Holy drama Batman! CW shows are notorious for having scenes packed with relationship drama, and nothing changed in “The Reverse-Flash Returns.†However, they completely nailed the direness of this episode straight from the beginning. As Barry is still struggling to get Zoom out of his head, the perfect storm brews. An old nemesis returning, and Barry is failing to actually hold a steady relationship.
Patty Spivot was a breath of fresh air when she appeared earlier this season. She’s much more than the cute quirky side character that we’re used to seeing, and she shortly became one of my favorite characters on the show. She had initiative and was outspoken and never one not to pull out her gun and start firing. Her sleuthing skills brought about some major issues for Barry. Barry has always tried to protect people from his secret, but by doing so he’s built up a wall that destroys potential relationships. Throughout this episode, Patty asks if he is The Flash, and he continues to deny it. She sees through this as easily as she sees through Joe’s coverup as well.
As Patty is on the train, she tricks Barry into revealing himself. She calls and says that there’s a man with a gun on her train and a second later The Flash arrives. Boom! Barry realizes that he was just caught and stops blurring his face. But to his credit, he realizes that he can’t stop her from pursuing her dream as a CSI and let’s her go.
It’s a shame that such a great character is leaving because she had such good chemistry with the group. I’d assume that they will angle toward revisiting the Barry/Iris relationship, but the show will definitely be missing something without Patty around. As if Barry didn’t have enough on his plate, an old friend has made a return.
Cisco and Wells have had an awkward relationship, but somehow it works. Cisco wants to help the group find and stop Zoom, and Wells is just the one to help them. They realize that the way he vibes is when he is given a rush of adrenaline. Wells hilariously does this by slipping on the Reverse Flash suit and scares the living daylight out of him. But instead of seeing Zoom, he sees Reverse Flash. Wells then makes a pair of goggles that can trigger his fear receptors which allows him to vibe. Cisco sees Eobard Thawne aka Reverse Flash as he travels back in time. The clock in Cisco’s vision was 3 hours ahead, so he is indeed seeing the future.
The group manages to find Reverse Flash, and he and Barry have a speedster dual. Barry is inches away from killing him, but he does let up and they imprison Eobard Thawne. But, with the usual time travel limitations, their timeline starts to get hinky. Cisco begins to seize and essentially disappear right in front of them. Naturally, they must send Reverse Flash back to his time to keep the current timeline intact. When Barry flings him back into his timeline, all is well in the world….right?
Sort of left to the sideline was the whole West family ordeal. Francine is slowly dying and on her deathbed. There are some really powerful moments between her and Iris. Iris finally forgives her mother, but Wally West is nowhere to be found. Toward the end of the episode, Iris opens up about losing Eddie, and Wally eventually comes around. But he will only go see Francine if Iris goes with him. The scene was quite powerful, but it was slightly lessened by the tour de force that was the reemergence of Reverse Flash.
The only other characters that weren’t featured thus far were Cailin and Jay. Caitlin is dead set on finding a way to save Jay, and she figures that she can use his doppelganger’s blood to cure himself, but she has been unable to find his Earth one counterpart. Jay already tried this, and he explains that his doppleganger happens to be a man named Hunter Zolomon….WHAT?! Could this mean what I think it does?
