First Thoughts on 'The Flash' (Episodes 17-20)


***CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODES***
"Tricksters"
Tricksters balances two big Flash stories in one - the revelations as to who Harrison Wells really is and Barry's struggle to understand him; and the return of the Trickster - a villain from the 1990 The Flash series played by Mark Hamill - teaming up with his son to perform the ultimate trick. Of course, this ultimate trick is thwarted very early on in its process, and James Jesse and son are almost forgotten by the episode's Harrison Wells flashbacks, revealing how Eobard Thawne in fact merely looks like and pretends to be Wells, using the "lies" Wells as said as almost half-truths, about his wife and his moving to Central City. This is really interesting to see play out, but the two plots don't merge well, resulting in two large story-lines not getting enough time for one another to play out. A bit of a wasted opportunity, overall Tricksters is a very enjoyable episode of The Flash with a stellar performance from Mr Mark Hamill.
"All Star Team Up"
Another Arrow crossover episode, All Star Team Up sees Ray and Felicity journey to Central City to gain Cisco's help with the Atom suit. Meanwhile, an obsessed scientist with terrible puns is murdering people with robotic bees. Despite the villain sounding like a recipe for disaster, the episode pulls together as another solid Flash episode. That said, Ray gets very little to do, his relationship with Felicity is a focus but seeing as the following Arrow episode destroyed that, there is a sense of irony; and the villain is pretty rubbish. Almost as bad as her puns.
The mid-credits scene with Barry's reveal to Cisco and Caitlin was great though.
"Who is Harrison Wells?"
Yet another Arrow crossover episode sees Joe and Cisco going to Starling City and with the help of Quentin Lance they discover Harrison Well's body. Meanwhile, a shape-shifter proves to be the meta-human-of-the-week for Barry and co as they hunt down Hannibal Bates. The whole theme of trust relying on Wells not being all he says he is and including a shape-shifter as the meta-human was a great idea, and despite a rather forced Laurel Lance cameo, the episode was a lot of fun.
"The Trap"
A great episode of The Flash, The Trap sees Team Flash, well, setting a trap for Dr Wells to discover the truth and gain a confession to release Barry's father. The opening scene was really interesting to watch, with all of the time travel elements and comic book references teased. With fantastic twists along the way, The Trap proves to be another game-changing episode for the series. It'll be really interesting to see where they go with this in the final three episodes. Oh, and Tom Cavanagh was fantastic of Eobard Thawne - even if he did milk the role a bit. Just a bit.

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