Last season on The Flash, Nora Allen saved the world but was erased from existence, leaving Barry and Iris devastated. But with the end of one problem comes another, as Thawne warns Barry that he’ll see him in the next Crisis.
The Flash’s disappearance has been moved up from 2024 to December 10, 2019.
Here’s what’s happened since then. As Barry and Iris struggle with their grief over Nora’s loss, they must also deal with the news that Barry must die to save all of existence once the Crisis comes. According to the Monitor, there is no alternative.
Barry doesn’t take his word for it at first, but there’s a time barrier in the speed force preventing him from traveling beyond Crisis to see what happens.
Instead, Barry visits Jay Garrick (who in addition to being a doppelganger of Barry’s dad is also married to a doppelganger of Barry’s mom). Jay helps Barry project his mind forward to view all the possible timelines.
The world is destroyed in all timelines except one: the one where Barry dies. In classic Flash fashion, Barry accepts what he has to do and sets out to prepare his team to go on without him.
His team doesn’t accept his fate so easily. Barry saw all possible futures and knows what he has to do, but his friends continue to look for ways to save him while respecting his wishes.
When a new Wells shows up — an Indiana Jones type calling himself Nash Wells — he offers hope that he can save Barry’s life.
Note: One of my favorite things about this show is the endless variety of Harrison Wells in the multiverse and Tom Cavanagh’s enthusiasm and talent for playing them. I hope the Wells never run dry.
Meanwhile, an old colleague of Caitlin’s named Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy) becomes obsessed with curing HLH after his mother died from the disease.
He is disgusted with her for accepting her death instead of fighting against it and he refuses to go down the same way. He also has HLH and needs dark matter to complete his experimental cure.
Caitlin refuses to help him, knowing how dangerous dark matter can be, so he steals some and accidentally turns himself into an unstable meta-human when he tests the cure on himself.
In order to stay alive, he must continually consume dark matter, which means killing other meta-humans.
This also turns the dead meta-humans into zombies he can use to do his bidding. Things begin to spiral out of control for Ramsey until he is a full-on baddie. His prominence as a villain right now likely means he has something to do with Crisis.
While these are the two main plots, there is plenty going on for our heroes besides.
- Cisco’s new girlfriend Kamilla (Victoria Wang) is fully integrated into Team Flash
- Ralph has been tirelessly pursuing the case of a missing woman who he’ll probably fall in love with
- Cecile gives up being the district attorney to become a defense attorney for meta-humans
- Killer Frost takes a turn in the driver’s seat and learns how to live a life
- Joe is settling into the Captain’s position at CCPD
- Iris hires a new reporter: a former criminal named Allegra Garcia (Kayla Compton) whose journalistic instincts are too sharp for her own good. They’ll have to let her in on Team Flash eventually if they want to avoid trouble.
There’s also an enthusiastic science vlogger named Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) who accidentally opened a black hole attached to his consciousness.
Team Flash saved him and the city, but he’s been in quarantine at STAR Labs until he’s fully recovered. Once he’s out and about, chances are he’ll become a new addition to the team.
Watch The Flash Tuesdays at 8/7 c on The CW.