For half of tonight’s episode of THE FLASH I was trying to understand what the point of this episode actually was. It seemed that significant events were happening, but something still felt a little off — much like Barry was feeling regarding his speed. I wasn’t really sure what exactly it was, until Barry convinced Team Flash that they were, in fact, a team and that meant that they are all in this together.
That was when it all clicked for me. This is why something felt off — even a little slow, to be honest. “Fast Lane” was merely a bridge designed to take our Team Flash to Earth-2 for the first time, and I couldn’t be more excited about what next week has in store for us.
But we still have to discuss tonight’s episode, so let’s get to it, shall we?
West Family Drama
This is one of my favorite aspects of this show and tonight really brought it home for me.
Joe is trying his hardest to be Wally’s new BFF and Iris severy disapproves, especially about her dad ignoring the fact that his son is into illegal street racing. She says – and I wholeheartedly agree – that what Wally needs is a father figure, not a new friend. Joe argues that he is trying to earn Wally’s trust, but we all know he is going about it the wrong way, particularly by looking the other way when it comes to Wally’s love of illegal street races.
Iris decides to take matters into her own hands and pays her little brother a visit at one of the races. Wally is not happy, obviously, but his sister has a secret agenda. She figures out who the leader is, and then proceeds to dig up every crime he has committed, before confronting him and threatening to expose his operations if he doesn’t close down the races.
He obviously doesn’t listen to her and keeps the races going. Turns out, though, that our meta of the week – a guy made of tar (no, seriously!) – has it in for the guy and decides to kill him during one of the races. Team Flash figures that out and Iris tells them where they can find him, because she has just threatened to expose his crimes on CCPN.
She takes Joe there and tar pit dude literally – I kid you not – melts the asphalt and transfigures it into a loop in one of the coolest CGI sequences so far. Iris calls Barry and he manages to save Wally and the race leader, but doesn’t reach her in time. She is hit by a shard of glass that slipped through Barry’s fingers because he wasn’t fast enough. The fact that Harry stole a little bit of his speed is already taking its toll on him. But we’ll talk more about that in a second.
When Iris gets hurt, Wally feels incredibly guilty. So, even though someone had to get injured, this whole plot served to get the West family closer together. I have to say that I absolutely love this new dynamic. That final scene of them talking in the hospital was very touching and I can’t wait to see where they are going with Wally’s character.
Harry’s Betrayal
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Going back two episodes, remember when Turtle was captured and locked into a cell? Remember when Harry shot something up his nose and apparently left him for dead? Yeah, we finally found out what he took from Mr. Turtle: brain matter.
So, using that, Harry comes up with a device that can steal the Flash’s speed, just like Zoom ordered. Desperate to save his daughter, Harry installs it in Barry’s suit, hidden behind his emblem. What he didn’t count on, however, was that Barry would be so present in Star Labs, even figuring out a way to close the several breaches that serve as a portal between the two Earths.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Barry is also a scientist, but he proved to be really useful in that department in tonight’s episode.
Barry tries to help Harry with his project, but the older scientist freaks out and yells at Barry when the speedster starts talking about how this reminds him of old times and, even though Evil Wells was a crazy bastard, he was also a great mentor. Harry is not comfortable with the situation – especially when the red speedster says that he is learning a lot from him – and yells at him, saying he has a kid already, he doesn’t need another one.
Even though they had a rocky start, Harry and Barry do some major bonding and work together to create the device that would close the breaches. But every time Barry speeds out as the Flash, the device steals some of his speed, to the point that he starts to notice that something is not right. Harry seems to feel very guilty and conflicted about it. He may look like Evil Wells, but he seems to be a decent guy and his moral code is really what steers him in the right direction eventually.
Harry gives Zoom some of Barry’s speed and demands to have his daughter back, or he won’t get him the rest of Barry’s abilities. Zoom, being the evil bastard that he is, tells him he won’t kill his daughter, but he can torture her until the brink of death if necessary, if he doesn’t get what he wants.
Surprisingly, Harry comes clean to the team about stealing Barry’s speed. Joe is royally pissed and they lock him up in the pipeline, while trying to figure out what to do. When Barry asks Harry why, he says he warned him that he would do anything to save his daughter, even betray them. However, by confessing his actions, he has just sentenced Jessie to death.
Barry understands his side and convinces the team that they are, in fact, a team and that they are all in this together. If it had been with anyone of them, they would’ve done the same as Harry and no one would have judged them for it. So they release him and decide they are all going to Earth-2 together.
Which brings us to next week’s awesome trip to another universe. You can check out the promo below and sound off in the comments about your expectations. Are you as excited as I am?
The next new episode of THE FLASH airs on February 9, at 8/7c on The CW.
