The Flash Recap With Spoilers: Team Flash Starts Over in “Into the Void”

After months of anticipation, The Flash is finally back on our television screens, and it isn’t pulling any punches. The show’s sixth season officially debuted on The CW tonight, setting Barry Allen’s latest adventure into motion. With new villains, new surprises, and the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover fast approaching, the first episode back had quite a lot of ground to cover. So, here’s what you need to know about this week’s season premiere, “Into the Void”.

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The episode opens with STAR Labs experiencing a power surge. Barry and Iris track it to the Time Vault, where Nora’s message is playing on a loop. Four months later, Cisco and Camila are watching the computers, as Barry tracks down and apprehends Godspeed — or, well, another dummy of the real Godspeed, August Hart.

Meanwhile, Joe and Iris prepare for a garden party. Joe congratulates Iris on the Central City Citizen, which now has a few hundred thousand subscribers. The rest of Team Flash – outside of Ralph, who is traveling the world – gathers for the party. During the party, Barry and Cisco talk about the MAC, a device the latter developed to help Barry “speed think”. Barry and Iris then talk about how they’re holding up following Nora’s death.

Iris asks about a series of boxes that were in the basement, which Joe threw away. Iris tracks down the boxes to a junkyard and finds the jacket that will become Nora’s XS jacket inside. A wormhole suddenly opens, taking the jacket with it. Barry, Cisco, and the CCPD arrive to investigate, and find black hole energy scattered throughout the junkyard. Back at STAR Labs, Barry suggests that they decode the data from the black hole. Iris, Joe, and Cecile try to find data about the junkyard, but Iris is clearly still triggered by reminders of Nora.

An additional black hole opens at Jitters, and The Flash is able to quickly save everyone inside. Iris finds more information about the junkyard robberies, some of which are linked to a disgraced scientist named Chester P. Runk. They watch a livestream of Chester’s, in which he builds a device that accidentally creates black holes. Iris and Cecile visit Chester at the hospital, where he’s been catatonic ever since the accident originally happened. Chester originally doesn’t speak, but Iris eventually realizes that he’s controlling the black holes remotely through touch.

Back at STAR Labs, Cisco engineers a grenade that can reverse the black hole. Iris arrives, and says that doing so would kill Chester in the process. Caitlin and Cisco look at Chester’s brain waves, and figures out that the black hole is the other half of his consciousness. Cisco suggests launching the grenade into the black hole, but Barry doesn’t want to lose anyone else.

Barry and Iris talk about the grief they still feel over Nora. Iris reveals to him that she lost the purple jacket that Nora eventually wears as XS. They’re then called back into STAR Labs, where Chester’s black hole is now over the entire city. The team figures out what to do — and that the gauntlet Nora made against Cicada might be the key to helping save both the city and Chester.

Ralph and Killer Frost help save civilians, while the team at STAR Labs puts Chester inside the MAC to preserve his brain. Cisco then plays Queen’s “Flash’s Theme” as Barry enters the black hole and rescues the remaining parts of Chester’s brain. The black hole implodes, and Chester wakes up like himself again, but with glowing eyes. The team later determines that Chester needs to stay inside the MAC for another four to six weeks for his brain to get back to normal.

Barry reveals to Iris that he rescued the jacket from the black hole, and has it on display in the Time Vault. Suddenly, the power goes out again — and The Monitor arrives. He reveals that he destroyed Nora’s video message and that the “Crisis” will be arriving on December 10th, 2019 — five years earlier than originally planned. Barry says that there has to be another way to prevent him from dying, but The Monitor says it isn’t possible.

Other tidbits from the episode include:

• Ralph returns to STAR Labs. He reveals that he’s been undercover in Opal City for the summer, investigating the appearance of Sue Dearbon, a wealthy heiress.
• Dr. Ramsey Rosso addresses the congregation at his mother’s burial, as Caitlin sits in the audience. The two of them reconnect after the funeral, but Caitlin’s Killer Frost powers briefly come out. Ramsey invites her for a cup of coffee. Caitlin eventually takes him up on that offer. He talks about how his mom died from cancer, and how he wishes he’d been able to save her. He reveals that he found a way to potentially cure cancer — through the use of dark matter. Ramsey later buys a gun from somebody. Ramsey injects himself with the dark matter cure, which quickly mutates his body.
• Caitlin talks to Ralph about her recent issues with Killer Frost, and wonders if she’s afraid of dying. Ralph eventually helps Killer Frost come out, and argues that Frost regrets not being able to live her best life. Caitlin and Frost later talk about it, and Caitlin agrees to let Frost take the reins for a while.

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.