The Flash season 7, episode 6 review: The One with the Nineties

“We’ve just been under the domed!” Spoilers for The Flash season 7, episode 6 follow.

Now the other forces are known to Team Flash, Cisco and Chester must figure out a way that they can easily detect them. However, this doesn’t seem as simple as it is though.

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Frost must learn how to now live with each other instead of as each other. Here’s what went down in The Flash season 7, episode 6.

Return to the past in The Flash season 7

In what is probably the most Legends of Tomorrow-esque episode of The Flash to ever exist, Cisco and Chester head back to the ’90s when a new Force makes its way to Central City. Unlike Psych and Fuerza though, this new Force manages to exist outside of its host in some shape or form and is able to manipulate physics on a wider spectrum in the form of time manipulation. It’s unclear whether this is the show’s version of the Still Force but, as of right now, it’s probably the closest in power-levels to the Speed Force itself.

Beyond just bringing in a new force in this episode, this is a genuinely fun offering of the Arrowverse show. As someone who has admittedly not been a big fan of Chester as a character in the past, it really should be said that this episode does a great job of building up that character in ways that were desperately needed. Seeing him actually get to play off Cisco in ways that only the two of them could do is something nice that the character hasn’t had much of up until this point. We also get to learn a bit more about his past and while it’s not a huge never-before-seen story, the episode pulls off what it’s trying to do nicely. This is genuinely the best Chester has ever been on the show.

Once we find out who is behind the temporal anomaly though, the cracks start to show – mainly because it’s held together by a pretty weak motivation: A dude who peaked in high school that, yes, encountered issues in his life but that doesn’t exactly make it believable that he would turn completely evil and unleash dinosaurs on people. It’s such a weak motivation and character that it almost brings down the rest of a really fun, really emotional episode.

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Iris and the Speed Force

Back in the present, we get to see Iris and the Speed Force (who still looks like Nora Allen) interacting in a way that the latter has never interacted with anyone outside of Barry. They share several scenes together throughout the episode and while most of them don’t go on quite long enough, they are all emotionally impactful in a solid enough way.

Would every one of their scenes together fail the Bechdel test? Absolutely. However, the episode makes the case that there’s a good reason for this. The constant that both of them share is Barry and therefore, it’s pretty much imperative for the Speed Force to actually learn about him as a person rather than a conduit. These scenes are great because beyond just allowing the Speed Force to become more acclimated with Nora Allen’s face, it allows the audience to learn more about who Barry Allen is outside of the Flash suit.

Frost on the outside

In what is probably the weakest part of the episode outside of the antagonist, we get the wasted potential of seeing Caitlin and Frost interacting with each other in a significant way.

There’s literally only one scene with them interacting with other in their apartment. Just one. And it’s a scene that makes you think that there will be more with them throughout the episode, but nope. Nothing. Straight up, this scene shouldn’t have been included in this episode at all. It’s worthless within the larger context of the episode and it doesn’t particularly add anything to the story its telling – especially when we could have gotten one much more meaningful between these two.

After two great episodes in a row, this week’s installment of The Flash is a very mixed bag. When it’s good, it’s great. When it’s bad, it’s terrible.

What did you think of The Flash season 7, episode 6? Let us know in the comments below!