Love conquers all on The Flash. In “Mother,” Barry (Grant Gustin) and Team Flash work tirelessly to stop Eva McCulloch (Efrat Dor) from taking over the City and save Iris (Candice Patton) at the same time. And what about the reappearance of Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh)? What were those particles that brought him back to life? Is he staying for good?
Last week, things got a little out of hand when Barry discovered he had a new power. There was something about the Artificial Speed Force (ASF) that gave him super speed thinking and took away his emotions. Barry’s only objective was to save Iris from the mirrorverse. He literally fought Team Flash to see his plans through.
Barry saved Iris, despite the fact that she resisted him because Barry left Kamilla (Victoria Park) and Chief Singh (Patrick Sabongui) in the mirrorverse. Iris’ resistance caused her to collapse and Barry snapped out of his robo-trance. He threw a lightning bolt to turn off the ASF.
RELATED: The Flash Recap (S07E02): The Speed of Thought
Cisco (Carlos Valdes) wakes up to see Barry sitting by Iris’ body. Frost (Danielle Panabaker) and Allegra (Kayla Compton) woke up at the same time. They tried to sneak up on him thinking Barry was still robotic Barry, but then saw the worry in his face. Barry and Iris are back, but they need help.
Caitlin (Panabaker) returns to examine Iris, but she can’t determine what is wrong. Barry apologizes for attacking the team, but Cisco says they know it wasn’t really him. He and Caitlin forgive Barry and move on.
CHAOS
Meanwhile, Eva is duplicating people and sending them to the mirrorverse … body snatching. CCPD is flooded with calls about not acting like themselves. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) meets with Sue Dearbon’s parents who are desperate to get her back. An officer interrupts them to speak to Joe. When they get to a secure place, the officer removes a mask, revealing she is actually Sue (Natalie Dreyfuss).
Sue says something strange is going on. She says the people that Joe was talking to are not her parents. Ralph told her it was pod people but she didn’t believe him. Joe believes her because they’ve gotten over a hundred calls about people not acting like themselves. Two hands reach out of a mirror behind Joe and almost grab him. Both Joe and Sue are freaked out.
Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) returns and tells a story about how he was almost taken by Eva. The city is in chaos and they all know it’s Eva. She’s becoming more powerful. She can now control any reflective surface as long as there’s light around. They have to blackout the city ASAP. Why is Eva doing this? Barry thinks she wants them all out of her way. And with every person she replaces, her army grows. It’s a full on invasion … you know … of the body snatchers.
Allegra talks to Iris in her vegetative state. She says the paper doesn’t work without Iris. They won’t give up on her, especially Barry. What they have is amazing no matter how strong they are on their own. They are stronger together.
INTO THE MIRRORVERSE
The mayor shut down the power in the city. Cisco shut down the doors and windows in Star Labs. Chester suggested they cover the mirrors too. Barry feels bad because he can’t save anyone. He looks at his reflection in a window and wishes there was a way to save them all and get Iris back. He hears a voice tell him that there is a way. Chester looks up and realizes Barry is gone.
Barry transports to the mirrorverse where Eva is waiting for him. Eva tells him that she wants to save the Earth and move the people who destroy it to the mirrorverse, replacing everyone with her children. She wants Flash to lead his people into their reflections. But Barry only saves people. Eva says she can do more for the Earth and asks why he hasn’t done everything he can to save the world. He has no speed … duh! Eva says she can save the world and she will. Eva is not human, she’s better. And that’s why she’s showing him mercy.
The team is frantically looking for Barry when they find his signal at McCulloch tech. Caitlin tries to turn to Frost, but can’t. Barry strolls back through the window, canceling the attack on McCulloch Tech. Eva let him go. She only wanted him to know that they can’t win and Barry agrees.
THE OG WELLS
Barry sits alone in the lounge when Dr. Harrison Wells appears. Ok. So … Dr. Wells thinks when Nash and the other Wells died, they transferred all of the Wells particles into the fusion-sphere except for .01%. That 0.01% became Dr. Harrison Wells. Dr. Wells’ theory is that the universe needed a balancing act to make for all of the other Wells disappearing.
Barry buys it. I mean .. Crisis brought everyone together on one planet, in one timeline, so why not? Of all of the Wells, this is the one that Barry wanted to meet the most. Luckily, Dr. Wells has all of the Wells’ memories. And he’s ready to help Team Flash, but Barry doesn’t think he can. Eva is too powerful and Barry has no speed. But he’s the Paragon of Love. Anyone can save the world with their might, but it takes a real hero to do it with his heart. Dr. Wells tells Barry to run toward love.
Allegra comes in and thinks Dr. Wells is Nash. She runs to him and hugs him tightly. He introduces himself as the rest of the team arrives. Chester is excited thinking he’s there to save them. He asks which Wells is this. This is the original. Cisco and Caitlin are in shock.
PARAGON OF LOVE
Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) is with Joe when they discover that someone exposed the window in the CSI lab. An officer walks in and tells Joe that they have to give up and walk into the mirrorverse. Joe closes the door and they try to stay away from the windows.
Dr. Wells tries to explain how he’s alive when Sue walks in with a melted Elongated Man (??). Ralph was at McCulloch Tech trying to find evidence to clear Sue’s name. Eva blew up the place and Ralph took the brunt of the explosion. He grabbed an external hard drive and it has what they need to clear Sue’s name.
Barry sits by Iris’ side. He will never give up on her. She’s his heart and he begs her to come back to him. Barry reaches for her hand and a spark sets off memories for them both. Iris turns to look at Barry.
Barry tells the team that Iris is the key to the speed force. Dr. Wells explains that the speed force is an elemental part of the universe. So technically it never went away. Barry thinks it’s in Iris, that’s why he was chosen as the Paragon of Love. Their love is just as strong as the lightning bolt that hit him seven years ago. Plus Iris was a speedster once, so she may have some of the speed force still inside her. Now, they just have to get the speed force energy out of Iris.
Cisco wants to repurpose the ASF to tap into an organic source instead of an artificial one … wasn’t that what they did when Nash died? Cisco teams up with Dr. Wells to get the process started. If this works, they will be able to take Eva together. Go Team Flash!
RUN BARRY RUN
Eva sets her replicas on the city, burning things up and blasting people into the mirrorverse. Meanwhile Joe and Cecile are trapped in the CSI lab with a replica banging at the door. They find a duct that leads to the ground floor. Joe sends Cecile down the duct while he waits for the replica to bust through.
Cisco and Wells remap the fusion sphere and turn on the ASF. Dr. Wells is concerned about the amount of unrefined power that Barry will come into contact with. He’s afraid the power will tear Barry apart. Iris walks into the speed lab. She puts her hands on the fusion sphere and says they need the Flash. Barry knows he will be okay and starts running.
The energy increases as a red and yellow lightning bolt powers through the fusion sphere into the ASF. Once it reaches full power the lightning bolt hits Barry and he gets his speed back … again. The Flash is back and this time Iris is with him. Iris knew he’d find his way back to her. She will always be his lightning rod.
MIRROR MONARCH
Joe waits for the door to fall open. No one enters, but someone is behind him. It’s a Cecile replica. She says there’s only one way for him to be with the real Cecile. He has no choice but to walk into the mirrorverse.
Eva continues to unleash terror but the Flash runs in to save the day. She says the Flash could have worked with her. Now her children are taking over the world and she is their queen. She begins her reign as Mirror Monarch.
Flash brings Cisco and Frost with him. It’s time for the final battle. Eva duplicates herself to face Team Flash. The battle consists of Barry running through the Evas and knocking them down. Frost and Cisco blast the other Evas, until Cisco’s gun breaks. That’s when the hand to hand combat begins. The trio easily takes down the Evas.
Flash runs away from the Evas up to the roof of a building. When he runs back down, Eva’s replicas blast Flash with their mirror guns and he falls to the ground. Eva tells them to finish him, but Iris stops her. Eva sends her replicas to finish the city while she deals with The Flash and Iris.
Iris tells Eva that she’s not making the world better, she’s destroying it. Eva creates mirror shards and tries to throw them at Iris, but Iris is able to stop her and redirect the shards to the wall behind her. Eva doesn’t understand how that’s possible.
Iris reminds her that she wanted to bring peace to the world, but she’s using brutal force on innocent people. Eva’s children are filled with hate. Iris asks if this is Eva’s idea of peace. Eva looks around and sees the harm her duplicates are doing.
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY
Flash wakes up and tells Iris to get back, but Iris has everything under control. Eva says this is not the peace she envisioned. She wanted to make things better. It’s never too late to do the right thing. Flash says she can end this now. The foundation for a better world is compassion, not violence. A true Monarch knows that.
The window at the lab starts to wobble, indicating a portal to the mirrorverse is open. Joe slowly walks toward the window as the fake Cecile watches.
Eva raises her hands and attempts to stop her duplicates from doing more harm, but the duplicates keep going. She tries again, but nothing is working. Eva tries one more time, but this time Iris and Flash take her hands to give her the power she needs to destroy the duplicates. All of the duplicates fall to the ground and turn to glass, including the fake Cecile.
That just leaves the people in the mirrorverse. Eva uses her power to open a portal and everyone returns to the real world. Chief Singh appears at the CCPD. The real Cecile appears behind Joe and runs to hug him. Cisco gets a call from Kamilla. She’s at the Citizen offices and he can’t wait to kiss her. They tell each other that they love each other for the first time. Eva decides to return to the mirrorverse and start her life over. She says this time her children will be born of love. They will be free to choose their own path. Flash wishes her luck. Eva disappears through a portal.
A FOND FAREWELL
The Team looks for signs of Eva, but she’s gone. Iris’ mirror powers are gone too. Everyone is home. Sue is free. Cisco and Allegra are with Dr. Wells to say goodbye.
Allegra tries to talk Dr. Wells into staying to train her, but he wants to live the life that was stolen from him. He’s a time travelling Wells and he plans to go back in time to relive his life with his late wife Tess. Allegra wishes him well.
Cisco says he gets why Wells wants to return to his wife. He hopes he and Kamilla have many years together and Dr. Wells says they do. That makes things weird for Cisco. Cisco asks how Dr. Wells travels in time. Dr. Wells dissipates into green particles and disappears.
Sue and Ralph say goodbye. Ralph is in a suit that helps him heal and has a helmet on that makes his voice sound robotic. Caitlin asks Sue to join Team Flash, but it’s not her style. She and Ralph are off to take down other criminal organizations around the world. Team Flash says goodbye to Ralph Dibny and Sue Dearbon.
But wait…back up 18 hours ago …
Something strange happened when Iris touched the fusion sphere to restart the speedforce. When the lightning bolt hit Barry, it ignited a lighting storm into the sky. What does this mean?
RELATED: Recap The Flash Season 6 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
