The Flash - S1E17 - Tricksters

Tweet

Previously on The Flash, ‘Rogue Time’

Fifteen Years Ago

The night Barry’s mother was killed, two speedsters raced through the house, hitting each other and bouncing off walls. It was awesome. Except for the whole “dead mom” part at the end.

Today

Barry and Joe study their Harrison Wells is an Evil Asshole Board of Information. His machine created a speedster and a speedster killed Barry’s mother. That’s too much of a coincidence for a seasoned cop like Joe. They don’t understand why Wells has done nothing but help Barry since he was struck by lightning. What’s his true motives? Barry notes Wells once said he “needs” Barry’s speed. You’re so close, Allen! In the end, they decide to be patient. As patient as Wells’ evil ass has been.

Gifts From Heaven Hell

Yellow gift boxes with black bows, tied to red parachutes descend upon a park. Everyone is all, “Ooh, look at this completely creepy thing that’s happening.” Until the boxes start exploding and THEN parents wanna be snatching up their kids and running. Except the father of a boy named Henry. His wife should kick his ass. Luckily, The Flash arrives and saves little Henry. His dad still needs a slap, though.

The person responsible for the gift bombs calls himself The Trickster. He releases a video bragging about the attack. Joe says 20 years ago a man called The Trickster (James Jesse) was responsible for several deaths. He’s serving a few life sentences at Iron Heights so Joe and Barry will go question him to see if he can provide some insight into this copycat.

Before they leave, Barry is barely able to contain his contempt for Wells, making a smart remark about the particle accelerator explosion. Wells is smart and suspicious, but Joe brushes it off as Barry having a bad day.

Fifteen Years Ago

The Flash rushes little Barry Allen out of the house, out of danger, and takes off. Reverse Flash chases after him, but stalls in the street. He consults Gideon who reveals his power has been drained due to this latest time jump. He no longer has any trace of the Speed Force in his DNA. He’s stuck. Stranded. No one can save him. Not even AAA. He screams and rips off his mask off… and it’s not Wells. WTF?

Twisted Trickster Tastes Twizzlers

Try saying that five times fast!

Barry and Joe visit The Trickster in prison. He claims he doesn’t know who this new Trickster is, but he must have found James’ old lair. He demands they find and arrest this charlatan.

Meanwhile, Iris is worried about her mentor, Mason Bridge. No one has heard from him and he’s not answering calls or emails. She asks Eddie for help in locating Mason, and Eddie agrees.

Joe and Barry head to James’ storage facility and find the door has been booby-trapped to explode. Barry saves Joe’s life and then they discover all of the James’ tricks and devices have been wiped out by the copycat. They hoof it back to the prison where Barry has a quick word with his dad, Henry. Barry’s close to proving he didn’t his wife and he just needs to hold on.

James loses his shit when he learns his toys are gone, including a bomb big enough to destroy the whole city. Cue a new video from the copycat who claims… well, we don’t get to hear what he says because James starts screaming, “Take off my mask!” over and over again. He really hates it when people touch his stuff.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, the team tries to figure out a way to find the copycat. When Barry makes a smart remark about not all villains choosing to hide in the shadows, Wells asks to speak with Barry in private. Ruh roh. But it’s all good. Wells just assumes Barry is acting weird because he saw his father in prison again. Barry just goes with that, saying that it is tough knowing his mom’s killer is still out there. Wells promises they’ll catch him. Barry looks like he wants to drop kick Wells out of that wheelchair, but he doesn’t. He leaves when he gets a Flash Alert from Iris. She wants to meet.

Fifteen Years Ago

Wells is on the beach with his wife, Tess. They’re talking about starting their laboratories. He wants to call them T.E.S.S. She suggests S.T.A.R. and we all know who won that argument. The Reverse Flash - in street clothes - watches from afar.

Da Bomb

The Flash meets Iris at Jitters and she asks if he’ll look into Mason’s disappearance. Of course he will because it’s for Iris. She asks if everything is okay with him because she can feel that something is wrong. Oh, Iris you know him like you know the back of your hand. Like you know your very best friend in the whole world. Piece it together, stupid! 

The cloaked in shadow flirt session is put on hold when Cisco radios The Flash about a new message from the copycat. The Flash uses Iris’ laptop to watch the video. There’s a bomb located within a certain area of town. The Flash races through all the streets and can’t find it. S.T.A.R. Labs’ satellite isn’t picking up any thermal trace in that area. Wells says it’s a trick. The bomb must be somewhere else, but Barry ignores him and continues to look. He finds an empty box with a message that he’s been tricked.

The real bomb was at the prison. The copy cat has freed James Jesse, and they’ve taken Barry’s father hostage.

Fifteen Years Ago

Reverse Flash (Eobard Thawne) sets up spikes in the road which causes Harrison to crash while he and Tess are driving home. Wells is trapped in the car, Tess is dying, and Eobard ain’t helping.

Daddy Issues

James and his protege plot their next move, with Henry talking shit while tied to a chair. The protege wants to know why he was chosen. He’s James’ son! Of course he is! Axel, I am your father. *cue Darth Vader music*

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#4A7097″ class=”” size=””]”Not every criminal chooses to hide in the dark.” - Barry[/pullquote]

The team figures out Axel’s identity and Barry worries about his dad. In the basement of S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry is worried that he’s trusting Wells - the man who may be responsible for killing his mother - to save his father. He’s also seriously hurt because he doesn’t understand how or why Wells is helping him, and how he could have been so blind. Joe reminds Barry that his greatest strength is seeing the good in people. Even people like Wells.

Iris arrives at a black-tie party for the mayor and is offered a glass of champagne by the Trickster, though she has no idea who he is and he’s dressed as a waiter. So is Axel. They giggle maniacally and no one questions why the waiters are laughing like they’re evil geniuses about to do some evil shit.

Their plan: They’ve poisoned the champagne and the guests will not be given the antidote until they’ve transferred all of their money into the Trickster’s account. They have one hour. Iris manages to place a call to Joe, who overhears everything and relays it to the team.

Wells warns Barry not to underestimate The Trick- and Barry’s gone. He rushes into the party, demands to know where Henry is, and gets a bomb strapped to his wrist. If he goes below 600mph, it will explode. Barry runs for his life, literary.

Feel the Lightning

Wells talks Barry through how to run so fast that he phases through a solid wall, which will remove the bomb from his wrist. Barry runs through a truck and it works. He races back to the party, delivers the antidote to everyone, and demands to know - again - where Henry is. James and son have no choice but to give up.

Barry rescues his father and reveals that he is The Flash, which Henry already knew, but it was a cool moment to witness.

Henry Allen gets a tour of S.T.A.R. Labs where he marvels over how far technology has come since he’s been locked away. Barry tells him what it feels like to run as The Flash and Henry thanks everyone - especially Dr. Wells - for taking such good care of Barry. Barry looks like he wants to throw up. But he does put on a fake face long enough to shake Wells’ hand and tell him he’s lucky to have him in his life. That’s my Barry! 

Fifteen Years Ago

Eobard pulls Wells from the wreckage and introduces himself. He tells him that in 2020, his and Tess’ particle accelerator changes the world, but he needs to speed up that timeline a bit. Then he uses a device on them both which kills Wells, and turns Eobard into Wells. And that’s who the cops encounter when they arrive at the crash site.

Welcome to Team Flash

Eddie meets Joe at Barry’s lab and there he learns Barry is The Flash. And they need Eddie’s help.

At Joe’s, Eddie tells Iris he found Mason and he’s living off the grid in Brazil. Iris is stunned, but seems to buy it. She goes to check on dinner and Joe, Barry, and Eddie discuss their next move. Barry says the way Wells described being a speedster means he must be The Reverse Flash.

Dun. DUN. DUN!

Overall Thoughts: 

• Every show that has a situation where the hero knows someone on their team is a liar, but they can’t act on it yet. They have to go on pretending like everything is cool, even though what they really want to do is choke the hell out of the traitor because they’ve done something horrible to the hero. And in this situation, every show makes the hero slip up here and there, unable to hide his/her contempt because they feel so betrayed. I really hate that, and I didn’t like it here when Barry kept saying such veiled things to someone who is super smart and very dangerous. Thankfully, it was just a few times.
• On a related note: They need to stop talking about how evil Harrison Wells is while in Harrison Wells’ laboratories.
• I loved that this week’s villain wasn’t a meta-human at all. Just a regular old evil genius with lots of bizarre and deadly toys.
• I predict lots of tension between Eddie and Joe and Barry, as Eddie doesn’t seem to be as on-board with lying to Iris.
• How cool would it be if Iris realizes Barry is The Flash because he used her laptop without needing the password?