The past is present and the future reveals itself.
What They Say:
Out Of Time – Mark Mardon, also known as the Weather Wizard, targets Joe, who shot Mark’s older brother, Cylde; Cisco starts to wonder if Joe was right about Dr. Wells.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While The Flash hasn’t had a really long break overall in the last few weeks, when you think back at all that’s happened you realize just how layered and complex the show is with what it wants to do, while still being distinct in its approach compared to Arrow. We’ve had a lot of things ramping up with the number and variety of the villains, the interpersonal relationships and the growing teases about the truth with Wells and what he’s really after. It’s also really embraced its comic book science side in some ways, such as getting a greater exploration of the past that opens up the door to time travel, which while not an outlandish idea in general in modern media, is one that still feels like it’s asking a lot of your more casual viewers that are just enjoying the way the show operates in general. But with other time elements seeded throughout the season, it’s certainly not a shocker.
With the cold open here, things go back a year as we see what happened in the pilot era with Clyde, who Joe took out when he tried to kill Barry as the “weather wizard” at the time. With a new perspective given on the events that lead to his gaining power, we see him in the plane with his brother and how it affected both of them and put them both in a hell of a dangerous situation, which certainly explains some of how Clyde was completely off balance in a lot of ways. Contrasting that with the present, where we see Barry out on a date with Linda at a bowling alley is definitely fun since the two of them are definitely getting close and have a connection. Of course, things go a bit wonky when they run into Iris and Eddie there and end up hanging out together, though you can see Iris sniping in some fun ways towards Linda over it.
While the double date of sorts doesn’t go well as Iris is just totally making things uncomfortable, Eddie and Barry get out of it when a murder happens at the morgue, which is where Clyde’s brother Mark had killed the coroner in an effort to find out who it was that killed his brother. Barry’s racing there is interesting, but we see a neat problem along the way as another Flash slides up along him along the way, which freaks out Barry in a big way. The actual crime scene brings things together from the events of six months prior when Clyde was killed and Joe realizes that it’s Mark that’s come back for revenge. That just makes everyone pretty much as tense as you can be when you realize what it all really means. Joe’s the calmest of it all though, since he’s likely had similar issues in the past and has certainly lived a long life as a cop.
Of course, they’re now dealing with a metahuman and that changes things in a big way. and the first attack is pretty fun to watch as he goes with some great weather attack that kind of sneaks up on Joe and Barry before it nearly turns deadly. It’s not something that goes far, since Mardon is basically playing with him, and that lets the show work in other areas for a bit as well. That has Iris being shown some pictures at work that has her trying to get information from Barry about the way that Wells is seemingly connected with a lot of unusual things that have gone on in the last year. Her questioning isn’t the most subtle, but even though Barry resists, you know that it’s starting to eat away at Barry and chip at his belief that Wells is a good guy. Things can add up for only so long before he has to really come to grips with it.
Naturally, Mardon has to get into the mix to throw the dynamic off again, and we see him make a big play in going after Joe at the station since he’s not really thinking about The Flash as being an opponent. That situation goes badly quickly with Singh being taken out for the moment and Barry having to deal with that after pushing off Mardon for the moment. It’s typical superhero stuff as a way to keep the hero occupied while the villain gets away, but it plays well enough with the consequences of what’s going on. It also gives us a little hospital time where we get Joe and Barry waiting outside with him, but also a good sequence involving Singh’s significant other, who is getting some really bad news out of his. Mardon’s lightning strike did a huge number on Singh and has likely scrambled his head and they’re not even sure if he’ll walk again. Mardon’s all about revenge here for what happened to his brother and he’s intent on hitting those that matter to Joe. Which naturally puts Barry and Iris in the crosshairs, not that Mardon realizes who Barry is.
As the show races towards its final act, there’s some good angles to it being played. While Barry is questioning more about what Wells may be involved in, Cisco is investigating what happened when they had the Reverse-Flash trapped before and how he managed to escape, which leads to more questions as Cisco understands some of the trick of it all. While Caitlin tries to distract Wells at the coffee shop, it doesn’t last long as he figures out what’s going on and he ends up revealing himself to her in a less than subtle way while going back to deal with Cisco. Revealing his real name to be Eobard Thawne, Wells shows some of his tricks in a fun way here, showing just how well acquainted he is with the speed force. And it completely puts things together for Cisco in a big way, breaking down aspects of it, and the truth that Wells was there in the past to kill Barry when he ended up killing his mother instead by accident. Wells reveal about being marooned in this time definitely paints him in a great way here with what his goals are and what he’s trying to accomplish with Barry. It turns surprisingly emotional, and we get some great material out of Cisco in his reactions, and it provides something for the show that has definitely been lacking in comparison to Arrow with a character death.
This comes as Joe and Eddie get caught up in Mardon’s plan to capture and torture him, which is pretty intense with what he’s done. Torturing Joe, referencing what Mardon went through in the plane, is definitely intense as there’s a lot of history there and seeing how Joe pushes back definitely says a lot about his character. Everything moves towards the encounter at the waterfront, with some unwelcome material between Barry and Iris over their feelings, but thankfully that gets pushed to the side as Mardon has created a tsunami to take out a good chunk of the city. Time is short though and Barry has a lot to do to stop it, which results in him revealing his identity to Iris. What we get is a solid visual effects sequence that lets Barry go all out at a level he hasn’t before, competing against Mardon in a big superhero way, but there’s also that sense that it rings hollow in some ways considering what just happened to Cisco. Having him achieve a bit of time travel through it though is fantastic and starts to open that door.
In Summary:
While we can see some of the tricks that will help to fix certain things that happen in this episode, which to some may undercut the impact of it, it doesn’t really matter. The Flash turns in a strong episode here overall with what it does and teases us in a great way with a giant what if before taking a different approach to coping with the problems that Barry has to face. It’s definitely comic book-y in all the right ways with what it wants to do and definitely delights throughout. Some of the interpersonal stuff with Iris is where it can be a bit grating at times, because she’s just making it harder to like her, but the bulk of the episode is strong and definitely the kind of episode that would be a season finale for most other shows out there, not just one in the back half like it is.
Grade: A-
