Dr. Wells' former protégé, Hartley Rathaway (Andy Mientus), returns to seek revenge on his mentor after being affected by the particle accelerator explosion, with the ability to manipulate sound waves. Iris is hired by the Central City Picture News as their newest cub reporter. Cisco recalls his first day on the job when he met Hartley and Caitlin. Joe asks Eddie for a favor but asks him to keep it a secret from Barry.
It would have been very difficult for The Flash to match last week's extremely fun outing. That was the show at its best. Meanwhile, "The Sound and the Fury" has a number of more noticeable problems that all add up to one of the more lukewarm episodes of the series so far. Nothing was particularly wrong with the premise of the hour. Dr. Well's former protégé, Hartley Rathaway, returns to seek vengeance on the man who ruined his life by revealing his big secret. It just wasn't as fun or exciting as the show can be at its absolute best.The mystery of Dr. Wells is one of the most compelling plot threads of the season so far. So much has been said about Tom Cavanagh's performance. It really is compelling because Wells can put on a show and have it be realistic. He can also be shifty with his own agenda. He's often the smartest person in the room. Only he could navigate Barry through the city's maze in order to trap the bikers in the hour's opening act. He's also a man with many secrets. The threat of exposure is a compelling narrative drive. It gives urgency to the character that throws him off his carefully plotted existence.
The big secret that Hartley is referring to throughout this episode is that Wells was warned that the particle accelerator could explode and he decided to turn it on anyway. The audience already knew that. He wanted the explosion to happen so that The Flash would be born. However, it is news to the people of Central City. What consequences does Wells have to deal with by the exposure of this secret? Very little. He holds a press conference to confess his sins and proclaim that he has failed the city. But no one is more angry at him as a result of it. This should place more blame on him for the destruction that occurred that night. Instead it's brushed off as the city already hating him so this isn't anything new. This should make the city hate him more. But that is never accurately explored. Joe and Eddie are launching an official investigation into him. That's a very promising plot development. But it came entirely out of Joe's sneaking suspicion that Wells isn't being forthcoming to Barry about several things.
If the rest of the city didn't have a reaction to Wells' secret, the rest of the team should have. Instead, they are too busy trying to stop Hartley from hurting anyone in the town as part of some grand chess match with Wells. Hartley didn't ever come across as a villain with clear emotions and motivations. His purpose was to expose this secret of Wells' - which isn't even the most pressing one that the doctor holds. It does afford us a little glimpse into the world of Dr. Wells. That is one amazing house. Plus, we got confirmation that he already has the speed of the Reverse Flash. The team do start to question who the man really is. But all of that is short lived because no one was smart enough to see that Hartley got trapped on purpose. That storytelling device has become such a lackluster trope as of late. How did no one on the team figure that that was what Hartley was doing? Moreover, why was Hartley being put into the meta-human jail when his powers came from the devices on his hands? There was just one too many contrivances for me to get wrapped up into this story. It had the components of being a great episodic plot. And Hartley may provide some value in the future because he gets that big proclamation in the end of knowing how to help Ronnie. But this was largely a table-setting episode that didn't have enough fun distractions to make it entertaining.
Some more thoughts:
- "The Sound and the Fury" was written by Alison Schapker & Brooke Eikmier and directed by John Showalter.
- Iris joins the Central City Picture News which is a good sign that she is developing as character beyond the love triangle with Barry and Eddie. And yet, her story didn't have a lot of merit to it. She was down because her co-worker didn't respect her and then he came around after she asked his question to Dr. Wells in the press conference.
- Wells is able to win back the support of the team because he owns up to his past actions and also saves Barry's life in the end. He's a hero in Barry's eyes again and the show does enough to make us understand why Barry would think that way even though we all know better than that.
- The chess match between Hartley and Wells would have been so much better if there hadn't been so many references to it being a chess match. Sometimes the show suffers from not being that subtle with its themes.
- I love that Hartley being gay has absolutely no bearing on how any of the characters see him. That's a fact about him but it's not the most pressing thing that they have to deal with. It added to a tragic backstory but more importantly got a great line from The Flash dragging him into STAR Labs again.
- Even Barry racing to rescue people from their cars before they plummet to the bottom of the dam didn't seem as impressive as Barry rescuing people from a train wreck or him running up the side of a building or on water for the first time.
- And then came Barry's speech to Joe about no one ever being able to replace him and what he did for Barry. I swear Barry and Joe laughing and smiling together is one of the most infectious thing on television.
- Cisco describing Hartley to Barry and Joe: "He was mostly a jerk, but every once in awhile... he could be a dick."
