- Title: The Flash – Out of Time
- wiki: link
The Flash delivers a game-changing episode including removing any doubt as to the identity of the Reverse-Flash, allowing Iris (Candice Patton) to admit her feelings for Barry (Grant Gustin) and discover his secret, and deliver the death of a major character. Or did it? The show’s creators have been teasing us for some time that time travel will play an important role of the show’s run and that all begins with “Out of Time,” first when Barry catches a glimpse of another version of himself and later as the character discovers he has been offered a second chance to change the events the past day and alter the timeline.
The episode’s main villain is Clyde Mardon‘s (Chad Rook) brother Mark (Liam McIntyre) who has the same weather-altering abilities as his brother and a vendetta against the police officer who shot him: Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). Keeping Joe safe is a priority for Barry and the show sells his need to keep his adoptive father-figure safe. That said, nearly every memorable moment of the episode comes from its B-story as more and more characters begin to question the motives of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) and one unlucky character will see the truth for himself.
The reveal of Wells is expertly handled from Caitlin‘s (Danielle Panabaker) reaction to the empty wheelchair to Cisco (Carlos Valdes) first, and final, honest encounter with the the man behind the yellow mask. And how about Barry and Iris finally admitting the truth to each other? It’s all so good I’m sad the show is going to write over those events next week. And even the episode’s romantic subplots work this week not as filler but directly feeding into the major themes of the show as Linda Park (Malese Jow) and Eddie‘s (Rick Cosnett) reaction to witnessing the closeness between Iris and Barry force Miss West to take stock about her true feelings for Barry Allen.
As the episode comes to an end Barry finds himself with the foreknowledge of what will happen (but not of the dark truths surrounding Wells). The audience is also clued into why Wells has been helping Barry strive to get more control of his speed suggesting the Reverse-Flash (who is indeed a time traveler as he is in the comics) is dependent on his foe being at this peak levels to be at the top of his game as well. I’m guessing Barry will save the day, and likely Cisco’s life, making changes to the past but in doing so will obscure Wells’ motives and likely stymie any chance of Barry and Iris getting together this season.
