Flash Facts: “Power Outage”
Out of power but not out of heart!
With a title like Power Outage, this can only be the prerequisite episode where our hero loses his powers for some reason but The Flash isn’t content with just having one villain to contend with, it goes all out with THREE! Woof.
First thing I noticed was that Joe is choosing NOT to tell Barry about his encounter with the Reverse-Flash, no doubt being a protective father but this just paints a bigger target on his back. I love Jesse L. Martin but I can easily see him being Uncle Ben’d by the end of the season. One detail that I loved in this episode was Joe’s intelligence, easily matching William Tockman’s quotations with their authors, clearly impressing Tockman.
Speaking of Tockman, let’s talk villains! William Tockman, played by Robert Knepper, makes a welcome return, having last been seen during season 2 of Arrow (The Flash’s sister-show). Knepper brings the calculating Clock King to life once more and is an absolute delight to watch as he holds CCPD hostage, including Joe and Iris. With Barry of out of commission, it’s cool to see the rest of the cast deal with a formidable but ultimately human enemy. Farooq Gibran is an odd choice of villain, namely because he’s a hero in the comics but also because he’s from the Flashpoint universe that resulted in the New 52. Like I said, odd choice, but it sets up a villain who could steal Barry’s speed and he’s actually blaming Wells for the death of his friends and for making him into Blackout.
Flash Fact: Most of the names Wells listed as dead as a result of the accident are actual DC heroes! Ralph Dibny, Al Rothstein, Grant Emerson, Will Everett, Bea DaCosta, and Ronnie Raymond are better known as Elongated Man, Atom-Smasher, Damage, Amazing Man, Fire, and Firestorm, respectively. It’s a shame we’ll never get to see Ralph but considering Ronnie MIGHT be returning, I wouldn’t count any of them out.
And finally, we see the return of Girder and this is the last we’ll see of him! With Flash powerless, Wells takes a calculated risk and asks Girder to kill Farooq. It works for a while but ultimately, Blackout’s lightning blasts take their toll and he dies telling Barry to run. Sure he was an asshole but he died like a cool guy and that makes him alright in my books!
Wells dials up the shadiness to eleven this week, not just at the end of the episode! He’s consulting his AI, Gideon, about the timeline and getting out of his chair to fetch Girder and even take some of Farooq’s blood, post-mortem, to find out how he could steal Flash’s speed. In a great scene, Barry finally calls Wells out for his Machiavellianism and Wells actually relents at the end of the episode. Is he the bad guy? I don’t think so, I’m still sticking to my idea that he’s Rick Hunter.
A fantastic episode, despite one of the most cliché superhero story-lines you could use and be sure to tune in next time for the biggest superhero cliché; epic team-ups!