“The Present” is episode nine of season three of The Flash and the mid season finale.
At the end of “Killer Frost”, Julian, in exchange for not telling anyone that Caitlin was the one who attacked him, got Barry to quit his job at the CCPD. This may not stick, though, as, to no great surprise, it was revealed that Julian is Alchemy and working for Savitar. Although it doesn’t look as if this is entirely willing on Julian’s part.
This episode opens four years ago in the Indus Valley. Julian is in a tent writing in a journal. It’s been six months since they arrived in India. He still has faith that it’s out there, but the voice that once drove him has faded. Julian is concerned that his quest is for naught. Then a woman enters his tent and says that she thinks they’ve found it. It is a box that has been put into a wall. Which Julian removes from the wall with a knife; not exactly approved archaeological procedure. He is going to open it and the woman suggests they wait – but Julian goes ahead anyway. And light floods out of the box.
H.R. is decorating the lab for Christmas. Caitlin has found no more information on Savitar Barry so far has been the only one to see him. They want to figure out how Alchemy’s stone creates metas; Cisco says he will try and dig something up. Then sees his, dead, brother Dante. Barry tells Iris he wanted their first Christmas together to be perfect, but… Savitar.
Cisco has found something; a dissertation from Oxford University. There’s a myth about an ancient Hindu weapon called the Brahma Astra, an artefact with the power to create metas. Which looks like Alchemy’s stone. And the paper was written by Julian Albert.
So Barry heads to see Julian. He wants information on the stone and he came to Julian because Julian apparently knows a lot about it. If Julian tells Barry what he knows, he will never hear from Barry again. Julian says that the Brahma Astra is the Philosopher’s Stone (and Tom Felton, who plays Julian Albert, first rose to fame in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone). Julian says that it was the first object to give humans powers. He became obsessed with it and used his inheritance to fund an expedition to India to find it. But failed. Barry also mentions Savitar; Julian says that, as far as he knows, Savitar was the first meta with speed.
On Earth 3 an alarm is going off and the Trickster is robbing a bank. The Flash – Jay Garrick, the real one – shows up. The Trickster also has a bomb when the Flash – Barry – shows up and disposes of it. Barry wants to talk to Jay about Savitar. So they both return to Earth 1.
Jay has heard of Savitar. He says that Barry has finally grown powerful enough to challenge him. Barry is also the first speedster he knows of to see Savitar. Savitar, according to Jay, was the first man to be granted speed and became the god of motion, the fastest of them all. He sends someone to prepare for his arrival – Alchemy – and Savitar is going to fight Barry as Barry has become a threat to Savitar’s power.
H.R. is training Wally, as he agreed to do. Wally is faster than Barry was at this point in his training. Wally wants to tell everyone. H.R. does not think that’s a good idea. Self preservation mainly.
Barry has read a bunch of Hindu texts but can find no mention of Savitar. Jay tells him that answers come with time. Meanwhile, Savitar is not present but Iris is. So Barry should spend time with her. It’s Christmas after all.
Iris has been digging into Julian’s history. Four scientists died on a dig in India and Julian was the point person. So Barry tells the others that Julian may be connected to Alchemy. Alchemy is currently using the stone in a way to restore the powers of every meta who lost it so they can become servants of Savitar. Jay and Barry head to stop Alchemy and encounter Savitar as well. Jay can see Savitar but doesn’t do that well in the fight. He would have died if Barry hadn’t managed to knock Alchemy down and put the stone back in the box. Causing Savitar to disappear. Under Alchemy’s mask is, of course, Julian.
So Julian is taken captive. He says he isn’t Alchemy. Cisco and Caitlin say that if Julian is lying, he believes his own lie. Cisco also says the box is creepy and there is no reading for every test he carried out. A conversation with Joe about Wally leads Barry to suspect that Julian may not know what he is doing. Which leads to Julian saying that he went to India to look for the stone after his dead sister came to him. Now, Cisco is seeing his dead brother. That’s probably not a coincidence.
A couple of minor mentions of the “Invasion!” crossover, one of which is related to a glimpse Barry gets of the future.