A terrifying new meta cuts a swathe through the city and Iris and Nora finally address their issues.

Troy James’ contortionist capabilities are astounding. What could have been a throwaway meta-of-the-week episode is instead a memorable gothic romp thanks to his incredible physicality and presence and some lovely directorial touches. Ragdoll is glimpsed in the background of a pivotal scene, actually gets to stare balefully across moonlit gardens in another and the whole thing is scored in a wonderfully Danny Elfman way.

It’s a great way to liven up the plot and gives the episode some welcome stakes too, as The Flash does one of its periodic b-plot heavy weeks. So, we get some major developments on Caitlin’s dad, Sherloque and Ralph becoming detective buddies, Iris and Nora dealing with their problems and some brilliant Cisco stuff.

Cisco first, who is still recovering from his injuries and has metal poisoning thanks to the wounds inflicted on him by Cicada. In agony every time he vibes, Cisco eventually has a seizure and comes clean to Cailtin. The scene that follows is a season highlight for everyone’s favorite motormouth engineer as he admits he’s terrified of losing his powers now he’s got used to them. Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker have rarely been better than they are here and its great to see Cisco get some heavy material and Team Science Puppy reunite so well.

The Iris and Nora stuff is excellent too, especially as this is basically an entire plot involving three generations of the same family’s women hashing stuff. Cecile, Iris and Nora are all very similar and all approach things entirely differently and this episode that gets addressed. Nora is called on her terrible attitude, Iris gets to express the pre-event guilt she’s buckling under and Cecile gets to be amazing. All of which leads to that moment that hits once a season where the show decides to remind us that no one messes with Iris Allen-West. Last year? Sword fight. This year? Diving off a building to unlock her husband’s meta-cuffs so he can save them both. BAD. ASS.

Elsewhere, Ralph and Sherloque remain great fun and the Ralph and Iris rescue sequence is flat out hilarious. There are some nice moments between the West-Allens too, reminding us that they’re overworked, over-stressed but also desperately in love and frequently the grown ups in the room.

Verdict: Rounded out with some nice deduction work and a couple of great action sequences this is a wide-spectrum episode that gives everyone stuff to do and it’s all fun. Another strong entry in a consistently very strong season to date. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart