At home, Barry realizes that he needs to travel to 2024. He notices Iris looking at a photo of her and Joe, and Iris asks Barry to promise that if Savitar kills her then he doesn't let Joe spiral out of control. Barry finally does so, and he gets an alert from S.T.A.R. Labs.
Killer Frost attacks Cisco, H.R., and Julian with her ice blasts. She finally confronts Julian, who insists that she doesn't want to hurt him. As she starts to kiss him, Cisco blasts her and gets Julian out. They run down the hallway with H.R., and Killer Frost. Cisco gets them into the pipeline and seals the door behind them, and Killer Frost opens the door a few seconds later using her palm scan. When Cisco says that he doesn't want to hurt her, Flash arrives and knocks Killer Frost back. He tries to get through to Caitlin, but Killer Frost ignores him, ices the door over between them, and gets out before Flash can stop her.
Back in the lab, Julian insists that he made the right decision by removing the power suppressor. Barry finally suggests that they take a break, and tells the others that he's going to run to the future, talk to his future self, and find out who Savitar is and how they defeat him. He tells Wally to help him accelerate to the proper speed, and they go to the pipeline, Kid Flash loans his speed to Flash, who finds himself in an alleyway in 2024. The Top finds him and induces vertigo on him, and points out that Flash is wearing his old costume. Mirror Master steps out of a reflective surface and says that they can kick Flash's ass like they used to.
Mirror Master tells Flash that he's been gone again and reminds him that it's their town now. He kicks Flash repeatedly, but Flash knocks them both away and speeds off. After he switches out of his costume, Barry goes the police station and finds it abandoned. The future Cisco steps out of the shadows and hugs Barry, and says that he had a feeling he was there. Cisco hacked into the security cameras and saw Flash fight Mirror Master and Top. He figures that it's no accident that Barry is there, and Barry explains that he came for information and then he's going back. Cisco realizes that he's there about Savitar, and Barry asks where his future-self is.
S.T.A.R. Labs is closed, and Cisco takes Barry there. He explains that H.R. went onto other things and Caitlin never came back, and Barry shut down S.T.A.R. Labs and the team because they were a constant reminder to him of what he lost. Cisco says that he shouldn't even be there and has Barry go ahead on his own. Barry finds his future self in the cortex, and future-Barry asks why he's there. He realizes that Barry is from before Iris died, and tells him that he can't save Iris. Barry insists that he just needs to know who Savitar is, and future-Barry tells him that he can't because he doesn't know the answer. He advises Barry to go home and spend as much time with Iris as he can because soon he'll never see her again, and walks off.
Barry dons his costume and meets with Cisco, who asks him to stay because they don't have a Flash. Flash says that he can't and speeds through the pipeline. However, the portal won't open and he realizes that he can't get back to 2017. Barry wonders if Mirror Master and Top did something to him, and Cisco says that everyone is different except for Barry. He explains that he tried to get the team back together but he lost his powers when Killer Frost froze his hands off. Without them he has no vibe powers. Barry wonder what happened to the others.
Cisco takes Barry to see the future Julian at his lab at Iron Heights. He asks to see Caitlin, and Julian takes her to the cell where Killer Frost is confined. She knows that he's from the past because there's no hate in his eyes, and asks if he came to see what happened to his friends. Barry blames himself for not saving her, and Killer Frost says that she's glad that he failed. She tells him that he's no match for Savitar, and realizes that Cisco didn't tell Barry. Killer Frost explains that Savitar appeared to her and showed her the way, and they teamed up because he gave her the cure to her illness: embracing who she really is. Barry realizes that she knows who Savitar is, but she refuses to tell him and says that Barry will be surprised when he finds out. Killer Frost jokingly suggests that Wally might be able to help Barry out.
Barry and Cisco go to the West house and Wally's nurse Beth answers the door. She invites them to stay as long as they like, warning that they don't have many visitors. Wally is in a wheelchair sitting in the darkness, staring off into space. Barry tries to get through to him, and Cisco explains that after Iris died, Wally went after Savitar by himself. Joe found him the next day with a shattered spine, and no one knows what Wally saw. Barry asks where Joe is, and Cisco figures that there's only one other place he can be.
Joe is at the cemetery putting flowers on Iris' grave. Barry walks up and says that he wanted to see how he was doing. Joe wonders why he wants to know after so much time has passed, and says that he's doing his best. Barry asks what happened to them, and Joe tells him that his children's lives were taken and then Barry left him. When Barry wonders that he wasn't there for Joe, Joe wonders why Barry should start now and tells him to leave.
Barry goes to the time vault and asks future-Barry why he broke his promise to be there for Joe. Future-Barry says that he was just as broken as Joe was, and tells Barry that he will go back and will do everything he can to stop Savitar, but will fail. On May 23, Iris will die in Barry's arms, and it will break Barry. There'll be nothing left to stop Savitar, and Barry won't be there to help Joe, stop Caitlin from becoming Killer Frost, or save Wally. One day Barry will stop Savitar and lock him in the Speed Force forever, but at that point Savitar will already have won. Future-Barry tells Barry to go home because there's nothing for him there.
Barry goes to Cisco and tells him that he needs to get back to 2017. When Cisco says that he wanted to get the team back together, Barry realizes that Cisco did something to him to keep him there. Cisco explains that he has a device that destroys the resonance field Barry creates when he runs. He explains that he misses his friend and thought Barry still had some fight in him, but he was wrong.
In the pipeline, Barry prepares to run but then goes back to Cisco and says that he can't go back knowing what the future is, and it's time to get the team back together... starting with H.R.
H.R. is reading one of his romance novels at Jitters to an appreciative audience. Two of the women text him, and H.R., starts to end the reading. Flash runs in, grabs him, and takes him to S.T.A.R. Labs. He grabs Julian and Joe as well, and Barry says that he brought them all there. Joe realizes that the Barry at the cemetery was not his Barry, and Barry says that Iris' death shouldn't have driven them away from him. it's not what she wanted, and Barry tells them that he will not abandon them. The metahuman app goes off and Cisco says that they have a chance to put some hope back in their lives and they all really need it. After a moment, they agree and join hands.
Mirror Master and Top are robbing a jewelry store and Flash confronts them. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the others start the lab up. Meanwhile, Top uses her power on Flash and Mirror Master pulls down the nearby mirror front of a building. Cisco uses the resonance device to duplicate the resonance field from the villains' powers, negating their powers. When they wonder how they'll get it to Barry, future-Barry comes in and tells them to give it to him. Cisco tosses it to him, and future-Barry speeds off.
Future-Flash speeds to the alley and pulls Flash free, and tells Flash that they can go anywhere Mirror Master goes. The villains run in different directions, and Future-Flash captures Top. Meanwhile, Flash uses the device to follow Mirror Master into a window and then knocks him out.
Later, the news is reporting the sighting of two Flashes. At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team watches as the newscaster says that it's good to see Flash again. Future-Barry warns that they have a way to go, especially him, and agrees with Barry that Iris would have wanted them to stay a family. He apologizes for breaking his promise, and says that if they're willing to be a family again then so can he. Joe hugs his Flash, and Julian and H.R. say that they're in. They go to get coffee with Joe, and future-Barry warns Barry that he wishes that he could help him. Barry asks him how he trapped Savitar in the Speed Force, and future-Barry explains that a physicist named Tracy Brand made the Speed Force trap for him. However, she didn't figure out the technology until four years after Iris died. Future-Barry gives Barry a thumb drive with all of the information and hopes that Tracy can decipher it for him when he goes back. He tells Barry to make some good memories with Iris while he can and hold onto them, and they shake.
Later, Barry and Cisco go to the pipeline. Barry promises that he'll fix Cisco's arms and they hug, When Barry returns seconds after he left, he tells Kid Flash that it worked and tells the others what he learned. He says that they need to find Caitlin before she's lost to them forever, and Joe goes to put out an APB on her. Barry goes after him, hugs him, and says that he loves him. He promises that no matter what happens, he'll always be there for Joe. Joe says that he knows and leaves, and Barry turns to see Iris watching. He tells her that he's keeping the promise that he made to her.
Killer Frost finds Savitar waiting for her, and he says that he's offering her what she desires: salvation. He assures her that he wants to make sure Caitlin never returns. When Killer Frost wonders why she should trust her, Savitar removes his armor and reveals who he really is, and Killer Frost asks what he needs her to do.
Written by Gadfly on Apr 26, 2017