The Flash has managed to put together a string of strong episodes. The first season of this show will go down as one of the greatest in TV history. That said, “Who is Harrison Wells?” managed to come off a bit flat. This episode served its purpose, which was moving Team Flash further down the path of absolute proof that Wells is in fact the Reverse Flash. Getting there has been a bit on the bumpy ride, but the end of this episode put all doubts to rest.
The focus of tonight’s episode was a meta-human with the power to shape shift. Shape shifting is generally a cool power but in retrospect the whole “Framing people for crimes they didn’t commit” troupe has been use ad nauseum. In the past The Flash has fallen into the habit of having characters with pretty basic motivation. Well this holds true for the lesser villains (The Plastique and Girders of the world), and the major villains (The Reverse Flash, Captain Cold types) tend to have more lofty goals. That said, it would have been a nice twist to see Hannibal the Shifter be interested in more than just petty theft. This is one of the major issues with shows that follow the villain of the week model; it leaves very little room for character development.
This episode spends a good amount of time focusing on Kaitlyn’s unwillingness to believe that Dr. Wells could be evil. Kaitlyn has always been written as a bit of a contrarian, but in the first act she seemed almost child like in her naiveté. As she is about to effectively blow everyone’s cover and essentially sign everyone’s death warrant in the process (oh don’t act like Wells wouldn’t go on the killing sprees of all killing sprees if he knows he has been found out) Barry speeds her away before she makes the mistake of confronting Wells at his insanely posh mansion. Kaitlyn explains to Barry her reasoning for wanting to stand by Wells. Wells helped her during the most trying time of her life. She literally lost everything so her blind loyalty makes perfect sense.
Joe and Cisco make there way to Starling City to examine the scene of the Wells car accident. The fact that they think anything would be there after 15 years is insane, but less we forget this is a show about a guy with super speed, so lets just go with it. While in Starling, Joe and Cisco meet up with Captain Lance and Laurel. Joe and Captain Lance are fast friends. They discuss all types of stuff two grizzled police officers would spend time talking about. You know, their feelings. As Bro-down 2015 goes down Laurel pulls Cisco aside to asks him for help. Her Canary bomb isn’t working and Cisco being the total Canary fan-boy he is, he is more than willing to help. It’s interesting to note that Laurel actually refers to herself as Black Canary. That might have been a first. Also Cisco dropped a hint about working with vibrations recently. Considering his comic counterpart is the infamous Vibe, could this mean they may actually be leaning towards Cisco having powers?
While in Starling City Joe, Captain Lance, and Cisco discover bones near Dr. Wells 15 year old car crash site. The world’s laziest dog apparently buried the bones because there was literally an inch of dirt covering them. Joe asks Captain Lance not to call it in. Captain Lance complies, which is contrary to everything he claims to be on Arrow. His willingness to just look the other way on this is a huge plot hole. Before leaving Starling, Cisco gives laurel her Canary Cry weapon. Insert nerdgasimic squeal here. Can’t wait to see her use it!
Back in Central City Hannibal the Shifter is busy. He frames Det. Eddie Thawne for murder and also manages to copy Barry. Hannibarry ends up at Star Labs. Hannibarry ends up planting the most awkward kiss ever on Kaitlyn before getting tasered by Dr. Wells. In the end Barry is able to subdue Hannibal after beating the crap out of him in the airport. It is always fun to see Barry put a super speed beat down on a bad guy. After Hannibal is put in the pipeline, Cisco, Barry, and Kaitlyn finally find Dr. Wells secrete lair. They are able to finally put everything together. There is no doubt that Dr. Wells is The Reverse Flash. Barry accidentally activates the podium and he sees the headline from the future that The Flash disappears during a crisis in the year 2024.
Episode Rating: 7.5
All in all this was not a bad episode, but there were some huge plot holes throughout. The largest of which was Captain Lance’s willingness to overlook Dr. Wells’ bones. The wait is finally over as the entire team is fully aware of Dr. Wells true villainous nature. Will they be able to keep up the united front when in the Wells presence? Can Kaitlyn keep her mouth shut? Is there any scenario were Cisco doesn’t get killed by Dr. Wells as he did in the original time line? Stay tuned!