The creators of The CW television series The Flash, I feel, have captured the formula on how to make audiences happy: By utilizing a character who, despite his hardships, has a joy to him. Every time an episode of The Flash starts with the “my name is Barry Allen” monologue, I smile, even if bad things are about to happen to characters I like.
When we last saw The Flash, Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco found Harrison Wells’ secret room, which confirmed even more their suspicions about him. In that secret room, as we saw last week, is a newspaper about the future. In true Flash form, Cisco (especially Cisco, at least) asks the questions we’d ask as viewers, which is another testament to this show’s success: I feel that the writers are as big of a fan of the material as we are, and characters like the previously-mention Cisco are good stand-ins for that audience. Now, no one has asked about the real Flash mysteries like “Why the heck would Iris and Caitlin drive through the city with a handcuffed bad guy who looks like a kid in the back seat?” but it’s a good start.
“The Trap” refers to a trap that the STAR Labs trio puts together in order to catch Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) – especially to get him to confess that he killed Barry’s mom fifteen years ago. You’ll have to watch and see if the team’s plans work. I will tease, though, that not everyone might make it out of this week’s episode alive.
Speaking of Wells and the actor who plays him – Tom Cavanagh continues to be one of the best parts of The Flash. Playing Wells in such a way that he acts unaware of what the others are doing, yet often relishing the evil in private… there is so much range to this man, and I can only hope that the season finale just gets the Thawne out of him so we can keep Cavanagh on the show. The Harrison Wells mystery is by far my favorite part of The Flash, and I love that every time answers are given (and there are a few tonight), new questions pop up. I have so many more Wells thoughts but to say more at this point would venture into spoiler territory.
The episode is mixed with some flashbacks to the time when Barry was in a coma, when Harrison Wells first showed up to help keep him alive. We see Wells’ first meeting with Joe West, and we see what Iris was like a year ago, talking to the comatose Barry. “WestAllen” fans will eat those scenes up – and they may want to listen closely, because “WestAllen” might be said out loud at one point in the episode. We’ll warn, though, that there’s also some heartfelt Eddie/Iris material – in the periods of time where Eddie isn’t listening to “Rude” by Magic in his car. (Yes, friends, that’s a spoiler hint, not something that actually happens in the episode). In addition to that, there is some character growth involved that is so exciting that I’d probably be denied future screenings if I spilled those moments. The alternate timeline created in the show’s 15th episode, “Out of Time,” is also revisited, and characters learn about things that happened there. I still say the glasses that Cisco puts on look like those of his comic book alter ego Vibe.
When The Flash is good, it’s really good, and tonight’s episode is no exception. If you’ve been watching for the Harrison Wells mystery, there’s a lot of payoff. If you like romance, there’s a lot of payoff. “The Trap” is definitely in the top five episodes of the series so far, and it sets up the final three episodes of the final season perfectly. I can’t wait to see more.
The Flash “The Trap” airs tonight (April 28) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW. Take a look at some preview images here!
2 Comments
You have me more excited for this episode!!!!!
Craig, tbh, quite a number of posters on this very forum, myself included, asked about the mystery of why Iris and Caitlin would transport a possible double cop killer to the station in the back of their car and called it monumentally bad writing.