Review: Barry and Iris are Role Models on THE FLASH

Cicada is still looming somewhere in Central City but this week Barry and Iris have more important things to worry about, like how to be good parents and role models for Nora. In an effort to connect with her daughter, Iris decides that attempting to make breakfast for THE FAMILY is a good way to start. Burnt toast and lumpy pancakes anyone? However, much to Iris's disappointment, Nora now has a cell phone and is glued to an app called Spinzone, developed by Spencer Young, which appears to deliver breaking news before the event occurs. Seems suspicious.

This week's villain appears to hypnotize people, leaving them with no memory of what happened or where they were. At the CCPD softball game, one of Barry's colleagues appears on the field with a bomb in a backpack. Thankfully, Nora is there to save everyone. But neither of them remember what happened. Later, BARRY and Nora are responding to a fire when suddenly BARRY ends up in Las Vegas, leaving Nora to deal with the fire on her own (well, with some help from Iris back at S.T.A.R. Labs). Again, BARRY has no idea how he ended up in Vegas.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Team Flash deduces that the only thing in common between these events is Spencer Young and that Nora found both of these events on Spinzone, leading them to suspect that she may be a metahuman. But when Nora follows her into a COFFEE SHOP and does a quick scan, it comes up negative. So who or what is hypnotizing people?

While Team Flash tries to figure out who has mind control powers, Ralph reluctantly works with Sherloque to track down Cicada. This time, they use Ralph's way and go after who makes the mask that Cicada wears. Sherloque disagrees but it leads to them discovering that Cicada has injured lungs, which is why his breathing is so distinctive. In a shocking turn of events, Sherloque gives Ralph the credit for this discovery. Who knew he could be modest?

Another Spinzone alert sends Nora and BARRY to Central City Stadium and surprise surprise, Spencer Young is also there. This time, she shoots up a headline on the jumbotron that reads "XS Kills The Flash" hypnotizing Nora, causing her to run around the stadium trying to kill her father. Of course, BARRY doesn't let that happen and he goes and captures Spencer.

After Spencer is captured, Nora confronts Iris about why she's been so cold. It turns out, in the future, Iris puts a dampening chip in Nora, suppressing her powers. Nora never knew she had powers. Iris is hurt when she finds out she does this but both her and BARRY decide that she probably had a good reason to, but that only makes Nora angrier at both of them.

At the end of the episode, Team Flash discover a whole new twist on metas. The Night of Enlightenment also created metatech, which is how Spencer was able to hypnotize Nora and Barry. How exactly metatech works is unknown, but it's sure to influence Team Flash and their ongoing battle against Cicada and other metahumans in episodes to come.

Photo Credit: Robert Falconer/The CW

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