Check out Josh’s recap of Season 1 Episode 19 of The Flash, titled Who Is Harrison Wells?, where the team deals with a new meta-human, who has the power of shapeshifting! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of The Flash, Season 1 Episode 19: Who Is Harrison Wells?
So this week’s episode of The Flash begins with Barry narrating–he is worried about his past chasing him. The new Dr. Wells investigation team now includes Barry, Joe, Cisco, Eddie, and a reluctant Caitlin. Joe and Cisco have a mission to go to Starling City to investigate the car crash that Dr. Wells was in. Caitlin tries to defend Wells, and Joe seems concerned that Caitlin might not be on board with what is going on.
Later at STAR Labs, Caitlin doesn’t seem excited to investigate Wells still, and they are nearly overheard by Wells. So Caitlin does some investigating on her own, and decides to pay a visit to Wells at home. Wells has been walking around, so he heads back to his chair, then heads to the door. Caitlin is whooshed away by the Flash before she can get there though. Barry asks her what she is doing, and luckily Barry seems to be able to convince her told hold off talking to Wells, at least until Joe and Cisco are back.
Villain of the Week
But time for the villain of the week–a woman at work opens a bunch of safety deposit boxes and begins stealing a bunch of valuables. Eddie has this woman in custody and is interrogating her. She denies it and seems pretty shook up about it, despite the video footage. Eddie talks with Barry and thinks it could be a meta-human that mind-controlled her. Meanwhile, Eddie has to lie to Iris again, and she is still giving Eddie the cold shoulder.
Then, in another scene in a jewelry store, a man calls the police about possible diamond theft. Eddie calls Barry for back up, after arriving on scene. The man makes a run for it, so Eddie pursues. Eddie is taken down, and Barry shows up. Then the person shapeshifts into the crowd, effectively disappearing.
At STAR Labs, they discuss this new villain. Wells and Caitlin are worried this person could copy Barry’s speed, so they are concerned about this villain stealing his powers. But they have to find the guy first, so they investigate past crimes, starting with looking into a man named Hannibal Bates. Coincidence this person has two serial killer names mashed together I wonder?
Barry and Eddie pay a visit to the grandmother of Hannibal Bates. The woman seems a little out of it, forgetting she filed a missing person report on her grandson. The woman offers them some coffee, but then takes off out the back door. Turns out she is the shifter. Eddie pursues, and they begin some parkour chase. Barry, meanwhile, is forced to slow down to avoid detection of his super speed. So Eddie runs into two police officers, but something isn’t quite right–he shoots both cops. Then suddenly Eddie shows up as Barry does and tells him to call 911. Looks like the shifter took Eddie’s body.
This lands Eddie in hot water, arrested for shooting these two cops. The Captain tries to plead the case with the DA but she’s not hearing it. Iris shows up and is freaking out. I guess she doesn’t hate him as much as she has seemed to act like. Barry is able to prove that Eddie didn’t fire his gun, but the DA is still not buying it. Barry, overreacting, sneaks Eddie out of jail, but Eddie tells him to take him back, and is convinced that Barry can clear him.
Later at home, Barry gets a visit–from Eddie. Apparently Eddie got a release. Or apparently not, as this Eddie knocks Barry out. C’mon Barry, you already knew Eddie was copied by this shape-shifter, how could you fall for this?! This guy then takes Barry’s body, and then Caitlin pays a visit to Barry’s house. She tells this fake-Barry that she has a way to stop the shifter. Caitlin also steals the naming-job of Cisco, naming the shifter “Everyman.” Back at STAR Labs, Caitlyn seems to have her vial of anti-shifting ready. Fake-Barry tries to stall her, and begins making out with her. She freaks out, a bit, but luckily this awkward moment is interrupted by Iris. Iris tells Caitlin and Fake-Barry that the Eddie that shot the cops was left-handed, and Eddie is right-handed. Then all of a sudden, Barry collapses to the ground. Wells has tazered Fake-Barry, after seeing him holding a gun in his left hand, since Barry is right-handed. Iris insists that she take this guy to the police, even though Wells tries to tell her he and Caitlin will “deal with it.”
On the way to the police station, Iris and Caitlin lose their perp. He shifts into a little girl, and screams for help, and is let out of the car by a construction worker. She runs off, and seems to have disappeared again.
Caitlin heads to Barry’s house and finds him unconscious. Wells discovers that this meta-human won’t absorb Barry’s powers or memories, giving Barry free range to take him down. The Flash figures out their villain is at the airport, and so he heads down. Barry finds the perp going through security, and he makes a break for it. Then the villain transforms into various friends of Barry, which somehow throws Barry for a loop. But for some reason, when the guy shifts to Eddie, he is able to take him down quite easily. Then even easier when the guy shifts to The Flash. Barry gets the drug that Caitlin produced into this guy’s system, and he/she collapses.
Back at the station, the DA is shocked to see this shifter, and Eddie is released. Then Eddie shows up and talks to Iris. Then Eddie seems to be about to tell Iris something big. Luckily, it is not who the Flash is, but he tells Iris that he is working with the Flash.
Back at STAR Labs, the shifter is locked away, and Wells still wonders who this guy is. Then he transforms into a person who seemingly has no eyes or hair, and says he can’t remember who he is.
Cisco, Laurel, Joe and Lance
In Starling City, Cisco and Joe meet up with Detective Lance, and they ask to see the crime scene where Harrison Wells was in his car accident. Laurel shows up at the precinct, and Cisco seems smitten. Laurel pulls him aside and asks for a favor–help make Sara’s old sonic device more effective. Cisco, of course, tries to play dumb about who the Flash is and who the Arrow is, but Laurel obviously knows.
So Joe, Cisco, and Captain Lance arrive at the crime scene. Cisco has some fancy machine that is able to detect tachyons. Joe and Lance have a father to father talk, and Joe seems to be trying to talk Lance into forgiving his daughter.
Cisco finds something, and the guys start digging. They find a dead body, and Lance wants to call it in. Joe tries to convince him not to, and after some talking, it seems to work.
Back at the precinct, Joe continues to try to convince Lance to forgive his daughter. Meanwhile, Cisco was able to get that sonic device upgraded. It was all in exchange for a weird photo of Cisco with the Canary. Joe and Cisco pack it up and head back to Central City.
Back in Central City after Wells and Barry had wrapped up their case, Cisco tells Barry and Caitlin that this body is the real Wells. Meanwhile, Joe gets a visit from Wells, who seems interested in knowing about Joe’s trip to Starling City. They also talk about how they each have lost someone, and Wells seems oddly actually sad about it.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco discovers Wells’ secret room on the building schematics. Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry walk into the room, and on the projector is the news article from the future talking about Barry’s disappearance, dated April of 2024. Hmm…
Josh’s Thoughts: The Flash, Season 1 Episode 19: Who Is Harrison Wells?
The beginning of this episode of The Flash felt a little weird. The group just found out that their friend might be a maniacal identity thief, and they are kind of partying over pizza. It seemed a little odd. Caitlin seemed to be about the most believable in that scene, not really wanting to turn on her friend/boss. I think it should have been a bit more of a somber tone to the scene rather than what looks to be a hang out session.
The crossover bit with Joe and Cisco into Starling City was pretty interesting though. I like Detective Lance’s character, and seeing Joe and Lance bounce off each other was pretty interesting. But the news those two come back with is going to make the last few episodes a whole lot more interesting. Especially after Barry, Cisco and Caitlin found Wells’ secret lair. I have to imagine that Wells is suspicious of the three by now, so I wonder where that will go.
As for the villain of the week, sort of feel that that is just filling time to explain this bigger story, which is really what is keeping my interest in The Flash. The most interesting part of that character was probably that the rest of the police department/public is starting to get more intimate with these meta-humans, so it will be interesting to see how they react to them, and if that could ever be a story plot. In the X-Men it has been a focal point, having these beings with crazy powers being vilified by the general public, and I think that could work well on The Flash.
I was curious about the last scene with this mystery shifter though. He didn’t know who he was and he had a weird face. It reminded me of the shape of Eobard Thawne’s, and Wells seemed quick to close up the cell when the guy stated talking. I wonder if this guy will be more significant later.
I am very excited to see where we end up on tonight’s new episode. Things should start getting tense now!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 19 of The Flash: Who Is Harrison Wells?
I’m glad we got another meta-human this week, yay! This one was pretty interesting, but you could kind of tell when it had shapeshifted into someone else. I guess that was kind of the point, so that the audience watching at home could be like “I knew it!” and feel all smart. I was suspicious if the grandmother right away, and then when Eddie shot the other cops, it obviously wasn’t him, because that’s not something he would do. In fact, even when I first saw the WonderCon trailer of what was to come, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that it had to be a shapeshifter, that it wasn’t really Eddie doing that. And lo and behold, we did end up having a meta-human with shape shifting abilities after all! It was really bothersome, though, how easily Barry was fooled by the fake Eddie, knowing that there’s a shapeshifter who has used Eddie’s form, and having just come from the police station, where even forensic evidence wasn’t going to get Eddie off!
One thing I mis-predicted, however, was the reason for the Barry/Caitlin kids that we had seen in the WonderCon trailer. Although I knew this couldn’t be a real kiss between the Barry and Caitlin that we know, I didn’t assume in this case that it was also a shapeshifter, I guess because I didn’t think they’d use the same ruse twice in the same trailer. I had thought it might be another thing they had referred to at the WonderCon panel about alternate realities. But once the shapeshifter took Barry’s form, I suddenly realized that the shapeshifter was going to kiss Caitlin as Barry. What’s funny is that although Caitlin wasn’t into it at first, she did end up being into it. So maybe she does have feelings for Barry after all, just as I suspected at the end of the karaoke episode. Guess the show is never going to give those two a chance. Sigh.
If I didn’t think it already, this episode served to reinforce just what a good guy Eddie is. I feel so bad for him that he’s forced to keep this huge secret from Iris, and all because of Barry. Sure, he divulged the secret that he’s been working with the Flash, but Iris is probably going to figure it out that he’s keeping more from her than that. I wish he would’ve just told her and gotten it over with! So frustrating. Everyone else knows, why not her? It also sounded like Joe was reconsidering keeping the secret from Iris, because he didn’t want such a thing to come between the two, like it had with Captain Lance and his daughter, Laurel.
Anyway, so MAJOR development at the end of the episode — they discovered Dr. Wells’ secret lair! Which was surprisingly easy to get into, by the way. You’d think need put better security precautions on it. How does the team move forward from here? Can’t wait to find out!
Scenes from The Flash, Season 1 Episode 20: The Trap
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Flash, titled The Trap:
