The plot thickens in, “Who Is Harrison Wells,†as the team begins to uncover the true about Wells. Last week’s episode laid the foundation for what would be a monumental episode for key characters in the series.
So, who is Harrison Wells? The show has done an outstanding job in giving us varying answers to this question. Not too long ago we were led to believe that he was simply someone helping Barry transition with his newly found powers. But, as the curtain was pulled back episode-by-episode, we learned that Wells is not who he says he is; and is indeed a different person entirely. The dynamic between the characters unfolds as each learns that Wells is not only the person that killed Barry’s mom, but he stole the actual Wells’ identity. But in this episode, the levy has broken, and every single character had a satisfying arc.
Cisco and Joe head to Starling City to the place where Harrison’s wife, Tess, died. They meet a generally stuck up Captain Lance, and as a trio, they discover a corpse a few feet beneath the dirt. In typical Cisco fashion, he makes a joke about how he thought it was a foot, and that he’s glad it wasn’t, even though it was a hand. They go back to the station, and we get a funny scene with Cisco and Laurel. Cisco agrees to fix Laurel’s device, which turns out to be a souped up version for what she was asking, aptly named, The Canary Cry. And in return, Cisco got hilarious pictures with the costume-clad Black Canary. The crossover was a nice change of pace with how the show usually handles the two teams meeting up because of its subtly. And who doesn’t enjoy seeing Black Canary?
While half of the team is finding proof to Barry’s claims, the other half has its hands full with one of the best villains to date, sans The Trickster. This week’s villain is a shapeshifter, ala CW’s Supernatural, minus the grotesque transformation. With a simple touch, he can take on your appearance. Once the team catches on, they chase the shapeshifter and, as was spoiled by the glut of advertisements throughout the season, Eddie kills two cops. Of course we know this isn’t Eddie, but it was easily the character’s best showing. Which, ironically, leads into some great Iris scenes. She leaves her bullish attitude and showed that she actually does have feelings for Eddie. It’s great seeing her become a more dynamic character instead of the pouty girlfriend archetype.
Throughout the episode, we get to see more of the shifters powers and his ability to shift into anyone he has already shifted into from the past. Somehow, even though Barry just left Eddie at the station and Eddie explained that he wanted to be vindicated of his crimes “the right way,†Barry still falls for the imposter Eddie at the door. So, now the shifter is posing as Barry in S.T.A.R. Labs with Caitlin, and they share a less than passionate kiss, something I couldn’t imagine Barry doing since he’s not that smooth at all. Once Caitlin spills the details on how exactly she is going to synthesize the solution to stop him, he slides the gun into his hand and Wells shoots him with a stun gun. Once again, the savior Wells! Moments later Iris shows up proving Eddie’s innocence by his handedness. The shifter is a lefty and Eddie and Barry are right-handed. Through a matrix-esque fight sequence, Barry defeats faux Barry. We finally get to see what the shapeshifter looks like, and it’s ugly.The end-credit scene shows the S.T.A.R Labs crew going over a 3-D model of the entire lab, hoping to find what Wells is hiding. The crew sees the secret room that he has been hiding, and this episode changes everything.