The Flash Season 3, Episode 18: Abra Kadabra

This week on The Flash, we get the long-awaited first appearance of Silver Age villain Abra Kadabra, although he's criminally underused, another hare-brained "Save Iris" scheme from Barry, and the not-so-unexpected return of Killer Frost. Best of all, there were no musical numbers this week!

As a long time reader of comics, I was happy when I found out that Abra Kadabra was appearing on the show. That happiness soon turned to disappointment when the writers took such an important and iconic villain from the mythology and completely and utterly wasted him.

We get a few very brief scenes of him performing his trademark "magic," but he spend the majority of the episode going on and on about Savitar. Seriously, the way he crushes on the guy, I was ready to tell the two of 'em to get a room! 

Then when he's not preaching the gospel of the God Of Speed, he's playing coy with Joe and Barry, teasing, but never quite revealing, Savitar's true identity.

The writer's are really working overtime on drawing out the Big Reveal of Savitar's True Identity. Such plotlines can be tricky business, as instead of fueling fan speculation, they can easily cause them to shrug and say, "Who cares?" After all this buildup, I have a bad feeling when we finally do learn who Savitar really is, it's gonna be a big "meh" moment.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Inside Stagg Industries (remember them from Season 1?), two security guards run into Abra Kadabra, a supervillain/magician (!) from the 64th Century. Kadabra's looking for a piece of tech, and sees it locked inside a secure case. The guards pull their guns on him, and Kadabra disappears and reappears inside the case. He grabs the piece of tech and with a snap of his fingers, changes place with the guards trapping them inside the case. He snaps his fingers again and it fills with water, drowning the men.

Cut to Barry, Iris, Joe and Cecile double dating at Jitters. Cecile says her sister has four tickets to Hamilton she can't use, and offers two of them to Barry & Iris. They're eager to take them, until Cecile says the tickets are for a July show. Iris looks uncomfortable, since she's destined to be killed by Savitar in the season finale in May. Barry, who's trying to be optimistic, says they'd be delighted to take the tickets.

Barry and Joe investigate the "drowning" at Stagg Industries. While there, they get an alert of a robbery in progress at Kord Industries, another technology company (which should sound familiar to fans of the Blue Beetle). Barry changes into the Flash and zooms to the scene, and finds Kadabra in the middle of another heist.

Kadabra recognizes the Flash as Barry Allen, and knows everything about him— including the fact that Savitar will kill Iris soon (because he's from the future, and this is all ancient history to him, duh!). Suddenly Gypsy vibes in from Earth-19, and announces that Kadabra's under arrest. He throws a playing card at the heroes, which instantly multiplies into thousands, distracting them while he teleports away.

Back at STAR Labs, Gypsy tells Barry and the Gang that Kadabra is a criminal from the 64th Century who uses his era's extremely advanced technology (which seems like magic to us) to commit his crimes. Apparently he committed a series of robberies and murders on Earth-19, which is why she's after him.

Cisco tries making a very awkward move on his crush Gyspy, which she brusquely rejects. In other relationship subplots, Julian still thinks Caitlin only wanted him so he could cure her of her Killer Frostism (which is partially true), and says they're through. 

Suddenly yet another alarm goes off, indicating a break-in at Mercury Labs. Barry and Wally speed to the scene, as Cisco and Gypsy vibe there. Sure enough, they spot Kadabra there. The heroes surround him as Gypsy blasts him with a vibe ray, but it goes right through him, revealing he's a hologram. Foiled again!

The Mercury "break-in" was all a distraction, as Kadabra shows up at STAR Labs looking for something. Barry races in and cuffs Kadabra (Really? He can't get out of a pair of handcuffs?). Gypsy appears and demands to take him back to Earth-19 immediately. Kadabra then whispers to Barry that he knows Savitar's true identity, which he'll reveal if he's released. Barry thinks for a moment, then knocks out Kadabra and throws him in the STAR Labs Secret Super Jail. Needless to say, Gypsy's not pleased with this development, as she just wants to extradite Kadabra and go back to her own dimension.

At home, Barry and Iris discuss Kadabra. He wants to let him go so he'll reveal Savitar's identity, while Iris says he's a criminal and needs to stay locked up.

It's all moot anyway, as Joe sneaks into STAR and makes a deal with Kadabra: tell him Savitar's identity to potentially save Iris, and he'll let him walk. Kadabra agrees, and Joe opens the cell door. Kadabra very theatrically and deliberately states, "Savitar's... true... identity... is..." Suddenly Gypsy appears and asks Joe what the hell? Kadabra uses the distraction to teleport away. Nice going, Gypsy!

Joe, Caitlin and Julian track Kadabra to the elevators, where they try to stop him. He causes a huge explosion and escapes. The Gang groggily crawls from the wreckage, and Caitlin looks down to see a large pipe sticking out of her side! Julian wants to rush her to a hospital, but Cisco says they can't as she'll be identified as a metahuman (?).

Cisco mentions that in her Killer Frost persona, Caitlin's body has impressive regenerative powers, which is an obvious set up, and something I don't think has ever been mentioned before. Caitlin refuses to risk turning into her own nemesis, and says she'd rather talk Julian through the operation (!). They give her a local anesthetic (I guess?) and with her help, Julian successfully performs the procedure.

After the operation, Cisco asks Gypsy why she's being such an asshole in this episode. She says it's because she used to have a partner on Earth-19, and Kadabra murdered him, hence all the rage and vengeance. 

Gypsy has a theory about what Kadabra's doing. She believes he's stuck here in the 21st Century, and is stealing tech from various companies to build a time machine to take him back... to the future! Um... isn't that EXACTLY the same motivation that Eobard Thawne had back in Season 1? Are we really doing this same plot again?

Cisco figures out that Kadabra stole Eobard Thawne's compact power supply from the STAR Labs Time Vault to power his time machine. He tracks the power supply and says Kadabra's on the move, flying his time ship over the city. Team Flash springs into action, as Barry, Wally, Cisco and Gypsy chase after him.

Kadabra opens a portal and prepares to fly his ship through it back to the 64th Century. Barry runs up the side of a nearby building, then jumps down toward the time ship. He vibrates into it, grabs Kadabra and vibrates the two of them back out as the ship flies through the time portal and disappears. OK, I gotta admit that was pretty cool.

On the ground, Gypsy officially places Kadabra under arrest. Again. She prepares to take him to Earth-19 for execution. Barry asks Kadabra one last time, literally begging him to reveal Savitar's identity. He says that in the future, he and the Flash have been enemies for years, but it was Savitar who truly broke him by killing Iris. He says by not revealing Savitar's identity, he gets to hurt the Flash one last time too. What a dick! Gypsy vibes a portal and takes him through it to Earth-19 (where I'm sure he'll never escape and pop up to pester Barry ever again).

Back at the West house, Joe & Iris are moping about the whole Kadabra/Savitar thing. Suddenly Barry enters and says he has a brilliant new idea to save Iris. He says their lives are all ancient history to entities from the future like Kadabra and Savitar. He says this is why their enemies are always two steps ahead of them. In order to fix this, Barry decides he's going to run to the future (again) to save Iris. That doesn't make a lick of sense, but I guess we've still got five episodes left to fill this season, so whatever.

In the med bay, Julian sits with Caitlin. She wakes up, and the two of them share a tender moment. Hooray, they're back together! HR enters, after being mysteriously absent for the entire episode (hmmm...). After some witty banter among the cast, Caitlin suddenly begins seizing and her heart stops beating. Cisco and Julian or course try using a defibrillator machine the wrong way to jumpstart her heart. Nothing works, and Caitlin dies (!).

A distraught Julian then yanks the power-dampening pendant from Caitlin's neck. Suddenly her wound heals, the room goes cold and there's a huge explosion of snow and ice. Killer Frost then emerges from the fog.

Thoughts:

• Stagg Industries first appeared wayyyy back in the Season 1 episode Fastest Man Alive. It was owned by Simon Stagg (a character who popped up in the comics from time to time), who was killed in the episode by Multiplex (who was traditionally a Firestorm villain in the comics). 

• While Barry's investigating the incident at Stagg Industries, he gets an alert that there's a break-in at Kord Industries, and rushes to the scene. He arrives just in time to catch Kadabra in the act.

According to the Official Arrowverse Wiki, Kord Industries is in Star City, which is where Arrow and his crew live. Somehow Barry runs from Central City to Star City before Kadabra has a chance to escape with his stolen piece of tech. I guess he really is the fastest man alive!

Note: I suppose it's possible there might be a much closer, Central City branch of Kord, but there's nothing in the dialogue to indicate this.

• Abra Kadabra was a major Flash foe in the comics, and was created by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino. He first appeared in 1962 in The Flash #128.

Much like in this episode, the comic version of Kadabra was from the 64th Century, a time when "science rendered stage magic obsolete." He wanted a career as a magician though, so he went back in time to the 20th Century and used his technology to dazzle audiences. He eventually became bored with showbiz and turned to crime, which is when he began clashing with the Flash.

Don't you just love that comic book cover above? "I've got the strangest feeling I'm being turned into a puppet!" Only in the Silver Age would you see a line like that!

By the way, back in Season 1 when we were all still trying to figure out Harrison Wells' true identity, I actually suggested he might really turn out to be Abra Kadabra (!). Obviously that was a hilariously wrong guess. In my defense, Wells was from the future, just like Kadabra, so it was only 98% unlikely. Hey, you can't guess 'em all right!

• Abra Kadabra is played here by actor David Dastmalchian. He was most recently in The Belko Experiment, where he played an assistant maintenance man alongside Michael Rooker.

He also played Kurt the computer hacker in Ant-Man (where he did his best David Tennant impression). That means Dastmalchian has played parts in both the Marvel and DC cinematic universes!

• Oh, The Flash costume designers. Why do you continue to vex me? Once again we get a supervillain wearing a bland, black, non-costume. I don't understand the problem. Barry, Wally and Jesse all wear traditional colorful superhero costumes. So why can't the various Arrowverse villains do the same?

Mirror Master, Mr. Mxyzptlk,  Music Meister— virtually every bad guy we've seen on the shows this year have worn the same damned thing— a plain black suit. Although in a burst of creative energy, Music Meister did accent his drab outfit with a bright red pocket square! Astonishing!

And of course Abra Kadabra is no different. Yet another plain black kind-of-tuxedo looking thing. I suppose I can cut them a slight bit of slack here, since he's supposed to be a stage magician, and his non-costume makes a certain amount of sense. It's still pretty drab though. Would it have killed them to have given him a cape, for Thor's sake?

• Gypsy says that Kadabra uses sophisticated technology instead of actual magic to perform his "tricks." Cisco and Caitlin both chime in with Clarke's Third Law, saying, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's actually a real saying, coined by noted sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke.

• So Kadabra uses advanced technology that's like magic to us, but he can't get out of a pair of 21st Century handcuffs. Got it.

• Kadabra refuses to help save Iris by telling Barry who Savitar really is. Barry and Joe then mope about the fact that they have no idea how to save Iris. Joe says, "Sometimes I wish you hadn't told me what was gonna happen."

Really? Wasn't he the guy who was pissed a few weeks ago when they finally told him the truth after keeping it from him for months? And wasn't he all butt-hurt when Barry didn't come to him and ask his permission to marry Iris? Make up your mind, Joe! You want to truth or don't you?

• When Caitlin's injured, Cisco says they can't take her to a hospital because they'd identify her as a metahuman. Wha...? Do Central City hospitals routinely check patients for metahumanness before treatment? What do they do if someone does turn out to be a meta? Tell 'em to hit the bricks?

This was all just some extremely contrived writing in order to put Julian in the position of treating Caitlin, so the writers could force them back together. Well, for a little while.

• Caitlin's "death" was pretty heavily telegraphed early on in the episode. Julian points to the "Killer Frost Still At Large" headline, which hasn't changed. A bit later Cisco comments to Caitlin, "Looks like things between you and Julian are a little frosty, huh?"

Then once she was injured, Cisco suddenly mentions that Caitlin has a Wolverine-like healing factor when she's in her Killer Frost persona (which I'm pretty sure is a retcon). Caitlin also stubbornly says she'd rather die than use her powers to fix herself.

Once you add up all that, an appearance by Killer Frost was practically guaranteed!

The real question is whether or not Caitlin is really dead. Is it possible for her to ever come back? I'm sure the writers would love us to think no, but I can't imagine they'd kill her off and just leave her villainous side running around from now on.

• When Julian rips the pendant from Caitlin's neck, her Killer Frost powers are unleashed. We then get a shot of her ugly incision healing itself almost instantly. Oddly enough, her stitches seem to fade away instead of falling off her torso. Weird.

• At one point Cisco tracks Kadabra's movements through Central City to help Barry catch him. He tells Barry, "Okay, now he's on Thurlow and Eighth."

We all know that The Flash writers love to name their fictional streets after real-life comic book creators. I did some extensive research (OK, more like a few seconds) and couldn't find any writers or artists named "Thurlow." However, there is a Thurlow Street in Vancouver, where The Flash (and all the other Arrowverse shows) are filmed.

• Kadabra may have just inadvertently revealed the identity of Season 4's Big Bad. Right before Gypsy takes Kadabra to Earth-19, Barry pleads with him to reveal the true identity of Savitar. 

Kadabra then monologues briefly, saying, "See, here it is. In the future, you and I have been enemies for years. Oh, there have been others, of course. There was Thawne, Zoom, DeVoe, but none of them hurt you like Savitar. He truly broke you."

Of course we're all too familiar with those first two names he mentions, but DeVoe's a new one. There's no way that's just some random name the writers came up with, to sell the idea that Kadabra's from the future. Especially since there's a DeVoe in the comics.

Clifford DeVoe, aka The Thinker, first appeared wayyyy back in 1943. He often clashed with the Golden Age Flash, aka Jay Garrick. DeVoe wore a Louis Tully-like "thinking cap," which amplified his psionic abilities. Later on in the Modern Age he was killed and became some sort of living artificial intelligence.

The producers have already stated that the main villain of Season 4 would NOT be another speedster (thank the Maker!), so it's a pretty good bet that Kadabra's comment was foreshadowing The Thinker.

• At the end of the episode, Barry decides he's gonna save Iris once and for all, by traveling to the future again, which will somehow give him an added advantage.

As I said earlier, this doesn't make a bit of sense. He's already seen Iris' future, many times now, and knows every detail about what's going to happen to her. What more is there to learn? I honestly don't understand how running to the future again is going to change anything.

This feels like more plot trickery, to give us another "Messed Up Alternate World" storyline, that we've already had twice this season.

The Flash Season 3, Episode 11: Dead Or Alive

Barry takes a back seat on this week's The Flash, as the episode revolves mostly around Cisco, Iris and HR. That's a good thing, by the way.

There's some interesting stuff in this week's episode, particularly Iris' and newfound bravado. Now that she knows the exact date of her impending doom, she suddenly believes she's invincible. Makes sense, doesn't it? If you see a glimpse of the future and witness yourself die four months from now, that means you HAVE to stay alive until then, right?

But is it a good idea for her to be so confident about the nature of her demise? Barry and the others are actively trying to change the future, and have tentatively proven it can be done. There's no real guarantee her May expiration date is true!

It was also nice to see the writers finally remember Iris is a journalist, and give her an appropriately investigative storyline.

The rest of the episode was sort of an origin story for HR, explaining why he came to Earth-1. I dunno... the more we learn about him, the more suspicious he becomes. Despite his seemingly harmless hipster doofus exterior, somehow I still don't fully trust him. There's just something... off about him somehow. I think he's still hiding something.

Julian's now a full-fleged member of Team Flash, and his integration into the Gang was much easier and smoother than I expected it to be.

Lastly, everything's going really well for Wally lately. He's getting faster all the time, his superhero skills are increasing, and the public can't get enough of him. Of course all this buildup just means he's due for a tragic fall before the end of the season. It's Writing 101.

Many fans believe Wally's somehow going to end up becoming Savitar. I'm starting to lean in that direction as well, as his ever-increasing speed certainly lends credence to that theory. Why else would they emphasize his speed so much unless it was leading up to something important?

I think the writers may go in another direction though. In this episode Barry realizes Wally's faster than he is, and wants to send him to save Iris from Savitar instead. What if Wally ends up saving his sister, but ends up getting killed himself? Savitar probably doesn't care which member of the West family he stabs. We'll find out in May!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
Barry and Wally team up to chase after the Electric Gang, who are speeding through Central City in a getaway car. The Gang is no match for two speedsters, and are easily caught and defeated. A crowd forms, sees Kid Flash and starts chanting his name. Boy, the public sure does seem to love Wally! He's even more popular than the Flash. It would be a shame if fate (or the writers) decided to do something horrible to him.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry asks Cisco if he's figured out a way to change the future and save Iris. He says no, but he did construct an elaborate recreation of her future death scene out of Lego so they can study it. Helpful! Julian, who's now joined Team Flash, tells Barry that saving Iris is mathematically impossible unless he somehow massively increases his speed in the next four months.

Cut to CC Jitters after hours. A portal opens up, and Gypsy— who we saw briefly at the end of last week's episode— steps through. She touches a coin in the tip jar and vibes that HR has been there. Just then the police show up and she blasts them with her powers and steps back through a portal. The writers apparently remembered that Barry's a CSI, so the next morning he investigates the break[in, and determines the suspect was a metahuman.

Joe senses something's wrong between Barry and Iris, and asks if they're OK. Barry of course lies and says everything's fine. Joe tells Barry that Iris is investigating some sort of shady arms deal, and he worries she's going to get hurt. He asks Barry to tell her to drop the story. Barry visits Iris at work, but can't convince her to change her mind about the article.

Back at STAR Labs, the Gang is reviewing security footage of the Jitters break-in. Just then Gypsy steps through a portal and says she's looking for HR. Cisco uses his vibe powers to blast her, which takes her by surprise. He then shamelessly flirts with her, as he's always been attracted to the "bad" girls. Wally enters and speeds toward Gypsy, but she stops him cold with her powers (!). She tells the Gang that HR is a fugitive from justice, and she's a collector who's been assigned to return him to Earth-19. She gives him an hour to say his goodbyes and disappears.

Everyone turns to stare at HR, who fesses up and explains that his home of Earth-19 has a strict ban on interdimensional travel, which is punishable by death. Barry refuses to just hand over HR, but Julian points out that the law's the law, even on other Earths. HR starts packing his things, and Cisco asks him why he risked his life to come to Earth-1 in the first place. HR says he was successful back home, but felt like a fraud, and wanted to start fresh on a brand new world. It all sounds perfectly reasonable, but ehhh... I still don't completely trust this guy. Barry enters and says there has to be some way out of this mess. HR says the only way out is trial by combat (!!).

Gypsy arrives to collect HR. She's about to take him back, when Cisco steps up and volunteers as tribute volunteers for trial by combat. Gypsy accepts, and tells him that the battle will be to the death. She gives him a day to prepare and disappears. Cisco gulps hard and says, "She's going to kill me, isn't she?"

Meanwhile, Wally asks Iris to drop her article. Instead she convinces him to go with her to the CCPD and use his superspeed to copy files on the arms dealers.

Cut to STAR Labs as the Gang trains Cisco. It doesn't go well. Barry and HR realize Cisco's not going to survive, so they track down Gypsy, who's "hanging out down at the waterfront (?)." They try to force her into leaving without HR or something, but their lame plan fails and she takes him with her as insurance until the trial.

Back at STAR Labs, Julian's been analyzing footage of Gypsy, and thinks he's found her weakness. Whenever she leaps out of a portal, her feet are off the ground for a split second. Cisco could use this to his advantage and knock her off balance.

Iris and Wally use the stolen files to track the arms dealers to an old warehouse. She distracts Wally while she sneaks inside. She finds crates full of weapons, and right when she whispers, "Got 'em," one of the dealers enters and pulls a gun on her. Amazingly, she walks toward the thug and presses his gun to her chest, apparently confident that she can't die until Savitar kills her this coming May (!). Luckily Wally speeds in and knocks out the thug.

At STAR Labs, Joe yells at Iris and Wally for pulling such a dangerous and boneheaded stunt, especially since the CCPD already had the arms dealers under surveillance. Barry asks Iris what's wrong with her, and she says she's afraid of dying and not leaving a mark on the world, the way her mother did. She wants to accomplish as much as possible in the time she has left.

Cisco, decked out in his full Vibe gear, meets Gypsy in an empty field, and their trial by combat begins. They blast away at each other with their similar powers, and Cisco surprisingly hold his own against the more experienced Gypsy. She then opens a portal and gives him a multidimensional beatdown, dragging him to various other Earths while blasting him. They battle on Earth-2, at Catco Headquarters on Earth-38 (where Supergirl lives) and some sort of lava-filled hell world.

Gypsy opens a portal back to Earth-1 and tosses Cisco through it. As she's jumping out of it, he remembers Julian's advice and sees her feet aren't touching the ground. He blasts her, knocks her backward and pins her down. She admits defeat and says she's prepared for him to kill her. Cisco tells her "we don't roll like that around here" or something, and refuses to kill her.

Later in STAR Labs, Gypsy says she doesn't want to ruin her perfect collection record, so she's decided to lie to the Earth-19 authorities and tell them she killed HR. The catch is this means he can never return home. She kisses Cisco and then jumps through a portal and disappears. HR thanks Cisco for saving his life, and asks him about the previous versions of Harrison Wells.

Barry reads Iris' article on the arms deal bust (which she must have written at superspeed) and tells her it's great. He promises her he's going to stop Savitar. Later Barry watches Wally train, impressed that his speed continues to increase. Barry tells Wally, "I'm not gonna save Iris from Savitar. YOU are."

Thoughts:
• At the very beginning of the episode, Barry and Wally chase after the Electric Gang. Believe it or not, they're actually from the comic, but as you might imagine, in a completely different form. 

The Electric Gang first appeared in The Flash #242, back in 1976. They were a trio made of living electricity, who used their powers to temporarily paralyze people so they could rob them.

• The Flash has always had a hit-or-miss record when it comes to adapting characters from the comics. Some are spot-on in looks as well as powers, like Grodd and the Reverse Flash. Others, like Mirror Master and the Top, don't fare quite as well, looking absolutely nothing like their comic namesakes.

Gypsy definitely falls into the latter category. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't try and recreate her unfortunate, stereotypical "costume" from the comics, but egad! Surely they could have come up with something better for her than the Standard Black Leather Superhero Costume™ we've seen a hundred times before in movies and TV. It looks for all the world like the costume designer found an old X-Men 2 costume in the dumpster behind Fox Studios and said, "Yep, this'll work jusssst fine."

Additionally, this version of Gypsy has none of the powers of the comic version. In the comic she had the power to create elaborate illusions, usually of something her opponent feared most. She could also cloak herself and other objects, rendering them virtually invisible. She also had limited psychic abilities.

TV Gypsy seems to have pretty much the same powers as Cisco. She can project power vibrational blasts from her hands, and open portals to other dimensions.

This version is Gypsy in name only. It makes me wonder why they just didn't invent a brand new character. I'm guessing they used her so comic nerds would point at their screens and say, "I know that name!"

• By the way, Gypsy was originally a member of the Justice League of America, in what most fans consider to be the absolute, all-time worst lineup of the team in comic history. 

This "Detroit Era League" consisted of Gypsy, Vibe (!), Commander Steel, Vixen, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna and Elongated Man. Aquaman was briefly the leader of this new team before coming to his senses and leaving (ignore Firestorm and Cosmic Boy in that image above— they were just guest stars in the comic that particular panel came from).

Oddly enough, a whopping FIVE members of the Detroit Team (Gypsy, Vibe, Vixen, Steel and Martian Manhunter) have appeared in the various Arrowverse shows. The only ones who've not yet appeared in live action are Zatanna and Elongated man. Somebody on the creative staff must really have a soft spot for this team!

• Gypsy's a very polite and considerate "collector." She gives HR an hour to "get his affairs in order" before taking him back to Earth-19. Is that something that real bounty hunters actually do? I'm guessing not.

• You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Cisco's quite an amazing superhero, er, I mean metahuman, with a very all-purpose power. He can send his mind into the past or future and take a look around as if he's really there. He can fire powerful vibrational blasts from his hands, and he can open portals or breaches into other dimensions. Whew! That's quite a list! Is there anything his amazing powers can't do? In comparison, all Barry and Wally can do is run fast!

• HR explains to the Gang why interdimensional travel is banned on Earth-19. Twenty five years ago, troops from another Earth opened a breach and invaded HR's world, almost destroying it. To prevent this from ever happening again, Earth-19 banned any and all interdimensional travel. They then employed the collectors to punish those who violated the law.

Wha...? That doesn't make any sense to me. How does Earth-19 proclaiming a ban on interdimensional travel stop other worlds from invading them? What's to stop another world from ignoring their ban and flooding the planet with troops? It's like putting a "NO TRESPASSING" sign in your yard and expecting it to keep burglars out of your house.

• This week we find out that HR violated the rules of his Earth, and is now an interdimensional criminal. Oddly enough, Barry votes to ignore the law and refuses to hand HR over to Gypsy. Um... isn't he supposed to be a superhero? Don't they generally uphold the law? Cisco and Caitlin feel the same, saying that HR shouldn't be punished because he's a "good person." It takes Julian to remind them all that the law's the law, even on other Earths, and they can't just dismiss it because they don't agree with it.

This little moral dilemma could have made for a compelling and interesting subplot, but alas, the episode can't be bothered to devote more than a few seconds to it. Too bad.

• Last week we got an establishing shot of STAR Labs, and there appeared to be scaffolding around the damaged pylon. I said it looked like they were finally fixing the damage caused by the particle accelerator explosion three years ago.

Or not! This week we get the same old establishing shot we always do. There's no scaffolding, and the pylon still looks like someone took a bite out of it. Maybe the editor grabbed the wrong footage in this episode?

• Speaking of buildings, most of The Flash's overhead establishing shots of Central City are actually filmed in Portland, Oregon (they sneak in shots from other cities now and then to mix things up a bit and prevent the audience from I.D.ing the location). The series itself is filmed in Vancouver though, and any exterior scenes involving the actors are shot there.

There's a very distinctive building with a round top that shows up in the background over and over in virtually every episode. It appears twice in Dead Or Alive, once during a day shot and again at night. You can see it in the upper left in both the above shots.

The building is the Vancouver Lookout, a popular tourist destination in the city. Since all the Arrowverse shows are filmed in Vancouver, it's popped up in every one of the series at one point or another. Either that building really gets around, or every city has an identical tower in it!

• At one point, Iris needs to distract her father Joe so Wally can use his superspeed to steal an important file. She gets Joe's attention by implying she and Barry are thinking about having a baby, but then changes the subject by asking if Barry's a dog or cat person.

It was a fun little scene, and the actors sold it well. But it doesn't make much sense. Iris should already know which type of pet Barry prefers, since they grew up together and they're foster siblings (!).

Yep, you probably forgot about that. Barry's technically shacking up with his sister!

• The best part of the episode was Cisco & Gypsy's Mutliverse-spanning battle.

They visited Earth-2, even though it didn't much look the way it did the last time we saw it. What's all the spaghetti-like stuff on the ground? Am I forgetting something that happened?

Next they went to Earth-38, specifically Catco Headquarters...

...where they ran into the easily startled Miss Teshmacher, former secretary to Cat Grant. I guess the budget must have been running low at this point, and they couldn't afford to get Melissa Benoist to pop her head in for five seconds.

And finally they ended up on some hellish lava world (number unknown) before returning to Earth-1. Too bad they didn't have the time or money to squeeze a few more Earths into their battle.

• At the end of the episode, Gypsy lets HR off the hook, on the condition he never return to Earth-19. So I guess he's now a permanent resident of Earth-1? I hope that doesn't mean the end of the Alternated Wellseses. I like the show's tradition of giving us a new version of Harrison Wells each season.

• This week's fun lines:
HR: (to Julian) "Bond, are you coming?"

Cisco: "Julian suggested we make a 3-D reconstruction of the scene from the future exactly as we saw it."
Barry: "With toys."
Caitlin: "The medium's not important."
Cisco: "Thank you. Eye on the ball, Barry."
Barry: (picking up a Lego figure) "Is this me? Why is he an astronaut?"
Cisco: "Eye on the ball, Barry, okay?"

Cisco: (confronting Gypsy, then slowly starting to flirt with her) "Let's just talk about this, like two adults, over coffee, or maybe dinner, if you prefer that. There's a great Thai place up the road, if you like Thai. I'm Cisco, by the way. You must be Gypsy. It's nice to meet you."
Caitlin: "Are you asking her on a date?"
HR: "Are you kidding me?"
Cisco: "I am negotiating."

Wally: (to Gypsy) "Ma'am, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the building."
I'm not sure, but that sounded like an Army Of Darkness reference to me. Or it's possible it's a play on Superman, and the fact that he's unfailingly polite, even to supervillains.

Iris: "You know, sometimes I wish we had normal-people problems." 
Barry: "Yeah, that would be nice."

Wally: "Oh, that, uh, arms dealer thing?"
Iris: "How do you know about that?"
Wally: "Because both Dad and Barry want you to lay off of it. The phrase "death wish" got tossed around a lot by them."

Cisco: "By the laws of Earth-19, I hereby challenge you for possession of H.R. Wells. If you want, we can solve this another way. There's a great spot for drinks."..
Gypsy: "You realize trial by combat is to the death?"
Cisco: "Yeah. For the loser. Listen, you want him? You're gonna have to come and claim him. Hmm. That's Arwen. That's... Arwen."

Cisco: (to Gypsy) "I'm just a regular guy. Just a regular... single guy."