This episode of The Flash, titled Out of Time, is really delving into Barry’s powers and who Wells really is! Check out the recap by Josh this week as well as thoughts by both Josh and Violet!
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Episode Recap of The Flash Season 1 Episode 15: Out of Time
I am not sure how anyone would not be enjoying The Flash lately. At the moment, I am enjoying this more than Arrow and Arrow is generally pretty good (although lately I have been less than thrilled about the episodes, but that’s a topic for another day). The Flash was on a few weeks break, but it came back with a vengeance this week.
The Joe Versus the Weather Man – The Sequel
The episode starts off in the past, with a familiar villain–Clyde Mardon, from the very first episode. But this time it is the brother, Mark Mardon, who is the problem. In the scene, we see the plane go down, and Joe killing Clyde again. In the present, Mark is out for some revenge for who killed his brother. He winds up at the police morgue, torturing the medical examiner for information–by launching hailstones at him.
Barry is able to figure out that the person causing this problem must be in control of the weather, which eventually leads to Joe, the police and Barry to figuring out it must be Mark Mardon seeking revenge. The police captain tries to get Joe to stay at the station, but Joe isn’t having any of that. Joe has some close calls with Mark, but Barry manages to save him thankfully. You can’t die on us Joe!
Meanwhile, Cisco does some experimenting on a way to stop Mark (oh, and naming this week’s villain, with a very original alliterative name Weather Wizard), and develops a device that can absorb charged electrons, thus making Mark’s powers useless in the vicinity of the wand. Cisco gets on to Joe at the police station, but before Joe has a chance to use it, Mark shows up. Joe isn’t able to stop Mark because he left the one thing that could stop him on a table right where anyone could pick it up….d’oh! Mark harnesses some lightning which he directs right at Joe. Captain Singh, who is normally a jerk, makes a big hero move–diving in front of the lightning, taking the bolt rather than Joe. Luckily for the Joe and the rest of the cops, Barry shows up with the giant Doctor Who sonic screwdriver look-a-like device, and takes all of the steam out of Mark’s sails. Mark is able to flee though, as everyone tends to Captain Singh who has been knocked out.
Joe, understandably frustrated, makes the poor and rash decision of hunting down Mark himself. For some reason, he didn’t think about bringing the “magic wand,” which you’d think would be pretty important. He searches one of Mark’s old hideouts, and is surprised to find his partner Eddie there. They find that Mark was probably just recently there, finding warm food. Turns out they were wrong–he was still there. Using the power of wind, Mark yanks Joe through a window. Why didn’t Joe have this wand with him, and just always in the “on” position?
Regardless, Joe is caught, and tied up on a boat just offshore, but Mark really has it in for Joe. Mark decides that Iris also needs to die, and tells Iris to come to the dock or Joe is dead. Could this be a trap? Of course it is. Iris luckily has the smarts to tell Barry about what is going on. Barry says that he is going to go with her, so they head down to the docks. Right at this point in the episode, I had a feeling Barry might be revealing to Iris who he really is and I was right, sort of. I will pause here for now, as the end of the episode has huge ramifications, which are based on what happened earlier in the episode.
Iris Eyes Barry
So, back towards the beginning of the episode, Iris is being a little weird about Barry it seems. Barry and Linda bump into Iris and Eddie at the bowling alley “accidentally”. I say “accidentally” because it almost seems like Iris might have been stalking Barry. I could be wrong, but it sure seemed that way.
Regardless, the incidental double-date goes weird, as Iris and Barry share moments with each other more than they do with their respective dates. Both Linda and Eddie are irritated while the other two are having a ball, not realizing what they are doing. Based on the episode, it seems like Iris willingly knows she is hurting Eddie but doesn’t seem to care too much. On the other hand, Barry seems oblivious, and always seems shocked when Linda brings it up to him.
Anyway, later in the episode, Eddie tells Iris that he is pretty annoyed about the weird relationship Iris and Barry have. Linda also gives Iris a talking-to, and Iris asks Barry about it. Barry doesn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the date. For being a smart guy, who moves faster than almost anything known to man, he sure needs to open his eyes. But Iris also takes this moment to ask Barry about Wells, because Mason, Iris’ pseudo-journalistic mentor is digging into Wells, and seems to have some dirt on the guy.
Dr. Wells – The Man, the Myth, The Murderer!
So what is going on with Dr. Wells? Barry tells Cisco and Caitlyn about Iris’ talk, and they both seem appalled about it. Cisco then seems to have second thoughts about his defense of Wells. It looks like Joe’s conversation with him might have had an effect. So much so that Cisco plans a little deception with Wells, with the assistance of Caitlyn. Cisco asks her to get Dr. Wells out of the lab for a while. So the next day, Wells and Caitlyn get some coffee. Rather suspiciously and not smooth at all, Caitlyn tries to get Wells to hang out. Wells seems fine with that surprisingly. A little too fine with it I think. This could be bad news for the employees of STAR Labs, and a firing could be the least of their worries.
Cisco looks into the machine that suppose to catch Reverse Flash, convinced that something was tampered with. He is positive the machine was working as intended (how many times have we heard that from our favorite programmer/engineer type people and it not be true?). Well, Cisco does some fiddling and BOOM! Reverse Flash appears inside the containment field thing. Turns out that this “Reverse Flash” is just a projection. But the bad news for Cisco–Wells has returned to STAR Labs–and reveals who he himself is. His real name is Eobard Thawne (does that last name sound familiar? It should–he is a distant relative of Eddie Thawne, Joe’s partner/Iris’ fiancee). He is from the future, and stranded in the past. He tells Cisco he killed Barry’s mother, but actually intended to kill Barry. It sort of feels like a Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker moment, as Cisco can’t believe what he is hearing. Wells tells Cisco he is trying to get back to his own time, and now needs Barry to help him. The light bulb pops on for Cisco though, realizing that he is a liability knowing Wells’ secret. He breaks down crying, pleading that he can help Wells get home. Unfortunately, Wells coldly shanks Cisco with a vibrating bare hand, killing him. This looks to be the end of Cisco on the show–or is it?
The Flash Gets Timey-Wimey
This all brings up back around to the end of the episode. Remember how Mark Mardon has Joe tied up on a boat and Iris is coming with Barry to try to save him? Well, Iris and Barry arrive. Barry tries to come up with some solution to get Iris away from him, so that he can turn into The Flash. Well, just as I thought, the whammy is dropped, and Barry tells Iris, “I didn’t want you to find out this way”, and he gets on the flash-y suit. She is stunned, and excited, and they share a moment on the beach as Joe is nearly falling unconscious on the boat. I think this romantic moment can wait, right guys? Well, Mark reveals his big plan–unleash a massive tsunami on the coast of Central City, washing Joe, Iris, Barry and the rest of the city away into the ocean. Barry doesn’t know what to do, so he calls Caitlyn–who is trying to find Dr. Wells. Caitlyn tells Barry the best idea she can think of. That is to run back and forth along the shoreline really, really fast to try to bust up the tsunami. Both she and Barry are not sure it would work, but, hey, what else do they have to lose?
Barry begins sprinting back and forth along the coast, going faster and faster. He goes so fast that time bends–literally. Barry winds up back in time, to a point earlier in the episode, where he actually saw himself running next to himself. I guess this explains what happened to Dr. Wells…
Final Josh’s Thoughts: The Flash, Season 1 Episode 15: Out of Time
This is probably my favorite episode so far. Anybody who knows anything about me, knows I am a sucker for good time travel stories. So far, I am completely on board with this storyline. Sometimes I have a problem with stories that wind up undoing the entirety of a movie/episode, but if done right, I think it can be a lot of fun. That is essentially what happened here: Cisco is now alive (hurray!), Dr. Wells is not known as the Reverse Flash to anyone yet (booo!), Iris doesn’t know who Barry is (meh?), but it looks like Barry retains all of his memories. I am really, really excited to see what happens next.
So, Dr. Wells has revealed he is Eobarn Thawne, a “distant relative” of Eddie Thawne. This was an interesting reveal, but I don’t know if it is the whole story. I think it would be really interesting if this “Wells” is an alternate version of Barry that has gone off the rails, and younger Barry will be trying to course-correct his own destiny. I have a feeling this is no longer the case, but it could have a been a fun storyline. Regardless, I am very vested in what comes next!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 15 of The Flash: Out of Time
Oh my gosh, that episode was amazing! There was so much going on, and not just the time travel, which we knew was coming soon, but when and how it happened was such a surprise! Of course, there was also the big Dr. Wells reveal, which we knew he was Reverse Flash, but we didn’t quite know the extent of that, much less that he’s related to Eddie in some way?? But other than that, we learned how Dr. Wells was able to be in two places at once, that he meant to kill Barry, not Barry’s mother, and that he’s from the future, just trying to get home. So it seems like what we can take from this episode is that it’s possible for the speesdsters to travel back in time, but not forward in time, given that Dr. Wells is unable to return to his future time thus far, and that we saw Barry travel back in time. And oh man, what an emotional scene with Cisco! I was so sad that he died, so I’m glad that since Barry traveled back in time, that means Cisco is still alive.
The other big reveal was that Iris shares Barry’s feelings. But, I realized I don’t really care about that part of the storyline, especially considering all of the other major events of this episode! Although, now that Barry has this knowledge, you can be sure he’ll take advantage of it. It’s too bad that Caitlin was unable to get the message to him about Dr. Wells though.
I’m really excited to see how things play out differently this time around! Yay time travel!
Scenes from The Flash, Season 1 Episode 16: Rogue Time
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Flash, titled Rogue Time:
