Corrina: When I woke up this morning, I found a lot of people geeking out over this episode last night. There were some compelling moments in it, primarily the confrontation between Cisco and Harrison Wells, and I always enjoy Spartacus. Especially since he once gave me a hug. (Well. Liam McIntyre did.)
However, all the cool stuff, including the big reveal, happened in the last third of the show. Had I not had to write this article with Mordechai, I might have given up.
Mordechai: Not to interrupt, but it’s worse than that. The second Barry sees himself, even for a second, we know every single thing in this episode is going to be reset. They’ve been setting us up for time travel for a whole now. Way to neuter any drama.
Source: CW.
Corrina: First, let’s take the waste of time that was the awkward double date. Once again, the creators make the mistake on this show of keeping the romance plot to the side of the main plots, instead of integrating them into the overall bones of the show. That makes Iris and now Linda completely side characters, which is evident again when they’re left cooling their heels as Barry and Eddie run off to the crime scene to do real work.
Source: CW.
At one point, the dialogue was so bad that my husband wandered in, shook his head, and wandered out. Jesse L. Martin’s Joe’s laughing at the ridiculous situation that the show has boxed his character into was the highlight for me of this part of the show. I’m with you, Joe! When you have characters commenting about how ludicrous a plot line is, that’s a clue that something is off-kilter with the writing itself. Do we have a shot of Joe laughing?
Mordechai: No, sorry. Instead I got this reaction shot, of Joe right after he laughs. I call this his “Man, I really should have sprung for some therapy for this kid.”
Corrina: However, Joe lost me a bit with his “don’t tell Iris” again. Yes, let’s not tell the possible target of a homicidal superpowered maniac that they might be in trouble so they can watch out for it. While we’re at it, please sometime tell Cisco not to leave his amazingly powerful wand (juvenile snigger) on display in the lobby of the police station. If the wand does what Cisco claims, then Doc Brown doesn’t need the bolt of lightning to power the DeLorean. He can just waltz in and grab Cisco’s toy.
Mordechai: Ugh, yes. The level of super-science Cisco pulls off, first with the time mirror, now this, makes me roll my eyes so hard that it hurts.
Corrina: Cisco could be Iron Man at this point. But I do adore Cisco, so I’m good with that.
Mordechai: As for the “Don’t Tell Iris” thing, I’m starting to see this as the producer’s main trope. It’s like “Well, Thea knows everything on Arrow now, so let’s make sure to move the “don’t tell” plot to The Flash.” It really bugs me, especially since this time Joe knows that Iris is in danger. By not telling her, he puts her at even more risk. There is absolutely no justification for this, except the continued juvenilization of Iris.
Source: CW.
But hey, let’s hear it for the show finally having a character motivated by the death of a man instead of a woman, eh?
Corrina: The stupidity of not having the wand in hand comes back to mess things up because the police captain is nearly killed saving Joe from Spartacus. Oh, look, a gay character. Let’s mention his fiance just before we nearly kill him! That will show our commitment to diversity!
Mordechai: Gay, minority character. Although let’s point out that this show has amazing diversity (especially compared to Arrow), so it’s hard to complain about that in general.
Also, don’t forget that the bad guy is able to get into an elevator at a police precinct, one where there is a manhunt for him going on. Sorry? Are BOLOs or APBs not a thing? Shouldn’t have been able to get on the block, let alone in the building.
Source: CW.
Corrina: Hey, he is Spartacus.
Now for the portion of the show that is good and drives me nuts because it makes it hard to completely quit the show. Tom Cavanaugh as Wells is absolutely chilling in this episode and Cisco broke my heart. Their confrontation may be the single best scene in the entire season.
Mordechai: Yes indeed. I’m annoyed at the need for an outside force (the reporter) to make them all take notice, but the actual scenes with Cisco are brilliant. And as an old Flash fan, I’m happy that the Reverse Flash they went with was the first. So much for my “Older, evil Barry” theory, but I am very, very okay with that.
Source: CW.
Corrina: Their confrontation had all the feeling that I thought Barry and Iris’ first kiss should have had. Barry also confesses his secret ID, and tries to save the city from the giant wave.
Spartacus thinks big. He’s very “let’s kill them all.”
Mordechai: I can’t decide which bugs me more – the horrible kiss scene, the forced “Linda shows up just in time to see Barry leave with Iris and get brushed off,” or Weather Wizard’s overkill.
Source: CW.
I thought he wanted revenge on Joe? Killing Iris is revenge. A tsunami is just wanton destruction. It ups the stakes, but to the point of that it’s comical.
Oh, and can I mention how much I hate the Linda/Iris and Iris/Eddie interactions this episode? SO much.
Corrina: I love the forward motion in tonight’s plot.
But I’m worried that since Barry went back in time at the end that all will be erased. I want Cisco to not be killed, of course, but I bet we’ll also get a setback in Barry and Iris’ relationship, as the kiss and the secret identity reveal will be wiped away.
Why do I care? Because I hope once this whole “keep things secret from Iris” went away, the character would be out of the muck of the awful romance subplot and be an active player in the main plots.
Source: CW.
Mordechai: Sorry, but the reset is absolutely happening. In one or two episodes, Captain Singh will be alive, Cisco will be alive, the tsunami wouldn’t have happened, and Iris will be back to being in the dark, for lots more “will they/won’t they” fun. What I do think will be interesting is the how.
Corrina: I’ve heard speculation that what we’ve seen this season is the alternate reality and we’ll see the actual reality next season. Or we’ll get Jay Garrick. Or Wally West. I fear you’re right about the Iris reset. When this show does big comic book stuff, however, it does it really well. Which is why my Facebook feed was full of people who loved this episode.
I just can’t overlook the other flaws.
Mordechai: I’m pretty sure we won’t see Wally till season two. Jay would be neat, though.
As you noted, the Wells bits in this episode were perfect, and why I keep coming back. It will be interesting to see how the show has Barry handle the heel-turn, and if it’s something that will be impacted by the reset at all. Will Barry know, but Wells not know he knows? Will Wells now be a straight-up antagonist?
I’ll keep watching to see.
Ok, willing to forgive a TON of things in this show, as I love it. So here’s things I liked:
1) Zoom killing Cisco with a vibrating hand (if ONLY it were Iris. . it would be cannon, and make the show so much better).
2) Barry seeing another version of himself. I did not think it took away any drama, as I didn’t think Barry is gonna time-travel when I saw it. . I thought perhaps we were seeing Wally coming into the show (to deal with the “extra girl” problem)
3) Chief being gay (and now crippled) as in the comic. No huge reveal, no standing around in shock over the revelation . . tho I DID think it was a bit unrealistic for the nurse to back down so quickly when Joe said they guy was his “fiancee”. . better would have been if she hemmed and hawed a bit with Joe having to say. . “cmon. . . . ”
4) Cisco. . damn, what a GREAT scene.
and the one thing I really, really disliked was the give-away that it would all be undone — the professor leaving his wheelchair in the middle of CCJitters, and showing Caitlin and the world, that he’s been lying about being crippled.
but overall? still loving it!
# 1 was great. That entire scene was great. Both actors nailed every line.
# 2 Sorry, but since they’ve been saying over and over “the first time Barry jumps in time it will be an accident”. I’ve been waiting for that. Obvious to me.
# 3 They’ve mentioned his fiance being male at least two other times. Once in the pilot, and once in an episode where he talks about how he’s on a diet.
# 4 Seriously.
Yup. No drama. They can do whatever now.
See, when I saw Barry see himself next to him I thought they were setting up an 11th Doctor kind of thing where at the end of the season we see Barry trying to run back in time and flashing to different points from the show. I didn’t think they would pay off the time flip in this episode. It didn’t ruin any of the tension for me.
Regarding the relationships. Since Wells revealed himself as a Thawne, Eddie’s relationship with Iris is really important to the overall story. This is where The Thawne family hatred of The Flash starts.. All because they went bowling.
I think the show was smart to pay off the viewers with some answers, but then reset the plot so now the show is about how Barry can avoid those pitfalls. We’ve seen the worst case scenario, so how do we get to one where Cisco doesn’t die.
I liked it a lot.
I guess my brain just went there faster.
CURSE YOU, BOWLING! But seriously, it’s not so much the relationship as it is the cluelessness of all involved. Iris and Barry both act like their fifteen or something. I guess that’s what bugs me.
The reset will be fun, just you know, not invested now.
To me, this pretty much means that they have to break Iris and Eddie up. If only to keep Iris from becoming Eobard/Wells’ great-great-nth grandma.
(Though if they do introduce Bart, they could split the difference…)