The FlashBack: ‘The Flash’ – Episode 6 ‘Shade’

The Flash is DC’s television adaptation of the comic book of the same name. It airs Tuesday nights at 8/7 Central on The CW. Our writer, Nicole Drum recaps the series each week updating you on the latest episode here in The FlashBack.  

Image Credit: The CW

Welcome back, Flash fans! I hope you had a good break just like I hope that Barry and company had a chance to rest up because this week they face two villains. As always, this recap contains spoilers so if you’re okay with that, read on!

We open up with Wally as Kid Flash. It’s a classic speedster running sequence, but in this case it turns out to be a dream that Wally is having. It also turns out that Wally’s been having quite a few dreams that he’s a speedster and he confides in Joe about it. Of course, Joe is worried when he hears this because of Alchemy and the whole messing with the mind thing that is Alchemy’s pattern. In keeping with Alchemy’s pattern, at the police department Barry and Julian are investigating yet another husk. This brings us up to about six. The investigation isn’t all doom, though. Cecille shows up while the guys are working and formally assigns Barry to the metahuman team full-time. Finally! She also flirts with Joe again and this time, they actually plan a date, a movie night. It’s about time that Joe gets to have a life of his own. Joe also lets Barry know about Wally’s dreams so even though it’s yay, Joe has a date it’s also oh man Wally is in trouble.

Back at STAR, Wells the 3rd continues his efforts to win over the crew, specifically Cisco and Caitlin. This time He is pitching that the gang open STAR as a museum and use him as the face. Of course, the team can’t let Wells the 3rd be the face of anything. Cisco and Caitlin finally let their guest know that on this Earth, Harrison Wells is a murderer. They warn that Wells the 3rd shouldn’t set one foot outside the lab.

At the West house, worried about Wally and also feeling guilty about things Barry tells Wally about how in the Flashpoint timeline Wally was in fact a speedster named Kid Flash who fighting the Rival. This information doesn’t really stop Wally’s desire to be a hero or being Kid Flash. Wally is almost desperate to become a speedster. He even accuses Joe of not trusting him and leaves the room crying.

There’s no time to really feel badly for Wally, though. Our big bad for the night shows up and is a massive shadow man who pops out of thin air and grabs some businessman by the throat. Right out of the shadows! The next morning Barry and Julian are on the scene while witnesses tell the pair exactly what they saw, which would be a giant shadow man popping up out of nowhere and crushing the guy. Yikes. Even with a really weird case to solve, though, Barry tries to move forward with the friendship he’s forging with Julian and tries to invite Julian to movie night. Julian refuses and honestly acts kind of cold.

At STAR Wells the 3rd tries to solve his face issue by, in fact, having a new face. He has a gadget that lets him do that. Cisco takes it away from him and accuses Wells the 3rd of stealing metahuman cuffs. Barry talks to the team about the weird shadow bad guy and Wells the 3rd tells the gang about a metahuman on his Earth named Shade how moved so fast he appeard to be a shadow. Barry also takes a moment to tell the team about Wally and leaves Cisco to take care of Shade. While the team is handling strategy, Wally shows up at the police station to talk to Joe. The talk doesn’t get very far, though, because Wally is brought to his knees by memories of Flashpoint.

With the task to deal with Shade at hand, Caitlin talks to Cisco back at the lab. She admits to him that she has powers, but more than that, Caitlin tells Cisco that she’s afraid she will become Killer Frost. Caitlin asks Cisco to vibe into the future to see if she does become evil. Cisco reluctantly does so, but when he sees himself doing battle with Killer Frost, Cisco lies to his friend and tells Caitlin he saw nothing. Relieved, Caitlin goes to check on Wally who Joe has brought to STAR. Wally says that he had visions of the Rival chasing him, which Barry is able to confirm are real memories from Flashpoint. Barry decides to stay behind at the lab with Wally (who is getting locked in the cortex) while everyone else goes the movie.

At the movie, Caitlin calls Cisco out on acting odd since the vibe. This prompts Cisco to tell her what he really saw and Cisco begs Caitlin to tell the team. While they chat, Joe and Cecille continue to flirt and it’s adorable until Wells the 3rd decides to be chatty. Anyway. At STAR, Barry and Iris have a heart-to-heart while looking after Wally. It’s cut short, though, when Shade shows up at the park where the movie is being played. Barry flashes off to deal with Shade. At that same time, Alchemy gets in Wally’s head and manages to get Iris to open the door to his enclosure. He tries to escape, but Iris punches him and knocks him out. The Flash has a battle of his own, but thanks to the team sorting out that they can use lights to reduce Shade to his human self, the Flash saves the day and puts the metahuman cuffs (which Caitlin had) on him.

Back at STAR, the team figures out that Shade must have been sent by Alchemy as a distraction to get to Wally. Cisco also pushes Caitlin into revealing herself which upsets Caitlin. Barry goes after her and continues to blame himself for everything because of Flashpoint. But we’re still not done. We have to get that second villain of the night. Wally is continuing to have issues with Alchemy so Joe and Barry decide that the best way to get to their bad guy is through Wally.

Joe gets the SWAT team together. Julian is oddly absent from work that day and can’t help them. The Flash is there, though, and the lot of them set their plan into motion. They find Alchemy in an abandoned subway and it’s very creepy. There are people in hoods actually bowing to Alchemy, who greets Wally by asking if Wally wants his powers to return. And then things go wild. The Flash fights Alchemy, but Joe shows up with SWAT to save him. Alchemy gets on his knees, but Alchemy isn’t down. Flash starts seeing a speedster no one else can see and that speedster takes out the police. Wally picks up the stone that Alchemy was using to fight the Flash, but that stone turns Wally to stone and just when you think it can’t get worse, the invisible speedster grabs Barry by the throat. And who is this guy? Savitar.

Is Wally going to be stone forever? Is Caitlin really turning to Killer Frost? Who the heck is Savitar? What’s the deal with Wells the third? So many questions! Give me your best theories in the comments!