TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 01 Episode 20: The Flash

With Wells/Thawne’s “secret” exposed, we knew that everyone seriously couldn’t sit by and let him roam free for much longer. But, we also knew that there were things that had to be in play, and things that had to be done in the right way in order to satisfy all parties involved. “The Trap” was the true beginning of the end for Season 1, as by it’s end, nothing was the same.

First off, let’s talk about Gideon! Man can that A.I talk! That newspaper was one thing (mentioning Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkgirl being allies with Flash, West-Allen, etc.), but Gideon mentioning Barry’s future at length? Him being the Director of the CSI division? Him being a founding member of…WHY DIDN’T YOU LET HER FINISH BARRY?!?!!?

And as many are reporting, the comic that goes along with the show, that previews what happens beforehand, does have Gideon saying “Justice…” before getting cut off. We all THINK we know what she’s going to say. But with this being a different universe than the movies, and with an almost guarantee that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman won’t be in this universe…it wouldn’t be surprising if they choose another superhero group title that just happens to have Justice in the title…

After this, it was very much a slow burn as Barry, Caitlin, Joe, Cisco, and Eddie tried to figure out what to do next. They knew they needed to capture Wells, but as Barry noted, they needed to have him confess to killing Nora Allen, else Barry’s father would still be in jail. This led to a very elaborate plan to note only see what Cisco was remembering, but use that to their advantage to trap Wells at his own game.

On one hand, this was very fascinating, as we got to possibly see the beginnings of Vibe (hint: those glasses!), as well as everyone working together well and truly trying to bring Wells down. I also liked how it was Wells that helped make the “dream glasses” work. Irony first class.

Then again…you knew it was going to backfire, especially since this episode wasn’t the finale. The only question was…how?

Well, in true Wells fashion, it ended with the biggest slight of hand yet. Not only did Wells outsmart everyone, he used Every Man (our villain from last week) to do it. What really made this fun was that not only did he use the exact lines he did in the past time lines, he did very similar motions as well. It may be a little confusing as to how Wells knew exactly what to tell Every Man what to say and do…but hey, it’s Wells, he’s smart like that.

This of course led to him going after Iris and Eddie (who I’ll get to in a sec), with him taking Eddie, while Barry protected Iris. This scene alone (and the scene to follow) shows just how dark this rivalry is going to get. I’m pretty sure the “insurance” Wells mentioned isn’t just the “I’ll use you to protect me from Flash” or something simplistic. I really think it’ll be that as long as Eddie is alive, Eobard will somehow be born, and thus ensure the timeline he knows continues. Not unlike how he’s keeping Flash alive.

If there is a few things I didn’t like about this episode, it was the “proposal” situation for everyone involved. Don’t get me wrong, I dug that Eddie really wanted to be with Iris, and he even admitted that the timing was bad cause of everything going on, he fully accepted that. What I hated was Joe’s reasoning. Yes, Iris has feelings for Barry, but it’s clear she had them for Eddie too. We may “know” they’ll be together in the future (as now Barry knows), but that doesn’t mean Joe has the right to say Eddie shouldn’t marry Iris. For all we know, she marries Barry after something happens to Eddie. It could be her second marriage, we don’t know!

Also, that scene where Iris talks to Barry about the Star Labs crew knowing that their particle accelerator caused the metahuman boom? Odd. Especially since this really came out of left field. Yes, it led to a nicely down flashback, but was it really necessary? Also, the fire scene? Was that necessary? I’m not so sure.

Before I close out, major props to Tom Cavanaugh for his role as Wells in this episode. That last scene especially was REALLY good, and showed we don’t know everything when it comes to him and Flash. At least not yet.

In the end, “The Trap” was a good setup (no pun intended) for the final episodes. Wells is exposed now, and the game is on to stop him before everyone gets hurt. Your move Mr. Allen.