The Flash s01e09 Episode Script
Ghost in The Machine
Oh, heavens! My hair is so soft and so shiny! And so wonderfully easy to manage! Make your hair look bright and clean When you It's 10 to midnight, Central City and once again your mayor refuses to take seriously - my demand for $ 1 million.
- Look, that's him! The Ghost! - Forcing me to keep my end of the bargain.
- Who will stop him? - So at the stroke of 12 - Get out of here! downtown will go up in the brightest display of fireworks - this city has ever seen.
- Where's Night Shade? Think of me as you sift through the rubble.
This is the Ghost wishing you all a very good evening.
Time has come for the Night Shade to drop in on the Ghost.
Well, let's have a big round of applause for our special guest.
Oh, I wouldn't waste your firepower.
It's useless.
Television allows me to be everywhere.
You can't blackmail an entire city.
Of course I can, fool.
I'm the future.
And you're far too late to stop me! One more adjustment before detonation.
Your show's cancelled, Ghost.
Try Ghostess.
You should've stayed in Helltown frightening mobsters.
You're psychotic.
One man's psychotic is another man's visionary.
Video is the future.
And I'm detonating the bombs with a television signal.
I don't wanna blow up those buildings but an ultimatum is an ultimatum.
Maybe you shouldn't blow up the hospital, Russell.
Damn it, Belle.
You can't let human sentimentality stand in the way of progress! Too much TV, Ghost.
You've got no attention span.
- What did you do? - Shortwave jamming device.
What did you do?! Russell! Russell! But he's still in there! - No one could survive that fire.
- Russell! Russell! Russell! The turn of the century.
Welcoming the new millennium after a nice frozen sleep.
A city of tomorrow.
In my prime, no less.
1990? A decade early.
But still the future.
- and buildings so decayed, pedestrians should be issued hardhats.
People ask why I live in this town.
Don't touch that dial.
Make this the year you take the jump into large-screen technology from Wacky Walter's Video Emporium.
We got them all, 178 channels, hi-fi surround sound, cable-ready A hundred and seventy-eight channels? This is the future.
Look at this place, Julio.
Akira 5700 computers, stacks of imaging systems.
I tell you, compared to this place, we work in a cave.
- Fascinating.
Let me ask you something.
- What? What are you doing here? What do you mean? I'm returning Tina's computer.
No, what are you always doing here? As much time as you two spend together Julio.
Do you have any women friends? Yeah.
I got Sabrina.
She's my woman and she's a friend.
And thank you for listening to Lite FM.
Would get it through those locks that Tina and I are just - Too incredibly stupid to see what's going on in front of you.
What a surprise.
Central City's finest.
- Who's she been talking to? - Hey.
My car broke down, so Julio gave me a lift over here.
Yeah, Barry forgets the simple things.
You know, water, oil, gas.
I'll drive tonight.
We're going bowling, do you want to come? I'd love to join you and Mr.
Gutterball, but we've all got that telethon thing.
What do you mean? - I thought you asked her.
- I forgot.
Sabrina put together this telethon.
All you have to do is answer phones.
- Yeah, on TV.
It's not a very good idea.
- It's for a good cause.
- What, are you camera-shy? - No, I just Come on.
Call your mother, tell her you'll be on TV.
- You too? - It'll be fun! - Fun? Oh, fun.
- Yes, it'll be fun.
Come on, three-letter word This is how far TV's gotten? Reduced to a pinball game? I expected more.
Much more.
The monorails, the undersea cities, the moon colony.
Where's my future? Killer! Rack up, homey.
What? Excuse me? That's a bad score.
Bad? I've already shattered the record.
Oh, no, no.
Bad.
Like in good.
Oh, I see.
Orwellian doublespeak, like in 1984.
'84? Oh, I can't remember that far back, man.
Bad is good.
Wrong is right.
I like it.
I could use a couple of smart kids who know their way around.
It's time someone showed you what total video really means.
Oh, my God, Tina! Shirt.
It's about time.
If I'm gonna be on TV, I might as well look my best.
You look terrific.
- Thank you, Barry.
- Yeah.
- You're looking pretty good yourself.
- This outfit? - I just threw it together.
- So I see.
Play "Mr.
Sandman.
" You got it.
I cashed in my Christmas Club.
Thirty-five years of compound interest will support me till the millennium.
- You're dead.
- Have you forgotten already? No, no, you can't You can't be him.
He's dead.
I'm not dead, Belle.
Touch me.
I made it.
You made Made what? My little Ghostess, just like old times almost.
Oh, no, stop.
Please don't.
I don't underst You wouldn't accompany me on my cryogenic journey.
You mean, the freeze chamber? How could I? It just sounded so nuts.
They all said that back then.
But now we live in a future I predicted.
The only reason I failed in the '50s was the technology wasn't up to my dreams.
But failure now is impossible.
I'm gonna put a stranglehold on this city.
The tools are here.
Back to work, Belle.
I ain't paying you to pick up circus gigolos.
At last technology has caught up with me.
Hey! Stop! Baby I only wish you had joined me in my beauty sleep.
Yeah, you and me both.
Thank you.
And I'd like to thank my partner, Tony Bello Officer Murphy, thank you very much.
Now we know why Central City's a jungle.
Okay, we also want to thank Star Labs for their generous matching fund.
- Okay, thanks.
- Relief Fund.
Tina, this woman, third time she's called.
- Wants to set me up with her daughter.
- This is not a dating service, Mr.
Allen.
Nicely put.
Excuse me, pal, I gotta sit here.
I want the people to get to talk to the voice of the city.
That's the kind of guy I am.
- Sabrina, you want some coffee? - Yeah, I'd love some.
And take Julio with you, okay? Before his eyes pop out of his head like a couple of golf balls.
Right.
Would you excuse me, please? Thank you.
Julio, your woman and your friend strongly suggests you take a short coffee break.
- Yeah, java sounds really good right now.
- I thought so.
Listen, Tina, I could show you things you never dreamed of.
That's Dr.
McGee.
And I think I'd prefer to dream, thank you.
- Hello? - Hello? Finally gonna try out that magic act, huh, lieutenant? Better than one more rendition of "My Way.
" That reminds me, I need an assistant to saw in half.
- You available Monday? - My phone's ringing.
- Warren.
- Gentlemen, our host, Dr.
Desmond Powell.
Chief of staff, Central Hospital.
Barry Allen, Julio Mendez.
- Nice to meet you.
- Pleasure.
Hi.
If you will excuse us, I've known your lieutenant for over 30 years, and we just don't get together often enough.
Over here, lady! Over here! Whoa, wait a minute! This is a telethon, sparky.
There's no cash here, only pledges.
I hate your show.
Now, everybody watch the TV! Now! In the '50s, I controlled TV.
But to see through it, to travel the network I had to wait 35 years for a techno-society sophisticated enough for my plans.
And from the looks of things it's been worth the wait.
Of course, it's not the urban paradise of tomorrow we all expected.
The future is like the present, only older.
But there's plenty new here now that - Watch out! - Look out! You should've paid that million back in '55, Central City.
I wouldn't hold such a grudge now.
Ladies and gentlemen, is this great TV for your pledge dollar, or what? - Excuse me.
Are you all right? - Yes, I'm fine.
- I told you this telethon was a bad idea.
- Okay! - Lieutenant, they made a clean getaway.
- Yeah, with a truckload of equipment.
- Have you seen Dr.
Powell? - No.
Here I thought all of this was behind me.
Mavis, I'm fine.
I'll see you later.
Bye-bye.
Allen! Anything on that telethon takeover? Julio went through that control booth with a fine-toothed comb but the prints he found belonged to employees.
- What's that, breakfast? - Yeah.
Yeah, it's my - Help yourself.
- I'm stumped.
He took video and broadcast equipment and nothing else.
Well, maybe the guy just wants to be on TV.
- What the hell is this? - It's a lox and onion burrito.
- It's good though.
- Yeah.
- Morning.
- Hey! - How's the head? - It could be worse.
Like that pound of buckshot you took out of me in '72, remember that? - What are you doing down here? - Last night, guy on the monitors that was the Ghost.
The Ghost? Forget it.
Couldn't be the same guy.
He'd be in his 60s.
The Ghost? Ghost of what, telethons past? Back in '55, this costumed nut with his own pirate transmitter tried to blackmail the city on TV.
Yeah, he threatened to blow up half the town unless the city came across with $ 1 million.
- What happened? - They found the bombs ready to go but the Ghost disappeared.
The newspapers claimed that this masked fruitcake took him out.
- His name was the? - Night Shade.
Night Shade, a vigilante.
As big a pain in the keister as the Flash is today.
Wait a minute, Garfield.
I heard the Flash saved your neck a couple of times.
Well, yeah.
But the good guys should wear badges.
That's the law.
How come I never heard of this guy? Back then the world wasn't on videotape.
It was different.
One thing hasn't changed.
The police still don't need costumed nuts interfering in an already impossible job.
Right, Allen? Now wait, this guy wore a mask and he fought crime.
- The police can't do everything.
Some people thought of Night Shade as a hero.
Did they ever find out who he was? He faded away, forgotten.
I kind of wonder what sort of man would wear a mask.
That kind of adventuring can't leave much room for a normal life.
Barry, it was good seeing you again.
Warren, I'll call you later.
That was the Ghost.
I don't know how, but he's back.
Come on.
Just come right on.
Russell! It really is you! Oh, it's wonderful to see you again, Skip.
The years have been kind.
What Belle told me, it's true? The cryogenic tank? Oh, I never thought you'd build the blasted thing.
All original parts, Skip.
You astound me like nobody's business.
There's so much for me to learn, though.
Computers used to fill a room, not a briefcase.
Everything you predicted back in the '50s: TV everywhere, satellites, PCs.
Not everything.
Where are the rocket packs and home helicopters and food pills? But I knew video was the key to my future knew it was going to make me rich.
That's why I need you, Skip.
You were my best technician.
There's a world of possibilities for me to master.
- You must teach me.
- Oh, you'll be teaching me in a week.
Now, the equipment I took from WCCN gives me complete pirate access but that's no longer enough.
Everything is connected these days through data network.
He who controls information traffic controls the system.
So instead of using TV to detonate bombs - TV is the bomb.
- Yeah.
By plugging into the system, I can bring the city to its knees.
I don't have Night Shade to worry about.
If he's not dead, he's an old man now.
No offense.
But the Flash tell me about the Flash.
Freak of nature.
Moves like lightning.
He's already busted a couple of Mob outfits.
Nobody knows for sure just who or what he is.
Well, one thing is for certain: It's time to get the rest of the equipment we need and take the Flash out of the picture at the same time.
What kind of city do we live in when even a charity telethon is not safe? A broadcast studio is a temple of entertainment and information.
What is this world coming to? Think about it, ladies and We interrupt this program for a special bulletin.
Tonight at midnight, the Ghost welcomes his guest the Flash, at Star Labs.
We'll be live and direct.
Don't you dare miss it.
Now, be careful with that.
It's an Akira 5700.
Damage it, and we'll have to bloody well raid the Kremlin for another.
Kremlins? You mean those cute little fuzzy dudes from the movie? That's everything we need, Russell.
Let's scram.
Another minute or two, Skip.
I wouldn't want the Flash to think we've cancelled his appearance.
Then on with the show, Ghost.
Entrapment lasers.
In about 60 seconds, that cone will shrink down and fry you to a crisp.
Thank you for joining us.
Let's go! - My God! - Night Shade? I hate reruns.
This time, Ghost, I'm putting you on ice for good.
Still using knockout darts? Pretty soft for these hard times.
By the way, who the hell are you? A colored guy.
Who would've guessed? "Colored"? You really are a relic.
And you're just a tired old man who's going to bleed to death.
Say goodbye to this year's model.
Dr.
Powell? My car, Gladstone bag, rear seat.
Doctor, what should I do? It feels like a flesh wound, hurts like hell.
You dress it and bandage it, it should be okay.
That was pretty good.
Now Yeah, help me get out of here.
- I'll get an ambulance.
- No.
It's all right.
And, thanks.
It's nice to meet the man who picked up the torch.
- Dr.
Powell.
- Allen, what are you doing here? Well, I was driving by and I heard the alarm.
A friend of mine works at Star Labs, so l - Dr.
Powell, there's blood on your hand.
- Oh, it's nothing.
Nothing.
- That'll be the squad cars responding.
- I can't let them find me like this.
Right, but look, I'll drive, okay? Where to? I'll show you.
You've seen enough already.
I guess I'll trust you with the rest.
How could I have been so stupid at my age, putting on a mask going after the ghost like I was 25 again.
I can't believe this place.
Souvenirs of another life.
That diving suit was my first case.
These guys were scuttling boats outside Central Harbor.
Those model airplanes, hit man called himself the Aviator loaded them up with dynamite and tried to fly them into city hall.
- Yeah, but you stopped him.
- Yeah.
This is a beautiful car.
I welded steel plate on the inside.
Damn thing's like a tank.
Dr.
Powell what made you do it? Why'd you become the Night Shade? Someone had to be.
I came home from Korea, this town was being squeezed between the Mob and a corrupt administration.
And making the law your own enforcing it with your own gun, that was okay? After Korea, I couldn't kill anybody.
But I sure as hell could put them down for the count.
I modified this gun to shoot tranquilizer darts.
Okay, but running around in Why did you put on a mask? I was working outside the law, I was black nobody was gonna give me any medals.
- Besides, I had to - Protect your loved ones.
Yeah.
You're pretty sharp, Allen.
Well, I was born and raised in Central City.
How come I never heard of Night Shade? I was good copy for a while.
Then I quit, right after the Ghost.
Thirty-five years from now, who'll remember the Flash? Well, I don't know.
He's done a lot of good for the city, don't you think? Yeah, but Thank you.
- So did Night Shade.
People forget.
Trust me.
Looks like you were having the time of your life.
At the expense of everything else.
My health, my family, my fiancée.
She left me.
- She knew she had a rival.
- The night the danger.
- Pardon me? - Well, it must've been kind of addicting.
- Living a double life nearly destroyed me.
You take Garfield.
He's one of my closest friends.
I've taken lead out of him at least a dozen times.
But I still can't share my secret with him.
No, I guess not.
But tell me about the Ghost.
He used this crude form of two-way television.
He could secretly make a set turn into a sort of camera to case buildings for possible burglaries to spy on people, to blackmail public officials.
Finally, he planted bombs all over the city rigged to detonate on a TV signal.
- And held the city for ransom.
But I rigged this in '55, jammed his transmission.
I thought for good.
It terrifies me to think what he can do with the technology he stole from Star Lab.
Where am I, Skip? You've broken into the power and light, I think.
The Akira system let us go online everywhere in the city.
Everything really is connected these days.
From power I can reach telephone from there, the water system.
One gigantic game, isn't it? Do you wanna go through with this? Actually wire yourself to that machine? Absolutely.
This is crazy! What's the matter, Belle? You okay? Sure.
Sure, I'm okay.
- Are you sure you're okay? - No, I'm not.
This just isn't working.
You just can't do this.
- Blackmail the city? - The hell with the city! You can't come walking back into my life after 35 years.
Let alone not looking a day older.
Darling, I love you.
It doesn't matter.
But you've changed.
Even if you don't look any different.
I mean, what you're talking about, hooking into these machines, it's just crazy! I know what I'm doing, don't worry.
- I love you.
- I love you too.
I always have.
But you just can't come walking into my life and still be 30.
It just isn't fair.
Should I get her, sir? Time to enter the net.
I want to flex a little see what I can do with what we've just stolen.
And with the new knowledge I've acquired controlling the city's database is just the first step.
Oh, boy.
It's gotta be those yahoos at water and power again, you know.
Yeah, we're lucky they shut down the nuclear plant last year.
Hey, you see this white glove? This means we're gonna do this my way.
Hey, you! You can't do that.
I beg your pardon, sir.
Why don't you just back up? - You're only licensed to sell on the sidewalk.
- Oh, boy.
Forget about it, fellas, it's backed up all the way to Japan.
Hello, this is car 432.
We're on a break.
Hey, Mr.
Wienie.
Let me have a couple of chilidogs, hold everything, okay? Come on! Come on! Oh, come on.
This is eight hours of work down the tubes! Come on.
Crime Lab.
Yeah, hold on a second.
Barry, the computers have gone berserk, man.
What, have you got cartoons here? Hello? - Barry, the whole computer base - Tina, slow down.
We've got cartoons on the computer over here.
I'd kind of enjoy it if it wasn't destroying three weeks' work.
I have a very bad feeling about this.
- What shall I do? - We're back online here.
- Call me if it happens again, all right? - Okay.
Bye.
Dr.
Powell the car radios, the traffic lights, the computers.
This is the Ghost.
He's just flexing his muscles right now.
- Think he's got something bigger online? - These are just pranks, a warm-up.
When he lets out all the stops there's no way the police will be able to stop him.
- Well, do you think he's capable of? - I saw his face.
The man has stopped time, kept his youth.
- Lf he can do that - I can't let you go out there.
This is my past hunting me.
Now it's time for me to become the hunter.
- Can you understand that? - For God's sake, you could be killed! Now I know how Tina feels.
The hell with it.
We're closed, pal.
You haven't changed a bit, Belle.
That voice.
The Night Shade? Oh, sorry, I thought you were somebody else.
You were right the first time.
Oh, not again! Please, not you too! Just leave me alone! I really wish I could.
You're probably the only one that can help me find the Ghost.
- Go away.
- I need to ask you about him.
- He was out of my system just a memory.
- Why couldn't he just stay that way? - I wish he had.
That deep freeze blew his mind.
He thinks he can do anything.
He doesn't wanna just control the machines he says he's gonna become the machine.
Where is he, Belle? He's where you left him after the showdown in '55.
What, that old pile? It's been abandoned for years.
Yeah, it stayed abandoned because he owns the building.
I went there right after the fire and searched.
- There was nothing.
- A hidden room.
That's where he slept while I It just isn't fair! I just can't pretend I'm 20 anymore.
Neither can I.
- Night Shade.
- What are you doing here? - Just watching your back.
- What makes you think it needs watching? I was doing this before you were born.
Then why don't you show me how it's done? Okay.
The Ghost is holed up in the old brewery on Shadow Lawn.
All right! Let's go down there and get him.
Slow down, speedy.
You gotta have a plan.
Hop in.
No.
Bad for the image.
All I'm saying is that nobody's done this before.
- You might not come back.
- A possibility.
But first I take Central City off-line by just mischievously transposing its entire communications network its power core.
If you're serious about plugging into the network I can do the job.
But you might be risking an electronic lobotomy here.
I didn't survive three and a half decades in cold storage because I didn't know what I was doing! Now, key me in, Skip.
I can feel everything, Skip.
Everything.
The very power of the city courses through my veins.
I'm wired, Skip.
Wired to everything.
Time now to show Central City what a comeback really means.
Good evening, Central City.
Don't bother adjusting your sets I will control the vertical.
I will control the horizontal.
Now, the last time I spoke to you like this, my demands were reasonable: A cool million.
But the times have changed, and my price has gone up a thousandfold.
So unless Central City opens its treasury to me and my associates I will shut everything down: Power, gone.
Lights, out.
Heat, water, shut down.
Computer records, payroll, wiped away.
Air traffic, ground traffic, without control.
"I'll foul up every telephone number in the system.
No more 911.
" - Just listen.
- Just imagine your hospitals without their life's blood of energy.
- He's crazy.
- This will be a city of darkness - How can he do this? - of desperate, hungry, thirsty citizens.
Complete and beautiful chaos.
My price: - One billion dollars before dawn.
- What?! - Russell, please don't.
Don't do this, please.
- And remember, even if you do pay - I am the heart and soul of this city.
- What? - Hey, what happened? - What happened? I'm telling you, Murph, this is worse than the blackout of '71.
The blackout of '71 was one of the best nights I ever spent in my life.
Oh, yeah, let me guess, a motel room with Michelle.
Yeah, that's pretty close.
Actually, it was a stuck elevator with the Corelli twins.
The Corelli twins were guys, Murph.
I know.
And two of the worst poker players you ever saw in your life.
- Honest to God, 2600 bucks, one night.
- Twenty-six hundred? Commissioner, we're doing everything we can.
I can't get ahold of any of my units! Hello? Hello? What? Two pairs of pants and a cashmere sweater? Lady, this is not Morty's Cleaners! All the phone lines are crossed.
Get me a squad car to South and Grand, we got looters.
Have some good news for me, Mendez, please.
The hospital's on reserve power just like us.
The Ghost is tapped into fire, ambulance and police dispatch.
We're operating blind.
Well, we can't just ram into the brewery and take the guy on.
We don't know what the Ghost has or what he's become.
You defeated him with this once before.
Maybe it'll work again.
That's Popular Science 101 compared to what he's got now what he is now.
Anyway, it's broken.
I'll fix it.
Give me an hour.
You think this has a chance of working? There's only one way we'll find out if this rig'll produce power.
Good job, Barry.
Okay.
So let's take this relic into the '90s.
You can't really expect that to work twice.
The future belongs to the young.
I can handle Night Shade myself, it's the Flash I'm concerned about.
Make sure he doesn't get in here.
I have a universe of microchip technology at my fingertips.
But when it comes to disposing of old things, the old ways are still best.
The old ways.
Works for me.
Welcome to my world where you, my friend, have no power whatsoever! Now I could just wipe you away but first you must sample my programming.
Tranquilizer darts.
- Night Shade! - That's right.
Night Shade.
At least I haven't lost it all.
Don't touch that dial.
Case closed, Night Shade.
What? Look! The lights are coming back on! Dr.
Powell.
I've learned a lot working with you.
Yeah? Well, the next time you need me for one of these little romps forget about it.
I'm retired.
I guess we're lucky we're not dead or in a straitjacket.
There's not many people who will ever know the thrill when the sky goes dark, the masks go on and the criminal hearts thump with fear.
Sorry too many pulp magazines when I was a kid.
But you know what I mean.
Do you ever reveal your secret to anyone? I have someone I share it with.
She helps keep me on an even course.
She? Good for you.
But if you ever need anyone else to talk to l'm here.
It does get difficult sometimes speaking behind a mask.
- No.
Don't.
I don't need to know.
And you don't need the complication.
You know, you ought to start your own trophy room.
Allow me to donate the first exhibit.
And remember, my fast friend these outfits we wear are just another suit of clothes, not another man.
- Look, that's him! The Ghost! - Forcing me to keep my end of the bargain.
- Who will stop him? - So at the stroke of 12 - Get out of here! downtown will go up in the brightest display of fireworks - this city has ever seen.
- Where's Night Shade? Think of me as you sift through the rubble.
This is the Ghost wishing you all a very good evening.
Time has come for the Night Shade to drop in on the Ghost.
Well, let's have a big round of applause for our special guest.
Oh, I wouldn't waste your firepower.
It's useless.
Television allows me to be everywhere.
You can't blackmail an entire city.
Of course I can, fool.
I'm the future.
And you're far too late to stop me! One more adjustment before detonation.
Your show's cancelled, Ghost.
Try Ghostess.
You should've stayed in Helltown frightening mobsters.
You're psychotic.
One man's psychotic is another man's visionary.
Video is the future.
And I'm detonating the bombs with a television signal.
I don't wanna blow up those buildings but an ultimatum is an ultimatum.
Maybe you shouldn't blow up the hospital, Russell.
Damn it, Belle.
You can't let human sentimentality stand in the way of progress! Too much TV, Ghost.
You've got no attention span.
- What did you do? - Shortwave jamming device.
What did you do?! Russell! Russell! But he's still in there! - No one could survive that fire.
- Russell! Russell! Russell! The turn of the century.
Welcoming the new millennium after a nice frozen sleep.
A city of tomorrow.
In my prime, no less.
1990? A decade early.
But still the future.
- and buildings so decayed, pedestrians should be issued hardhats.
People ask why I live in this town.
Don't touch that dial.
Make this the year you take the jump into large-screen technology from Wacky Walter's Video Emporium.
We got them all, 178 channels, hi-fi surround sound, cable-ready A hundred and seventy-eight channels? This is the future.
Look at this place, Julio.
Akira 5700 computers, stacks of imaging systems.
I tell you, compared to this place, we work in a cave.
- Fascinating.
Let me ask you something.
- What? What are you doing here? What do you mean? I'm returning Tina's computer.
No, what are you always doing here? As much time as you two spend together Julio.
Do you have any women friends? Yeah.
I got Sabrina.
She's my woman and she's a friend.
And thank you for listening to Lite FM.
Would get it through those locks that Tina and I are just - Too incredibly stupid to see what's going on in front of you.
What a surprise.
Central City's finest.
- Who's she been talking to? - Hey.
My car broke down, so Julio gave me a lift over here.
Yeah, Barry forgets the simple things.
You know, water, oil, gas.
I'll drive tonight.
We're going bowling, do you want to come? I'd love to join you and Mr.
Gutterball, but we've all got that telethon thing.
What do you mean? - I thought you asked her.
- I forgot.
Sabrina put together this telethon.
All you have to do is answer phones.
- Yeah, on TV.
It's not a very good idea.
- It's for a good cause.
- What, are you camera-shy? - No, I just Come on.
Call your mother, tell her you'll be on TV.
- You too? - It'll be fun! - Fun? Oh, fun.
- Yes, it'll be fun.
Come on, three-letter word This is how far TV's gotten? Reduced to a pinball game? I expected more.
Much more.
The monorails, the undersea cities, the moon colony.
Where's my future? Killer! Rack up, homey.
What? Excuse me? That's a bad score.
Bad? I've already shattered the record.
Oh, no, no.
Bad.
Like in good.
Oh, I see.
Orwellian doublespeak, like in 1984.
'84? Oh, I can't remember that far back, man.
Bad is good.
Wrong is right.
I like it.
I could use a couple of smart kids who know their way around.
It's time someone showed you what total video really means.
Oh, my God, Tina! Shirt.
It's about time.
If I'm gonna be on TV, I might as well look my best.
You look terrific.
- Thank you, Barry.
- Yeah.
- You're looking pretty good yourself.
- This outfit? - I just threw it together.
- So I see.
Play "Mr.
Sandman.
" You got it.
I cashed in my Christmas Club.
Thirty-five years of compound interest will support me till the millennium.
- You're dead.
- Have you forgotten already? No, no, you can't You can't be him.
He's dead.
I'm not dead, Belle.
Touch me.
I made it.
You made Made what? My little Ghostess, just like old times almost.
Oh, no, stop.
Please don't.
I don't underst You wouldn't accompany me on my cryogenic journey.
You mean, the freeze chamber? How could I? It just sounded so nuts.
They all said that back then.
But now we live in a future I predicted.
The only reason I failed in the '50s was the technology wasn't up to my dreams.
But failure now is impossible.
I'm gonna put a stranglehold on this city.
The tools are here.
Back to work, Belle.
I ain't paying you to pick up circus gigolos.
At last technology has caught up with me.
Hey! Stop! Baby I only wish you had joined me in my beauty sleep.
Yeah, you and me both.
Thank you.
And I'd like to thank my partner, Tony Bello Officer Murphy, thank you very much.
Now we know why Central City's a jungle.
Okay, we also want to thank Star Labs for their generous matching fund.
- Okay, thanks.
- Relief Fund.
Tina, this woman, third time she's called.
- Wants to set me up with her daughter.
- This is not a dating service, Mr.
Allen.
Nicely put.
Excuse me, pal, I gotta sit here.
I want the people to get to talk to the voice of the city.
That's the kind of guy I am.
- Sabrina, you want some coffee? - Yeah, I'd love some.
And take Julio with you, okay? Before his eyes pop out of his head like a couple of golf balls.
Right.
Would you excuse me, please? Thank you.
Julio, your woman and your friend strongly suggests you take a short coffee break.
- Yeah, java sounds really good right now.
- I thought so.
Listen, Tina, I could show you things you never dreamed of.
That's Dr.
McGee.
And I think I'd prefer to dream, thank you.
- Hello? - Hello? Finally gonna try out that magic act, huh, lieutenant? Better than one more rendition of "My Way.
" That reminds me, I need an assistant to saw in half.
- You available Monday? - My phone's ringing.
- Warren.
- Gentlemen, our host, Dr.
Desmond Powell.
Chief of staff, Central Hospital.
Barry Allen, Julio Mendez.
- Nice to meet you.
- Pleasure.
Hi.
If you will excuse us, I've known your lieutenant for over 30 years, and we just don't get together often enough.
Over here, lady! Over here! Whoa, wait a minute! This is a telethon, sparky.
There's no cash here, only pledges.
I hate your show.
Now, everybody watch the TV! Now! In the '50s, I controlled TV.
But to see through it, to travel the network I had to wait 35 years for a techno-society sophisticated enough for my plans.
And from the looks of things it's been worth the wait.
Of course, it's not the urban paradise of tomorrow we all expected.
The future is like the present, only older.
But there's plenty new here now that - Watch out! - Look out! You should've paid that million back in '55, Central City.
I wouldn't hold such a grudge now.
Ladies and gentlemen, is this great TV for your pledge dollar, or what? - Excuse me.
Are you all right? - Yes, I'm fine.
- I told you this telethon was a bad idea.
- Okay! - Lieutenant, they made a clean getaway.
- Yeah, with a truckload of equipment.
- Have you seen Dr.
Powell? - No.
Here I thought all of this was behind me.
Mavis, I'm fine.
I'll see you later.
Bye-bye.
Allen! Anything on that telethon takeover? Julio went through that control booth with a fine-toothed comb but the prints he found belonged to employees.
- What's that, breakfast? - Yeah.
Yeah, it's my - Help yourself.
- I'm stumped.
He took video and broadcast equipment and nothing else.
Well, maybe the guy just wants to be on TV.
- What the hell is this? - It's a lox and onion burrito.
- It's good though.
- Yeah.
- Morning.
- Hey! - How's the head? - It could be worse.
Like that pound of buckshot you took out of me in '72, remember that? - What are you doing down here? - Last night, guy on the monitors that was the Ghost.
The Ghost? Forget it.
Couldn't be the same guy.
He'd be in his 60s.
The Ghost? Ghost of what, telethons past? Back in '55, this costumed nut with his own pirate transmitter tried to blackmail the city on TV.
Yeah, he threatened to blow up half the town unless the city came across with $ 1 million.
- What happened? - They found the bombs ready to go but the Ghost disappeared.
The newspapers claimed that this masked fruitcake took him out.
- His name was the? - Night Shade.
Night Shade, a vigilante.
As big a pain in the keister as the Flash is today.
Wait a minute, Garfield.
I heard the Flash saved your neck a couple of times.
Well, yeah.
But the good guys should wear badges.
That's the law.
How come I never heard of this guy? Back then the world wasn't on videotape.
It was different.
One thing hasn't changed.
The police still don't need costumed nuts interfering in an already impossible job.
Right, Allen? Now wait, this guy wore a mask and he fought crime.
- The police can't do everything.
Some people thought of Night Shade as a hero.
Did they ever find out who he was? He faded away, forgotten.
I kind of wonder what sort of man would wear a mask.
That kind of adventuring can't leave much room for a normal life.
Barry, it was good seeing you again.
Warren, I'll call you later.
That was the Ghost.
I don't know how, but he's back.
Come on.
Just come right on.
Russell! It really is you! Oh, it's wonderful to see you again, Skip.
The years have been kind.
What Belle told me, it's true? The cryogenic tank? Oh, I never thought you'd build the blasted thing.
All original parts, Skip.
You astound me like nobody's business.
There's so much for me to learn, though.
Computers used to fill a room, not a briefcase.
Everything you predicted back in the '50s: TV everywhere, satellites, PCs.
Not everything.
Where are the rocket packs and home helicopters and food pills? But I knew video was the key to my future knew it was going to make me rich.
That's why I need you, Skip.
You were my best technician.
There's a world of possibilities for me to master.
- You must teach me.
- Oh, you'll be teaching me in a week.
Now, the equipment I took from WCCN gives me complete pirate access but that's no longer enough.
Everything is connected these days through data network.
He who controls information traffic controls the system.
So instead of using TV to detonate bombs - TV is the bomb.
- Yeah.
By plugging into the system, I can bring the city to its knees.
I don't have Night Shade to worry about.
If he's not dead, he's an old man now.
No offense.
But the Flash tell me about the Flash.
Freak of nature.
Moves like lightning.
He's already busted a couple of Mob outfits.
Nobody knows for sure just who or what he is.
Well, one thing is for certain: It's time to get the rest of the equipment we need and take the Flash out of the picture at the same time.
What kind of city do we live in when even a charity telethon is not safe? A broadcast studio is a temple of entertainment and information.
What is this world coming to? Think about it, ladies and We interrupt this program for a special bulletin.
Tonight at midnight, the Ghost welcomes his guest the Flash, at Star Labs.
We'll be live and direct.
Don't you dare miss it.
Now, be careful with that.
It's an Akira 5700.
Damage it, and we'll have to bloody well raid the Kremlin for another.
Kremlins? You mean those cute little fuzzy dudes from the movie? That's everything we need, Russell.
Let's scram.
Another minute or two, Skip.
I wouldn't want the Flash to think we've cancelled his appearance.
Then on with the show, Ghost.
Entrapment lasers.
In about 60 seconds, that cone will shrink down and fry you to a crisp.
Thank you for joining us.
Let's go! - My God! - Night Shade? I hate reruns.
This time, Ghost, I'm putting you on ice for good.
Still using knockout darts? Pretty soft for these hard times.
By the way, who the hell are you? A colored guy.
Who would've guessed? "Colored"? You really are a relic.
And you're just a tired old man who's going to bleed to death.
Say goodbye to this year's model.
Dr.
Powell? My car, Gladstone bag, rear seat.
Doctor, what should I do? It feels like a flesh wound, hurts like hell.
You dress it and bandage it, it should be okay.
That was pretty good.
Now Yeah, help me get out of here.
- I'll get an ambulance.
- No.
It's all right.
And, thanks.
It's nice to meet the man who picked up the torch.
- Dr.
Powell.
- Allen, what are you doing here? Well, I was driving by and I heard the alarm.
A friend of mine works at Star Labs, so l - Dr.
Powell, there's blood on your hand.
- Oh, it's nothing.
Nothing.
- That'll be the squad cars responding.
- I can't let them find me like this.
Right, but look, I'll drive, okay? Where to? I'll show you.
You've seen enough already.
I guess I'll trust you with the rest.
How could I have been so stupid at my age, putting on a mask going after the ghost like I was 25 again.
I can't believe this place.
Souvenirs of another life.
That diving suit was my first case.
These guys were scuttling boats outside Central Harbor.
Those model airplanes, hit man called himself the Aviator loaded them up with dynamite and tried to fly them into city hall.
- Yeah, but you stopped him.
- Yeah.
This is a beautiful car.
I welded steel plate on the inside.
Damn thing's like a tank.
Dr.
Powell what made you do it? Why'd you become the Night Shade? Someone had to be.
I came home from Korea, this town was being squeezed between the Mob and a corrupt administration.
And making the law your own enforcing it with your own gun, that was okay? After Korea, I couldn't kill anybody.
But I sure as hell could put them down for the count.
I modified this gun to shoot tranquilizer darts.
Okay, but running around in Why did you put on a mask? I was working outside the law, I was black nobody was gonna give me any medals.
- Besides, I had to - Protect your loved ones.
Yeah.
You're pretty sharp, Allen.
Well, I was born and raised in Central City.
How come I never heard of Night Shade? I was good copy for a while.
Then I quit, right after the Ghost.
Thirty-five years from now, who'll remember the Flash? Well, I don't know.
He's done a lot of good for the city, don't you think? Yeah, but Thank you.
- So did Night Shade.
People forget.
Trust me.
Looks like you were having the time of your life.
At the expense of everything else.
My health, my family, my fiancée.
She left me.
- She knew she had a rival.
- The night the danger.
- Pardon me? - Well, it must've been kind of addicting.
- Living a double life nearly destroyed me.
You take Garfield.
He's one of my closest friends.
I've taken lead out of him at least a dozen times.
But I still can't share my secret with him.
No, I guess not.
But tell me about the Ghost.
He used this crude form of two-way television.
He could secretly make a set turn into a sort of camera to case buildings for possible burglaries to spy on people, to blackmail public officials.
Finally, he planted bombs all over the city rigged to detonate on a TV signal.
- And held the city for ransom.
But I rigged this in '55, jammed his transmission.
I thought for good.
It terrifies me to think what he can do with the technology he stole from Star Lab.
Where am I, Skip? You've broken into the power and light, I think.
The Akira system let us go online everywhere in the city.
Everything really is connected these days.
From power I can reach telephone from there, the water system.
One gigantic game, isn't it? Do you wanna go through with this? Actually wire yourself to that machine? Absolutely.
This is crazy! What's the matter, Belle? You okay? Sure.
Sure, I'm okay.
- Are you sure you're okay? - No, I'm not.
This just isn't working.
You just can't do this.
- Blackmail the city? - The hell with the city! You can't come walking back into my life after 35 years.
Let alone not looking a day older.
Darling, I love you.
It doesn't matter.
But you've changed.
Even if you don't look any different.
I mean, what you're talking about, hooking into these machines, it's just crazy! I know what I'm doing, don't worry.
- I love you.
- I love you too.
I always have.
But you just can't come walking into my life and still be 30.
It just isn't fair.
Should I get her, sir? Time to enter the net.
I want to flex a little see what I can do with what we've just stolen.
And with the new knowledge I've acquired controlling the city's database is just the first step.
Oh, boy.
It's gotta be those yahoos at water and power again, you know.
Yeah, we're lucky they shut down the nuclear plant last year.
Hey, you see this white glove? This means we're gonna do this my way.
Hey, you! You can't do that.
I beg your pardon, sir.
Why don't you just back up? - You're only licensed to sell on the sidewalk.
- Oh, boy.
Forget about it, fellas, it's backed up all the way to Japan.
Hello, this is car 432.
We're on a break.
Hey, Mr.
Wienie.
Let me have a couple of chilidogs, hold everything, okay? Come on! Come on! Oh, come on.
This is eight hours of work down the tubes! Come on.
Crime Lab.
Yeah, hold on a second.
Barry, the computers have gone berserk, man.
What, have you got cartoons here? Hello? - Barry, the whole computer base - Tina, slow down.
We've got cartoons on the computer over here.
I'd kind of enjoy it if it wasn't destroying three weeks' work.
I have a very bad feeling about this.
- What shall I do? - We're back online here.
- Call me if it happens again, all right? - Okay.
Bye.
Dr.
Powell the car radios, the traffic lights, the computers.
This is the Ghost.
He's just flexing his muscles right now.
- Think he's got something bigger online? - These are just pranks, a warm-up.
When he lets out all the stops there's no way the police will be able to stop him.
- Well, do you think he's capable of? - I saw his face.
The man has stopped time, kept his youth.
- Lf he can do that - I can't let you go out there.
This is my past hunting me.
Now it's time for me to become the hunter.
- Can you understand that? - For God's sake, you could be killed! Now I know how Tina feels.
The hell with it.
We're closed, pal.
You haven't changed a bit, Belle.
That voice.
The Night Shade? Oh, sorry, I thought you were somebody else.
You were right the first time.
Oh, not again! Please, not you too! Just leave me alone! I really wish I could.
You're probably the only one that can help me find the Ghost.
- Go away.
- I need to ask you about him.
- He was out of my system just a memory.
- Why couldn't he just stay that way? - I wish he had.
That deep freeze blew his mind.
He thinks he can do anything.
He doesn't wanna just control the machines he says he's gonna become the machine.
Where is he, Belle? He's where you left him after the showdown in '55.
What, that old pile? It's been abandoned for years.
Yeah, it stayed abandoned because he owns the building.
I went there right after the fire and searched.
- There was nothing.
- A hidden room.
That's where he slept while I It just isn't fair! I just can't pretend I'm 20 anymore.
Neither can I.
- Night Shade.
- What are you doing here? - Just watching your back.
- What makes you think it needs watching? I was doing this before you were born.
Then why don't you show me how it's done? Okay.
The Ghost is holed up in the old brewery on Shadow Lawn.
All right! Let's go down there and get him.
Slow down, speedy.
You gotta have a plan.
Hop in.
No.
Bad for the image.
All I'm saying is that nobody's done this before.
- You might not come back.
- A possibility.
But first I take Central City off-line by just mischievously transposing its entire communications network its power core.
If you're serious about plugging into the network I can do the job.
But you might be risking an electronic lobotomy here.
I didn't survive three and a half decades in cold storage because I didn't know what I was doing! Now, key me in, Skip.
I can feel everything, Skip.
Everything.
The very power of the city courses through my veins.
I'm wired, Skip.
Wired to everything.
Time now to show Central City what a comeback really means.
Good evening, Central City.
Don't bother adjusting your sets I will control the vertical.
I will control the horizontal.
Now, the last time I spoke to you like this, my demands were reasonable: A cool million.
But the times have changed, and my price has gone up a thousandfold.
So unless Central City opens its treasury to me and my associates I will shut everything down: Power, gone.
Lights, out.
Heat, water, shut down.
Computer records, payroll, wiped away.
Air traffic, ground traffic, without control.
"I'll foul up every telephone number in the system.
No more 911.
" - Just listen.
- Just imagine your hospitals without their life's blood of energy.
- He's crazy.
- This will be a city of darkness - How can he do this? - of desperate, hungry, thirsty citizens.
Complete and beautiful chaos.
My price: - One billion dollars before dawn.
- What?! - Russell, please don't.
Don't do this, please.
- And remember, even if you do pay - I am the heart and soul of this city.
- What? - Hey, what happened? - What happened? I'm telling you, Murph, this is worse than the blackout of '71.
The blackout of '71 was one of the best nights I ever spent in my life.
Oh, yeah, let me guess, a motel room with Michelle.
Yeah, that's pretty close.
Actually, it was a stuck elevator with the Corelli twins.
The Corelli twins were guys, Murph.
I know.
And two of the worst poker players you ever saw in your life.
- Honest to God, 2600 bucks, one night.
- Twenty-six hundred? Commissioner, we're doing everything we can.
I can't get ahold of any of my units! Hello? Hello? What? Two pairs of pants and a cashmere sweater? Lady, this is not Morty's Cleaners! All the phone lines are crossed.
Get me a squad car to South and Grand, we got looters.
Have some good news for me, Mendez, please.
The hospital's on reserve power just like us.
The Ghost is tapped into fire, ambulance and police dispatch.
We're operating blind.
Well, we can't just ram into the brewery and take the guy on.
We don't know what the Ghost has or what he's become.
You defeated him with this once before.
Maybe it'll work again.
That's Popular Science 101 compared to what he's got now what he is now.
Anyway, it's broken.
I'll fix it.
Give me an hour.
You think this has a chance of working? There's only one way we'll find out if this rig'll produce power.
Good job, Barry.
Okay.
So let's take this relic into the '90s.
You can't really expect that to work twice.
The future belongs to the young.
I can handle Night Shade myself, it's the Flash I'm concerned about.
Make sure he doesn't get in here.
I have a universe of microchip technology at my fingertips.
But when it comes to disposing of old things, the old ways are still best.
The old ways.
Works for me.
Welcome to my world where you, my friend, have no power whatsoever! Now I could just wipe you away but first you must sample my programming.
Tranquilizer darts.
- Night Shade! - That's right.
Night Shade.
At least I haven't lost it all.
Don't touch that dial.
Case closed, Night Shade.
What? Look! The lights are coming back on! Dr.
Powell.
I've learned a lot working with you.
Yeah? Well, the next time you need me for one of these little romps forget about it.
I'm retired.
I guess we're lucky we're not dead or in a straitjacket.
There's not many people who will ever know the thrill when the sky goes dark, the masks go on and the criminal hearts thump with fear.
Sorry too many pulp magazines when I was a kid.
But you know what I mean.
Do you ever reveal your secret to anyone? I have someone I share it with.
She helps keep me on an even course.
She? Good for you.
But if you ever need anyone else to talk to l'm here.
It does get difficult sometimes speaking behind a mask.
- No.
Don't.
I don't need to know.
And you don't need the complication.
You know, you ought to start your own trophy room.
Allow me to donate the first exhibit.
And remember, my fast friend these outfits we wear are just another suit of clothes, not another man.