THE FLASH REVIEW: “Pay the Piper”

The Flash — “Pay the Piper” Pictured: Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW

The Flash Review: “Pay the Piper”

By Justin Carter

And here we are, the penultimate episode before the finale. Wait, what?

Yep, that’s correct; the show had three episodes left to make before the Covid19 pandemic happened, but since production is currently shut down and the season would normally conclude towards the end of May, they’re calling it early. Under the circumstances, this turns what’s otherwise a decent episode into an underwhelming table setter for what’s to come. 

Godspeed is back, not having made an appearance since the first couple of minutes of the season premiere. Unlike the other ones Team Flash have apparently captured, this one isn’t a drone, and he’s showing up wanting to drain Barry of what little speed he has left. With everyone still reeling from learning that they’ve been hanging with Iris and Kamilla duplicates for over a month, they decide to go to Hartley Rathaway, who’s still operating as a repeat criminal version of Pied Piper. To get Hartley’s help, the team has to save his partner-in-crime/boyfriend Roderick, who’s stuck in a state of vibration ever since Flash took Hartley’s crew down in this post-Crisis timeline. 

This is an episode largely devoted to half the cast being discouraged and the other half giving them inspirational speeches to motivate them back to greatness. Whatever else you can say about this show, the cast have all settled into their roles quite nicely and all play off one another beautifully, but the repetition is evident thanks in part to four of these speeches going back to back with one another, right before another commercial break. First Barry and Wells, then Cisco and Cecile, then the reunited Iris and Kamilla, and finally Barry and Hartley. 

The thing that livens the episode up to an extent is Godspeed himself. He’s a solid enough villain with actual presence, the downside being that whatever exactly he is will have to wait until next season, presumably. There’s next to no solid information revealed about him beyond that he’s connected to a higher power looking for infinite velocity. That could be Thawne, that could be whichever other speedster villains the show has yet to burn through, who knows. 

Our episode ends with Team Flash rallying together again emotionally to take down Eva, who’s finally corporeal in the real world. Cisco gets to go to Atlantis next week to grab a component that will help with the device that will help save Iris, Kamilla and Singh from the Mirrorverse. It’s just a shame we won’t see it, or what else was to come. 

Additional Notes

• The pandemic aside, I actually really enjoyed this season. We had a solid beginning in the lead up to Crisis, and the post-crossover stuff has been intriguing and fun. I feel it’ll play better once you watch it in full. 
• I have no clue what the plan is for the three unmade episodes, if they’ll be added to season seven or if they’ll just get referenced when/if the show returns in October, and I get the sense they don’t fully know yet, either. 
• Allegra is officially a member of Team Flash, as noted when Barry asks her to stay at the end instead of going to Atlantis with Cisco. (Her actor, Kayla Compton, was confirmed as a regular for season 7 some weeks ago when it was on its spring hiatus.)