'The Flash' Recap: 'Dead or Alive'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

It seemed for a moment there last week, that The Flash was headed for some incredibly dark territory. The team was at their lowest, the specter of Iris' death surrounded them all and well...it made sense to go in a darker direction if the plot was focused squarely on saving Iris for the second half of season three, but it would seem that the powers that be didn't want everything to be gloom and doom from here on out, because last night's episode, 'Dead or Alive' ended up being quite the lighthearted romp.

Which is wonderful, because there was a fair chance that the subject matter of this episode could have taken us to some dark and ugly places, since last night, the mystery woman that popped up at the end of last week's episode was revealed to be a 'Collector' from Earth-19 named Gypsy, and she had come to our world to claim H.R. Wells since our favorite eccentric writer broke an important law on his world by traveling between Earths and the time had come to pay the piper. But the S.T.A.R. Labs team was having none of that, and thanks to a quick suggestion from H.R., Cisco was able to invoke 'Trial by Combat' to save the H.R.'s life, and well...that's when things went into lighthearted mode.

Granted, there was real danger for Cisco to face here since Gypsy was able to Vibe just like he can except...she has more or less mastered her powers, unlike Cisco. But that didn't stop the show from giving us some absolutely hilarious training sequences and some heartfelt moments as the hour progressed. In fact, it was simply a real treat to see the team rally around H.R. after all this time and believe in the value of his life and his potential to their cause down the line and this drive to save H.R. was uplifting and inspirational since the team was united and filled with purpose once again and the best part is that Cisco is the one who drove this whole campaign to save Wells, allowing him to open up and bond with H.R. in the process and of course...save his life and kinda/sorta get the girl for a change.

However, this episode did find a way to fit in some somber moments, and it's clear now that Iris is struggling to a certain degree when it comes to her knowledge of the future, to the point where she's beginning to panic, but not for the obvious reasons. As she explained to Barry, her fear is not due to the fact she's staring down the possibility of death, but because she is mortified of meeting her end without having accomplished anything important in her life and that need to leave her mark in some form or fashion, and her admitting this aloud to Barry, was undoubtedly the most heartbreaking moment of the night, and here's to hoping that she finds faith in Barry's promise to find a way to save her, so we don't have to sit through another unnerving moment like the one we witnessed in the warehouse...

Either way, what a fun episode through and through and it was simply awesome to see Cisco take the center stage for a change and I honestly hope the show finds a way to focus on side characters more as time goes on, because it was really refreshing to see Vibe play the hero in this episode and meet his romantic match in Gypsy and it was also wonderful to see the gang give H.R. a real chance for a change and truly make him a member of the team and make it known he's home here on Earth-Prime. But despite all the feel good vibes this show sent our way, the showdown with Savitar is still looming large and one has to wonder if Barry's new plan to use Wally's exceptional speed to save Iris is the key to changing her dismal future...until next time.

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