This week on The Flash, Barry’s need to go faster has him racing through time to ask the only man who knows more about the Speed Force than he does – Eobard Thawne!
SPOILERS AHEADÂ
Barry is obsessed with finding out how to go faster and he’s willing to do anything to figure out how to do it and beat Zoom. He has dinner with the West’s where Iris tells him that she went on a date with her boss but she can’t stop thinking about Eddie. It’s during dinner when Wally is telling them about reading journals of old mechanics for ideas that Barry is struck with inspiration. With Caitlyn and Cisco’s help, Barry decides to go back in time to meet Eobard Thawne and get him to teach Barry about the Speed Force. They figure out the perfect time for Barry to go back and impersonate himself (way back when he fought Hartley), but Wells, frustrated from being unable to find Jessie, tries to dissuade Barry for fear of altering the timeline. Caution be damned, Barry races into the past, but shows up early and things are not off to a good start.
As old Barry does battle with Hartley, our Barry’s comms cross with his, causing feedback. Our Barry uses Hartley’s attack on old Barry to nab his past self and after a brief struggle, manages to sedate him and take his place. He brings Hartley in and because Barry just can’t get this whole ‘don’t alter the timeline’ through his thick skull, immediately alters the timeline by telling Cisco about Hartley hidden bombs that he used to escape. Barry gets to talking to Wells and asks him to help him with his formula which simply adds to the growing list of things to tip Thawn off. At CCPD, Joe and Eddie are discussing a case when a Dementor (a joke the show also makes) shows up in Barry’s lab and begins to run amok. Flash takes off to catch the thing but it escapes the station before he can arrive.
He ends up seeing Eddie as he cleans up his lab and he can’t hide how weird it is. Barry tries to downplay the wraith’s appearance to the team, but that only tips his hand. Thawn takes him aside and knocks him unconscious, locking him up in the Time Vault where he questions him. Barry concocts a story about Thawn winning but also threatens to reveal the truth about Thawn to the Barry of this timeline. This gives Thawn pause and the wraith shows up at STAR Labs while Cisco is questioning Hartley. Cisco, Hartley and Caitlyn hide in the cell as the wraith tries to smash his way in. Wells tells Barry it’s a Time Wraith and they hunt speedsters who time travel and screw with the timeline. Hartley ends up using his gauntlets to tune to the right frequency and drive off the wraith. The team figures out that Barry is the key and go about finding the solution to getting rid of the wraith.
Barry can’t find anything to help him in his lab, but he does end up getting Eddie to tell him all about why he loves Iris on his phone – a record that I’m sure he’ll use when he does his return trip. The team is about to get Hartley’s help on stopping the wraith when other Barry shows up looking for our Barry. Our Barry arrives and begins to explain things before Thawn stops him from muddying up the timeline any further. Thawn gives him the formula he used to enhance the Speed Force before they find the Wraith and our Barry needs to race home before the Wraith kills him. He tells Caitlyn and Cisco that they have a year to figure out how to stop that thing before taking off to open the wormhole. The wraith tries to stop him but other Flash comes to the rescue and our Flash makes the race through time but the wraith is still hot on his heels. He gets back to the present and Caitlyn and Cisco use their weapon to stop it but it doesn’t work. Luckily, Hartley is there to stop it with his gauntlets.
So, it looks like the timeline is mostly safe except that Hartley’s parents didn’t die and now he helps the team out instead of being a villain. Now they have the equation and Barry bonds with Wells over his role as a father and the fact that they are both tortured by the decisions they have made. Barry shows Iris the video he took of Eddie which makes Iris well up but it appears to be helping her move on. We end on Barry picking up Jay’s helmet, promising that he’s coming for him.
The time travel episodes of The Flash are always interesting because I love a good time travel story and it’s fun to see a different outlook on a story you’ve already seen. However, it is infuriating to see Barry just purposely screw with the timeline even though he not only knows that he shouldn’t, but he says it himself and warns others about it. I mean, what the hell, man? Just DON’T change the timeline!
Anyway, factoring in Thawn’s formula to help Barry go faster could be pretty cool and make the fight with Zoom much more interesting. In saying that, the way Thawn acted makes me feel like he could possibly be throwing his old nemesis under the bus here. Nothing like a good ‘screw you’ from beyond the grave. As for the rest of the happenings in the episode – Hartley helping them out could be interesting in the future, but I feel like perhaps he may have been here just to show a change in the timeline. As well, the stuff with Iris is certainly inconsequential yet again this week, so I really wish they would just write her out already. A good death would certainly create a lot of story options for The Flash … just saying.
Next week is entitled ‘Versus Zoom’, so that holds a lot of promise! Things are bound to go poorly for our hero with 6 episodes remaining but it should be a great episode of The Flash none the less!
Doug Mercer reviews The Flash each week, so stay tuned right here for future episodes! Also, check out our recent reviews of Arrow and 11/22/63!