The Flash is DC’s television adaptation of the comic book of the same name. It airs Tuesday nights at 8/7 Central on The CW. Our writer, Nicole Drum recaps the series each week updating you on the latest episode here in The FlashBack.
Image Credit: The CW
Welcome back and Happy Thanksgiving, Flash fans! I hope everyone out there is taking a moment to give thanks. I know I have a lot to be thankful for, including The Flash! Lets get to the recap so we all can get back to some delicious turkey.
So this week we discover that Barry is a really slow runner when he doesn’t have his super speed, that the show isn’t exactly one-and-done with the villains, and that Dr. Wells is exactly as creepy as I have been saying that he is, the jerk. We start out our episode with a flashback to the night the particle accelerator went all explodey. Specifically we are looking at a group of teenagers who are partying at a power station at a nearby hill. I have to question why a bunch of kids would even be able to party at a power station, but it seems that as stuff starts going down one of the folks, Farooq (played by Michael Reventar,) has a bit of the responsibility gene and tries to get everyone out of there. Unfortunately he ends up taking a full hit of that accelerator blast and thus is about to be our next villain. As a side note I do have to wonder why there weren’t any other heroes made by this blast, though I know we’ll be getting to some eventually.
Back in Dr. Wells’ Super Secret Room of Creepy, our not-so-good doctor is recording notes with his apparently sentient computer. He’s named it Gideon and I don’t know about you but I don’t trust any technology with a name (I’m looking at you, HAL.) At any rate, Dr. Creepy Jeans is seemingly kind of annoyed that Barry likes to use his powers not just for big heroics, but also just for doing normal things like fetching coffee or pantsing criminals. Yes, pantsing criminals. I know I would if I had super speed.
At any rate, when Barry gets to the lab Dr. Wells gives him a mini lecture about how his powers are really about everyone and not just for him. Dr. Creeper also tells Barry that for the purposes of their research, Barry will need to increase his speed. Last week he hit Mach 1 so I’m curious as to how much faster he needs to go, but we don’t get to find out. Before Barry can get his speed on he gets a call about a homicide and has to go do his real job. Day job? Eh, his job.
Turns out there are two homicide victims and they appear to have been burned to crunchy-style by high-voltage electricity. Back at the lab, he discovers that someone is using the ID card of one of the deceased to gain access to a power station. Clearly that is a job for The Flash so he heads over to investigate. What he finds is Farooq who is busy draining the power station of electrical power. Of course why have canned when you can have fresh? With Barry’s power being charged by lightning, aka electricity, Farooq decides to eat healthy and drains Barry of his speed. This is where we find out that Normal!Barry is slow. Like really slow. Like grandma and her cane can outrun Barry.
Slow!Barry isn’t something that we can have in a show called The Flash so Dr. Creepy and the Nerd Squad are working on fixing this issue. Barry warns Joe, who has been acting weird, about Farooq and he also drops some clue-by-fours to Iris about The Flash being kaput. While all this is going on, Dr. Creepo is chilling with Gideon to look through those trippy future newspaper things for any trace of Barry Allen and The Flash. Gideon finds nothing. Zip. No mentions. There must not be a Flash, and maybe not even a Barry. Back in the less-creepy part of the lab, Barry McSlowlegs is mourning the loss of his awesome by talking to his buddy Caitlin about just how much he loved his speed. It’s a tender moment totally interrupted by our buddy Farooq. He’s there to talk to Dr. Wells and also to get the electricity from the entire city because villains always think super big like that. The team could really use Barry’s speed right now, but they aren’t the only ones in need of The Flash. The freaky weird awesome baddie Clock King (William Tockman, played by Robert Knepper who we last saw in this role over on Arrow. Didn’t they arrest him?) has taken himself some hostages over at the police station. Hostages Barry cares about.
Because the world, but very specifically Central City, needs Flash like whoa right now the team decides that if Barry’s powers came from electricity then zapping him with a super mega volt of it would get his speed going again. It’s pretty much a get electrocuted by possibly speed-salvaging lightning or get fried like bacon by Farooq. Oookay. Barry’s down, but he wants to try the Barry way with some negotiating. He has a heart-to-heart with Farooq and we discover that behind every villain there is a sad story. In this case, Farooq accidentally killed his best pals when they tried to resuscitate him after the accident. Their attempts got them electrocuted because of Farooq’s new powers and he blames Dr. Creepy for it. I don’t blame Farooq. Wells is kind of a jerk with really sketchy choices which he exhibits here by going off to the metahuman jail where he gets out of his wheelchair (is this bravado?) and makes a very special deal with last week’s baddie, Girder. What is this jacked up deal? Dr. Wells will let Girder free so he can kill Farooq, no big deal. Isn’t Girder metal?
Yes, Girder is metal, but it’s apparently super strong tough metal because he can actually stand up to Farooq. The Nerd Squad uses this time to hit up that treadmill so Caitlin can have a panic attack about losing Barry and then zap him with some electricity…that doesn’t work. What else isn’t working? Girder. Farooq is finally besting him in a seriously painful way. Slow!Barry has to run away with Captain Zappy chasing him. Wells owns up to freeing Girder. This really makes Barry mad and he dresses the creepy doctor down for using them all as pawns. He’s pretty mad (and totally right.) This somehow seems to help because Barry’s powers come back to him! Is Barry the Hulk now? Dr. Creepo insists that the issues Barry had with his powers were clearly just mental and he needs to be on his game, like right now.
Dr. Wells confronts Farooq. He distracts him by reciting the names of people who died when the accelerator exploded. He talks about how these people mattered and how the world is lacking without them. Farooq is pretty much the Honey Badger so he attacks Wells anyway and Barry pulls of a miracle. He gets his suit on, saves the doctor, and outruns Farooq’s lightning strike before actually dueling with Farooq. There are some epic effects here as Barry actually defeats Farooq using lightning. It’s wicked.
Wanna know what else is wicked? Clock King. Our pretty face, Thawne, proves he’s more pretty than smart by trying to shoot the Clock King only to get shot himself. I’m sorta hoping Pretty Boy is goners and Joe is managing to not get shot by playing who said it with Clock King. Unfortunately Thawne is gonna make it because Clock King keeps him from bleeding out, but writes the time on Thawne’s forehead in blood. Ew. It’s all very touch and go, though, so Joe uses his good credit over the quotes game to get Clock King to let Iris say goodbye to her boyfriend. He also whispers something to her, which turns out to be instructions to take Thawne’s spare pistol (really, he carries two?) This is two weeks in a row where Iris is the hero. She shoots Clock King and saves the day. Barry arrives too late, but at least the day (and pretty boy) are saved.
Back at the lab of bad ideas Cisco tries to his every episode thing of naming the bad guy. He wants to name Farooq Blackout (which is the character’s actual name in the comics) but Barry actually stops him this time, which is really nice because Cisco was getting annoying as he was mostly useless this episode. Caitlin recaps for us and explains that Barry simply overpowered Farooq in the battle of lightning. Wells and Barry are pals again (seriously, Barry?) and then Barry and Joe visit Thawne in the hospital. Thawne is totally messed up on meds. It’s funny. It’s a nice place to end the episode.
Except, of course, we get our Dr. Wells’ Moment of Creepy! He revises his take on Barry. Those mundane things that annoyed him in the beginning of the episode are now considered strengths, as it turned out to be his emotional attachments that took his powers up a notch. Oh and then Wells steals Farooq’s blood so he can figure out how Farooq stole The Flash’s powers. So quaint.
Next week we get an awesome two-night The Flash/Arrow crossover event! I’m super excited (as is my super power) and will be bringing you not just the regular FlashBack, but a special Arrow edition of the FlashBack as well! Oh yes, I have a lot to be thankful for, indeed!
The Hudsucker 
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