First Thoughts on 'The Flash' (Episodes 9-10)

Last time I was writing my first thoughts on 'The Flash' series, I explained how much the show was picking up its pace and potentially going in a better direction, taking its previously established elements to produce a better series that would go from strength to strength after some rather mediocre episodes. The Man in the Yellow Suit follows Barry as he tracks down the man who killed his mother, who is revealed to be the mysterious Reverse Flash, far faster than Barry, and seeming to be Harrison Wells in secret, an element the show has been continuously teasing. How was he able to do this? Why has he done this? Our answers should hopefully come relatively soon, although its clear the writers enjoy teasing us with hints and teases here and there. The Reverse Flash is certainly a good, threatening villain, being the Flash's opposite, but more powerful. The tension built up throughout The Man in the Yellow Suit was fantastic, although I worried where the tension would go once the episode ended, with the preview for the second half of the first season showing no signs of Reverse Flash at all.
At long last Barry confessed his love to Iris in a surprisingly well-done scene, with Grant Gustin performing quite possibly to his best to date in the scene, and in the episode as a whole. If Warner Bros really are going ahead with a Flash movie, then Grant Gustin's performance will be hard to top.
Overall, The Man in the Yellow Suit was some of the best that The Flash has had to offer yet, with some fantastic visual FX, great tension and a threatening villain. I'm still unsure about the whole Harrison Wells story arc, and the Firestorm sub-plot really felt like it was there to pad the episode out and to build up to a potentially interesting arc. A fantastic episode, although the tease that the Reverse Flash wasn't the only speedster there on the night Nora Allen was murdered is an interesting twist.

After a fantastic mid-season finale, The Flash really had to raise the bar with the mid-season opener not disappointing us, and with some great drama, character moments and strangely enough Captain Cold and Heat Wave proving to be great villains all worked in the episode's favour, establishing the new direction for the second half of the season.
Captain Cold and Heat Wave were the villains of the week in this episode, and its clear that the writers are building up to a super-villain team to go up against the Flash in future episodes, with Cold's sister teased at the end of the episode. The villains themselves prove to be entertaining enough, even with the cheesy dialogue and hammy performances.
Its clear that the events of The Man in the Yellow Suit have set up Revenge of the Rogues in some great character drama, and Barry's new arc of training to beat the Reverse Flash proves to be an interesting arc for the next 13 episodes. Hopefully it'll all get a satisfying conclusion.