I’ve thought for a while, and the internet has further convinced me, that any time someone describes anything as the “true” version of something, it’s going to be a bad scene. Throw “one” before the true and it’s much worse. With Red Death (and really, who calls themselves that?) going on about showing the world “true justice,” there’s nothing good on her agenda. That proves to be the case in “Mask of the Red Death, Part Two.”

The show opens with the CCPD being taken over by Red’s contingent of Rogues. You really do have to feel bad for police in the superhero genre. They seem to range from racist to incompetent to corrupt to helplessly overmatched. I wonder what the turnover rate is for police in cities like Gotham, Metropolis, and Central City? Even Kramer’s rarely used powers don’t do any good as the police get overrun in moments.

Back at STAR, the Rogues argue their sudden abandoning of Mark was completely justified and they are more into self-preservation than heroism. As the rest of the team argues, Iris comes up with an idea for how to possibly track down Red Death. I’m not sure what they think they’re going to do next, since Flash’s speed is temporarily gone and none of the powered and/or gadget bearing people seem too interested in going another round with the villainous speedster. Iris gets an idea that’s a good one, although it falls into the weird category of, “Hey, I have an idea the person whose power I want to make use of should have come up with on their own.” They do manage to find the big bad, but also uncover some other surprising information, which launches another debate about what to do next. Later, Joe and Cecile have a talk about her growing powers and place on Team Flash.

Back at CCPD, Captain Boomerang and Murmur do some work up on the roof, while Kramer plays the role of “hostage I explain bits of my plan to” for Red Death. The maniacal villain goes into full monologue mode, going on about “the dawn of true justice” and also being “judge, jury, and executioner.” That’s another great warning sign: if someone says they want to be that, leave the conversation quickly and walk away. As red lightning hits all over the city (again), Chester gets to work figuring out where this unexpected power boost for the villain is coming from and Flash and Khione have a chat. One of the things I haven’t been liking about Barry’s characterization over the last season or so is that he’s very much taken a “I know better than anyone else” attitude, especially with his team. He does so again with Khione, and, while he raises a few decent points, I just don’t like seeing this side of him.

Having gathered their forces, the team tries to undo some of Red Death’s plans, making use of the smoke-bomb teleporter gizmo Allegra inherited from the last version of Harrison Wells. Allegra reveals a new power, and most of the rest of the team wanders into an ambush, which, in fairness, is something much of the team predicted ahead of time. Red Death goes into another monologue, very much enjoying the position of powerful villain. Red gives a hint about what’s going on, knocks everyone out, and then, following the villain playbook, leaves her foes perfectly fine to fight her again later. Considering most of Flash’s allies at this point are known villains, and she’s so into “true justice,” this makes less sense than usual.

In another move that doesn’t make much sense, the team returns to STAR just to have a big argument and have all the Rogues storm off. They couldn’t have quit at Red Death’s place? Or on the way back? The secret of the power boost gets revealed, and it’s, at least in part, another ripple from the Crisis. Iris and Khione check in on a wounded ally, and the mystery of who or what Khione is deepens with the next surprise. After all the problems of the last episode or so, it’s time for another Joe peptalk. The retired cop finds his adopted son moping, and they have a heart to heart, leaving Barry determined to try a desperate gamble to save the city and stop the villain.

Flash has to go see someone who hasn’t been on the show in quite a while, and face up to the consequences of some mistakes he made. That’s something you don’t see a lot of heroes doing on tv shows, so that, at least, was a nice touch. While Flash pleads his case, things keep looking worse and worse in Central City. Finally, there’s a big fight where someone I expected to show up doesn’t, and someone else I wasn’t expecting does. Eventually, to no great surprise, the heroes win. Chester meets someone he’s apparently a fan of, and he babbles for a while, and the writers get in another meta-joke about what day the series airs. This scene, and the one before it, are probably the last appearances of two Arrowverse characters.

Cecile and Joe have another long talk about Joe’s latest plan, a bad piece of writing to cover yet another actor leaving the series. After a two-week time jump, we get a farewell party. Another character leaves for… reasons, and everyone has fun. We got another hint at odd abilities from Khione, the timeline Barry and Iris have been assuming they’re operating on proves to be wrong, or has changed, and everyone seems to be happy. It’s not a bad ending for a two-parter.

What I Liked: I enjoyed seeing both characters come back. I’m intrigued by whatever they’re doing with Khione, although this is a really slow burn. I’m glad things aren’t as dire as they looked for one of the team’s allies. While it certainly wasn’t heroic behavior, the Rogues being unwilling to risk life and limb for the city made sense, and Jaco’s reason for leaving was very in character.

What I Didn’t: The character leaving is a really flimsy reason that I didn’t like. Allegra and Cecile both have very inconsistently used, or explained, powers, and I wish they’d clear a few things up and/or remember what these two ladies can do. Speaking of, Cecile and Allegra need costumes and codenames, or at least masks. The Rogues allied with Red Death went from formidable to pushovers, probably in the interests of a speedy conclusion. The motivation for the departure really didn’t make a lot of sense. A character that had sort of been in the background of this story was missing for quite a while, and they never explain it.

This was not one of their better episodes. It’s almost feeling like the writers found out this was the last season and just started phoning it in. I’ll give this a 2.5 out of 5. I’m hoping the rest of the season is better. The show deserves to go out on a higher note than this.