After a long break, The CW’s The Flash finally returned last night with its strongest episode yet, as the show introduced the concept of time travel, Spartacus‘ Liam McIntyre as Mark Mardon/Weather Wizard tried to kill Joe, and Harrison Wells’ big secrets were finally revealed.
I really enjoyed McIntyre as Mark Mardon and how the show kept this Weather Wizard closely to the comics as this godlike figure and true force of nature. While I enjoyed Clyde’s Weather Wizard in the pilot, with the special effects and all that, this time around, The Flash outdid itself as we got to see more Weather-y attacks. One of the things I love with great villains is when they have this dominating presence but are also in a calm state of mind and have complete control. That’s what we got with Mark, and McIntyre was just a great fit for this character; who else got goosebumps every time he spoke with that villainous voice?
I enjoyed the fact that Mark had spent several months learning about his powers so that by the time we met him here, it was a Weather Wizard that was in control and could cause some serious trouble, especially to poor Joe. I will say that if there was anything that I didn’t enjoy with Mark, it was that there wasn’t enough of him. However, the thing that I have to nitpick about his presence in this episode wasn’t Mark himself, but the fact that Joe, one of the show’s smartest characters, was so insisting on taking on Mark by himself. As admirable as it was to see that he only wanted to protect Iris and Barry, he should know at this point that meta-humans are extremely dangerous and not something he can take on by himself.
“Out of Time” also dealt with the major revelation that Harrison Wells’ real name is Eobard Thawne, who is Professor Zoom/one of the Reverse-Flashes in the comics. As Iris and Mason kept investigating Harrison, Team Flash started piecing the puzzl together as well. Caitlin and Cisco had their own respective scenarios of learning that their scientific mentor had been lying to them this whole time. The more that we see Cavanagh as this character and how deliciously evil he can be in his performances, the more I love this casting for the character. The scene when Cisco learns everything about Harrison/Eobard was completely heartbreaking and seeing Cisco’s world basically fall apart around him was gut-wrenching. Valdes’ performance was absolutely moving, as we saw such a cheerful character getting everything taken away from him before being killed by his mentor.
The Barry and Iris relationship took a lot of steps forward in this one, especially with that absolutely terrific scene at the end where they end up kissing (finally!) and Barry reveals to her that he is The Flash. The way that everything got lead up to at the end made the whole episode feel like a season finale, until that final moment when Barry goes back in time. As a huge fan of The Flash in the comics, seeing the first piece of time travel take place here, was a nerdgasm moment, but as a critic, I also thought it was executed very well. You want to make sure to start nice and steady rather than just with a big bang where it kind of feels out of place. It makes me curious though what that timeline would have been like if we had seen Barry having to learn about Cisco’s death, dealing with Iris now knowing as well about Harrison’s big secret.
Next week will essentially (in a good way) be a do-over episode that might possibly have major consequences now that Barry has done time travel and as we all know from seeing time travel in other shows and films, there is always a price. Overall, this was one of the best episodes of the season, if not the best, as it featured so much in just one epic night with several great performances. Next week should be one helluva time for Speedsters everywhere.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights, 8/7c on The CW.
[Photo via The CW]
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