One of my favorite super-villains from the mythos of The Flash makes his live-action debut in this self-titled episode – Abra Kadabra. From the Silver Age to the Modern Age he remains one of the Flash’s most dangerous foes. Meet me after the magical jump for my thoughts on “Abra Kadabra.”
Abra Kadabra
Abra Kadabra is a guilty pleasure for me, a super-villain I have wanted to see in live action probably since the first season of The Flash. In the comics, Abra came from the 64th century, where science has advanced to the point where it appears to be magic to us in the present. Originally the villain would dress as a stage magician and craved applause, but in recent years however, he has become more bloodthirsty and psychotic. I prefer Abra in the Silver Age.
Here on television, he’s still from the 64th century, and he’s still playing the science as magic game, but with a bit of a twist. Dazzlingly played by David Dastmalchian, who some might remember from Ant-Man, this villain is on the run from Earth-19 and Gypsy. He further claims, similar to River Song on Doctor Who, to be the Flash’s enemy in his past and Flash’s future.
Card Tricks
We open on a break-in at Stagg Industries. It’s a name we haven’t heard in quite some time, not since Simon Stagg was murdered by the Reverse-Flash waaay back in the second episode of the series, “Fastest Man Alive.” The snappily dressed Abra Kadabra steals some tech and kills two guards.
When next Abra strikes, at Kord Industries, he baffles both Flash and Gypsy with his powers (said to be nanotechnological) including a dazzling special effect with flying playing cards. That trick made me wonder if we might see a more comics-oriented version of Flash foe Double Down some time. The cards looked very cool.
The Secret
Abra Kadabra is hardcore and proves hard to defeat, even for two speedsters and two vibers. Once he outfoxed them, he attacked the rest of Team Flash at S.T.A.R. Labs. Finally when Barry puts cuffs on him, Abra pulls his trump card. Like most villains on this show of late, he knows everything, and Abra wants to use that as a bargaining chip.
Let him go, and Abra will tell the Flash Savitar’s real name. From his cell in the Pipeline, Abra taunts the team. If he is released, he’ll tell them Savitar’s real name, and if not, Iris dies. Of course, he also dies, as Gypsy will take him back to Earth-19 to be executed for murdering her partner. Joe does what any father would do for his daughter – and Abra does what any lying murderous super-villain would do…
Time and Trial
When Abra escapes, with the Reverse-Flash’s tech from the Braille room, he tries to blow the team up, and succeeds in impaling Caitlin. Rather than letting her go Killer Frost, who can regenerate, she tries to talk Julian through surgery to remove the shrapnel. Yes, insanity. She remains awake during the surgery.
In the meantime, the team figures out what Abra Kadabra is up to stealing all that technology. He is building a time machine to return to the 64th century. It’s more like a timeship, a cool jet soaring through the streets of Central City, and it’s more cool special effects as the speedsters and the vibers try to take him down.
Evil Thoughts
Before Gypsy takes him away, the Flash has a moment with Abra, and begs him to help save Iris. Abra gloats instead. They have been enemies a long time, and he mentions Thawne, Zoom, and DeVoe, but none of them hurt the Flash like Savitar. This way, it’s like Abra has helped kill Iris and hurt him. Savitar broke him. Abra is hardcore evil.
The DeVoe that Abra mentioned is Clifford DeVoe, the Thinker, an enemy of the Golden Age Flash and later the Justice Society and future Flashes, Barry and Wally. With an array of mental and psychic powers derived from his technological ‘thinking cap,’ he was quite formidable. I guess this is the showrunners’ hint we may be seeing him sooner or later.
Caitlin
As Barry finally decides to do something daring, but smart – go to the future himself to learn how he stops Savitar – something terrible happens at S.T.A.R. Labs. We know it’s going to happen, we were told it was going to happen, but props to the showrunners for making the rebirth of Killer Frost so dramatic and frightening.
Caitlin dies on the table, we feel her pain, we feel the pain of those present, and we know the terror when Killer Frost finally emerges. This is just one of many good sequences in this episode, one of the best in quite some time. This is probably my favorite episodes so far this season. More please.
Next: “The Once and Future Flash!”
