The Flash Season 1 Recaps: Episodes 11-14

The second half of The Flash has gone by quickly, and we're nearing the season finale. In the meantime, the show has been on a month hiatus to build up for the final few episodes. But alas, fear not! The Flash returns on the CW this coming Tuesday, March 17th.

In preparation for its return, I am going to recap the last four episodes like I did previously for Arrow. I've only watched each episode one time, so don't chase after me if I get something wrong. In addition, I'll be lightly recapping each episode, spotlighting only the most important aspects.

Episode 11: The Sound and the Fury

Air date: 1.27.15, The CW

Photo from the CW's The Flash photo gallery albums

The episode starts off with a few laughs, as the STAR Labs gang takes a picture with Barry--though Barry is only slightly concerned taking a picture defeats the purpose of a secret superhero identity. But the laughs are shattered when Dr. Wells returns home to receive a phone call from a mysterious voice before the glass windows in his house break. Wells uses his super speed to zip away just in time (of course, he doesn't tell the police that when they and the gang arrive).

Wells knows who that mysterious voice was: his old protege, Hartley Rathaway (Cisco and Caitlin aren't fond of the man either). He's come to have his revenge because 1. he knew turning on the particle accelerator was a bad idea and 2. He's know been affected by the explosion. He can manipulate sound waves, which is a threat to both Wells and The Flash. He is... the Pied Piper! (duh-duh-dun!)

Barry ends up capturing Rathaway. Wells tries to apologize in order to stop Rathaway. And Rathaway uses more than just sonic manipulations but vocal manipulations to cause both Barry and Cisco to waver in their faith for Wells. He claims Wells is hiding a secret. Wells does admit to a secret--but not the big secret. He confesses to the gang that Rathaway told him there would be problems with the particle accelerator but he went ahead and turned it on anyways.

Rathaway escapes (???) and Wells tries to use his super-speed again but collapses from weakness (???). Wells decides to hold a press conference and come clean about the particle accelerator, if nothing but to gain back the trust of his gang. In Rathaway's escape, he stole Barry's body's scans so when he starts attacking the city, he messes with Barry's internal frequency (aka causing Barry's insides to start to explode). Fortunately, Wells to the rescue! He programs a counter frequency to save Barry and stop Rathaway. As they lock Rathaway up in the pipeline thing of STAR Labs, he tells Cisco that he knows what happened to Ronnie and how to help him... for a price (freedom, duh). Fortunately, Cisco is better than that, right?

Episode 12: Crazy For You

Air date: 2.3.15

Photo from the CW's The Flash photo gallery albums

A teleporter named Shawna breaks her boyfriend out of jail, which calls Joe and Barry to the crime scene. Joe arranges for Henry Allen (yes, Barry's father) to be brought by during the investigation so Barry can see him (feeeeeeeels). They take DNA resuide left by our teleporter in order to track them down. Cisco meanwhile is in STAR Labs making fun of Caitlin for not having a life and also talking to Hartley about Ronnie (duh-duh-dun!). They pick up a trace of Shawna and her boyfriend committing a crime: robbing an armored car.

Barry zips over there, plays a "Run, run, as fast you can. You can't catch me I'm a teleporter-woman" game with Shawna, but the criminals escape. Wells decides to figure out the limits of Shawna's abilities, while Barry and Caitlin go out for a few drinks in order to "have a life" (aka find new love). This consists of Caitlin getting drunk and Barry being pulled into a karoke rendition of "Summer Lovin" where our speedster can... SING! (And all the fangirls sighed; another reason to love Grant Gustin). This performance catches the eye of reporter, Linda Parker, who hits it off with Barry (U G H). However, Caitlin returns hung over so Barry takes her home and gets her settled.

Meanwhile, Henry Allen has been doing some detective work in prison to locate Shawna and Clay and the crime boss. There's some fighting, Henry is injured, and Barry gets mad when he hears about it. But they uncover a big heist that's going down. Luckily, Wells has learned that Shawna can only teleport if she can see where she's going, so Barry aims to limit her vision field by taking out all the lights in the vicinity of the heist. Shawna's boyfriend deserts her, and she's captured and sent to STAR Labs.

During all of this, Cisco lets Rathaway out of the cell (Nooooo), and takes him around to figure out what happened to Ronnie. Rathaway tries to escape but Cisco is prepared and has a device that hurts Rathaway. They learn that Ronnie and Professor Stein have combined bodies. Then, Rathaway disarms Cisco and escapes.

Barry visits his dad again, and Henry claims he knows Barry is the Flash. However, Barry denies it; but his father still gives a few words of encouragement that are both touching and heart-wrenching (*cries and runs to go hug my dad*).

In the closing, we see two city workers enter the sewers and get attacked by something... dark and big... something... GRODD (*gorilla screeches*)

Episode 13: Nuclear Man

Air Date: 2.10.15, The CW

Photo from the CW's The Flash photo gallery albums

The now confirmed, combined Ronnie/Stein (aka Firestorm) make an appearance and Wells sends Barry out on the case to track them (he?) down. They start the investigation by tracking down Stein's wife and paying her a visit. She claims a strange man (aka Ronnie) came home, confused and rambling, and she called the police. But Firestorm left before the police arrived. Ever since then, she feels as if she's being watched. They basically decide that it's Ronnie's body but Stein is in control of his mind and actions. The gang decides to plan a stakeout at Stein's house.

Firestorm shows up. Barry arrives, tries to help, fails, and plants a tracker on him. They track him down, Clarissa assists in helping calm Firestorm down, and they take him back to STAR Labs. After a few tests, they learn that Ronnie's body is trying to eject Stein, which is going to cause a lot of problems like a nuclear reaction (duh-duh-dun!). Wells suggests they render the host body non-functional (aka murder), but the gang refuses and stands up to Wells, who slinks back to his secret compartment. Firestorm leaves to go to the Badlands, so if there is an explosion, it's far from civilization. Wells configures a device thing to stop the nuclear reaction. Barry and Caitlin follow Firestorm to the Badlands. Ronnie gives Caitlin a passionate goodbye kiss, and Stein uses the device, which appears to malfunction. So there's a giant explosive cloud and Barry, holding Caitlin, zooms out of it just in time. General Eiling learns of the explosion and appears interested in tracking down Firestorm.

Meanwhile, Joe enlists Cisco's help. They decide to reinvestigate the death of Nora Allen (yes, Barry's mother). They return to the crime scene--Barry's childhood house--and look around for anything else that could have been evidence. There happens to be a mirror that used to be in the Allen home that is still present in the house. They look it over, find a few particles and with super cool technology re-create an image of that evening. The image reveals two people in the room with Nora: the Man in the Yellow Suit (Curious George anybody?) and a red blur (that sounds familiar) along with forgotten blood splatters. Cisco takes a sample of the blood and runs a few tests: it's Barry's blood. But not child Barry: Adult Barry's blood. Adult Barry was there the night his mother was murdered, which means... TIME TRAVEL (yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

In other news, the episode revealed things moving fast between Barry and Linda. They have one and a half dates, but the second (if you can call making out on a couch as a date) is interrupted for Barry to assist with Firestorm. This leaves Linda not happy (boo hiss). Barry returns to her workplace to win her back; Linda is solid in that she doesn't have time for a pointless relationship. After talking to Iris, Linda decides to end things permanently with Barry, but he wins her back with a very hot pepper (???).

Episode 14: Fallout

Air date: 2.17.15

Photo from the CW's The Flash photo gallery albums

So Firestorm just exploded and Barry managed to get Caitlin out of the way of the "fallout" just in time. However, Firestorm survived the blast (no surprise there) and Ronnie and Stein are back in their regular bodies (how that even works, I don't want to know). Everything is good, except they each share a few similar traits from the other. And that General Eiling is now hunting the down (duh-duh-dun!).

Meanwhile, Joe brings Barry to the house where his mom died and reveals the evidence that Adult Barry was there that night. Wells (with the help of Cisco's pop culture references) explain the possibilities of time-travel, but they don't really know a whole lot. So Barry pays a visit to Professor Stein--who apparently is a time-travel theory fantatic (convenient, eh?). While there, Stein suddenly stumbles in pain, but he's not injured in any way. It's actually Ronnie. It's revealed the two have a linked connection still as a result of Firestorm, and Ronnie is currently being assaulted by General Eiling (duh-duh-dun!). Barry arrives to the rescue, but Eiling has a special device that attaches to kinect energy and traps Barry. Luckily Caitlin arrives with a van, and the three are able to escape.

After getting the device from Barry's skin (it's like little nails all over his body), they decide to keep Ronnie and Stein under protection from Eiling until they can figure something else out. Ronnie goes with Barry to Joe's house, while Stein stays with Wells. But Wells isn't so trustworthy (or maybe he's been manipulated) and he's made a deal with Eiling and he hands Stein over (duh-duh-dun!). Eiling takes Stein to a military base and begins to torture him via electrocution (which apparently, he also did to a gorilla named... GRODD). Using Ronnie and Stein's linked ability, the gang figures out where Stein is being held (using glass to carve into skin as well as morse code). Barry (and Ronnie) arrives, saves Eiling, but gets hit with a bad bomb of phosphorous. Stein and Ronnie are forced to combine once again in order to escape, but no harm is done since they willingly did it.

However, not all is good in the end. Ronnie and Stein decide they have to leave Central City in order to protect those they love from Eiling and also understand the capabilities of Firestorm. The end scene reveals the Man in the Yellow Suit (aka Wells) taking Eiling to the sewers (duh-duh-dun!). Grodd--in all his dark and monstrous glory--appears and telepathically communicates with Eiling before snatching him away. (And now I want to make so many Curious George/monkey jokes).

Whew!! That was a lot of words. Now that we've recapped the latest of The Flash, what's in store for the rest of Season 1? Well, let me tell you: a lot. The CW released a Villian promo that highlights the villains appearing in the next couple episodes. It looks like we're in for one exciting ride. :)

Waaaaait, we're getting more meta-humans, Captain Cold (again), AND MARK HAMILL AS THE TRICKSTER?! (Fun fact: Mark Hamil played the Trickster in the 90s Flash TV show, which are the photos in the trailer of him "twenty years ago" literally). I'm super pumped.

Also if you watch the very beginning, I think Barry is going to reveal himself as the Flash to somebody important (I've got bets its Iris).

And we can't, of course, forget the fact that BARRY IS GOING TO TIME TRAVEL. *runs around house screaming*

This. Will. Be. So. Epic.

Question to be answered:

1. Where's Linda been (and will Barry be able to maintain a relationship while being a superhero)?
2. What about Gorilla Grodd? Will he even face off with Barry this season or are they keeping him for a another season?
3. TRICKSTER (okay that's not a question)
4. Who is Barry telling his secret identity to and WHY?
5. Who's that guy in blue talking about "being amazed" at the beginning of the promo?
6. What about DR. WELLS killing Barry's mother?

-Jaime