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FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 1×15- “Out of Time”

The Flash (1×15) – “Out
of Time”
Written by: Aaron and Todd Helbing
Directed by: Thor Freudenthal
After a flashback to the night of the Explosion,
we see that Clyde Mardon’s older brother Mark was piloting the brothers’
getaway plane and both were caught in the blast wave before it tears their
plane apart.
The scene then shifts to a Central City
Bowling Alley, Barry and Linda are on another date. Linda seems skeptical that
Barry enjoys the game but he declares the place one of his favorite places of
all time.  The couple’s evening is
interrupted when they come across Iris and Eddie also on a date.  Iris invites the pair to join and while
getting rather tepid enthusiasm from Linda and Eddie, they agree at her insistence.  This turns two dates that seemed to be going
well into one double date that seems doomed to end in disaster.  Made doubly so when Iris “casually”
clears some food off of Barry’s lip with her thumb.
At the Central City morgue, Mark Mardon
has come searching for the name of the cop who shot and killed his brother a year
earlier.  When the coroner is resistant,
Mark reveals powers similar to his brother though he seems to have a better
grasp on them.
At STAR Labs, Cisco and Wells are
watching black and white movies and chatting in a friendly manner.  Wells asks Cisco why he’s not at his
brother’s dinner and Cisco hints at some tension with his family before
admitting that he’s avoiding the dinner. 
They are interrupted when Cisco’s police scanner announces the break-in
at the morgue.  Cisco immediately calls
Barry.
As Barry receives his call, Eddie gets
one as well and both men leave their dates. 
After an awkward moment, Linda and Iris part.  As Barry’s running to the morgue he has seems
to see himself running alongside but when he comes to a stop all he sees is an
average street corner.  The other him is
gone.   
He continues onto the morgue and
finds the coroner dead. 
Barry returns in civilian gear and
after having a literal run-in with Captain Singh, he explains to Joe that based
on his findings it looks like the coroner was killed by hail.  They rule out Snart and his cold gun before
Eddie arrives with tapes from the coroner’s auto-dictation system.  The three listen to the incident and Joe
quickly identifies Mark Mardon’s voice. 
They then hear the coroner name Joe as Clyde’s killer.
At STAR Labs, Barry Joe and the team
discuss the Mardon brothers.  Barry
stresses that Mark seems to have much better fine control of his abilities
causing Cisco to dub him “Weather Wizard.”  He then tells them that he’d been trying to
counter Clyde’s powers back when they were dealing with him and he thinks it
should work on Mark too.  Joe and Barry
are then called to the station.  Joe
leaves but Barry stays and explains to Wells the moment he had while running to
the morgue the night before.  Wells
believes it is likely just a trick of light but Barry’s isn’t convinced.
At the Station, Joe, Barry and Eddie
are meeting with the Captain.  Singh has
instructed Joe to oversee the Mardon investigation from the relative safety of
the station.  Joe is unhappy but
agrees.  After Singh dismisses them, he
tells Barry and Eddie to not tell Iris. 
She arrives at the moment and receives a rather chilly greeting from
Eddie before Barry and Eddie leave.  When
Iris asks Eddie what the problem is, he tells her that her behavior the night
before at the bowling alley made him extremely uncomfortable.  Iris denies that anything is going on with
her and Barry but he replies that something has changed noticeably between them
before he leave.
Joe and Barry are driving with their
lunch and discussing his situation with Iris when the weather turns
progressively worse.  Barry turns on the
weather report which is for sunny skies and both men realize it’s Mardon.  He’s been following them and when they see
him he attacks with a bolt of lightning. 
Barry uses his speed to get them clear but it blows up Joe’s car.
The pair return to the Station where
Singh confines Joe to protective custody until Mardon is caught.  Joe protest but Singh is adamant that his
safety is maintained.  He then suggests Iris
contacts the Flash but Joe is even more resistant to that.  Barry tries to talk Joe through his
frustration to little success.
At the News Paper, Mason talks to Iris
about his investigation into Harrison Wells, he is certain that Wells killed
Simon Stagg and he claims he has evidence. 
While she’s going through the file on Wells that Mason gave her, Iris
runs into Linda.  Linda is just as
annoyed with Iris’ behavior and calls her on it before leaving.  At Jitters, Barry and Iris meet up.  They talk about the conversation she had with
Mason but when she claims that there is evidence Wells killed Stagg he can only
say that “Harrison Wells is a good man.”
Later at the Lab, Cisco presents the
team with his device to counter Mardon. 
They are impressed and Wells excuses himself, after he leaves Barry
tells Cisco and Caitlin what Iris told him. 
Barry still doesn’t believe them and while Caitlin doesn’t seem to
either, Cisco looks troubled.
He takes the device to the Station and
after showing Joe how to use it asks him about Joe’s suspicions from a few
episodes back.  Joe doesn’t have time to
go over it and leaves, as Cisco is leaving the Station he sees Mardon enter and
calls Barry.
Mardon and Joe exchanges words about
Clyde’s death but before Joe can make a move Cisco’s “Weather Wand”
Mark attacks and blows him back into the crowded bull pen.  Eddie orders the officers inside to open fire
but before they can, Mark summons another gust of wind that shatters windows
and forces the officers to take cover. 
He then calls down a bolt of lightning
intended for Joe but Singh tackles Joe out of the way and takes the blast.  Barry finally arrives and uses the wand on
Mark and he escapes but Barry can’t give chase because Singh is badly hurt and
needs to be taken to the hospital. 
Cisco is still at STAR Labs when
Caitlin goes to leave.  When she asks him
what he’s looking into he explains that the containment field they tried to use
on the Reverse Flash had no cause to fail and he’s going over the data to
figure out why it didn’t work.  But he
needs Caitlin to keep Wells out of the lab the next morning so he can run
tests.  She reluctantly agrees to help
him.
At the hospital, Joe Barry and Singh’s fiancé
learn that the electricity has possibly done debilitating damage to the
Captain’s nervous system and he may never walk again.  Angered, Joe storms off but when Barry tries
to stop him he says that he has to stop Mardon before he hurts someone
else.  He then tells Barry to protect Iris.
The next morning, Barry is looking for
Iris at the paper but meets Mason.  He
and the reporter discuss his theories on Well and Mason tells him that he has
evidence on Wells but Barry will find out what his evidence is like everyone
else in Central City: in the Sunday paper.
Across town, Joe arrives at one of the
old Mardon brothers’ hideout.  Eddie is
also there and they begin searching the apartment building.  Meanwhile, Barry goes home to find Iris.  She’s looking for her father but Barry
doesn’t tell her anything.  The subject
turns to Linda and Barry implies that she’s acting strange since he started
dating the other woman.  She denies it
but when Barry presses she tells him she doesn’t think she’s right for
Barry.  When he asks “Who is”
she has nothing to say.
At the Lab, Cisco is running tests on
the containment cell they used on Reverse Flash.  He is shocked when he discovers a
pre-recorded hologram of the Reverse Flash saying exactly what he said the
night they caught him.
Joe and Eddie find Mardon’s apartment
and proof he’d been there very recently but before they can do anything, Joe is
sucked out the window.  Joe wakes up on a
fishing boat, severely injured.  Mark is
with him, he explains that because Joe took his family Mark is going to take
Joe’s daughter.
Caitlin and Wells are at Jitters making
small talk.  Wells is anxious to return
to STAR Labs but Caitlin is keeping her promise to Cisco, meanwhile Barry and
Iris are at the Station.  Eddie is there
mobilizing a search for Joe, Barry promises Iris he’ll bring her father back
safely.  Iris receives a phone call from
Mardon.  He orders her to the Waterfront
and not to tell the Police.
Back at Jitters, Caitlin is still
trying to stall Wells and he seems to catch on, then he brings up a way of
adjusting STAR Lab satellites to better track Mardon.  She agrees to the plan then heads to the
counter to get their coffees to go. 
However, when she turns back to the table, Wells is gone.  His glasses and chair left behind.
Cisco is still in shock as he watches
the Reverse Flash recording, Wells appears behind him.  He explains that he’s named Eobard Thawne, a
time-traveler that’s been marooned in our time for fifteen years.  Cisco asks why he killed Nora Allen, Wells
says he wasn’t there to kill Nora he was there to kill Barry.  Cisco asks why Wells has been helping Barry
and he explains that Barry’s speed is the key to him going home.  He then says that despite growing to care
deeply for Cisco, he can’t let the younger man live with the knowledge he has.  He plunges his hand into Cisco’s chest using
his speed, killing him.
Barry and Iris arrive at the
Waterfront, and Mardon creates a tidal wave that will destroy the City.  Barry calls Caitlin and asks how he can stop
the wave, she believes if he runs back and forth up the beach fast enough he
can create a wall of air that will dissipate the wave, but she’s not sure he
has the speed to do it.  Iris reveals her
feelings for Barry and he reveals he’s the Flash before begging to try
Caitlin’s plan.  As he runs faster and
faster, the plan seems to be working when suddenly there’s a flash of light and
he finds he’s running alongside himself from the other night.  The previous Barry disappears and Barry comes
to a stop at the exact same street corner with the events playing out the same
way as before.  All Barry can think to
say is: “Oh boy.”
So, here it is. The episode I’ve been
both eagerly anticipating and dreading in equal measure.  It’s one thing to tease time travel, it’s
quite another thing to pull the trigger and explore it.  Watching the episode additional times for the
review I’ve seen a lot visual cues to look for in the next episode.  Things we’ll see play out differently now
that Barry has knowledge of future events, for example Barry colliding with
Singh in the morgue and the conversation he has with Caitlin and Cisco at the
Lab.
As for the new Weather Wizard, Mark’s
fleshed out pretty well.  It could’ve
been easy to essentially clone the Chad Rook character from the pilot but they
took the time to make him distinct.  Even
giving him finer control over his abilities compared to Clyde.  Joe’s desperate need to stop Mardon
punctuated this very well.
The Cisco/Well/Mason storyline is playing out well and
though time travel both telegraphed and negated the impact of Cisco’s death (as
well as Singh’s injury) Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanaugh put more than enough
weight into their performances to still make you feel.
Which brings me to the Barry/Eddie/Iris/Linda storyline: I’m
really trying to like Iris.  Usually it’s
pretty easy since I’ve loved the character a very long time but this storyline
is challenging.  I understand it’s a love
triangle but, whether consciously or unconsciously, seeing Iris attempting to
eat her cake and have too with Eddie and Barry all while embarrassing Linda the
way she did in the bowling alley scene and later at Joe’s house is not
enjoyable.
Make no mistake, I’m
not happy with Barry on this either.  He
had just as much of a hand in that as Iris did. 
I just want this wrapped up one way or another because it’s not fun to
watch characters I’ve loved this long behaving this way.
Returning to more enjoyable aspects of the episode, the
little touches were fun.  Cisco’s joy at
dubbing Mardon “Weather Wizard,” the relationship building (and
destroying) with Cisco and Wells, the nod to Barry’s classic “out of the
ring” costume change and last but not least, the nod to Quantum Leap at
the end were welcome moments.
It will be fun to watch Barry get a do-over and see what the
consequences of time travel will be in this Universe.
Three Things We Learned This Week:
1)     
Barry has successfully broken the time barrier.
2)     
Harrison Wells is actually Eobard Thawne.
3)     
Mason believes that Wells murdered Simon Stagg.
Three Four Oh Never Mind! Questions:
1)     
Does Mason have evidence or is he using Iris for
fishing purposes?
2)     
What happened to the original Barry at the end
of the episode? For that matter, what happened to the Future Barry at the
beginning of the episode?  Is this a
paradox?  Does the time traveler always
rep- ARGH!
3)     
What happens if Barry changes events?

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