This was such a fitting episode the day before April Fool’s day. In, “Tricksters,†Mark Hamill reprises his role as Trickster, and what a fantastic episode it was. Not only was Hamill outstanding, but Tom Cavanaugh blew us away, per usual, and we got to delve into the intricacies of Harrison Wells’ persona. What an episode.
The episode starts out with a scene from Nora Allen’s death. But this time, we finally get the scene from The Reverse Flash’s point of view. The visuals are dizzyingly awesome and are such a treat for a network show. The slow mo chase is beautiful, and the awe is further hammered down as the Reverse Flash reveals himself. It’s not who we expected. It is an unknown, at this time, man that reveals himself. What a setup for an episode. Everything we thought we knew was thrown right out the window at the onset of the episode. Luckily, we get to see the history behind this character.
Through a flurry of flashbacks throughout the episode, we finally get to see the real Harrison Wells. Harrison Wells is seen talking with his wife, Tess Morgan (Bre Blair), just being a normal husband. He is talking about what he should name the new lab he is creating, and she suggests STAR Labs. It’s weird seeing Wells being so genuine in these scenes. Later, the flashback takes us to a scene where The Reverse Flash makes Tess and Harrison Wells flip their car by using a spike strip. As if things weren’t confusing enough, Harrison pleads to the unknown person for help. The way he eerily reveals himself as Eobard Thawne and explains that, “this woman’s been dead for centuries,†was perfect. He then proceeds to literally steal Wells’ identity through some Fringe style tech. The reasoning behind him stealing Wells’
identity was to speed up the process of the particle accelerator, thus creating and getting Barry up to speed sooner, to get Eobard back to his timeline.
The scenes were brilliantly done. We’ve always had a so-so relationship with Wells, as have most of the characters, but you really feel for the guy through the flashbacks. Cavanaugh’s ability to transition from, Wells the husband, to the Eobard Thawne variant is nothing short of amazing. The episode was heavily advertised to be about Hamill’s returning to the Trickster role, which was great don’t get me wrong; Cavanaugh easily stole the show.
As for the Trickster portions, Hamill also did a great job. The show setup a different, much younger Trickster that is causing chaos around Central City at its onset. Joe and Barry go to the Trickster, who is in prison, to get an idea on how to catch this new Trickster. Hamill plays it off so crazily well and expresses his agitation that someone is taking up his mantle, or is he? Of course, Barry speeds over to the specified area, as does the police force, but lo and behold, the Trickster has tricked them again. The fake bomb threat was a devious diversion and younger Trickster helped the original Trickster escape from prison. This time, they have taken Henry Allen hostage. Axel, the younger of the two Tricksters asks why he was chosen, and Hamill grins while saying, “it was in your blood… I am your father.†What a fantastic throwback for Mark Hamill.
The big scene between the Tricksters is during Tony Bellows’s (Vito D’Ambrosio) fundraiser. The Trickster poisoned everyone’s champagne and won’t leave, or give them the antidote, until they transfer all their money to bank accounts on the glass. Since Barry is so on edge about working with Wells now that he has the inkling Wells is The Reverse Flash, he runs into the fundraiser, reckless abandon. He’s then strapped with a Speed-esque device that will blow if he doesn’t maintain 600 mph. In this scene, we get one of the best interactions between Barry and Wells.
Barry is reluctant to trust Wells, but Wells is the only one that has some obvious experience with super speed. The monologue that Wells uses to get Barry focused on being able to phase through a solid object was surreal. There was something with how the sound quieted, and you just heard his voice. The contrast from seeing him shift from an antagonist to protagonist for Barry is just sublime. It was so soothing, yet powerful in the moment, and we got to see Barry phase shift through a tanker. Although it was weird they chose a tank, considering it can be assumed that it would have only added to the explosion. After Barry gets the bomb off of his arm via phase shifting, he proceeds to perform the fastest immunization clinic ever and rescues his dad. Although, that rescue wasn’t all that exciting.
The next scene is a bit strange. Barry reveals that he is The Flash to Eddie Thawne, to save Iris from further investigating the disappearance of Mason Bridge. They then concoct an excuse that he simply went to live in Brazil, because Brazil. It kind of came out of nowhere, and i can’t imagine a budding reporter falls for that line. On top of that, why not just reveal yourself to Iris as well? It’s something that happens in all comic related shows and never really makes sense.
