The Flash season 6, episode 12 review: A Girl Named Sue

“Is anything you told me true?” “Yes. And no.” Spoilers for The Flash season 6, episode 12 follow.

After nine months of searching for her, Ralph has finally found Sue Dearbon with no help from Team Flash. Together, they have to escape someone who wants to kill her.

As for Iris though, she must find a way to escape from the Mirror World that she is now trapped in.

To find a girl

Finally, after a good amount of time of searching for her, Ralph has finally found Sue Dearbon. Turns out though, Sue isn’t what we thought that she was going to be. She’s on the run from an ex-boyfriend who is trying to kill her, John Loring. However, he’s not the only one hunting, as Sue’s hunting him too. Immediately, this gets Ralph’s hero side to poke out and join her in her hunt.

First things first, it’s hard not to love Sue and Ralph together from the get-go. There’s been a piece of Ralph missing since he was introduced in season 4 and that piece was always Sue. Ralph has gotten much better as a character over the past season and a half, but still has never felt complete. They’re obviously not the cornerstone married couple like they were in the comics yet, but they’re off to a great start. Another fun thing in this episode is the name of her ex-boyfriend. This is simply a gender-bent version of Jean Loring, Ray Palmer’s ex-wife in the comics, as well as (spoilers) Sue’s murderer in Identity Crisis. I really don’t think that the show will ever go as brutally dark as that comic with Sue and Ralph (seriously, trigger warnings if you haven’t read it and want to), but it’s a fun nod in this episode anyway.

Really though, this episode is a great introduction to Sue, as well as a potential future relationship for the two. As Cecile puts in this episode, “You two are definitely surfing the same wave.” It’s great to see someone finally acting as a foil to Ralph, especially someone who’s as capable, charming, and entertaining as Sue.

Into the mirror world

As revealed at the end of the last episode, the Iris currently out in the world is not the real Iris. Immediately here though, the existence of the Mirror World is revealed as well as the fact that Eva McCulloch is alive. How did she get trapped though and how does the Mirror World exist? Well, that goes back to the original Particle Accelerator accident that started off the series. While this has felt like an explanation crutch at times throughout the series, it does make sense here, especially with the fact that, as of now, it seems that Eva is unwillingly trapped within the mirror world.

This is easily the most solemn part of the episode and deals with some heavy thematic elements. It deals with loss, PTSD, grief, hope, and the lack of it. As this show airs on The CW, this isn’t handled as deftly as the writers and crew seemingly want it to be, but it’s handled well enough to move the plot forward.

More from Arrowverse

• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 27 best fighters in the Arrowverse, ranked
• All 8 Black Canary actresses ranked from worst to best
• 11 things nobody wants to admit about the Arrowverse
• The 7 best (and 6 worst) Arrowverse villains

The world keeps spinning

As for fake Iris, Barry, and Nash though, their life still goes on in spite of everything else that’s happening. Well, at least Barry is. With the help of Joe, Barry continues to search for any more information on Black Hole. This, in turn, reveals a much grander conspiracy at play that, while relegated to only a few minutes of screen-time, will obviously be played up more in future episodes.

As for fake Iris, not much is done with her in this episode. There are some moments with Barry that really accentuates how the other characters will begin to catch on that this isn’t the real Iris, but that’s about all she does in this episode. There’s really not much to her storyline here.

Nash’s story is definitely the most interesting of the stories relegated to just a few minutes in this episode. Having Harry’s ghost basically haunt Nash is an inspired choice that makes a whole lot of sense Post-Crisis. Given that he was Pariah, it’s a smart creative choice that allows Nash’s character to grow out of his punishment, as well as keeping a beloved character around.

The Flash introduces a new character in Sue Dearbon and has an incredibly fun time in doing so. Because of that though, the rest of the episode isn’t as interesting.