Revelations | The Flash “Out Of Time” Review
The Flash is back and in a very big way in the latest episode, “ Out of Time.†I had my fears of The Flash coming out of its mid season break as strongly as it had gone in, but it is easily the best episode of the season. It honestly felt more akin to a season finale than a show returning from its fall break. (spoilers following per usual).
The CW has been teasing time travel ever since the start of the midseason break, and it did not disappoint. But, as with every form of media dealing with time travel, there are always unintended occurrences.
The Flash has always painted Wells as the “villain†of the show and often has given us a peek behind the curtain. The eventual reveal of Wells being the Reverse Flash was quite astounding, but it doesn’t hold a candle to what happened in this episode.
Up until this point, Joe is really the only one that has suspicions of Harrison Wells having some involvement of Barry’s mother’s death. That is until Mason has a tape proving that Wells is the last person to see Simon Stagg before he went missing. Mason encourages Iris to follow up on the lead, and of course, she goes straight to Barry. As you’d expect, Barry Allen vehemently refuses to believe that Wells could be bad, at all. He almost appears as a white knight in Barry’s mind. But the bug has been placed in his ear, and he brings it up with Caitlin and Cisco.
Cisco devises a plan with Caitlin to keep Wells out of the lab, so he can test out why the trap failed to contain RF. Caitlin is many things, but she isn’t a great liar. That did prove to be some good comedy. She felt really uneasy, and her mannerisms clearly showed that she was up to something, of which Wells clearly noticed. He tells her to get the coffee To-Go. She does, but when she turns back there’s an empty wheelchair. While the audience has seen Wells walk, Caitlin’s facial expression was great here. The astonishment in her face was unmatched. Well, until the next scene anyway.
Check out the trailer for what’s to come for The Flash and Arrow (SPOILER HEAVY)
https://youtu.be/EqCXxiK3lgY
Wells confronts Cisco, and the emotional tension between the two is outstanding. The fear in Cisco is something we’ve yet to see from the character. He even departs from his goofiness after he says, “you’re like the Flash,†and Wells says, “ Some might say I’m the Reverse.†A literal hair-raising back and forth between the two, quite reminiscent of Smallville’s reveal of Bizarro when he says, “I’m like you, just more bizarre.†But, further revelation was even more heart-breaking for Cisco, and you knew nothing good was to come of it. Wells reveals that his name is actually Eobard Thawne, (yes, somehow related to Eddie) and that he has been stuck in this timeline for 15 years. Cisco, being as intelligent as he is, questions why he would kill Barry’s mom if it’s Barry’s speed that he needs to reset the timeline. But his target wasn’t Barry’s mom, it was Barry. So it’s safe to assume that Barry and Eobard/Wells were fighting in that cyclone when his mother died. As if this revelation wasn’t enough, Cisco, with an intense sense of fear and a tear in his eye exclaims that he can help Wells get back to his time. Wells doesn’t quite believe that to be so. Instead Wells says, “Forgive me, but to me you’ve been dead for centuries.†Wow. This was, by far, the best scene of the show. The emotions of Cisco in attempts to do anything to save his own life is something we haven’t seen with this character. His sense of fear is matched by Eobard/Wells’ ruthlessness and annoyance of being stuck in this timeline for 15 years. But, as was teased earlier we will get to see Barry alter time.
The early parts of the episode are a flashback of when Joe shoots and kills the Weather Wizard, but what we didn’t know was that his brother survived. While some may see the new Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) as a simpleton in his sole mission to avenge his brother’s death by killing Joe, he is a great character. His supreme motivation to avenge his brother’s death is by-the-books comic book style, but it fits. Not to mention the visual effects throughout the entire episode, from Barry saving Joe from a lightning bolt to him containing a tsunami, were the best of the season.
Since Weather Wizard is after Joe, Joe doesn’t want anyone to help him, especially after the Captain dove in front of him taking a lighting bolt to the chest. Why Joe wasn’t holding the device that would render Weather Wizard’s powers useless is beyond me. Weather Wizard holds Joe hostage and tells Iris that she has to come alone, assumingly to kill Iris to inflict the pain that he felt when Joe killed his brother. Of course, then barry goes as well and, after all the sexual tension that took place previously in the episode which I will talk about shortly, she confesses her love for Barry. They share a passionate kiss. Seconds later, he is forced to reveal that he is The Flash and runs as fast as he ever had to contain the tsunami in a vortex of sorts. But, while effective, he runs so fast that he alters time and ends up in a previous scene, a scene before Cisco is killed and Wells reveals himself as Eobard Thawne. While Barry does go back in time, we know very little about the rules of time in this series. It’s easy to assume that he will save Cisco as he is such an integral part of the show, but what will be changed because of this? The opportunities are endless, and many more questions and theories have spawned from this event.
Of course, we can’t talk about The Flash without the relationship triangle between Linda, Iris and Barry. While some may think it’s cheesy and forced, the quandary feels quite practical and does a good job of grounding the show. Yes, Iris can be insanely catty and clingy at times, especially flirting with Barry during the bowling double date and her saying that Linda just isn’t the one. But, it is perfect in showing that she can’t throw away such a relationship, even if she can’t totally come to terms with it.
