The Flash Recap With Spoilers: Here’s Everything You Missed in “Armageddon, Part 5”

The finale of The Flash‘s five-part “Armageddon” event is finally here. Last week, in “Armageddon, Part 4”, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) undid Eobard Thawne’s (Tom Cavanagh) Reverse Flashpoint with a little assist from Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), setting everything right again — including restoring Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) back to life. However, the threat of Thawne still remains and Despero (Tony Curran) is also still in play.

This week, The Flash finds himself faced with an opportunity to finally end things with Thawne for good, but the episode also sees a visitor from the future when Mia Queen (Katherine McNamara) shows up with a mission of her own.  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 5”, but be warned: there are major spoilers beyond this point.

Welcome back, Joe

The episode picks up with Joe on the phone with Barry — the call from Part 4 — and Barry races over to the West house to hug him. Barry fills Joe in on what happened and how Thawne stole his life and messed with the timeline via a Reverse Flashpoint, including Joe’s “death”. Joe reassures him that he’s here now and not going anywhere. The moment is interrupted though with the appearance of Damien Dark. Turns out that Damien may have temporarily been drawn to 2021 because he was connected to the time stone Barry used to set things right, He doesn’t know how long he has but he just wants to see his daughter.

Meanwhile, Reverse Flash shows up at the CCPD antagonizing them but saying he’s not ready to die yet. At STAR, Barry tries to explain the weird timeline to Team Flash, including showing Chester the technology that his future self-created that ultimately saved the timeline. They get a news alert, though, that Thawne is at CCPD. Thawne is trying to draw out The Flash, but that’s not who he gets. Instead, Green Arrow shows up — Mia Queen. She wants to know where William is, but Thawne doesn’t tell her and then starts to experience temporal fade. Thawne goes to kill Mia, but The Flash intervenes, saving her. Thawne then asks Barry to save him.

Mia

Back at STAR, Mia is brought up to speed and she explains that she tracked Thawne by mistake while tracking someone else. Turns out that when Barry reversed Thawne’s changes, he also set in motion for Thawne to be erased for good. Mia says they’re making a big mistake even considering saving Thawne. Iris goes to talk to her. Mia tells her she’s there to find William as he’s missing. Mia recaps what happened at the end of the Green Arrow and the Canaries pilot. Turns out she hasn’t seen him since and he’s now been missing for two years, and she found temporal energy at the crime scene, and it led her here. All she still has is the Queen family hozen. Iris asks if she’s asked Felicity for help, but Mia says her mother wouldn’t understand what’s she’s done to get as far as she has — Iris tells her that her father eventually learned that killing wasn’t exactly the answer. Mia thinks Iris needs to woman up and kill Thawne.

Let Thawne die?

Caitlin checks on Thawne, and he tries to get into her head by reminding her of where she was eight years ago — with Ronnie, then the explosion of the particle accelerator. Thawne tells her she’s stuck rather than getting on with her life. Caitlin doesn’t exactly take the bait and tells him that death is a part of life and that he can’t outrun what is coming for him. She also tells Thawne she hates him and that she’s not the person who is going to save him. Caitlin then goes and tells Barry that they need to let Thawne die.

Barry goes to speak with Thawne. He wants to know why Thawne created a Reverse Flashpoint and tries to understand why destroying his life is such a big deal for Thawne. Barry wants to know what he did to Thawne. And Thawne tells him. In 200 years, they meet for the first time. Thawne gets speed and is about to present himself to the world, but The Flash shows up pursuing a case and dazzles the crowd — and saves them — before he can. Thawne felt humiliated by Barry, who had been his hero, so Thawne’s reaction was to get faster and destroy Barry. He also admits that if Barry saves him, Thawne is just going to continue looking for new ways to kill him. 

A decision

Despero shows up later and tells him that Barry needs to let Thawne die because if Barry doesn’t, there’s no way to ensure Armageddon is really prevented. Despero also says he can’t kill him because there’s no other way to ensure Thawne is gone for good. They just must let him die. Caitlin, Barry, and Iris are now on the side of letting Thawne die, but Chester and Allegra don’t agree. Iris tells them they don’t get a say, Cecile thanks they should consider things. But Joe shows up and tells Barry and Iris that they need to talk. Joe is not happy with the idea that they are going to let Thawne die. He tells them that they are obligated to help him because he came for help. Joe admits he wants him dead, too, but they have to protect everyone, not just “good people because heroes protect everyone. Joe gets mad and tells them that they always have a choice. It turns out, Barry has already figured out how to save Thawne — take away his speed.

With the decision to save Thawne set, Despero decides to take things into his own hands. He mind controls Mia.

The truth about Despero

The plan to save Thawne is straightforward: take away his speed and then Argus will take him into custody. Despero shows up to tell him that they’re making a mistake because Thawne can recover his powers. He threatens The Flash and then they both disappear. The team goes to protect Thawne but are stopped by Mia.

The Flash tells Despero he’s never been a hero and calls Despero out for lying about his own backstory. Turns out that Despero was the despot in his origin story and that he’s been wrong this entire time. Despero is the villain. They fight. At STAR, Mia goes after the rest of Team Flash, shooting Caitlin in the leg and preparing to kill Iris while Barry and Despero continue to fight on the streets of Central City. Iris and Cecile work on talking Mia down and breaking Despero’s connection to her. They’re successful and bringing Mia back.

Gold boots

Barry ends up back at STAR Labs after Despero says he is going to be the hero the world needs. He’s planning to destroy the whole city just to kill Thawne. Team Flash must work fast to take away Thawne’s speed as time is running out. They decide to use the PED from the future to deal with the flame of Py’tar — by giving Flash his Gold Boots. The boots allow The Flash to disperse the Flame, defeating Despero by disconnecting his connection to it. Despero vows they will pay and disappears. With just a few seconds remaining, Barry races back to STAR Labs. He hits Thawne with massive amounts of energy and disconnects him from his speed, saving his life but rendering him speedless. Thawne, however, says his speed was his life and all Barry has done is left him in hell. 

The timeline restored?

The day saved, Team Flash celebrates along with Mia, but Damien Dark shows up. Mia moves to kill him but doesn’t when Damien seems to accept that as his fate, and he’s surprised that he’s still alive anyway. Damien honestly isn’t sure why he’s still alive. Iris talks with Mia and gives her a clue about William. Turns out she found a lead on the symbols on the chosen and Mia decides she’s going to go see her mother after all, having chosen to be a hero. Iris invites her to visit more often while she’s spending time in 2021. Chester, at Frost’s encouraging, goes to try to flirt with Allegra. Joe goes to talk with Damien, dad to dad. Joe thanks him for helping Barry. Damien still doesn’t know why he’s still there and Joe suggests that maybe he’s got a little more work to do. He gives Joe the time stone and then disappears — it’s confusing for Damien, but where he’s ended up, he finds Nora. They get a very brief reunion, and he gets to tell her that he loves her one more time. When it’s over, Nora appears in the bar in Damien’s place, not sure what happened but Barry understands. The timeline fix has completed. Nora is back alive and okay, thanks to Damien. Joe comforts her and takes her aside to tell her the story.

The episode ends with Barry making a toast to the team, but at the CCPD, a photo on the wall from 2014 changes to include Bart and Nora in the background.