Spoilers, or reverse-spoilers as it were, for The Flash’s latest episode.
I’m not going to lie here. The most fabulous part of “Tricksters” was seeing Mark Hamill return to this universe as the gloriously loony Trickster, especially when he went all Star Wars. But his “I’m your father” line was the most obvious “twist” ever, and was in complete contrast to the episode’s opening scene, in which we got to witness the speedster battle from Barry’s childhood, which ended with an injured Reverse-Flash removing his hood to reveal...Matt Letscher, the Carrie Diaries star who played Joe Kennedy in Boardwalk Empire? What the shit is that all about?
As the episode went on to show us, Letscher is the ACTUAL Eobard Thawne, the from-the-future character that Dr. Wells revealed himself to be to Cisco before Barry traveled back in time a couple of weeks ago. Comic fans are certainly used to Eobard and Reverse-Flash having multiple stories over the years, and now we know Greg Berlanti & Co. are completely into complicating matters for the live-action version just as much.
The real Harrison Wells, who didn’t even really have time to mourn his wife (who in one theoretical timeline lived on to see her husband create the particle accelerator in 2020), was murdered in a most disgusting way after being forced into a car accident. Eobard used some crazy genetic camouflage device to suck the life out of Wells’ body through a clamp, replacing his own DNA with that of the scientist. The special effects in this scene were awesome, and Final Stage Wells looked like he just watched the video from The Ring.
It still isn’t abundantly clear what Eobard’s specific deal is with Barry, but now-suspicious Barry has now enlisted Eddie – Eobard’s distant relative – into the “I know who Flash is” troupe to help them figure out why Wells/Eobard is so invested in him. He probably shouldn’t have been so descriptive when telling Barry how to phase through solid matter, but then talking too much has been one of Wells’ most recognizable traits this first season.
But now I guess we can all stop hating Tom Cavanaugh for being such a super-douche for the past 17 episodes, knowing that his body was just taken over by a metahuman from a future century. He was Ed, after all. I feel much more comfortable thinking about Letscher as the evil face beneath the bespectacled Wells. Not that it makes it any easier to figure out how to refer to them respectively. Wellsobard? Eoballs? I like that second one.
Now please tell me that Barry’s next new power is making Mark Hamill return to this show on a weekly basis.
