WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Flash Season 7, Episode 9, "Timeless," which aired Tuesday on The CW.
With The Flash Season 7 introducing new Forces, the reborn Speed Force -- taking on the physical appearance and name of Barry Allen's deceased mother Nora -- has decided to take matters into her own hands and destroy these new beings herself. Betraying Team Flash, Nora made her true intentions known when she murdered Alexa, a young woman that inadvertently became a host for the Strength Force, taking on the persona Fuerza. And as Barry reels from being manipulated, he develops a plan that potentially places him at odds with the rest of his friends and family.
Nora reveals that she specifically targeted Fuerza because she was the most powerful of the rival Forces that had surfaced when Barry and Iris revived the Speed Force and required a portion of Barry's energies to kill Alexa. Arguing that the new Forces and the individuals they bond with makes them unnatural, Nora implores that Barry joins her in purging them all by any means necessary. Barry refuses to help Nora kill any more people, resulting in a frustrated Nora vowing to kill the Forces on her own and show Barry the mistake of his perceived misjudgment. Chester and Cisco trace the energy signatures linked to the new Forces, with Barry and Iris realizing they are indeed directly responsible for creating them.
As Cisco recounts what has transpired to his girlfriend Kamilla at Jitters the next day, she reveals she has received an impressive job offer in San Francisco, with Cisco visibly contemplating the possibility of relocating from Central City before giving Kamilla a camera retrofitted with an isotopic monitor to help her anticipate the Forces, including Nora, from menacing her. In the meantime, Barry decides to take more dramatic steps and plans to travel back in time and prevent the Forces from being created at all, haunted by Alex's death while aware that it could ultimately cost him his speed. Cisco is concerned that Barry will accidentally create another alternate timeline and Iris feels that the move would erase Nora from existence -- killer or not -- and leaves Team Flash rather than give Barry her consent.
As Iris regroups with Kamilla and Allegra, Kamilla's new device detects that Iris has trace elements of the Speed Force within from reviving it and realizes that they can potentially use this connection to summon Nora to them. Using the modified tachyon enhancer, Team Flash deduces they can use it to recover the particles and prevent the Forces from coming into existence. For additional support on this time-bending mission, Barry travels to the time loop where Harrison Wells resides with his wife Tess and recruits him to serve as a tether to travel back to the moment the Forces were unleashed to stop their creation at the root. As Harrison's willingness to join the mission is underscored by his own love for Tess, his comments clearly strike a chord with Cisco as he continues to reflect on his relationship with Kamilla.
Chester's modifications with the tachyon enhancer accidentally pluck Deon, the host of the Still Force, to S.T.A.R. Labs in the present. As Barry explains his plan to Deon, Deon prefers to retain his connection to the Still Force and maintain his powers before using his abilities to freeze time and escape, aging the tachyon enhancer by centuries in the blink of an eye as he makes his escape. While Chester observes he can fix up the enhancer with replacement parts, the experience leaves Cisco and Chester to agree with Iris that Barry doesn't have the right to unmake the Forces without their hosts' consent; Harrison concedes that he will support Barry but expresses his own concerns. Unconvinced, Barry continues to push for the repairs to the enhancer, causing Cisco to leave. Barry confides in Joe about the moral efficacy of his plan, with Joe imploring Barry to allow the Forces to exist.
Following a hunch, Iris and her friends investigate the old Allen house for Nora, reasoning that as the site of the actual Nora Allen's murder, the Speed Force would naturally be drawn there. Instead, the group is shocked to discover Psych hiding out inside, still in control of the Sage Force and subjecting Kamilla and Allegra to their greatest fears. Psych plunges Iris into her own nightmarish hallucination, with Iris seeing a vision of Nora taunting her for not being able to draw Barry out of her shadow.
Cisco relents and agrees to help Barry and Harrison, with the two Wells making eye contact as they return to the moment of the incident that created the Forces weeks ago. Despite going into the energy wave that created the Forces with the repaired tachyon enhancer, Barry is shocked to discover that the Forces are still evidently being formed. As the Forces and their hosts in present-day fade from existence, Barry smashes the enhancer to ensure the Forces persist, realizing Iris was right all along, and returning to the present with Harrison to admit his mistake. In the aftermath, Barry and Iris apologize to one another, with Iris realizing there is no talking sense into Nora after her frightening encounter with Psych.
This tender moment is interrupted by Alexa coming back to life due to Nora and Iris coming back in emotional sync as the Forces are natural extensions of their love, giving Team Flash a much-needed, electrical miracle. And as Cisco and Kamilla watch Harrison return to his temporal home, the couple realizes they both need to leave Central City together while Deon confronts Nora as she advances menacingly towards him, intent on destroying the Still Force for good.
The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.