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FLASH: SPOILER Review 1×09 – “The Man in the Yellow Suit”

The Flash (1×09) –
“The Man in the Yellow Suit”
Written by: Aaron and Todd Helbing
Directed by: Ralph Hemecker
This week’s episode opens on a chase.  Barry is pursuing the man in the yellow suit
through Central City and struggling to catch him before the other speedster
pours on more speed.
We then cut to the day before, Joe and Barry are decorating
the Christmas Tree while Iris has made them the family’s traditional Egg Nog,
light on the bourbon.  Unfortunately, Joe
is called away to a meeting with the DA. 
Soon after he leaves, Iris pulls Barry over to the Tree to exchange
gifts. 
Barry bought her an exact replica of her mother’s wedding
ring which she lost in High School.  Iris
is shocked and amazed at his thoughtful gift, then embarrassed that she got him
a microscope.  Eddie arrives to help the
tension ratchet up especially when he learns about Barry’s gift.
Barry heads over to STAR Labs to give his gifts to the Team
as well as share some Egg Nog with them. 
Dr. Wells is not really in the Holiday spirit considering the explosion
the year before and he leaves.  Caitlin
decides to try and find him a gift to cheer him up and leaves Cisco and Barry
to drink.
At Jitters, Eddie asks Iris if she’s ever wondered about
Barry’s feelings concerning her and Iris laughs off the idea.  Eddie then gives her a gift, a key to his apartment.  Eddie wants her to move in with him, and Iris
accepts his offer.  Caitlin is leaving
the mall and talking to Cisco when she sees someone out of the corner of her
eye.  A man is lurking nearby in the
shadows, Caitlin sees him behind her in the reflection of her car window and
she recognizes him.  We recognize him as
well, both as the bum from the end of last week’s episode and as Caitlin fiancé,
Ronnie.
He runs off but Caitlin chases after him, when she has him
cornered, he bursts into flames and Catilin runs away.
That night, at Mercury Labs, a man is working on an experiment.  He talks briefly with two security guards
before they ask him about his experiment. 
He cryptically replies, “The Future” a moment before an
intruder alarm goes off.  The guards tell
him to lock his experiment down, he does so and locks himself in the lab with
it.
Moments later, the Reverse Flash burst onto the scene, kills
the guards and glares menacingly at the scientist before leaving.  Later, Barry, Joe and Eddie are investigating
the murder scene when Eddie mentions the scientist describe a blur attacking
them.  Barry and Joe ask the man what he
saw and he describes the blur as “a man in some kind of yellow suit.”  Barry and Joe both realize that the man he
described is likely the man who killed Barry’s mother.  While Barry is shocked, Joe tells him that
the man has been in town and that he’s taken all the evidence they had on Nora
Allen’s murder and threatened Iris.
Joe and Barry meet up with the Team at STAR the next morning
and fill them in on what they know about the murder at Mercury Labs.  Barry then tells them that the witness
believe that the Reverse Flash was looking for something but he wasn’t sure what.  Dr. Wells then explains that Mercury Labs under
the leadership of Dr. Christina McGee was a competitor with STAR Labs until the
explosion when they took up most of the work STAR could no longer do while they
recovered. 
Dr. Wells explains that Mercury Labs is working with Tachyon
particles, which can travel faster than the speed of light.  Hearing this, Barry suggests they try to use
Mercury’s experiment to lure the Reverse Flash.
At Jitters, Caitlin asks Iris about a story she did on a
“burning man,” Iris hasn’t had much information but promises to send
her what she has.  Iris then asks Barry
if he’s keeping anything from Iris, Caitlin advises her to go to Barry about
her questions.  At the Police Station,
Barry and Dr. Wells meet with Dr. McGee to try and get her help to capture the
Reverse Flash.  She is distrustful of
them, thinking that Dr. Wells is using Barry to get his hands on her
experiment.
Cisco finds Caitlin sitting on Barry’s treadmill, he has an
idea to set up a trap for the Reverse Flash. While he’s explaining he notices
her haunted expression and asks what’s wrong. 
She tells him she’s seen Ronnie and that something has happened to him
Cisco doesn’t believe her at first but offers to help her find him.
Barry is in his lab at the station, looking at the board he
uses to gather clues to his mother’s murder when Iris arrives.  She asks about the board and Barry explains
that he feels like he’s been neglecting his mother’s murder but intends to redouble
his efforts.  Iris then tells him she’s
moving in with Eddie, Barry tries to put on a brave face.  She implies that Eddie think he has feelings
for her but Barry plays it off and she leaves.
Barry goes over to the window and thunder rolls in the
distance, that’s when Barry sees the Reverse Flash in the distance.  He doesn’t even bother to suit up before he
chases after him, he confronts him in an alley about his mother’s murder.  The other speedster is using the same
vibration tricks Barry uses to conceal his face and voice and say if Barry
wants answer he’ll have to catch. 
They weave through the city at incredible speed before they
end up in a football stadium.  They then
fight throughout the stadium.  Barry ends
up in the middle of the field battered and on his back while the Reverse Flash
declares him not fast enough.  When Barry
asks, “Who are you?”  He
replies, “You know who I am, Barry.” 
Reverse Flash then pummels him while explain that they’ve met many times
before but that it is Barry’s destiny to lose to him as much as it was his
mother’s destiny to die that night.  He
leaves Barry behind to nurse his wounds.
The next morning, Barry has gathered the team to explain
what happened.  He’s visibly frustrated
and angry as he worries that he’s not fast enough to stop the man who killed
his mother.  However, Dr. Wells is
confident their trap will work.  All they
need is the bait.
Dr. McGee meets with Joe and Barry and tries to get them to
leave her out of the situation but Barry implies that he will leak Mercury Lab
secrets that he noticed during his tour of the facility if she doesn’t
cooperate.  She is furious but tells them
she was deliver her prototype to them and leaves.  Joe is impressed while Barry leaves without a
word.  Eddie then confronts Joe about
their trap.  He knows something is going
on and he demands he and his task force be at STAR Labs to bring the Flash
down.
Cisco and Caitlin are back at the mall trying to track Ronnie
through service tunnels.  Cisco is
skeptical until his tracking device suddenly shuts down.  Just ahead they find Ronnie but when they
call him by name, he insists he’s not Ronnie and tells them to stop looking for
him.  He then says “Firestorm,”
before he bursts into flames again and leaves. 
After the act break, Cisco has completed the trap and goes
to set it up.  Joe and Dr. Wells tell
Barry that they want him away from STAR Labs while they try to capture Reverse
Flash.  They’re worried that he’s not
thinking clearly, Barry is understandably furious that he’s being kept away
from his mother’s killer and storms out. 
Down in the Pipeline, Cisco finds Caitlin staring at he engagement
ring.  She is heartbroken about Ronnie
and even finds herself wishing he wasn’t still alive.  Cisco promises they’ll find him, but when
Caitlin asks if they’ll find him only to imprison him in the Pipeline he
doesn’t have an answer.
Barry visits his father and tells him he’s seen his mother’s
killer again.  Barry then laments that
because he wasn’t able to capture him that every day his father remains in
prison is now on Barry’s head.  Henry
explains that Barry’s allowed his mother’s killer to rule over his life for too
long.  He explains that every choice
Barry’s made since that night, from his education and career to his distancing
himself from Iris has been ruled by the Reverse Flash and Henry begs him to
stop holding onto the guilt. 
Barry returns to the West house to find that Iris has almost
finished putting up the Christmas Tree. 
Barry screws up his courage and lays out feeling to Iris and while he
knows that his timing could not be worse he had to tell her.  He leaves without a word from her.
Back at STAR Labs, the team and Eddie’s Task Force spring
the trap on the Reverse Flash.  As Eddie
is about to read him his Miranda Rights, Joe confronts him about Nora Allen’s
murder.  The Reverse Flash ignores him
and begins to talk to Dr. Wells.  Wells
asks him what he wants the device for but Reverse Flash says his goals are
beyond their understanding then he pulls Wells into the cage and starts to beat
him to death.  Joe takes a wrench and
smashes the cage’s generator and Reverse Flash speeds away with the prototype.  Before anyone can react, Reverse Flash
returns and makes quick work of Eddie’s Task Force, he then knocks out Eddie
and just before he can kill Joe, Barry arrives thanks to Caitlin’s SOS.
Flash and Reverse Flash’s fight spills out into the STAR
Labs parking lot in front of Cisco and Caitlin but Barry still isn’t enough of
a match for his opposite.  Luckily for
Barry, Ronnie arrives and blasts the Reverse Flash.  He races off with the expected promise of
another battle in their future.  Caitlin
tries to talk to Ronnie but he warns her not to look for him again before he
flies away.
Back at the Station, Joe and Eddie are talking.  Eddie doesn’t know why he was spared by the
Reverse Flash and Joe doesn’t have an answer for him.  Eddie asks him how much Joe knows and Joe
explains about Meta-humans and that they’re the only ones who know what’s going
on in Central City.  Eddie then asks if
Joe knows who the Flash is.  Joe sees
Barry walk by and replies, “Yeah.  He’s
the guy who saved both of our lives tonight.”
At STAR Labs Caitlin is tending to Dr. Wells while Cisco splitting
his time between reviewing the containment field data and apologizing.  Dr. Wells reassures him that it wasn’t his
fault, however he wishes they had told him about Ronnie.  Caitlin still wants to save him and Dr. Wells
swears on his life that they will “Bring Ronnie Home.”
Barry is alone in his lab when Joe comes up to talk.  They talk about Barry’s mother’s travels around
Europe then Barry explains that he’s been stuck not only in Central City but in
his living room reliving the night his mother was murdered.  Barry then apologizes to Joe for getting mad
and accusing him of being afraid of the Reverse Flash, he explains that he’s
been afraid of the Reverse Flash his whole life and says that was why he lost
to him. 
Joe tells him that Barry’s been a light of hope in his life
and that he’s come to rely on Barry being there.  He goes on to say that the world may need the
Flash but he needs Barry Allen.  The two
hug and decide to head home for the night.
They arrive at the west home and find Eddie and Iris already
there along with Caitlin and Cisco. 
Barry tells Eddie and Iris he’s happy for them while Cisco pulls Joe
aside.  He tells Joe that while he watch
Barry and Reverse Flash fight he saw them as surrounded by red and gold
lightning.  He then reminds Joe that Barry
described his mother as being attack by red and gold lightning.  This means that while the Reverse Flash was
there, another speedster must have been there as well.
The group gathers around the old Christmas Tree and enjoy
their time together while Joe places the Angel on top of the tree.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wells enters his secret room, and pulls out a
ring with the Flash logo on it.  He uses
it to open a door we’ve never seen before. 
Behind this door is a case not unlike the one they keep Barry’s suit in
but when Wells touches his ring to the case the Reverse Flash’s suit appears
inside.  He then places the prototype
device on the suit and it shimmers strangely. 
Then in the same distorted voice Reverse Flash used he says, “Merry
Christmas.”
What can I say? This may be the best episode of the Show so
far.  It was a great first meeting
between Flash and his most dangerous enemy. 
The episode was amazingly dense with Flash lore and moved a lot of plots
forward.  At the same time, it never seemed
like too much.  They put some plots to
rest, such as the source of Wells’ future knowledge, Caitlin learning Ronnie
survived the explosion and Barry telling Iris he loves her. In their place they
introduced new stories or added wrinkles: 
The arrival of the Reverse Flash, the mystery of “Firestorm”
and the ticking time bomb that is Iris’ knowing Barry loves her.  Also, they left wiggle-room for more
development in one of their biggest plots: The Identity of the Man in the
Yellow Suit.
I have to point out the scene just prior to the chase in
Barry’s lab.  This is hands down my
favorite moment of the episode and in contention for favorite moment of the
series.  The way they played out beats
from the lightning strike scene from last year’s Arrow was fantastic.  From
the evidence board, to Barry looking out the window at the sound of thunder to
him seeing the Reverse Flash it used the scene from the Pilot to add weight to
the moment and I just loved it.
The effects for the chase sequence were great, as were the
Firestorm effects.  But the effects have
been consistently good from the start so that is starting to become a given.
I said last week was a bit of a letdown.  Tonight made up for it and more.  We have a lot to digest over the next six
weeks and the promise of more is sure to make them feel like six months.
Much like CW gave the program two extra minutes this week,
I’m expanding both the “Things We’ve Learned” AND “Three
Questions?”
Three Four Things We Learned This Week:
1)     
The Reverse Flash has finally confronted Barry.
2)     
He also knows very clearly who Barry is.
3)     
Joe and Cisco now suspect Reverse Flash was not
alone the night Nora Allen was murdered.
4)     
Ronnie has some degree of control over his
abilities but seems extremely confused about who he is.
Three FIVE Questions:
1)     
What is the nature of Wells’ relationship with
Reverse Flash?
2)     
How long until Barry telling Iris he loves her
nukes her relationship with Eddie and how bad will the fallout be?
3)     
Is Max Mercury associated with Mercury Labs?
4)     
Who was the other Speedster in Barry’s home the
night he was murdered?
5)     
What did Reverse Flash and/or Dr. Wells need
with the device from Mercury Labs?

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