The Flash - S3E20 - I Know Who You Are

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Previously on The Flash, “The Once and Future Flash”

Barry finally figured out Savitar’s identity; something I predicted way back in “The Wrath of Savitar.” And while that revelation will undoubtedly be the most talked about aspect of this episode, I think it did something even more powerful. It foreshadowed a major character’s death, and it ain’t Iris. So, how did we get there?

Killer Lost

Julian thinks he’s the only one who cares about finding Caitlin before she hooks up with Savitar (too late), because Wally is on Earth-3 visiting Jesse and he doesn’t feel as though the rest of the team is doing enough. But Killer Frost finds them when Cisco, Barry, and H.R. visit Tracy Brand (Anne Dudek) at her lab.

Tracy is quirky, smart, and talks really fast. She’s basically Patty Spivot with about 90% less ugh. Unfortunately, she doesn’t appear to be on the path to creating a speed force prison. Her peers think she’s a nutcase and she’s lost support for her research. Still, H.R. is smitten. Killer Frost arrives to kill Tracy for Savitar, and both Barry and Cisco hesitate to take her down. She gets away, but without completing her task, much to Savitar’s annoyance.

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I find this whole Killer Frost dilemma to be dumb. FOR REASONS, she’s the only meta-human whose powers come with a side of evil and auto-tune. If we’re to believe that something about Killer Frost brings out Caitlin’s dark side, her inner fears, and dislodges the giant stick from her butt, fine. But if this is all connected to feelings, then it stands to reason that reaching the Caitlin deep down inside may be able to change her back. And that’s lame. This makes it all the more annoying that when Savitar accuses her of failing because there’s still a part of Caitlin in there, the look on her face says he might be right. That’s not what we were told when they spent episodes S3E5 thru S3E19 driving home the fact that if she goes full Killer Frost, it’s a wrap. To prove herself, Killer Frost makes several attempts at killing Tracy until she finally kidnaps someone to hold hostage in exchange for Tracy.

Oh no, Joe. What is you doing?

After Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) drops the L-word, Joe gets all weird and puts distance between them. She notices, of course, and tries to get him to open up. Even though he has Barry’s blessing to tell Cecile their secrets, Joe, afraid that their complicated lives will harm her, breaks up with Cecile instead. He eventually comes to his senses after almost losing Cecile when Killer Frost snatches her. Not only does Joe end up removing his wedding ring, he says he loves her too, and then tells her all about Team Flash.

Now, this definitely feels like some “this is too good to be true and Joe gonna die” shit, but I think someone else will die in his place…

My Weird Matches Your Weird; Let’s Hook Up

Despite the whole attempt on her life thing, Tracy isn’t immediately convinced she’s in any danger. She chalks up the attack by Killer Frost to a random act of violence. Since she’s their only real lead on stopping Savitar, the team trail her so they can be there if anything goes down and this includes sending in H.R. to work his muse-like magic to turn her into the person capable of creating a Speed Force prison. This connection is cute and it totally means H.R. isn’t long for this world. And that sucks because he’s 52 kinds of awesome.

Hey, Bare. Nice of you to join us.

It finally clicks in Barry’s head that he is Savitar. He’s a version of himself who somehow lost, or never had, the loving relationships our Barry has. This explains how Savitar knows so much about them and what they’re going to do before they do it. He’s already lived through this.

As I pointed out in this review and on our podcast, the signs were definitely there. When Barry asked Savitar who he was, through Julian, he responded, “I’m the future, Flash.” I predicted that what he actually said was, “I’m the future Flash.” And it would explain the fact that in his very next sentence, he referred to Barry as “Barry.” Why would he call him by two different names in, essentially, the same breath? Also, when Caitlin remarked that they got rid of the Philosopher’s Stone, he replied, “Did we?” We. Finally, when Sad-Ass Future Flash told Barry that Savitar killed almost all of the time remnants Barry will make to stop him, that felt like more than just a throwaway line. He killed “nearly” all of them.

So, Barry challenges Savitar to cash him ousside and confronts him with the truth. Savitar applauds his former self on finally getting it and steps out of the suit to reveal that he is, in fact, Barry with half his face disfigured.

Up to Speed

This was really the best possible option for Savitar’s identity. While I still want an Eddie Thawne return because I’m high-key petty, the idea that something happens to any version of Barry that would make him turn this evil is intriguing. In trying to stop Savitar, it’s likely that Barry will create him. Ah, good old time paradox. But what does this mean for Sad-Ass Future Barry who said he didn’t know Savitar’s identity? Was he lying? Or it because in the last (most recent?) version of these events, Barry doesn’t find out who he is before he kills Iris so this future version of himself wouldn’t know either? While I don’t believe any version of Barry Allen would kill Iris West, I’m invested in seeing this play out.

I’m also happy Barry figured it out instead of having to be told; much like seeing that blue lightning triggered Zoom’s connection to Jay Garrick.

Killer Frost’s ice ramps were cool.

Speed Bumps

I like how it took Barry a whole-ass season to learn, like, four things, but Killer Frost figured out how to ice surf in two days. I mean, I guess.

After she was knocked out, but before Savitar whisked her away, Cisco took a blood sample from Killer Frost. He and Julian believe that they may be able to use it to reverse engineer a cure. This means they will probably either be successful in using to take away Caitlin’s powers for good OR it will take away the parts of the power that make her evil. I’m already annoyed.

Leave your thoughts on the episode below or on our Facebook post for this review, and we’ll read them on tonight’s podcast.