by Chelsea Dee, Editor-At-Large
This episode was excellent. They took the Pied Piper and made him a strong part of the show’s plot, and also made him more dangerous than he ever was in the comics. I’m constantly impressed by The Flash‘s ability to translate comic characters into this show by tying them to new stories while nodding to the original material. Thumbs up. Wells continues to be frustrating for me – in a good way – by seeming sincere while definitely questionable at the same time. And we get more about Ronnie! They have carefully mapped out the plot process this season, I haven’t felt that we were treading water at any point, which is great for a show with a full season. Previously on The Flash, Barry met the Reverse-Flash and is obsessed with finding a way to beat him, so he’s been trying to build his speed. Wells has a Reverse-Flash suit. Caitlin’s fiance Ronnie was revealed as alive, and he has fire powers. Iris moved in with Eddie, Barry moved in with Joe, and Iris used to write a blog about The Flash. So let’s get to it.
Time to pay the Piper! (I couldn’t resist). Hartley Rathaway is Wells’ former protege, a thoroughly arrogant and unlikable genius who used to work on the particle accelerator with the others. He started a rivalry with Sisco right away, threatened by his intelligence and that Wells hand picked him. He has now shown up wanting revenge and uses these sonic gloves to hurt people, and Barry soundly beats him almost immediately. But it was all a trick, because he wanted to be brought in. He knows Wells’ “dark secret,” and that is he was warned about the particle accelerator being dangerous. Hartley showed some sincere concern that it was too unstable, but Wells kicked him out and threatened his career if he said anything. Then Hartley himself was hit by the accelerator, making it so he has extreme pain in his hearing unless he wears special aids. Ouch. So he has some reasons to be furious. It’s hard to see what his end game is at first, what he wants from STAR labs, but he escapes after revealing the truth about Wells. They’re all understandably furious with their mentor for lying to them and putting everyone at risk, leading to deaths and super powers.
It is fascinating to see Wells here, because he clearly is grasping to get their trust back. Especially Barry. But is it out of true regret or concern? I’m skeptical. He needs them all in order to get what he wants, and Hartley himself warns them that Wells sees everyone as pawns or chess pieces. The actor does such a fantastic job because he comes off as so genuine, while suspicious at the same time. Could it be a blend of everything? He’s using them for his own ends, but he might still care about them … to a degree. It’s honestly hard to say since we don’t know what his plans are. He’s obsessed with the future and he has some small degree of Speed Force (Shout out to it this episode!) that the suit helps him with. He seems like a blend between Professor Zoom and Hunter Soloman, having the special suit that only works temporarily like Zoom, but the friendship-turned-rivalry with the Flash and formerly paralyzed like Soloman. In the comics, Soloman decided that Wally West (his Flash) needed to suffer pain and loss in able to understand other people’s pain. Hmmmm. How much does Wells know? Did he intentionally set off the accelerator, or was he hoping the accelerator would change the future? I don’t know! Ahhhh!
He manages to win back their trust by admitting in public what happened and apologizing, and then saving Barry’s life when Hartley makes a move against him. He was in the labs so he could get Barry’s ear phone frequency, and he tried to murder him with it to punish Wells. His new protege had to die, a nice nod to his own former obsession with being Wells’ favorite. Wells changes the frequency of the cars all around them so it shorts out what he’s doing to Barry and destroys Hartley’s gauntlets. However, while in their prison Hartley says he knows where Ronnie is and how to save him, so he has the upper hand. Does he know more than he’s letting on? Hard to say right now. Meanwhile Joe and Eddie realize that Wells is hiding something; Hartley attacked his house and chattered the ceiling. A man in a wheelchair could not get away fast enough without being hit. So Eddie is being put on Wells to study him. I wonder if Wells will be a future Thawne, perhaps Eddie’s own son, and this will be an intro into that. I think it’s unlikely the show will skip out on the famous Thawne-Allen family feud. Iris gets a job with as a journalist is excited, but then disappointed when they only hired her because of the Flash blog. Uhhh, obviously? Iris, we all need to start from the bottom up. Pay your dues, you’ll get bigger stories with time.
Overall this was an excellent episode. It added to the backstory of the accelerator, gave the Pied Piper a better history and he was quite dangerous, and still has me guessing about Wells. Ronnie’s rescue will probably come first. Who do you think Wells is? What’s his end game? Did you like the Pied Piper?
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives The Flash Season 1 Episode 11 4 out of 5 Suspicious Wellses.
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