Okay guys! I apologize for my Flash hiatus in recent weeks. BUT let’s get this show on the road with some thoughts about the last THREE Flash episodes! Have these been glorious and amazing or what?!

Tricksters

I love Mark Hamill. He’s one of the few actors these days that I truly feel adds something to the craft. It’s been really interesting to watch his career, catapulting from the best Star Wars movies into…voice acting, of all things, and just kind of doing whatever the hell he wants. He’s my favorite Joker and it’s wonderful to hear him talk about how much he “owns” his roles. The Trickster is another role that you could say he owns, having played it in a previous iteration of The Flash back in the ’90s.

He did not disappoint in this episode. His performance was absolutely top notch stuff, A+ quality. It’s probably my favorite episode yet this season. Admittedly I wasn’t totally into the whole thing with him having an apprentice/son (but loooooooved the whole “I am your father” callback, PRICELESS) and man do I hope we see him again although I don’t know how likely that is.

 

I don’t know, does the rest of the episode even warrant talking about? I was just kind of running around my house going “OMG MARK HAMILL IS AMAZING!” the whole time.

Oh, there is this whole thing with Barry revealing his super-secret identity to Eddie. Another sheep enters the fold! I feel bad for Eddie. He never asked for any of this garbage. I have come to like him over the course of the season and I want a better life for him. Dump Iris and get out of town or something.

But WOW, talk about a bombshell at the end of the episode!!!! Hoooooooly crap. I mean, we knew that Harrison Wells wasn’t who he said he was, and we established that he was Eobard Thawne a few episodes ago, but didn’t really understand what that means or how or why. So he got stuck time traveling, it sounds like, and decided that this was the opportune moment to screw with Barry Allen? I don’t know, but actually seeing him take Harrison’s identity was such a sad moment. We haven’t actually even known Harrison Wells, not at all. Only through the eyes of people who knew him before Eobard took his identity. I’m not even sure what to call him in these reviews anymore.

 

All Star Team Up

Is this show the best thing on TV or what?! In fairness I don’t watch much television these days, but The Flash is sooooo fun, you can’t deny that.

So what’s happening in Central City this time?!

Crazy crime wave, check. Iris and Eddie drama, check. Barry’s crappy poker face? Check. (I love how obvious his distain of Wells is, and how Wells totally is trying to pretend not to notice and gain his trust back.)

 

Then…out of the blue, who should show up but Felicity and Ray from Arrow’s Starling City! Ray needs some help with his Iron Man suit and Felicity decides that S.T.A.R. labs is just the place for a tune-up. The crazy bees were a little weird, but not as weird as Cisco having an odd flashback of his death at the hands of Dr. Wells/Reverse-Flash….which never happened in this timeline. I’m not too sure how I feel about this one.

Awkward dinner was super awkward. Did Iris just put the brakes on her relationship?! I hate you in so many ways, Iris, and now I just hate you even more. Don’t you mess with Eddie.

 

In the end, the crazy bee lady wasn’t all that memorable and this episode wasn’t as nuts as the last episode. It wasn’t bad, but not as dynamic. I got a little bored.

Who is Harrison Wells?

I got some more popcorn, let’s do this!!

This week’s villain of the week is Hannibal Bates. He’s a metahuman who can transmogrify himself into anyone or anything else, and he’s pulled off a number of crimes around town—including framing poor Eddie for murder. Eddie can’t seem to catch a break on this show. Why do I feel like he’ll die tragically in the finale or something?

While trying to save Eddie, Barry of course ignores everyone’s advice and puts himself at risk, ultimately getting captured by the crazy shape-shifter. Nice job, Barry. Not!Barry humorously attempts to seduce Caitlin at the lab, but Not!Dr. Wells figures him out and reveals the truth. All in a day’s work, I guess. The shape-shifter guy seems like a much better villain than last week’s bee lady, and a lot more menacing. I mean bees really suck, but the damage you could do while impersonating someone as a shape-shifter takes things to a whole new level.

Anywhoo, Joe and Cisco take a road trip to Star(ling????) City and hang out with Detective Captain Lance and the crazy DA. It’s surprising that the show paced their investigation of Harrison’s accident so close to the reveal, I think, but we are approaching the end of season one after all so I guess things are going to come to a head pretty quickly.

Also, the whole way Arrow is doing the Canary Cry thing….ughhhhhhhhh. It feels way too easy to me.

 

I have really mixed feelings about Caitlin’s fierce loyalty to Not! Harrison Wells. I mean, if you think back to before we knew anything about his Reverse Flash identity, he seems like a legitimately nice person. He really helped Caitlin through a hard time and was just this cool guy running crazy science projects. But on the other hand, how could you distrust Barry Allen of all people when he tells you anything? Guy has a terrible poker face, which we established earlier this fine evening of episode marathoning, and has proven legitimately trustworthy and honest (if naiive, which I think only adds to his case here.) If Barry Allen told me that 2 + 2 = 5, I would believe him (also, it’s true for very large values of 2!) But the proof that Joe and Cisco bring back is pretty irrefutable on top of that.

 

Man, this was a GREAT episode marathon. Mark Hamill goodness, a dramatic dinner with Ray and Felicity, and what is shaping up to be a crazy showdown with the time-traveling, sinister Reverse Flash? This is good stuff, truly.