‘The Flash’ episode 17 review: Mark Hamill and the real Eobard Thawne

We knew “The Flash” was going to be fun the moment that Mark Hamill was announced as a guest star, and in a role he first made famous more than 20 years ago in the Trickster. He’s devious, smart, and capable of causing great chaos. For those of you wondering what the is difference between him and the Joker, this villain is not entirely based off on anarchy. He wants money, power, and to hold the city hostage to get what he wants. Then again, it is hard to imagine what his endgame is after this, given that he cannot really spend much of it without being arrested.

About a good 15 minutes into the episode, we also knew that “Tricksters” would not be anywhere close to the episode that it could be if James Jesse was kept behind bars. Hamill’s character found a way to escape thanks to a new protegee, and in the process kidnapped Henry Allen. Sure, this is the classic case of “someone close to the hero gets kidnapped,” but it makes some real sense here. Barry is a part of the Central City PD, and it makes sense that the police wouldn’t want anything to happen to this particular hostage.

The showdown with the Tricksters and the Flash went largely as expected, but with one added wrinkle: The arrival of the speed force. Who knew that Harrison Wells could practically hypnotize Barry into learning a new power? It was much-needed, and a totally cool way to introduce this power into the mix. This came in the midst of an extended backstory for Harrison, which taught us that there once was a real Dr. Wells before Eobard Thawne basically sapped out his body energy. We are trying to currently wrap our head around this. The reveal was slightly confusing, mostly because we’re trying to figure out the timeline in our head. Is this Harrison / Eobard the same one that leaped back into the past with Barry presumably, and then got stuck there, forced to live out his life on loop?

While we are still piecing all this together, we know that “Tricksters” was a very fun episode of “The Flash,” and one that taught us much about Harrison’s past and also Barry’s future. After that pep talk, Barry finally started to realize that Harrison is the man in yellow … and at this point, it almost feels like he wants the truth to be out there.

Speaking of truth, why did Barry reveal his alter ego to Eddie? It was simply a way to ensure that Iris stopped pursuing the truth about her fellow reporter Mason, which in turn kept her out of trouble. Episode Grade: B+.

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