their will to fight for those they love.  That’s something they will never lose.  They will face Eva together and beat her.  And get back everyone.  

Everyone agrees and they are ready to fight.  Cisco says he has an idea about how to get everyone out of the Mirror-verse. They need a lossless, self sustaining, source of perpetual.  And Cisco knows where to find one. Atlantis.  Allegra asks to tag along, but Barry asks her to stay behind. She is now a member of Team Flash and he needs her to help protect the city. 

Elsewhere in a warehouse, Eva emerges from a pod.  Probably something she had built for her Mirror children.  She’s ready to go after Joseph Carver (Eric Nenniger).

RELATED: Catch Up on THE FLASH Season 6 Here!

 

 

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