After taking a half-break to deliver crossover, alien-fighting goodness last week, "The Flash" dives back into season 3's main story line in tonight's midseason finale, answering many questions we've had about the season - somewhat at the expense of delivering great character moments. More importantly, The Flash took us someplace we've yet to go so far in the show's run, which sets up a new and intriguing but potentially infuriating direction for the back half of the season.
"The Present" doesn't waste too much time getting to those answers. While trying to find information on Savitar, Cisco comes across a research paper about a powerful stone that can create metahumans, a.k.a. Doctor Alchemy's Philosopher's Stone.Julian also drops one bit of information before their conversation ends: Savitar was the first meta with speed.
That last bit of intel is worrisome enough for Barry to jet over to Earth 3 and seek out Jay's help, which leads to a fun cameo from Mark Hamill as Earth 3's Trickster. After helping Jay subdue The Trickster, the two Flashes hop back over to Barry's Earth and Jay reveals he's heard of Savitar before. With all this Savitar and Doctor Alchemy drama going on, it wouldn't be surprising if you forgot it was Christmastime on The Flash. Thankfully, H.R. Wells is here to bring the Christmas spirit by hanging festive decorations around the lab. However, that doesn't do much to lighten the mood for Cisco and Caitlin, both of whom can't help but think about people they've lost. The holidays make Caitlin remember the last Christmas she spent with her father and Cisco's mind obviously turns to Dante, whom he keeps seeing around the lab. If there's one good thing season 3's angst has done, it's strengthen Cisco and Caitlin's friendship, so I definitely enjoyed them sharing holiday stories with each other.
Following Jay's advice that he focus on spending time with his loved ones, Barry heads home to see Iris, who's busy wrapping presents. Iris' information convinces Barry there's a connection between Julian and Doctor Alchemy (and that suspicion is about to be confirmed).
Doctor Alchemy is trying to use the building to restore every meta's powers from the Flashpoint timeline. Savitar makes his entrance right when Barry and Jay arrive. So, Jay takes on Savitar while Barry goes after the stone. Savitar drags Jay around Central City like a rag doll in a sequence that pushes The Flash's CGI budget to the limits; Jay and Savitar look more like video-game characters than flesh-and-blood humans. Savitar is about to kill Jay when Barry throws lighting to knock out Alchemy and places the stone back in its box, causing Savitar to disappear. Barry unmasks Alchemy and discovers it's Julian.
