The Speed Force is real! Episode 11 made major strides in pushing the overall narrative forward while providing even more clues as to the true motivations of Harrison Wells. Also, the Pied Piper was pretty cool… and a dick.
The Sound and the Fury was the type of episode The Flash needed after the exhilarating mid-season finale. Last week’s Revenge of the Rogues was good but failed to capitalize on the momentum created by the reveal of Reverse-Flash. Tonight’s episode went neck deep into the history of Wells and how conniving he can truly be. Turns out the particle accelerator accident wasn’t all that much of an accident. Wells’ former protégé, Hartley Rathaway (Andy Mientus), returns to Central City seeking vengeance upon his former mentor and to reveal some of the nasty little secrets he has uncovered about the good doctor. Apparently Wells knew that the accelerator was likely to explode and decided to go ahead with it anyway. We knew that he had been following Barry’s growth as the Flash so it makes sense he would be the one responsible for the accident.
Wells (Tom Cavanagh) telling the world that he is a jerk.
This week’s episode also showed us that there is something legitimately wrong with Wells’ legs. This is our first time seeing him use his powers outside of his suit but something goes wrong. For whatever reason his powers are waning and his command of the Speed Force (YES) isn’t what it used to be. The tachyon gizmo he stole in episode 9 makes a return and seems to be the only way Wells can maintain his speed. It’s all really sci-fi and I really hope that once the time-travel aspect comes into effect that side of the show is split wide open.
The whole episode was basically dedicated to Tom Cavanagh’s character and it was a very strong one. Most of the supporting cast, even Barry himself, were nudged to the side so that Wells could have time to shine. He is the one who ends up defeating Pied Piper and managed to win his way back into the hearts of his friends even after he was outed as a lying asshole. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) was shown to have some beef with Hartley and maybe even the slightest hint of jealousy. It was interesting to see just how much stock Cisco, Caitlin and Barry put into their relationship with Wells, almost to the point of him being a surrogate father. I knew Barry had daddy issues but we have never seen Cisco and Caitlin outside of the lab so there normal lives are still a mystery.
This whole Reverse-Flash business leads me to believe that he is building up Barry to become the Flash of the future, the one with complete control of all speed related abilities, only to steal his powers making himself whole again. But that’s just me letting my imagination go in a logical direction, the people behind the show are much smarter than me and I’m probably completely off base.
Iris (Candice Patton) at her new job.
In other, more critical, news, Iris gets a job as a rookie reporter. Her storyline this week wasn’t very strong and kind of distracting from the meat of the episode but it did give her character something to do going forward. Proving her worth outside of being an acquaintance of the Flash will be a difficult task but should provide some good character drama. Her relationship with Barry seems to have been mended completely by now, so much for the bombshell he dropped on her. Hopefully those feelings do re-emerge sooner rather than later, the Eddie/Iris couple just isn’t very interesting to me.
In terms of the action sequences this week, they weren’t incredibly impressive. The final confrontation between Flash and Piper on the bridge led to some interesting rescues (running down the side of a dam grabbing people from inside of falling cars was cool) but overall it didn’t last very long. The main focus was on the reveals this week and it definitely worked. I’m glad they decided to keep Rathaway around for more than one episode. Since the beginning I’ve said that The Flash was falling into the same trap as Arrow, non-threatening villains that get dealt with immediately. With the exception of Reverse-Flash and The Rogues most of the Metahumans have been one hit wonders. Rathaway’s cheeky reveal (he knows about Firestorm) at the end made it clear that his chess match with Wells is far from over and further cemented the fact that he isn’t a nice guy.
The Sound and the Fury was a tremendous episode that saw a ton of development for Harrison Wells and provided fans with yet another solid villain. The supporting cast was a tad underused (very little Joe this week) but the reveals we got were incredibly enthralling and sure to keep fans chomping at the bit for more clues. Oh and before I sign off, there was an incredibly clever Arrow Easter egg in the beginning of the episode that I loved. Look out for it!
The Flash (Grant Gustin) forgot to pay the Pied Piper (Andy Mientus)
Overall I give this episode 9/10