The more I watched this episode, the more convinced I am that it was less about Barry and the Flash. Indeed, it moved our titular hero to the background and put Dr. Harrison Wells to the forefront. Not that the resident particle physicist really needed that kind of focus, but what happened here confirmed a slew of things about Wells that, up until now, had only been widely conjecture. It's the way this in-depth look at Wells was presented that came off a bit awkward. It would not have served the show well to do a big exposition dump so the young protege storyline was put in its place instead.

That worked in fits and starts. The jarring editing between the present and the flashbacks was partly to blame for that thought. It seems like a somewhat lazy way to emulate sister show Arrow, which is going to be dismissed as a lesser attempt because Arrow has had more practice with that particular narrative device. A lot of blame can also be put on how the guest character of Hartley Rathaway was played, though.


Hartley's purposes in the present time aid in putting the episode's focus on Dr. Wells. For him, this is a personal vendetta and all he wants to do is wreck Wells in any way that he can. The flashbacks do paint that part of the picture very well. They set up Rathaway's fall from being Wells' favorite pupil (and nicely showing his immediate disdain for Cisco) and puts a misdirecting spin on what secret he knows about Wells. It's effective because I initially thought that he might reveal to Team Flash that Wells is the Reverse-Flash. So it feels somewhat lesser that the secret turned out to be that Wells was forewarned by Hartley of the particle accelerator's potential for causing destruction to Central City, and that Wells went ahead with its activation despite those warnings. Wells added fuel to the fire by using the warnings as the primary reason to fire Rathaway and practically destroy his life.

Though I can understand why he would be so angry at Wells and that the particle accelerator explosion amplified those feelings along with giving him sound wave powers, his abrasive personality is a bit much to take. It's clear from Rathaway's first appearance that he's brilliant and cunning and condescending to a high degree with his peers (the show also briefly throws in a nod to the character's homosexuality with the subtlety of a sledgehammer) so the show should have steered away from being so upfront about it. The Pied Piper's giant ego proves to be his downfall, as he monologues to a weakened Barry instead of finishing him off. That allows Wells to defeat Rathaway with the unique solution of using satellite radio emissions.



While Rathaway does prove to be cunning and yet another in a list of super-intelligent foes for the Flash to fight, these events do also show more of the scope of Wells' smarts and talent for misdirection. Twice he has had to use his super-speed to escape danger, and he struggles with that ability in one of those times. The question of what exactly is going on with him is both very intriguing and frustrating to ask at this time. Since this further confirms his identity as the Reverse-Flash, it also presents the question of whether everything that is happening is a small part of his grand master plan.





The end line has Wells telling Gideon that the endgame is almost near so that does answer that question, albeit obliquely. Does that plan extend all the way back to Barry's childhood with the murder of his mother? Did Wells activate the particle accelerator even with the warnings from Rathaway because he knew he'd be working with Barry? Does he intend to extract Barry's super speed ability in some way so that he can sustain his own speed?



The Flash may be the focus of the whole series, but all of the more interesting questions about the plot revolve around Wells and the Reverse-Flash. It also helps that Tom Cavanaugh plays Wells as a man who goes beyond a mad scientist and/or a warped supervillain. We're never really sure of what his true motives are so each new revelation about him has greater impact.


It definitely makes up for the weaker aspects of the series currently, most of which still center around Iris. There should hopefully be a payoff to making her an intrepid reporter, though that's hard to see at the moment. It proved difficult just to separate her from comparisons to another famous comic book reporter: Superman's Lois Lane. I should think it would be smart for the show to steer as far away from that comparison as possible. It's been doing so well in other areas that what's happening on the fringes only sticks out like a sore thumb.