Another great episode of The Flash. Several members of Team Flash get duped, Wells’ secret is unburied and Cisco makes Black Canary cry. Even though there are some pretty big leaps of logic, I didn’t mind, there was tons of fun to be had.
It was appropriate that the villain this week was Everyman, a metahuman capable of assuming false identities, because lying was the pervasive theme: lying to Wells, lying about Wells, lying to the police, and everyone lying to Iris. There has been a thought stuck in my head. Everyone is lying to Iris because Detective West forces the issue in the name of protecting his daughter. What if Iris is placed in a dangerous situation or hurt because she doesn’t know the Flash’s secret identity? She blogs about him, had personal encounters with him and that is public knowledge. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume she knows who he is under the mask. We saw Cisco save his brother because he could give up the Flash. Let’s say Iris was in a similar situation but couldn’t save herself due to ignorance.
What would happen to Detective West or to his standing with the rest of the cast? Just a thought.
Thank you for the Easter Egg! Coast City, the home of Green Lantern, got a shout out in the form of delicious pizza this week. Fictional cities have been the standard for DC Comics since Metropolis and Gotham were invented. Marvel has been anchored in New York City which provides a sense of familiarity and realism but I’ve always preferred the immense world that DC created. Central City, Coast City, Star(ling) City, Opal City, Fawcett City, Metropolis, Ivy Town, Smallville, Bludhaven, Gotham, Kandaq, Bialya, Corto Maltese, these are just some of the invented environments that give the DC Universe such a magnificent canvas on which to create. DC has 75 years’ worth of fiction to mine for such places to enrich their stories. I hope The Flash continues the trend.
As for specifics on this episode, well, it’s more of the same, the characters grapple with their own fictions to keep others safe or hide their intent. It’s no less entertaining because the climax is in sight. Wells is revealed to the group though he isn’t aware of it… yet. My fear is that we may lose Tom Cavanagh in the fight. We have an actor, Matt Letscher, who IS Eobard Thawne, the man wearing the Harrison Wells disguise. If Thawne stands revealed, why continue to pose as Wells? I hope that isn’t the case. Cavanagh is one of the most engaging actors in the series. Though, if Cavanagh is replaced by Letscher, it would help the audience hate the Reverse-Flash on a meta level. Time will tell.
So, Everyman. This villain first appeared in a comics series called “52” — so-named because a new issue appeared every week for a year. Not only was a weekly series a monumental achievement in comics history (it take A LOT of work to create a 22 page comic) but it stands out to me because it was good. Really good. Some will argue with me and I will admit that the story wandered a little too often but, overall, that was an amazing year full of comics. I was glad to see one of the pivotal characters gain life in multimedia. He was watered down a bit for a family audience. The original Everyman had to consume a small part of the people he copied, usually a fingernail or hair. Can you imagine that for a CW audience? Well, I can and it would have been awesome!
Cisco is the voice for us all as he fell all over himself after meeting Black Canary, aka Laurel Lance from Arrow. As usual, he built a sweet piece of equipment that give Canary her signature scream, the “Canary Cry.” The fact that he kept his cheerful nature while investigating Wells’ decomposed body speaks to my affection for the character. Irrepressibility is admirable.
I was pondering some questions by the end. Why didn’t Everyman kill Barry? He obviously had no problem gunning down a couple of cops. Why didn’t Caitlyn inject Everyman with the serum when he was out cold? Why would she leave him cuffed in the back and take the risk of his changing shape? Now the police know about metahumans. Didn’t they know before?? Do they think Everyman is still at large? Do they know about the prison at Star Labs? With the absence of a suspect in custody, why would they just exonerate Eddie Thawne?? Video evidence can be tampered with.
I don’t know why those things bother me since I’m perfectly willing to believe a man can run faster than sound. Up until then, the show made perfect sense.