Let's talk about the episode "Out of Time" from the ever excellent first season of The Flash.
So this episode's metahuman of the week is the Weather Wizard. Mark Mardon, a dashing young man who could easily be GOD but narrows his field of view to something simple and a waste of his time.
Just like his brother, Clyde, that Joe shot and killed in the very first episode of the show.
CHUNG CHUNG
Weather Wizard decides this shit ain't right, family is family even if your family is leaving a lot to be desired. He sets out to find Joe and after failing to kill him with fucking lightning and waltzing right into CCPD only to be stopped by the Flash's big wand (ladies), finally nabs him by sucking him out the window. I kid you not.
This suuuucks!
Now, WW's beaten him up and has Joe tied to the pier. He threatens Iris and Barry over the phone to show up without the police so Double-U Double-U can kill them in front of Joe to complete his vengeance. With a bigass tidal wave.
BUT BEFORE ALL THAT HAPPENS-- let's back up for a second. Like all the way up. To the beginning:
Barry's got a girlfriend, Linda, in the same newspaper (newspapers...hurry up and die already) that Iris works at. Barry and his gurl go on a date and they end up running into Iris and Eddie (wait 'who's Eddie?' you may ask? I ask you this: Who cares? The show doesn't) at the fucking bowling alley because for some reason people my age still think those are fun. Whatever. Barry and Iris end up flirting with each other in front of their dates as they play with their balls.
They're just family, guys.
Fortunately for both Eddie and Linda, the Weather Wizard kills an innocent man. Both rush to secure the crime scene. Soon enough, the Flash is running through the city to stop the local weatherman but sees himself running next to him. Stopping to comprehend the weirdness, he looks around. Some lady can't get a taxi and there are dogs barking. Typical day in Vancouver.
Hey handsome.
Weird, but the ever trustworthy Dr. Wells just handwaves it by saying it's a speed mirage. Yeah, sure, pal. Or maybe it actually is. You can never tell with that dude.
I was still rooting for him at this point, though.
Speaking of the well-intent Wells, Cisco just *can't* seem to feel like something is up with the machine that failed to capture the Man in Yellow a few eps back. He asks the gorgeous Danielle Panabaker to quit being stuck in the suburbs and take Dr. Wells out on a coffee chat to distract him while he screws with the machine. Turns out, Wells is a lot more capable than his paralysis would lead you to believe.
Read it and weep.
Cisco discovers the cold hard truth: the weird, scheming, sketchy guy that occasionally double-speaks is the man in yellow, the man who killed Flash's mom: the fucking REVERSE FLASH.
Wells is about as trustworthy as Wells Fargo. Coincidence?
The entire reason he works with everyone, including the Flash, is because his speed is the key to him going home to his own time in The Future™. Cisco's machine wasn't broken, it was just Wells pulling a... fast one on everyone. Professor Zoom lovingly explains to Cisco that he's the closest thing he's had to a son. Then kills said son who was in tears.
That was...heartless, Professor Zoom.
AND NOW WE'RE BACK to where we started. Now you can probably imagine that at this point I'm on the edge of my seat. Juicy revelations, intriguing threads, and an OP villain of the week are all about to converge in these last five minutes. I am the living embodiment of Kermit right now.
Let's finish it, shall we?
So after receiving the call from Mark Mardon aka Weather Wizard, Iris and Barry show up at the docks... but there's one small problem:
I swear to God if you say "Surf's up!" one more time...
It's at this moment that Iris reveals to Barry that she also couldn't stop thinking about him since Christmas when Barry told her how he felt about her. The two finally, finally, get it out there and do the whole "destiny kiss" thing:
At long last: love.
Barry calls his side girl, Caitlin, and tells her that a giant tsunami is headed towards the city. Caitlin says something's up with Dr. Wells. Like his body. Out of his wheelchair. But Flash says that can wait because there's no way that's at all important right now. On the tsunami problem she theorizes that running really, reeeelly fast along the coastline will create a wall of wind.
Barry asks, "How fast?"
DRAMATIC CLOSE-UP:
Barry hangs up, accepts the challenge and looks to Iris, explaining this wasn't how he wanted her to find out:
Barry runs. The wave is headed towards the city, Joe can only look up in despair as the massive wall of water will smash his children and his city.
Off-screen, back at S.T.A.R. Labs, was can only assume Caitlin is in the sights of tall pale and spooky, and for some fucking reason Iris decides to get an up close look at her impending doom:
All this while Blake Neely is pulling all the stops and blaring his gift all over the visual intensity.
Now to the point of this post: Here I am, way, waaay, too absorbed into this episode, fists and colon clenched, cheering "RUN BARRY, RUN!" So much is happening at once during this climax and I'm eager, (to understate it), to see how it'll all end. Will Barry be able to stop the wave? Will he save Joe in time? Will he finally have a stable realtionship with this adopted sister (this will never not be weird, by the way), what about Caitlin? Is she alive? Is she safe? How will the team deal with Cisco's death? How is Wells going to weasel his way out of it? This is all assuming they can even stop Central City's Weatherman. Is my TV too loud? Am I too loud? What will Eddie think about all this? lol jk who cares about Eddie. And am I gonna see more Gorilla Grodd soon? These teases keep hurting me.
BUT if you had all those same thoughts as I did, prepare to get the couch pulled from under you as you land on harsh, cold concrete because this happens:
He fucking goes BACK TO THE BEGINNING UNDOING IT ALL. WHAT?
Barry comes back to the same place in the beginning of the episode where a lady is crying on about the lack of a taxi and a couple of dogs won't shut up. I mean, first off, congratulations Barry, you went fast enough. But dude, Iris, man. At least Reverse Wells hasn't killed Cisco and Caitlin so that's good I guess. More positives to going back then keeping forward. According to the ever intelligent YouTube comments section, the tidal wave probably would've failed but the city would still suffer to some degree, Joe would die, Caitlin is dead, BUT at least Barry and Iris would've banged I'm sure. It's not Barry's fault or anything, but as a viewer I'm totally pulling that Marky Mark confused look:
All that buildup but no release. It's the worst. I can't remember the last time one of these damn superhero shows did this. However, throughout the course of the season Iris finds out and all that but man, it wasn't anything on par with this.
Despite the near perfection of season 1's Flash (haven't finished 2 yet forgive me) and this being its best episode, this cannot happen anymore. It feels cheap, even if it isn't in some way shape or form (as it lays out the time travel abilities from now on and we get full confession of Wells and who he really is, and Vibe, too I guess).
I can't imagine how this episode landed here or anywhere else at the time. I felt like I was speed-slapped in the face. Anyways, I was interested in seeing people's responses to the episode at the time, in between all this crossover chattering.
The scene in question.
So this episode's metahuman of the week is the Weather Wizard. Mark Mardon, a dashing young man who could easily be GOD but narrows his field of view to something simple and a waste of his time.
Just like his brother, Clyde, that Joe shot and killed in the very first episode of the show.
CHUNG CHUNG
Weather Wizard decides this shit ain't right, family is family even if your family is leaving a lot to be desired. He sets out to find Joe and after failing to kill him with fucking lightning and waltzing right into CCPD only to be stopped by the Flash's big wand (ladies), finally nabs him by sucking him out the window. I kid you not.
This suuuucks!
Now, WW's beaten him up and has Joe tied to the pier. He threatens Iris and Barry over the phone to show up without the police so Double-U Double-U can kill them in front of Joe to complete his vengeance. With a bigass tidal wave.
BUT BEFORE ALL THAT HAPPENS-- let's back up for a second. Like all the way up. To the beginning:
Barry's got a girlfriend, Linda, in the same newspaper (newspapers...hurry up and die already) that Iris works at. Barry and his gurl go on a date and they end up running into Iris and Eddie (wait 'who's Eddie?' you may ask? I ask you this: Who cares? The show doesn't) at the fucking bowling alley because for some reason people my age still think those are fun. Whatever. Barry and Iris end up flirting with each other in front of their dates as they play with their balls.
They're just family, guys.
Fortunately for both Eddie and Linda, the Weather Wizard kills an innocent man. Both rush to secure the crime scene. Soon enough, the Flash is running through the city to stop the local weatherman but sees himself running next to him. Stopping to comprehend the weirdness, he looks around. Some lady can't get a taxi and there are dogs barking. Typical day in Vancouver.
Hey handsome.
Weird, but the ever trustworthy Dr. Wells just handwaves it by saying it's a speed mirage. Yeah, sure, pal. Or maybe it actually is. You can never tell with that dude.
I was still rooting for him at this point, though.
Speaking of the well-intent Wells, Cisco just *can't* seem to feel like something is up with the machine that failed to capture the Man in Yellow a few eps back. He asks the gorgeous Danielle Panabaker to quit being stuck in the suburbs and take Dr. Wells out on a coffee chat to distract him while he screws with the machine. Turns out, Wells is a lot more capable than his paralysis would lead you to believe.
Read it and weep.
Cisco discovers the cold hard truth: the weird, scheming, sketchy guy that occasionally double-speaks is the man in yellow, the man who killed Flash's mom: the fucking REVERSE FLASH.
Wells is about as trustworthy as Wells Fargo. Coincidence?
The entire reason he works with everyone, including the Flash, is because his speed is the key to him going home to his own time in The Future™. Cisco's machine wasn't broken, it was just Wells pulling a... fast one on everyone. Professor Zoom lovingly explains to Cisco that he's the closest thing he's had to a son. Then kills said son who was in tears.
That was...heartless, Professor Zoom.
AND NOW WE'RE BACK to where we started. Now you can probably imagine that at this point I'm on the edge of my seat. Juicy revelations, intriguing threads, and an OP villain of the week are all about to converge in these last five minutes. I am the living embodiment of Kermit right now.
Let's finish it, shall we?
So after receiving the call from Mark Mardon aka Weather Wizard, Iris and Barry show up at the docks... but there's one small problem:
I swear to God if you say "Surf's up!" one more time...
It's at this moment that Iris reveals to Barry that she also couldn't stop thinking about him since Christmas when Barry told her how he felt about her. The two finally, finally, get it out there and do the whole "destiny kiss" thing:
At long last: love.
Barry calls his side girl, Caitlin, and tells her that a giant tsunami is headed towards the city. Caitlin says something's up with Dr. Wells. Like his body. Out of his wheelchair. But Flash says that can wait because there's no way that's at all important right now. On the tsunami problem she theorizes that running really, reeeelly fast along the coastline will create a wall of wind.
Barry asks, "How fast?"
DRAMATIC CLOSE-UP:
Barry hangs up, accepts the challenge and looks to Iris, explaining this wasn't how he wanted her to find out:
Barry runs. The wave is headed towards the city, Joe can only look up in despair as the massive wall of water will smash his children and his city.
Off-screen, back at S.T.A.R. Labs, was can only assume Caitlin is in the sights of tall pale and spooky, and for some fucking reason Iris decides to get an up close look at her impending doom:
All this while Blake Neely is pulling all the stops and blaring his gift all over the visual intensity.
Now to the point of this post: Here I am, way, waaay, too absorbed into this episode, fists and colon clenched, cheering "RUN BARRY, RUN!" So much is happening at once during this climax and I'm eager, (to understate it), to see how it'll all end. Will Barry be able to stop the wave? Will he save Joe in time? Will he finally have a stable realtionship with this adopted sister (this will never not be weird, by the way), what about Caitlin? Is she alive? Is she safe? How will the team deal with Cisco's death? How is Wells going to weasel his way out of it? This is all assuming they can even stop Central City's Weatherman. Is my TV too loud? Am I too loud? What will Eddie think about all this? lol jk who cares about Eddie. And am I gonna see more Gorilla Grodd soon? These teases keep hurting me.
BUT if you had all those same thoughts as I did, prepare to get the couch pulled from under you as you land on harsh, cold concrete because this happens:
He fucking goes BACK TO THE BEGINNING UNDOING IT ALL. WHAT?
Barry comes back to the same place in the beginning of the episode where a lady is crying on about the lack of a taxi and a couple of dogs won't shut up. I mean, first off, congratulations Barry, you went fast enough. But dude, Iris, man. At least Reverse Wells hasn't killed Cisco and Caitlin so that's good I guess. More positives to going back then keeping forward. According to the ever intelligent YouTube comments section, the tidal wave probably would've failed but the city would still suffer to some degree, Joe would die, Caitlin is dead, BUT at least Barry and Iris would've banged I'm sure. It's not Barry's fault or anything, but as a viewer I'm totally pulling that Marky Mark confused look:
All that buildup but no release. It's the worst. I can't remember the last time one of these damn superhero shows did this. However, throughout the course of the season Iris finds out and all that but man, it wasn't anything on par with this.
Despite the near perfection of season 1's Flash (haven't finished 2 yet forgive me) and this being its best episode, this cannot happen anymore. It feels cheap, even if it isn't in some way shape or form (as it lays out the time travel abilities from now on and we get full confession of Wells and who he really is, and Vibe, too I guess).
I can't imagine how this episode landed here or anywhere else at the time. I felt like I was speed-slapped in the face. Anyways, I was interested in seeing people's responses to the episode at the time, in between all this crossover chattering.
The scene in question.
