THE FLASH Review: “The Exorcism of Nash Wells”

The Flash Review: “The Exorcism of Nash Wells”

By Justin Carter

The past few episodes has had Nash Wells see versions of prior Wells who’ve died post-Crisis. Things kicked up when Thawne body-jacked the mythbuster, and this week Team Flash has to figure out how to recover their friend, and also be rid of their longtime enemy for good. (Or at least what counts as such when you’re a superhero TV show.) 

Fittingly, “The Exorcism of Nash Wells” takes its time in fleshing out Nash with the most backstory he’s gotten all season. The reason he keeps a photo of Allegra around is because she’s his adoptive daughter Maya, whom he took on when she impressed him enough as a kid. As is the case with adult/child adventuring duos, things went sour when she died while the two pursued alien tech, and just watching her die again is the only thing that can help Nash overtake Thawne. Tom Cavanaugh has worn these various hats before as different versions of Wells over the years, but he still makes it work, and I appreciate how good he is at playing against himself in the moments we see the two Wells together. And if this means Thawne is off the board for a while, I can’t complain too much. 

Now that the Speed Force is in danger, the show has to be more creative about how it uses Barry before it inevitably rejuvenates the cosmic energy. To that end, Barry has to rely more on his brains (plus Joe and a returning Captain Singh), to deal with the Black Hole villain of the week. Codenamed Sunshine, she’s yet another assassin who can manipulate light, in this case being able to turn invisible or melt walls with her solar powers. She’s proves an effective villain, highlighted in scenes towards the end where Joe and Barry play an extended game of Keep Away with her as she goes through some CCPD cops. 

And then there’s Mirror Iris, now joined by Mirror Kamilla. (The real Kamilla and Iris aren’t in this episode and presumably in different parts of the Mirror World.) Ordered by Eva to find a Refractor that just so happens to be what Sunshine is after, the two Mirror women largely hang in the background this week, manipulating Team Flash so they can abscond with the device in the midst of all the chaos. I’m down for this, mostly because there’s something fun and creepy about the way the two duplicates mirror (heh) Eva’s actions subconsciously. This story still has yet to drag mostly thanks to how well the actors make us forget they’re playing doppelgängers. That said, I wouldn’t mind it if there was a shakeup now beyond an additional henchwoman added into the roster. That appears to be in the cards, but we’ll have to wait three weeks for that to come to fruition. 

Additional Notes

• All this Mirror stuff is eventually going to sync up with the Speed Force plot, and I’m wondering what that means for the cosmic portion of Arrowverse afterwards. (There’s other cosmic forces now after some semi-recent comics shenanigans, and they are wild.)
• Like pretty much everything else, Flash’s seventh season has to stop production for Corona concerns. Please stay safe and healthy during this time. And also just all the time. 
• See you April 7th!