The Flash season 6, episode 17 review: Liberation

“Go join your brother and prepare, for tonight, I will have my liberation.” Spoilers for The Flash season 6, episode 17 follow.

After being kicked out by who he thought was Iris, Barry works with Cecile in the latest episode of The Flash season 6 to uncover the secret that has been kept from Team Flash.

Meanwhile, Ralph and Cisco must help Caitlin deal with her previous injuries.

Iris isn’t Iris

After weeks of mirror Iris taking the place of real Iris, Barry has finally caught on to the fact that the woman he’s been sharing his life with is not his wife. After going on for a couple weeks too long, this story feels like it’s truly beginning to pick up steam with this week’s episode. By forcing Barry to finally confront the reality that mirror Iris is not the real Iris, this finally builds off of the groundwork that has slightly and often anticlimactically laid over the past several episodes.

This then creates a great episode for both Barry and Cecile. It’s oddly frustrating, yet somehow satisfying to see a paranoid Barry when we know he’s right. Then, when the tables turn on him when mirror Iris makes it seem like Barry is the mirror duplicate, it’s intriguing to see Barry continue to fall further into his rabbit hole or seeming insanity. It’s a predictable twist, sure, but the way it’s executed in this episode makes that predictability not really matter in the long run.

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And then there’s Cecile. She’s had a couple of great episodes this season, but this episode probably takes the cake. Her relationship with Barry in this episode is great in this episode and it’s something that the show hasn’t really taken advantage of much in the past. With Joe gone, at least for the time being, someone needs to take his place as the parent figure for Team Flash and, after this episode, Cecile really seems up to the task of doing so.

In the end though, the truth about mirror Iris comes out, which leads to a relatively brutal fight between Barry and her. Not only does mirror Iris take some cues from the T-1000 in this fight, but there’s also some great work done with mirrors, as one would expect with characters who control mirrors, during it. As much as Barry feels alone though, the real Iris still fights for him even if he can’t see it. The dialogue during this part of the episode is a bit cheesy and not the best, but because of the efforts every actor puts in, the execution is still solid enough. The final scene of the episode has yet another poor pop song choice though.

Bloodwork returns

Not only does Barry realize that mirror Iris is not his wife, but Eva’s plan is coming to fruition as well. Or, at least she’s trying to make to come to its head by releasing Bloodwork from his prison. Unsurprisingly, Bloodwork doesn’t simply want to go along with whatever Eva is planning to do to escape her prison. But with his return, it becomes very obvious that the show isn’t done with him in the slightest though.

Even without Bloodwork doing what Eva needs him to do though, her plan continues to go forward. We see her, for the first time, exit the mirror dimension as well as interact with Barry. It’s clear that her plans are truly spinning now and the fact that we nor Team Flash knows what they are, is unsettling. And the fact that she so easily has Barry beat right now, well, things won’t be good for Team Flash over the next few episodes.

To save a metahuman

As for Cisco, Ralph, and Caitlin in this episode, while checking on Caitlin during her home rest from her injuries, Ralph and Cisco have to save her from herself when her own immune system is what’s killing her. This part of the episode really feels like an afterthought though as there are only two scenes dedicated to the them.

And really, afterthought is the nicest way of putting it. The problem presented here is solved within two minutes and extremely easily too. It feels like the writer’s room needed something to do with these three here because of contract stipulations. Or they needed to set-up a future storyline, but didn’t know how to do it within the context of Barry and Eva’s story. The sad thing is though, neither scene is particularly bad, they just feel so out of place.

With a solid main story, this episode of The Flash season 6 finally sets Eva’s plans in motion, but doesn’t know how to use some of its cast in the process.