Minor spoilers for The Flash episode “Fallout” are ahead!
We had already seen him (or rather, them) briefly several times before, but yesterday’s episode of The Flash was all about fellow superhero Firestorm. Barry Allen and the S.T.A.R. Labs team attempted to help the combined Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein by trying to separate them, but the episode ended with a nuclear explosion and the return of a not-so-friendly face. It was quite a cliffhanger. Next week, we’ll follow up on these events in “Fallout,” and going off the episode description and latest trailer, not only will this episode have plenty more of Firestorm, it will also add explore another important element of Flash’s mythos. Here are the five things you can expect to see on Feb. 18.
Mason Bridge Tells Iris About S.T.A.R. Labs
…Mason Bridge (guest star Roger Hayworth) tells Iris (Candice Patton) that there is something secretive going on at S.T.A.R. Labs.
This will be our second episode seeing Mason Bridge, and while his previous appearance established him as a veteran reporter who didn’t think Iris had the chops to handle the news business, the next episode will bring him closer to Flash and the S.T.A.R. Labs team. It’s interesting that he would tell Iris about his suspicions, but since he knows that she’s acquainted with Harrison Wells and the others, he might believe that she knows something. Exactly how much Bridge knows or suspects about S.T.A.R. Labs is unclear, but as one of Central City’s best investigative reporters, it’s likely he won’t stop until he discovers the truth. If his sniffing around leads to him getting too close to Wells’ secret plans, I fear there will be tragic consequences.
Ronnie And Martin Are Separated
After the nuclear explosion separates Ronnie (guest star Robbie Amell) and Dr. Stein (guest star Victor Garber), Barry and the team believe both men are safe.
“The Nuclear Man”’s ending left it ambiguous whether the quantum splicer was able to separate Ronnie and Martin as Firestorm, but it was evidently successful. After nearly a year of these two being stuck together, they are finally free. Ronnie is back in control of his body, and Stein has his own body to walk around in again, and all it took was a nuclear explosion. Talk about a horrible roommate situation. Are both men actually safe, or do they just believe they are?
Caitlin Is Eager To Renew Her Relationship
Caitlin is thrilled to have her fiancé back and prepares to resume their life together while Dr. Stein returns to his wife.
For months Caitlin believed that Ronnie was killed during the particle accelerator explosion. It was only in “The Man in the Yellow Suit” that she discovered he was alive, albeit not quite himself. It was weird for her to see Stein speaking in Ronnie’s voice, but now that her fiancé is back to normal, she’s eager to renew their relationship. That’s definitely a good thing, because as we saw in previous episodes, she was having a difficult time moving on from him. As for Stein, although he stopped in on his wife while he and Ronnie were trapped together, now he can finally look at her with his own eyes. Everything is back to normal for the two men, right? Well, not quite…
General Eiling Is Back
However, when General Eiling (guest star Clancy Brown) targets Firestorm, Ronnie and Dr. Stein must decide if they are safer together or apart.
The last time we saw Wade Eiling, he was trying to capture Bette Sans Souci, a.k.a. Plastique, to use her as a weapon against the U.S.’s enemies. He wasn’t successful with that mission, but as we saw in the final episode, he now has his eye on Firestorm. We learned from Jason Rusch that the military seized all the data from the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. project, but because the Firestorm Matrix is seemingly now inside both Ronnie and Martin, Eiling wants that power source for himself. In case “Plastique” wasn’t enough of an indicator, this man is ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, even if others are harmed in the process. Going after a woman that can make anything explode was troublesome enough, but a duo that can cause a nuclear explosion? That’s especially bad.
Time Travel!
…Dr. Stein gives Barry some important information about time travel.
It was previously revealed that time travel will play an important part in the series, and next week’s episode will finally address it head-on. As we learned in “The Nuclear Man,” the blood left over from Nora Allen’s murder belonged to an adult Barry, meaning that Barry was one of the speedsters there that night. This means that at some point during the series, Barry will travel back in time to stop Reverse-Flash, although it remains to be seen whether that adult Barry Allen in the past will be from the next episode or a future season.It will likely be the latter since Barry is still learning to use his powers, and even if he does try to time travel, it won’t go the way he expects. As with every show that includes time travel, the mechanics of it will be, to borrow a term from Doctor Who, “wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey.” It will also be interesting to hear what information Martin will tell Barry about this complicated concept.
You can watch the full promo for “‘Fallout” below on the next page, and you can catch The Flash Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
