The Flash Celebrates Christmas By Revealing Some Serious Stuff

Ross Lincoln Legacy Author

Published: Dec 10, 2014 11:00 pm

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The fall finale of The Flash is a touching and ass-kicking Christmas episode that finally digs deep into the show’s primary myth arc.

God damn I love The Flash. At this point I can’t imagine how this show could possibly let me down: even if it turns in a bad episode (only the pilot barely comes close to that), it’s doing so much right that I’m in deadly danger of giving it a pass because of how much I love everything else.

Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that just yet, because the latest episode – “The Man in The Yellow Suit” – was, yet again, fantastic. First and foremost, it was a great holiday episode, grounded around themes of family, friendship and reconnecting with loved ones, where interpersonal conflicts were resolved with bittersweet maturity. But just as important, it also managed in the space of 45 minutes to deliver some truly fun action, introduce (officially) another classic superhero into the Arrowverse, and give viewers a few major myth arc reveals to keep them ravenous during the show’s winter break.

Anyway, The Flash. I waited until last week’s crossovers between it and Arrow to begin reviewing the show, and as a result I’m betting there’s a lot of catching up I could help you out with. So, before we jump into last night’s episode, let’s get up to speed with the show overall. Be warned, there will be spoilers discussed with reckless abandon from this point forward.

The scene:

For a longer breakdown, see my review of The Flash pilot.

14 years ago, 11 year old Barry Allen witnesses the murder of his mother at the hands of a mysterious man dressed in yellow, who is surrounded by strange red and yellow lightning. The police don’t believe Barry’s account of the crime, and Barry’s father is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for it instead. Flash forward to present day. Barry is now a forensic scientist working for the Central City Police. Meanwhile, scientific research company S.T.A.R. Labs has built an advanced particle accelerator, the debut of which becomes a major media event. Unfortunately, upon being activated, the accelerator malfunctions, spewing dark matter into the sky above Central City, which causes a freak lightning storm that strikes hundreds of people all over the city. Barry is among the storm’s victims, and spends 9 months in a coma. When he wakes up, he discovers he has the superpower set familiar to fans of the comic, but he’s not the only one. The storm’s other victims have also been gifted with powers, and most of these people – dubbed “Metahumans” by S.T.A.R. Labs – are content to use their new abilities for nefarious purposes.

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The Cast:

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin): See above. Think Christopher Reeve as Superman combined with Peter Parker, Barry is gradually learning to control and enhance his new powers. Already instilled with a do-gooder complex thanks to his father’s imprisonment and to his being raised by Detective West, Barry teams up with what’s left of the disgraced S.T.A.R. Labs team and assumes the identity of The Flash in order to stop Metahumans criminality. At first considered an urban legend, “The Flash” is gradually becoming known as a hero to the people of Central City. Ultimately, Barry intends to prove the existence of the man in yellow, and his father’s innocence.

Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin): Created specifically for the show, Joe is Barry’s surrogate father and the first person outside of S.T.A.R. Labs to learn about Barry’s powers. A dedicated police officer and a devoted father both to Barry and to his daughter, Iris, he’s always concerned for Barry’s safety and sanity. He also quickly becomes Barry’s staunchest ally as the magnitude of the threat posed by criminal metahumans becomes clear. His only condition is that Barry keep his double life a secret from Iris, in order to protect her.

Iris West (Candice Patton): Joe’s Daughter, a senior year college journalism student, she’s the first person to openly discuss The Flash as a real person on a blog she creates to talk about the strange events happening in Central City since the particle accelerator accident. She and Barry are best friends, which is complicated by the fact that Barry has been secretly in love with her since childhood.

Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett): Joe’s partner on the force, he’s also dating Iris. He eventually becomes convinced that The Flash might be a public menace and organizes a task force designed to bring him in. He shares a name with the comic book secret identity of Reverse Flash, The Flash’s deadliest arch enemy. However, so far there is no indication that he and this show’s version of Reverse Flash (obviously the culprit behind Barry’s mom’s murder) are the same person.

Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh): Also created specifically for the show, Wells is the founder and financier behind S.T.A.R. Labs. He saw his reputation and business (but not his fortune) destroyed along with the malfunctioning particle accelerator, and now leads the science arm of Team Flash, having turned the disused particle accelerator facility into an ad hoc prison for the metahumans The Flash manages to subdue. But, as revealed in the pilot, he’s pursuing a secret agenda related to The Flash that appears to be connected to events 10 years in the future. Whether he is ultimately good or evil is still very much up in the air. Du-du-duuuuuuuu.

Dr. Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker): S.T.A.R. Labs’ bioengineering expert, she’s in charge of researching and understanding Barry’s powers. Her fiancee, fellow S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Ronnie Raymond, was apparently killed in the particle accelerator accident. Considering Ronnie Raymond is one of the alter egos of Firestorm, and Caitlin Snow is one of the alter egos of Firestorm enemy Killer Frost in the comics, things may not be what they seem with her. They’re certainly not with him, as it was revealed last week that:

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“The Man in the Yellow Suit” is, like I said, a great christmas episode. We begin at Joe’s house, as Joe and Barry are enjoy a good laugh when Barry uses his powers to decorate the Christmas tree at super speed, then un-decorates it at Joe’s bemused request. This moment really shows how the relationships between characters is what makes The Flash thrive, underscored by the appearance of Iris, still blissfully (and a little willfully) unaware of Barry’s longstanding affection for her. It’s Christmas and the family is together, but there are secrets on top of secrets and the comity and warmth is somewhat affected.

Speaking of, shortly after, Iris is invited by Eddie to move in with him. She accepts, but though Eddie is happy, he’s also noticed the way Barry looks at her and asks if maybe there’s something to that. Iris thinks not, but soon confronts Barry, who denies his feelings for her.

Meanwhile, Caitlin is having a rough Christmas of her own. She has a run in Ronnie, last seen living on the streets in “Flash vs. Arrow”. When she approaches him, he bursts into flames and bails. Stunned, she reaches out to Cisco for help, and he creates a device capable of tracking Ronnie down. Unfortunately, Ronnie isn’t interested in reunion. He rebuffs her again, with another demonstration of his bursting-into-flames powers. Convinced Ronnie has likely has turned into one of the psychotic types Flash has battled in previous episodes, she confesses to Cisco that she would rather he have died than end up locked away in S.T.A.R. Labs’ supervillain supermax.

Of course, this episode wasn’t just about these characters’ interpersonal lives. It also finally brings the series’ central mystery to the foreground. A scientific rival of S.T.A.R. Labs, Mercury Labs, is working on a device that manipulates “tachyon particles.” Who shows up to steal said device? Why it’s a metahuman with super speed powers in a yellow suit. Yep, Reverse Flash finally makes himself known!

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Reverse Flash murders two security guards, but fails to get the device. Barry quickly realizes who they’re dealing with, and soon is confronted directly by Reverse Flash. The two have a thrilling chase all over Central City, but Reverse Flash has clearly focused more on strength training and core than Barry, and when they fight, delivers a sound ass-kicking to him. Before speeding off, Reverse Flash taunts Barry. “you’re destined to lose to me,” RF says, “just as your mother was destined to die by my hand.”

Dr. Wells comes up with a plan to nab Reverse Flash: using the tachyon device as bait to lure him into a trap, then encase him with a force field designed by Cisco. Barry, however, is told by Joe and Dr. Wells not to be around when the trap is sprung because, so they say, he’s too close to the case. Barry agrees, but deeply affected by his encounter with Reverse Flash, he returns to Iris, and this time confesses his feelings for her. However, he makes it clear that he understands her relationship with Eddie and supports her, and isn’t trying to break them up. It’s painful, but trust appears to be restored between them.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Team Flash prepares the trap, with Joe West, along with Eddie and a couple of CCPD officers on hand to apprehend Reverse Flash once he’s captured. The bait works, and Reverse Flash shows up to steal the tachyon device, only to be trapped in the force field. While Caitlin and Cisco monitor the situation from in their lab, Joe, Eddie, Dr. Wells and the officers soon learn that Reverse Flash is just toying with Team Flash. He soon reveals he can break through the force field, going immediately after Dr. Wells and proceeding to beat the snot out of him, taunting him about… something he implies Dr. Wells is fully aware of as he does so. Caitlin and Cisco notify Barry of the situation, and Barry arrives just as Reverse Flash is making his escape. The two fight once more, but like before, Reverse Flash soundly defeats Barry.

Caitlin and Cisco come outside and try to help Barry, and it appears that Reverse Flash is going to kill all three of them, when suddenly Ronnie appears. Zapping Reverse Flash with a powerful jet of fire, he manages to force Reverse Flash to retreat, though RF does manage to take the tachyon device with him. Caitlin now realizes that Ronnie isn’t the damaged psycho she feared, but when she approaches him, he warns he not to look for him again. “I’m not Ronnie anymore,” he says. “I’m Firestorm.” With that, he bursts into flame again and this time, flies away. I’ll touch on this again shortly, but to be clear, this whole sequence was incredible.

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Barry is fairly crushed after Reverse Flash’s escape, but Joe gives him an immensely touching pep talk, telling him how essential his optimism and bright spirit have been, for Joe as his friend and as his surrogate father. “Don’t lose that light now, Bar,” a teary-eyed Joe says. “The world may need The Flash, but I need my Barry Allen.” The episode ends back at Joe’s house as the Wests, along with Eddie, Barry, Cisco and Caitlin, are enjoying a low key Christmas Eve party, with Barry reaching out to congratulate Iris and Eddie for the way their relationship is progressing.

But there are two revelations directly resulting from the episode’s events that dramatically change things. First, during a nice scene in which Dr. Wells promises Caitlin that he’ll do everything he can to help Ronnie and “bring him home,” Cisco realizes something important about the murder of Barry’s mother. The red and yellow lightning Barry says he saw as a kid is identical, descriptively, to the visuals given off when Flash and Reverse Flash duked it out, leading Cisco to conclude that there had to have been two speedsters the night of that murder too. Yikes.

The second? In the obligatory stinger, Dr. Wells goes into his secret office and opens a hidden compartment. Inside is a yellow Reverse Flash suit, though one that looks much more worn out than that seen on this episode’s villain. Dr. Wells reveals he also has the stolen tachyon device, which he attaches to the suit. Holy shit, fade to black.

Final Thoughts:

I’m genuinely curious about the way the show is treating Reverse Flash. It’s unclear precisely what’s happening, but somehow Dr. Wells is in league with him – and probably is him. Is this a time travel duplicate situation? That would make sense, as we’ve already seen how Wells has a newspaper from 10 years in the future that suggests the Flash has disappeared after some kind of cosmic event. Is Wells attempting to stop that future, or bring it to fruition?
Speaking of Reverse Flash, for now anyway we can definitely rule out Eddie Thawn as the man under (one of) the suit(s). Especially after this episode’s crisis seems to have changed Eddie’s mind about The Flash. He was truly terrified by the display of Reverse Flash’s power, and shocked, frankly, to still be alive. He’s also witnessed incontrovertible proof that there are terrifying, superpowered people running around. He agrees with Joe that the general existence of metahumans is something that might be best kept secret for now, but more importantly, when he asks if Joe knows who The Flash is, Joe tells him “I do… he’s the guy that just saved both our lives.” As Joe walks away, Eddie tears up and it’s clear he’s feeling terrible about his initial assessment of the Central City Speedster. How much longer before he figures out Barry is The Flash remains unclear, but I suspect he’ll soon become at least an adjunct member of Team Flash by the time the series returns in January.
This show has demonstrated remarkable special effects considering how relatively low its budget has to be, and “The Man in the Yellow Suit” is no exception. Firestorm’s brief appearances were effective, and the two battles between Flash and Reverse Flash were thrilling. Better, the last-minute appearance by Firestorm was almost epic, signaling the appearance of (at last) a metahuman ally for Barry, and this show’s full commitment to exploring the ramifications of having superpowered people suddenly become a real thing. I can’t wait to see where this theme is taken when the show resumes.
I love how conflicts between characters are never dragged out for false drama. These friends and colleagues don’t needlessly hide things from one another, they call one another out for their errors, and more importantly, they listen to one another and make a genuine effort to respond to the concerns of their loved ones. It’s so refreshing, given that so much genre tv thrives on soap opera dynamics to mask a slow-moving plot, and it’s one more reason this show is such a joy to watch.
Adding to the above, the chemistry between Jesse L. Martin and Grant Gustin has emerged as the thing that most effectively grounds this show. Their dynamic, caring, sarcastic, filled with mutual respect, familial loyalty and an unwillingness to let the other hide behind bullshit is fantastic and gives their surrogate father/son relationship real depth.
Honestly, the team in charge of Warner Bros. superhero films ought to resign and allow at least some members of the team(s) that developed Arrow and The Flash for The CW to take over. They’re doing everything right and better, they’re clearly not somewhat embarrassed by comic books as source material.
Last thing: I’m used to shows slogging through a traditional 24 episode season dragging, painfully, through boring plots-of-the-week and only occasionally touching on the implied myth-building. But The Flash is getting to some serious shit in only the 9th episode. Further, previous episodes, villain-of-the-week they may have been, have been so rooted in character building – effective character building, I should say – that they’ve made this week’s episode feel like the fulfillment of the myth arc instead of the return to it. It’s something Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. failed utterly to do in its first season, and once again, is why this show is special.

Bottom Line: Like I said on page one, at this point The Flash doesn’t appear capable of letting me down. It’s definitely the best superhero show on TV, among the greatest comic book adaptations of all time, and damn fun television to boot.

Recommendation: Binge the entire season and then watch this episode twice.

[rating=4.5]