The Flash Just Gained His Own Commissioner Gordon | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 8, Episode 7, "Lockdown," which aired Wednesday, March 16 on The CW.

While Barry Allen is a forensic scientist on the Central City Police Department, he has kept himself at a distance from the police force when operating under his superhero alter ego as The Flash. For years, Barry benefitted from his father-in-law, Joe West, being a senior figure among the police force's leadership, serving as the Scarlet Speedster's liaison and man on the inside in ways Barry couldn't utilize through his civilian job. And with Joe no longer on the police force, Barry has to turn to a new contact he can entrust with his secrets while also taking on a metahuman pupil of his own.

Replacing Joe as the Captain of the Central City Police Department was Kristen Kramer, a special investigator that clashed with him over her investigation into metahuman activity throughout the city. Though Joe eventually resigned from the police force in protest, Kramer became a more sympathetic figure after revealing she was secretly a metahuman herself, pursuing her obsessive agenda through unresolved feelings of guilt and self-loathing over her powers. However, while Kramer's stance with Team Flash and metahumans improved immeasurably, Barry was still unsure how much he could trust her with his superhero activities, taking for granted just how much he benefitted from previously working with Joe.

Barry's hand with how closely he could work with Kramer was forced when the police department headquarters was raided by the supervillain Goldface and his associates. Fitted by metahuman power dampeners, Barry and Kramer managed to break free from the rest of the hostages, with Kramer shorting out her power dampener. Despite this, Kramer was visibly uncomfortable with using her powers to turn the tables on Goldface, feeling her control over them was still unstable. Barry coached her through using her powers while taking the time to remove his dampener before defeating Goldface and his goons in grand fashion.

Though The Flash initially attempts to maintain his secret identity, Kramer privately reveals after the Goldface incident has been resolved that she's aware Barry is the Scarlet Speedster through her own deductive reasoning. Barry is relieved to finally drop the charade, and finally begin working more closely with Kramer in both sides of his crimefighting career, helping process cases more efficiently and having someone he can trust on the force again. And for Kramer, this means she finally has her own tacit teacher to help her hone her abilities.

Barry has mentored plenty of aspiring superheroes before, from Cisco Ramon developing powers as Vibe to his own children becoming speedsters themselves. Kramer is set to become The Flash's latest protégé, receiving valuable insight on mastering her mimicry powers to better defend Central City. Given Kramer's power set, this hints that Kramer may tap into the Speed Force herself, or at least mimic Barry's connection to his power source, as she works closely with him through her unique abilities.

The Central City Police Department now has two superheroes working for them, with Kramer finally willing to embrace her powers more than she had before. And rather than The Flash keeping the police force at a distance, he has someone leading the law enforcement agency that he can trust once again, right down to sharing his secret identity as he keeps Central City safe. Barry and Team Flash feel like they're at something of a crossroads lately, and with Kramer now actively working with them, they're not operating quite as alone as they were before.

Developed for television by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns, The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.

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