The Flash Season 6, Episode 18: Pay The Piper

This week on The Flash, we get the penultimate episode of the truncated Season 6, which sadly has been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Flash is well known for airing "filler episodes" to pad out its seasons. Pay The Piper most definitely falls into that category. It's the kind of episode the show always pumps out near the end of the season, in which the characters gear up for a spectacular final battle with the Big Bad. 

In other words, it's all setup and little substance.

Ordinarily that would be OK, as it's always nice to have a pause before diving into the fray. Unfortunately, due to the shutdown we most likely won't get to see that final battle. There were still two episodes left to film when the lockdown hit, so these last two shows will have to serve as an unsatisfying makeshift season finale. 

SPOILERS! And just what would have been in this unfilmed season finale? According to rumor, the final episode of the season was to end on a cliffhanger showing as Eobard Thawne, aka the Reverse-Flash, returned yet again and revealed he was the one orchestrating the appearance of the many Godspeed drones.

If that's true, then... yawn.

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating— how many times can they bring back Thawne? I love Tom Cavanagh's performance, and the Reverse-Flash is hands down the series' best villain. But the producers can't keep trotting him out every time they need a good bad guy. He's already been overused at this point, and bringing him back again feels lazy and uninspired. 

If Thawne really was meant to return in the final two episodes, it's unclear just when we might see them. Will they simply shoot these episodes when production resumes, and add them to Season 7? Or will they drop them altogether and retool the plotline? Who knows at this point.

Supposedly the city of Vancouver may be open for business again this summer. There've been rumors though that the Arrowverse shows might not start filming again until the fall. If that happens, then The Flash likely wouldn't return until January 2021!

The Flash isn't the only series having to deal with the lockdown. Over on NBC, The Blacklist was also forced to shut down production before they'd filmed their season finale. The producers then had to scramble to re-write the finale, and wrap up the season with 19 episodes instead of the planned 22 (just like The Flash).

So how did The Blacklist complete its season without actors or crew? With animation! The producers cobbled together a season finale with a few repurposed live-action scenes, and then animated the rest!

This isn't a new idea, as in recent years the BBC's recreated several missing Doctor Who episodes with animation. 

It's far too late at this point to do something like that on The Flash, as it would never be ready in time. Personally I hope they never go this route. Yes, an animated episode would be better than nothing, but... I think the effect would just be too jarring. I tune in to the show to see live action superheroics. If I want to see a cartoon, then... well, I'll go watch a cartoon.

Lastly, based on this episode they might as well rename the series Pep Talk Theater. Ever since it began, the show's been notorious for featuring endless scenes of characters standing around spouting words of maudlin encouragement to one another— which I like to call Patented The CW Pep Talks®.

Ordinarily they manage to contain the banality to one or two of these incidents per episode. Man, did they ramp that up this week! Pay The Piper contained a whopping NINE Patented The CW Pep Talks®! You read that right! Nine of them! In fact there was little room for any actual plot in the episode, as the majority of it was taken up by these vapid platitudes. 

The main question here is why? Did the writers get bored and decide to see how many pep talks they could stuff into one episode? Was it done on a dare? Or do they just resent the fans, and did it to mess with us?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Joe's sitting in the bedroom of his newly appointed Witness Protection program apartment. Suddenly a shaken and disheveled Barry appears (just HOW he located Joe is none of our concern). He tells him that Iris was replaced by an impostorband is being held in some alternate dimension. 

Joe admits he noticed something off about the way Mirror Iris was treating Barry, and regrets not saying anything. He gives Barry a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (the first of many in this episode), saying he believes in him and that if anyone can find Iris, it's him.

The next day at STAR Lab, Barry tells Team Flash about Mirror Iris, and says Eva McCulloch made copies of Kamilla and Chief Singh as well. Cisco says the originals are probably all dead, and Barry says they can't think like that. This causes a huge argument between the two, and Cecile tries to calm them down. Cisco says he may be able to figure out a way to enter the Mirrorverse with vibrations, and the rest of Team Flash splits up to search for clues or something.

In the Mirrorverse, Iris records a message for Barry, hoping he'll find it someday. She grimaces in pain and begins scratching her arm, just live Eva used to do. She realizes she's beginning to suffer from neural dissonance after living in the otherworldly realm for so long. So they're just now adding a ticking clock to this plot after eight episodes.

Back at STAR, Allegra tells Barry she worked with Mirror Iris for weeks and can't believe she didn't realize she was a clone. Ouch! Way to rub salt in the wound, kid! Barry slept with Mirror Iris and didn't know!

Just then Godspeed enters and attacks. He throws Allegra across the room, knocking her out (of course). He then pins Barry to the floor and begins draining his speed with some sort of vibrational attack. Nash arrives and shoots Godspeed with a giant blaster, causing him to speed away.

Afterwards, Team Flash discusses the attack. Nash says the other Godspeeds they've encountered were cyborg drones that emitted modem noises. This one could actually talk, so he reasons it was the real Godspeed and likely controlled all the others. Cisco says Godspeed used "reverse vibrations" to attack Barry, and they might be able to use that to defeat him. Unfortunately to do that they'd need an expert in vibrational sonics. Barry says he knows a guy— Hartley Rathaway, aka Pied Piper.

Cisco points out that Piper hates the Flash in the post-Crisis world even more than he originally did. He says he did some research to find out why— in the new timeline, Barry confronted Piper and his gang of henchmen. Roderick Smith— Piper's right-hand man (hint, hint)— attacked, and Barry countered with a speed lightning bolt. The bolt collided with Smith's gun blast, which somehow destabilized his molecules. Sure, why not?

Smith's now inside a stasis tube in Mercury Labs, which keeps him from disintegrating altogether. Nash says if they can fix Roderick, then Piper might help them.

Meanwhile, Ralph visits Caitlin's apartment. She's in Frost form now and says her condition is stable. She thanks him for being her life coach, and says she's going away to see Caitlin's mom, who's going to heal her. She's not thrilled about seeing Carla, as she considers her Caitlin's mom and not hers. Ralph gives her a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#2 of the episode) and says she's just as important as Caitlin.

The Flash goes to Piper's hideout (just how he finds that is none of our concern either) to try and make nice with him. Piper blasts him, but stops when Flash admits what happened was his fault, and that he may be able to help Roderick. Piper doesn't believe him, but changes his mind when Nash enters. Piper mistakes him for Harrison Wells, and says if a genius like him can save Roderick, he might consent to help Flash.

In the Mirrorverse, Iris wanders over to STAR Labs, which apparently also exists there (!). Inside she finds the real Kamilla, who thinks Iris is one of Eva's clones. Iris manages to convince her she's the real thing, and explains that Eva's behind their abduction. Iris gets another neural dissonance attack and runs from the lab.

Barry brings Piper to STAR, and says he needs to overcome his hatred for Cisco and work with him. They're shocked when Piper reveals he knows Cisco was Vibe and Barry's the Flash. Piper's surprised to find Cisco's no longer Vibe and gave up his powers willingly.

Cecile (?) brings in Roderick, who's still unconscious and in a state of flux inside a protective chamber. Nash fills the chamber with helium and has Allegra charge it with a blast of UV light. Roderick seemingly begins to stabilize, but then screams in pain. Nash stops the procedure, and Piper says he was an idiot to trust them. He runs from the lab (lots of running out of labs in this episode).

Just then Godspeed shows up again, and orders Barry to give him all his speed or Central City will suffer. Barry tries to catch him, but isn't fast enough. Godspeed runs out of the lab (told you!).

Later Nash angrily accuses Barry, saying it's his fault that Iris, Kamilla, Singh and even Joe are missing. Barry agrees, saying he can no longer trust himself. Nash then makes a 180° turn and gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#3), telling him to trust himself for Iris (oy). This causes Barry to realize why Hartley's so angry.

Elsewhere, Cisco's working on some kind of doorway into the Mirrorverse. When it shorts out, he collapses in defeat. Cecile gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#4!). saying that Kamilla fell in love with him, not Vibe, and he can do whatever it takes to save her.

In the Mirrorverse, Kamilla somehow tracks down Iris to McCulloch Tech and asks if she's OK. Iris says she was bamboozled by Eva and can no longer trust herself (sounds familiar). Kamilla gives her a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#5), saying that she trusts her and together they can escape. Iris says they need to find Singh so they can all go home together.

Barry finds Piper hiding out in the Pipeline. He says he knows why Roderick's so important to Piper— because he's his boyfriend. Piper blames himself, saying Barry wouldn't have attacked if he hadn't given Roderick the energy weapon. Incredibly, Barry gives Piper a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#6!!!), praising him for getting Roderick to Mercury Labs and stabilizing him. He tells Piper he can either stay and pout or become the person Roderick fell in love with.

Cisco detects an energy surge at Iron Heights, and says Godspeed broke in and "killed" his drone duplicates, stealing all their residual speed. Godspeed then rounds up a couple dozen citizens and announces that he'll kill one per minute unless the Flash surrenders.

Barry says he has to stop him, but Cisco reminds him his speed is almost gone. Barry says he has to try anyway. In the Pipeline, Piper overhears them talking.

Barry speeds off and snatches away all of Godspeed's hostages. He then taunts Godspeed, daring him to catch him. They zoom through the city streets, as Godspeed easily catches up to Barry and begins draining his speed. Fortunately Barry rallies and escapes.

Godspeed runs up the side of a building to the top, where he begins generating a massive lightning blast. Barry follows, but halfway up the side of the building his speed gives out and he begins falling. At the last second, Piper arrives and uses his sonic powers to slow Barry's fall.

Barry tells Piper he's too weak to fight Godspeed. Piper points out that they can defeat him together, by duplicating the accident that injured Roderick. Barry realizes he's right, so he and Piper combine their powers and fire upward, just as Godspeed unleashes his lightning. The energies collide, causing a gigantic explosion that knocks out Godspeed. He falls from the building and lands on top of a car far below.

Barry examines Godspeed and sees he's bleeding a blue substance. Cisco and Nash see the "blood" on comms, and realize it's actually charged sound (?). That doesn't make a lick of sense, but let's just move on.

Back at STAR, Cisco says charged sound can be used to stabilize molecular bonds, and they can use it to cure Roderick. Piper tells him to go ahead, warning him though that if the experiment harms Roderick he'll kill him. Cisco and Nash proceed, and Roderick's body stops vibrating and stabilizes.

Team Flash is happy they've finally captured Godspeed. Barry tells them not so fast— he questioned Godspeed while we weren't looking, and he's just another drone. The mystery of who's sending them (gosh, I wonder who it could be?) remains unsolved.

Ralph gives Frost a diploma and says she's graduated from his life coach class. He then gives her another Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#7), telling her that she's special and Carla will see that if she gives her a chance. Oy.

Barry walks Piper and Roderick to the door. Piper gives Barry a short Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#8!!!), thanking him for giving him his world back. He tells Barry he'll get his world back too if he believes he can change it.

Barry returns to the Cortex, where Team Flash is gathered. Amazingly, he gives the gang a Patented The CW Pep Talk® (#9!!!), saying they've lost a lot, but they still have their faith in each other or some crap. He says they're going to stop Eva and get their people back.

Cisco suddenly pipes up and says he knows how to get everyone out of the Mirrorverse— all they need is a perpetual motion machine (!). When Barry points out that such a thing's impossible, Cisco says he knows where to get one— Atlantis.

In the tag scene, a high tech chamber opens and Eva emerges, cackling that she's coming for Joseph Carver.

Thoughts: 

• The episode begins with Joe, who's currently in Witness Protection, sitting in his new apartment. Suddenly Barry zooms in and tells him about Iris.

How the hell did Barry find Joe? The whole point of the Witness Protection Program is that no one knows where the subject is. Are we supposed to believe Barry searched every residence in the entire country with the last remnants of his speed until he found Joe's new place? That's ridiculous even for a comic book show.

And just how much freakin Speed Force energy did he have stored in his body? He's been "almost out of speed" for a good four or five weeks now.

• Once again, Barry's monitor watch functions as a mood ring. As I said a couple weeks ago, when the watch was first introduced, Caitlin said it monitored how much residual Speed Force energy Barry was using. Then in the very next episode it suddenly began glowing red whenever he got angry. 

Apparently getting mad causes him to use his speed? I've heard of people being "quick to anger," but this is ridiculous! (cue rimshot here)

• Allegra chats with Barry and wonders how she could worked so closely with Mirror Iris and Mirror Kamilla for so long and not realized they were duplicates. 

Allegra didn't join the show until this season's A Flash Of The Lightning— meaning she's only been around Team Citizen for a short time. So why WOULD she suspect? She was probably around Mirror Iris more than she was the real thing!

• Pied Piper, aka Hartley Rathaway, has one heck of a convoluted history on this show.

He originally worked for Harrison Wells at STAR Labs. He noticed the Particle Accelerator was flawed and unsafe, and brought it to Wells' attention. Wells promptly fired Rathaway and blackmailed him into keeping his mouth shut. 

The Accelerator did indeed explode, and Rathaway was affected by the blast. It augmented his hearing, which caused him intense pain. He then built a pair of gauntlets that fired sonic blasts and became the Pied Piper. For some reason he believed Wells replaced him with the Flash (?). He then tried to kill Barry to get revenge on Wells (??), but was defeated and incarcerated.

As a result of Flashpoint (I think), Piper's revenge plot was interrupted by a Time Wraith. He then worked with Team Flash to defeat it, and became one of their allies. 

The Crisis altered Piper's timeline yet again. In this new reality, Piper again tried to kill Barry. This time though he didn't do it alone, but with a group of henchmen. Piper's right-hand man Roderick Smith fired an energy weapon at Barry, just as he flung a bolt of Speed Force lightning at him. The resulting explosion destabilized Roderick's molecules, threatening his life. Piper then vowed revenge against the Flash all over again.

Whew! Told you it was convoluted!

• Earlier this season in Grodd Friended Me, Barry was surprised to see Pied Piper robbing a jewelry store after becoming an ally of Team Flash. He quickly realizes the Crisis altered reality, and Piper's a criminal again.

In addition, this Post-Crisis Piper also has a brand new power: A sonic scream, which he can use to blast enemies. Amazingly, it also allows him to fly!

Oddly enough, he never uses these new abilities in this episode, nor are they ever mentioned! I'm starting to think his history is so complex that even the writers don't understand it!

• Barry displays his impressive geographical skills again when he simply shows up in Piper's hideout. Again, how the hell did he know where to find him? Did he look up "Pied Piper Hideout" on Google Maps? Or did he peek into every window in town at superspeed again?

• All through the episode, Piper worries and frets about his "right-hand man" Roderick, who was accidentally knocked out of phase by the Flash. In fact he seems to display an inordinate amount of concern for this random henchman.

It's evident to even a five year old that Piper and Roderick are a gay couple (not that there's anything wrong with that). In fact it's so patently obvious that I didn't realize it was supposed to be a shocking secret until Barry told Piper that he'd figured it out.

This "big reveal" was doubly stupid because if I remember right, the Piper character has been gay since his first appearance!

• This episode marks the very first time we've ever seen exterior shots inside the Mirrorverse. A couple things here:

First off, all the signage on the buildings inside the Mirrorverse is reversed! That's actually a nice little touch, and it makes perfect sense. So why are we just now seeing it? This storyline's been going on for eight episodes now! We've spent that entire time watching Iris and Eva putter around in one little room!

Secondly, apparently all the locations in our world are reflected (heh) in the Mirrorverse, as we see not only the McCulloch Tech building, but STAR Labs as well. Too bad the population isn't in there too. Then Iris could have contacted Mirror Team Flash and gotten their help to escape.

• Godspeed continues to be a frustrating villain (make that villains, plural). He has a cool name and an even cooler costume, but every time he appears he just comes off as... lame. He's clearly much faster than Barry, but he never does much of anything with that speed, other than taunt him before zooming off. It's like the writers want to include the character, but have no idea what to do with him.

By the way... is it state law that ALL speedsters must have a lightning bolt symbol somewhere on their costume?

By the way, Godspeed's voiced by actor BD Wong. He's probably best known for starring as Dr. Henry Wu in Jurassic Park, Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. He also voiced Shang in Disney's animated Mulan. Most recently he played Dr. Hugo Strange over on Gotham.

• Cisco explains how Godspeed was able to steal some of Barry's speed, saying, "If you go fast enough, you create a sonic boom. Velocity transmutes into vibrations in the air, only this Godspeed figured out a way... to reverse those vibrations and use them to extract speed from a speedster." COMIC BOOK SCIENCE!

• Something I just thought of— where's Godspeed getting his powers from? The Speed Force is dead and gone, right? Barry can no longer tap into it, and is just running on fumes at this point. So how's Godspeed still so much faster?

Is it because he's stealing speed from other speedsters? Or is he tapping into his own personal Speed Force, just like the Reverse Flash?

• When we first see Frost, she's reading Uncaged Desire by author Rebecca Silver. As all good Arrowverse fans know, that's the pen name of Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave, over on Legends Of Tomorrow.

• Based on the excessive amount of pillows stacked in front of her, I'm guessing actress Danielle Panabaker was still pregnant when this episode was filmed.

• In Season 4, Team Flash spent wayyyyyy too many episodes battling Cicada and Cicada II. The dual villains' primary weapon of choice was a superpowered dagger made out of a jagged metal shard from the STAR Labs satellite. 

Eventually Team Flash used a Mirror Gun created by McCulloch Tech to shoot the dagger and seemingly disintegrate it.

This week Iris finds the real Kamilla hanging out in the Mirrorverse Star Labs (or I guess that'd be sbaL ratS). Iris sees that Kamilla's trying to analyze... Cicada's dagger!

Apparently the Mirror Gun didn't destroy the dagger, but simply sent it into the Mirrorverse! I guess that makes sense. After all, Kamilla was brought there the same way— by being shot with the Mirror Gun. Presumably that's how Singh ended up there as well (Iris was physically pulled into the Mirrorverse though).

Maybe Iris, Kamilla and Singh can somehow use the dagger to escape from the Mirrorverse?

By the way, when Iris appears at Mirror STAR, Kamilla tells her, "I gathered all the items that the mirror gun sent here. I've been analyzing them for clues, but the data keeps getting all wonky when I try to see the screen."

Seriously? Kamilla really knows how to analyze a meta weapon? Isn't she supposed to be a photographer and part time bartender? Eh, why not? Those occupations are pretty much the same thing as scientist.

• Team Flash gets an alert from Iron Heights Prison, where they see Godspeed has "killed" the previous four drone versions of him, and stolen their speed. 

Hilariously, we see that all four Godspeed drones were still wearing their costumes when they were murdered! Wha...?

OK, I get why they did this— to quickly and visually indicate that these were Godspeed drones and not ordinary prisoners. But these were incredibly powerful artificial lifeforms with potentially unknown abilities. Wouldn't it be a good idea to confiscate their costumes before throwing them into their cells? They could be hiding all sorts of tech and weapons in their pockets. Heck, their powers could come from the costumes themselves! The prison staff doesn't know. Strip those drones and give 'em some standard issue jumpsuits!

• I dunno why, I laughed out loud when I saw this scene. I think maybe it's the "Citizens Held Hostage" news ticker at the bottom of the screen during the live coverage of Godspeed's rampage.

So how did this happen? Did Godspeed zip around the city till he saw a news crew filming an unrelated story, told them, "Don't move" and then zoomed a bunch of hostages to the scene? Or did he call up the news crew and tell them to meet him in the center of town? Either way, it just strikes me as odd.

Also, there's apparently only one TV station in Central City. EVERY time we see a news report, it's from Channel 52 (which is a DC Comics "New 52" reference).

• At the beginning of this season in Into The Void, Barry first fought Godspeed. Barry chased after him, then suddenly pulled ahead. He turned around by making a superspeed loop up the side of a nearby building, then barreling right toward Godspeed. He then delivered a Speed Force-charged super lighting punch to the villain, knocking him for a loop before zooming him out of frame.

In this episode Barry & Godspeed have a rematch. This time their battle is virtually identical to their first, except everything's reversed. Godspeed chases after Barry, suddenly pulls ahead, makes a superspeed loop up the side of a nearby building, then barrels right toward Barry. He delivers a super-charged lighting punch to the villain, knocking him for a loop before zooming him out of frame.

It's actually pretty cool how they mirrored the original scene here. Kudos to the director and the FX team!

By the way, during this fight Cisco radios Barry and says, "He's running at Mach 5. He's moving faster than you!"

I never really thought about it before, but Barry and the various speedster villains are ALWAYS moving through Central City at Mach speeds. Life there must be an endless parade of startling and destructive sonic booms. There's probably no an unbroken window in the entire city!

• During their battle, Godspeed easily tosses Barry into the side of a delivery van, which is labeled "Central City Crossover Comics & Collectibles." Under the logo is the name "Barney Sands," who's presumably the owner.

Believe it or not, this is a VERY obscure reference to The Flash comic. When Barry Allen was younger, he lived next door to a kid named Barney Sands— a superhero fan and wannabe comic book artist. He eventually grew up to pencil the Justice League comic in the world of The Flash.

Here in the Arrowverse, Barney Sands apparently grew up and opened his own comic book shop! Too bad it probably went out of business due to the coronavirus shutdown.

• Barry and Piper team up to defeat Godspeed. He falls from the top of a building and lands squarely on top of a car.

WOW! Now that's a quality stunt! I've watched it a dozen times and I'm pretty sure it's a practical effect and there's no digital trickery involved. If it is CGI, then they completely fooled me.

• After Godspeed's defeated, he begins bleeding some sort of glowing blue fluid. Cisco and Nash examine it and determine it's "some kind of biogenic electrolyte secretion." In other words, it's charged sound, whatever the hell that means. More Comic Book Science!

• Cisco and Nash realize they can use Godspeed's charged sound blood to cure Roderick:

Barry: "How does it work?"
Cisco: "Normal sound waves need to have a transmission medium to move through, but charged sound builds its own."
Nash: "Normal sound can temporarily reattach molecular bonds. Charged sound can permanently attach them. It's like a permanent bonding agent."

They then flood Roderick's chamber with charged sound, and he's instantly cured of his phasing. Even More Comic Book Science!

• After Roderick's fixed up, Team Flash discusses Godspeed:

Cisco: "I am super relieved to finally get rid of Godspeed. And this one talks, so now we know we got the real August Heart behind bars."

Barry: "That's not the real Godspeed. Once he was placed in a meta-dampening cell, I questioned him as the Flash, and all he could say was, 'The one who sent me wants infinite velocity."

Cisco: "When you were fighting Godspeed, he said, 'We deserve your speed."
Nash: "Who's we?"

Cisco: "Does "we" include the one who sent him?"

Barry: "He couldn't tell me."

Nash: "Because he stopped talking."

Cisco: "And started chirping like a broken modem... just like the rest of them."

You know, that sounds like it would have been a pretty cool scene. It's too bad WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY GET TO SEE IT, and had to hear the characters talking about it! What the hell? Was the episode running long or something, so they just cut the Godspeed interrogation scene and had it happen off camera?

Why do the producers keep bringing Godspeed back, but then never doing anything with him? It's almost like they're ashamed of the character or something.• At the end of the episode, Cisco says he thinks he knows how to get Iris and the others out of the Mirrorverse. In order to do it, he'll need a "lossless, self-sustaining source of perpetual energy." In other words, a perpetual motion machine— which is impossible by all the laws of physics in our world.

Cisco says he knows where to find one— in Atlantis!

I hope fans expecting to see Cisco tromping around Atlantis next week, and rubbing shoulders with Aquaman. I can absolutely guarantee that's not gonna happen, and we're not gonna be treated to a CGI Atlantis cityscape. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if his visit happens offscreen, just like the Godspeed interrogation did this week.

Heck, that may not even happen next week, depending on how far they got into filming before production was shut down.

• In the tag scene, Eva's inside some sort of glowing chamber. It opens up and she starts talking to herself, saying she's coming for her husband Joseph.

So what the heck's going on with her here? Why's she waking up in some cryo-chamber or something? At first I almost thought this was a second Eva, or that the whole Mirrorverse saga was some simulation she's been running.

I guess maybe it's some sort of energizing chamber? Or maybe it's realigning her cells and curing the neural dissonance she suffered from being in the Mirrorverse for so long? Whatever's going on, it was a confusing, WTF moment in the episode.

• This Week's Best Lines: 
Meh. Nothing outstanding again this week.