In The Flash season 3, episode 6, “Shade,” Alchemy made his move on Wally. Meanwhile, Caitlin struggled with her secret.
When we open “Shade,” Wally has been having dreams of being Kid Flash, his identity in Flashpoint. He’s excited by them because he loves being a speedster and helping people; it’s what he’s wanted since he was hit by the particle accelerator explosion.
And when he reveals this to Joe, his father — understandably — freaks out. Unlike Jesse, Wally isn’t getting his powers just from the particle accelerator; he’s getting them from Alchemy, and we haven’t seen a good ending for anyone who has gotten their powers from him yet.
Wally volunteers to be locked away in the pipeline until they can figure out a better way to keep him safe. Iris and Barry stay behind at S.T.A.R. Labs to watch over him, and Iris explains to Barry why this is so difficult for her brother: he wants to help people. Being around Barry only makes him want to be able to do it more. He doesn’t feel like he’s doing enough now — which is how Iris also feels, though Barry assures her that there is no Flash without Iris West.
This conversation reminds me of James’ storyline right now on Supergirl — and considering the teams working on the shows overlap, I don’t think that’s coincidental. Like James working alongside Supergirl, Wally is working alongside a superhero who helps people. And he has friends with powers, like Cisco and now Caitlin. Supergirl has trained government agents working with her. Wally doesn’t feel like he’s doing enough as is, just as James has felt pushed aside at CatCo while Winn went to work at the DEO.
So, the way James turns to Winn for help, Wally grabs the power-granting stone and immediately goes through terrigenesis, whoops that’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is encased in some kind of cocoon. Wally is going to take whatever risks he needs to in order to get the powers that would allow him to help people, and how he’s going to face the consequences.
While Wally is dealing with his desire for powers, Caitlin is facing the opposite issue: she wants nothing to do with her powers. When she confesses to stealing power-dampening handcuffs, she reveals the truth to Cisco about what’s happening with her. She also has Cisco vibe her in the future to see if she becomes Killer Frost. Unfortunately, Cisco sees a full-on battle between Killer Frost and Vibe in the future. He tries to keep this a secret at first but eventually has to tell Caitlin the truth.
Cisco also forces Caitlin to tell the truth to the rest of the team. She’s upset about being forced to come out before she was ready, and things get worse when Barry confesses that she wouldn’t have powers if he hadn’t changed the timeline. Yeah, that just painted a huge target on his back the next time Caitlin loses control.
Speaking of villains, the team very nearly captured Alchemy, as Wally volunteered to be bait to lead the good guys to Alchemy’s base. The joint efforts of The Flash, Joe and a SWAT team manage to tie up Alchemy’s followers, but our villain isn’t concerned. And considering he’s apparently working with Ultron a Michael Bay Transformer Savitar, the god of speed, his confidence was apparently well-placed. Curiously, though, Barry seemed to be the only one who could see him.
Other odds and ends
- Joe finally agreed to go on a date with Cecile. I hope she’s not secretly evil because I, like the West kids, am all about Joe finding some happiness.
- The superficial meta of the week was a man who could become a giant shadow, dubbed Shade. He was really just a distraction to keep the team’s eyes off of Wally.
- H.R. wants to become the face of a S.T.A.R. Labs museum, and he’d do that by changing his features with some Earth-19 science since, you know, Wells on this planet is a confessed murderer. Thanks, Eobard!
- Earth-19 also has Gorilla Grodd and other sentient gorillas. Gorilla City, anyone?
- Alchemy tells The Flash that he has no idea “what’s about to begin.” Yeah, yeah. We get it, big scary plan.
- When Barry invites Julian to hang out with him and his friends, Julian claims he has plans with his girlfriend. Even more suspicious, though, is his absence on the day of the CCPD raid of Alchemy’s lair. Hmmmmmm.
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