The Flash s7e04 aired on 23rd March 2021.
“Central City Strong” is both our title and the volunteer programme for Central City’s citizens to help rebuild their city after the mirror dupe rampage. The name represents rebuilding together in the wake of a common loss. Elsewhere, a Mirrorverse Survivors Support Group has emerged, where those who were taken confront their feelings around the experience, surrounded by others who share a similar trauma and who understand.
So then, while the episode soon shifts away from the Central City Strong backdrop to the Villain of the Week, it ends with said villain also get the Talk instead of being wrestled into submission by some wild superpower action. It might be boring to see the Flash talk down his adversary twice in a row, but that is the point. Instead of fighting trauma and pretending it’ll just go away, the characters have to recognise it and face it in order to carry on, and being to recover alongside one another.
P.S. where’s that counsellor from season 4?
The Barry and Iris superpower
Barry has been treating Iris to all sorts of global romantic getaways for the past week. It is his way of making up for not realising she was trapped in the mirrorverse (and not realising he was living with an imposter). Iris is trying to put all the mirror stuff behind her and get back to normal life. I do wish their Hallway Talk of the Week was more balanced rather than skewed towards Barry, though.
With help from Allegra as well, Iris find the courage to acknowledge her own trauma from the mirrorverse.
There’s also a reminder that back when Caitlin couldn’t control her Killer Frost personality, she tried to kill a lot of people. But she works things out with ARGUS off-screen and is no longer wanted.
Cisco and Chester have a little caffeinated nerd alliance going on. Speaking of, didn’t both of them go through some trying times too? Chester basically woke up from some long super-powered coma, and Cisco also had his girlfriend replaced by an imposter. And did they ever get to have their Star Wars marathon?
A man who has lost everything
Metavillain of the week is Abra Kadabra, whom we last saw in Season 3. Quick recap: he is from the 64th century and knows Barry Allen is the Flash (thanks to the future Flash Museum). At the end of his first appearance, the show briefly mentioned the man’s family. Turns out, that family now ceases to exist thanks to good ol’ capital-C Crisis. He blames Barry and now wants to blow up Central City as revenge.
Barry successfully appeals to Kadabra’s humanity this time. After all, he did lose someone in Crisis too. The Flash and Abra make up, the magician finally making things even by giving Barry his name. (Did anyone catch the name? I think it was Khaliq.)
Then some third-rate Hulk appears out of nowhere and kills him. Excuse me, what? Way to ruin an emotional moment.
I supposed that has something to do with all the time quakes and force lightning around Central City.
A splitting headache
This week’s tag was no plot-twisting cliffhanger (aw shucks, I was bracing myself for some internal screaming). But it is fun and surprising nonetheless. Caitlin and Killer Frost have now split into two separate bodies! Cisco falling out of his chair was hilarious. Is Frost wearing a Superman tee?
Stray observations:
- Remember when season 1 Barry vibrated his voice and face to hide his identity…he doesn’t do that on local news anymore. Sure that’s not a problem?
- I suppose it would be rubbing salt in the wound to show a bustling Jitters when many places are still in some sort of lockdown and cafes are open at limited capacity. To compensate, we have Cisco and Chester mentioning their coffee runs. “Holy Cappuccino”
- “I see you’re finally Mecha-Vibe,” Abra Kadabra notes of Cisco’s vibe tech suit. “He did not just name me,” Cisco huffs indignantly.
- “Is this Crisis 2.0?” Allegra worries over the antimatter bomb. Luckily, there wasn’t enough antimatter to create other multiversal Crisis. “Thank the sequel gods,” Cisco heaves, having just ranked Star Wars movies earlier.
Find our past The Flash recaps here at the Flash Zone.
