“I,.... I will be king, and you, you will be queen. Though nothing, will drive them away. We can be heroes..... just for one day”. Maybe some us will be lucky to be heroes even just for one day but the problem really becomes what we do the day after. Many of the people we’ve been lucky enough to inspire will not stop seeing us as those heroes when they day is done just because our lives return to the painfully ordinary; never again to become that which they need us to be leading to one inevitable outcome. We will disappoint them. They will meet us as flawed mortals not the idols of opportunity they believed in and they will lose their faith in us and much more as a consequence. It’s not easy being a hero to anyone; as The Flash is showing us this week.
The Sound and the Fury – When a blast from the STAR Labs past, Hartley Rathaway, returns for vengeance on Harrison Wells under his new villain alias of Pied Piper, The Flash must bring the noise to defeat superior intellect and devastating sonic technology. Elsewhere Iris gets her dream job as a reporter only to find out it’s not what she expected.
While none of the villains so far have been mentally impaired (well, maybe Girder) the emphasis has always been on Barry using his speed to overcome their abilities and weapons. That’s why it’s so great to see them introduce a villain like Pied Piper rocking the mental big guns as well as the comic style abilities requiring him to be out thought not just out fought. In the same way last week’s ending implied Snart was playing the long game it’s really fun to see Piper’s plan play out this week as the master chess technician bluffs and manoeuvres his way to an unseen checkmate. He’s portrayed as a formidable mental opponent not just for Barry but for Harrison Wells himself as the flashbacks shown depict him as a STAR Labs protégé. All of this while still ticking all the cool boxes. While his glove based weapons may not be the flute his comics equivalent, the Shocker style sonic boom punches really do look awesome. The show runners described him as an evil Harry Potter which genuinely comes in across in his costumed scenes as he wears that evil geekiness proudly. At times the low angle shots of his diminutive stature even gives him an allure to Spaceballs infamous Dark Helmet (maybe he was Barry’s father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate?). His flashback scenes are interesting in both providing the starting motivation for his vengeance in that he warned Wells that the Particle Accelerator could explode (though we all know Wells wanted that to happen to give Barry his powers) and to give some more back insight into STAR LABS. Finally it must be noted that it’s absolutely wonderful to see that Hartley’s sexuality has been transferred from the comics as one of the first DC characters to come out as gay. Just like with Captain Singh (yet to be confirmed but likely to be Hartley’s bf as in the comics) in previous episodes it’s kept largely in passing but used meaningfully to condemn is parents for disowning him when he came out. Also for one great cheeky jibe as Hartley reveals he always wanted to be handled by a guy in tight red leather (a rowdy roddy Piper indeed!). His ending with Cisco makes for brilliant cliff hanger. It’s already been confirmed he’ll return next week and hopefully that will also see the inclusion of both his parents and boyfriend into the story maybe even with positive ending for the character. In the new 52 he’s reformed and frequently helped The Flash. Maybe we could see a variant here..... or a concluding teaser seeing him joining Heat Wave, Captain Cold and the newly teased Lisa Snart in the Rouges. From a story and audience perspective it’s a win either way.
The episode also gives us some fascinating developments on the Reverse Flash storyline and Harrison Wells himself. The early trip into his home is both the visual reverse of shabby and great to see him dropping the wheelchair charade within its walls of solitude. Yet it’s the first conclusive shots of him speed running in action that proves to be the game changers. The climax of episode 9 saw making the Reverse Flash voice with a yellow suit but making no lightning strides...... and now we know why! For whatever yet to be discovered reasons his powers are not permanent or even stable as he collapses to the floor mid sprint muttering “not now”. The previously stolen tachyon generator is even revealed to be to be a temporary powers supplement that he’s using to keep himself in play for now as “the real end game is coming”. This raises so many kick ass questions and theories my fingers are almost quivering at Flash speeds! Firstly the collapse and inability to walk afterwards could imply that his wheelchair is less of a disguise than we originally thought. Maybe he has in some way become genuinely paralysed but harnessing the speed force allows him to regenerate and use his legs again. Maybe he’s actually using very minute amounts of it when we see him walking around normally? This would explain why didn’t get up after his power outage even when nobody was around. The next big question is what is his end game? In concept, that’s elementary my dear Emma Watson; he wants to regain his full powers and he somehow needs Barry to achieve that. The biggest tie in clue to this was teasing moment in episode 7 when he took a sample of Blackout’s blood to understand how this electrifying figure stole The Flash’s speed force. So it looks like he means to pilfer Barry’s powers for his own. Finally there’s the over running theme of Harrison pushing Barry to achieve his full speed force potential. So either he needs Barry to reach a certain level for a transfer/theft to even be possible or he simply just wants to make the robbery worth his while. It seems likely we’ll see him achieving this before the end of the season though where he goes from that is more of a yellow enigma. We know time travel will play a big part is this season but will that be before or after the speed force snatching?
Some other interesting minor developments include Joe & Eddie’s decision to investigate Harrison Wells behind Barry’s back as even a man of Wells intelligence couldn’t out fox these keen detectives at a questionable crime scene. This makes some great possibilities for future conflict and plot twists. The most obvious is the pair discovering his malicious intentions before Barry and try to warn him only for Barry not to believe Joe and side with Wells to his doom. Though another slightly more curious angle involves Eddie discovering Harrison’s real identity and that becoming the gateway into his piece of the Reverse Flash puzzle (all official reports still imply he still has a connection to the yellow suited mystery). While Iris becoming a reporter is the grounds for her better involvement in the weekly stories (i.e. she can turn up at crime scenes and CCPD without just conveniently visiting Joe or Barry) it doesn’t offer a great deal to this episode. The idea of her only being hired for her possible Flash connections is good but also highly obvious. We’ll need to see something better from her and the news setting in the coming weeks if we’re going to subscribe.
Overall this is a great episode mixing in fun elements like the Flash selfie (how has it taken 11 episodes for that gag?) and Cisco’s laying down the law over villain names; as well as more serious and plot driven elements like delving back into the STAR Labs history and Wells dealing with the consequences of his decisions. A few cheeky Arrow-verse nods from Wells proclaiming “I have failed this city” and the Royal Flush gang appearing in Central (they appeared in Arrow S1E6) are always welcome. The series continues to be firing on all cylinders into 2015.