Spoilers below for The Flash for anyone who isn't caught up.
While not the most problem-free method of telling stories, The Flash's potentially infinite timelines and other-Earths definitely offer the kind of in-show variety that most other shows can't pull off. For instance, the always excellent Tom Cavanagh has already played three different versions of Harrison Wells on The Flash, and "The New Rogues" surprisingly gave fans a brand new version of the brilliant scientist from Earth-19, and I dare say it's the best iteration yet!
Lookit! Lookit! Harrison Wells is smiling, everyone, and it's because there's genuine mirth behind it! Caitlin makes a joke about this new Wells having a sense of humor, and it's one that everyone can laugh along with, since the versions of the character we've met so far have been an evil villain, a somewhat asocial visitor from Earth-2 and a nice man whose personality was immediately vanquished. No one would mistake Harrison or Harry for stand-up comics, but this H.R. guy, as he prefers to be called, he's got something, and it's beyond fantastic.
And you can tell right away, too, as Earth-19's H.R. starts things off (in person) by acting as if he were a deep-voiced alien. ("Greetings, Earthlings.") He compliments Harry's looks, he tries to flirt with Caitlin and he really is just already the best character The Flash has introduced yet. His goofy hipster-lite ways probably irk some viewers as much as it irked Harry, but I am all about this guy completely taking over the show in Season 3. It should be considered a crime that we got such an extremely short exchange between Tom Cavanagh and himself, since this could easily go for an entire episode.
The reason Earth-19 Harrison Wells was brought to Earth-1 is due to Harry needing to return to Earth-2 with his daughter Jesse Quick, though I hardly expect those two to stay away forever. Indeed, upon making his breach-assisted exit tonight, Harry was in the middle of issuing a warning against...something. We didn't get to find out what it was, though H.R. earned another laugh in his reaction to the unfinished advice. Hopefully it wasn't something that will eventually kill off H.R. I just got emotionally invested in this goober!
And really, that wasn't even the only new version of Harrison Wells we got to meet, as the group ran an interview session with other Earths' takes on the character earlier in the episode. H.R. easily won out, though. That mustachioed version was a total downer, and while having a French Wells around would be interesting in theory, there would probably be too many baguette jokes.
Tonight's episode of The Flash also brought back another version of a different character - more on that here - which was pretty fitting for an episode featuring the reflection-based crimes of Mirror Master. But what we really want to know now is, does this mean we'll get to see at least 18 more versions of Trickster whenever Mark Hamill makes his perma-welcomed return later this season? It does, right?
The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW at 8:00 p.m. ET. Hopefully with a new version of Harrison Wells to go with every new episode.
