S07.E01: All's Wells That Ends Wells

[Trini]

When an experiment to save Barry's speed backfires, Nash Wells searches for a way to save The Flash and comes up with a dangerous plan. Meanwhile, Iris makes a startling realization inside the Mirrorverse and Cecile faces off with Rosa Dillon (guest star Ashley Rickards).

Alexandra La Roche directed the episode written by Sam Chalsen & Lauren Certo.

Airdate: 3/2/2021

[Trini]

Starting off Season 7 with the last bits of Season 6;

 

[mtlchick]

Going to nitpick over the close captioning: Barry as Sherloque said something about a mystery on Earth cinqaunte cinq (55.) caption wrote it as 66. Grant seemed to have a blast playing multiple Wells.
 

Meanwhile it’s been so long I don’t remember what Chester and Allegra bring to the team now or where Caitlin and Cisco are (at least they found an excuse to get Ralph out for a while as they set up his return.)  And someone please remind what Iris needs to do to get out again?  And is Tom Cavanaugh leaving?

Guess I’ll get answers soon enough. 

[scarynikki12]

Nice seeing Harry again albeit briefly.

So Eva’s really dead and this is a phantom I guess? I’m way more interested in the mirror stuff so of course it had the least amount of screen time. Hope it’s front and center next week. 

[Primal Slayer]

Safe to say....I did not really enjoy this episode.

Wells has annoyed me since like S4 and having all of them in this episode made it even wrost...putting them into Barry...oy vey. I hope this is the last we see of any Wells beyond Reverse Flash. 

[shantown]

I'm so over Wells in any form. I wish the writers had the guts to kill him and make it stick. No more alternate versions, no more Council, no more accents. Alas.

I also should have brushed up on what happened in the previous couple episodes because I was a loss as to why there was no Cisco or Caitlin (though she's another character who I don't mind being gone) and we had Chester and Allegra running the show at STAR Labs. And Barry sleeps in a cryo-chamber? Mostly I'm waiting for them to wrap up S6 and this mirror stuff and get into the actual S7.

[cambridgeguy]

The showrunners must be fans of the MCU - they gave Barry the same magically appearing and disappearing helmet tech as Iron Man. 

And that's two way to socially distance - spend most of your scenes talking to yourself (or rather a Mirror Master duplicate) or be the type of baddie who has no minions.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Grant is still the best cryer.

Sorry, that’s all I got. So beyond tired of Iris being tortured. I skipped the last three episodes of last season and wasn’t lost at all when I tuned in tonight.

[thuganomics85]

The Flash has finally returned and like most shows coming back it feels less like a normal season premiere and more of a "trying to wrap up the stuff we actually wanted to do last season" rush to get to where they need to be.  Certainly don't envy them on that front.

It is so strange that I find Tom Cavanagh to be such a talented actor and charismatic presence, and yet I'm just so over the concept of the various Wells.  It just feels like an excuse for him to goof off and do various accents or schick, but it comes off less fun and almost self-indulgent.  Because of that, I barely cared about the "death" of the Wells and any of their speeches to Barry at the end, with the exception of Harry, who was the only one that felt like an actual character.  But the rest?  They were just Tom with a goofy accent.  So, I could care less about their noble sacrifices and the possibility that Tom is leaving.  Of course, I really will not be surprised if he comes back in some form, because that's the show's thing at this point.  Plus, there are so many other "wacky" opportunities for him.  Maybe he can do an Irish accent!  Or Russian!  Or just do a flat-out Borat impersonation!  The possibilities are endless!

So, while Cisco and Caitlin are way, Allegra and Chester are here to play.  Congrats to Kayla Compton and Brandon McKnight on being upgraded to regular status, but we'll see how much value they'll add in the long run.  I just hope we get more Cisco this go around.

Ralph and Sue are currently in hiding, but really it's so they can scramble something up since Hartley Sawyer is off the show now, due to his creepy social media past.

Iris is still suck in the Mirrorverse, I see.  I really hope they get her out of there soon.

Eva is actually the Mirror version of herself this entire time?

Cool that they brought Rosalind back for a bit, and how it has likely led to Cecile amplifying her own powers.  Can't wait for Joe to find out about that!

Kind of a rough start, but, again, I'll chalk some of it up to them being set back due to the shutdowns.  I just hope they ramp it up soon.  Still, at least the likes of Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, and so forth are doing their very best to make all of this work on their end.  Granted, that's also been this show's thing, honestly: a talent cast saving some questionable writing.

[tennisgurl]

Nice to have the show back, even if this episode felt really weird and disjointed. I guess because they had to change some plans due to behind the scenes issues with COVID and cast changes, so I understand why this felt rather off, but it still felt like a rather lacking start to the season. They are stuck doing the "trying to wrap up our plot from last season before we start the seasons actual plot" thing that a lot of shows now are stuck doing, so its understandable, but I am curious as to what they are planning for the actual new season. 

It was really funny when Harry called Chester and Allegra the "The JV Team" because I had just texted my friend "this is a real JV episode" just a minute before. No Cisco, no Caitlin, obviously no Ralph, minimal Joe, and while Barry and Iris got some good material, Iris was stuck in mirror world while Barry was playing the Well's for most of the episode. I don't know why they decided to go so hard on the newest characters this episode, you would think they would focus on the leading man and lady for a season premier, especially since the big plot so far is getting Iris out of the mirror world. I like Allegra and Chester just fine, but having them so front and center seemed off for a season starter, especially as we still don't really know them all that well. Especially getting all of this emotional stuff with Barry, who they hardly know. I think I kind of remember Cisco going to wander the Earth for some reason, and Caitlin had to go and cure herself from some illness with her mom. I kind of remember an episode with a boring subplot where everyone sat around with sickly Killer Frost and talked about how awesome she was while I scrolled through Instagram and waited for something interesting to happen. 

If this really was the swan song for the many faces of Wells, its a nice send off for them, especially in the post crisis world. I love Tom Cavanaugh and all and I have often enjoyed the many Wells, I would be fine with seeing them finally go. Its a new post crisis world and Team Flash being without a Wells for real would be a nice way to show the end of the era. Plus, the schtick has really just gotten old. Its just gone past clever and into stupid and self indulgent at this point, its time to just be done with any and all Wells. This is a nice way to say goodbye to all of them, especially Harry, my favorite Wells. You can tell that Grant was having a ton of fun playing BIG with wizard Wells and Sherlock Wells, but I thought his impression of Harry was pretty on point. He had that very specific "I am so over your shit" tone of voice that Harry always had. This makes me sad that Cisco wasnt around for this, I would have much preferred Cisco being around then Chester or Allegra for this, even if she did have a bond with Nash. He was always the closest to the many Wells, especially Harry, and he was really hit hard by losing them all when the multiverse collapsed. It would have been nice if he got to say goodbye. Grant really is one of the best criers on TV, he just sells the crap out of Barry's feels. No wonder Barry has such a guilt complex, everyone around him really does always die. 

The Cecile plot was alright, cool seeing her use some new powers, and it did tie into the mirror world at least a little bit. Cool that they brought back Rosalind for a bit. 

Iris didnt get a whole lot to do besides being still stuck in the mirror world, but what she did get was pretty good. Candice did a great job as always, and she got to show more of what a strong awesome person that she is. So will she get out on her own, or will Barry pull her out? Or both? When Iris gets back, can they take a weekend? 

So when Eva's husband said his wife was dead, he wasnt being metaphorical? The real Eva is dead, and she is just an imagine of a dead woman?

[Diapason Untuned]

It all started with a Wells, so it make sense for things to start again with the death of all the Wells and mark a new beginning for the show. I don't know if this is permanent or not, but I think this was a nice send off for Harry, though HR could have gotten some more robust material. Really though, it's a travesty they did this when Cisco wasn't around.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Diapason Untuned

[Trini]

Can't wait until this arc is done. I've been over it for nearly a year.

I've been vocal about how we need all Wellses off the show, but I can admit that this would have been a good sendoff for the Wellses and Cavanagh -- if I actually believed this was the last we were seeing of them. They're going to find a way to bring in another one somehow, so I couldn't really enjoy it.

However, I did enjoy Grant playing the various Wellses!

We saw a glimpse of Future Iris in the trailers before, and I thought there would some explanation in the episode, but no. It didn't make sense (well, less sense than usual) because neither Iris or Eva know how Iris looks in the future.

Even though it was an illusion, the WestAllen date was cute. I liked that there were nods to Gotham and Superman.

I know it's the show's SOP, but it's just annoying that Allegra's powers can just do exactly whatever the plot needs it to do. Chester's cool, though.

So Original Mirror Master was Mirror Mistress' mirror clone?? (Post-Crisis change?) Interesting way to connect them.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Trini

[Lantern7]

This was . . . an episode. Yeah, the pandemic is to blame, and we might as well call this the start of "Season 6B." The only thing I remembered between May 2020 and now was that the guy playing Ralph screwed a kennel's worth of pooches, we may never see him again. Yeah, I know, he could come back with a different face. Shit, maybe Ralph is on the same mysterious island as Kate Kane. "Oh, yeah, Saf-what's-her-name injected my blood into her face. Me and Kate got along before then. She said that she'd look into bumping the Ralphster up to 'Paragon' status, but I don't think she has that kind of pull."

Are we done with the ongoing Surplus of Infinite Wellses? The only idea of a return that would work for me is if Barry winds up having a Jedi Ghost Wells that only he can see and hear, and it turns out to be Harrison Wells . . . the one who was killed and impersonated by Reverse Flash. Aside from Grant channeling the bottomless Wellses (including Wizard Wells having the dorkcute wand-waving moment with Chunk), I'm ready for that to be over.

. . . and Iris is still being tormented. I really hope she leaves her prison soon, because that's also getting old. I don't consider her to be a damsel in distress, but you figure Candace is dying for some interaction with characters that she doesn't have to play herself.

Okay . . . so Eva created Mirror Master, and we just find out about that now. Also, Top can get into people's heads because she was originally empathic, and Cecile can do the same thing. Cool? Also, the Eva we've seen might not be the real Eva. As cliche as the "slow-motion search for clues" was, seeing her seemingly bounce off the mirror while her reflection was bounced inside the mirror was a cute moment.

I keep thinking that the Arrowvere might be on the downswing. I hope I'm wrong, and we can salvage a satisfactory season out of the remnants from last year.

ETA: I liked the flashing red halo whenever a new Wells took over Barry.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Lantern7

[adora721]

I think Grant did a good job playing the Wells'; he especially did Harry's body language and vocal candence really well.

It made no sense for Topp to not be in a meta-human wing of the police station that would dampen/suppress her powers. What was keeping Topp from using her powers to push people to free her or cause mass vertigo? 

Joe's lack of concern for his daughter continues to grind my gears; he showed more feeling over Barry's impending loss in Crisis. 

It was good to see HR Wells again; he is my favorite and Harry, my second favorite.

Candice did a good job acting opposite herself. 

It did feel odd for Chester and Allegra to share such a poignant moment with Nash and Barry. I hope all the Wells' are gone and that OG Reverse Flash returns with Matt Letscher. His RF was the scariest to me.

Cannot say how much I enjoyed an episode without the walking emobodiment of coddled, toxic privilege that are Caitlin Snow and Killer Frost.

I missed Cisco, however, and Kam. I hope we see her and Singh next week.

Will the ASF bring back the Speed Force beings? Does this mean that Wally has the SF back, too?

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure Cecile just broke all kinds of rules of professional conduct.

[Trini]

9 minutes ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure Cecile just broke all kinds of rules of professional conduct.

As per usual!

Hey, I don't hate Cecile, but they use her character in all the wrong ways on the show. If they're not going to have her do her actual job semi-realistically, then I'd prefer they focus on her role as the mother figure in the West-Allen family (and Team Flash, if they must).

[HerkyJerky]

I HATED THIS EPISODE!  I do not like the JV team and the writing just seemed disjointed and off.  Plus I am really disappointed in Hartley Sawyer.  I didn't know about his tweets until I read about it here. I loved his character!

Does this mean that casting directors are going to have check past tweets for every actor they hire from now on?

[Cthulhudrew]

18 minutes ago, HerkyJerky said:

Does this mean that casting directors are going to have check past tweets for every actor they hire from now on?

I'd really rather people be more personally accountable and think twice about what they post in public forums. When are people going to learn that this stuff is accessible pretty much in perpetuity once you hit "send"????

Edited March 3, 2021 by Cthulhudrew

[cambridgeguy]

9 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Meanwhile it’s been so long I don’t remember what Chester and Allegra bring to the team now or where Caitlin and Cisco are (at least they found an excuse to get Ralph out for a while as they set up his return.)

Hey now, Allegra can't go anywhere.  It's the downside of a newspaper having a total of three employees - if one (or is it two, I don't remember if Kamilla is still stuck?) of them are trapped in a mirror dimension then the third has to do all the work.

[Gregg247]

I think we could have used a 2-3 minute "Previously On...." trailer at the beginning of this episode.  It's been a year, and I don't remember anything that happened in this storyline.  I think the Captain and Cisco's girlfriend have been turned evil?  I know Iris is stuck in that silly mirror prison and Barry lost his powers.  Otherwise, I was just sitting there going, "huh?!?" the entire episode!

I want more Joe and Caitlyn, my 2 favorite characters.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - "Lighten up, Barry!"

Edited March 3, 2021 by Gregg247

[Lady Calypso]

So, for an episode never meant to be a premiere...I guess it wasn't half bad? Having Allegra and Chester be front and center for Team Flash as their intro as new series regulars, especially with the rest of the cast MIA, wasn't half bad. Making Chester a series regular clearly did wonders to his character, since he went from annoying "get off my screen" tech person who was clearly used as a Cisco replacement whenever Carlos is unavailable to a character that I could actually see work fairly decently on the show. I don't know if I'll ever care about him enough to put him above other Team Flash members, but they gave him a serious personality upgrade.

And, I hate to admit it, but I didn't even really miss Cisco OR Caitlin. 

So, the Wells are all dead now. I wish I felt more for their death scene but...I dunno, maybe it's because it's been almost a full year since the last episode aired or maybe I've been THAT tired of ANY Wells for so long, but I really didn't feel much more than relief. Unfortunately, I figure Tom Cavanagh isn't going anywhere just because he always plays a new character each season so he would have had one set up for the real start of season 7, so it's now more of a wait to see what new character Tom gets to play. I hope the Wells are retired and he plays someone not named Wells...or Thawne, for that matter. 

That being said, I'm gonna miss Harry. I wish he could have stuck around because he truly was the best Wells. 

Grant looked like he was having a blast with playing Wells, too. It goes to show how talented of an actor he is. He may not have hit on Harry's whispery candence and he didn't quite nail a couple of the roles, but he got so damn close and he did make me chuckle a couple of times, as tired as I am about the multiple Wells in general. 

Cecile's plot was decent enough. It was good for Cecile to finally get a power upgrade. And Danielle Nicolet did a great job with the material. Plus, I'm all for more scenes with women being badasses. Yes, what she did was also immoral, at best, but this show tends to have the heroes cross the line sometimes to achieve their goal. They really should have had power dampening cuffs on Top, though.

Poor Iris. She is still stuck in Mirror World but she's also losing her mind. Barry needs to get her out ASAP, but even then, she's going to have serious trauma for a while. It looks like they might follow through with it, as well. But it looks like she's starting to gain powers like Eva did.

Speaking of Eva, thank goodness she laid out exactly what she figured out at the end, because I had zero clue.

[Trini]

46 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

...

So, the Wells are all dead now. I wish I felt more for their death scene but...I dunno, maybe it's because it's been almost a full year since the last episode aired or maybe I've been THAT tired of ANY Wells for so long, but I really didn't feel much more than relief. Unfortunately, I figure Tom Cavanagh isn't going anywhere just because he always plays a new character each season so he would have had one set up for the real start of season 7, so it's now more of a wait to see what new character Tom gets to play. I hope the Wells are retired and he plays someone not named Wells...or Thawne, for that matter. 

...

I would have felt more too, but they spent the last 4 seasons making me hate them, so... shrug.

---

Also, they must have cut some scenes (Eva? Ralph & Sue? Kamilla?), because they clearly added a few more special effects/action scenes to pad things out.

[diebartdie]

What the actual shit? They FINALLY kill of all the Wells but they DONT HAVE CISCO THERE?!?!?!?!?!? Travesty.

[HerkyJerky]

7 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I'd really rather people be more personally accountable and think twice about what they post in public forums. When are people going to learn that this stuff is accessible pretty much in perpetuity once you hit "send"????

Well, that is the dream. But I'm just curious about how this all happened.  If these tweets came out 6 mos after Sawyer was hired that would make sense, but three years after his character has been established?  Does somebody bored with quarantining say I'm going to scroll through a secondary character on a CW show's twitter feed and see what can I see?  Or did Hartley Sawyer do somebody dirty and they said, "I'll see what I can find by going back 10 yrs on your Twitter"?  

I guess no matter,  Cthulhudrew had it right,  He shouldn't have posted it in the first place.

[adora721]

8 hours ago, HerkyJerky said:

Does this mean that casting directors are going to have check past tweets for every actor they hire from now on?

Funny you should mention this, but one of the actors did purge thousands of Twitter posts after Hartley was fired. 

[Commando Cody]

I almost didn’t make it through this entire episode.  It was so bad.  I didn’t remember the new guy, from last year, and I didn’t know who he was or how he got on the series.  The teenage girl is such a bad actor that it’s cringeworthy.  

I know that I’m one of the few who enjoys seeing Wells.  I don’t like the committee of Wells’s all that much.  I preferred one Wells at a time.  

I thought maybe Wells would become the Speed Force.  Then the teenage girl had that corny line about Wells always running with Barry.  That kind of ruined it.  

During the episode I questioned whether I want to continue the series and consider cancelling the rest of the season. 

Grant is a very good actor.  I sometimes think of the drunk episode when he was crying over not letting Jack get on the door.  He did all the Wells, very well.  

I had no interest in any of the other story lines.  Could Iris get out of the mirror, already?

[HerkyJerky]

1 hour ago, adora721 said:

Funny you should mention this, but one of the actors did purge thousands of Twitter posts after Hartley was fired. 

Don't keep me in suspense!  WHO?

[adora721]

6 minutes ago, HerkyJerky said:

Don't keep me in suspense!  WHO?

Will DM you since this has all been discussed before.

Edited March 3, 2021 by adora721

[HerkyJerky]

THANKS, Adora721!  Very interesting...

[Trini]

3 hours ago, HerkyJerky said:

...  Does somebody bored with quarantining say I'm going to scroll through a secondary character on a CW show's twitter feed and see what can I see?  ...

Literally what happened.

But more specifically, as I understand it, this came out around the time when people were making public statements about BLM/racism and someone decided to look to see if Hartley had made any previous statements on social issues - and they found some stuff. Then it really blew up when another celebrity reposted the screenshots. But he also had a sketchy pinned tweet for a long while before he deleted his Twitter, kind of showing that his particular sense of 'humor' was more recent than not.

But back to the show - last summer the showrunner said that they will wrap up Ralph's arc with Sue

Spoiler

... with a different actor; but I wonder if they're still going to do that with the way the studio has taken him out of all of the marketing.

 

[adora721]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

But more specifically, as I understand it, this came out around the time when people were making public statements about BLM/racism and someone decided to look to see if Hartley had made any previous statements on social issues - and they found some stuff.

I also understand that ppl asked Hartley to make a supportive statement about BLM or the protest. To paraphrase his response, he said he wanted to focus on his charity work for dogs and other animals instead. This response didn't sit well with some, especially since many of the Arrowverse cast members were tweeting support for the protestors at the time. It seems him implying that he cared more about animals than ppl was problematic.

[mrspidey]

I'm confused. Why was HR in Nash's brain? He died long before the multiverse was destroyed. They literally showed his death in this episode...Did Barry flashpoint again and i missed it? And if he was in there despite having been dead, where was original Earth 1 Wells?

Edited March 4, 2021 by mrspidey

[Trini]

3 hours ago, mrspidey said:

I'm confused. Why was HR in Nash's brain? He died long before the multiverse was destroyed. They literally showed his death in this episode...Did Barry flashpoint again and i missed it? And if he was in there despite having been dead, where was original Earth 1 Wells?

You are making a very good point, which I'm sure that the writer's room didn't consider after they thought, "hey, let's bring back the council of Wells!!" LOL, another reason for me to hate HR; he won't stay dead! If anything, they could use Crisis as an excuse.

[scarynikki12]

4 hours ago, mrspidey said:

Why was HR in Nash's brain? He died long before the multiverse was destroyed. They literally showed his death in this episode

Post Crisis the CW Earths were merged and so were the histories. The regulars on the shows had their memories of the previous timeline restored so HR’s sacrifice remains a part of the Flash history. Meanwhile the doppelgängers were removed in a “only one can exist” thing. So I can buy that the souls of all the Wells that used to exist, including HR, ended up floating around. I think Nash’s role as Pariah in the Crisis is what allowed them to attach to him.

It’s complicated but I think that’s what’s going on.

[Quark]

I found this very enjoyable.

Barry being all the Wells was hilarious.

I'm really glad that all the Wells are now dead (at least, I hope they are). I was exhausted by him two seasons ago.

[Trini]

Eric Wallace quote about Grant playing the Wellses:

Quote

“One of Grant’s big concerns was, ‘Eric, I don’t know how to speak French, and Sherloque has a French accent. I just don’t know about about this…,'” Wallace recalls with a chuckle. “I said, ‘Grant, you can do this. You got this. You will knock this out of the park. I know how talented you are, you are going to study this character and the end result will be magic.’ And he said, ‘OK, thanks.'”

And as it turned out with the finished product, “I was right! The end result was magic,” Wallace happily reports. “I don’t know if Grant studied Tom or it was simply from years of working with Tom, but it’s one of my favorite scenes in the history of the series, and certainly in my tenure of being a showrunner”...

 

[DanaK]

I never liked the Nash character so I’m glad he’s gone. Grant was funny with the various Wells impressions. I’m tired of Iris in the mirror talking to herself. It was an uneven premiere, including using 2 supporting characters in place of regulars. But at least the show is back?

[Maverick]

 This show is really kind of drab and depressing at this point.  Characters just randomly drift in and out of episodes with half ass excuses to explain their absence.  STAR Labs looks like someone forgot to pay the electric bill.   Central City looks deserted.  This is basically the CW's version of NCIS Los Angeles.

 In no way do I believe Wells is gone.   The just dumped an infinite numbers of Wells' into their new Speed Force.  At a minimum Barry will be having a Wells of the Week giving him a pep speech about the Little Dinosaur That Could.  And give the outlandish "science" of this show, they will certainly find a way to pull at least one Wells out of the Speed Force.  

 I had to laugh at everyone going on about how good and noble Harry Wells was.  Yes, Harry Wells who committed cold blooded murder right there in STAR Labs. 

[adora721]

17 hours ago, Maverick said:

  I had to laugh at everyone going on about how good and noble Harry Wells was.  Yes, Harry Wells who committed cold blooded murder right there in STAR Labs. 

This team has a history of applauding murderers, attempted murderers, human traffickers, accessory to murder, kidnappers and calling them a "good person", "nobody better", "awesome!", "remarkable", etc. At least Harry actually redeemed himself, suffered some consequence when his lost his daughter's trust temporarily and the team got to express their anger at him, Harry also rebuilt trust with the team and showed growth. That cannot be said for another person on the team who still needs an actual redemption, accountability, and consequences.

Edited March 9, 2021 by adora721

[Trini]

We had three different actors each playing multiple characters in this one! I really appreciate that we've got castmembers who can pull that off.