In ‘The Flash’ mid-season recap, Barry finds out exactly what Clifford DeVoe has been planning while Amunet Black returns looking for help from Caitlin…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
As ‘The Flash’ prepares to go on hiatus for the next five weeks, we are left with a cliffhanger where Barry Allen is about to go on trial for the murder of Clifford DeVoe.
The story played out rather brilliantly this week — but perhaps differently than you may have first thought based on my recap — but ultimately ended with DeVoe inhabiting a new body and then ditching his old one to frame Barry for killing him.
In between that storyline dominating the episode, Amunet Black reappears while asking for help from Caitlin Snow, who is starting to feel a little left out considering her alter ego Killer Frost seems to be the hit of the party whenever she appears.
Of course, Amunet’s purpose this week ties back into DeVoe’s devilish plans so it all ties together rather nicely while potentially setting up the second half of the season to focus on a famous story from the comics called ‘The Trial of the Flash’.
In that arc, Barry Allen is charged with murder after he snaps the neck of the Reverse Flash, who was attempting to kill his new wife after already taking Iris West from him previously. It was a story that lasted for two years in the comics with Barry fighting for his freedom, nearly getting booted out of the Justice League and watching his life get torn apart for doing nothing more than protecting the woman he loved from a sociopath trying to kill her.
If you get the opportunity, check out the original comic book story running from ‘The Flash’ issues No. 323 all the way to issue No. 350.
With that said, let’s recap the mid-season finale of ‘The Flash’ titled ‘Don’t Run’…
Taken
It’s Christmas time in Central City, which means Cisco and Harry are arguing over decorating the tree and Ralph Dibny is saying inappropriate things — of course he always does that — and everybody shares an inside joke that was made in the company of Killer Frost, which only makes Caitlin feel uncomfortable.
As it turns out, everybody seems to be falling for Killer Frost these days and Caitlin is getting left out.
Meanwhile, Barry and Iris have returned from their honeymoon where they are unwrapping presents. Iris has finally expressed her discontent that Oliver and Felicity stole her thunder by getting married on the same day she said her vows to Barry and they even decide to return the espresso machine given to them as a wedding present because it wasn’t on the registry to begin with.
The final present is a box with a single knife inside with the other knife mysteriously missing but no note or explanation about where the gift came from. As odd as that may sound, Iris is more curious why Barry hasn’t been using his powers later after barely speeding his way around at all while they were on their honeymoon.
Barry explains that when he first got his super speed, he used it to feel special and he did it all the time but now with Iris as his wife and the people surrounding him everyday, he doesn’t need to run fast just to feel exceptional any longer.
Later that night as Caitlin commiserates as C.C. Jitters while sipping the latest concoction on the coffee house’s menu — an iced treat nicknamed the ‘Killer Frost’ — Barry and Iris are about to walk inside after returning a slew of gifts. That’s when a double kidnapping takes place with Clifford DeVoe aka ‘The Thinker’ showing up in his wonder chair, zapping Barry and flying away while Amunet Black shows up and does the same as she places a meta-human suppression device on Caitlin before she can transform into Killer Frost.
Back at her evil lair, which is an old run down hospital, Amunet explains to Caitlin that she didn’t kidnap her to get Killer Frost’s unique talents. Instead, Amunet needs a doctor and that’s exactly what Caitlin can provide.
It seems Amunet had taken another meta-human to sell on the black market but in his scramble to get away, she accidentally hit him with a shard of the bucket of metal that she commands and now he’s dying. Caitlin needs to remove the shard of metal and save his life so she can sell him to the highest bidder.
As for Barry, he wakes up trapped in a force field built by DeVoe, who is there to taunt him about how he out thought him once again. For as fast as Barry can run, he can’t out think DeVoe and that’s what will lead to his downfall.
DeVoe has a master plan in mind for Barry and now he’s finally ready to enact it.
The Great Escape
Caitlin meets the new meta-human who has been captured by Amunet — his name is Dominic Lanse and he was part of the bus that was washed over by dark matter when Barry returned from the Speed Force. It seems Dominic’s ability is telepathy so he can read people’s minds and he knows the turmoil happening inside Caitlin’s head right now.
Together, Caitlin tries to devise an escape plan using Dominic’s ability to read the minds of the guards keeping an eye on them but Amunet catches up to them and quickly puts the good doctor back to work.
As for Barry, he’s trapped and despite Joe and Harry’s best efforts to rescue him by paying DeVoe a visit, there doesn’t appear to be any hope to set him free.
Barry does have time to hold a conversation with DeVoe’s wife, who continues to claim that she’s standing by her husband’s side with every decision he makes, but it certainly seems like there’s a lot of internal conflict brewing inside of her. When this story finishes, it might be DeVoe’s own wife who brings him to justice.
Still for now, Barry is trapped with no hope of escaping and whatever he seems to try, DeVoe is one step ahead of him.
Back at STAR Labs, the team is frazzled while trying to use satellites to look for both Barry and Caitlin, which cause an overload on the circuitry. Everybody is running short on patience, especially considering two people are now missing in action.
Finally, Harry tells Iris that she needs to control this situation — she is the team leader after all and it’s her job to make the tough decisions. That’s when Iris decides that Barry can take care of himself and they need to go after Caitlin.
Back at the lab, Caitlin finally concedes to the surgery to save Dominic as she puts him under and finishes the operation. Strangely, Amunet and her guards start feeling woozy as well before they all pass out in the room.
It seems Caitlin and Dominic hatched a plan to finish the surgery but the gas would be turned out throughout the room yet both of them were wearing masks. Amunet and her goons go to sleep while Caitlin and Dominic are able to escape.
Unfortunately the knockout gas doesn’t last long and Amunet soon wakes up looking to take back her prisoners, but thankfully Team Flash found Caitlin’s signature on satellite and dispatched Cisco and Ralph to rescue her. They all jump through a portal back to the lab and the day has been saved…for now anyways.
As for Barry, when DeVoe returns to his lab to check on the prisoner, the cell is empty and no one is left inside. Of course, DeVoe is shocked because he built that container to stop even the Flash from escaping. DeVoe turns off the force field to investigate and that’s when Barry appears out of nowhere.
Barry couldn’t run away and he couldn’t phase through the force field walls, but he could vibrate his body so fast that he couldn’t be seen by the human eye. He tries to run away but DeVoe grabs him and then blasts through the ceiling where they end up flying over the entire city.
Barry does his best to bring DeVoe down but it happens just over the Central City harbor as both of them crash into the water. Thankfully, Cisco still had a few new pieces of technology installed into the Flash suit — including a life raft that ultimately saved his life. As for DeVoe he goes crashing into the water and disappears without a trace.
Mind Over Matter
After both escaping captivity, Barry and Caitlin return to the team and plan for a Christmas celebration at Joe’s house. Caitlin asks to invite Dominic after he had a rather rough day at the hands of Amunet Black.
Cisco is happy to receive a gift from Gypsy while Ralph takes it upon himself to decorate the entire house to help prove that he’s now part of the family. Dominic makes his appearance to join everybody but unfortunately Barry is called away after the alarm at the loft goes off and he’s forced to run there to see what’s happening.
When Barry walks into the apartment, he turns off the alarm but doesn’t see anything missing or out of place until he notices that strange box with a single knife sitting on the table. He then peaks around the corner and spots Clifford DeVoe’s body laying on the floor, stabbed to death with the missing knife from that set.
Barry’s phone rings and the voice on the other end is none other than Dominic Lanse.
It seems after Caitlin saved Dominic earlier in the day, Amunet caught up with him again and sold him to the highest bidder, who just happened to be Clifford DeVoe.
The entire plan that DeVoe had was to transfer his consciousness into another body — presumably that was his plan for Barry because his body can self repair in seconds. Remember, DeVoe has been stricken by ALS and his body was deteriorating. Barry’s body would have no such problem maintaining the power of his brilliant mind.
Sadly, Barry escaped so DeVoe had to go to Plan B. — kidnap Dominic Lanse and transfer his consciousness into his body instead.
Now Dominic has officially transformed into DeVoe, complete with a reunion with his wife, while Barry soon hears a knock on his door as the police arrive to investigate a disturbance. Barry prepares to speed out of the apartment but instead he tells himself ‘don’t run’ and he stands still as the cops bust down the door and find him standing over a dead body.
Barry’s own police captain places him under arrest for murder while DeVoe quietly plots for the second part of his plan, which he calls the ‘enlightenment’. It’s my belief that DeVoe originally planed to take Barry’s body for his own but when he escaped, the mastermind known as ‘The Thinker’ decided to keep the Flash on ice by putting him behind bars instead.
Now Barry is fighting for his freedom while DeVoe has a fresh new body to keep his mind right…at least for the time being.
‘The Flash’ returns on Tuesday night, January 16 at 8 pm ET for a new episode on the CW.
https://youtu.be/CJnyAgbK3co
