WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 8, Episode 8, “The Fire Next Time,” which aired Wednesday, March 23 on The CW.
Barry Allen finds himself continuing to mourn his late father Henry and the years lost between them after the elder Allen was framed by the Reverse-Flash. This coincides with a string of killings involving a metahuman father, with Barry suspecting that there is more to this particular case than meets the eye… despite the mounting evidence suggesting otherwise. And with Barry increasingly invested emotionally into this murder investigation, all of Central City is feeling the heat.
A dive bar in Central City has its manager charred to death, with trace amounts of dark matter found on the scene by Barry and Chester P. Runk. Evidence points to the recently paroled metahuman convict Jocko Birch, arrested while working as event security at a local venue, even though the crime doesn’t match his usual modus operandi. When Jocko’s son Harold is accosted at the scene, Birch activates his pyrokinetic powers — only for The Flash to subdue him before the situation can escalate. Barry doubts that Birch is actually responsible for the gruesome murder.
Allegra faces frustration at work, with reporters going behind her back to get stories approved directly by Iris West at the Central City Citizen. Iris tries to foster trust between her co-workers by having Allegra work directly with her colleague Taylor to interview a local social media influencer… an assignment that Allegra personally feels isn’t worth the outlet’s time. While meeting with the influencer Allegra runs into Lydia Sanchez, a familiar face from her past, who is trying to rebuild her life after being paroled from Iron Heights. In order to help her and shine a light on the lost opportunities for ex-convicts, Allegra vows to tell her story to the general public.
While Cecile Horton interrogates Birch, he becomes agitated as the prospect of being separated from his son through more prolonged prison time while pleading his innocence. Breaking free from a prison transport, Birch approaches the bartender who accused him of the manager’s murder, and The Flash (recently renewed for Season 9, putting to rest the idea that the show was ending) reveals she’s found fatally incinerated at the scene. Despite this, Barry maintains that Birch may be innocent, drawing parallels to his father being wrongfully accused of murdering his wife and Barry’s mother. Joe West compares notes with Barry, encouraging him to follow up on questioning Birch’s guilt.
As Chester discovers the heat signatures between the victims and Birch don’t match, Birch intercepts his son while he’s entered back into foster care. The Flash and Frost arrive on the scene to prevent Birch from attacking the police escort; however, the upset Birch has absorbed so much heat confronting the convoy that he’s drawn a volcano’s worth of magma directly under Central City. The Flash vibrates underground to breach the stored magma with water and opens up a small fissure to release the built-up heatl which is then absorbed by Birch, saving the city.
Chester’s analysis clears Birch’s name, reuniting him with his son in the aftermath. Iris agrees to run both the influencer and Sanchez stories, though Taylor remains incensed and vows to personally destroy Allegra’s career for nearly derailing her own professional aspirations. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry has Chester search for additional victims matching the energy signatures of those linked to Birch, realizing there is a different metahuman on the loose that appears to be adding to quite an impressive body count. How will this mystery killer compare to The Flash‘s current rogues gallery?
Developed for television by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns, The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.
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