EPISODE 7: Power Outage
SYNOPSIS: When Barry loses his powers after encountering another meta-human, it's time for the others to step up and become heroes themselves.
RECAP (Beware of spoilers!):
Tonight we had another villain-of-the-week, well, two villains-of-the-week… but at least THE FLASH seemed to break from the formulaic: fight once, lose, fight again, lose, find the key to beating the villain, fight again, win easily. Barry losing his powers mixed things up a bit and gave supporting characters (Iris, Eddie, Dr. Wells) a chance to step into the spotlight. Though, to be honest, I could have done without the pointless Iris vs. Tockman storyline. Not only was it a waste of an interesting villain, but what was the point of it all?
Speaking of Barry's powers, was anyone else a little annoyed that they showed a preview of The Flash vs. Arrow before the episode ended, thus rubbing it in our faces that Barry would be getting his powers back? Obviously I knew Barry wouldn't be without his speed for long, but how are we supposed to care about him losing his super power when we have already seen him using it against Oliver in a teaser for the next episode? Minor annoyance, but still one nonetheless.
Instead of Barry's introductory voice-over, "Power Surge" started off with the villain. Ten months ago, when the particle accelerator was scheduled to turn on, Farooq (aka Blackout) and some of his friends wanted a perfect view of the event. Farooq climbed to the top of an electric tower so he could get a clear view of the city. It’s pretty easy to see how this is going to turn out. When the accelerator explodes, Farooq can’t get off of the tower in time and is electrocuted. His friends try to give him CPR, but when they touch him they are electrocuted and killed immediately.
Cut to present-day, or 311 days after the explosion, Dr. Wells is hanging out in his secret room, where he uses his computer (Gideon) to monitor a futuristic newspaper from 2025. He must ensure that nothing in his world changes the headline, “Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis”. Wells also dictates daily logs, almost like Captain’s logs in STAR TREK, explaining Barry’s progress. In today’s log, Dr. Wells worries that Barry’s willingness to help others, while commendable, may be holding him back from learning the full scope of his abilities. After all, speed is the key to progress.
Barry is called to a crime scene, where he discovers an electrocuted corpse. Thanks to facial reconstruction software (improved by our girl Felicity Smoak), the team discovers that the corpse is actually an employee of an electric substation. Weirdly enough, the dead man’s ID just checked into the facility and the facility’s power has started to drain. Barry takes off to check it out.
There, Barry encounters a zombie-like Farooq, who is only concerned with feeding off of the facility’s power source. Quick sidenote question: Where has Farooq been for 10 months? Farooq senses the energy surging inside of Barry, so he attacks him and siphons Barry’s “electricity” (and the super powers along with it). Thankfully, Barry is able to escape and catches an Uber back to S.T.A.R. labs so the team can run tests. Because the particle accelerator transformed Barry’s DNA, there is no way to untransform it… so this can’t be permanent, right? Well, it’s not looking good… especially after Dr. Wells checks the futuristic newspaper again and it has changed. The lead story is not about the disppearance of The Flash anymore, it is now about the elimination of the Postal Service. Gideon cannot find any mentions of The Flash or Barry Allen. Dun dun dun (Again, let’s pretend for now we didn’t see clips from next week’s episode of Barry using his powers against Oliver).
Farooq has a score to settle with Dr. Wells. After all, it was Dr. Wells that made him into a meta-human, which led to the death of his friends. So, Farooq comes to S.T.A.R. Labs to get revenge. He latches onto the labs’ power source, which is also apparently attached to the entirety of Central City, and creates a massive blackout. He then uses his powers to infiltrate S.T.A.R. Labs.
The blackout is not just bad news for everyone in S.T.A.R. labs, it also creates a dangerous situation for Joe and Iris. Before the blackout, the police were preparing to transport a dangerous man, William Tockman (aka the Clock King), to prison. When everything went dark, however, Tockman grabbed one of the guard’s guns and used it to hold everyone in the precinct hostage. When Barry finds out about the incident, he is powerless (literally) to help, not to mention he has his own problems to deal with in the form of Farooq.
For all of you Caitlin/Barry shippers, there were some great moments of hand-holding and subtextual conversations tonight. Not only that, Barry confides in Caitlin just how devastated he is about losing his powers. Although Caitlin tries to reassure Barry that he is still himself, with or without the speed, Barry says he wants to be the best version of himself. He loves being The Flash. Will he ever be able to get in the suit again? It’s so nice to hear a superhero actually enjoy their powers instead of it being a burden!
Now that Farooq is in S.T.A.R. Labs, the situation has become dire. The team resorts to attempting a last-ditch plan to get Barry’s powers back. Thanks to Caitlin’s trusty blood kit, Dr. Wells realizes that nothing has changed in Barry subatomically. His cells are still primed for super powers; maybe they just need to be restarted via a jolt… a 20,000 kiloamp jolt. The only way they can get this kind of power is to connect the emergency generator to the super treadmill. Cisco sets off to power up the generator, Caitlin and Barry head to the treadmill, and Dr. Wells goes to divert Farooq.
While we have seen the sinister side to Dr. Wells, it was finally time for Barry to see it himself. To distract Farooq, Dr. Wells lets last week’s villain, Tony (aka Girder), out of his cell. In exchange for his freedom, Tony agrees to fight Farooq; but unbeknownst to him, this was a suicide mission. Farooq easily defeats Tony, much to the horror of Barry who had no idea this was going on until it was too late. Barry takes Dr. Wells to task for sacrificing Tony. After all, Tony was a bully but he didn’t deserve to die. Barry feels as though he can’t trust Dr. Wells anymore, and wonders who he will sacrifice next.
Back at the precinct, Eddie tries to be a hero and shoots at Tockman. However, Tockman escapes injury and shoots Eddie instead. Even though Eddie is bleeding out, and there is no help in sight, Iris is adamant that The Flash will soon come to the rescue. As time progresses, though, and The Flash is nowhere to be seen, Iris takes matters into her own hands. Brandishing a concealed gun that she got from around Eddie’s ankle, Iris attacks Tockman and saves the day herself (though the "how" of it isn’t really fleshed out on the show).
At first, it looks like the treadmill jolt didn’t seem to get Barry’s mojo back. But, Caitlin’s blood test shows Barry should be back up to speed (see what I did there?). What’s holding him back is mental, or as Cisco calls it, “the yips”. Farooq makes his final attack on the team, and just as he is about to kill Dr. Wells, Barry breaks through the mental block and gets his powers back. Regardless of their earlier fight, Barry quickly gets Dr. Wells out of harm’s way and fights Farooq one last time. Almost like Harry Potter vs. Voldemort, Farooq and Barry battle it out with their energy. Barry is able to win out after generating more energy than he ever has before; Farooq basically choked on Barry’s power.
Now that Barry has his powers back moreso than ever and the villain is deceased, he speeds off to check on Iris and Joe. Barry catches up with them at Eddie’s hospital bedside. Of course, Barry can’t help himself and when Iris goes to get a cup of coffee, he comes to see her as The Flash, apologizing for not being there in time to help. For someone who doesn’t want Iris involved in his superhero life, Barry isn’t doing much to turn her away! Before Iris gets back to Eddie’s room, Barry switches back into his normal clothes and acts like he was in the room the whole time.
Dr. Wells recants his earlier assessment about Barry’s willingness to help others holding him back. Instead of it being a weakness, Dr. Wells now sees it as a strength, and the key to getting Barry “up to speed”. A quick check of the future newspaper shows everything is back on track and when Dr. Wells comes back to the lab, he finds Barry there, early for once, eager to push himself and see how fast he can really go.
STINGER: Dr. Wells walks, yes walks, to Farooq's dead body. He uses a syringe to take Farooq's blood, explaining, "You stole The Flash's power. I want to know how you did that." Notice he doesn't explicitly say he wants that capability for himself, he just wants to know how Farooq was able to do it. This is another check in the Dr. Wells could be future Barry Allen column.
DC UNIVERSE EASTER EGGS: In previous episodes, we have seen the future newspaper that Dr. Wells checks to ensure events haven't strayed too far from the "correct" timeline, but let's quickly delve a little deeper into the other headlines on the page. Of course the first thing that we see is. "Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis". But notice there are also stories titled "Wayne Tech/Queen Inc Merger Complete" and "Red Skies Vanish". Of course the former article alludes to Bruce Wayne's company merging with Oliver Queen's. I guess in the future Oliver gets the company name back, unlike what is happening on Arrow right now. The latter refers to an event in the comics, when Barry Allen dies, sacrificing himself to save the world. After this event, Wally West became The Flash.
COOL ALTERNATE USE OF "THE FLASH" POWERS: Barry used his powers to help clear a long line at the coffee shop. Who knew Barry was such a barista? I guess he was able to read customers' minds too to see what they wanted to order!
FAVORITE QUOTE: After Barry loses his powers, Caitlin tells him there is no way his DNA could untransform from having super speed. Barry replies, "Tell that to the Uber driver who charged me $65 bucks to take me here. I had to tell her I was coming from a cosplay party!”
FINAL VERDICT: