The Flash Episode 16 Recap, Rogue Time

As we saw last week, Barry went back in time (saxophone solo here)! He doesn’t appear to realize what he’s done, despite seeing the same things he saw the day before happen again, but he gets a call from Cisco that he needs to book it to the morgue, a place he believes to have already been. While there, Barry re-investigates the murder and points Joe to all the clues just a fraction too soon. The next morning, Caitlin and Cisco talk about his brother’s birthday party, and it’s clear that there’s not much affection between them so Caitlin offers to attend with him. Barry enters and starts finishing everyone’s sentences which prompts Dr. Wells to have a talk with him about what he’s done, breaking the time continuum, duh. He advises Barry to redo everything he did the previous time so as not to alter time too much – he then goes into his hideyhole and finds that the future has yet to be altered.

Barry heads over to CCPD where he sees Joe and Eddie speaking with Captain Singh, and remembers that he was paralyzed by Mark Mardon in the previous episode. Joe confronts him about being so quick with the clues at the morgue but Barry shrugs it off, because he’s got a plan. Totally ignoring what Dr. Wells told him, Barry runs to the tenement block that Mardon is hiding in and brings him to the secret prison under STAR Labs. Everyone is quite confused about how he did it, except for Dr. Wells who isn’t happy with what Barry has done to the timeline. Meanwhile, at Don Santini’s house in Central City, his goons bring in two masked people, Captain Cold and Heat Wave. The pair are told to leave but the Rogues are not so easily dismayed and take the opportunity to beat all of Santini’s henchmen, leaving one alive to spread the word.

Cisco goes back home with Caitlin to attend his brother’s birthday, though before we see much of anything we cut back to Barry running on the treadmill at STAR Labs. He’s unable to replicate the wormhole, which as Dr. Wells points out could be for many reasons. Joe enters trying to find answers but no one is talking, and right on cue Linda calls Barry for their lunch date. Back at Dante’s birthday, he plays piano for everyone and nonchalantly flirts with Caitlin. Cisco finally has had enough after getting rightly insulted. Barry meets Linda at CCPN and when she asks him what’s wrong he skirts it (noticing a pattern?). As she figured out in the other timeline, Linda seemingly breaks it off with Barry knowing that he actually loves Iris. He goes to Iris and asks her to have coffee with him to talk about “stuff” (Rick Grimes’ favorite subject). Mason Bridge also makes a brief appearance and Barry tells him he’s wrong about Dr. Wells, which I’m sure he believes.

That night, Barry meets Cisco at a bar when a very attractive young woman approaches and seemingly hits on Barry, but her real target is Cisco. After a night of drinking, the pair enter a fancy house, and in fact Cisco has been punked. The young woman is Lisa Snart, the sister of Captain Cold, who is after their guns and in order to make sure he gets it he reveals they’ve got Dante. Cisco finishes the guns the next morning, and despite trying to sabotage them, Snart is wise to his antics. Just when Snart and Mick fire up their guns, Lisa asks for one of her own, something with gold.

At Jitters, Iris meets up with Barry who thinks that he’ll be able to replicate what happened in the previous episode but it fails spectacularly. Iris is happy with Eddie and nothing has changed for her. Though the sad “Charlie Brown” music doesn’t play, it’s very appropriate as Barry goes to STAR Labs where Caitlin is worried about Cisco. Barry gets a call from Joe that Snart was spotted at the Santini’s Casino, where he and Lisa start a gun fight with some goons. Lisa freezes one in solid gold, making her weapon the most valuable one would assume, and though a grand firefight takes place, Barry removes everyone from the casino floor and takes Lisa “hostage.” Snart introduces them and tells Barry to let her go because he’s got Cisco. Later as they investigate what happened at the casino, Joe confronts Barry that witnesses saw The Flash and tells him to go to STAR Labs after he reveals what Snart told him. Before he can leave though, Eddie slugs him right in the face for his little meeting with Iris.

At STAR, Barry and Wells look for any evidence of where Cisco might be and Barry confesses that time is screwing with him now. Though Wells doesn’t want to hear it at first, he concedes and lets Barry tell him what happened. Barry lays out what went down last time and how everything has gone wrong today, particularly with Iris. Wells outlines that it took the disasters of the timeline to jar those feelings in Iris, and then asks Barry how different he thinks the world will be if his mother lives.

Instead of keeping watch on Cisco and Dante, Mick does shots which leaves the brothers some time to talk. Dante confesses to always being jealous of Cisco and uses his last reservoir of strength to break free and attack Mick, which doesn’t go well. Heat Wave makes his way to Cisco and beats him until Snart and Lisa enter. Snart wants Cisco to answer one question for him – “Who is The Flash?” Cisco tries to lie but Snart freezes Dante’s fingers, which will need to be amputated due to the damage. Back at STAR, nothing on the satellites reveal info about where Cisco might be, but then he appears. He apologizes to the group and reveals that he told Snart Barry’s identity. Despite Barry saying that he put Cisco in that situation, he seemingly quits his position at STAR.

Joe pays Iris a visit at CCPN where he talks to her about Eddie and Barry, letting her know that she needs to make it more clear who she really has feelings for, which is an incredibly awkward scene in retrospect. As Cisco packs up his stuff, Dr. Wells brings him down to the room with the containment field, where he killed him in the previous timeline, but this time uses it as a place of encouragement. He even uses some of the same words but the drastic difference in tone provide an equal yet differing weight to them. Caitlin calls them up where they learn Snart’s plan was to force the casino to move its stash of money so they can attack it.

Out on the highway, the truck moves with Snart, Lisa, and Mick following on motorcycles. The goons in the back open the door and begin to fire at the villains but their super powered guns make it a different type of robbery. Barry runs down the road and pulls Snart off his bike, forcing Lisa to hop into his place but then crash into Heat Wave. In the woods, which apparently Central City has now, Barry and Snart talk where he tries to reason with the man about his “line of work” and why he does what he does. The two butt heads with little resolution, beyond Barry coining the “Rogues Gallery” nickname and Snart revealing he’ll broadcast Barry’s identity if captured.

Afterward, Barry joins Eddie, Iris, and Caitlin at Jitters where Caitlin has come up wit the best cover up in that Barry has lightning psychosis, meaning to Eddie and Iris that his brain is all jumbled from getting struck by lightning, which they believe. At CCPN, Mason Bridge is pulling an all nighter on his Dr. Wells story when who should show up but the Reverse Flash. He beats the snot out of Bridge before finally killing him and destroying his computer. He then removes all the equipment and the body. Barry talks to Wells at STAR Labs that night and asks him if he made the right choice letting Snart go. Just as he’s about to ask him about Simon Stagg, he notices a report on Bridge going missing and decides to exit, his suspicions raised. Even later, Joe meets Barry at the crime lab where Barry tells him he was right about Dr. Wells.

You can check out the promo for Episode 17 of “The Flash” in the player below. Titled “Tricksters,” the episode is officially described as follows:

“A copycat killer who goes by the name “The Trickster” (guest star Devon Graye) starts setting off bombs in Central City. In order to stop the villain, Barry and Joe meet with the original Trickster, a criminal mastermind named James Jesse (guest star Mark Hamill), who has been imprisoned for 20 years. Things quickly go from bad to worse when the Tricksters unite and take Henry prisoner. Meanwhile, Iris asks Eddie for help with a case, and flashbacks show how Harrison Wells came up with the idea for the particle accelerator.”

Directed by Ralph Hemecker and written by Andrew Kreisberg, “Tricksters” is set to air March 31. “The Flash” airs Tuesdays at 8 P.M. EST on The CW.