That sentiment apparently applies to a high school football player named Jefferson. He’s just scored the winning touchdown, and his coach thinks he’ll have his pick of colleges. Unfortunately, the night in question is the same one that featured a certain particle accelerator accident, and Jefferson is hit by the energy wave while successfully saving one of his injured teammates from the blast.
This is relevant because in the present, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow are barely able to stabilize Stein. They’re using the battery from Harrison Wells’ old chair to power the device that’s saving him, but they’ve only got a few days to find a better solution. Caitlin has an idea, theorizing that Stein’s transformed molecules need something with which to bond now that Ronnie is gone. Analyzing people affected by the particle accelerator wave, Caitlin has found two potential matches: Henry Hewitt and Jefferson Jackson (our football player). The Flash gets blood samples without them knowing so the S.T.A.R. Labs can test them both.
At the West house, Joe asks Iris if she wants to go through with meeting her mom. She’s lost in memories as she looks at old pictures, but she says she does.
Ready for a cool comic book reference? Patty Spivot says she has a lead on stories of a shark-man walking the streets. She thinks it would be fun to work with Barry on this one, but he replies that metahumans aren’t his thing (ha!) before agreeing to at least run some test on the teeth she found. Joe wonders if Barry is flirting with his new partner. I’d say yes.
Caitlin says that Hewitt is her first choice as a new partner for Stein, though Cisco points out that Jackson may actually be a better match. It’s agreed to go meet with both candidates, but as Cisco leaves, we see a familiar face lurking in the shadows at S.T.A.R. Labs — and it belongs to Harrison Wells.
“Call me Jax,” says Jackson as Stein and Barry meet him at the car repair place where he works. Jax makes it very clear that he doesn’t want to talk about the night of the accident, because his whole life changed for the worse. Still, he does take their card.
The big meeting takes place where all meetings do in the Flash universe, at Jitters. Iris meets Francine, but it’s short and sweet, with daughter telling mother that they haven’t had a relationship for more than 20 years, and she’d like to keep it that way.
Looks like Caitlin has already decided on the partner for Stein, because Hewitt is already at S.T.A.R. Labs and has already been briefed on the powers he’ll command as Firestorm. Barry wants more time to figure all this out, but that’s something they don’t have. Guess they’re merging! But after Cisco fits Hewitt for the splicer, he and Stein touch hands, and … nothing. Hewitt is mad that they got his hopes up about getting super powers, but as he leaves the lab, his hand starts to flame just a bit. Uh-oh.
Also bad: Tina McGee’s lab has been broken into. And darned if that doesn’t look like Wells doing the stealing!
McGee calls Joe and Patty, who are naturally incredulous. Tina insists that it was Harrison, except that he was walking. Patty wants to call Barry, but Joe explains that since Wells was the man who killed Barry’s mom, he can’t find out about this. In a moment that has to be the truth, Spivot says she’s not very good at lying.
Back at the precinct, Francine is waiting for Joe. He’s not happy about that, but he also doesn’t expect what comes next, as his ex-wife reveals that she’s very sick and that doctors think she’ll die by the end of the year.
After striking out with Hewitt, Team Flash has turned to Jackson. He thinks they’re going to fix his knee, and he also believes they’re pulling his leg when they describe the whole Firestorm thing. Jax says that’s not his kind of thing, leaving after Caitlin tries and fails to challenge him to do something great. Barry chastises Caitlin a bit, but she insists that they need someone who actually wants to be part of this, and she leaves to try to patch things up with Hewitt.
Meanwhile, Barry tells Patty that the teeth had human DNA, so probably no shark-man. She stumbles into revealing that Joe doesn’t want her to tell Barry something before making an awkward exit. Of course, Barry goes to confront Joe about that, though he’s busy thinking about the Francine situation. Both men level with each other, and Joe asks flat out what’s up with Barry and Patty. Barry thinks she’s adorable and funny, but … But she’s not Iris, Joe says, finshing the thought. Even though Iris was his first love, Joe tells Barry that he shouldn’t let that keep him from exploring something new. Wait, did Joe just give Barry the green light with his partner?
I feel like we’re forgetting about someone. Oh yeah, Hewitt! We see him getting chewed out by his boss at his lab job, but when he starts getting angry, the lights start flickering, and he starts glowing all over.
Convinently, Team Flash is finding out that Hewitt isn’t such a good guy after all. Also, they’ve put two and two together with breaking news reports, and they know Hewitt has powers. Stein is also relapsing, and Barry tells Caitlin that maybe they need to be open to exploring something new. Smooth. he just got that advice and he’s re-gifting it already.
Now it’s time for explanations. Joe tells Iris about the Francine twist. Caitlin makes one hell of a pitch to Jax. That conversation goes a bit worse than the other, though, as Hewitt shows up looking for Caitlin and blasts Jax with his newfound energy powers. Jax bounces back quickly and knocks out Hewitt with something he throws, and he and Caitlin hightail it to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Good thing too, because time for Stein is running out. Jax says if it gives him a chance to help people, he’ll do it, he’ll merge with Stein. This time it works, and the new Firestorm will get to take his powers for a test spin in a familiar place for Jax, as Hewitt is recharging his powers at the Central City High School football stadium.
Cisco cuts the power to the field as Flash and Firestorm confront an enraged Hewitt, who says he deserved the Firestorm matrix. Jax’s inexperience gets him blasted, but he recovers quickly, citing his quarterback experience at taking hits. Cisco and Caitlin note Hewitt’s similarity to an unstable fusion deivce, a tokamak, and they tell the heroes to overload him. Flash does some super-speed taunting and Firestorm swoops in to knock him out. Game over.
A more dramatic moment awaits, as Iris meets with Francine again. Iris has done some investigating, and she knows her mother really is sick. But there’s something else: a few months after she left Joe, Francine had a son. Is Joe the father? Francine doesn’t answer, but Iris warns her to stay away from the Wests. I think we know who this is going to turn out to be. Want to bet that boy is named Wally?
With Tokamak safely in the Pipeline, Stein and Jax are headed to Pittsburgh to work on powers that Stein and Ronnie never mastered. Like molecular manipulation, perhaps? Just a suggestion. Before they leave, Stein takes Cisco aside and says that his power is a gift, not a curse. Tell your friends. As Firestorm merges again and flies off, Joe takes his subtle point from earlier and hammers it home, telling Barry there’s a lesson for him in Jax’s leap of faith.
Alright, alright, I’ll make a move on your partner! Flash goes to Jitters and is about to change into Barry to talk to Patty when he’s grabbed by a giant shark-man. The Shark says Zoom wants Flash dead, and Patty comes out firing. Her bullets have no effect, but the Shark is taken out by an energy weapon that strikes him from behind. Flash zips over and finds that the shooter is Wells.
OMG Moment of the Week: As a Green Lantern fan from my childhood, I’ll have to say the Shark turning out to be real did it for me. Wasn’t expecting his sudden appearance at the end, especially after Barry seemed to disprove his existence earlier. Well played, writers.
#SnowJay Alert Level: Condition Green. No Jay Garrick this week, and Caitlin got to think a lot about Ronnie. #SnowJay takes a rest, but I’ve got a feeling it can easily start back up.
Final Thought: Not much Flash action, but this episode had everything else. We got a new Firestorm, plenty of character development and two villains, albeit ones that were easily taken out. Plus Wells introduced himself properly, and we even found out about Wally West. Not too shabby, all things considered.