REVIEW: ‘The Flash’ Season 7, Episode 2 – “The Speed of Thought’

The Flash season 7 continues the conclusion of the Mirrorverse arc with its second episode, “The Speed of Thought.” In the previous episode, Team Flash was attempting to help Barry (Grant Gustin) get his speed back by making an artificial speed force. They succeeded, but Nash (Tom Cavanagh) sacrificed his life in order to be the crucial component in making the artificial speed force machine work. Meanwhile, Eva (Efrat Dor) is on a mission to destroy the remaining Black Hole sites around Central City. Eva also discovers that she is in fact a clone from the Mirrorverse and that the real Eva died on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion.  Inside the Mirrorverse, Iris (Candice Patton) and Kamila (Victoria Park) are attempting to escape and get back to the real world.

In “The Speed of Thought,” all members of Team Flash are mourning the death of Nash and place his equipment in a special room dedicated to all their fallen friends. The team also attempts to find a way to open up a gate to the Mirrorverse with the Atlantean technology that Cisco (Carlos Valdez) obtained during his trip. The process proves to be difficult until Barry discovers that the artificial speed force has given him a new power; speed thinking. While Barry is overjoyed with his new power, Cisco remains skeptical, especially after it begins to divide the team. Meanwhile, Eva is forced to deal with the shocking realization that the real version of her died and that she’s a being from the Mirrorverse.

The writing in “The Speed of Thought” was superb, which was a pleasant surprise. One of the prime examples of excellent writing was the dialogue that Gustin was given. Barry is normally kind-hearted and uses emotion as a driving force in the decisions he makes. Seeing him making choices completely based on logic and being a much more direct person was interesting to see. It may remind some fans of the season 4 villain, The Thinker, but this version of Barry was written much better.

One of the contributing factors could be that audiences are familiar with how Barry is and this change would be surprised. The other is that since everything that Barry’s tried has failed, having a more logical approach might be the answer. That sudden transition isn’t rushed but rather introduced and slowly built up as the episode progressed. It will be interesting if the artificial speed force ends up giving Barry any new powers that cause this sort of change.

Eva’s character in “The Speed of Thought” was also written very well. I wasn’t too keen on Eva’s character throughout the latter half of season 6. She just didn’t feel like the kind of opponent that should be the main season villain. It wasn’t until last week’s episode that I fully became invested in her character. The big reveal that Eva did in fact die during the Particle Accelerator explosion was a brilliant direction to take her character. It opened the door for her character to re-evaluate not just who this Mirrorverse version of Eva is but also how she would deal with being in the real world. Her character is put into such a unique position to where this major revelation could either be too much for her to handle or the right motivation for her ultimate plan. I wish that this revelation came sooner so that Eva could have had more time to develop from her decisions moving forward.

The fight scenes throughout this episode were fantastic. It was great to see the powered members of Team Flash taking part in multiple battles throughout the episode, especially Frost (Danielle Panabaker). It seems that the show went all-out to make the final battle in “The Speed of Thought” to be a memorable fight. It’s also a fight that many fans probably would have never imagined to have been included in the show, which makes it that much more special. It’s also a major payoff to a plot element from season 2 when Team Flash was developing a formula to give someone super speed. The entire fight is worthy of being put at the end of the episode while also being special because of who Barry has to go up against. I’m hoping that more fights like this one are included in future episodes.

Ultimately, The Flash season 7, episode 2 delivers both great action scenes and was well written. The transition that Barry goes to from using emotion to logic in making decision was an interesting direction for his character. It’s also fantastic that it puts him at odds with the other members of Team Flash, which is something that doesn’t happen too often on the show. Eva’s character is forced to come to terms with a shocking revelation, which elevates her character development and her significance to the overall plot of the Mirrorverse arc. Even if the big reveal at the end was a bit of a let-down, especially because of what it means for the rest of the season. It will be interesting to see how the big reveal impacts future episodes.

The Flash season 7 airs new episodes every Tuesday on the CW Network.