In an episode that has echoes of “Groundhog Day”, Barry Allen finds out the hard way that messing with the past can have serious results. If you didn’t see last week’s episode, you may want to catch that one first, as this episode makes SO much more sense that way. It would be very hard to match the intensity level of last week’s show…and unfortunately there are parts of last week’s episode that no longer apply (spoilers ahead)…but still this is an important chapter of the story, and if nothing else a little…Golden…intervention makes this another very interesting episode of our favorite super-hero show.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!

Rather than going blow-by-blow, let’s talk about what happens when Barry messes with time. Rather than risk all the horrific events brought about by Mark Mardon last episode, Barry captures him VERY quickly and puts him away. Problem solved, right? NOPE! Let’s look at just SOME of what changed as a result:

• Cisco doesn’t die…but he IS captured by the Rogues and has to watch as his brother Dante is tortured. More about that later.
• However, Mason Bridges DOES die – before he is able to have that conversation with Iris about Harrison Wells.
• Barry doesn’t have to worry about that tidal wave the Weather Wizard cooked up last episode…but wait, wasn’t that when Iris confessed her feelings?

Yep, a LOT can change from just ONE act…but that’s not all that happened as a result of Barry messing with time. Since Cisco is no longer doing what he was doing last episode, he’s now out on the town with Barry, and is more than thrilled when a beautiful woman is interested in him.  That woman’s name, of course, is Lisa Snart – and she delivers him to her brother!  Len forces Cisco to rebuild the Cold and Heat guns, along with one more gun for Lisa…one with a golden effect!

And, there is one last thing Len requires before freeing the Ramon brothers…he wants Flash’s secret identity! Cisco tries to resist, but cannot resist once he sees his brother tortured. Now, we have a NEW reality:

• Barry is single – he’s broken up with Linda but has (for now) no shot with Iris
• Len Snart knows that Barry Allen is the Flash!
• Cisco is alive but shattered by what’s happened
• Mason Bridges is dead…but…

There are still two more twists.

In a somewhat puzzling scene, Len and Barry come to a bit of a truce. Snart has a fail-safe message that will release The Flash’s identity to the world if Barry doesn’t let him go. But, Barry sets the rules for future encounters – “nobody dies” (I guess this is where the Rogues’ code comes up in the TV Flashverse), and nothing can happen to Barry’s friends or family. In this conversation, the term “Rogues Gallery” finally comes up – spoken first by Barry, but later picked up by Snart. I’ll comment on this scene again in just a bit.

The other twist is that Barry sees Harrison Wells reading the story about Mason Bridges’ “disappearance”. In the epilogue Barry meets with Joe West to share his suspicions about Wells.

COMMENTS: It would be near-impossible to match the intensity of last week’s amazing episode, though this chapter was still a critical chapter that will have repercussions throughout the rest of this season. After letting Snart go, Barry wonders whether he did the right thing – and I have to wonder about that as well. That scene does establish both the “Rogues Gallery” name and the Rogues code not to kill – and I’m glad to see that. But, I’m puzzled both by Barry letting Len go and by Len being willing to keep Barry’s secret in return. As for the timey-wimey elements of the show, I’m glad to see that there are repercussions to changing history. Glad that Cisco is okay, but sad to see that scene with Iris fading into the almost-was category (though there is still some hope for things down the road). The big thing here is that we are setting things up for some bigger developments down the road. We’ve been able to find out who Wells really is without it being known to the characters, and we’ve seen that Iris does have feelings for Barry…even though she may not fully accept that just yet. We still seem to be building to that red blur next to the yellow blur we’ve seen in Barry’s childhood all season…and I can’t wait to see what happens when we get there! All in all, while it doesn’t match last week this is still a good episode of THE FLASH.

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