For all intent purposes, this felt like a season finale.  I actually had to stop and check to see if I had made a false assumption about episode orders for The Flash, but to my surprise, this is just part of the first season’s planned run.  And to have so much happen during an episode that was framed as yet another “villain of the week” installment was thrilling, to say the least!

 

One could be forgiven to dismiss Weather Wizard II’s appearance in this episode, because look at all that took place in the meantime!  Joe was kidnapped, Harrison’s true identity was revealed, Cisco was killed by “Harrison”, Iris and Barry finally confessed mutual feelings, and Iris learned the truth about Barry.  And here’s the other kicker: Barry also learned that he can transcend time with his abilities.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the writers have set the stage for most, if not all, of those revelations and events to be reversed.


But does that mean the writers will take that direction?  I think there’s a very good chance they will, leaving the audience painfully aware of details that the characters need more time to discover on their own.  And Barry, presumably, would remember that moment with Iris, even if he has to find a way to make it go away.  It could mean a delicate balance: if the characters are too far behind the audience for too long, it can get frustrating to watch.

Time travel, however, has been a major part of The Flash since the beginning, and now we know the truth about Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne and Nora Allen’s murder.  Thawne is, in fact, one of the characters to have taken on the mantle of Reverse-Flash in the source material.  Presumably Eddie is one of Eobard’s forebears, given the last name, so how that might play into events is unclear.  


I don’t want to dismiss Mark Mardon/Weather Wizard, because it was great to see Liam McIntyre on the screen again, after his strong performance in the Spartacus series.  Joe is becoming more and more of a potential casualty as the series progresses, as the typical hero’s journey means that the mentor must inevitably die.  Mardon also used his abilities in some inventive ways that forced Barry to think outside the box.





The best scene, of course, was the interplay between Cisco and “Wells” before Cisco’s untimely death.  Carlos Valdes brought a relatively silent grief to the proceedings as he realized his fate was sealed, and waiting this long to show Wells’ villainy meant that his regret came across as genuine.  What is unclear is how much Wells’ master plan will be undone by his own actions and choices.  Killing Cisco as a matter of “necessity” suggests that emotional attachments will mean very little in the end.