On this week’s episode of The Flash, “Liberation”, Barry and Iris figure out that their worlds aren’t what they appear to be. In what was a really good and visually stunning episode, Barry finally figures out that Mirror Iris isn’t Iris and Iris in the mirrorverse figures out Eva’s plan. It took them long enough!
But let’s start at the beginning. With Barry’s speed being drained quickly, Ralph, Cisco, and Barry test their new speed force for the first time. It seems to be working, until it doesn’t. No one is more upset than Barry. Cecile arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs and asks Barry if he wants to come see Iris at The Citizen. Barry says no because he needs to keep working on the speed force.
But the speed force isn’t the only problem Barry is solving. After Iris kicked Barry out last week, Barry finally clued in that something isn’t right with her. He turns Joe and Cecile’s living room into a crime scene investigation complete with corkboards, whiteboards, yarn, and photos. Cecile is skeptical but eventually believes Barry and helps him with his investigation. The two of them head over The Citizen and they hack into Iris’s computer. They find the picture that Kamilla took of Mirror-Iris that reveals her true identity. It may have been deleted from the camera, but not before it was uploaded to The Citizen’s server. Now that there’s proof, Nash, Barry, and Cecile lure Mirror-Iris back to S.T.A.R. Labs where Barry has a device that should reveal that Iris isn’t from this dimension. But it doesn’t work. Mirror-Iris takes the device and uses it on Barry who begins to glow and glitch like the photo. Mirror-Iris successfully tricks Nash and Cecile into thinking that Barry’s the imposter and they imprison him in the pipeline. It turns out, Eva found out about Barry’s plan by watching him through the mirror and switched the devices.
Meanwhile, Eva’s Mirror-minions, Kamilla, Iris, and Singh are up to no good. They break into A.R.G.U.S. because they need a drop of Ramsey Rosso a.k.a. Bloodwork’s blood. The blood is supposed to destabilize the mirror to set Eva free. The three of them offer to set Ramsey free, but he declines and says he’s playing the long game, whatever that means. I guess we’ll find out. During their little squabble, Mirror-Iris reveals that she wants to be alive and is tired of being Eva’s slave.
Back in the mirrorverse, Iris finds a secret room hidden behind the mirror that Eva can control. It contains mirror recordings of everything that has happened since Iris arrived in the mirrorverse. All this knowledge causes an excruciating amount of pain for Iris and Eva arrives and ties her up.
In the real world, Cecile senses something isn’t right and sets Barry free from the pipeline. Barry races back to his apartment just in time to see Mirror-Iris use Ramsey’s blood to break the barrier. Barry fights with Mirror-Iris, who’s arms turn into pointy glass swords. But Barry is working with limited speed and ends up getting hurt. Mirror-Iris tells Barry to mind his surroundings and shatters the mirrors in the apartment. Eva and Iris watch all this unfold from the safety of the mirrorverse. Iris realizes that the Mirror-minions feel everything Eva feels so Iris starts using words to hurt Eva and by extension, Mirror-Iris. Barry tells Mirror-Iris to choose herself and stop being Eva’s slave. Mirror-Iris tells Barry to save real Iris before she explodes into a pile of glass. Eva steps through the barrier into the real world, ready to go kill her husband and liberate the world. She tells Barry he’s not much of a threat since he’s so badly hurt but she tells him and his friends to stay away or she’ll kill Iris, Kamilla, and Singh. It’s hard to see Barry injured and mostly helpless.
A little while later, Barry crawls over to the mirror and says even though he’s not sure if Iris can hear him, he’s going to find a way to save her. Similarly, on the other side of the mirror, Iris says she’s going to find a way out and they both promise they’ll find their way back to each other. They always do.
