The Flash - 'Borrowing Problems from the Future'

"Welcome to STAR Labs Museum, sir or madam..."

The Flash returns from the Christmas break with Barry still preoccupied with the future death of Iris, as you might imagine he would be.

More immediately, a piratical tech-villain named Jared Morillo (dubbed 'Plunder' by HR) is stealing jewels with the aid of a flashy rifle. Barry recognises him from a future news bulletin and goes all fugue state, then later gets all angry with Wally for stepping in with the capture in a second encounter. Being Barry, he naturally doubles down on the secrecy and tells Iris what has been bothering him, before bringing the entire team into the loop.

Wait. What?

I can't help comparing this to Peter's crazy timeline board in Fringe.

Yes, that's right; Barry Allen shares his troubles and finds help. Shocking, I know. He even apologises to Wally. To test the ability to affect the course of the future, Cisco uses a kind of techno love seat to Vibe both of them into the same moment in the future. Here they see HR appear on a building with a rifle, which didn't happen before, and relay a catalogue of headlines from the news bulletin which HR records on the glass board. If they can change any of those headlines - such as those about the Flash stopping Plunder - then they can change the future, and potentially save Iris. To this end, Barry pushes Wally to recapture an escaped Plunder, and the team work to make HR's STAR Labs museum a success by inviting schools at a discounted rate.

In B plot territory, HR opens said museum to a less than stellar response, as well as hiring a sexy assistant with no English, which is way too sleazy, The Producer territory for Olga not to turn out to be working an angle. Caitlin, with her restrictor cuffs failing, seeks help from Julian and invites him to join Team Flash, a move which is ultimately approved.

'Borrowing Problems from the Future' is a decent pick up from the mid-season break, taking the broad goal - save Iris - and breaking it down into a process that can form a week by week framework as the team tackle one headline at a time, from the Music Meister's bestseller to a devastating gorilla attack.

Devastating. Gorilla. Attack.

Hell, yeah.