In what was supposed to be the Season 6 finale, The Flash S7E3, “Mother” sparked off two major events to balance the continuity. The previous episode brought back O.G. Dr. Harrison Wells from the dead, the same Wells Eobard Thawne gruesomely killed along with his wife Tess Morgan. It also brought back Iris West-Allen from the Mirrorverse, but these two events aren’t the ones to look out for.

The Flash
Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen in THE FLASH S7E3; Photo: The CW

The episode picks up exactly where it left off last week: Barry Allen/The Flash incessantly weeping beside a convulsing Iris, who eventually enters a coma, while the rest of Team Flash lying unconscious at S.T.A.R Labs. Cisco Ramon/Vibe, Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost, and Allegra Garcia surround Barry to take him down, presuming he’s still drawing his speed from the Artificial Speed Force, rendering him emotionless. This slight nod to A.I. being incapable of feeling love or compassion and an even bigger reference to Barry’s role as the ‘Paragon of Love’ during Crisis on Infinite Earths sets the tone in this episode.

Barry confesses that he messed up, again. Central City is under an attack, its citizens are being pulled into the Mirrorverse and Eva McCulloch/Mirror Monarch is wreaking havoc in the name of a better world. Joe West and Cecile Horton are inside CCPD trying to control the mayhem. Joe gets a rather surprising visit from Sue Dearbon’s (Natalie Dreyfuss) parents who ask him to bring Sue back. Coincidentally, Sue visits Joe in an adjoining hallway to warn him about doppelgangers, the same kind of complaints that CCPD is being overwhelmed with. While Joe almost gets pulled into the Mirroverse, Cecile fails to safeguard herself.

Joe West and Cecile Horton at CCPD in THE FLASH S7E3; Photo: The CW

Cisco and Chester P. Runk figure out Eva’s strategy of abducting people and warn Joe at CCPD to block all reflective surfaces and turn off the City’s power supply since Eva and her army can only travel through surfaces that can reflect light. Before the Team could brainstorm further plans, Barry enters the Mirrorverse upon Eva’s private invitation to him. During this confrontation, Eva asks him to join her vicious plan of replacing humans with their mirror duplicates to save the world.

“And what happens to us?” Barry asks her.

She says, “You adapt to your new world. Same as I did. Don’t worry, Barry. I’m not going to kill anyone. I’m not your enemy. What I am is a mother to a newer, better world.”

Eva doesn’t force Barry to take an immediate decision, she lets him return to Team Flash. Just when all hope is lost, Dr. Wells arrives on scene through a green rift of multiversal particles, or so I believe, writhing into Wells’ body at S.T.A.R Labs, “just like that.” We still don’t know how those particles escaped the fusion sphere but Wells speculates it’s a cosmic balancing act. A starstruck Barry tells him that of all the Wells’ he has met, the O.G. Wells was the only one he had always wanted to meet.

The O.G. Dr. Harrison Wells with memories of all the Wells’ who died after powering the ASF in THE FLASH S7E3; Photo: The CW

In such a remarkable and poignant mentor-mentee reunion, the Team figures that the Speed Force, an elemental force, couldn’t have died entirely. This time when Wells asks Barry to run, he adds an extra line: “Run towards love.” Barry finally understands why he was chosen as the Paragon of Love during the Crisis- Iris holds the key to the Speed Force and what ensues is an unexpected plot twist of Iris powering the fusion sphere! She reciprocates what Nash was trying to do in the previous episode, and carries the mantle of an ‘organic receptor’ for the ASF. Barry regains his speed and runs towards Eva along with Vibe and Killer Frost. The Team puts up a fight but it’s the conversation between Iris and Eva that eventually changes her mind.

Eva returns to the Mirrorverse to “start over,” although she doesn’t explain how or what she will do. Chief Singh, Kamilla, and Cecile, along with everyone who got abducted into the Mirrorverse, are brought back to the real world. Strangely, Sue visits the Team asking for help with Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer) whose body melted while collecting evidence at McCulloch Tech to clear her ledger (In other news: Sawyer was cast out from The CW show last year owing to his racist and misogynistic tweets. This was a literally a good cover-up.). Wells bids farewell to the Team, again. But this time he’s traveling through time to find his wife Tess, to relive those four years he spent with her before they both were meant to die: that’s another reference to the Paragon of Love!

The Flash
Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen say goodbye to the Mirror Monarch in THE FLASH S7E3; Photo: The CW

But the real deal-breaker is how did Iris get these powers? Was it because she spent enough time inside the Mirrorverse to become a meta? She claims these powers were probably taken away from Eva after she left for good. When she was powering the Speed Force, four different colored lightning bolts entered left the ASF besides Barry’s streak, and one of them was purple. Could this mean Nora Allen-West might return? Who were the others? We’ll find out next week!

Watch The Flash Season 7 Tuesdays on The CW.