*Yup, there's some spoilers in here. The major ones are covered in spoiler tabs, though!*
"Must have been before my time."
The Flash is finally back! Okay, I know the break wasn't that long (Breaking Bad's was a full year, people), but when a show is this good and has so many interesting things going on, the wait sure does feel way longer than it actually is. Thankfully, "Out of Time" was worth the wait. As expected, there's some major developments with Harrison Wells -- developments that are sure to drop some jaws. Also, Weather Wizard setting his sights on Joe West brings about some solid performances and a whole lot of CGI fun.
First and foremost, how cool was the slow motion bit in the car? It seems like the show always manages to throw one of those slow motion sequences our way and they continue to impress. You'd think it would start to get old by now but it sure hasn't. I mean, obviously it's not as cheerworthy as the train bit, but it was still exciting stuff. That said, was anyone else wondering about what the villain was doing immediately after that moment? Sure, he'd be looking at the explosion, but Barry and Joe would still be in his peripheral vision, right? It seemed like they went about 15-20 feet to the left of the car. I guess Barry ran away with Joe right after that?
Let's talk about all of the relationship drama for a minute. First and foremost, this show continues to generate some lovable and adorably lighthearted scenes. In this case, it was the bowling date. A lot of credit obviously goes to the cast (remember when people were unsure about Grant Gustin getting the role and it turned out he's amazing?) and it was a nice way to balance out the tone after the dark and special effects-driven opening. On the flip side, the jealousy and Iris holding back the truth isn't exactly the show's greatest strength. Watching Iris continue to lie to herself is a little too familiar at this point and while I totally get Eddie's jealousy, it unfortunately isn't all that interesting. It just feels like another way of telling the viewer that yes, Barry and Iris are meant to be together. Hopefully they'll find a way to give Eddie something more attention-grabbing as that plot thread moves forward.
In a show that's full of fun and surreal craziness, Jesse L. Martin always brings a ton of heart to the show. Whether it's joking around with Barry or delivering something more powerful, his performance is always humanizing and completely absorbing. The guy's incredibly talented and his chemistry with Gustin is phenomenal.
The Caitlin and Wells scene was the perfect way to follow-up all of the mystery surrounding this villain. We know what's up (well, for the most part at that point), but watching everyone put together the pieces and get closer and closer to what we know is amusing. Watching Barry defend the guy is something we've already seen before (to be fair, that did instill some doubt in him), but the buildup with everyone else was definitely interesting and all of that buildup had some satisfying payoff in the scene with Caitlin. You couldn't help but feel the tension and wonder whether Wells is putting the pieces together in his head. Then, when that moment hits, it just gets your excitement level through the roof. Or at least it did for me and it should for you, too.
The one heartbreaking moment -- yeah, you know the one I'm talking about - had me totally captivated and kept me on the fine line between being okay and wanting to curl up in a ball and cry forever. I'm not going to lie, it had me holding back some tears, but a small part of me couldn't help but feel like this gripping encounter was slightly ruined by the way the show was promoted. Just like many other fans, I watched the trailer for what's to come. So, several moments from video that rushed to my mind and had me saying, "Yeah, even though this is incredibly emotional, there's about a zero percent chance it'll stick." Despite that criticism (which is really aimed at the people behind the promos and not the show), the scene was still so powerful. Seriously awesome performances from both of the people involved. And yeah, dancing around that spoiler wasn't easy.
That tidal wave scene was a double-edged sword for me. On the positive side, it brought about a satisfying (and overdue!) reveal, looked terrific, and brought about a huuuuuge plot development. Plus, seeing Barry push himself is just always awesome, you know? That scene has changed the stage and we're about to get some hopefully great stuff because of it. On the negative side, that action from Weather Wizard seemed to come out of nowhere. He made it clear he was going to kill Joe's daughter (she pays for the sins of her father and what not) and then probably him. But killing one unarmed woman suddenly turned into "everyone in the city will die with her!" I get he's an evil dude, but that escalated quickly. Based on what we saw, it didn't really make any sense for the character to take things to that level instead of just targeting Iris. Like I said, the scene looked great and produced some important things, but it feels like the villain did that just for the plot. It's not a big deal, but it stood out to me.
So, about that big Reverse-Flash reveal. It's cool he's Eobard Thawne, but -- and maybe my memory is a bit fuzzy here -- wasn't the first major Reverse-Flash encounter way too complicated for a "speed mirage" to be the answer to how it happened? It took him a noticeable amount of time just to create a static image of himself in front of Cisco and I remember the previous encounter being way more elaborate than that.
Minor criticisms: What's up with police officers being totally useless in the CW-verse? No one drew their gun when that dude started dropping threats? I get Joe warned them after getting struck, but you'd think at least one of them would shoot at this man who's clearly attacking the station. It would have been a really cool way of showing us that Weather Wizard can generate wind around him that's powerful enough to stop bullets. That would justify why Flash couldn't just run up and punch the baddie in the jaw.
The Flash is back and this episode reminds me why I love this show so very much. It's the kind of show that hits you with heartbreak and drama but never keeps you feeling down for too long. It's done a brilliant job giving us an emotional connection to these characters, so when it all goes downhill for someone, it hits us in the gut like a supersonic punch. But that feeling doesn't last forever because the show's every bit as focused on making us smile, laugh and fill us with awe. The first season isn't over yet and this show has already taken some huge steps forward. It's doing a stunning job embracing this character's mythos and giving us an enormous amount of fan service. Sure, I have some criticisms about tonight's episode. It's a bit of a bummer some of these developments won't stick (I was so happy the Barry and Iris story did what it needed to do, but at least now he knows how she feels), but the fact we're already jumping into the time travel deep end is so exciting. There's some leaps in logic and some of the relationship material wasn't that strong at times, but the second half of this episode was downright amazing and some very strong performances made it even better. "Out of Time" almost made me cry, it made me laugh, and it filled me with excitement and intrigue. I think what it did well really compensates for my criticisms, so yeah, The Flash's return is earning 5-stars. It's good to have Central City back in my life.
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