The Flash
Episode Title: “Out of Time”
Channel: CW
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Writers: Todd Helbing and Aaron
Helbing
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 43
min
Rated: TV-PG
Original Air Date: March 17,
2015
It's
good to have The Flash
back, and “Out of Time” didn't disappoint. If I'm being
completely honest, and I always am, I don't remember the last time I
finished an episode of television feeling the way I did after this
one. Major spoilers ahead!
That
being said, it wasn't all bright moments in “Out of Time.”
Barry's love life is again a large focus of the narrative. Iris and
Eddie just happen to be at the bowling alley that Barry and Linda go
to on a date. They decide to make it a double and it doesn't take
long for both Linda and Eddie to become uncomfortable with the close
relationship between Barry and Iris. I know that the romance angle
is going to play a large part in the show, but I could really use a
break from it for a couple of weeks. I'm not someone that can't
tolerate the character of Iris, but some of her actions on the date
served to make her less likable. The cleaning of Barry's face
especially shouted “I'm going to see how far I can take the playful
flirting” a little too loudly. Her actions just didn't suit
someone that is supposedly in a committed relationship.
The
villain this week should sound familiar. Remember the bad guy in the
pilot, Clyde Mardon's Weather Wizard? Here we're introduced to his
brother, Mark Mardon. He was with his brother when the explosion at
S.T.A.R. Labs occurred and was imbued with the same powers. He's
back in Central City to get revenge for his brother's shooting and
Joe West is his target. He's a little better with his powers than
his little brother but just as forgettable. After being driven away
from the police station after attacking Joe and injuring Capt. Singh,
Mardon captures Joe and reveals that he doesn't want to only punish
Joe. He wants to punish those close to West as well, luring Iris and
Barry to the waterfront to exact his revenge.
Taking
a break from the villain's murderous plot for a moment lets get into
the real meat and potatoes of this episode. Iris was approached by
one of her coworkers, his name escapes me as he's not been very
important to this point, concerning his suspicions that Harrison
Wells killed Simon Stagg. Wells did kill Stagg way back in the
second episode, “Fastest Man Alive,” but only the audience knows
that. Iris approached Barry in an attempt to get him to question his
friends at the lab about Dr. Wells. Caitlin is sure that Harrison
had nothing to do with it, but Cisco, given his and Joe's previous
suspicions, decides to look into it further. It's a bit convoluted,
but that's how Cisco gets himself into a very dangerous situation.
He has suspected that there was something 'off' about the night that
the team managed to trap the Reverse Flash in the lab. He convinced
Caitlin to get Wells out of the facility to give him time to look
into the events of that night further. He discovers that there was
nothing wrong with his equipment, some sort of hologram had been set
up in the containment field, there was no one inside! Meanwhile,
Wells sensed something wrong in Caitlin's demeanor, got
out of his chair,
and ran back to the lab. Once confronted with the failure of his
elaborate ruse Wells has no choice but to kill Cisco. Carlos Valdes
was really good in this scene, conveying the sadness and hurt Cisco
was feeling due to the betrayal of his mentor and father figure well.
During the mandatory villain monologue phase of the showdown Dr.
Wells revealed that he's actually Eobard Thawne, and he's trapped in
our time. Apparently he needs the Flash's power to get back to his
original time.
Back
at the waterfront Iris and Barry arrive in time to see a massive
tidal wave caused by Mardon. Following Iris's admission that she
can't stop thinking about Barry, and a kiss, Barry is forced to
reveal his secret to Iris. He changes into his Flash gear and heads
out to stop the tsunami headed towards the coast by creating some
sort of wind wall along the coast line to sap the energy from the
wave. It sounds ridiculous but that's not the point. Barry pushes
his speed past anything he's achieved previously and runs himself
back in time, undoing the events of the last couple of days. Now
that he knows some of what's going to happen it's clear that the
events will not unfold as they did, but just how different are things
going to be, and what will the unintended consequences of his
meddling in time be? The last quarter of this episode was pretty
shocking, but now the audience has specifics regarding topics which
the characters are barely informed on or oblivious to. It's not as
bad as an “it was all a dream” scenario but it will have to be
handled very carefully for audiences to buy into the new events.
Conclusion:
Some boring relationship stuff early on kept “Out of Time” from
being much more enjoyable. The shocking last quarter contained some
of the best moments of the show thus far, but if the follow up
episodes aren't handled very delicately all of those moments could be
for naught. The writers really need to figure out a way to use their
villains more effectively. So far even the recurring ones have too
weakly developed to make an impression.
Rating:
8/10
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