Last week, The Flash‘s “Armageddon, Part 3” confirmed Barry Allen’s initial (Grant Gustin) suspicions that someone was messing with him in terms of Despero’s (Tony Curran) claim that he causes the end of the world in the future, but not quite in the way the speedster expected. The final moments of the episode saw Barry race to 2031 to see for himself what happens only to discover his greatest enemy, Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) somehow engaged to Iris (Candice Patton) and all his friends seeing him as the enemy.
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This week, in “Armageddon, Part 4,” the penultimate episode of The CW series’ “Armageddon” event, we’ll find out why. As photos from the episode have already teased, Thawne has somehow changed things so that he is The Flash while Barry is the Reverse Flash. If Thawne has managed to make a villain out of Barry, it’s possible that he could have had a major hand in the rest of Barry’s woes. The episode will also see an appearance by Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) as well as some other familiar faces from across the Arrowverse, including Batwoman (Javicia Leslie), Sentinel (Chyler Leigh), and Ryan Choi (Osric Chau).
Need to find out what’s next for Barry now that he’s travelled to the future for answers? We’ve got you covered in our recap of “Armageddon, Part 4”, but be warned: there are major spoilers beyond this point.
Alternate reality
Central City 2031. Ryan and Iris are talking about relationship matters, specifically Ryan is talking about having children with her wife, Sophie and the challenges of pregnancy while being Batwoman. Cecile is also having family-related issues of her own with a now-teenage Jenna. Allegra and Chester have an awkward encounter—Allegra has been living in London but may be moving to Gotham. Eobard interrupts to start his speech, picking up the episode where last week left off. Barry confronts Eobard, but when Barry tries to prove to them all that he’s really The Flash by suiting up, he’s in the Reverse Flash suit. Thawne is the “real” Flash.
“Flash” vs. “Reverse Flash”
Thawne tells Team Flash to suit up and everyone at the party does so, aligning with Thawne against Barry. Barry tries to explain that he came from 2021 but no one is listening to him. A fight breaks out and Barry is taken down by the team, told that it’s for Nate, Ray, Sara, and Cisco. Barry speeds away, taking Iris with him to try to convince her that something is wrong with the timeline, but Thawne shows up and snatches him away. Thawne explains that he created a Reverse Flashpoint and that he is the architect of all Barry’s bad day in 2021— the issues at STAR, Joe’s death, etc. He went back in time to make sure that he made himself the Flash to steal Barry’s life and made Barry Reverse Flash instead. He even wore Barry’s face to turn Central City against him. He even orchestrated Barry asking Black Lightning taking his speed. Thawne’s ultimate plan ends with Barry dying. Thawne reveals that as part of his Reverse Flashpoint, he killed Barry as a child and at midnight, the timeline solidifies, and Barry disappears.
Damien Darhk
In disguise, Barry goes to Jitters where he hears a news item about Damien Darhk getting out of prison for murder, so Barry pays Damien a visit. Barry plays along a bit and gives Damien sort of a light version of what Thawne has done with the timeline. Damien has an idea of how to fix things — you have to do it all at once and need a specific device that was ripped from Ray’s dead hands.
At STAR, Team Flash with Thawne works on trying to find Barry who is operating on limited speed. Iris tells Thawne that she feels like Barry seems off. Thawne seems nervous. Alex and Allegra talk about her situation with Chester, and it’s revealed that they hooked up ten years before, but nothing came of it. Before the conversation can continue, the pair are blasted against a wall. Meanwhile, Chester and Ryan Choi are working in the lab. Damien and Barry show up. Turns out the PED is in STAR Labs. They go to grab the device when Cecile, using Psycho Pirate’s mask, but they defeat her quickly and leave. However, because Barry doesn’t want to kill them, Damien realizes he’s not the Reverse Flash.
Listen to your heart.
Barry tells Damien the truth. Barry explains that in the correct timeline, Nora is alive and well and tells him how he sacrificed himself for her. In this fake timeline, Nora is dead. Damien tests Barry to see if he’s lying and when he realizes Barry is being honest, Damien agrees to help him restore the timeline. At Iris’ loft, Batwoman says she must return to Gotham, but she gives her a gun that will disconnect a speedster from their speed force. Iris is also struggling to write her vows. She’s haunted by what Barry said. Batwoman tells her to listen to her heart.
Love is all you need.
Alex confronts Chester about ghosting Allegra, but it turns out that he didn’t. He went to get coffee and food, but it was Allegra who ghosted Chester. Before he could say anything to her, they were attacked by the Legion of Doom and then they never had a chance to talk about it and Allegra told him the night was a mistake. Alex and Ryan Choi also chat and disagree a bit, with Alex telling him someday he will wake up alone and realize how wrong he is about love himself. Alex then confronts Allegra for lying to her about Chester and Allegra admits that waking up alone triggered her, so she just pushed him away. Ryan Choi comes and joins the conversation and encourages Allegra to try with Chester and admits that he doesn’t want to wake up alone himself.
Barry works out the science he needs to reach the right speed to pull off their plan and it’s substantial. Barry would trigger Armageddon if he ran at the speed around the world he needed to. With time running out, Barry must decide. Barry only has two minutes to hit Mach 20 to pull things off. Damien gives him an unexpected pep talk: speed isn’t the only thing that guides Barry. Love is also a huge aspect of Barry’s power. Love is what drives him.
Run Barry, run.
Team Flash gets a hit on Barry, who shows up at Iris’ loft, though he’s begun to phase in and out. He tells her that he is about to do something impossible and starts to try to tell her how he feels, but Thawne shows up and encourages Iris to shoot Barry. Barry tells Iris he loves her, and Iris ends up shooting Thawne instead. She tells Barry to go before she changes her mind. Damien positions himself at the point of origin as defense. Barry takes off racing as fast as he can around the world. Armageddon begins. Thawne gives chase and Damien warns Barry that he has company as Damien himself is attacked by Frost and Chillblaine — who are currently protected by a spell from Constantine. At STAR, Allegra and Chester admit that they love each other and kiss. Barry tells Damien he’s still not fast enough and Damien tells him to focus. Ryan Choi shows up as the Atom and stops Damien along with Sentinel.
Timeline restored
Thawne is gaining on Barry and goads him, telling him that he’s too late, but Barry sees images of his life with Iris and in Central City, Iris tells Barry she loves him too it’s enough to give Barry the boost he needs. Back in Central City 2021, Despero has killed Team Flash and is torturing Cecile to get Barry’s location but before he can kill Cecile, a wave of temporal energy washes over everything. Barry arrives, restored to as The Flash. Barry tells Despero what happened. He did have to start Armageddon, but Despero left before the world actually ended and explained that Thawne had been chasing him. It was the speed from both of them that was tearing the world apart. Iris helped Barry reconnect to the Speed Force. Despero is able to confirm Barry is telling the truth about things, but he is still skeptical and decides to go to 2031 to confirm things for himself — and if anything is wrong, he will be back to kill Barry.
Undeterred
Despero having left, Barry goes into the lounge at STAR and things seem to be back to normal. Barry has his job, everyone is having lunch, and most importantly, Joe is alive. Barry speaks to him on the phone, relieved to know his father figure is safe. However, as the episode closes, Thawne — now the Reverse Flash again — shows up in the vault to try to change things yet again.
