WARNING! SPOILERS!
The Flash has been on fire so far, and episode seventeen continued the strong form that this series has been in with its first season, with Mark Hamill knocking it out of the park in his role as the guest star, James Jesse, the original Trickster. Hamill made an excellent addition to the show as the latest member of The Flash’s Rogues Gallery, with his character more in tune to his Joker from the Arkham games as opposed to his Luke Skywalker character. And to top things off, The Flash had a nice homage to Star Wars as well, with the “I am your father line,” being uttered, making this episode one of the most enjoyable of the week.
Yes, this was the campiest that The Flash has been so far, with both Hamill and Davon Gray really playing up the cheese in their roles as both the original and the new Trickster respectively, but in an episode of two halves, we got a significantly darker backstory focused on Harrison Wells and the revelation that yes, the man in the Yellow Suit is Eobard Thawne, and Thawne himself is actually the same person as Wells. It was a very interesting twist that was played out very well in the flashbacks (we learnt where the idea for STAR Labs comes from) as we got to see the fifteen years from Thawne’s perspective. The revelation that Harrison Wells was once a genuine person was interesting to see as well, and we got a really good performance from Tom Cavangah in this week’s episode as his story was just as intriguing as Barry’s struggles against the Trickster.
Both Cavangah and Gustin were in top form this week in the subplot that showed Barry starting to lose faith in Wells. This was handled very well with some great interplay between the two characters that really worked. In lesser hands, the side-story could have been a distraction from the main focus of the week of the Tricksters, who were both given the right amount of development to become really awesome villains, with Mark Hamill instantly establishing himself as one of the strongest antagonists that the show has had to date. However, the Barry/Wells subplot was handled well enough to keep the audience captivated. But that doesn’t mean everything is back to normal at the episode’s end, though. We got Barry revealing his identity to Eddie in what made a really interesting turn, and was something that I wasn’t expecting so soon. It certainly creates an interesting dilemma for Eddie’s character now, as he has to keep this secret from Iris, and whilst this appeared to be a somewhat random addition, it was nice to see that Barry is now working with Eddie and Joe to bring West down, playing the long game.
As a result of this week’s developments, it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens when the team eventually confronts Wells. I don’t see him staying as part of S.T.A.R. Labs for more than one season when his revelation as Thawne is uncovered, but the longer that Cavangah stays on the team the more awesome it’s going to be, because he’s one of the best additions to the cast. Either way, I’m sure that The Flash has something really interesting lined up and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Also, just as a side note – was this the first time the words “Speed Force” were uttered on this show? I think so. Again, it’s always great to see the series putting in more comic book stuff where it can.
One final point before I finish, there’ll be no new episode of this show next week – it takes a break until April 14, when we should see all the remaining episodes aired without interruptions to the schedule. The episode hitting on April 14 looks like a pretty interesting one to say the least as well, with Ray and Felicity stopping by in Central City for Ray to get an upgrade on his suit. The last time Felicity paid a visit to Central City, we got one of the best episodes of the show, so hopefully, we’ll get something similar here.
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