In the time vault, Nora talks about how she's been using all of her training to keep from giving away her secret. However, she doesn't know how much longer she can keep it up. The closer Nora gets to her parents, the more she feels that she's hurting them. Once Nora finishes her data entry log, Nora has Gideon send it to Eobard.
At the ice rink, Barry and Nora race and Barry easily outpaces his daughter. Iris skates up and instructs Nora on how to skate, and Barry comes back and tells Iris that she's such a mom. Barry admits that he is feeling relieved since Nora has recovered from Cicada's attack and they have a plan to take him down by bringing Grace out of her coma. He figures that if they bring Grace back then it will reach Cicada. Ralph, Sherloque, and Caitlin join them and Ralph suggests that Iris rent his dead neighbor's apartment so she can turn her blog into a newspaper. Sherloque gets a text that he has a package, says that it's all of his problems, and skates off.
Later at STAR Machines, Sherloque shows the others his memory machine that he's used to break other cases. Cisco returns from Tannhauser, and Sherloque explains that he used a forerunner multiverse delivery service to get the machine. Caitlin explains that Grace's coma has longer than typical and her consciousness has isolated itself in her long-term memories. Sherloque explains that they can use the machine to enter Grace's memories and lead her consciousness out of a neural nexus portal. Caitlin warns that there could be unforeseen side effects, and Sherloque tells them to always go in with someone else. He talks about he saw his partner Watsune's memory of having an affair with Sherloque's fourth wife. Barry agrees to go in with Nora, and says that they'll do it the first time tomorrow.
As Catkin, Cisco, and Ralph leave, Cisco says that he'll be up all night working with the irradiated meta-human sample. Once Caitlin leaves, Ralph asks Cisco to vibe a contact he's meeting with that night. Cisco agrees and walks off.
That night, Nora goes to the memory machine and asks Gideon how to hack it so Barry doesn't see her memories. The AI warns that there's nothing that can reduce the chance of Barry seeing her memories.
Sherloque sneaks into Grace's room disguised as an orderly and plants the transceiver disk on Grace. Gideon realizes what's happening and notifies Nora, and she figures that she can go in alone and bring Grace out without anyone being the wiser. She hooks herself up to the machine and finds herself at the CCPD. Singh is meeting with Jones and several other officers, discussing what to do with Grace after her parents' death. Grace is there and can see Nora, and Nora introduces herself. The girl asks to see her parents, and Nora tells her that she can't but she can make her feel better if Grace comes with her. When Grace hesitates, Nora says that Grace's stuffed animal would like to feel better, and Grace goes with her.
Nora takes Grace up to the portal but it disappears before they can get through, trapping Nora. Grace worries that she'll be in the station forever and tells Nora to leave her alone. Nora says that she used to come there and talks about how she's scared all of the time, and explains about how she stopped a meta on a plane. She tells Grace that she just imagines after she does the thing, and has Grace think about what happened once she's out. Grace says that she'll see her uncle.
At the loft, Iris is trying to find a name that she can use for her newspaper. Barry comes in and Iris says that she walking to a lawyer. She suggests that the timing isn't right to start a newspaper. Sherloque calls and tells Barry what Nora did. They go to STAR Labs and Caitlin says that Grace's brain damage has sealed off her memories so Nora can't escape. Sherloque says that Watsune ended up brain-dead after he went into someone's memories on his own. Iris tells Barry that he has to go in after Nora.
Nora searches the station for the portal but doesn't find it, and asks Grace to take her to another memory. Grace transfer them to her house, and she turns on the lights to reveal Orlin. Orlin hugs his niece and asks how her day was.
Ralph takes Cisco to a bar, and Cisco tries to talk to Ralph's contact Truck about Orlin. Truck smashes a glass and Cisco vibes a glass that Orlin supposedly broke. It turns out the band that plays there is "Sickada", and Truck says that the singer assaults everyone. Cisco says that they're done and tells Ralph that he'll have one dream.
Barry and Iris prepare to enter Grace's memories, and Caitlin warns that they'll only have a few seconds to open a portal. Sherloque begins the brain-wave transmission, and Barry and Iris find themselves at the station. They search the place and find Singh meeting with Jones and several other officers, discussing what to do with Grace after her parents' death. A young Nora is sitting where Grace was, and they realize that they're in Nora's memories as the portal disappears.
Sherloque discovers that Nora's brain activity has tripled, meaning that they're in Nora's memories.
Barry and Iris realize that they're in a memory within a memory, and they figure that if they find the portal and go through it, they can enter Grace's memories. Young Nora runs past, and they discover that the station in the future is the Flash Museum. They spot Nora and Barry figures that Nora's consciousness isn't there and they can't interfere. Iris says that when she was 10 she didn't run away from home, and figures that Nora is running away from someone. The couple go off to find Nora.
Orlin makes pancakes and recites limericks as Nora looks on. She suggests that she and Grace look for the portal, and Orlin burns the pancakes. Grace says that she takes care of her uncle, and Nora looks at Grace's doll house. Grace mentions going to the fair, and Nora figures that the portal is there.
Ralph checks out the women, and Cisco realizes that it's single's night. He figures that Ralph set him up, tells Ralph that he's still selfish, and leaves.
Barry and Iris find the villain wing of the museum. Young Nora is looking at an exhibit about an exhibit on Cicada that he's an immortal monster and he's killed 152 people. Singh has a recorded speech saying that Cicada killed more people than Zoom, and it was never the same after Flash died. Future Iris comes in and snaps at Nora, saying that she's in trouble.
Grace takes Nora to the hospital and the girl disappears. Nora finds Cicada in Grace's room sitting by his comatose niece, and he says that every meta will die. Orlin disappears and Grace wakes up, and she says that even though she was in a coma she's been listening. Ambres and Orlin appear, discussing XS and thinking that she's Flash's daughter. Grace realizes that Nora is XS and the one who hurt Orlin. The lights blow out and Grace says that Flash and XS are trying to hurt Orlin and he's a hero. Nora realizes that her speed is gone, and Cicada comes in and slashes at her. Nora knocks him back and runs out.
Future-Iris tells Young Nora that she's not coming back to the Museum again, and discovers that Nora stole a Flash action figure. She leads her daughter out, and Iris tells Barry that Future-Iris will be her and Nora will hate her mother. Iris says that she thought she could change the timeline and her lawyer said that the only name that cleared for her newspaper was the one on the future newspaper announcing Barry's disappearance. She points out that the memories are after Nora interfered in the timeline, and they continue their search for the portal. Behind them, the suit of Reverse Flash comes to life.
As Cisco tries to get a Lyft ride, Ralph apologizes to him. He says that when he was a nobody, he didn't have any friends. Ralph thought that if they had the night off they could go out and have some fin. Cisco says that they'll do it after he finds the cure. Ralph tells him that his friend told him that he can't spend his life waiting to live his life, and goes out to get Cisco phone reception.
The bartender, Camilla, gives Cisco a drink on the house and says that she's a photographer and bartends to pay the rent. Camilla mentions her sister, and Cisco realizes that if he has two sisters, one with and one without meta powers, he could isolate the meta gene. He shakes Camilla's hand and thanks her, and Ralph comes back and sees them together.
Barry looks for the portal and when he comes back for Iris, the Reverse Flash uniform comes after them.
Grace runs from the memory Cicada.
Caitlin and Sherloque realizes that Grace's memories are attacking Nora, and that Barry and Iris are under attack as well.
Nora ducks into an elevator and finds herself back in the police station. A nearby phone rings and when Nora answers it, Caitlin talks to her explaining that she's using the MAD to contact her. She conferences Barry and Iris in.
The uniform speeds off, and a phone rings. Iris answers it, and Sherloque tells them that the portals are hidden in perception gaps. If they can break down the synapses in the false memories then they should burn out and reveal the portal. The MAD burns out, and Nora realizes that the dollhouse is the key.
Barry figures that Nora's memory of Iris is false warped by Nora's perceptions. He insists that Future-Iris doesn't exist in any timeline, sure that any future with her in it is a good one and Iris has to believe it as well.
Nora returns to the house and tells Grace that her memory of the house isn't real. The memory-Cicada arrives, kills "Orlin", and attacks Nora. She grabs a knife and fight back.
Barry and Iris return to the Hall of Villains to find the portal. The uniform arrives and Barry attacks it, and the false memories fade.
Memory-Cicada breaks Nora's knife.
Reverse Flash pins Barry and says that his legacy is the broken family that he gave Flash. Iris uses the exhibit of Thinker's chair to disrupt the uniform.
Nora slams memory-Cicada into the dollhouse, breaking it. The house reverts to its real form, and the portal appears.
Barry and Iris see the true memory of Future-Iris finding Young Nora, and the girl saying that she loves Flash too and it's not fair that her father is dead. Future-Iris says that she loves her and Barry, and hugs Nora. The portal appears nearby and Barry and Iris leave to get Nora.
Nora tells Grace that things can be that good if she wakes up and then they can all help Orlin. Grace tells Nora that she's a liar, and memory-Cicada--a woman—slams Nora to the floor. Grace says she's the only one who can help Orlin. Barry arrives and knocks out memory-Cicada. Grace refuses to go with them, and the family escapes through the portal just in time.
Later, the group meet in the Cortex and Caitlin confirms that there's okay. She's also discovered that there's a piece of dark matter satellite in Grace's brain. Nora draws the inside of Orlin's house and says that she went in with them because she was impatient. Sherloque says that she was protecting her secret, and everyone looks at Nora. The detective says that Nora was hiding her painful memories as a child, and Nora hastily agrees. The others go and Sherloque asks Barry what defense mechanism Nora was using. Barry says that it was the Reverse Flash costume and leaves.
Iris goes to her new office and finds Barry and Nora there to help her celebrate her first day. She says that she's going to use the future newspaper name and that the future isn't always what it seems. Nora shows them that on the future newspaper, the date shows that the paper was founded in 2021: two years from that day. They realize that they're changing the future already. Barry goes to find Cisco and Nora admits that she was angry all the time because nobody understood what she was feeling, and it didn't matter what Iris did. She figures that Iris was trying to stop her from becoming Flash, and Iris lost her husband. Despite that, Iris always protected her. Nora apologizes for how she treated Iris, then and when she got there. Iris thanks her and says that Nora is an amazing woman, and they hug.
Nora does her next log entry, saying that she learned that she would do anything to save her family. Her parents can never learn that Eobard is helping her and she'll lie to protect them.
Grace lies in her coma and tells the memory Cicada that Nora lied to her and they'll all pay.
Cisco and Ralph return from ice skating and Cisco admits that going out was the right thing to do. As Cisco calls Camilla, Barry comes in and Cisco says that the cure is good as done. Barry tells them that he wants to use the cure on Cicada.
Written by Gadfly on Jan 30, 2019