As has been the case for most of the season, the people behind The Flash don't seem to really know what they wanted to do with this episode. They also don't seem to know what they want to do with the rest of the season.
There have been some bad episodes this season and there have been some boring episodes in this eighth season of The Flash but the latest installment is easily the most disjointed of this year. At least part of the odd mess of the show appeared to have been trying to tell too many stories all at once and maybe even realizing to some degree that none of the stories were all that compelling all on their own.
It also feels as though the people behind The Flash understand that they might have had the team face a few too many threats from a few too many directions already this year. Most of the time, the series has a formula it sticks to that is relatively dependable in that it has a few baddies that are lower level and can cause a bit of a problem for a few minutes per episode. They are basically just there to show that The Flash is powerful enough to take on these kinds of run-of-the-mill bad guys and that is then supposed to make the bigger villains like Despero that much more impressive because Barry Allen can't just dispatch them by running really fast.
The problem is that this season of The Flash has gone to the "big bad" well just a little too often. With a handful of episodes left this season, the team has already fought off a couple of these super-powerful villains and even seen one of their own die in the process. So now the show has to come up with something else to put everyone in danger and it doesn't appear as though the writers have figured out just how to do that.
The episode picks up where the last episode of The Flash left off, with Iris for some reason being transported into the Still Force because of her disease that seems to have come out of nowhere and has been something that has been a problem for most of the season. The fact that it's been a problem for most of the season actually works against this particular plot line because it's hard to remember how she got "sick" why she got sick and why the sickness is manifesting itself in the way it is. That's the first big problem with the episode. The audience is clearly supposed to be worrying about where Iris has gone, but even the people in the show that should be worried about her seem to have collectively shrugged and moved on, outside of Barry.
While the disappearance of Iris West continues to feel more like a way to keep her off the show than anything, it's the focus of the episode as Barry eventually runs into Deon Owens who has also become a kind of God of Time, who also doesn't seem to be able to cure Iris of her time sickness and claims he needs Barry to help him go and get Iris. While Joe is rightfully wary about why someone is supposed to be a god is also sick and needs Barry's help, the Scarlet Speedster still decides to go with the time god into the Still Force.
This particular dimension or whatever it's supposed to be appears to have whatever rules the writers of The Flash want it to have and they don't seem to understand that creating that much confusion among the audience isn't a good thing. There are even different scenes that Barry and Deon run across that seem so confusing and offputting that even the people who are writing the script don't seem to have a good grasp on the situation enough to explain why it is happening that way. That is especially the case when Allegra is seen arguing with one of her coworkers about keeping some sort of secret under wraps.
The problem here of course is that the audience knows that Allegra is not actually trapped in the Still Force, so while the fact that she's trapped in a time loop might be disconcerting, if she was indeed trapped in a time loop, she isn't. Knowing that and because Barry knows that as well, it seems odd there is so much consternation about the scene. This episode of The Flash only gets even more confusing as it goes along from there as Barry is somehow trapped in a pocket of the Still Force but is also able to find something in the dimension that allows him to focus on the real world long enough to ... find a way out that has nothing to do with the item he found in the dimension. This is where the episode simply doesn't seem to know what it wants to do with this concept of the Stil Force, even if it thinks the idea is interesting enough to be the focus of an entire installment.
Elsewhere, Allegra and Chester are spending some time wondering whether or not his genius might have led to him creating a special kind of technology that can be used for evil. However, this too isn't explained all that well and it's not entirely clear why Chester is worried about being a "super villain" nor is it entirely clear just what the thing he's so worried about really even is. There's also the fact that while this subplot is being dealt with, neither character seems to care at all that Barry and Iris are still missing.
Finally, the third subplot that this episode of The Flash barely pays any attention to at all is Caitlyn still trying to bring Frost back to life. However, considering that her quest to bring her sister back is supposed to be taking place while everyone else is doing their own thing, her lack of progress seems a bit odd. She's now spent the better part of two different episodes just arguing about whether or not she should bring Frost back from the dead. Because of that lack of progress, the plot seems to have lost any semblance of importance. Clearly, Frost is going to come back at this point. What kind of person she is when she comes back is the only question and the show should just hurry up and get there.
Overall, this week was another subpar installment of The Flash, which continues to be a shadow of what it used to be in its heyday. If confusion was the goal of the episode, that might be an excuse, but it feels as if the writers simply don't know what story they want to tell, so none of the stories they tell are remotely compelling.