This is an episode that requires heavy spoiler chat, so if you haven’t seen the episode, turn away now.
If you’re sticking around, I suggest you listen to R.E.M.’s Out of Time while reading, because it is a great album and shares a title with tonight’s episode. Forgive the KRS One cameo that does neither party any good, and let’s do this.
1. Shiny Happy People
One of the things that this show does so well is it speeds up (rimshot) the timeline that would be rationally expected for the show to follow. To have Iris find out that Barry is the Flash, to have Iris and Barry fall in love, to do all of that in the fifteenth episode of the show is a ballsy move. These are season 2, 3, hell, 5, moves, and the show is confident enough in its strengths to do all of this right now. No stalling, no waiting around, boom, we’re in this.
Of course, this also presents a whole set of issues, but I have to give the show props for taking a chance. Of course, they’re taking a chance on nearly passionless on-screen chemistry, but even that was much better played this week. To allow a bit of hope in the midst of a huge crisis is a smart move for a number of reasons.
2. Low
OK, so mea culpa – Wells is the Reverse Flash. I told you I’d probably be wrong about that and, alas, I was. But the handling of that plot point was done about as well as could possibly be expected. Plus, because of the official introduction of time travel into the show, it allows the show some wiggle room, where they can do crazy shit like kill Cisco, and then, you know, not kill Cisco. Because of the specificity of the time when Barry traveled back to, none of this episode’s big reveals – even the aforementioned romance – really happened. Sure, all the seeds are planted, but more or less, the show hit a big ‘ol reset button which, understandably, can frustrate some fans.
To save Cisco, and to ensure his future as Vibe, though? I’ll take that every day.
What the show must beware of, however, is to make this the new normal – to let Barry go back in time whenever convenient. The circumstances of a) trying to save Joe, b) getting extra motivation from making out with Iris, and c) the weather going haywire was probably enough to make this an isolated incident, but please keep it that way, producers.
3. Belong
Harrison Wells, aka Eobard Thawne, is a man stuck in the past, and has been grasping at any and all straws to get back to his time. Not that being away from home forgives psychopathy, but it gives his story a little more meat to it. It explains so much about the character’s choices – with the particle accelerator, perhaps he wasn’t trying to create Barry, but was trying to find a scientific route home? It explains why he’s so cold with others – he sees his time here as temporary, so he’d better not get attached. The internal consistency is sound, and allows the character to avoid passing into full on villain; we still (however slightly) sympathize with Harreobard, but if he keeps sticking his hand through Cisco’s chest, we won’t for long.
4. Country Feedback
I found the idea of a ‘speed oasis’ a fascinating one, as the explanation works for why Cisco saw two Harrisons on the night of the Reverse Flash’s trapping, but Barry also proved that, unlike Wells’s parlor trick, he was able to see himself in the speed force. This shows that either Barry is capable of greater speeds than Wells is, or that his speed comes from/taps into a different source (like the aforementioned speed force) than Wells’s does – regardless, the ability to, seemingly, split himself makes Wells even more dangerous than expected.
5. Endgame
Everything is leading up to Wells being the big bad of the first season, isn’t it? That is so crazy to me – this could’ve been a multi-year story arc that is hurtling towards a conclusion at a breakneck speed (rimshot). And with Heat Wave and Captain Cold pegged for the spin-off show, the producers are really going all in on this one big season, and letting next season figure itself out. That’s an exciting attitude, but one that I hope pays off, instead of crashing and burning.
