Monday, May 18, 2020

The Flash Season 6, Episode 19: Success Is Assured

This week on The Flash, it's the truncated finale of Season 6!

As you're no doubt aware, Season 6 was originally meant to consist of 22 episodes. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic had other ideas. 

Due to the worldwide lockdown, production on The Flash was shut down before they had a chance to finish filming the entire season. According to showrunner Eric Wallace, they'd shot about 90% of Episode 20 when The CW gave the order to shut down.

As a result, the producers were left with an incomplete season— one without a clear and definite ending. This meant that this week's Episode 19 would have to serve as a makeshift season finale, whether it was intended to be or not!

Luckily, Success Is Assured can kind of function as a season finale, if you stand back from it and squint real hard. The Joseph Carver storyline is wrapped up this week (in the most underwhelming way possible), as is the "Joe In Witness Protection" arc.

That still leaves a ton of plot threads dangling though. Will Barry save Iris in time, as well as Kamilla and Singh? Will Barry figure out a way to build a new Speed Force? What will happen to Sue now that's she's been framed for murder? And the most important one of all— how will Barry defeat Eva?

All in all, it's a very unsatisfying end to the season.

In addition, thanks to the shutdown, Season 6 marks the first time that Team Flash doesn't defeat the main villain in the finale! At the end of this week's episode, Eva kills her husband Joseph (spoilers!), incapacitates Barry and gets away scot free!

It's not all bad news though. According to Eric Wallace, the plan is to complete filming of Episodes 20, 21 and 22, and move them to the beginning of Season 7. So even though it won't happen until well into 2021, eventually we WILL see how things turn out.

And just for the record, I realize that a TV show not getting to film its season finale is the LEAST important side effect of this whole pandemic crisis. I get that. It's still annoying though.

Lastly, a thought occurred to me this week— what the hell was the point of the big Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover? Before it premiered, the producers stated they wanted to use the Crisis to eliminate the Multiverse and move all the Arrowverse characters— including Supergirl and Black Lightning— to Earth-1. The thinking was once everyone was on the same world, it'd be easier to do crossovers.

So what happened to that idea? It's been seven months since the Crisis, and Barry hasn't teamed up with Supergirl or Black Lightning. Heck, he hasn't even MENTIONED either one of them! I don't think there's even been a reference to National City since it became part of Earth-Prime! 

Again I ask— what was the point of it all then?

SPOILERS!

The Plot
Picking up where we left off last week, Mirror Singh arrives at Eva's warehouse. She's emerged from her "reflection modulation chamber" and is now wearing an "acclimation costume." She tells Mirror Singh it's time to deal with her husband Joseph Carver.

At Caitlin's apartment, Nash, Cecile and Allegra help Frost pack for her trip to the Tannhauser Facility, where her mother Carla will heal her. Cecile's power senses that Frost is anxious about meeting Carla, and she tries to reassure her. Carla arrives, and is taken aback to see Frost instead of Caitlin. The others make a hasty retreat to give them some privacy. Carla says she'd like to run a few baseline tests on Frost before they leave.

At Barry's CSI lab, he, Nash, Ralph and Allegra discuss Eva and where she's gone. Barry thinks if they can find Black Hole, they'll find Eva. Ralph shows them the giant diamond that Sue gave him a few episodes back, and says it has a microscopic Black Hole logo engraved in it.

Allegra detects energy coming from the diamond. She focuses a UV blast through it, which projects an odd symbol on the floor. Barry tells her to point the projection at a map of Central City. She does so, and the center of the projection lines up with a street address. Boy, will we be talking about THIS scene in the thoughts below! Ralph looks up the address and says it's a warehouse with five subterranean levels, belonging to Joseph Carver. He and Barry go to check it out, while Nash and Allegra go to Star Labs for some reason.

At the warehouse, Barry and Ralph find several security guards who've been stabbed to death. Ralph sees stacks and stacks of file boxes, including one labeled "Dearbon." He opens it and sees it's filled with records proving Joseph Carver's blackmailing Sue's parents.

Just then Barry sees Mirror Singh pouring gas all over the warehouse. When Barry asks why, Mirror Singh says Eva wants revenge against Carver for never trying to save her from the Mirrorverse, and profiting off her tech. He 
then pulls out a flare gun and aims it at the gas. Barry tries to reason with Mirror Singh, hoping he'll develop free will just like Mirror Iris did. It doesn't work, and Mirror Singh fires. He flees as the warehouse bursts into flames.

Barry tries to put out the fire with his nearly depleted speed, but can't. He and Ralph run from the warehouse just before it explodes. Barry says as bizarre as it sounds, they need to protect Carver from Eva.

The next day, Barry meets with Carver at Jitters. He says he knows Eva wants him dead, and he needs to go into Witness Protection just like Joe did. Carver says there's no danger, as his wife is dead. For some reason he shows Barry security footage of Iris being yanked into the Mirrorverse by Eva. He says his people studied the realm and discovered it's incompatible with the human brain, and that both Eva and Iris are either dead or unrecognizable at this point.

Carver asks why Barry would think Eva was coming after him. Barry says it's because Eva burned down his warehouse. Carver denies owning the property and leaves, visibly shaken.

In the Mirrorverse, Iris and Kamilla are trying to find the real Singh. Iris stares at a monitor as its display comes into focus for a second. As it does, she experiences a stabbing headache, and realizes she's acclimating to the place and needs to get out as soon as possible.

Ralph invites Mr. & Mrs. Dearbon to his office, intending to tell them he's found Sue (he's just now doing this?). Just then Sue enters as well, and pretends to meet Ralph for the first time. She makes up a story about how she joined a retreat in India and just "lost track of time." Ralph asks to speak to Sue alone and takes her into the hallway.

Ralph asks Sue what the hell. She says Carver called her a week ago and said he was no longer blackmailing her parents because he had "a change of heart." Ralph doesn't trust Carver, and Sue says doesn't either, but figures her parents are safe now and she can go home.

Cut to Carver's mansion, where his Black Hole minions Doctor Light, Ultraviolet and Sunshine are prepping for battle. Sunshine walks past a mirror and suddenly disappears. Moments later, Ultraviolet does the same. Realizing she's under sneak attack, Doctor Light draws her blaster and searches the room for the unseen assailant. She stops next to a window as she hears Eva's voice. She sees Eva's reflection on a nearby wall and fires. Suddenly Eva reaches out of the window and pulls her in.

Minutes later Carver enters, and finds his minions are gone. He sees the scorch mark on the wall from Doctor Light's blaster, realizes Eva took his little army and hauls ass out of the room.

Carver shows up at Barry's lab and says he's changed his mind about Witness Protection. He says if they help him, he'll stop trying to kill Joe and he can return home. Barry realizes Eva took Carver's minions and agrees.

Carla runs tests on Frost, and says she wishes Caitlin was there to help interpret the results. She then realizes what she just said and apologizes. Frost figures Carla sees her evil husband Thomas when she looks at her. Carla says that's not true, and that she's grateful to Frost for protecting Caitlin. She says she'd like to get to know her better.

At CCPD, Barry arranges for Carver to be placed in Witness Protection. Unfortunately. Mirror Singh approaches and says he's there to personally escort Carver. Barry pauses, reluctant to hand him over to the mirror clone
. Mirror Singh whispers to Barry, saying it he lets him have Carver, he'll hand over Iris. 

Nash, who's also there for some reason, sees Barry hesitating. Nash throws down one of his teleportation smoke grenades, and he, Barry, Ralph, Allegra and Carver are all transported to STAR Labs. Nash looks over and hallucinates Harry Wells, who tells him, "The Barry Allen I knew would never have considered Singh's offer."

When Carver asks what the hell just happened, Barry explains that Singh is one of Eva's mirror clones as well. Carver doesn't trust Team Flash to protect him, and says he has a secret, high-tech, impenetrable panic room at McCulloch Tech. They agree to take him there.

Before they go, Nash tells Barry he knows he was considering Singh's offer. Barry says he'd do anything to save his wife. Nash asks what Iris would think if she knew Barry was ready to trade another person's life for hers.

Cut to McCulloch Tech, where Nash, Allegra and Ralph are evacuating the building. Nash gives Allegra a large ruby she can power with her UV rays. She angrily asks when he's going to stop trying to win her over, and he says never. Just then Ralph spots Sue heading for an elevator. He confronts her, realizing she must have agreed to work for Black Hole in exchange for her parents' freedom— and now she intends to kill Carver from the inside.

Sue congratulates Ralph on his deductive reasoning, and says there's no other way. He gives her a short Patented The CW Pep Talk®, saying he believes in her and knows deep down she's a good person. She tells him she's sorry and sprays him with knockout gas.

Meanwhile, Barry escorts Carver to his panic room. There, Carver activates a force field around the entire building. He says nothing can possibly get in or out while it's up. Right on cue, the field shorts out and drops.

In the lobby, Doctor Light, Ultraviolet and Sunshine enter. They announce to Carver that they're now working for Eva. He offers double what she's paying them, and they reply that it's not about money, but payback. Ralph recovers and somehow suits up as Elongated Man just as the three minions attack.

Ralph, Nash and Allegra then battle Eva's minions for a good chunk of the runtime. Carver calls his security team and tells Barry to activate the backup generator in the subbasement. Barry runs to the basement, where he sees Mirror Singh. Suddenly Singh shatters, and Eva emerges, decked out in her Mirror Master gear. A blaster forms over her hand and she fires at Barry, knocking him out. She heads upstairs for Carver.

Meanwhile, the battle rages on in the lobby. Allegra confronts Ultraviolet— who's her cousin— and asks why she'd doing this
. Ultraviolet blames Allegra for everything bad that's happened to her, and says she's nothing to her now. Just as she starts to kill her, Allegra shoots a UV blast into the ruby Nash gave her. It fires a beam of light at Ultraviolet, incapacitating her as it causes her to experience her worst fears.

Ralph battles Doctor Light, and is suddenly joined by Sue (in her catsuit), who apparently gave up on her plan to kill Carver.

Carver watches the battle on a large flatscreen monitor. Just then Eva steps out of it, much like the girl in The Ring. He tells her it's not too late to talk things over. She says there's nothing to talk about after he sold and corrupted her tech and left her for dead. She shatters a mirror and causes the shards to hurl toward Carver.

Just then Barry speeds in out of nowhere and protects Carver with his body. The shards impale Barry, causing him to collapse. Eva tells Flash she has no beef with him, and Carver isn't worth saving. She uses her power to force one of the shards completely through Barry's body (yikes!) and fly into Carver's chest.

As Carver collapses, he says his real wife died in the Particle Accelerator explosion. Eva says he's wrong, as she's never felt more alive. Carver then ups and dies. Well that was anticlimactic!

Eva telekinetically pulls the shards out of Barry's body and tells him they're on the same side. She contacts her minions and tells them to stand down, as Carver's dead. Barry tells her he'll never stop coming after her. She tells him he's trespassing in her building, and he'd better go.

The next day, Eva holds a press conference at CCPD. She says six years ago an international crime syndicate took her captive and stole her tech to weaponize it. She says her husband Joseph Carver found and rescued her, but was murdered shortly after. She vows to work with CCPD to find her husband's killer, as well as resuming her duties as CEO of McCulloch Tech.

That night Ralph shows up at Sue's apartment. She says now that Carver's dead, she can quit Black Hole and go home to her parents. Ralph says not so fast, and says Eva's framed her for Carver's murder.GASP!

Barry goes to Caitlin's place to tell her goodbye. She's in Caitlin form now, and gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk®, telling him it's not his speed that drives him, but love (ugh). She says she knows he'll find Iris and bring her back. Carla says she'll bring Caitlin & Frost back as soon as possible.

Allegra thanks Nash for giving her the ruby, as it saved her life. She hands it back to him, but he tells her to keep it in case she needs it again. Awwwww... she's finally warming up to the creepy guy who befriended her doppelganger.

At STAR Labs, Barry gives Team Flash a MASSIVE Patented The CW Pep Talk®, saying they may not have won, but they still have hope and he knows they'll get their people back soon. Just then Cecile enters with Joe, who no longer needs Witness Protection (since Carver's dead). He tells Barry it's time to get busy and save Iris and the others.

In the Mirrorverse, Iris scans the city and locates a life sign at Central City Hospital. She tells Kamilla it has to be Singh (or IS it?). Kamilla realizes Iris can now control the Mirrorverse, just like Eva did (?). Suddenly Iris doubles over in pain and disappears.

Thoughts: 
• "Success Is Assured" is not only this week's title, but the little motto Eva's mirror clones always spout at the end of their conversations with her. Eh, I guess it's OK as catchphrases go, but it's no "Resistance is futile."

• At the end of last week's episode, Cisco said the key to springing their people from the Mirrorverse involved a perpetual motion machine— which could only be found in Atlantis. I predicted we'd never actually see him go there though, as there's no way in hell the show's budget could afford to depict a massive undersea city.

Sure enough, Cisco's absent this week, as his little jaunt to Atlantis happens totally offscreen.

• After ten episodes, Eva FINALLY gets a costume and becomes Mirror Master. Honestly this should have happened weeks ago, but instead we had to watch her and Iris stand in the same room for several months straight.

By the way, at the end of last week's episode we saw Eva emerge from some sort of glowing chamber. We never got an explanation as to just what it was though. I wondered if maybe it was some sort of energizing chamber, or if it was realigning her cells to cure the neural dissonance caused by spending six years in the Mirrorverse.

This week we find out that's exactly what it is. She tells Mirror Singh it's a "reflection modulation chamber," that's helping with her acclimation process.

• Man, Team Flash sure gets around in this episode, don't they? First Nash, Cecile and Allegra are at Caitlin's apartment. One scene later, Nash & Allegra— along with Ralph— show up at Barry's office at CCPD. Then we immediately cut to Nash and Allegra hanging out a STAR Labs. A bit later, Nash, Ralph and Allegra join Barry back at CCPD again. Then the whole gang teleports back to STAR. Annnnnd after that they all schlep over to McCulloch Tech. 

Jesus Christ! They spend the whole episode running back and forth across Central City like basketball players hustling up and down the court!

• And now we come to the dumbest and most baffling part of the episode. Ralph shows Team Flash the diamond Sue gave him back in So Long And Good Night. Allegra shines a beam of UV light through it, which projects a strange symbol on the floor. Nash claims the symbol's a "Triangulation Cartograph," whatever the hell that is. 

Barry tells Allegra to shine the image on a handy map of Central City. She does so, and Barry says the center of the symbol is pointing to 47th and Darby, the location of a warehouse owned by Joseph Carver.

Wait, what? How could that possibly work? Look how she just aims the symbol at an arbitrary spot on the map. She's not aligning it to anything! She could just as easily have pointed it six inches to the right, and then the "center" would have been over a completely different building!

• Caitlin's mom Carla Tannhauser comes to take her & Frost to her lab "up north," where she can heal her of her wounds.

I didn't realize till this week that Carla's played by actress Susan Walters. If she looks familiar to you, that's because she played Jerry's girlfriend Delores on Seinfeld. You know, the one whose name rhymed with a female body part!

• Caitlin & Frost ride that couch for the third episode in a row, in a flailing attempt to hide Danielle Panabaker's real-life pregnancy. Hopefully by the time the show comes back next year that'll all be over and done with, and we'll get to actually see Caitlin walking around again without a stack of pillows obscuring her midsection!

 When Cecile's helping Frost pack for her maternity leave, er, I mean her trip, she just straight up scans her with her telepathy and sees she's upset. Isn't that a huge invasion of privacy? Or are we supposed to believe Cecile has no control over when her power activates itself?

• For decades now, Star Trek fans have joked about "redshirts" and their high mortality rate on the show. They've got nothing on The Flash's security guards! Almost every week Barry finds at least one who's been callously slaughtered on the job by an evil metahuman. I bet Warehouse Security Guard is the the most dangerous profession in all of Central City!

• Barry & Ralph investigate Carver's warehouse. Inside, Ralph discovers a wall of file boxes, including one containing info on Sue Dearbon's parents.

The names on the other boxes are all characters we've seen this season, who have some sort of connection with Carver. "Garcia" is Esperanza Garcia, aka Ultraviolet (and Allegra's cousin). "Rawlins" is Millie Rawlings, aka Sunshine. "Hoshi" is Kimiyo Hoshi, aka Doctor Light. And Merkel is Merkel, aka Rag Doll.

Not sure who the "Gore" could be. The name sounds familiar, but I can't think of where I've heard it before.

• Nice Attention To Detail: Last week Iris discovered Kamilla hanging out in a copy of STAR Labs inside the Mirrorverse. Appropriately enough, everything in this reflected version of STAR was reversed— down to the printing on the coffee mugs. 

This week Iris returns to Mirror STAR Labs, and stares wistfully at Barry's Flash costume— which features a reversed lightning bolt symbol! Now that was a nice touch! Kudos to whoever thought to flop that bolt!

• Um.. why is Ralph JUST NOW calling the Dearbons and telling them he located Sue? He found her MONTHS ago, way back in A Girl Named Sue! Has he really been that busy since then?

• I gotta point out the fact that Ralph's desk drawer contains one of those multicolor ink pens that kids always have (the thick light blue one).

 Barry meets with Carver and tells him he knows Eva's been trapped in the Mirrorverse for the past six years. Carver snaps back, "If Eva did ex-scape that wretched place, I'd know about it." Eh, it's just a flubbed line, guys. No need for a second take!

• This is some heavy duty nitpicking, but whatever. The exterior of Joseph Carver's luxurious home...

...doesn't look anything at all like the spartan, Brutalist-style interior. Why, it's almost like inside & outside were filmed at two completely different locations!

I suppose you could argue that this spacious, airy room with wall full of windows is in the back of the house, and not visible in the establishing shot. Still, there's nothing about these two shots that looks the least bit similar.

• When we first see Doctor Light, Ultraviolet and Sunshine, they're all speaking in their native languages. Oddly enough, they all seem to understand one another with no trouble. Even stranger, later on we see they can all speak fluent English! So why the international dialogue in this scene?

• Carver knows his wife's still alive, has the power to control any mirror and is coming for him. So of course he doesn't do anything about the large number of mirrors and reflective surfaces in his home. Sure enough, his little army of metas are kidnapped by Eva.

• When Ultraviolet and Sunshine disappear, Doctor Light realizes she's next. Unfortunately for her, she stands too close to a window and Eva yanks her into it.

OK, the concept of pulling a person into a mirror makes a certain amount of sense (in a comic book science way). After all, when you look into a mirror, it seems like there's an entire backwards universe inside it.

But yanking someone into a sheet of glass? How? It's completely transparent! There's nothing "inside" it. To me this feels like it violates the sci-fi rules they previously set up.

• The writers have totally given up on the whole "Current Wells Needs To Hide His Identity Because He Looks Like Mass Murderer Eobard Thawne" thing at this point, right? In this episode, Nash walks right into CCPD and nobody says a word.

• More Attention To Detail: When Carver comes to CCPD for help, he and Barry walk past a framed commemorative photo of Chief Singh.

The way the shot's framed, it's obvious they want us to see the photo. I guess to remind the audience that the real Singh is a hero and not a clone doing the bidding of an evil meta?

• At STAR Labs, Nash turns and sees a vision of Harry Wells warning him about Barry. Yikes, what the hell happened here? This may be the all-time worst special effect I've ever seen on this show! 

Yeesh, look at it! It's patently obvious they had Tom Cavanagh stand against a green screen and then hastily pasted him into the shot. You can tell because Harry & Nash are being lit from two completely different directions. The main giveaway though is Harry's shadow. It doesn't match the density of the other shadows in the room, and it's clear that it wasn't cast by him. It looks like they picked "drop shadow" from a menu and just let the computer create one.

Did the FX team run out of time and had to finish this shot in fifteen minutes? Did someone have to complete this shot in a makeshift studio in their kitchen during the virus lockdown? Did they pass it off to a new intern? Whatever the reason, it's pretty darn bad.

Why didn't they just do a simple split screen shot? You lock down the camera and film Nash's part of the scene. Then you have Tom Cavanagh get changed into Harry and shoot him on the same set. Then you cut the two scenes in half and combine 'em in the computer. That way Harry'd have a real shadow and the lighting on each character would match.

• Carver may be scheming and devious, but he ain't too bright. At no time does he ever figure out that Barry's really the Flash— even after he's teleported to STAR Labs!

• My favorite part of the episode: Ralph (who's in his street clothes) wakes after being gassed by Sue. We cut to Barry & Carver for literally FOUR SECONDS, and we we see Ralph again he's suited up in his Elongated Man costume. Somehow he even found the time to apply the black makeup around his eyes!

Note that this definitely is not a case of a long amount of time passing between shots. Ralph and Barry actually converse with one another here, implying that it's all one continuous scene. Whoops!

How the hell did such a huge gaffe happen? According to showrunner Eric Wallace, this episode was filmed, edited and in the can before the lockdown began, so they can't even blame it on a disruption from the coronavirus!

• Did Ang Lee direct this episode? During the big fight scene, the screen suddenly splits into multiple frames that look like comic book panels.

Eh, I didn't hate the effect. It's a comic book show after all, so it makes sense for it to look like one. But it makes me wonder why it took them a whopping SIX YEARS to think of doing this!

• During the big setpiece battle, Allegra confronts her cousin Esperanza, aka Ultraviolet. The two have a heated exchange as they speak in Spanish.

I'm guessing actress Kayla Compton, who plays Allegra, isn't a native Spanish speaker. Even I can tell her dialogue is stilted and awkward.

• Why do Nash, Ralph and Allegra just stand around and watch while the three meta gals kill dozens of innocent security guards? It takes 'em a good ten minutes before they finally act and try to stop Doctor Light & Co.

• Are the Doctor Light, Ultraviolet and Sunshine we see in the big setpiece battle real, or are they mirror clones? They certainly seem real, as they don't call Eva "mother" and seem to have free will.

So far every time Eva's abducted someone she's made a clone of them to do her bidding. If these three are still the real things, then why? Why would she let them back out of the Mirrorverse without making copies of them?

• Eva must be a fan of The Ring, as she emerges from the TV monitor in Carver's safe room. 

Earlier in the episode Carver said he had the giant wall-sized mirror in his office coated with nanoparticles to prevent Eva from popping out of it. Too bad he didn't think to do that to this monitor as well.

By the way, did you notice Carver's panic room is in the exact same place as Eva's secret monitor lab in the Mirrorverse?

• Eva shatters a mirror and sends the jagged shards flying toward Carver. At the last second, Barry zooms in and shields him with his body, getting impaled in the process. Eva then telekinetically causes a huge shard of glass to slowwwwwly slice completely through Barry's body and into Carver's chest (!).

Jesus Christ! How the hell is Barry still alive at this point? There're all kinds of major arteries and veins located in the shoulder, and that piece of glass just severed ALL of them on Barry's left side! Heck, I'm wondering how his arm is even still attached at this point! 

Yeah, I know he has speed-healing and all that, but it isn't instantaneous— it generally takes him hours to recover from a serious injury like this. He should definitely be dead at this point.

To make things worse, once Carver dies, Eva tells Barry she has no beef with him and uses her power to yank out the remaining shards from his body! Holy crap! That likely made things even worse, as pulling a knife or other sharp object out of a wound generally causes it to bleed even more.

• Why does Eva hold her press conference at CCPD? Wouldn't it have made infinitely more sense to do it in front of McCulloch Tech? You know, the corporation that she actually owns?

• In the wrap-up, Ralph informs Sue that Eva's framed her for Carver's murder. Several things here:

First of all, I wondered why the hell Eva would accuse Sue of all people. Have the two of them even met before? Or did Eva just look in the society column, see Sue's name and think, "Ah, I'll blame my husband's death on this innocent random heiress!"

Then it occurred to me that Eva probably used her mirror monitors to find out that Sue's secretly cat burglar who was intending to kill Carver herself. Once you realize that, it makes perfect sense.

I still think it'd been nice if one of the characters briefly mentioned that though, so I didn't have to do the writers' job for them.

Secondly, note that the article on Ralph's phone is from the Central City Picture News. That's where Iris used to work before she went off on her own and started the Citizen. That's some more nice attention to detail. It makes sense that the article's not from the Citizen, since Iris is still in the Mirrorverse and her clone's dead. I guess the Citizen's no longer being published at this point?

Lastly, at her press conference, Eva declares she'll find the heinous culprit who killed her husband. In the very next scene, she frames Sue for his murder! Talk about working fast!
• As we all know, the Speed Force is dead and Barry's struggling to somehow create a new one he can use. 

When he visits Caitlin, she gives him a Patented The CW Pep Talk®, telling him, "The reason you've beat Zoom, Godspeed, Thawne? It's because speed isn't what drives you. It's love. That's your true force, and there is nothing artificial about that. So as long as you stay true to yourself, you will always find a way to beat the bad guys."

Sigh... they're totally going to have the new and improved Speed Force fueled by the power of Barry's love, aren't they? Oy gevalt. How sappy can you get?

And just in case you think that's improbable, remember that in the Green Lantern comic, there was a Violet Lantern Corps whose rings were all powered by love.

• At the end of the episode, Barry bids an emotional goodbye to Caitlin. She and her mom then exit as they head "up north." Note that they leave Barry standing alone in the middle of Caitlin's apartment!

And in case you're skeptical, this is most definitely Caitlin's apartment here— it's the one she's been sitting in for the past three episodes.

What the hell? Why would they film this scene that way? I guess they thought it was more dramatic to show Barry watching them leave, rather than following them out the door like a normal human would.

• Allegra's change of heart toward Nash deserves some scrutiny. Ever since she found out he was friends with her doppelganger, she's been giving him the cold shoulder. 

In this episode he gives her a magic ruby to protect her. When her evil cousin Esperanza tries to kill her, Allegra fires a blast of UV energy through the ruby and aims it at her head. Esperanza doubles over in pain, allowing Allegra to escape.

Later on, Allegra asks Nash what the ruby did to Esperanza. He says it forced her to relive her worst memory. Oddly enough she then gives Nash a slight smile, as she finally begins to tolerate him!
What the hell? Seems to me like finding she used the ruby to inadvertently hurt her cousin (even if she isn't a nice person) would make Allegra hate Nash even more!

• In the tag scene, Iris & Kamilla are still in Mirror STAR Labs. Iris detects a life sign inside Mirror Central City Hospital. She says that's where they'll find the real Singh. 

Eh, not so fast there, Iris. I don't think that's Singh!

Remember earlier in the episode when Carver was mortally wounded? He told Mirror Master that his wife died six years ago in the Particle Accelerator explosion. Then with his dying breath, he told her she's not even human.

I'm starting to suspect that wasn't just hyperbole on his part. I think Carver believes that Eva really did die in the explosion, and the one we've been seeing for the past eighteen months (OK, maybe it just seems that long) is a mirror clone who thinks she's the real thing.

I'm also thinking that Carver was only half right. Eva wasn't killed in the explosion, but we have been watching her clone all this time. I think the life sign Iris detected in the Mirror Hospital is actually the REAL Eva, who's been lying in a coma or something for the past six years.

Unfortunately we'll have to wait till next year to find out if I'm right! 

• Right after Iris discovers "Singh's" life signs, she doubles over in pain as her body becomes faceted and disappears.

So what the hell just happened? Did Eva pull Iris out of the Mirrorverse? Did her newfound control over the Mirrorverse allow her to teleport herself back to the real world? Does the Mirrorverse contain its own version of the Mirrorverse, and Iris was sucked into that? I honestly have no idea at this point. And it'll be months before we find out.

• Thanks, Covid-19! This is the first time in the history of the show that we've gotten a "To Be Continued" title card at the end of a season finale.

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

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