What's Past Is Prologue

Previously on "The Flash"...

That dagger he had negated our powers.

I just lost my speed.

I'm gonna make this right, Gracie.

Every meta will die.

So we're dealing with a meta-human Jack the Ripper.

I give you Orlin Dwyer, also known as...

Cicada.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

- How many you shoot? - [SCOFFS]

Shot like a hundred.

Any of them good?

Bof.

Guess we'll just have to keep shooting till we get it right.

I guess so.

Orlin Dwyer.

Near as we can tell, he grew up in the Midwest.

In and out of juvie, pretty much fell off the map,

and then popped up in Central City a few years ago.

Part-time employee of Szrek Chemicals

for the last two years.

Foreman says he keeps to himself,

pretty much a loner, gave a fake address.

Did take custody of his niece.

BOTH: Grace Gibbons.

After her parents were unfortunately murdered

by a meta-human, now...

So now we know why Dwyer hates metas.

Once he got his powers, he started targeting them.

Powers he got the night of the Enlightenment,

as we all know, and he was struck

by a shard from the S.T.A.R. Lab satellite explosion.

Which was also the same night

that Grace went into a coma.

Where Dwyer visits her every day, every night,

for the last three weeks.

So he's there now.

- Yeah. - Oui.

[RISING MUSIC]

Then let's go get him.

"Let's go get him." [SCOFFS]

How are you going to do that? Look, as always,

I respect your spirit, Barry Allen,

but as long as Cicada has his dagger to dampen your powers,

there's no stopping him.

So let's destroy his dagger.

How are we gonna do that

unless we have some kind of

power-dampening dagger power dampener

hidden away in storage?

We don't, but if we did

we'd come up with a much better way of saying that.

Sure, I mean, just, like, dagger-dampener...

Wait, yeah, that's actually... That's decent,

'cause, you know, you're running into...

Just abbreviate. P-D-P-D.

[INCOHERENT BICKERING]

Guys.

What if we could make one?

Make one what?

What if we can make a weapon more powerful than his weapon?

Cicada can control his dagger,

so what we would need would be something more powerful

than his connection to it.

Wait, like... Like some kind of

- super-charged magnet? - Exactly.

I don't know if we have anything

strong enough for that.

We made Sally out of a micro-composite alloy.

As far as satellite's go, she's...

She was heavy-duty.

And even if we could get our hands on the dagger,

we'd still have to figure out how to take the dark matter out

- to negate it's powers. - Well, exactly right.

I mean, what you're suggesting is we find an alloy...

No, no, indestructible alloy

that has super magnetic properties,

but also has the ability to negate dark matter.

I mean, where are we going to find such a thing?

The past.

The past?

You've already come across everything that we need, right?

A strong alloy with magnetic properties.

Savitar's suit.

Something to remove dark matter.

The Speed Force transmitter

that Zoom used to steal Barry's speed.

Yeah, but that was his Speed Force.

Yeah, but those are exotic particles,

which are basically the same thing as dark energy,

so we would just need some of that to recalibrate it.

Can... can you do that?

I mean, you'd have to infuse the transmitter

with the same kind of dark matter.

Like the DeVoe kind?

More like the Particle Accelerator kind.

I'm sorry, we... we need to blow up S.T.A.R. Labs again?

No, no, not again.

We just need to go back to the first time that it happened,

This is gonna mess with the timeline too much.

No, it's not. Savitar's suit, the transmitter,

these are all just discarded objects in time,

so if we steal them, it won't affect anything at all.

Even if all of that worked, we can't just waltz

into the hospital with

our soon-to-be-named dampening device.

Dwyer smells us coming, he's gone.

Then we do a time hack.

A time hack?

- Is when you... - Plant something in the past

so it's available in the future.

You go back, you take the device,

and you hide it near the hospital.

Somewhere it won't be found for five years.

He won't even know it's there.

So you and your father go back to the past

to defeat Cicada in the future.

[SCOFFS]

Quite an off-the-cuff plan you've come up with.

We can do this.

No.

I can do it.

Can you guys figure out the best dates to go back to?

We're on it.

- You're not coming with me. - Why?

Every time I try something like this I nearly get killed.

Well, yeah, all the more reason for me to come with you,

so that I can watch your back so you don't get hurt.

It's too risky with the timeline.

All right, look, time travel, it's complicated.

I know, I've already done it.

And look what happened.

Look.

I just want to fix what I screwed up.

Okay, what I did.

Please, let me come with you.

Not today.

You think she should come with me?

Yeah, Barry, I do.

Iris, if I do this,

I'm going back to some crazy times.

Savitar, Zoom, Thawne, Speedsters...

Who you've all outsmarted and defeated.

Look, this was her idea, Barry. Her solution.

And it's a good one.

So, unless you have a better reason

why she should stay back...

let her do this.

Okay, these are the best of times.

Incidentally, they were also the worst of times,

but in terms of going back, this is it.

Savitar. When we defeated him,

Barry phased into his suit, destroyed it,

sending pieces of it flying far enough away

that our past selves wouldn't notice

if Barry took one or two pieces of it.

- What do you think? - Absolutely,

Barry just has to get back into the Speed Force

before the timeline catches up

and those pieces get erased from existence.

I'm fairly optimistic.

Okay, what about the Speed Force transmitter thingy?

The night that Zoom injected the speed force into himself,

he left the Speed Force transmitter

in the viewing room.

Yes, that's brilliant, all he has to do

is make sure no one's in there when he takes it.

What about when the Particle Accelerator exploded?

Well, right before everything went sideways,

Wells was in the cortex, and we...

We were in the pipeline intake.

Ronnie!

That's the best time for Barry to go into the time vault.

He can put a piece of Savitar's suit in the plinth,

and when the Particle Accelerator explodes

it should infuse it with dark matter.

Right.

So once that's done,

we'll have all the pieces we need to make the device.

We plant it in the hospital, the rest is history.

Great, let's go show Barry and see what he thinks.

I'll be right behind you.

Where did I leave...

[GRUNTS] Aha.

[SCREAMS]

What is this?

What is that? Nora's journal?

What, are you stealing now?

No... Yes, but for good reason.

Look at this code.

Have you seen this code before?

- Yeah. - Yeah, when?

Right after Barry came out of the Speed Force a year ago.

And did you decipher the code?

Well, my computer did just one sentence.

Ah, well...

Hey, listen here, space invader.

Why don't you try returning the thing to her,

and then asking her?

Of course. Of course.

- Right. - Makes sense.

Just return the...

All right,

let's do it.

Cool.

You're not gonna want to forget this.

Had to make some adjustments to the suit,

but I finally figured it out.

For emergencies only.

You don't want to get caught running around the past

- in your future Flash suit. - Right.

You might get ideas.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

[SIGHS]

Come on.

[OPTIMISTIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Okay, look, follow my lead.

Don't go off book.

If anything goes wrong, do exactly as I say.

Do things usually go wrong?

[SCOFFS]

♪ ♪

["BACK IN TIME" BY HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS PLAYS]

♪ ♪

What?

When am I gonna get the chance to do that?

Hey, game face.

All right, so what do we do while they're gone?

Do we stake out the hospital?

Get everything ready here or what?

Nothing. They're gonna return

to the exact same moment that they left.

Wait, so, they're gonna go,

but to us it'll be like they never left?

Yeah, time travel's weird, isn't it?

Here they go.

Good luck.

♪ So take me away ♪

♪ I don't mind ♪

♪ But you better promise me ♪

♪ I'll be back in time ♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Get ready.

Now!

Are you sure we're in the right place?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Is that Savitar?

That's him.

♪ ♪

[GROANS]

Come on.

[WRAITH WAILING]

[OMINOUS MUSIC]

I only have a few minutes left.

If I am going to die,

then everything you love is going to die too.

Holy shrap.

[SCREAMS]

[GASPS]

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

How's it feel to get so close to your ascension,

and end up on the ground?

Now I see.

- It's written. - Nothing's written.

[WRAITH WAILING]

What was that?

Time Wraith. They protect the timeline.

I've got to get it out of here.

Nora, you're gonna have to get the shard, okay?

Meet me in the forest where we first arrived.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[GUNSHOT]

♪ ♪

Mom?

♪ ♪

- Did you get it? - Yeah, I got it.

Nice job getting that into the Speed Force on time.

Nothing to it.

Dad, about Savitar...

This is right. .

How do you know?

Because that was Zoom with Wally.

I'm about to lose my speed. Come on.

[SCREAMING]

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

- Barry, are you okay? - I'm okay.

I'm okay.

Thank you, Flash.

Jay, stop!

If you have any humanity left,

then please let him go.

Caitlin!

We gotta get Caitlin back.

Stay here. Don't move.

Okay? Stay.

No.

What?

Barry...

You can't let your losses stop you.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

You're the one who taught me that.

You have to keep moving.

You have to... push through.

You have to find a way. You have to fight.

So that nothing, ever, will hold you back, Barry.

Do what you can, and I know you lost your speed,

but everyone's here to help.

My dad, Cisco, Harry...

me.

Come on. Come on.

[ENERGY HUMS]

Well, you change quickly.

What?

- Out of your suit. - Yeah, no, I...

Yeah, it was, just too weird being in it without my speed.

Well, that's your own damn fault, isn't it?

- I guess so. - I know so.

What are you looking for?

I'm looking for anything to help me find my daughter.

All right, just...

♪ ♪

I don't have my daughter.

You don't have your speed. Zoom has Caitlin,

and this whole thing... this whole thing...

Is going to hell in a hand basket...

No, no, wait, wait, wait!

Her frequency.

- What? - Jesse's frequency.

People from Earth- vibrate at a different frequency.

Maybe you could track her that way.

Figure out how to find Snow.

[SIGHS]

- Did you get it? - I got it.

Let's build this thing.

♪ ♪

You're not going anywhere, Flash.

You got what you want, Zolomon.

And who is this?

Another Speedster.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[GLASS CRACKS]

No, no, no!

Damn it!

I knew we shouldn't have done this.

Now we have no way to stop Cicada.

I mean, I don't even know when we are.

Dad, Dad, we can fix this.

I can't fix this, Nora.

Cisco can't even fix this. This is Wells' tech.

Well, let's go back to Wells.

We can't. Harry's...

Harry's mind isn't what it used to be.

No, I don't mean that Wells.

I mean the one that built the Particle Accelerator.

That's not Wells. That is Eobard Thawne,

the Reverse-Flash.

I know, it's just, he's really smart.

So I thought maybe we could convince him to help us.

No, okay, look, no.

The only person Thawne ever helps is himself.

Okay.

I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe...

What?

I know when we are.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

- Oh... - Leave him. Leave him.

- The less we mess... - Mess with the timeline.

I know.

I know what this is.

Three years ago I traveled back to this day

to get Thawne's help.

So you have done it before.

♪ ♪

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Well...

things just got a lot more complicated, didn't they?

♪ ♪

Barry Allen.

But which Barry Allen?

Clearly you're...

- from a lot later than this one. - Way later.

Way later.

Who's your friend?

Let me guess.

Jesse Chambers. No.

Maybe Lawrence. Wait.

- Danica Williams. - It doesn't matter who she is.

She's your daughter.

You've brought me your daughter.

It's, um...

Dawn, if I'm not mistaken.

Nora.

Nora.

Oh, that's nice.

At least you still have one.

What, Nora, time travel's so weird.

What do you want?

I need you to fix this for me.

No...

No, if you're here...

And he's here...

- that means... - You don't get home.

I get home!

I get home. I go home!

- I get everything... - You don't go home, Thawne.

Unless you help me.

♪ ♪

What do you want?

Like I said, you're gonna fix this for me.

- To do what? - Drain dark matter.

- Whose dark matter? - None of your business.

- It is my business. - No, it's not.

There's no chance that I help you...

- It's none of your business... - Cicada's!

Cicada's.

The one who got away.

You want to destroy Cicada's dagger, don't you?

We want to save lives.

[LAUGHING]

You want to save lives. [LAUGHS]

I bet you do. I bet you do.

Especially your own, right, Barry Allen?

Look, that me, he's gonna wake up soon.

He sees me standing here,

your whole timeline is gonna be blown to hell.

You're never gonna get home. You know that's true!

I know! I know!

♪ ♪

Where are my manners?

Can I get you a cup of water?

So who made this?

Someone smarter than you.

[LAUGHS] I doubt that.

You know, Allen, for your plan to work,

you're gonna actually gonna have to have his dagger

- in your possession... - We've got that covered.

You got that covered. How's that?

With this.

Is that...

It's a piece of Savitar's suit, yeah.

Hmm.

You know what's funny about your dad, Nora,

is he hates me.

Hates me with a passion,

and yet a version of him, this Savitar,

is a much bigger jerk than I ever was.

Did you see the face? Did you... [LAUGHS]

did you see the, like, pizza face.

- Can you hurry up? - Yeah, I'll hurry up.

I gotta tell you, Allen,

using Savitar's suit,

it's a smart idea.

It was hers.

Clever girl.

Oops.

Gotta go.

[SIGHS]

I still look forward to seeing how this all pans out.

Nora.

Hey, Dad...

It's time to go back to the night it all began.

Come on.

Tonight, the future begins.

The work my team and I will do here

will change our understanding of physics,

will bring about advancements in power,

advancements in medicine,

and trust me, that future will be here faster than you think.

[APPLAUSE]

[BELL DINGS]

Uh, why are we going this way?

Why don't we just speed into the time vault?

Because it's a big moment, Nora.

Thawne's been planning this night for years.

If we use our speed, he'll feel it.

Feel a disturbance in the Speed Force.

I wouldn't do that.

[CREATURE GROWLING SOFTLY]

Dr. Wells, the accelerator is primed

and ready for particle injection.

I feel I should say something profound like,

"One small step for man."

What's happening?

Wells is about to blow up the city.

All I can think of to say is I feel like

I've waited for this day for centuries.

Without further ado.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Dr. Wells?

Are you okay?

Yeah, I'm great.

[SIGHS]

I'm...

Caitlin, do you think you could have Ronnie run the Particle Accelerator parameter numbers

just one more time?

Just for good measure.

- Sure. - Great.

And, Caitlin,

the bottle of Dom we've been saving.

Is today the day?

I think today might be the day.

- I'll go grab it. - Great, be along in a minute.

You got us on pins and needles here, Dr. Wells.

- Exciting isn't it? - Yeah.

Well, it's all thanks to the team, right?

Caitlin, fiancé Ronnie, Hartley.

- Hmm. - Hartley contributed.

Especially you, Cisco.

I have to say I have a vibe about you.

About what you're destined to become.

I want you to know I'm very eager

to be along for that adventure.

Thank you, Dr. Wells.

That means a great deal.

♪ ♪

Oh, did you...

I didn't.

Shall we just go turn on an accelerator

and pop some champagne?

- I think... - Okay.

He's gone.

♪ ♪

Good evening, Barry Allen.

I was not expecting you this soon.

She knows you?

I know you as well, Nora West-Allen.

Also known as XS.

Fifth recruit in the rebooted Legion of...

Gideon,

the particle accelerator is about to explode.

I need you to recalibrate the system's chain reaction

so some of the dark matter is repositioned into this vial,

and record no reports of this...

♪ ♪

Nora!

[SIGHS]

You really hate him, don't you?

Do you not know what he did?

I know he was your archenemy.

He killed my mother...

in our home

when I was years old.

An -year-old boy.

You know why he did it?

He thought if I suffered a tragedy

that was horrific enough, I'd never recover

and never become The Flash.

I... I didn't know that.

There's probably a lot that's happened to me

that's not in The Flash museum.

It's why you didn't want me to come with you, isn't it?

It's not because it was dangerous,

or because of the timeline,

but because you didn't want me

to know these awful things about you

so it's not what I would remember most when I went back.

You don't have to protect me from this stuff.

- Yes, I do. - No, you don't.

Yes, yes, I do.

You're my daughter.

Yeah, and you're my father,

and I just want to know my father.

[NOSTALGIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Recalibration complete.

[GROUND QUAKING]

Here we go.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Dark matter retrieval successful.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Let's go get our time back in place.

Spinal cord trauma,

he's lost all feeling to his lower quadrants.

That's Harrison Wells.

Dr. Wells, I need you to squeeze my hand.

That's a good sign.

-year-old male, struck by lightning.

I need a full trauma panel.

Get him to bay one.

What is happening to this city?

Grace's room is on the fourth floor.

This should work.

Let's put it right here.

♪ ♪

We did it.

Come on.

♪ Gotta be back in time ♪

- Did you even go? - [BOTH LAUGH]

Told you time travel was weird.

- Everything worked? - Yeah.

Is Dwyer still at the hospital?

Hasn't left her side.

Did you plant the transmitter?

Yeah, we sure did.

Let's go get Cicada.

♪ Back in time ♪

[CAUTIOUS MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[TAPPING ON METAL]

♪ ♪

You ready, Barry?

I'm ready.

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Cicada.

Is that what you call me?

Not all meta-humans

are responsible for what happened to Grace.

Yes, they are.

The destruction they cause, the death,

the pain.

I know about pain and death,

taking it out on the world.

That's not gonna help. Think about Grace.

She's all I think about, Flash.

And I'm making the world safe for her.

Every meta-human must go.

Then what about you?

You're a meta-human now.

I am,

and after you're gone, I'll join you.

All four of you.

♪ ♪

Come on, work.

♪ ♪

- It worked. - It worked.

Let's see how you like it.

[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Cisco, now.

Breach it out of here!

[LAUGHS]

Gotcha.

Oh, man.

You look like you're having a day.

Is it 'cause I just threw your dagger into outer space,

or 'cause you're just now realizing you didn't kill me.

We stopped you.

You stopped nothing.

[ROARS]

The satellite's tracking the dagger

back through the exosphere.

Guys, Cicada's recalling the dagger back from space.

♪ ♪

Go, go, go, go, go, go.

♪ ♪

This ends now.

Barry!

No!

Let's dance, cricket freak.

♪ ♪

Dwyer's not popping up in facial recognition.

And there's no dark matter traces from his dagger.

Well, he won't stay away from his niece for long,

and when he returns, we'll be ready.

Yeah, we will, thanks to Killer Frost.

I don't understand.

How can she still come out?

She didn't come from dark matter,

so I guess she's immune to Cicada's dagger.

She just might be the key to stopping Cicada for good.

Maybe we should go check in with her.

- What do you think? - Yeah.

- Cricket freak, huh? - Yeah.

Just came out.

[SOFT MUSIC]

Proud of you.

♪ ♪

- Hey, "Sher-loke." - Sherloque.

- Du thé ? - No, thank you.

Have you see my...

- Journal. - Yeah.

Forgive me, but couldn't help but notice

this composition.

That's really nothing special.

But it...

feels like something special.

I don't like to brag, but speak a lot of languages

and yet this one...

this one I don't recognize.

- It's a time language. - Time language, really?

It's used to record events

regardless of changes in the timeline

so no matter what happens I'll always remember my dad.

Hmm, where does one learn something like that?

Time travel school?

I created it, actually.

You created it?

Mm-hmm.

Clever girl.

I forget myself.

This is yours.

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

[LAUGHTER]

[NOSTALGIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

They were the best.

Dad.

- Dad, I didn't... - It's all right.

I understand.

- I love you. - I love you, too.

Do you ever think about stopping

what's about to happen?

Every day.

Thanks for bringing me with you today.

It meant a lot.

I'm glad you came.

♪ ♪

Hey, Old Man, come on.

Come on.

[COMFORTING MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Old Man?

♪ ♪

Good evening, Nora West-Allen.

Gideon, another data entry.

Entry uploaded and recorded.

Shall I send it to the same recipient?

Yes.

Entry sent.

Would you like assistance with anything else?

Yes, send a personal message from me.

What would you like it to say?

Actually, I'll deliver it myself.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪ ♪

We need to talk.

Yes, Nora.

Yes, we do.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[EXPLOSIONS BOOMING]

[GROANING]

♪ ♪

You failed.

Why are you doing this?

You did this to yourself,

and now,

all of you will perish.