The mid-season finale episode of The Flash, “The Man In The Yellow Suit,†provided us with the reveal of The Reverse Flash, which was such a great reveal. But, the real strength of the episode was delving into Barry Allen’s psyche.
The Flash does such a great job of giving depth to its characters, and in this episode, Barry Allen was at the forefront. Yes, his confrontation with Reverse Flash was great, but the talk he had with his dad was what made the episode. Barry went to talk to his dad in prison and his dad gave him some superhero wisdom; “Don’t let him take everything from you.†Barry’s dad realizes that the obsession that Barry has had about finding his mother’s killer has kept him from many things in life, mostly the inability to actually tell Iris that he loves her. Beyond losing his mom and dad the same day, he’s let The Reverse Flash completely consume his life. But, after the pep talk with his dad, he is finally able to tell Iris that he loves her, and she says she loves him too. But, her response is completely in the friend zone, since earlier in the episode Eddie asked Iris to move in with him.
The scene was really the epitome of The Flash thus far. Barry has been fast enough to help everyone else, but his life is at a standstill. No matter what he does, he hasn’t been able to do anything for himself because he’d feel far too guilty to indulge in himself. His arrow of righteousness is pointed so far up that he will never think of himself first, which, if you’ve been watching the season up until now, is the reason Wells believes he has the ability to be more powerful than ever imagined. While Barry is trying to find that balance between being a normal person and saving Central City from, well everything, Caitlin is also trying to solve a couple mysteries herself.
Caitlin saw glimpses of her supposed late-fiancé, Ronnie, and had Cisco help her find out what’s happened to him. While not talking to Wells first, since he’s more than happy throwing metas in their makeshift prison, they indeed find Ronnie and learn of his abilities. As was teased at the end of last episode, Ronnie is Firestorm, and the change has engulfed him so much that he tells Caitlin that he isn’t Ronnie anymore. I loved the scene between them, and I know that it couldn’t have been longer since the show is only an hour (please CW make it two), but I feel like there’s so much story to tell, and Caitlin didn’t really get that payoff in this episode. Although, he does make a great appearance near the end of the episode.
We’ve come to the part about The Reverse Flash, while still being a complete mystery as to who it could actually be, one thing is for certain; The Reverse Flash is absolutely awesome. The immense speed and power that The Reverse Flash has easily dwarfs Barry’s powers at the current moment, but it’s safe to say that won’t be the case forever. The two get into quite a dual, and The Reverse Flash quickly dispatches Barry with a snarky wit. The outward cockiness that The Reverse Flash portrays is so eerie, and it definitely leads the audience to believe whom it may be. As with anything based on comics, it’s doubtful the right answer is the easy answer.
At one point in the episode, Cisco comes up with a device to trap The Reverse Flash, and unsurprisingly since Cisco is a genius, it works. But, through some happenstance Wells is pulled into the force field and beaten to a pulp, but not killed. Which is interesting, considering he could have easily done so. The Reverse Flash gets away, but as he is trying to get away The Flash intervenes. Barry still gets tossed aside but Firestorm hurls a fireball at The Reverse Flash, thus saving Barry. Then, The Reverse Flash speeds off one way, and Firestorm flies off in another. As insane as that scene was, it’s Cisco’s revelation that changes everything. After the fight, Cisco is talking to Joe about how Barry saw Red and Yellow lightning when his mother was killed; the same thing happened when Barry was facing off against The Reverse Flash. Therefore, there were two forms of The Flash present at his mother’s death.
Of course, the end scene wraps up the episode with Wells putting a device on The Reverse Flash suit he has hidden away in his “future lab†and says, Merry Christmas,†in the voice The Reverse Flash was using.
It’s almost too much to comprehend at this point. Who is The Reverse Flash? Is it Wells? Is it Eddie? Was Barry somehow at the scene of his mom’s death as The Flash? You’ve got to love time travel! This is why we tune into the show and definitely why we will continue to do so.
