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The Flash Recap And Review – Season 1, Episode 20: The Trap

By Nick Tylwalk

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Knowing someone is up to something and actually being able to stop them are two different things — especially when that someone is the super-fast villain from the future known as the Reverse-Flash.

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That’s where Barry Allen and his allies currently find themselves on The Flash. Even the final holdout, Caitlin Snow, believes that Dr. Harrison Wells is the Reverse-Flash. Or rather, that the Reverse-Flash stole the identity of the real Wells, who has been dead for 15 years. Can they stop him, though? Well, the fact that tonight’s episode is called “The Trap” means they’re sure going to try. Let’s see how.

Not-So-Fast Recap: Barry, Caitlin and Cisco Ramon are right where we left them last week, in Wells’ future room. They marvel at the paper from the future, the Flash’s costume that’s more like his comic book outfit (brighter red, white in his chest logo) and the fact that the byline is by an Iris West-Allen. If that’s not enough, they get an additional shock when Gideon says hi to Barry.

He’s surprised that the computer knows him, but it explains that he’s the Director of Central City PD, CSI division, as well as the Flash. Recovering quickly, Barry asks why Reverse-Flash killed Nora Allen (he was angry) and why he’s in the present (to kill Barry).

Unfortunately, Wells is coming, and since Cisco quickly figures out he can’t hack a system as complex as Gideon’s, there doesn’t seem to be any way they can prevent the computer from simply telling Harrison they were asking questions. Or maybe they can, since it reveals it will follow any command Barry gives it … because he created it. Well then.

At Jitters, Eddie Thawne asks Joe West for a private conversation. While he admits that the timing isn’t ideal, Eddie wants to propose to Iris West, and he asks for Joe’s blessing. Joe emphatically says no, but he doesn’t get a chance to explain himself because he gets a call from Barry.

He’s quickly chastising Barry after hearing about the Future Room. Eddie is incredulous, but Barry comes clean about how he’s already time traveled to prevent the tidal wave. He wonders if Cisco’s memories are somehow from something that happened and was later changed by his jaunt through time (which we know is true), but no one can figure out why Cisco can recall what happened if that’s the case.

Joe flashes back to when Barry was still in his coma, the doctors struggling to grasp what was happening to him. Wells stops by and says the doctors can’t save him, so he asks to take Barry to S.T.A.R. Labs. Joe looks hesitant, but we know he eventually agrees.

We return to the present, where the gang talks about a technological way to enter Cisco’s dream. They get the lead they need from Wells, who thinks they are using the technique to investigate more meta-human crimes.

At the police precinct, Director Singh tells Barry never to get married. Both Iris and Eddie want to talk to Barry, who chooses the latter. Eddie tells Barry of his plan to propose to Iris and requests help getting Joe to come around. Awkward!

Cisco is having some doubts about the dream-traveling plan, but he puts on some special glasses and drifts off to sleep. Sure enough, he can navigate through his dream and talk to Caitlin and Barry while doing it. He finds out quite a bit: that the Reverse-Flash they thought they trapped at Christmas was only a hologram, that the Reverse-Flash’s real name is Eobard Thawne, small details like that. They pull Cisco out just in time, meaning right before he’s killed in his dream. Would that have killed him in real life? Good thing we don’t have to find out. Suddenly, Wells calls and sort of sounds angry when he asks Barry where he is.

Turns out it’s only because the Flash is needed for a huge high-rise fire, one that is threatening the floor where Singh’s fiancee works. Flash asks Wells for an idea on how to save the numerous people trapped by the fire, and he tells Barry to rotate his arms fast enough to create a vacuum. He initially has doubts, but after another pep talk from the doctor, he’s able to pull it off.

While changing back into civvies at S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells asks Barry about his hesitation and reiterates his belief that the only thing keeping Barry from being as fast as possible is himself. Barry thanks the doctor for his help and says none of this would be possible without him, to which Harrison replies that he feels the same.

Barry returns to the West house, where he admits to Joe that even though he knows Wells killed his mom, he finds himself liking the guy at times. That’s in contrast to Joe, who never has, and while the detective beats himself up over letting Harrison into their lives in the first place, Barry reassures him that everything bad has been Wells’ fault.

The work continues on the trap for Wells, and the plan is set. Cisco will be the bait, as he’s fixed the original trap so that speedsters can’t get through it — and Barry tests it to confirm that’s the case. Once they get the confession, Barry will move in, and Eddie will protect Iris.

About Eddie … Barry takes Joe aside to ask why he squashed Eddie’s proposal. His answer makes things even stickier for Barry, because Joe says he knows his daughter still has feelings she’s keeping inside, and he doesn’t want her to marry the wrong man.

It’s just one conversation after another for Barry, who receives a “911” text from Iris. She has something she really wants to confess to Barry, but it’s not what you might think. All of her research has led her to a conclusion, which is that the particle accelerator created people with powers, including the Burning Man (that’s Firestorm, not the festival) and the Flash. Barry says her theory has a flaw since he has no powers and agrees to talk about this more later.

That makes Iris have her own flashback, where she pours her heart out to Barry. Alas, he’s still in a coma.

After returning from his lecture, Wells finds out from Caitlin that Cisco is working in the Bunker. Though he looks like he has a hard time with the decision, Wells confronts Cisco without his glasses and wheelchair. Though he doesn’t quite give a confession, Wells has Cisco backed up to the point where he has to activate the barrier. Barry and Joe look in in shock as Wells walks right through the barrier, and Joe fires three shots from his pistol. Barry is able to use his speed to catch two of him, but he can’t reach the third before the barrier stops him. That shot hits Wells in the chest, and they confirm that he’s dead.

But … it’s not Wells! The dead body quickly degenerates to reveal the form of Hannibal Bates, a.k.a. the shape-shifting Everyman. Wells taunts them from a rooftop. He admits that he enjoyed working with all of them, and that he needs Barry alive, so he can’t kill him yet. Rest assured, though, that they will meet very, very soon. Well, didn’t see that coming.

Can it get worse? Of course it can! Cisco tells Barry that the tracker says Wells is in the Future Room, but naturally, it’s just the wheelchair (upon which Cisco had placed a tracker). Like the ultimate peeping Tom, Wells has cameras placed over all their homes and workplaces, so he’s been setting a trap for them all along.

That means Iris is in danger, and Flash zips off to find her while Joe tries contacting her. She’s not answering because she’s out for a stroll with Eddie, who is just about to pop the question when Reverse-Flash attacks. Hate it when that happens. Flash zips in to safeguard Iris, but Reverse-Flash leaves with Eddie. From their conversation, Iris gets the first inkling that Barry might be the Flash.

At an undisclosed location, Reverse-Flash reveals his true name to his astonished relative Eddie, as well as the fact that he’s from the future. Before Eddie thinks it’s all about him, Eobard explains that he’s simply an insurance policy.

Time for another flashback. Wells is with Barry during his coma, talking about the irony that while he hates him and wants to kill him, he’s been left in a position where he has to create him instead. His final vow is that nothing is forgiven, that there will be a reckoning — and that Barry Allen will die.

Favorite Moment: Plenty of good lines in this one, like when Eddie was talking about how good “Iris Thawne” sounded and Barry said to himself that she’d probably want to hyphenate. Still, my award goes to Cisco again, when he said that if Wells was really handicapped, he’d be going to hell for putting a tracking device on his chair. Yeah, probably.

Final Thought: So with the truth revealed and a few episodes to go, the focus shifts from when our heroes will discover the truth to what Reverse-Flash’s endgame will be. The promos for next week show that he’s going to throw Grodd in Flash’s way as a very serious roadblock, but in the comics, Grodd is no one’s minion. I hope that proves to be the case here too.

Next: Previously: Our recap of Who is Harrison Wells?

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