Wow. “Out of Time” was an episode jam packed with reveals, action, and one of the most intense climaxes I’ve seen this close to the middle of a season. The new Weather Wizard came to town, and he was out for vengeance. More than that though, a lead from the newspaper sends Cisco on a dangerous search for answers. It was interesting how intense this episode was when Flash really wasn’t the center of the main conflicts.
Liam McIntyre made his debut as Weather Wizard this week. Not only was he a powerhouse, but he was one of the most gutsy villains we’ve had so far, going so far as to attack the precinct itself, crippling the captain in the process. Later, he kidnaps Joe and, in Slade Wilson fashion, decides he gets to watch loved ones die before he goes. Maybe its a Spartacus thing.
There was also a romantic subplot going on, but it didn’t offer a lot this week. Really, it set up the inevitable break up of Barry and Linda while also putting quite a bit of tension in Eddie and Iris’s relationship. The big thing was the ending kiss and reveal of Barry as the Flash. Sure, we had a complication there at the end, but it sort of happened! The Flash was teasing the future all over the place here!
Finally, we have Cisco. Cisco was on a hunt to find out more about Wells, and he came to find out that the conversation with the Reverse Flash back in December was a hologram. Wells entered and revealed himself as Thawne before killing Cisco by vibrating his arm through Cisco’s chest.
And then time travel.
Positives
Many of the actors were in top form this week, but real credit has to go to Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. First, Cavanagh is always excellent, but he just pulls off menacing so perfectly when he is being his true Thawne-self. I’ve thought before that the serious chops of characters like Wells and Joe West really causes others to up their game, and tonight was no exception. Valdes played Cisco’s reaction, both the heartbreak and the fear, beautifully. “Forgive me, but to me you’ve been dead for centuries.” Chills.
The entire Wells mystery has been a great ride this season. Even though many were predicting the very reveal we saw, it was very very cool. Tension has been building up for so long, that the reveal scene was one of the best of the show. Blending that in with the incoming tsunami made for an intensity some season finales don’t even match. One Flash trapped in time and the other Flash traveling through it for the first time.
I thoroughly enjoyed Weather Wizard this week. McIntyre played him well for what time he had this week. If nothing else, his showmanship was well received and helped us get a tremendously intense finale. The effects for his powers were pretty cool throughout as well. Plus it gave us the opportunity to glimpse the eventual reveal of Barry as The Flash to Iris. I enjoyed that too.
Negatives
Linda being petty was a bit annoying. Overall I’ve been satisfied with how the love-triangle/square has been handled this season. However, I could have done without it here. It wasn’t bad per-se, but with two potentially huge things (Weather Wizard’s revenge and Thawne’s reveal), it just spent up a lot of potential time. Maybe that slowing down the first half helped the intense feeling in the second half? I don’t know myself.
The Twist (aka a little of both)
Time travel. I loved it personally, but its hard to say if it benefitted or hurt this episode. It let them go guns blazing on a lot of content and reveals, and it is a new way to inform the audience but not have the secret be annoyingly well hidden. However, to many it will feel like a cheat. What’s to stop Barry from just turning back the clock when things go wrong. Next week will be a huge factor in deciding if this was a good inclusion so soon. They better touch on the story elements of this week if they want to avoid us feeling cheated.
The Verdict
The Flash made a huge jump in delivering a lot of reveals and action in “Out of Time”. Now we must wait and see just how well they stick the landing.
