TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 7 Episode 15: Enemy At The Gates

After a set of honestly uninspiring episodes, it was great to see things get back to normal via “Enemy At The Gates”. And somewhat ironically, that “normal” featured the first speedster battle in quite some time!

But first, a tease of things to come. Barry had a dream/vision of Nora stating that “everything is going to work out” leading Barry to think that Iris is pregnant (frankly, after that kind of “dream”, wouldn’t you?), and so he’s preoccupied with finding out the truth. Honestly, even though it was a bit over the top, it was kind of adorable seeing Barry act like a would-be father as he had to do everything “by the book” in terms of no speeding and then failing to get tests done one after another in order to figure out if Iris was pregnant or not. Having Cecil there for part of it was fun as well since Joe couldn’t be there. I will say though that Barry’s dismissal of ONE negative test was eye-rolling though. Yes, he had a dream of what could be, but he knows better than anyone that time is meant to unfold in due course. So hopefully he’ll remember that soon.

The main part of the story though was the return of the Godspeed clones. This has been a mystery for main seasons now (since the arrival of Nora) and it’s one that has been teased to play out in surprising ways in Season 7. Well…promise delivered. Seeing all the clones come out to attack Barry, and then seemingly grow to an insane number was both shocking and terrifying.

From nearly trapping Barry at the power plant, to using their power and draining abilities to take down the force field, to nearly having all of Team Flash in killing positions, this was the first time since Mirror Mistress that true terror could be applied to a villain in a meaningful way (no, Speed Force doesn’t count, that was just bad).

And then for all of it to change on a dime when ANOTHER group of Godspeeds showed up and started a “Speed War”? Yeah, that was pretty cool. And while the answer for why such a war exists isn’t known yet, it’s one I’m willing to wait for because the answer could be good…or it might not, who knows?

The Kramer story FINALLY got an advancement, as well as a tease of what might be coming with her. Because her “brother” is a meta and was not afraid to show that…and she might be as well. Yes, it’s clear her and Joe are alive after that blast, but what comes next is the most intriguing part of Kramer’s season so far.

Oh, and special shoutout to the fights of this episode. I don’t know if it was just a new perspective on things. But between the fist fights and the speed bursts, these were some great things to watch go down.

Sadly, some of the other storyline elements didn’t hold up. Not the least of which was the VERY clear missing of Candice Patton in this episode. There were less obvious ways to show she wasn’t there, just saying.

Then there was Ultraviolet, who had the most frustrating bit of story in the whole episode. Because if you recall, last episode she was willing to trust a VILLAIN to operate on her, and yet when Caitlin offered…suddenly she “doesn’t trust her” and is “willing to die to see what’s on the other side”? When did that switch happen? And why did she think the Black Hole surgeon who RUINED HER LIFE was more trustworthy than Caitlin? Yeah, makes no sense.

Then…there’s Frost and Chillblaine…I’m so over this storyline. It started out odd, then got weird with their “rematch fight”. Then Frost has feelings for him…kind of…and Mark has them too…kind of. They fight together…and then he ditches her? Really? Also, that whole “humans aren’t binary” speech? What the heck was that? Not only did that feel forced, and dumb, it was counteracted by him in their NEXT CONVERSATION where he said “I’ll never be a good guy” and the proved it! So…why did he feel he needed to lie to her about “not being good or bad”? Yeah…pass on this.

Still, some downpoints aside, “Enemy At The Gates” brought some well-needed villainy and tension to proceedings. And based on what happens next episode (DIGGLE!!!), we might get even more advancement on things.