The Flash Recap With Spoilers: "Wednesday Ever After"

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The CW's The Flash Season 9 premiere, "Wednesday Ever After." Read beyond this point at your own risk.

After a brief recap of Season 8 of The Flash, "Wednesday Ever After" opens with Team Flash dealing with Tar Pit threatening Central City. The Team is working almost seamlessly, including Frost and it soon becomes clear that this isn't a real battle; Barry is having a nightmare. Frost tells Barry that he couldn't protect her while Allegra and Chester tell him that he can't save them. One by one, everyone's eyes flash with red lightning and they scream in pain and fall, including Iris who tells Barry he can't protect her. Barry wakes up at home in his own bed.

The next morning, he and Iris wake up. It's been a week since the events of the Season 8 finale and Iris must head back to work for the first time since. Barry tells her she's going to have a big day at CCCMedia and tells her to "just say yes" before racing off. At STAR Labs, Joe is working with Cecil on her newly amplified powers, specifically her telekinetic powers but it isn't going especially well. Joe seems more worried than usual.

At work, Allegra gets Iris up to speed on things and reveals that Cat Grant has reached out to the Citizen with an offer to buy them out. All Iris had to do is "just say yes". Allegra insists that this is how her media empire begins and is excited, but Iris doesn't seem to be quite as excited. She quickly excuses herself. At the police station, Barry meets with Captain Kramer. He puts himself up for the director of the CSI, which is what she was going to ask him about. Barry seems to be reading her mind or knowing the future. He reassures her that he can handle both the promotion and being The Flash. They get word about a transport downtown under attack and off goes The Flash.

The attack is being carried out by the new Captain Boomerang/Owen Mercer. They fight, but The Flash loses and Mercer teleports away. Barry isn't worried about catching him. He says they'll catch him another day and he goes off to his dinner plans with Iris. However, the device Mercer was messing with crackles with suspicious lightning. That night at home, Barry reveals his Map Book to Iris. He's created a record of everything that will happen to them in the future. He has come up with a catalog of all the events they've figured out between time travel and Gideon's records. He tells Iris about his nightmare and that he thinks the book will let him keep everyone safe because he can see things coming before they happen — and reveals Iris will be pregnant in three months and win two Pulitzers.

Barry is clearly excited about the idea of being able to know and react to the future, but Iris is visibly unsettled, and the pair go to bed, tabling the conversation for another day. As they sleep, there's weird energy that seeps out around them and when the morning comes, it's Wednesday, February 1st all over again — though it takes both Barry and Iris a little while to figure that out. This time when Barry faces off with Captain Boomerang, the fight goes badly again with Barry "dying" except when he does, he and Iris both wake up back at home at the start of a new Wednesday, February 1st. They're in a time loop.

At STAR Labs, Barry and Iris tell the team about the time loop and try to figure out what's going on and how to break the loop. They find out that the thing that is being transported and that Mercer is likely after is a Roemer Accelerator, which is like the particle accelerator but portable. They think that Barry fighting with Mercer may have created the issue. Barry brings a piece from the accelerator so that they can investigate it and figure out how to stop things. Barry tells Iris to just go about her normal day.

Iris does that but avoids the CatCo question. Barry and Chester work in the lab but blow things up and the loop starts over. The cycle continues over and over hilariously with seemingly no end in sight. Finally, Iris just gives up and starts day drinking. Barry thinks that Iris not saying yes to the CatCo offer is the reason they're stuck in the time loop because the Map Book says CCCM expands into two locations. Iris says she's not going to just follow instructions in the book. She'd rather be stuck in the loop. Barry says the book ensures a safe, happy future. They argue about it. Iris just wants to be able to choose the future for herself.

Barry leaves and gets wisdom from Joe — and we get a few details about the future, like Barry and Iris moving into the West house at some point. But Joe points out that the book only tells what happens and not why and it doesn't explain how people feel about it. The future is something that must be created. Barry goes home to Iris, and they talk. Barry decides to simply appreciate their lives while it is happening even if that means being stuck in a time loop forever. He throws the Map Book in the fireplace and burns it.

They wake up for yet another Wednesday, February 1st, and this time they spend it together. This time around, Iris decides to expand CCCMedia but in her own way. She gets a loan from Sue Dearbon to buy the Coast City Gazette and bring them in under the CCCM umbrella. With things handled, Iris and Barry decide to go just relax and have some time together at the pool. They then go to see Kramer together with Iris saying she'll keep Barry balanced between work and The Flash and then they go to deal with Mercer together. Iris helps stop Mercer this time, but he still manages to get away after setting off a nuclear bomb.

They can't move the accelerator, so Barry decides to try to phase the explosion instead. He touches the accelerator as it explodes and somehow dissipates the blast. It passes harmlessly through Central City. Thrilled to have survived, Allegra and Chester kiss each other. The day saved, they finally move on to Thursday, February 2nd after 58 time loops. The secret was living the day together instead of apart. Mercer did get away with the battery, so he remains a threat and they realize that he has a partner. Barry and Iris decide that they are going to take time for themselves, including having a baby moon. Cecile gets control over here telekinesis. Joe suggests that maybe it's time for them to leave Central City.

Barry goes into the lounge at STAR Labs having gotten an alert from Caitlin. However, the woman who greets him is not Caitlin nor is it Frost. It's someone else entirely. She says she's sorry to meet him like this, but she will explain everything. The episode ends with Mercer going to deliver the battery to his unidentified partner. They supply him with fresh boomerangs and tells him that their next target is a who before the lightning culminates into a Bat symbol: Red Death.

The Flash's final season airs Wednesdays 8/7c on The CW.

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