The Flash - Midseason Finale - Recap: Blurred Lines

Okay, maybe it's not time travel, but that's the immediate impression I got when Cisco (Carlos Valdes) revealed that the fight between Barry (Grant Gustin) and the Reverse Flash created the same red-and-yellow blur that young Barry claimed to have seen on the night of his mother's murder. In essence, if Reverse Flash murdered Nora Allen, he wasn't alone at the time it happened. So what are the odds that Barry was there on the night of the murder, having somehow traveled into his own past? What are the chances that, in attempting to stop the Reverse Flash from killing his mother, he somehow caused it to happen? It's all wild conjecture at this point, but it's fun to speculate, and "The Man In the Yellow Suit" leaves a lot to mull over. Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) is the Reverse Flash, as the stinger reveals Wells in possession of a ring with The Flash logo on it, along with the Reverse Flash's costume. And to top it all off, Wells utilizes a Tachyon device taken from Mercury Labs blackmailed off of Dr. Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) to imbue the suit with the same powers Barry has, complete with vibrating vocal chords. Of course, this doesn't really tell us what Dr. Wells's motives are, or why he has the dual need to both push and protect Barry. But I think the obtuse nature of how Wells is characterized is part of what makes him so compelling. Maybe all the pieces will fit together later on down the line, but for now, it feels like he is whatever the show needs him to be in a given moment, and that makes him among the most flexible assets in the series right now.

Credit: The CW

However, he's not really the star of the episode, as this is still very much about Barry's quest for revenge. It's rare to see Barry so completely and utterly overmatched, but even when he's able to catch up with the much faster Reverse Flash, he's unable to do much to stop him. He gets absolutely pounded to the ground in the episode's big action setpiece, as the two speedsters fight in a football field. Later, when Wells is able to trap him in a force field, the Reverse Flash escapes and lays a beating on Wells, before staring down Eddie (Rick Cosnett) and speeding off. It's a development that's all the more confounding in light of the episode's ending. Why did Reverse Flash let Eddie live? And, if Reverse Flash IS Dr. Wells, how/why did he beat himself up? Having only a loose familiarity with the storylines of the comic books, I don't really know for certain. If I had to guess, I'd say Future Eddie is some kind of accomplice to Reverse Flash. Either that, or Wells just beat up the past version of himself to throw others off the scent as to his true identity.

Credit: The CW

Of course, this all presumes that Reverse Flash IS from the future, and honestly, I'm not confident enough to presume anything about where this show is headed. All I know is that Barry's attempts to avenge his mother and father seem to grow more poignant as they become more desperate. Henry (John Wesley Shipp) pleads with his song to let go of his need for revenge, and to live a life of his own. But Barry is still haunted by what he perceives to be his failures, which is kind of silly, considering that Barry was a helpless kid when his mother was killed. What could he really have done? As it ends up now, Barry is plagued by all the lives he didn't get to lead: he can't have his father or his mother back, and he can't have Iris (Candice Patton), even though he finally takes the leap and tells her how he feels about her. Barry essentially reads the signals and takes Iris's speechless reaction as a rejection, and her earlier decision to move in with Eddie more or less seals it. But at the very least, Barry gets the weight off his shoulders, and is able to wish her and Eddie the best. It's hard not to feel bad for Barry, as very little seems to go his way. However, the character isn't as off-putting in defeat as some TV heroes are in victory. There's an earnestness and resolve in Barry that makes him easy to root for, even when he's getting the stuffing kicked out of him by some guy from the future.

Credit: The CW

On that score, "The Man In the Yellow Suit" brings us an 11th hour twist, as Ronnie (Robbie Amell) saves the day in his new role as Firestorm. Granted, I figured I'd feel something more when Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Ronnie finally came face-to-face with one another again, but I still think the reunion of the former lovebirds carried its own narrative weight, as Caitlin struggles with the realization that this is a completely different Ronnie from the one she loved. In one of the darker moments of the episode, Caitlin actually wishes Ronnie had stayed dead. It's a shockingly human moment from a character defined by her walled-off emotional state. I'm intrigued by Firestorm, because it implies that Ronnie hasn't just changed at a molecular level, his personality has also been warped by the effects of the Particle Accelerator explosion. He's a darker character, but much like Barry, his powers don't appear to have made him into a bad person. And so it should be interesting to see where Ronnie goes from here.

Ultimately, "The Man In the Yellow Suit" creates more questions than it answers, but this leaves us with a narrative that's rife for analysis and speculation. And I love that about The Flash, since this story could go any number of ways that are independently compelling.