Allies abound in this week’s episode. Amunet returns to team up with the Flash and we get to see the Council of Wells…well, the new and improved version. Much to Barry’s surprise, the team gets an even better ally. Read on to see who!
The show opens with Iris awake at five in the morning and pouring over every piece of information she could find on Devoe. When Barry checks on her, she tells him that she is going to write an exposé on Devoe so the people of Central City will at least know and somehow be able to prepare themselves. Barry does not seem sold on the idea.
In the lab, the team doesn’t understand why Devoe has made no move at all, but appreciates the time to come up with a plan. With no idea how to stop him from launching the satellites, Barry’s idea is to shoot them down when they’re launched. Thanks to Killg%re’s powers, they can’t use any tech weapons so they try to come up with something organic to use.
Harry is becoming more and more frustrated with his waning intelligence, but Cisco has an idea. There are other genius versions of Harry, the Council of Wells, that could help. Unfortunately, German Wells now runs the council and he refuses to help. Their group requires intellect and Harry is now just a “dumb-dumb.” Cisco promises Harry a new, smarter, better council.
Harry isn’t the only one getting frustrated. Caitlyn has been exhausting every medical option in attempts to bring Killer Frost back out, but it’s gotten her nowhere. Joe says that when he’s working on a missing person case and he gets stuck, he tries a different angle. The advice triggers a thought in Caitlyn and she rushes to tell the team her idea. They don’t need something to take down the satellites; they need someone. Amunet Black. Her powers of controlling metal shards cannot be overridden by any power Devoe has obtained. The team is not okay with this, but they really have no other choice.
Barry and Caitlyn head to Amunet’s former layer, but they find her former henchman, Norvok, in control. Despite being such a snake, he has a healthy respect for The Flash and berates his security when they stupidly pull guns which Barry quickly takes away. As it turns out, he hasn’t seen or heard from Amunet in months. When they go back to the drawing board, they learn her real name is Leslie Jocoy and get a few addresses for where she could be.
Barry thinks telling everyone about an “uber genius planning to reboot everyone’s brains” is a bad idea. It does seem like something that could create mass panic or bring bad guys out of the woodwork. She agrees to hold off on talking to the team about the article until it’s finished.
The new Council of Wells is a bit different. We do get Matthew McConaughey Wells back as he was kicked out of the original council, too. In addition to him, we get French poet Wells and Sunny Wells, your stereotypical Italian-American. Unlike the first council, this group is willing to help.
Caitlyn and Joe check out a small grocery store at one of the addresses. She admits to him that she had ulterior motives for finding Amunet. She’d gone to her before when she needed help getting control of Killer Frost. Amunet used a splicer that split Killer Frost in some way. Joe tells her she needs to tell the truth to the team. Spying a couple using a door in the back, they follow and find an illegal gambling ring, run by no other than Amunet, though she looks and sounds a bit different than they’re used to. After Joe clears the room with his badge, Amunet pulls out her bag o’ shards and Joe calls Barry who is there instantly. Stupidly, she tries to attack him, but he easily dodges and explains he’s not there to fight, but that they need her help.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Amunet points out the fact that The Flash’s mask really does f*** all for hiding his identity. She can tell from his facial features that he is Barry Allen, the speedster that the Warden was going to give her. Once she hears Devoe’s plan, she agrees to help. Unfortunately, she’d need more shards and while she did have a huge stash in a storage unit, it was recently robbed. While Barry checks on the location, Caitlyn explains to Amunet why she needs the splicer. While Amunet is happy to help the team since it’s a benefit to herself, as well, there is no upside for her to help on the matter of Killer Frost. Caitlyn offers a deal – one job from herself and Killer Frost in exchange for the splicer. Amunet agrees, but points out that the splicer was in the storage unit, too.
Harry and Cisco are trying to work with the new council, but they’re all a bit too new age. They say that to understand a man’s actions, you have to understand his heart. To do so, they all close their eyes and imagine being a sociopath bent on removing the world’s intelligence. Harry is not sold on the idea, but Cisco jumps right in. Reluctantly, Harry tries, as well. When nothing comes from it other than Harry saying he feels like he’s being mocked, the council considers that a success and leaves.
Checking the storage unit, they find that venom was used to break in, leading them to realize it was Norvok who stole everything. Amunet is pissed. Caitlyn is upset, as well, though for a different reason. After asking Iris if she has tried everything to locate the shards, she is more frustrated than ever. Since she doesn’t seem keen to explain why, Joe blatantly asks if her attitude is about the shards or the tech. Naturally, the team wants to know what tech Joe was talking about. She tells them the truth about the splicer and that she agreed to do a job for Amunet in exchange for it.
Harry apologizes to Cisco for wasting his time that could have been spent helping the team. Cisco is shocked by the genuineness of the apology and wonders if the council perhaps showed him empathy. Harry says it’s been so long since he’d ever been concerned about other people’s feelings, but thinks maybe it’s time he considers the feelings of a very particular person. I cannot express how incredibly happy Cisco looks. They have been acting like a couple forever and it seems like something might finally come from it. (Sorry. My shipper-brain wrote that last sentence.) Cisco starts to admit what he feels, but Harry interrupts to say the name of the person he’s thinking of – Devoe. Cisco quickly reels the feelings back in.
Iris hands Barry her finished article. Barry still thinks it’s risky to give that kind of information to the masses. She defends the need to arm the citizens with the knowledge of what is to come and trust them to make the right call. Ultimately, she lets Barry make the call.
Amunet gives a bit of truth to Caitlyn. The splicer she so desperately wants never worked in the first place, though the results were the same thanks to the placebo effect. While discussing this, Amunet has an “a ha!” moment. There’s an underground substation that she had used before and she believes Norvok will be there since he was no longer at his earlier hideout. As it turns out, she’s right. He’s there selling her shards to a buyer. She intends to kill him when she sees him, but Barry assures her death is not necessary. Surprisingly, she agrees…almost too easily. It makes sense when they get to the substation and she tries to kill him anyway. Barry saves him because that’s what good guys do. To repay him, Norvok pops his own eye out and a…tentacle…snake…thing emerges from the socket, striking at Barry who lays his ass out. Stupidly, Barry forgets that this thing shoots venom and gets a face full of it, taking him out of the fight. Once again, Amunet tries to use her shards to kill Norvok, but he pulls up a gun that sucks up the shards, leaving her defenseless.
Meanwhile. Joe and Caitlyn take out the car that held the stash of shards, but then get pinned down by gunfire from the buyers. Using the cold gun, Caitlyn makes a huge icicle on the ceiling. A shot from Joe’s gun has it falling down near the criminals, which is apparently enough to knock them out cold. (See what I did there?) They release the shards that head flying off to Amunet.
Barry phases through the venom, but he’s too late to do anything. Amunet uses the shards to create makeshift cuffs and a metal mask that begins to suffocate him. After being talked down by Barry and Caitlyn, she decides to let him breathe again, but at the expense of the snake thing in his eye socket which she cuts off. He takes off, no one stopping him for some reason. Amunet prepares to leave, as well, but is again asked for her help. She forges them one blast shard just out of self-preservation and wishes them the best before leaving.
In the lab, they’re trying to figure out what to do with the blast shard (yes, I am using the term from Infamous). Harry, using his new power of empathy, points out that he thinks Devoe has not acted because he’s missing the thing he needs, the thing he loves most…his wife. They start a facial recognition search for Marlize. Exhausted by his daunting explanation and complicated drawing of faces, Harry goes for a nap. Cisco leaves to figure out how to launch their new weapon and Joe and Caitlyn leave for coffee.
This leaves Iris and Barry to chat. As usual, he says that she was right. Because Amunet knew what was at stake, she helped them. So, he agrees that the article should get published. The article gains major traction and this is how Team Flash gets their greatest ally. The people of the city start sharing places they have seen Devoe. The entirety of Central City has eyes out for Devoe. He can’t hide in plain sight anymore.
Next week, The Enlightenment is upon us. Cisco and Caitlyn offer to help by learning to survive in “Flashtime” which will allow them to work quicker while time moves slower, but Devoe is ready to become the world leader he always wanted to be now. Will Team Flash find a way to save the intellect of the world? We shall see!