The Flash Recap With Spoilers: The Runaway Dinosaur

The episode opens where last week’s left off: Barry is gone, and while his father mourns losing [...]

By Russ Burlingame

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The episode opens where last week's left off: Barry is gone, and while his father mourns losing him, the rest of the team goes into denial mode hoping to track him down.

When Harry calls out for Jesse and Wally, they don't answer — so the team runs through the lab to go check on them. Wally wakes up, but Harry says that Jesse's heart has stopped. She springs back to life, though, and Iris tells Joe to find Henry, who's a doctor and can check on them.

Iris tells Joe to get Henry, and he does — but before he leaves to check on Jesse and Wally, Cisco touches Barry's costume and vibes on Barry, standing in the middle of what looks like an energy storm.

On a bed, Barry wakes up in his childhood bedroom, roused by what sounds like sonic booms. He explores the house in silence, seeing everything just as it was when he lived there — but there's crime scene tape in the living room and Joe is examining something on the floor. Barry calls out to him, and Joe tells him that he isn't Joe. He asks Barry how he feels being back there, and Barry says he feels awful. Not-Joe said that "we" thought Barry would be more comfortable with a familiar face and familiar surroundings, and tells Barry to sit down.

Not-Joe asks Barry what he knows about the Speed Force, and Barry says that it's the source of his abilities. Not-Joe says yes and no, saying that it's a force that predates the universe and will exist after the end of the universe. Barry deduces that he's talking to the Speed Force. He's confused that the Speed Force "just so happens to look" like Joe. He says that the Speed Force needs to send him back, because his friends are in danger from Zoom — and something passes by outside, casting a shadow. Not-Joe tells Barry that he isn't going back until he catches the thing that's running around outside.

At the med bay, Team Flash tells Harry that Barry is still alive and after describing Cisco's vision, and Harry says Barry is in the Speed Force. Joe tells Henry that they'll eventually figure out where Barry is, but Henry has to help keep Jesse alive.

Iris tells Henry that Jesse's symptoms remind her of Barry's during his coma, and she and Cisco head down to the morgue to look for records of how Thawne treated Barry back then. Instead, they find a zombie-looking version of Girder.

Seemingly crazed, Girder starts charting through the morgue, trashing the place. Iris shines a flashlight in his eyes and he briefly stops, then runs away, turning to metal and staggering out into the streets of the city.

In the Speed Force, Barry is standing in a park, catching his breath, when he sees Iris. She says that "we're" glad he made it. She asks him if she remembers the place, where he and Iris shared their first kiss. She says that she's surprised he seems upset. He tells her that his whole world is in danger, and the Speed Force is keeping him here. She says that he was given a rare and precious gift, and he rejected it. He tells her that he nearly killed himself trying to get his powers back, and she says that's not what she meant. He asks why they gave him the powers in the first place, and she says because he's The Flash.

At S.T.A.R., the team tells them about zombie Girder, and Joe tells him that Wells needs to find Barry — that everyone needs to do what they can do best. Iris and Joe are going looking for Tony.

Outside a Big Belly Burger, Girder breaks into a Hummer.

In the Breach Room, Harry gives Cisco Barry's costume and gives him the "recipe" for a feedback loop, where he'll vibe on Barry and essentially serve as a homing beacon to bring Barry back. He starts trying.

In the Speed Force, Barry is begging Iris for help getting home. Cisco is calling to him, and suddenly Barry hears it, sees an electrical storm over the water in the park, and asks what it is. She tells him that's his friends, and they want him to come back. She tells him that of course he can, but if he does, it will be without his powers.

In the storm, Barry turns to Cisco, who shouts to take his hand. Iris tells Barry that the choice is his, and Barry turns away from Cisco to pursue the shadowy figure that's been running through the Speed Force.

Back at S.T.A.R., Harry stops the experiment, leaving Cisco drained. Cisco tells Henry and Iris that Barry turned away and they lost him.

At S.T.A.R., Iris is looking for Girder. They realize that he's looking for Iris, and that he'll head to their house next. Iris suggests they use her as bait to lure Girder back to S.T.A.R. Labs where Cisco and Wells can kill him.

In the Speed Force, Barry is again getting his breath when he sees his father standing in front of his mother's grave. He tells the Speed Force that he doesn't have time for this. "Henry" leads Barry to Nora's grave, saying that Barry has never been there.

At home, Joe asks Wally how he's feeling, and Wally says tired but okay. Joe tries to see whether Wally is developing powers, and as they're standing there in confusion, Girder makes his way down the street. Iris heads out to lure Girder to her, calling out to him and then jogging toward S.T.A.R.

At Nora's grave, "Henry" asks whether Barry has really accepted losing his mother. Barry says he had a chance to save her, but that the Speed Force saw what he chose. "Henry" asks if Barry is at peace with that decision, and Barry asks if anyone can ever really be at peace with letting his mother die. "Henry" asks if Nora would have really wanted him to die for her — and whether the lives of those The Flash has saved have value, too.

Barry sees the shadowy figure running on the horizon and runs toward it.

At S.T.A.R., Cisco has a magnetic field set up to trap Girder and/or wipe his brain activity like a hard drive. Eventually everyone gets trapped in the Breach Room with Girder slamming on the outside door.

In the Speed Force, Barry makes his way to back home following the shadow. At the dinner table is Barry's mom. He tells her that she isn't his mother, and asks why the Speed Force is doing this to him. She says that they aren't doing anything to him, he's just tired, and asks him to sit.

He tells her that "they" were right: that he hasn't accepted his mother's death and won't truly ever do it. She tells him that he has to find a way, and that she doesn't know how, but that what he's become is wonderful, but it won't stop bad things from happening to him, and he has to accept that.

She says that Nora is proud of him, and the man that he's become — that the Speed Force knows how Nora feels. She kisses him on the head.

Iris offers to make herself bait for Girder, but nobody will let her. Cisco realizes that maybe Barry didn't want to come back.

In the Speed Force, Barry and "Nora" bond over his favorite children's book, until she asks if he's ready. He gets up and, reaching out with a closed fist, catches the shadow as it runs past: it's him, as The Flash, and the two Barrys become one.

Cisco decides to try again — this time touching Iris to bring her into the vibe and bring Barry back. Cisco vibes and, appearing in the living room in Barry's old house, he and Iris arrive and see Barry — The Flash. Iris asks him to come home to her, and Nora tells him, "Run, Barry, run."

Barry reaches out to touch the breach and eventually joins hands with Iris, popping out of the Speed Force. While everyone else is celebrating, Cisco tells Barry about zombie Girder. Barry tells Cisco he'll lure Girder back to the workshop, and Girder comes in through the door. Barry grabs Iris and speeds past Girder, luring him through the hallways so that Team Flash can get to Cisco's lab. The magnet setup needs a much longer cord to work, but they have no time as Girder shows up and tries to punch Barry out. Barry runs in a circle around the magnets, using his lightning to charge them and trapping Girder, who "boots down."

In the med bay, Barry visits Jesse. When Harry tells Barry he doesn't need to be there, he says he thinks he does. When he touches her hand, there's a little lightning and she wakes up, disoriented.

Later, Barry is out of costume and Henry is giving him a checkup. Barry tells Henry that he finally understands Henry's sense of fate. Henry tells him that he's staying in Central City from now on.

Later, Barry brings Iris to Nora's grave, where he visits it in person for the first time, leaving flowers and a copy of the children's book. Iris says she never liked it because it was about a mother's love, and that neither she nor Barry really ever had anybody who was just right for them. Barry says he thinks that he doesn't know what they have, but he knows that she's everything to him.

At Central City PD, Solomon asks Caitlin whether she's with him or against him, cautioning her not to answer until he returns from a trip to talk to friends in the other room. He tells her that she can leave, but if she does, he knows she's against him and he will kill them all, including her, next time he sees them.

In the main room of the police department, Zoom addresses a gathering of supervillains, rallying them to prepare for takeover.

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