This week’s episode had the perfect balance of ABC plots

“Think Fast” was the title of this week’s episode of The Flash, and think fast the team did. With Devoe’s (Neil Sandilands) “plan of enlightenment” only 12 hours away from launching, Team Flash had to act quick in order to stop him. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) had the idea to have Barry (Grant Gustin) bring the two into Flashtime, since Devoe’s plan was already underway at A.R.G.U.S. where he was holding hostages. Speaking of, Arrow’s David Ramsey guest starred this week, as Devoe shape-shifted into Diggle’s body in order to get into the facility.

Serving as the A plot of the episode, Barry was adamantly against Cisco and Caitlin helping him stop Devoe, in fear of them losing their lives similar to Ralph (Hartley Sawyer). In the end, the three were able to use Flashtime to save the hostages, but Barry wasn’t able to stop Devoe — his plan is now officially underway.

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Iris (Candice Patton) and Harry (Tom Cavanagh) had the ultimate team up this episode, as the two were planning to track down Marlize (Kim Engelbrecht). The two were on two different pages, however, as Iris wanted to track her down to lock her up — while Harry thought  he could convince her to help Team Flash defeat her husband. This set up hilarious bickering between the two and was the episode’s highlight.

Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) is still carrying that huge belly around, and the woman is due any day now. While her and Joe (Jesse L. Martin) prepare for the baby’s arrival, Cecile discovers she has a new power — the ability to imitate anyone and become them. Not physically, but the newfound ability is sure to come in handy in the final battle against Devoe.

Here to discuss team-ups, backstories, and more is our The Flash roundtable!

Vanessa (@westallenallure) – Rambling and Flash extraordinaire.

Jessica (@newsflash52) – Lover of all things DC, especially The Flash and Iris WestAllen, and podcast host for Ladies w Gumption.

Holly (@hollyanderson30) – Social Media Addict who runs two fan pages and loves everything CW, especially The Flash.

Chelsea (@flezrasbarry) – Ezra Miller and Barry Allen fangirl.

Will Polk (@willmpolk)  – Blerd @SceneNNerd podcast producer with host @sjbelmont, Flash fan.

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1. What do you think of Iris and Harry teaming up this week?

Jessica (@newslfash52): I was surprised by how much I loved their dynamic this week. They had some of my favorite scenes like: “Boom, mic drop” “Hold onto that mic” It’s imaginary,”  and Harry mistakenly knocking on the wrong apartment door and yelling for “WestAllen.” I like how Iris tried to keep Harry busy and giving him tasks to make him feel useful, and even as she became increasingly frustrated with the Marlize situation, she tried not to take it out on him or blame. I also liked how, when Iris became too focused on her feelings towards Marlize, Harry, a newly graduate from the Council of Wells School of Emotional Intelligence, kept pushing Iris to think from her rival’s perspective.

Holly (@hollyanderson30): It was great seeing Iris and Harry team up and they worked so well together. Iris was amazing with Harry and is it me, or did I not hear Central City Citizen?

Vanessa (@westallenallure): I loved Iris and Harry teaming up. I think it was super refreshing to see them interact since we don’t see it often. It really sells the idea that all these characters are part of a team and actually know each other. It was interesting how Iris took on the role of the stock planner that Harry usually is and then Harry the heartfelt thinker that Iris usually is. At the end, it proved to be successful and sold the point that there’s different ways of approaching situations.

Chelsea (@flezrasbarry): I thought it was a fun dynamic to explore, particularly because of Harry’s increased emotional quotient and his lessons in being able to put himself in others shoes. He normally is very abrasive and demanding, so seeing him become more attuned with people’s feelings and trying to aid them in a nice way is a welcome change. It was also great seeing Iris get to vent her frustrations and emote her trauma. She’s constantly forgiving people and accepting their wrong doings to be a team player. It’s nice seeing her not just be able to voice the trauma she endured but also that they didn’t make her apologize when she was in the right to lose her temper.

Will (@willmpolk): I have to say this pairing rubbed me the wrong way in how Iris was treating Harry. I don’t know if it was the lack of patience or tone, but given his handicap, she could have been more understanding with Harry. I will say this season it seems they have been mixing up the pairings more and this one did work in helping get Iris out of the lab.

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2. Did you understand Barry’s hesitation in bringing Cisco and Caitlin into Flashtime?

Jessica:  Absolutely. Barry barely learned how to use Flashtime let alone how to use it with other people. Neither Cisco or Caitlin are trained in how to move in Flashtime, they only have a tiny window of opportunity to pull this plan off, they didn’t have a lot of time to learn how to perfect it and execute it under pressure, and the lives of 6 hostages plus Caitlin and Cisco were also on the line. That’s a lot of pressure, and Barry just recently lost Ralph. It’s understandable that he’d be gun shy.

Holly:  I can honestly totally understand Barry’s hesitation, but when time is counting down like it is you really have to try everything even if you are uncomfortable with it.

Vanessa: I do understand his hesitation and I personally thought that it shouldn’t have ended up happening. In the comics, the speed force is crazy intricate and speedsters themselves learn about it through experience. Inclusively, there are speed force experts who specifically study that in the future, making it odd and simplistic to have people are tech savvy and scientifically smart know about it. It’s just very weird to me. If Jay and Jesse, actual speedsters couldn’t sustain it for so long, didn’t know what it was, and didn’t know how to use it – that’s telling of how complex that concept should stay.

Chelsea: Yes! Regardless of my personal feelings towards Ralph, Barry pushed him as well as Izzy and Becky to a smaller extent to be heroes. That path isn’t meant for everyone. Barry has the ability to inspire these people to pursue their hero journey but when that inspiration leads to their own demise, it’s impossible for him to not feel the burden. I think Barry is a better hero for it, that he weighs his risks instead of setting people up for failure.

Will: Cisco nailed it on the head in his ‘get out your overprotective self’ speech to Barry. This has held Barry back on more than one occasion this season and has impacted many of the tactical decisions the team has made in their effort to stop Devoe.

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3. Cecile now has the ability to become other people! Do you think this power will come in handy in the future?

Jessica:  I don’t know so much if it will come in handy or if it was just good comic relief. Either way I enjoyed it! Cecile is the cutest! If I had to guess, based on next week’s promo Cecile could channel Devoe’s personality, which would alert Team Flash that the super villain is close by. That would be helpful!

Holly: Tonight I just found it hilarious, but really I don’t see how it could be useful unless you have someone tied up and are pretending to be them since they have to be close by.

Vanessa: I didn’t think it was something that they would use, not even after this episode. I always thought that they’d use her mind-reading skills to read DeVoe’s mind in the finale. However, it will be used and Devoe will be the one who uses her. I don’t really know how that’s going to look but it should be interesting and I think we’ll figure out some stuff about the baby she’s carrying through it – accidentally.

Chelsea: Cecile was adorable this episode. This is the kind of humor and levity the show needs over slapstick and sometimes crude humor. Given she will likely lose this ability once she gives birth I think it can come in handy in defeating DeVoe and learning his thoughts.

Will: It is so late in the season, I am not sure. It will be interesting to see if this power continues after she gives birth to Mystery Girl. If she does retain it, then yes it would be an asset to the team moving forward.

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4. We saw an interesting flashback of Caitlin tonight. What did you think of the way it tied into Killer Frost’s origin?

Jessica:  Honestly it confused me and raised more questions than it answered. We’ve been through a couple different Killer Frost “origin stories.” I’ve always believed that Killer Frost was a manifestation of Caitlin’s repressed trauma, so it was nice to be validated about that, but I’m not sure yet how she could transform into Killer Frost before the particle accelerator explosion. I feel like, when they tested Caitlin initially in S3 they found dark matter in her system, and again when they tested her after she lost her powers, Cisco confirmed there was no more dark matter in her system. So, now her powers weren’t caused by dark matter at all because she had them as a child?

Holly: I was so very happy to see that. It showed me what I thought all along to a degree, that Caitlin and Killer Frost are one person. I just didn’t realize that she didn’t need dark matter and was born like that (or was like that from a young age).

Vanessa: I think it wasn’t the time and it makes no sense that she was a metahuman before the particle accelerator exploded. Like, did her alter ego murder people then when she was a little girl too? Or will they not intensify it like that or apologize for it? Given that this isn’t even her origin in the comics, I know they’re going to prolong and convolute this again next season and I’m not interested. I will say I gasped and was interested but then I remembered how messy her whole arc has been and that this will probably be no different.

Chelsea: I’m personally a little overwhelmed by the number of times they have rebooted Killer Frost’s origins at this point. Last season, it happened as it was explained due to Flashpoint. She did however still remember everything she did as Killer Frost and Killer Frost was just pure evil out for blood and blamed Barry for what happened to her. Then they did the retcon of her not remembering what she did as Killer Frost. Killer Frost was more of a Snart-type figure with a good heart. I do not know when this transition happened. Now she’s more of a mutant. And I just simply don’t understand the point of all this, and this close to the finale. Why or how this is important to DeVoe’s enlightenment? I think it would have been better off just making her Caitlin Frost, a meta with powers from the particle accelerator.

Will: Well after we have had all kinds of theories about her origins, it turns out as many have called that she is a mutant. We just recently speculated on our podcast about her origins and surmised that the personality of Frost was still there and thought they would finally explain the powers in season 5. Now that we know she is a mutant, it explains why Melting Point was able to maybe mute her powers in the sense that Caitlin thought she lost them. Last episode Amunet made it clear that the block was in her head so maybe in the finale and/or next season, we can explore her being a mutant meta rather than gaining her powers through the dark matter explosion.

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5. Do you think Marlize will help Team Flash in defeating her husband?

Jessica:  Yes. After talking with Iris and seeing the effects of the Enlightenment first hand with Harry, I think Marlize will be persuaded to help end her husband once and for all. I really liked that Iris was able to convince Marlize by using her own early research. Sometimes when you lose your way it’s helpful to be reminded of who you were. Marlize and Iris have one of my favorite dynamics from this season, and I can’t wait to see them team up in the finale.

Holly: I‘m not sure if Marlize will help Team Flash or if she has her own agenda, but I think she will work with them some.

Vanessa: Of course. I think that Iris reminded her about who she was before DeVoe and that, thrown in with the hesitation we saw her have already – she’d go back to her roots of wanting to help humanity. The show did a good job of playing devil’s advocate and having the characters decipher why she might be helping DeVoe because she thought this way might be helpful in some capacity too.

Chelsea: Yes I think she was disagreeing with his methods and intentions from the beginning. DeVoe drugging her with tears really displayed how much he has devolved as a man and how the type of man he’s now should never be allowed to wield this power. Iris’ speech also played a great part in learning the type of woman she was before she met DeVoe. The optimism, faith in technology, and humanity she once had will be the driving force in her joining Team Flash.

Will: Yes she will. Devoe still has a blind spot when it comes to emotions and his emotional attachment to his wife is still there. That will be his Achilles heel in that he will not calculate her betraying him as he thinks that she will come around again to his version of the “Enlightenment.”

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6. Devoe’s ‘plan of enlightenment’ is underway. Have any theories as to how Team Flash will defeat him?

Jessica:  The key will obviously lie with Marlize. From the finale promo it looks like Barry will use the Thinker’s chair to get inside Devoe’s consciousness, and since Marlize took the chair with her when she left, I think she will be the one to come up with the idea and help Barry use it to get to Devoe. I also think Barry and Iris’ love/connection will help in a way. Devoe’s whole attitude is based on the idea that feelings, particularly love (like the love he had for Marlize), are useless, so it would make sense that Barry’s love for Iris (channeling her as his lightning rod), will be his strength. After all, the episode is called “We are the Flash!”

Holly: I have absolutely no clue but I can’t wait to find out!

Vanessa: I know that the producer said that it’ll be “Inception”-like but given that I haven’t seen that movie, I don’t know what that means and only have a general gist. I figure Barry will go into DeVoe’s mind somehow like it happened in the comics (via Wally West) and “fight” with him there, see his thought process/plans and combat that; or he will be DeVoe and have all the powers and knowledge but use it to defeat him.

Chelsea: I think Barry entering his mindscape will be the key to defeating DeVoe. With DeVoe’s chair, he will connect their minds. Since it’s been teased that it will be “Inception” inspired, I think the key will be him learning that he’s in a dream world and breaking free from that. I think the mindscape will also let him confront his demons and a lot of the lines he had in the premiere will come into play.

Will: First of all can I just say that I’ve missed having a strong villain from start to finish this season. We lost a lot of that momentum during the middle of the season. Devoe in the first act of this episode reminded me of when we see Darth Vader on the Blockade runner in Rogue One in Star Wars, just chilling and again reminds me of so many missed opportunities throughout this season. I think his summation at the end of the episode to the Flash shows how dangerous Devoe is and why Abra Kadabra warned the team that he would be their most difficult foe. I just wish we had that all throughout the season and a credit to Neil Sandilands for bringing this character to life.  As far as theories, I think Iris and Marlize will use Devoe’s hypocrisy about emotions against him. Plus Marlize’s technical skills and Barry finally getting over his guilt about Ralph will allow for him to use all the members of team Flash to defeat him.

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7. What was your favorite moment from the episode?

Jessica: There were a lot of little standout moments throughout the episode: Joe, Cecile, and her telepathic powers giving her different personalities, Cisco not letting Barry put him in a protective bubble, Devoe’s orchestra of chaos in the opening credits, and this exchange: Iris- “I think I figured out where Marlize is hiding.”Harry, enthusiastically- “Apartment 4!” Iris- “No, not apartment 4!“

Holly: My favorite moment definitely had to be the moment between Barry and Cisco. We haven’t had too many moments between the two of them and Cisco brought up many good points about reasons why all the others feel bad about Ralph, not just Barry, and that just because things went wrong with Ralph doesn’t mean they will with Caitlin and Cisco.

Vanessa: I had a couple of favorite moments, one(s) being everything with Cecile. She was so cute and I laughed so much. There are little hints in there that her baby might come with a twist but I won’t say because maybe only I picked it up. I also loved Harry/Iris, I thought it was a great dynamic and I was cracking up when he was serious and then his “dumbness” came out like with the “apartment 4” response in her Iris’ loft about where Marlize might be. Lastly, I enjoyed Cisco being adamant about getting into Flashpoint and just risking it all for the city as well talking about how he still felt a little guilty about essentially creating the bus metas.

Chelsea:  My favorite moment was definitely the Iris and Marlize scene. Marlize has done some awful things but they do have a few things in common. They both love their husbands and are passionate about making a difference in the world. So she was really the best to get through to her. It was also a stark contrast to Barry trying to get through to DeVoe and how far gone he was in terms of the love he once had for Marlize. And comparing it to “Therefore She Is” where they were really like Barry and Iris in how much they loved each other, you really see the emotional impact of a love story gone awry.

Will:  Favorite moment for the visual side was seeing Barry running up the side of the building to destroy the satellite, almost a callback to the end of season 1. From a story standpoint seeing the Trinity (Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco) in Flashtime and working together as a unit again. I’ve missed that very much and this is not a slight to the other characters, but to me, these three have such a special bond on this show, so as a fan it made me very happy to see it.

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Iris is mostly always right, but this week she learned something new

As mentioned earlier, Iris and Harry were on a mission to track down Marlize, but the two couldn’t see eye to eye about what to do with her when they tracked her down. Before Harry became “dumb,” he was one of the smartest people on the planet, always looking at science and facts to determine an outcome. Though Iris doesn’t have a science degree, the woman has a Ph.D., uses journalism to help people and does a great job in accounting for other people’s feelings, all while thinking objectively. This week, however, the two switched places.

In the process of finding Marlize, Iris was looking at the facts: where Marlize once was, the different tips from readers of her blog, and credit card checks. Harry was accounting for her feelings and asked: “Where would Marlize go to feel safe?” Iris realized this and discovered that Marlize was in England, in the first home her and Devoe shared together.

It was interesting to see how Harry was able to make Iris realize to account for feelings, especially when she always has before, while Harry has usually accounted for facts. The dynamic between the two was one of our favorites and we need more scenes of these two together ASAP!

When the two finally met with Marlize in England, Iris asked her “What are you willing to do for the world?” foreshadowing Marlize’s aid in the demise of her husband. We got chills!

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After discovering her and Killer Frost were the same person, Caitlin paid a visit to Westallen’s therapist to get to the bottom of her problem. At the end of the episode, Caitlin discovered that she was suppressing a traumatic experience, which the show flashbacked to. As a child, Caitlin was hit by a car and after the incident, we see younger Caitlin transform into Killer Frost, which alludes to the fact that Killer Frost has always been with her since a child.

Finally, a beginning to Killer Frost’s ever-changing origin story. Killer Frost is just a different manifestation of Caitlin and wasn’t due to Barry creating Flashpoint. However, we’re afraid to say it’s a little too late to care, especially since the show has retconned her origin story quite a few times.

Danielle Nicolet was the true star of the episode, as her different imitations of different characters provided a comedic element to the semi-dark episode.

Next week is The Flash’s season four finale, as Devoe’s plan is in action as the preview shows Central City in flames. How will Team Flash stop this? We don’t know, but we are sticking around to find out!

The Flash returns Tuesday, May 22nd on The CW.