The Godspeed war is heating up, and thing are getting confusing for Central City. There are multiple, apparently identical, speedsters running around, Team Flash is outnumbered and arguably out gunned, and one of their depleted number goes off on their own. Add in dreams from the future, a special guest, and a side quest for either vengeance or justice, and things aren’t look great in “POW.”

With Iris “home sick,” an explanation/excuse that’s wearing thin, Barry is alone and not having a great time of it. The news is depressing, but it gets worse when Nora pops up again with vague warnings. Barry takes off for STAR Labs, not having an easy commute, and then finds out that the Godspeeds are causing communications havoc, so Joe and Kramer are on their own for their mission. Those two could actually use some help, because the mysterious Adam is after them, having gotten rid of their only way out of the woods.

Cecile takes over Joe’s role as heart of the team, getting Barry to share his concerns. Of course, she has an unfair advantage in that she can read emotions, and Barry has some legitimate things to be worried about. However, it’s not all bad news. Help arrives in the form of John Diggle, who comes bearing gifts from ARGUS and Cisco. Interestingly, the explanation of the device that might help catch Godspeed includes the mention of a supervillain from the 30^th Century, a usual foe of the Legion of Super Heroes. If ARGUS had this lying around, it makes me wonder how far their reach goes and how many untold stories there are about things they’ve been up to. This calls for a team-up, and, while John is never specifically called Spartan in the episode, that’s the gear he puts on to aid Flash in catching a rogue speedster.

They manage to snag one of the Godspeeds, and when they finally get him talking, they get all kinds of surprises. Barry is asked to make a decision, which he does, and as a result, things get much worse. No good deed goes unpunished. Barry handles this setback poorly, which is really apparent considering his usual good nature. Diggle shoos everyone away for a private talk, and Barry shares what’s on his mind. Diggle offers some advice, Cecile learns something, and the team splits up, although they notice someone’s missing. It’s interesting both that Diggle’s advice comes in spite of some things he experienced firsthand, and that Diggle’s Spartan outfit looks just a bit different this episode, possibly a nod to Diggle’s future.

Diggle is having some weird episodes, and Cecile tries to use her powers to find out what’s going on and suffers for it. Barry tries to go check on something, but runs into unexpected opposition and then an old foe turned friend. Barry learns a lot of surprising things, including, finally, what’s going on with Iris. Diggle’s refusal to deal with his problems almost gets him killed, but he gets saved by the last minute arrival of Frost. All this leads to an accidental discovery, and the team finds a potential source of answers to a lot of their questions.

Kramer and Joe play very high-stakes hide and seek with mystery man Adam. They manage to get the drop on him, at which point he makes a lot of surprising claims, and Joe has to take measures to keep the peace. Allegra has some words with Esperanza, and tries to reach out to her cousin, but Esperanza doesn’t want to listen to reason or wait. This whole weird subplot gets a few scenes that felt like they came out of nowhere and didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

After all the fights are done, it’s time for some wrap-up scenes. Diggle vows to go take care of what’s been plaguing him this episode, and we get a flashback to Diggle’s final scene in Arrow. Barry, alone again, gets another unexpected visitation. Then, as if this wasn’t enough, he gets another visitor, throwing more confusion into things. They are incorporating a lot of the members of the far-flung Flash family. The only two I can think of that haven’t shown up at all probably have similar rights issues to why, over on Arrow, all the hints about Ted Kord showing up eventually had to be changed to Ray Palmer.

What I liked: It was great to see Diggle again, and get some follow-up to that scene in Arrow that so many of us think means he’s destined to be a Green Lantern. It makes sense that the team would get help from ARGUS, especially with Cisco in charge of their tech now.

What I didn’t: I don’t like this Allegra/Esperanza side story. It feels tacked on and unnecessary. Chester and Caitlin didn’t get much to do this episode. Frost is about Flash’s only remaining powered ally in the field, since Allegra keeps not showing up, but how does she manage to pop up in just the right place without superspeed or portal help? Cisco’s little extrapolator things seem to have vanished after all.

I can’t say I loved this episode, even with Diggle being back. I’ll give this a 2.5 out of 5, and it would have been worse without the guest shot.