‘The Flash’ Season Premiere Kicks Off a Major ‘Crisis’ (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 6 premiere of The Flash, “Into the Void.”]
Everyone has their own ways of coping with loss, as we see in The Flash premiere.
Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) must deal with losing Nora, even though they know they’ll see a version of her again. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) must figure out why she’s having problems with her Frosty side and without her when she needs her. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is getting used to not being able to breach wherever he needs to be (which may mean getting dropped off for or walking to dates).
And they have quite a bit on their hands as well when we skip forward four months at the beginning of the premiere. The team’s been chasing down dummy Godspeeds, who have no language skills. Cisco’s working on the MAC (mental augmentation chamber), which will allow them to tap into the speed force to boost Barry’s cognitive abilities. He’ll be able to see every possible outcome to a scenario at the same time.
Oh, and Ralph’s (Hartley Sawyer) had no luck looking into Sue Dearborn’s disappearance. “This one is a real tragedy,” he says. “Maybe it was the look of desperation in her parents eyes when they begged me to find her daughter.”
There’s an even bigger loss coming their way, as a familiar face warns in the final moments of “Into the Void.” But first, they have to figure out how to keep a black hole from swallowing all of Central City. In other words, it’s just another day for Team Flash.
Never a Better Time for Queen’s “Flash’s Theme”
After learning that Joe (Jesse L. Martin) threw out boxes from the garage that had Nora’s jacket inside, Iris heads to the junkyard to retrieve it — and watches it get sucked into a black hole. Another black hole opens up outside Jitters, and Barry speeds over in time to save everyone, including Caitlin.
(Jeff Weddell/The CW)
The common thread between the two locations? Local scientist Chester P. Runk. He steals old lab equipment from junkyards and has a crush on the barista at Jitters. He accidentally built a device that opened a black hole, and now he’s catatonic.
However, as Iris realizes when she tries to speak with him, the cadence of his fingers matches the corona’s flare of the black hole. Half of Chester’s mind is the black hole, and if they destroy it using the grenade Cisco made, they’d kill the scientist. Though Cisco worries they may have to choose between letting Chester die and saving Central City, Barry refuses to lose anyone else, obviously still hurting from losing his daughter.
When a black hole opens over Central City, they’ve run out of time. Fortunately, they realize they can use Barry’s lightning to attract the synaptic energy of Chester’s mind in the black hole and keep it together using part of Nora’s backup gauntlet. They move Chester into the MAC, and then it’s up to Barry. And Cisco has the perfect Queen song for it: “The guy’s running in and out of a black hole,” he points out. The plan works, and once Chester’s mind is reunited with his body, the black hole implodes.
But Chester has to stay in the MAC for four to six weeks. Oh, and his eyes are still glowing with orange dark energy. But he’s in good spirits.
Ramsey Will Not Accept Death
Caitlin reunites with an old friend, Ramsey Russo (Sendhil Ramamurthy), at his mother’s funeral and later meets with him to catch up. But as she soon discovers, he has an ulterior motive for wanting to see her. He’s upset his mother didn’t go down fighting and instead started ticking things off her bucket list in her final days.
“Do you know how HLH works?” Ramsey asks Caitlin. “Then you know the cancer literally boils you from the inside out. Can you imagine what that must have felt like, watching her suffer?” But he’s found a potential cure and only needs dark matter from STAR Labs. She refuses, since that would potentially turn people into metas against their will.
(Jeff Weddell/The CW)
“She didn’t have to die,” he insists. “No one with HLH does.” But Ramsey isn’t deterred and still manages to make a serum for himself by episode’s end. And just like that, the percentage of his cells that indicate the cancer marker decrease. But then his skin begins changing and he screams in pain. Hello, Bloodwork.
Ralph Dibny, Life Coach
Caitlin has been suffering from “frost outs,” forcing her to cover for her cold hands in front of Ramsey and rely on Barry to save her from the black hole when Killer Frost refuses to come out. Though she thinks that Frost is afraid of dying, Ralph has another theory.
He tricks Frost into coming out with a fake emergency before telling her, “You are afraid of living.” Caitlin’s the one who has gotten to have a life, while Frost hasn’t done anything. After hearing Ramsey’s mother lived her life to the fullest in her final days, he knows Frost wants to start living her best life.
“That’s not my gig,” Frost protests. “I fight the bad guys, keep Caity safe, and then go back in my cage. I just have to deal with it.” Not if Caitlin has any say. She didn’t think Frost wanted a life, but she’s more than happy to give her the opportunity. “You have always been there for me,” she tells her colder side. “Now I get to do something for you.” And Ralph is right there to help Frost, with “The Book of Ralph Vol. 2” to help her “get a life.”
(Katie Yu/The CW)
Another Loss Is Coming for WestAllen
At the beginning of the episode, Barry and Iris can only watch as the drive holding the message from Nora in the Time Vault is destroyed.
And four months later, they’re trying to pretend like they’re okay with having another Nora. But as Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) tells Iris, “You do not get to cheat the grieving process just because you know you’re going to see Nora someday.” And Barry can’t just keep working to avoid the loss he worries he won’t get over. Iris knows that the only way they can get through it is together.
But they may not have much more time together. The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) shows up in the final moments with an ominous warning for Barry. “You cannot avoid the coming Crisis,” he says, revealing Barry no longer has five years before he vanishes. “December 10, 2019,” he continues. “On that day, he will answer the call and make the ultimate sacrifice. Soon, this world will fight for the fate of all the known universes.”
“Events have been set into motion you cannot possible comprehend,” he continues. “In order for billions to survive this coming Crisis, the Flash must die.”
And before you go to check, yes, The Flash‘s hour of Crisis on Infinite Earths does air on December 10 and is the last episode before the final two in 2020.
(Katie Yu/The CW)
The Flash, Tuesdays, 8/7c, The CW
