After the winter hiatus, we’re back and Barry Allen is ready to run right back into the fray! He struggles to tell Patty his secret while the team tries to take down a meta who can control time.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
We open up on Barry and Patty having an adorably awkward date, just to remind us of how good they are together. Which makes more of an impact when Zoom comes to grab her… in his nightmares! I hate it when they start an episode with a dream sequence.
Joe is showing Wally around the station with Iris and he couldn’t be happier. Wally, on the other hand, doesn’t seem very impressed with it all with some hints of underlying resentment. Patty then wants to sit down and talk to Iris about Barry and the relationship drama begins. Meanwhile, Dr. Wells is stressing out and Cisco tries to help him, not knowing Wells has sided with Zoom. Cisco comes up with an idea to steal Zoom’s speed – The Turtle.
The team digs into an old obsession of Cicso’s, a meta that slows down time around him and they want to reverse engineer his powers to use against Zoom. Barry puts together that the Turtle may rob a very public press conference happening right that minute and races off to catch him. Unfortunately for Barry, he didn’t count on his speed being affected and the trap blows up in the speedsters face.
The team tries to puzzle together how to stop the Turtle. Cisco and Wells go off to figure out how to use it against Zoom, Barry goes off to catch Joe up and Caitlin decides to help Jay get his speed back, even though Jay has completely given up on it. Patty and Barry have a nice moment as he opens up to her and they agree on a date… just to remind us how good they are together. The West family dinner gets sidelined when Wally doesn’t show up. Iris tells Barry about her meeting with Patty and Barry now has to make the decision of telling Patty about him being the Flash or not being with her at all.
The team figures out where the Turtle is going to hit next and start to set up a trap for him. Barry, already having those plans with Patty, does some quick thinking and reschedules their date for the art show they’re sure the Turtle will hit. Barry shares his plans with the team to bring Patty into the fold. Cisco is on board, Caitlin more hesitant but Wells actively tries to talk him out of it.
They all show up to the ball in full formal wear while Wells and Cisco monitor from outside. Patty shows up and it would seem Wells’ words had more of an effect on Barry than he initially let on. As Barry is about to seemingly tell Patty about his secret, the Turtle shows up and Barry bails. Patty, spotting the robbery, pulls her gun but the Turtle disarms her and then turns her own gun on her. He shoots out a chandelier and uses his powers multiple times to stop Barry who just manages to knock Patty out of the way but gets caught under the chandelier himself.
After getting checked out, Barry leaves to go check on Patty which upsets Wells while the rest of the team protest as well. Jay pulls Caitlin aside to share a glass of champagne with her since apparently they’re now dating, and after Jay leaves, she grabs his cup for his DNA. Barry shows up to Patty’s and she’s understandably upset by Barry’s nonchalance. She needs him to make up his mind about their relationship, unaware it’s the same decision he’s making on his own.
So then we find out where Wally was instead of being at family dinner – street racing. Surprise surprise when Joe is waiting for him at the end of the race. They argue and Wally lays into Joe with some hurtful barbs and some genuinely fine acting from both of them. Guess that was probably part of the audition and not any of the other scenes where Wally’s been terrible. So then the Turtle shows up to grab Patty and Barry’s nightmares start coming true… sort of. Barry shows up and can’t find Patty and finds evidence that the Turtle has her and begins to panic.
As the Turtle plans to kill Patty, the team desperately seeks out his hideout. Eventually they find it and Barry springs into action. Fuelled by the need to save Patty he powers through the Turtles powers, defeating him and saving Patty in one fell swoop.
The Turtle now in custody, Caitlin approaches Jay and confronts him about his secret illness that only his speed can save him from for some reason. Wally shows back up to Joe’s under the guise of finding a sweater. So, Joe and Wally meet halfway and agree on establishing something of a relationship. Then, Patty breaks all of our hearts by breaking up with Barry. Finally, we find Wells leaving a message for his daughter as he vows to do anything to bring her back as he kills the Turtle in order to uncover his secrets. In the stinger, we get one more twist as Reverse-Flash once again shows up!
The Flash came back from its Christmas break with an episode we can all enjoy, but one that was ultimately very safe. There were no surprises, save for the stinger and the episode structure of the show becomes more evident when they play it safe. It’s so by the books. But, we were also treated to some important story points for the back half of the season as the stakes in the fight against Zoom are climbing ever higher. Also, in the saddest news of the show so far, Patty has left the cast, leaving a giant, awkward, adorable and beautiful hole behind. Hopefully they can bring her back in some capacity because she really was the best part of this season so far. I guess we’ll see what Reverse-Flash can offer us next week.