The Flash: What Happened to Barry? ‐ and More Burning Questions

Well, that didn't take long! Barry (Grant Gustin) is officially back from the Speed Force prison on The Flash, thanks to the joint efforts of Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and a handful of other geniuses.

While the Season 4 premiere of The Flash answered a lot of lingering questions leftover from the hiatus -- like how Barry would return, how the team has functioned with his departure, and where Caitlin has been hiding out -- there are still a few burning questions left unanswered.

1) What happened to Barry in the Speed Force?

Barry came out the other side of his prison sentence a bumbling mess of unintelligible gibberish. While some parts of his new speech patterns were familiar to us as old quotes from Barry's past -- Oliver (Stephen Amell) even got a shout out! -- most of it was just complete mumbo jumbo.

What happened in the Speed Force to twist Barry's head around like that? Was it six months of nothing, or something so bad that his memory blocked it all out? And how exactly did he snap out of it so quickly? There's more to the story here.

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2) What does The Thinker want?

We got our first look at this season's villain, The Thinker (Neil Sandilands), and it seems he was behind the flying samurai that was terrorizing the city in the Season 4 premiere. Why he wanted The Flash back and what his next move will be are two questions we're dying to have answered.

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3) Where has Caitlin really been?

Sure, Caitlin did a great job of pretending like she's just been working as a bartender, figuring out her path in life, but we don't buy it. That creepy guy who attacked her at the end of the episode mentioned someone named Amunet, and Caitlin mentioned she wanted out. But out of what? Pretty, pretty please don't tell us Caitlin got involved in the criminal element while she was away!

4) What's up with Killer Frost?

If you thought Caitlin Snow magically getting back to normal was too good to be true, join the club. It looks like whenever Caitlin is pushed too hard, Killer Frost comes out to play, which is a seriously dangerous line for her to be toeing, even if she seems to have a hold on it most of the time.

How did she manage to wrestle control back from Frost? And how long can she manage to keep a hold on her two personalities?

5) What does "This House is Bitchin'" mean?

There's no way Barry's A Beautiful Mind trip was just pure insanity, especially when you factor in that Cisco managed to equate his scribblings with an actual alphabet. Sure, the code he deciphered made no sense to anyone at the time, but we've got a feeling "This House is Bitchin'" might be revisited later with a new meaning.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.