Central City buzzed with excitement this week when Team Flash teams up with Team ATOM  (Team ATOM consisting solely of Arrow‘s Felicity Smoak and Ray Palmer) to tackle CC’s new bee problem. The bees, however, aren’t the only stings felt by our favorite Central citizens: Barry hesitates whether or not to talk to Cisco and Caitlin about his Wells theories,  Eddie and Iris are on the road to couples counseling, and Cisco is feeling some bad vibes concerning Dr. Wells. Are we sure that bees are the only bug problem? Surely, there have gotta be spiders, too, because everyone is tangled in a GOTDAMB WEB OF LIES.

Villain-of-the-Week

We revisit the VOTW formula: a Bug-eyed Bandit is murdering old genius colleagues with a swarm of robotic bees. Yes, it is as terrifying as it sounds, and no one is more upset by the infestation as Cisco Ramon.

The VOTW turns out to be former zombie-killer Mercury Labs employee Brie Larvan, previously hinted to us by EP Andrew Kreisberg as Felicity’s nemesis. I see it. They’ve both got the stunning-blonde-computer-genius-with-fab-hair thing going on:

As much as I love Emily Kinney (my Walking Dead followers can testify), she did not impress me at all in this guest stint. She was cute with her bug-eyes and her hexagon dress and her beehive hairdo — which was brilliant btw — but she was either completely under-utilized which happens a lot on the TV shows she’s on which is such bullcrap because dammit I love Beth so much I’m not over it not even a little bit, or she’s just used as 1.) an ATOM Easter Egg, 2.) an easy connecter to bring back Dr. Tina McGee, and 3.) a character foil to Barry because she also was betrayed by a scientific mentor (McGee for her, Wells for Barry).

Barry + Telling Caitlin/Cisco the Truth

Barry doesn’t know who to trust in S.T.A.R. Labs after talking to Joe who convinced him that Caitlin and Cisco might be on Wells’ side, so it’s a good thing Felicity shows up. She helps out the team with some tech and drops a few much needed Smoak-bombs. Superheroes love Felicity. I’m happy they got their kiss out of the way and agreed to be just friends so that they could, you know, be adorkable buddies who occasionally flirt while fighting bad guys.

Oh, Barricity. In this nerd’s wishful opinion, in some alternate timeline (where Oliver is dead and otherwise not in the picture,of course), Felicity and Barry are totally married with genius marshmallow children. These two have chemistry, and, unfortunately, it’s another reminder why Ray and Felicity are temporary. Raylicity is cute and seriously attractive, and I’m not trying to undervalue how important the relationship is to the individual character development of each character but a stepping stone towards their ultimate destinies (independently of each other).

Ray Palmer belongs in Central City or at least in a city more lighthearted than Star(ling). I’ll admit that I am a Ray fan. This might be the undeniable Superman bias that I have, but I’m not anti-Ray nor anti-Raylicity like most of the reactions I see on twitter or tumblr. I think Ray is optimistic, genuine, goofy, and good-hearted, if not incredibly naive. He’s also willing to ask for help, when he needs it.

Cisco welcomes the chance to avoid working on the bee case, and helps Ray work out the kinks in his suit. Hey, Cisco? Can you also work on making the suit shrink? Because that’s all Christelle really wants. Thanks! Btw, I am so excited that Ray and Cisco get along so well. Do I ship it? HELL YES. I’m so aboard the AtomVibe/Raysco bromance, and I wouldn’t mind single-minute crossover moments in each episode. They’ve done it once; they can’t take them away from me now. I read someone comparing Cisco to Kenny on South Park because, once again, our NOC almost dies when he takes a bee sting for Ray. Contrary to Ray’s belief, his suit isn’t completely bee-proof. Don’t worry, Barry brings him back to life (again).

Cisco + “Seeing” the Truth

In the biggest revelation of the episode, however, Cisco envisions his murder from the alternate timeline, but doesn’t trust whether or not they are visions or actual memories. It’s when he’s hanging out with his new BFF ATOM that Cisco gets a glimpse of the truth — Wells is fully capable of walking, running, and, you know, killing people close to him by vibrating his fist through unsuspecting torsos. Cisco’s visions flash in black and white; I’m unsure whether or not Cisco sees them from a first person perspective or if they are out-of-body experiences. Either way, Cisco watches himself die, and the bee situation does not help ease his anxiety. In the episode’s end tag, Cisco reveals his visions to the team.

Eddie + Telling Iris the Truth

Iris knows Eddie is lying about something, but she doesn’t know what. I just want to better understand her: she thought he was lying to her about working with the Flash (which I don’t understand why Eddie denied her question… because then he would’ve alleviated some of her suspicion, at the very least)…

But then she immediately jumped to Eddie’s fidelity? Even Barry is defending Eddie, Iris! Eddie is too pure and good for this world of lies and doesn’t deserve this crap. He just wants to tell the woman he loves about his new superhero friend who is really an old superhero friend, specifically her foster-brother/best friend. And he wants to get some on the regular. Does that make him a bad guy? No, but Eddie did almost die in this episode: he complains to Joe that he and Iris haven’t had sex in two weeks.

Why he said that, I’ll never know. Despite this astounding moment of dumbassery, when it comes to Iris West’s treatment I’m Team Eddie. Everything that Eddie has said about why Iris should know has been as on point as Grant Gustin’s eyebrows. Before witnessing Barry-as-the-Flash apprehending trench-coated perverts (funnily enough who were “flashing” the public) and stopping jewel thieves…

Now we know that Eddie is hot and cold when it comes to the Flash: first he thinks he’s awesome, then he thinks it’s dangerous for Iris to associate with him, then he’s running in front of bad guys’ superguns to protect him. I think it’s important for Eddie to feel like he’s on the team; it strengthens his loyalty to Barry and Barry’s “secret” (I use the word loosely.)

Even the writers are making jokes about Iris not knowing Barry’s secret!(!!!) That’s when you know it’s bad: when the show makes fun of itself but does not really attempt to fix the problem just so that they can be in on the joke as well. Ugh.

Easter Eggs:

1. Mercury Labs
2. Dr. Tina McGee (again)
3. Cisco’s aversion to bees… Batman hates bees, too!
4. Ray Palmer/ATOM deciding that maybe “smaller” would be better.. in regards to the robotics in his suit. 
5. Cisco dying. Again. And brought to life, again.
6. My personal favorite: “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…”

Super-Quick Things:

• There is a defib in the suit? Genius.

• Iris “Umbrella” West: Girl cast some serious shade at the love-pentagon dinner. Iris bb, I know you’re angry at the ridiculous misogyny (aka the fraternity of lies) from the men you love, but you’re better than bringing Ray and Felicity into it.

• SnowCity, Ra(y)sco, WestCity, and even Wellicity(?):

• I’m as sad as Caitlin and Cisco that they weren’t invited to dinner.

• Papa Joe. We know Joe is a good dad to Barry… can we see some more of those parenting skills directed towards Iris? Obviously, Joe’s done an excellent job raising his daughter: Iris is smart and independent and kind… I just want to see more. We got a glimpse of the father/daughter-ing when he was giving her Barry/Eddie advice a couple of weeks ago, and since then I’ve been waiting for more.

• Felicity’s keyboard withdrawals.
• Felicity saying, “STAY AWAY FROM BARRY ALLEN!”
• This bestie meltdown:

• The biggest musical tease ever:

• THE BIG QUESTION: If Cisco is starting to see flashes of his alternative fate that Barry changed with time travel… will the others? Specifically will Iris West remember that Barry Allen is The Flash?

Five episodes remaining! This season is going by way too…. fast.