Alliances, revelations and a prophecy.

The Flash mid-season finale titled "The Present" is just the kind of episode you need to restore your faith in an show that has been serving ridiculousness the past three episodes. The episode picks off with Julian in India writing in his journal about how a voice set him on whatever mission he’s on. His journal input gets cut short when a woman excitedly announces that they found “it”. The it is a stone which Julian immediately opens and gasps.

At S.T.A.R Labs, H.R. has done a grandiose redecoration of the place in the spirit of Christmas but Barry isn't feeling  Christmas-y because Savitar is still out there. Cisco finds a paper written on a stone that bears striking resemblance to Savitar’s stone which he uses to give people powers. The stone is called the Brahmistra and the writer believes the stone to have the capacity to bestow meta-human powers on mere moguls. Unsurprisingly, the paper was written by Julian.

Barry pays a very unwelcoming Julian a visit to ask about the brahmistra. Julian admits to once being obsessed with the stone and going on an excavation to find it. (Julian also calls the stone The Philosopher’s Stone. Another Harry Potter nod to make our hearts do a happy dance). Julian claims to have found nothing on the trip. When Barry asks about Savitar, Julian says all he knows is that Savitar was the first metahuman (and speedster). Unsatisfied with Julian’s answers, Barry speeds off to Earth 3 to find Jay Garrick who's having a little showdown with Earth 3 Trickster.

Garrick believes that Savitar’s attention means that Barry is a pretty good speedster. He says before Savitar “graces” a planet with his presence, he sends a "predecessor” to “prepare his path” – on Barry’s earth, this predecessor is Doctor Alchemy. Jay seems to know a lot about Savitar and when Barry asks about it, he says its “speed force myth, legends, rumors”. Barry decides to brush up real quick on his mythology and finds no mention of Savitar. Jay thinks he should let it slide for a while and go spend Christmas with his “beautiful girlfriend”.

At Iris’ house, she has decorated and gone full on with the gifts. She tells Barry that she did a little “digging” – pun intended – on Julian’s archaeological dig and found out that four scientists were killed in an excavation site. This leads Barry to believe that Julian has a deeper connection with Alchemy so he races off to tell Team Flash. While there, Cisco gets a hit on a massive amount of energy coming from a building downtown. The two Flashes decide to go check it out and Wally wants to join too – but he gets a resounding  no. He then talks about how he’s been doing really well in training. Big brother Barry and Daddy Joe are very displeased but they cant talk at the moment – bad guy to catch and all that.

On getting to the site, Jay and Barry find Alchemy and a couple of followers attempting to restore power to all who had it in Flashpoint in one fell swoop. Before they can stop him, Savitar appears and the two decide to divide and conquer. While Barry succeeds in knocking the stone out of Alchemy’s hand, all Jay is succeeding at is getting beat up. Barry manages to put the stone back in the box before Savitar can stab Jay with one of his really sharp metal fingers. Alchemy passed out from the electric shove from the Flash and Barry lifts the mask. We all know who is under that mask.

At the Lab, Barry has put Julian in the pipe and the latter is pretty irate that Barry thinks he’s Alchemy. He thinks that he’s in some sort of advanced prison and demands for his phone call. “I want my phone call. When do I get my phone call?” he yells at Barry. Team Flash who were listening in to the conversation believe that either Julian is a pretty good liar or he really has no clue that he is Alchemy.  Barry goes back for a round two conversation with Julian and asks the latter to trust him. But Julian cant trust a man in his mask so Barry takes it off.

After a couple of seconds of beating himself up about not figuring out Barry was The Flash, Julian gets candid about his blackouts. Sometime ago, he started to see his dead sister who told him to find a stone which can bring her back to life. This all sounds really bad because Cisco has also been seeing his dead brother. Julian goes on to say that he used his inheritance to fund an excavation to find the stone and he did find it. He opened it and next thing he knew he was in a hotel room and his colleagues were dead. For fear of being blamed for their deaths, he ran to the US.

Meanwhile, Cisco is trying to find out more about the stone but is getting distracted by his late brother who says the stone can bring him back to life – all he has to do is open it. Cisco gives in to Dante’s cajoling and opens the box – which immediately spits out  Savitar. Barry has to fight Savitar alone because Jay is still hurt from losing the last fight. Wally races in to save Barry but the two together are still no match for the speed god. Few paces away from stabbing the two speedsters, Caitlyn finally convinces Cisco that Dante is really dead and its just Savitar using his memory against him. Cisco closes the box and Savitar is sucked in again.

Barry learned something from his fight with Savitar; he and Alchemy have the same voice. This led him to believe that Alchemy is Savitar speaking through Julian. With Julian’s help, they manage to use the box to lure Savitar out and he had a lot to say. Firstly he’s not mad at Barry because Barry is a great speedster but because he succeeded in locking him away sometime in the future. He also has a rather dire prophecy – “one shall betray you, one shall fall and one shall suffer a fate worse than death”. Barry immediately (dare I say) disconnects Julian from the box and Team Flash thinks of ways to get rid of it.

They figure out that the stone is the key to everything and if they destroy the stone, they destroy Savitar. Wally thinks they should bury it back in the earth but Cisco has a valid one-word argument – “Jumanji”. Jay suggests that they throw it into the speed force which is like an “endless void of time and energy”. With their combined efforts, Barry is able to throw it into the force but he also gets thrown five months into the future where he watches Iris get killed by Savitar.

Jay brings Barry back to the present and Barry is rightfully distraught. Can he get a break from people dying around him? Jay – who seems not at all shocked by the idea that Barry ran into the future – tells Barry that that was just one possibility and every decision Barry makes creates another possibility. Barry is not pacified by this but he goes ahead to celebrate Christmas with his friends and family. Caitlyn invited Julian to the Wests’ Christmas party and it looks like a camaraderie – or romance is brewing between these two. If Caitlyn gets attached, he’s either a fraud or as good as dead.

At the party, Joe and Cecil finally kiss, H.R. is drunk, Julian shows up and Caitlyn takes off her power-stopping watch to give them a little snow. Team Flash show their support for Wally by giving him his superhero suit – and they are sadly sticking with the name "Kid Flash". Julian gives Barry his present by telling him he had a talk with Captain Singh and Barry can have his job back. Barry proves his love for Iris by showing her Christmas present – their new home and Iris only got him a “wallet”. Looks like the two are going to have a beautiful five months together.

Overall, the episode did really great and was able to balance the numerous relationships the show has developed the past years. I have to say, I am relieved to be writing a good review about the show after the last series of weak emotional tugs, repeated storylines and eye-rolling arcs. If I had to rate it, I’d give it an A+++. It was that good.


Anyone else think Barry will be trying to run into the future and mess everything up even more pretty soon? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.