Andrew. Kreisberg. Is. The. Man! And while we’re at it, so is Mark Hamill. Tuesday night’s episode of The Flash was nothing short of amazing. But you don’t have to take my word for it. There were shout-outs, Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Trickster but only to pass on the torch and, we finally got the back story on the Reverse-Flash all on The Flash: Tricksters. Brace yourself fans of The Flash, both old and new, because this week’s episode was epic. Spoiler alert!
“I am your father!” – The Trickster
How awesome was it to hear Mark Hamill say that line on this week’s episode of The Flash? Years later after playing Luke Skywalker and having that line said to his character by Darth Vader in Star Wars, he got the chance to say it himself. And it was super cool!
Aside from that, Mark Hamill’s performance of the Trickster was stellar. Then again, what else do you expect from the actor who originally played The Trickster on the 90s Flash television series? I read somewhere that Mark Hamill said he was nervous about ruining The Flash. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s even possible. He was so convincing, he gave me goose bumps. Besides, it was the perfect passing of the Trickster torch to none other than the Trickster’s biological son.
Eddie Thawne Learns about Barry’s Secret Identity
Who saw this one coming, because I sure didn’t? In one of the most randomized moments on Tuesday’s episode of The Flash, Barry Allen and Detective West decide to bring Eddie Thawne—Detective West’s partner and Iris West’s live-in boyfriend—into the fold. And, of course he reacted pretty much like any sane person would; complete shock. After all, it’s totally normal to learn that your romantic rival is the meta human that your girlfriend is obsessed with because he goes around saving everybody in your city, right? I would say: “try competing with that Barry,” but something tells me things weren’t going to go Barry’s way anyway.
Shout-out Central City
There were a couple of nerdy shout-outs on this week’s The Flash episode, other than the mention of Star Wars. The biggest shout-out went to the 1990s Flash television series, for obvious reasons including the recurrence of Barry’s father, Henry, who of course played the original Barry Allen/Flash back in the 90s.
Then, there was the shout-out to The Flash’s fellow DC TV show, Arrow. Specifically, Cisco, gave kudos to Felicity for her superior computer skills when admitting that it would take him some time to figure out how to detonate The Trickster’s bomb. Like the other shout-outs in this week’s episode, you really had to be paying attention, because otherwise you would have completely missed the shout-out.
Harrison Wells Really Isn’t the Reverse-Flash
As if Mark Hamill wasn’t enough this week, Kreisberg blew our minds with an origin story of the Reverse-Flash that perhaps none of us saw coming. After teasing us all season and then finally confirming that the Dr. Harrison Wells is the Reverse-Flash, Kreisberg flipped the script on us. And it was, you guessed it, amazing!
As it turns out, Eobard Thawne really is the Reverse-Flash, not Dr. Harrison Wells. You see, Dr. Wells was killed when Eobard Thawne took his identity nearly twenty years ago, after a confrontation with The Flash in the past in which he depleted his speed force that then disallowed him to return to his home in the future. Major kudos to Andrew Kreisberg—the executive producer who wrote this week’s episode—for “tricking” us on that one.
The Flash returns to the CW with an all new episode on April 14 at 8:00pm EST/ 7:00pm CST.