Barry meets up with Patty for a night on the town, but it’s quickly interrupted by Zoom who takes her to the top of a building and drops her. Naturally it was all a dream, and Barry wakes up next to Patty. That morning at CCPD Joe walks Wally around and shows him the precinct. While there, a man in cuffs makes a snide comment to Wally calling him “Tail lights,” but he brushes it off when pressed. As he leaves, Patty arrives to talk to Iris and asks her about Barry and if she thinks she is a good fit for him. Iris tells Patty that Barry has a habit of carrying burdens, but Patty says he doesn’t have to do that with her, which is exactly what she should tell him.
At STAR Labs, Harry works on an equation and trashes the lab when the math doesn’t add up. Cisco inquires what he’s doing, but Harry dodges the question. He laments that they need to figure out a way to make Zoom slower, not Barry faster, which gives Cisco an idea: the turtle, a thief they’ve been following for some time who steals things that have immense personal value. As they talk, the CCPD announces a press conference for the recovery of some stolen diamonds. Barry speeds over and spots the Turtle just in time, who takes the diamond ring and winks at the Scarlet Speedster.
Barry recounts what happened later, allowing Harry to realize that the Turtle’s powers work by absorbing all the kinetic energy around him forcing everyone in his path to remain in a sate of potential energy. He leaves to figure out how to use this on Zoom. The team finds a match in the police archives for the Turtle, one Russell Glosson, a small-time thief that stopped thieving after the particle accelerator. As they go their separate ways to work on the task at hand, Jay seems more down than usual and is upset that he can’t help anyone anymore. Caitlin says they can work on getting his speed back, but he’s given up. Back at CCPD, Joe expresses nervousness at having dinner with Wally, but Barry gives him the confidence not to sweat it. Patty enters too, prompting Barry to set up a date night for the two of them the next night.
Though Barry, Joe, and Iris all prepared for a family dinner, Wally never showed up. Joe takes off and Barry reveals to Iris he’s had a lot on his mind. Iris reveals that Patty came to her for advice and reveals what she told her to do, and that Barry can’t keep everything from her forever. Tell her the truth, and Barry says he will. Later at STAR Labs, the team hears of a painting set to be revealed at the Central City Museum which they’ll stake out to catch the Turtle. Barry pivots his date plans with Patty so that they can still go out but also be present to catch the Turtle. He also decides out loud to tell Patty he’s The Flash, a decision that Harry tells him not to do for her safety.
At the museum, Barry, Jay, and Caitlin walk around the museum while Cisco and Harry monitor the surveillance cameras from a van. Harry makes fun of Cisco for giving the metahumans nicknames and tells him the sobering story of how Zoom was given his nickname, a story that involved 14 police officer deaths. Cisco offers to vibe for him whenever he wants, but Harry tells him he already knows that Jess is a live. Patty arrives at the museum where she and Barry share a dance. He begins the process of telling her something very important but spots the Turtle out of the corner of his eye and springs into action, leaving her hanging. Patty sees The Turtle lifting the painting and draws her weapon on him. He uses his abilities and takes her gun, aiming it at her as Barry enters the room. Realizing the opportunity, he fires the gun at a chandelier, prompting Barry to run to Patty’s rescue and fight through the Turtle’s slow bubble. Barry pushes her out of the way as the chandelier crashes on him. Jay pulls his body out of the museum as Patty is left confused and clueless.
That night, Barry seems fine so he goes to Patty’s apartment to explain himself. Jay offers Caitlin a champagne toast in a backroom since they missed out on one at the museum party. Suspicious for some reason, Caitlin takes Jay’s glass after he leaves. Patty looks at a piece of mail from Midway City University, addressed to her, when Barry knocks on the door. He doesn’t have a good excuse, and Patty is actually mad about the whole thing. She tells him to figure out what he wants, and to do it fast. Badumtiss. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, we see that Wally West makes his living by drag racing cars, in a scene that nearly mirrors one from last year’s Fantastic Four reboot. He wins the race and we learn why he’s called “Tail lights.” As Wally prepares to leave with his winnings, he sees Joe standing by and the pair clash on their different viewpoints of life and how Joe wasn’t there for him his whole life.
Later Patty gets another knock on the door, and expecting it to be Barry opens it to find The Turtle. He enters her apartment and takes her hostage because he knows she’s precious to someone, The Flash. Barry arrives at Patty’s apartment to find her gone and calls Joe to meet him at STAR. We see that The Turtle has taken her to the Naydel Library where he keeps all of his other trinkets, including his previously-deceased wife, on display. Team Flash tells Barry he’ll only have a fraction of a second to work between The Turtle’s pulses, and after one failed attempt to fight the slow brawler, Barry makes a second pass and knocks the criminal out. Patty holds onto him and thanks him.
The Turtle is locked up in the Particle Accelerator prison, now the prized possession of Team Flash. Caitlin confronts Jay in the hallway, having learned off screen that he’s sick, with what? Who knows, but they’re going to get his speed back to cure him. Which means he’s a goner. Wally stops by Joe’s house to pick up his sweater he left previously and just when it seems like things are going to be tense between them, Joe apologizes and Wally decides to stay for dinner. Barry finds Patty at CCPD the next day and decides it’s time to tell her, but Patty has a secret of her own: She’s leaving. At STAR Labs, Harry recounts into his journal about a time he lost young Jessie at the Planetarium and did everything he could to get her back, something he’s striving to do again. He goes to the holding chamber and removes some fluid out of The Turtle’s head via his nose in a crude procedure. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the Reverse Flash, the pre-Dr. Wells version, arrives from the future, clueless about where and when he is.
You can check out a preview for the next episode, titled “The Reverse-Flash Returns,” in the player below.
