- For the species, see Phantoms (species).
"Phantoms" is the ninth episode of the eighth season of The Flash, and the one-hundred-sixtieth episode overall. It aired on March 30, 2022.
Synopsis[]
| Barry and Team Flash get closer to figuring out the Fire Meta but no closer to finding him meanwhile Iris, needing a distraction, follows a story to Coast City.[src] |
Plot[]
Deon does a scan of Iris and detects no sign of time sickness. However, Iris is concerned, recalling her recent memory lapses and also managing to remember being at the train station with Deon in the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline. Deon does another scan and picks up mutations. He leaves to consult with the other Force avatars, trying to convince her not to worry.
At STAR Labs, Barry, Joe, Frost and Cecile look over what little evidence they have on the fire meta deaths. (Caitlin has gone to Metropolis with Marcus.) Chester enters with the information that he has managed to set up a cold fusion detector so they can detect any other similar attacks. He is momentarily distracted by the sight of the pictures of the burned victims. Joe leaves to do some digging on them.
Sue visits Iris and Allegra at CC Media, explaining she is doing a check on all the family businesses now her parents are in jail. She is going to Coast City next and notes there have been reports of a meta known as the Coast City Phantom who can walk through walls. She says a lot of people have a latent meta gene that can be activated. Allegra angles to go with her to investigate the case but Iris decides she will go instead.
Chester picks up a flame incident and the Flash speeds there but finds nothing but a burning corpse, with black flame that extinguishes itself. Barry and Chester later check out the scene as part of their positions at CCPD and Barry notices a black flame still burning on the corpse, a woman named Parker DeStefano. Chester notes he could contain it with the micro-catalysed containment unit he and Ray Palmer built and Barry superspeeds back to the lab to get it.
Barry leaves Chester to analyse the flame while he goes to consult with Kramer. Chester sees the fire get out of the container and begin consuming the lab...then Allegra, Cecile and Frost wake him up. Allegra follows him to the lounge and tries to get him to tell her what's bothering him, but then the fire actually does get out and begin to form into a figure. Allegra makes a distress call and Barry arrives but is unable to put the flames out. The flame then disappears.
In Coast City, Sue wonders why Iris was so keen to accompany her. Iris uses the meta detection app to trace their meta to Coast City CC Jitters. They see a teenage girl use her powers to phase a notebook into her backpack and learn her name is Tinya when the barista calls out to her. They approach her and Iris offers to tell her story. Instead, on learning about the app, Tinya uses her powers to wreck Iris' phone and leaves.
Barry, Cecile, Allegra, Frost and Chester discuss the fact the detector wasn't set to scan inside STAR Labs, which Chester has now corrected. They speculate that a meta is controlling the black flame remotely from a distance. Barry places the lab on lockdown except for himself, going out to search the city. Allegra talks to Chester again and he admits he thinks his father's ghost is the one inside the flame, explaining he saw the accident that killed his father when he looked at it. Allegra tries to convince him that the father he met when he time-travelled would not want revenge on him.
Sue is downloading the meta app but it will take seven hours. She senses Iris is there running from something, like she ran from her parents' involvement with Black Hole. Iris tells her about her worries over the time sickness. She then realises Tinya is running from something too. Tinya phases into an apartment to find Iris and Sue waiting for her. Iris has found Tinya is listed as a missing person having run away from foster care: She is looking for her mother, who once worked at Jitters and lived in that apartment. Tinya says her mother abandoned her as a baby and never got in touch, and she thought her powers might win her over. Sue notes they were triggered by extreme emotion. They convince Tinya to let them help.
The alarms go off at STAR Labs and Barry, Cecile, Frost, Allegra and Chester convene: The flames are on several floors moving towards them. Chester detects them centring in the Speed Lab. Barry superspeeds himself and Frost there but can't stop the flames and has to phase them both as the flames surround them. Cecile senses the grief of thousands, just before the flame appears and then turns into Chester's father, who tells Chester it's time to join him. Allegra and Cecile both beg him to ignore it as Cecile realises it's feeding off his grief. Chester rejects the image, saying his father would love the life he has and never tell him to abandon it. The image of Quincy and all the other flames disappear.
Joe meets with Barry and the others at the lounge. He has learned that Stan Mullen lost all his possessions in a foreclosure, Donna Winters lost her sister and Parker lost her fiance. They conclude that the flames aren't being controlled by a meta: The flames are a lifeform that is responsible for the killings. Allegra and Cecile visit Chester to counsel him about his grief. Cecile leaves the other two alone.
Barry and Iris share a video call. Sue has put herself, Iris and Tinya up in a block she owns and Iris is wondering if Tinya could become a hero. Barry is glad she's there with the danger from the black flame. After Iris has hung up, Deon appears and says it's not good news.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash
- Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen
- Danielle Panabaker as Frost
- Danielle Nicolet as Defense Attorney Cecile Horton
- Kayla Compton as Allegra Garcia
- Brandon McKnight as Chester P. Runk
- Jesse L. Martin as Joe West
Guest starring[]
- Natalie Dreyfuss as Sue Dearbon
- Christian Magby as Deon Owens
- Milton Barnes as Deathstorm and Quincy P. Runk
- Mika Abdalla as Tinya Wazzo
Co-starring[]
- Carla Mah as Barista
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- When Chester says "flame's on", referring to Deathstorm, it could a reference to when the Human Torch from Marvel comics says "flame on".
- The scene where Chester was thinking that he's talking to his father (in which it was the Black Flame in disguise trying to manipulate him), is quite similar to what happened in the episodes "The Present" and "The Wrath of Savitar" in which both Cisco and Wally had hallucinate their lost loved ones like Cisco's brother Dante Ramon and Wally's mother Francine West respectively, in which it was Savitar in disguise trying to manipulate and torture them into freeing him.
- Chester mentions the Quincy P. Runk Institute that Ray Palmer sponsored, even though he only sponsored it in the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline, indicating these events still happened in the new timeline after Barry reset it.