THE FLASH SEASON 7 EPISODE 4 REVIEW
For more than six seasons, Team Flash has been zipping from one threat or crisis to another, with little time to reckon with the after-effects of any given disaster before the next one hits. “Central City Strong” acts as a bit of a corrective, aided by its place in this unusual season. This isn’t a premiere, but rather a way station between the conclusion of the Mirrorverse saga and whatever comes next.
With Iris back from the Mirrorverse, Barry is determined to make up for the fact that he spent months believing her mirror duplicate was the real deal. How better to do that if you’re a recently revitalized speedster than whisking her around the globe for a series of mini-vacations? It’s not that easy for Iris to get over the time she spent behind the mirror, as she learns when she attempts to write an article about the whole affair. Allegra points out that her writing on the topic is shoddily researched and covering old ground, when she should be giving a first-person account of her own experiences. As Iris learns when visiting a Mirrorverse survivors support group, she’s not quite ready to deal with her trauma.
Trauma inflicted through the past exploits of Team Flash also figures into the appearance of this week’s returning guest villain Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian). Kadabra reappears in Central City on a mission to assemble three obelisks into an anti-matter bomb with which he plans to destroy the city. (Is this an intentional reference to the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and its three mother boxes? Who knows.) In a retread of the “bad guy wanted to be captured” trope, Kadabra finds the third obelisk in an ARGUS facility after being too easily subdued by the Flash and Mecha-Vibe. (That’s apparently Cisco’s new moniker, as he learns from the future-dwelling Kadabra.) Yes, the Flash was tricked again—which makes you wonder if it was really such a good idea for him to ditch that super-speed brain.
It turns out Kadabra is bent on revenge against Barry because he was able to remember his pre-Crisis life and the wife and child who were wiped out when the timeline reset. There’s no way to disarm his bomb, as it’s covered with an impenetrable material, so once again Barry has to use his heart to get the job done. (Chester even makes a comment to that effect, which leaves me wondering how often we’re going to hear the same thing this season.) He convinces Kadabra (real name: Filipe) that the wife and child he’ll never know wouldn’t approve of him destroying a whole city, especially since doing so won’t bring them back. It’s a redemption arc that’s cut almost embarrassingly short when a new threat suddenly appears. I have no clue who this is supposed to be, so I’ll just have to go with “some kind of giant CGI guy” for now. (Please, feel free to enlighten me in the comments.)
Stray observations
- So now Tom Cavanagh is gone from the opening credits, making his appearance last week even more puzzling. I guess the creative team wants to have a Wells in pocket just in case?
- The mentions of Crisis this week prompted me to check on whether there will be a crossover event this season, and unsurprisingly, there won’t be. Pulling that off with Covid-19 protocols in place is a bridge too far.
- Speaking of which, the pandemic isn’t happening in the CW-verse, but the effects of the real-world Crisis can be seen onscreen nonetheless. I’m thinking of the support group scenes in particular, where most of the members are seated in socially-distanced fashion
- During Barry and Iris' date night, they feel a small earthquake. Different colored lightning strikes over the city
- Central City Strong, an organization focused on rebuilding the city after Eva's terror, comes together to build new homes. Team Flash volunteers their time.
- Allegra tells Iris that her article about the Mirrorverse isn't good. She wants her to include her experience in the Mirrorverse.
- Abra Kadabra shows up at the Central City Strong site, kills a man, and turns a shed into a small obelisk.
- Team Flash and CCPD arrive at the scene. Cisco detects temporal energy from the future. They figure out it was Kadabra.
- Iris attends a support group for Mirrorverse survivors to interview a couple of them for her article. She gets overwhelmed and reschedules.
- Kadabra creates another obelisk. Barry, Cisco, and Frost catch him. ARGUS takes him into custody.
- Cisco runs tests on Frost because she and Caitlin have been having headaches. Her tests come back normal.
- Kadabra escapes custody. Barry tries to catch him, but Kadabra traps him. He uses three of his obelisks to create a core and he vanishes.
- At STAR Labs, they discover that Kadabra has created an anti-matter bomb to destroy the city. He is teleporting around the city to charge the bomb with kinetic energy.
- They find a Martian memory restorer in Kadabra's cuff that brought back his pre-Crisis memories.
- Barry finds Kadabra and confronts him about his memories of the family he had pre-Crisis. He had a wife and a son. Barry convinces him to stop his mission to bring them back by destroying the city.
- A huge earthquake strikes. A gigantic woman appears and knocks Barry down. She absorbs the anti-matter bomb and kills Kadabra.
- She is about to kill Barry, but she runs away.
- Iris promotes Allegra to staff writer.
- Iris attends the support group and talks about her experience in the Mirrorverse.
- Caitlin and Frost separate into two different bodies.
