Uncategorized

FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 1×19- “Who is Harrison Wells?”

The Flash (1×19) – “Who
is Harrison Wells?”
Written by: Ray Utarnachitt &
Cortney Norris
Directed by: Wendey Stanzler
*Note: Sorry for the
lateness this week.  I had dental surgery
last week and between getting back into the swing of things at work and follow
up doctor’s appointments, it could not be helped.
After a quick run to Coast City for a pizza, Barry, Eddie,
Joe, Caitlin and Cisco meet at Joe’s to discuss what evidence they have on
Harrison Wells.  It’s still not much, and
Caitlin is far from convinced.  Joe and
Eddie plan to head to Starling City to investigate the car accident Wells and
his wife were in.  Barry believes that
something happened to change Wells completely but Caitlin believes it’s just
grief.
Meanwhile at Gold City Bank, two women are closing up for
the day.  One of the women stays behind
to clear out the safety deposit boxes. 
The next day she’s been arrested and Eddie is showing her clearly on the
security cameras though she is adamant that it was not her.
 Eddie discusses the
woman with Barry later.  She has no prior
record and everyone describes her as the nicest person they ever met, he
believes a metahuman might be involved. 
Barry promises to look into it. 
Iris shows up, and after giving Eddie the cold shoulder she asks Barry
where Joe is.  The two men say he’s taking
a long weekend and Iris leaves.  Eddie
tells Barry he hopes Joe and Cisco find something because he’s tired of lying
to Iris.  Barry agrees.
A man is trying to sell off the items stolen from the bank at
a jewelry store but the manager checks against registration numbers in the
diamonds and calls the police.  At STAR
Labs, Barry is trying to explain to Caitlin why he thinks Wells is the Reverse
Flash but she tells him she needs hard evidence.  Wells arrives and asks what they’re
discussing and Barry tells him about the metahuman that he and Eddie suspect
robbed the bank.  Wells is all too happy
to help with the metahuman but when he asks about Cisco Caitlin explains that
he’s out of town helping Dante with something.
Eddie calls Barry from the jewelry store when the man makes
Eddie and he asks Barry for some backup.  
Eddie chases the man down and he manages to subdue Eddie and start to
escape when the Flash arrives.  However
the man touches a nearby punk rocker girl then changes into her form and
escapes.
Barry returns to the Lab and after explaining what he saw
the shape-shifter do Caitlin and Wells warn him off because there is a change
he could copy Barry’s ability but it is even more likely that the man could
expose Barry secret identity if he assumes Barry’s form.  Barry then asks Wells to look through the
CCPD records for any stories like the bank robbery since the Accelerator
explosion. 
From there they hit on a man who was “caught”
stealing from a credit union he worked at who claimed he was framed by a
co-worker named “Hannibal Bates.” 
Barry leaves to take the information to Eddie.
Joe and Cisco arrive at the Starling City Police Department
to ask Captain Lance about Wells’ car accident. 
He hands them the report, telling them the accident was pretty cut and
dry.  Lance asks them what about the case
has them curious and Joe tells them he’s not sure but he has a hunch.  Laurel Lance and asks her father for a case
file on behalf of the DA’s office.  Lance
tells her the file isn’t ready yet and leaves after introducing Joe and Cisco
to her. 
Laurel recognizes their names and asks to speak to Cisco
privately.  In an interrogation room, she
tells Cisco that she knows he works with Barry because she’s the Black
Canary.  After Cisco takes a moment to
gush and put his foot in her mouth, Laurel asks him if he could help her modify
Sara’s sonic device.  Cisco is happy to
help her and has a few ideas how.
That evening, Dr. Wells has returned home but shortly after
he pours himself a drink, Caitlin has arrived at his door but by the time he
can get back into his chair and answer the doorbell Barry arrives and races her
away.  She’s angry but Barry tells her
she cannot tip Wells off that they’re suspicious.  She says she has to talk to Wells she owes it
to him after he was there for her at her lowest point in the months following
the Explosion.  Barry counters that he’s
trying to get his free his father and if she won’t help Barry he’s begging her
to help his father. 
Later, Eddie and Barry arrive at Hannibal Bates’ last known
address.  They find his grandmother, she
hasn’t seen him in a while but she is remarkably unconcerned considering she
filed a missing person’s report over a year ago.  She claims she forgot and offers the two men
a cup of coffee.  Barry looks around and
when he asks if she has a recent picture of Bates they see the woman has
left.  Eddie goes out the backdoor and
sees the grandmother change into the woman from the bank and run off.  He gives chase.
Barry calls STAR Labs and they advise him not to touch Bates
or let him see Barry use his powers. 
Barry runs off at normal speed. 
Eddie chases her through the neighborhood between the houses and seems
to lose her just as a patrol car arrives. 
When the officers get out of their car to offer assistance, “Eddie”
shoots them and then the dash cam. 
Eddie and Barry arrive moments later to find the two
officers down and call 911.  The next day
at the Police Station, Barry and Captain Singh are talking with the DA saying
that the officers are severely injured and Eddie is likely to fry.  Singh tells her it’s not what it looks like,
but despite Central City being home to people like the Flash and Captain Cold,
she’s not inclined to believe any theories they have.  After she leaves, Singh asks Barry if he has
anything.  Barry doesn’t but he will.
He leaves Singh’s office and finds Iris extremely distraught
over Eddie’s fate, Barry promises to get Eddie exonerated.
Joe, Cisco and Captain Lance arrive at the scene of Wells’
car accident and begin to look for evidence with some sort of custom device
Cisco cooked up.  While Cisco searches
the area Lance and Joe discuss their daughters. 
Lance tells Joe that Laurel kept something from him (Sara’s death) for
months and he’s not sure he can forgive. 
Which gives Joe and view of what he’s doing to Iris from her point of
view but Joe says that sometimes you have to keep secrets to protect your
family, giving Lance Laurel’s perspective. 
It’s then that Cisco finds traces of Tachyons, evidence of time travel.
Back in Central City, Eddie is talking to the DA when Barry
arrives with forensic evidence that prove Eddie didn’t fire a gun that
night.  However, the DA doesn’t think
this is enough evidence to counter the video. 
Barry tries to explain Hannibal’s powers again but she cuts him off and
leaves. 
Eddie seems to be losing hope but Barry is not going to let
another person he’s close to go to jail for a crime they didn’t commit.  He races Eddie out of the station and tells
him to run but Eddie refuses.  If he has
any hope of being a cop again Barry has to save him the right way.  Barry agrees then returns him to the interrogation
room.
Barry returns home to shower and change however when he
hears a knock he finds Eddie there.  Eddie tells him Captain Singh pulled some
strings to get him released.  Barry says
that’s great but when he turns his back “Eddie” reveals himself as
Bates when he pistol whips him.  Bates
then takes Barry’s form and ties him up but before he can leave Caitlin arrives
with a plan to counter Bates’ powers.
Joe and Cisco are digging at the site of the tachyons and
find a body.  Lance is prepared to call
it in but Joe asks him not to as a personal favor.  He’s afraid of what could happen if word
about the body gets out.
Later at STAR Labs, Caitlin is finishing up her serum to
stop Bates aka “Everyman” while Bates as Barry looks on.  Bates tries to distract Caitlin by kissing
her but Iris shows up before he can do much more than that.  She’s gone through the newspaper’s archives
and found crimes similar to Eddie’s situation. 
She then used her father’s computer to look at the dash cam video.  When she shows them the video of Bates as
Eddie it shows that Bates is left handed while Eddie isn’t.  Bates pulls out his gun and as he’s about to attack
Iris and Caitlin he’s tased by Dr. Wells from behind.
Iris decides to take the now unconscious Bates to the police
to prove Eddie’s innocence and Caitlin offers to help.  However while they’re driving to the police
station they get caught in traffic, Bates comes to and changes into a little
girl and starts screaming for help.  A
nearby construction crew comes over and helps Bates out of the car.  He then runs off.
Barry is still tied up in a closet when Caitlin arrives and
slaps him to wake him up before helping him loose.  Meanwhile, Joe and Lance are wrapping things
up at the Starling City Police Station. 
Joe urges Lance to bury the hatchet with Laurel.
Meanwhile, Cisco has a gift for Laurel.  He’s created a new upgraded sonic device that
is smaller, more powerful and is attached to a choker necklace.  He dubs the device “The Canary
Cry.”  In return, Laurel gives him
her “payment” a picture of Cisco and the Black Canary.
Back at STAR Labs, Wells and Caitlin have good news for
Barry.  While Bates can look like anyone
he cannot take their memories or powers. 
Also, Caitlin has completed her serum. 
They then use the GPS in Barry’s phone to track Bates.  Later at the airport, Barry is looking for
Bates but seems to be having no luck until he sees someone at the TSA
checkpoint appear strange in the body scanner. 
Barry chases the man into the service tunnels and the two
fight it out.  Bates continues using his
powers for a psychological advantage by changing into first Caitlin and then
Iris but the advantage eventually breaks down and Barry injects him the serum.  Bates collapses in pain and Barry takes him
back to STAR Labs.
At the Station, Singh and Barry show the DA the security
footage of the Flash’s fight with Bates and she agrees to release Eddie and
look into the previous cases that Barry believes Bates was involved in.  Eddie and Iris reunite and he tells her that
the secret he’s been keeping was that he’s working with the Flash.
 Later, Barry, Wells
and Caitlin have Bates locked up in the Pipeline and while he’s shifting forms they
ask what his original form looks like. 
Unfortunately for Bates, he’s spent so much time imitating other people
he’s forgotten what he looks like.
After Wells leaves Barry takes Caitlin to the
Station.  They show her the body from
Starling City and reveal that he is indeed Harrison Wells.  Which leaves the question, who have they been
working with all this time? 
Joe and Wells cross paths in the Station lobby and discuss
Eddie’s arrest.  Wells ask how Joe’s trip
to Starling was.  Joe plays it off as
simply working on a case.  Wells then
brings up Joe’s late wife and says that they share that kind of loss.  He offers to have a drink with Joe to talk it
over sometime and Joe accepts.  After
Wells leaves, Joe breathes a sigh of relief.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco is using a program he wrote to recreate
the night of the explosion.  He’s trying
to find anything out of the ordinary when he finds a room that should not
exist.  He Barry and Caitlin investigate
and stumble upon Wells’ Future Room. 
Complete with the Reverse Flash suit and the Newspaper Headline of
Barry’s disappearance in April of 2024.
After last week, it felt like the show had nowhere to go but
up and they came out swinging.  This was
a much, much stronger episode. 
Everyman’s gimmick was used very well; both as a villain and as a
vehicle for moving character development forward.  Iris finally felt more like a fleshed out
character as opposed to the “angry girlfriend” plot device and as a
result made her much more sympathetic. 
Caitlin’s awkwardness with both Bates-as-Barry and later
Barry was a good comedic counterpoint for her emotionally torn start earlier in
the episode and it was good to see Barry and Eddie’s friendship grow.  The crossover was handled far better this
week than in previous crossover episode and last but not lease the final act set
up the final push of the season very well. 
Lastly, the strength of this episode was Wells.   
Now that he is officially revealed as the
Reverse Flash to the characters, every moment he’s on screen has a level of
menace that gives things weight.  This is
most keenly felt in his final talk with Joe, knowing both men are lying to each
other and completely distrustful of each other adds so much tension.
Three Things We
Learned This Week:
1)     
Barry is running faster than he ever has.
2)     
Caitlin feels her career is in ruins.
3)     
Barry now has absolute proof that Wells is both
not Harrison Wells and is the Reverse Flash.
Three Questions:
1)     
Is it really “dirty pool” for Barry to
want to get his father out of prison after he’s spent over fifteen years there
for a crime he did not commit?
2)     
Is the Central City DA a potential ally for Team
Flash in the future?
3)     
Has Iris completely pieced together that Ronnie
was the Burning Man?

Just another guy on the internet.