The Flash 01×15 – Out of Time

Ali: Chris. I was so emotionally exhausted from this episode I passed out almost immediately after I finished watching it. It definitely had nothing to do with jetlag. But I guess we should start at the beginning(ish) and how THERE ARE TWO BARRYS!!!!

Barry In Stereo

Chris: We always talk about this show moving fast, but here they basically just decided to pull the trigger on everything at once and now it’s effing GAME TIME. Maybe we should try and go through this as chronologically as we can. Maybe. We can always try. Can we talk about the worst date in the world?

Ali: Awkward forced double date was AWKWARD. And I’m not in love with this Iris likes Barry now that he has a girlfriend thing. But more importantly the bowling alley was for sale so clearly Wells needs to buy it and run a law practice out of the bowling alley.

Chris: There’s no feasible reason that Ed didn’t already take place in this universe and that’s just how Wells was killing his time until Barry was born and running around. Because of this scene, I don’t think we can hold any future evil against Eddie. I really want a scene where Barry yells at him “Why are you doing this?” and Eddie’s just like, “Because you’re all dicks!”

Ali: Oh yeah! I felt really bad for Eddie this episode. He’s a good guy who does the right thing. And he gets shafted quite a bit I think.

Chris: The face he pulled in the bowling alley when Barry and Iris were almost straight up canoodling was the best thing Eddie has done on this show. I loved it.

Ali: I do have to say, I really like the way they’re handling these love triangles. They’re not trying to make Eddie or Linda jerks. They’re both really great people who are not OK with their significant other making doe eyes at someone else. It’s an honest way to present it and I appreciate that.

Chris: We’ve complained a lot about the Barry/Iris stuff and I’m not sure if this is the best way to deal with it all, but it’s being dealt with… or maybe it isn’t because TIME TRAVEL. But we’ll get to that… in the future. In the meantime, Wells and Cisco are having a bro night at STAR Labs and watching Buster Keaton flicks, and we get caught up on some of Cisco’s family drama. I really like that they’re slowly building everyone up as having things going on outside of STAR Labs and Flash stuff.

Ali: I feel like recently they’ve really been establishing the deeper bonds between Wells and Cisco. Which is great but ONLY TEARS MY HEART OUT MORE BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENS.

Chris: Yeah we might as well just get to it because the end of this episode was basically “Hey Ali and Chris. Love the columns and all, but we made this episode JUST to screw with you.”

Ali: So, the two hugely ginormous things that happen in this episode are Barry running so fast he punches through time and Cisco figuring out Wells is the Reverse Flash and then, after some obligatory super villain monologuing, Wells kills Cisco AND I LITERALLY SCREAMED BECAUSE CISCOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Chris: It hit me so hard, Ali. They structured it so well. You can see it coming a mile away and it just makes it that much worse. “Forgive me, but to me you’ve been dead for centuries.”

Ali: I CAN’T CHRIS!!!!

Chris: I love that it took this to feel like Wells is a full-on villain. We’ve pitched so many theories about how this could all possibly be for the greater good, or at least he saw it that way, but no. It’s all from a selfish desire. AND HE KILLED CISCO. Too far, man. Tooooooo far.

Ali: There is no coming back from that. I mean, not like there was any coming back from killing Barry’s mom. But geez. It’s Cisco. Smart and adorable and innocent Cisco. The only thing keeping me going is that Barry time traveled back to the beginning of the episode. So I’m banking on Barry being able to save Cisco before things get too bad. But I’m also thinking his reveal to Iris is going to get retconned out as well. What do you think about what’s staying and going?

Chris: I have a feeling that everything we saw in this episode isn’t going to come to pass. That leaves us with some interesting possibilities though. Barry isn’t going to reveal himself to Iris, but he gets to go ahead with his life knowing how she feels about him. There’s a couple of ways you can play that and more than one of them are super-duper creepy, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being. The real question is: if Barry does save Cisco like we so desperately need him to, does that mean he doesn’t stop the tidal wave? Is he going to have to choose between Cisco and the city or is he going to get magically great at time travel already and be in two places at once? So many possibilities. THIS IS SO EXCITING.

Ali: Wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey!! My initial thought is Barry will stop Weather Wizard before he gets to Joe; therefore, no tidal wave. That also frees him up to save Cisco and eliminates that scene with Iris where they smooch/she sees he’s the Flash.

Chris: There’s also the problem that Barry doesn’t know about Cisco. He has no idea about the confrontation with Wells. I also think something else has to go wrong, not just from a thirst for consequences or anything, but if we already have a Barry that can fix everything via time travel one season into this show, it really lowers the stakes going forward. Something has to go wrong or someone has to pay the price. I feel weird saying that, because I’m not much for grimdark superheroics, but I think this show can pull it off without going gross and dark.

Our boy in happier times.

Ali: Yes, but Caitlin definitely knows something it up. Because she sees Well’s has disappeared from his chair. So she’d have time to call Barry and have him get to the lab ASAP. CISCO CANNOT BE THE THING THAT GOES WRONG, CHRIS. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT.

Chris: For real when they cut back to the chair and he wasn’t there I let out an “oh, shit.” My dog was overly concerned about that sudden outburst. What’d you think about the reveal with the holograms and the whatnot? It played pretty well for me.

Ali: I don’t know how I feel about the Speed Mirage. I mean, the execution of it was amazingly well done. It just doesn’t really make sense to me. Although, if I’m willing to believe Barry can punch holes through time, I kind of have to accept the Speed Mirage thing.

Chris: It’s a very Flash-y thing so I’m cool with it and it’s another one of those fun comics things where the show just introduces it and forces the audiences to accept and it just roll with it. I can dig. I loved the fake out of seeing the Reverse Flash over Cisco’s shoulder. Chills, Ali. Chills.

Ali: Chills and CISCO NOOOOOOO!!!

Chris: Still not done processing. Not even close. I for real had to tell myself that time travel could fix this.It has to! Ooof. He really played the discovery and the heart break.

Ali: I mean, I spend most episodes wanting to hug Cisco. But this one? Oof. I think I need to move to the Lightning Round before I start crying over Cisco again. MY HEART.

Chris: Yup. Lightning round. Go for it.

Ali: What is up with the Weather Wand either being ridiculously out of reach or Barry just flat out not taking it with him when he left the police station?! You have a weapon that works against Weather Wizard! USE IT!

Chris: “It was never my intention to kill Nora. I was there to kill Barry.” Stone. Cold. Evil.

Ali: The most evil!! Someone needs to stab Wells. Stab him a lot. No Pipeline, just stabbing.

Chris: Super stabbing. Oh, and Joe laughing at Barry for like a solid 10 seconds about how hopeless his situation is was kind of all I’ve ever needed from this show and I’m so glad it happened.

Joe, being all of us.

Ali: Right?! “Yeah. It’s complicated.” That was so great. Although, I’m not sure they want to remind us that Barry and Iris were basically raised as siblings.

Chris: I was surprised they reminded us in such an upfront way given what happens later in the episode. Um… can we talk about Wells’ real name and how it’s the best way to tie this all together? I’m not dead set on sticking to comics continuity, but this was pretty dang cool.

Ali: I loved it!! You’re right, they don’t HAVE to stick to comics continuity, but this was a nice nod to fans and a way to unequivocally say this is Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash, and he is Barry’s greatest nemesis.

Chris: And it gives a legitimate link to Eddie becoming Reverse Flash later on. That dude’s gonna play one hell of a villain. I think that’s it for this week. We’ve got a lot to look forward to on next week’s episode. Hopefully, we’ll get another look at Grodd. Until next time, Flash Fans.

So, this is happening now. We guess.

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