“Untouchable” is episode twelve of season three of The Flash.
The episode opens with Barry and Wally about to start a race. Barry wants to know if Wally is prepared, and he is – for the biggest upset in speedster history. Barry reminds Wally that this is training; at the end of the previous episode, “Dead or Alive”, Barry said he simply couldn’t improve fast enough to save Iris from Savatar – but Wally could. Wally says he is going to save Iris. But first Barry is going to eat his dust.
Cisco is monitoring back at the lab but, before the race starts, he asks if anyone wants to place a bet. H.R. does – gambling has been banned on his Earth since that unfortunate incident with Vice President Al Capone. Caitlin, Iris and Joe are also there, and more bets are placed before Cisco starts the race. After saying ‘May the odds be ever in your favour,’ quoting The Hunger Games. The race goes tightly until the very end – when Barry runs through a building that Wally has to run over. Which means Barry wins. Wally tells him that isn’t fair, because he can’t phase.
Later, Joe, Barry and Julian are at a crime scene in a restaurant – as thanks, in “The Present”, Julian had Captain Singh hand back Barry’s resignation. The body is badly necrotised – but the victim, a chef, has only been dead for eight hours. There are other things that can necrotise a body faster than normal, as Julian and Barry discuss. Acids with a pH below 2, necrotising fasciitis – a flesh-eating bacteria, Barry explains to Joe. Julian complains that county turned down his request for a 3D medical scanner. Barry tells him there’s one at S.T.A.R. Labs. Julian reminds him that this is an active investigation and there is protocol to be followed. Although when Joe doesn’t complain, he agrees to meet Barry there with the body.
Outside, Iris is waiting and she doesn’t look that happy. Joe wants them to come to coffee with Cecille and her daughter, Joanie, who is in town. Afterwards, Iris wants to show Barry something at the lab. The something is a news headline about the restaurant that they recovered from the future. Iris is concerned, and scared, because it’s coming true. She thought they were changing things. Barry says that they are; Wally was the one who caught Plunder in “Borrowing Problems from the Future”, not Barry as it was supposed to happen. Iris still doesn’t want to tell Joe.
At the lab, Cisco, Barry and Wally are watching Julian and Caitlin with the body. Until they find something, Barry says they need to train Wally to phase. Caitlin is wondering what the man’s name is; Julian says it doesn’t matter. He is, after all, a corpse, and is impervious to bedside manners. Given Julian’s, Caitlin thinks that’s good. Julian starts recording as Caitlin opens the body bag. There’s a puff of ash from it and, inside, the body is ash.
A man is leaving a music club. He looks familiar. Another comes up behind him, clapping, wanting to congratulate the first, Julio Mendez, on his performance. He’d like to shake his hand. When he does, Mendez starts to necrotise. He’s told it’s what he deserves for all the pain he caused the second man. Evidently a grudge.
In the speed lab, Wally tries running through a wooden wall. And fails. That’s an ouch. Barry tells Wally that he can run fast enough to phase through anything. Including, according to H.R., molten lava. If, say, he was stuck in a volcano. With Wally building up speed, Barry talks to Cisco and H.R. about helping. H.R. suggests vocal encouragement. Barry asks Cisco how Wells – Thawne – taught him. A well-constructed plan that took about 15 years to work out. Not really an option. Then Barry gets a message about another crime scene.
He meets Joe and Julian there. When Joe tells him the lounge singer’s name, Barry recognises it – as Mendez was the police captain in “Flashpoint”. He wants to see a photo of the first victim, before he was necrotised, and he recognises that as also being a cop in that timeline. Barry whisks Julian and the body back to the lab.
Julian and Caitlin are working on the body. Time is limited and Julian is demonstrating again that he doesn’t play well with others. Caitlin discovers the point of origin of what happened to Mendez. And says she used to think Barry was overreacting about sharing a lab with Julian. Now she understands his frustration. Julian says he’s the one who’s frustrated. He finds two strands of DNA, one belonging to the killer. The other has a strange element. One that Julian has seen before. In all the husks created by Alchemy. This doesn’t make Julian feel good.
Barry is having coffee with Joe, Wally, Iris, Cecille and Joanie. Joanie is at Coast U, and she likes the city better than Central City. There is one thing she misses though – Kid Flash. She’s a fan. Cecille prefers the Flash. Iris points out that Joe knows Kid Flash, and she, Wally and Barry wind Joe up, asking which of the Flash and Kid Flash he thinks is the real hero. Joe doesn’t want to choose. Barry then gets a message; Julian and Caitlin have identified, the meta, Clive Yorkin, and send a photo. Just as Yorkin walks in the door. Yorkin claims that Joe and his cronies ruined his life, but not this time. It seems that Yorkin’s grudge is for something that happened in an alternate timeline. He can also destroy anything with a touch.
So, they need to work out who else Yorkin is going after. Then try and work out how to catch someone who literally can’t be touched. Iris decides to tell Joe about her death in the future. He doesn’t take this very well. Julian thinks that this is his fault and, when Caitlin says it isn’t, he replies that they have to take responsibility for their own actions. Which, unintentionally, is a dig at Caitlin and Killer Frost. There have been hints before that Caitlin likes Julian. At least, when he isn’t being a jerk.
The post-logo scene leads into the next episode, “Attack on Gorilla City”. The title gives a big hint as to what that episode involves.