The Reverse-Flash gets an origin story.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
You’d think one evil speedster in Barry Allen’s life would be enough. Apparently not, as the battle against Zoom took a back seat this week so Team Flash could deal with the resurgent threat of Reverse-Flash. If “The Reverse-Flash Returns” wasn’t quite the game-changer I was hoping for in terms of the larger Season 2 conflict, it was still a very memorable episode crammed full of dramatic character moments.
Naturally, the return of reverse-Flash was going to stir up a lot of emotions in a lot of characters. This is a villain who ruined many lives (including Barry, Cisco, Eddie and Earth-1’s Dr. Wells) during his 15-year stay in the 21st Century. This episode offered a great chance to explore the lingering psychological damage Reverse-Flash left in his wake and allow his surviving victims to confront the Man in Yellow.
It also allowed actor Matt Letscher a chance to strut his stuff. Season 1 offered various glimpses of Letscher in the yellow suit, but I doubt his total screen time amounted to more than a few minutes. The rest of the time it was Tom Cavanagh’s role to define. And while I certainly wouldn’t say Letscher’s take on Eobard Thawne is equal to Cavanagh’s, he certainly conveyed the character’s sadistic, almost childish qualities. I didn’t realize until today that Letscher also played Captain Love in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro, and now it’s easy to see why he was picked for this role. He’s adept at playing the type of competent but sleazy bad guy you just want to despise.
It would be interesting to know whether the writers had this episode in mind when they crafted Thawne’s arc in Season 1. Part of the fun with time travel is playing with situations like this where characters from different points in time collide. “The Reverse-Flash returns” offered a number of fun callbacks to the character’s earlier appearances, while at the same time showing how much this brief detour in 2016 shaped Thawne’s future plans. There was a tragic irony to the way Barry, Cisco and Wells helped seal their own fates in their encounters with Thawne. But at least there was a sense that this meeting offered our heroes some closure on the Reverse-Flash front, even if Barry admitted he’d never truly be rid of his hatred for the villain who ruined his life. And this episode certainly succeeded in its goal of fleshing out Thawne’s past and the origin of his hatred for Barry.
We want to hear it.
I speculated last week that Thawne’s appearance might mark a turning point for Wells. It’s easy to picture Wells killing Thawne and stealing his speed in much the same way Thawne took over Earth-1 Wells’ body and life. Perhaps, in the end, Reverse-Flash/Harrison Wells would be the real antagonist of the series all over again. Clearly that didn’t happen. It’s a bit disappointing that Reverse-Flash’s appearance won’t have a more lasting impact on the show. But perhaps the real problem is that Zoom has lost some of his luster since his last appearance in the mid-season finale. The show needs to do something to expand on that villain’s motivations and make him as compelling as Reverse-Flash was last year. The fear factor only goes so far.
In any case, most of the cast members had a lot of juicy dramatic material to chew on this week. When Barry wasn’t dealing with the return of his greatest nemesis, he was fretting over losing Patty. That romance reached a tragic end this week. Barry and Patty have always been exceedingly adorable together, but these last couple episodes have put them through an emotional wringer. It was heartbreaking to watch Barry decide that it was better to lose Patty than risk her getting hurt, and equally heartbreaking to see her break down in his office and leave. Their final farewell on the train helped end their relationship on a more upbeat note, but this development was definitely one of the depressing things to happen on the show. It really speaks to Thawne’s final warning to Barry, that he’ll never actually manage to be happy. Maybe that won’t always be true, but it’s clear that right now Barry is his own worst enemy when it comes to his emotional life.
As usual, Carlos Valdes was fantastic as Cisco this week. Whether it was his grand moment of triumph in outsmarting Reverse-Flash or shrieking in terror when Wells spooked him in the time closet, Cisco had some of the most memorable scenes of the episode. You can practically see the father/son bond forming between Cisco and Wells, as much as the latter would scoff at the idea. Plus, Vibe has his glasses now, so he’s one step closer to true superhero status.
If I have a complaint about this episode, it’s that it bit off a little more than it could chew. Both the West family conflict and the Caitlin/Jay material were solid, but it rarely seemed like there was time to properly focus on these two subplots. I would rather the Caitlin/Jay scenes have been saved for another episode so we could have seen more of Iris and Wally dealing with Francine’s imminent death. Even so, it was great to see these two estranged siblings start to form a tenuous bond.
As for the Jay subplot, this episode dropped a pretty significant bombshell with the revelation that his Earth-1 doppelganger is none other than Hunter Zolomon. Comic fans will know Zolomon as the man who eventually becomes Zoom. That’s not to say Zolomon is destined for the same fate in the show. Zoom is clearly a different villain on the show than he is in the comics. And frankly, I would be surprised if Zoom’s true identity turns out to be anything other than the Earth-2 version of Barry, Henry or Joe. But whatever connection might exist between Zolomon and Zoom on this series, it does seem like we’ve been given an important new clue in the journey towards discovering who Zoom is and what he truly wants. With Reverse-Flash on his merry way, it’s time to make Zoom a priority again.
The return of a familiar villain meant good things for The Flash this week. This episode succeeded in fleshing out the rivalry between Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne while also giving just about every main cast member some compelling dramatic material to work with. More heart-wrenching than Barry’s rematch with Reverse-Flash was the tragic end to his romance with Patty and the reminder that our hero is still a long way from being happy and well-adjusted.
