The Flash Review: Pay the Piper (Season 6 Episode 18)

Hartley Rathaway’s Pied Piper returns in The Flash Season 6 Episode 18, “Pay the Piper,” an hour that has almost nothing to do with the season’s larger Mirror Universe plot, but is generally an entertaining diversion on its own. 

Or, at least, it probably would be in a normal season.

Thanks to coronavirus, however, The Flash Season 6 will end early. In fact, its season finale is next week. Which makes “Pay the Piper” feel more than a bit superfluous to the larger story we’ve been watching for the past few episodes, if only because its so disconnected from the season arc.

That said, there’s a lot happening in this installment that feels like it will probably pay off down the road. Plus, it’s hard to hate an episode that brings both back Andy Mientus, who really is wonderful as the Pied Piper, and opens the door to us seeing him in the future as at least an ancillary part of Team Flash. 

In the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of this reality, Hartley and Barry never made the sort of tenuous peace achieved during the Pied Piper’s first appearance. Why? In this reality, Barry apparently accidentally helped incapacitate Hartley’s #1 henchman, Roderick, during their battle and he’s really not over it.

Roderick, as everyone can immediately guess, is actually Hartley’s boyfriend, and he and Barry slowly manage to make peace through their shared experience of fighting to restore the people they love after horrific experiences.

Granted, I have no idea how Hartley’s sonic powers now work, but they make for a cool combination when paired with Barry’s speed and lightning, and Mientus and Grant Gustin have a charmingly antagonistic chemistry with one another. 

I’m definitely okay with watching them be some sort of frenemies next season, though at this point The Flash’s cast of characters is starting to feel a bit unwieldily. Surely, with the additions of Sue, Chester, Allegra, and now (maybe?) Hartley, something has to give at some point. 

The larger Mirror Universe story basically goes nowhere this episode, which feels kind of bizarre after last week’s episode that was packed with revelations and forward progress. But, at least Iris manages to somehow (???) find Kamilla in a mirror version of STAR Labs after like two minutes of effort (how??), even as she starts experiencing hints of the same madness that plagued Eva.

I have many questions about how this happened, given that Iris never managed to leave the room she shared with Eva prior to, well, right now, but maybe as the new oldest resident of the Mirror World, she’s inherited some level of Eva’s former control? IDK. Why do I care when the show clearly doesn’t? Ugh.

It’s hard to guess where Season 6 will ultimately leave things. With just an episode to go, we’re never going to get closure on Eva’s quest for vengeance — or even whether she becomes the new post-Crisis Mirror Master, come to that. 

Heck, we may not even see Iris and friends make it out of the Mirror Universe before the season’s final credits roll. How will that affect next season? Will Season 7 have to be Mirror Master 2.0?

In all honesty, I’m down with The Flash keeping Eva — and Efrat Dor, who really is wonderful — around as much as possible, and they’ve given her character enough layers that her story should be about something more than just her immediate defeat.

What that would have looked like this season, we’ll never know — and what it might look like next season, is still to come. Cross your fingers for a finale next week that at least leaves us feeling some sense of a true ending?

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• I didn’t hate Nash this week for the first time in what I think is actual months, so that’s progress!
• The Godspeed costume is honestly one of the best that The Flash has ever done.
• The Flash and Godspeed face-off is also beautifully done — from the chase visuals to Godspeed’s final thunderstorm and his electric blue blood. Just such creative, great imagery.
• Fingers crossed this episode is really just a set-up to bring Godspeed back as a larger Big Bad in the future. Perhaps after the Mirror Universe story concludes? 
• Frost and Ralph’s friendship is so charming and sweet. The Flash has tried its best to integrate Caitlin’s alter ego into the rest of the team this season, often with mixed results. But her connection with Ralph has been 
• The giant, conveniently placed pillow in front of Danielle Panabaker’s clearly pregnant form was so unintentionally hilarious. I suspect the season’s early end will mean we won’t actually see Frost head off to see Caitlin’s mom in order to cover for her maternity leave, but I respect how hard they tried to build up to it.
• Do we know why Eva was in some kind of cryo-device at the end of this episode? Did I miss that? 

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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