'The Flash' season 3, episode 6 unveils major new villain Savitar, the god of speed

Just when you think the CW's The Flash couldn't get any more bizarre, they go ahead and introduce Savitar, an apparent god. Tuesday's new episode, "Shade," seemed like a predictable, albeit dangerous, journey toward Wally getting speed powers and becoming Kid Flash. Instead, the show pulled the rug out from under Barry, Joe and the audience. Executive producer Greg Berlanti and company just turned this thing up to 11.

(Editor's note: Spoilers ahead for season three, episode six of The Flash.)

Most of episode three was centered on Dr. Alchemy finally coming to Wally and giving him his powers from the Flashpoint timeline. These followed all the same beats as previous episodes. First, he had dreams about being Kid Flash, then, heard Alchemy's voice and finally was drawn to him. The difference here was that Barry and Joe used Wally as bait so they could finally catch Dr. Alchemy.

The episode's climactic battle did not disappoint. Alchemy appears and offers Wally abilities, but Wally turns on him. Barry enters and tries to detain Alchemy. Alchemy fights back with the Philosopher's Stone, which can shoot out extremely powerful blue energy beams. Barry seems down for the count until Joe shoots Dr. Alchemy and the stone flies out of his hand. 

Has Alchemy finally been defeated? Not quite. He taunts them, "You have no idea what's about to begin," before disappearing into the floor. The room shakes and suddenly a lightning fast blue energy darts around, taking out all of Joe's SWAT team members. 

A metallic hand pins Barry against the ceiling. We see something with glowing blue eyes and a metal face that bears a striking resemblance to Megatron from the Transformers movies. A wide shot shows that Barry is the only one that can see the monster. He introduces himself as Savitar, the God of Speed, as a blade emerges from his left knuckle. Cut to black.

Oh, it's also important to note here that while this was happening, Alchemy called out to Wally one more time through the Philosopher's Stone. Enticed by the promise of power, Wally grabbed it and a massive glowing cocoon formed around him.

Who is Savitar?

According to ComicBook.com, in the DC Universe, Savitar is a "dark master of the speed force." He was an Eastern Bloc military pilot but after experiments aboard a supersonic plane, he became infused with the speed force. He believed it was a gift of divinity and thus named himself Savitar after the Hindu god of motion. The show's version of Savitar looks pretty different from how he was represented in the comics. 

It was smart of the series to set up Dr. Alchemy as the season's big bad and then reveal in a twist that even he serves a more powerful master. Though, how many times will Barry Allen have to face down an evil speedster? In season three, Alchemy was a nice change of pace. 

And then there's Caitlin. 

The other important takeaway from "Shade" was Caitlin's secret coming out. She's been grappling with her ice abilities and potentially becoming the evil Killer Frost for weeks now. In Tuesday's episode, she tells Cisco about the powers and he selfishly spills the beans to the team. We also learn through one of Cisco's visions of the future she does appear to become Killer Frost and the two of them will fight at some point. 

Other minor points of interest from "Shade": HR has technology that can change his face, Cisco invented power-dampening handcuffs and Caitlin seems very interested in the idea that none of this bad stuff happened before Barry altered the timelines. That last part could come back around next week as episode four focuses on Caitlin potentially becoming Killer Frost.