By Mike McCarthy
SPOILERS BELOW: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
This episode of The Flash requires an almost immediate re-watch right when you finish it. There is so much packed into this hour that if you blink then you missed something. From beginning to end whatever you thought you knew, you were wrong plain and simple. The writers and producers of The Flash and Arrow know how to keep you on your seat and coming back week after week for more.
Going back to the start of the season, we are reintroduced to Clyde Mardon, and his brother Mark, who is brilliantly named the Weather Wizard by Cisco. They were both caught in the particle accelerator storm and developed weather controlling powers. Joe and the Flash took out Clyde, but we haven’t seen his brother until this episode. Clyde was more careless with his control of the weather, as opposed to Mark who has honed the craft and can concoct a storm inside of a building. Mardon interrogates a coroner at the morgue and finds out that Joe was the cop that killed his brother.
In what has to be the most awkward date in the history of tv, Barry and Linda go bowling and end up joining Iris and Eddie. With Barry and Iris reminiscing about old times and what could possibly be flirting, Eddie and Linda aren’t too ecstatic about the double date and seeing the interactions between Iris and Barry, you can’t help but feel bad for them. After the murder of the coroner by Mardon, Eddie and Barry both leave their dates at the bowling alley to go investigate.
After Barry explains the effects of the incident to the Star Labs team, Cisco comes up with an instrument called the Wizard’s Wand that can remove electrons from the atmosphere, so Mardon can’t produce storms. While Caitlyn and Cisco are testing the Wand, Barry and Joe go looking for Mardon and they certainly find him. While driving they get bombarded with a torrential downpour, that just so happens to be on top of them and only them. It is like those cartoons where the character is sad and there is only one cloud and it’s raining over them. Mardon is behind them and shoots a lightning bolt right thru the sunroof and blows up the car, but not until after Barry is able to get them out of the car just in time.
Iris, who is still trying to make her name at the newspaper gets a new scoop from her boss, Mason. He tells her that Simon Stagg, who Dr. Wells killed a few months back was last seen alive by Wells, and he has some other proof of wrongdoings by Wells. Iris is forced to ask Barry if he has any thought on whether or not Wells is the person everyone thinks he is. This leads Barry to tell Caitlyn and Cisco that Iris is starting to snoop around Dr. Wells, which makes Cisco think that maybe Joe was right that Dr. Wells may have had something to do with Barry’s mom’s death.
After Joe receives the Wizard’s Wand from Cisco, Mardon shows up at the police precinct and blows Joe through a glass door with a precise wind gust. As he is about to shoot another lightning bolt at Joe, Captain Singh jumps in front of it and takes the full force of the strike to the chest. To stop anyone else from getting hurt, Barry flies in and turns on the Wand to stop the atmosphere from being used as a weapon anymore by Mardon. The bolt of lightning puts Capt. Singh into the hospital, and most likely paralyzes him and possibly worse. Joe feeling like he owes Singh his life, goes looking for Mardon in old hideouts, and so does Eddie.
Cisco has now grown fully suspicious that Dr. Wells may have had something to do with Nora Allen’s murder after hearing that more and more people are investigating him. When the Reverse Flash showed up before and they trapped him in the containment field, supposedly it malfunctioned and that’s how he was able to get free. Cisco built it and knows the device couldn’t have malfunctioned when it was getting the power that it required. To confirm his thoughts, he asks Caitlyn to keep Dr. Wells out of the lab in the morning so he can run the test again. As Cisco is testing the device, the Reverse Flash shows up in the containment field and Cisco is befuddled. While trying to distract Dr. Wells, Caitlyn keeps checking her watch, making him realize that she is trying to keep him from the lab. When she turns around to get to-go cups for their coffee, Wells gets out of his wheelchair and disappears, leaving it for Caitlyn to see and freak out. As the Reverse Flash is talking to Cisco, Wells shows up and explains that he is from the future and his name is Eobard Thawne, who is a distant relative of Eddie. Wells confesses that he did murder Nora Allen, but was there to actually kill Barry. As the scene goes on: “Do you know how hard it has been? To keep all of this from you?” Wells tells Cisco. “Especially from you. Because the truth is, I’ve grown quite fond of you. And in many ways, you have shown me what it’s like to have a son. Forgive me, but to me, you’ve been dead for centuries.”
Now letting everything that has happened sink in for a minute. Wells admits he killed Nora Allen, but was there to kill Barry. Why would he want to kill Barry if he has been trying to help him the whole time? He has been around Barry for a over a year now and could’ve killed him while he was in a coma, so obviously there is a lot more to be exposed. Cisco can’t be dead if the comics are correct and that he will eventually become Vibe in the future. There is still so much of this first season left that anything can really happen. Killing off one of the main characters of the show in the first season does happen, but not when they are included in the bigger aspect of the world later on.
Joe has been kidnapped by Mardon and Iris and Barry go to the wharf to try and save him. When they get there, he creates a giant tsunami that could destroy the beach and the people on it. Iris and Barry have a serious talk about how they really feel about the other and kiss each other with such passion that they have both been harboring for who knows for how long. When he is talking to caitlyn about how to stop it, he has to expose his secret to Iris , and not really the way that he wanted to. Caitlyn tries to tell Barry about Dr. Wells disappearing, but he wants info on how to stop the tsunami, which is only to run really fast back and forth to create a vortex to block it. While running as fast as possible back and forth, Barry goes back in time to an early point in time, where he is running side by side, with himself.
The further into the season we go, the better and more edge of your seat you become. We have encountered plenty of super villains in the first season, but it looks like Eobard Thon aka Harrison Wells aka Reverse Flash will be the worst of the worst, at least in this season. In the preview for the future episodes, the time portal that Barry has run thru will have him going back in time and reliving or changing how he stopped villains or interacted with others. Other than the Arrow/Flash Crossover this is my favorite episode of the season. You have suspense, intrigue, super-villains, love and double-crossing. The love issue took away a little bit from the rest of the episode, but everything else kept it above the rest. Make sure to keep watching The Flash and reading our reviews and let us know your thoughts.