The Flash Recap With Spoilers: Here’s Everything You Missed in “Armageddon, Part 1”

The Flash returned this week, kicking off Season 8 of the long-running Arrowverse series with the first part of the five-part “Armageddon” event. The eagerly anticipated event, while not exactly a crossover according to series showrunner Eric Wallace, does see some familiar faces from other DC-inspired shows on The CW. While Black Lightning (Cress Williams), Alex Danvers/Sentinel (Chyler Leigh), and Mia Queen/Green Arrow (Katherine McNamara) are all set to appear in later installments, the kick-off episode saw Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) pay a visit to Central City.

Of course, he’s not the only visitor to The Flash’s hometown. A mysterious alien visitor from the future, Despero (Tony Curran) shows up with some dire information for Barry (Grant Gustin) about the state of the future, and his role in it. So, what threat is Team Flash facing now?We’ve got you covered with those details in our recap of “Armageddon, Part 1” but be warned: there are spoilers beyond this point. 

Central City 2031

Central City, 2031. There is chaos in the street and a literal “the end is nigh” graffiti. Despero shows up and notes that he can stop this before activating his belt and vanishing. Present-day Central City. Caitlin and Barry walk to get coffee. Frost is away, still pining over Chillblaine. Caitlin says she’s ready to start dating again, but they get an alert of an impending train disaster. The Flash speeds off to save the lives of those on the trains before speeding back to coffee. Barry is faster than ever. He’s leveled up.

Hey Ray

At the Citizen, Iris has a podcast and is interviewing Kramer, who has had a huge change of heart about metahumans since last season. The Citizen has leveled up, too as CC Citizen Media, moving to a building owned by Sue Dearbon. Iris promotes Allegra to supervising editor. At home that night, Barry and Iris have dinner and relax, planning to have some alone time when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Ray Palmer. He’s in town for a tech conference and needs to crash with them.

At Mercury Labs, a group – the Royal Flush Gang – shows up to steal a piece of tech, which they manage easily.

The Royal Flush gang

Ray makes Barry and Iris healthy juice and fills them in on how the Legends and sort of reveals he doesn’t talk to them much, but he’s deep into his research now. Another knock at the door and it’s Chester who fanboys a bit about Ray. Barry leaves and goes to investigate the Mercury Labs theft. Kramer is struggling with the dismantling of the Meta Taskforce, as well as her own powers.

At the Citizen, Allegra gets pushback from her staff even when she gives them a direct order on what to cover. The flat-out are insubordinate. At the lab, Barry thinks the train incident and the Mercury Labs incident may be connected and they are. Then, Iron Heights loses power and inmates nearly escape, but The Flash discovers that the Royal Flush gang is behind it. 

Plans

Ray and Chester get coffee. Chester has some big ideas for Ray, but Ray isn’t necessarily on board with some of Chester’s plans as Ray doesn’t want to start another tech business. He wants a more balanced life and that’s why he hasn’t been The Atom in a long time. Chester, embarrassed, leaves. At the conference, Iris catches up with Allegra, who tells her about what happened. Iris says she can handle it.

Turns out the Royal Flush gang took a specific prisoner. Chester is being hard on himself. The Flash suggests that the Royal Flush gang hasn’t actually changed their M.O. and now Team Flash has a lead. Looks like they’re stealing things to run a massive computer for a crazy heist. Once the heist begins, The Flash shows up to stop the gang. He enters Flashtime and stops them. 

Voice of the people

Ray and Barry talk about what happened with Chester. Ray says he doesn’t want to fall back into the trap, but Barry gives him some advice about learning to take time out and encourages him to build something new. In his interview, Ray admits he’s not sure what’s next but they can all find out together next year. At the Citizen, Allegra hands out brutal edits to her staff and then tells them that they need to do better about incorporating the voice of the people.

Unwelcome guest

Despero shows up at the technology conference and makes everyone flee before asking The Flash to show himself. Despero says he’s going to kill him. Ray runs to suit up as The Atom while The Flash faces off with Despero. Even teamed up they’re not much of a match, though, as Despero can mess with their minds. The Flash tries to find out why Despero is after him so Despero shows him the bleak future, a coming Armageddon a decade from now that The Flash causes. It’s the distraction Ray needs to stop Despero.

The truth

At STAR Labs, they debrief about what Despero showed The Flash. Caitlin confirms that Despero was telling the truth about the future. Ray suggests that they have to figure out what kind of alien Despero is so Caitlin calls Alex in National City. That night, Iris and Allegra catch up and run a story about what happened at the conference. Ray tells Chester he’s creating a nonprofit organization, named after Chester’s father, to support young scientists and inventors. Before Ray leaves, he tells Barry to just show Despero who he is. 

Ultimatum

Soon after, Despero shows up at STAR Labs so that The Flash can show who him who he really is. Despero scans Barry’s mind to see who he really is and realizes Barry is telling the truth about being honorable, but can’t risk the future. Barry then reveals his identity to Despero to convince him to prove he won’t become the villain in the future. Despero gives Barry seven days to fully convince him and if he fails, Despero will kill him.