This week’s The Flash really outdid itself. It was one of the best episodes of the season, pushing the story forward majorly. There was no “bad guy of the week”, which put the focus on the big matter at hand: Who is Harrison Wells? Now everyone is on the same page. And the amount of Easter Eggs dropped just added to the excitement for fans of both the show and the comic.
Pros:
Cisco wonders something I have thought about: When Cisco notices Barry’s much brighter suit, he wonders if it will be created because they think of it on their own, or if it is because they saw it in this picture. This is something I think about often when they are dealing with time-travel and the ability to see the future. It’s pretty trippy stuff, which is also noted by Cisco.
Gideon and her Newspaper: When the gang finds out about the Time Vault, they are all very shocked. I was impressed with the amount of information given to the characters and the audience (see below for all my Easter Eggs), and by the acting ability of all three. I love when a show can give the fans of comics a taste of what they crave, and I love learning about it all right beside Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco.
Eddie and Iris’ Future: I like everyone involved in this situation. Eddie is true to his character; he thinks he is quite the catch and doesn’t understand why Joe wouldn’t want Iris to marry him. It’s actually a likeable quality about him, because while he thinks highly of himself, he isn’t a douche. On the other hand, Joe just wants his daughter to be happy and knows that only Barry can provide that. The only caveat I have to this whole scenario is that Joe wants to protect Iris from the knowledge that Barry is The Flash, but he wants her to marry Barry. He can’t have her married to a dude she doesn’t know the truth about. You gotta pick one, Joe.
Time Travel: Barry admitted to the crew that he already has traveled in time. I am happy this finally came out. It would have been nearly impossible to keep it in for much longer, especially with Cisco’s nightmares. I am also glad that the show acknowledged that Cisco having these Harrison death dreams doesn’t make sense if no one remembers. But hey! Let’s go with it!
Flashbacks: The flashbacks were cathartic for both Joe and Iris. Joe blames himself for allowing Wells to take Barry to S.T.A.R. Labs, but ultimately knows it Barry wouldn’t have survived in a normal hospital. Iris realizes Barry is The Flash because she felt the spark while he was in a coma and when he told her he would save Eddie from Reverse-Flash. This was also a great way to mirror “The Man in the Yellow Suit,” similar in many ways to this episode, including Iris finding out the truth about Barry. At the end, we also got to see the sinister moment for Harrison/Eobard talking about fate being tricky. In order to kill The Flash, he must create him, but there will be a reckoning. It was a great moment for Wells. He maybe the bad guy, but his speeches are amazing.
Harrison’s speech: Speaking of, Harrison talks to Barry after the fire about why he doubted himself. This speech is so great, I feel like it should be repeated to anyone who is feeling down about themselves. Included in his speech are “the only thing that stops you from achieving your goals is you,” and “everything you need, you already have.” Holy crap, I feel so motivated right now!
Cisco’s Dreamscape/Inception moment: The whole dream sequence was really cool. I particularly liked the fish-eye camera lens and the hyper color. It was a good and modern touch to a dream sequence. Plus, Cisco now knows what happened to his shirt. Also, Joe giving him a glass of milk to help him fall asleep was adorable.
Harrison’s Plan: Despite some nuances I have with Harrison’s plan (see my cons), it was pretty brilliant to send in the shapeshifter to throw everyone off, and then come out and say he wasn’t going to admit anything. It sucks for Barry about not getting his dad out of jail, but sometimes the bad guys are pretty damn cool. The entire scene has me at the edge of my seat. I was impressed with Barry slo-mo (or fast-mo for him I suppose) grabbing the bullets Joe shot. It is finally confirmed for everyone that Harrison/Eobard is the bad guy here. I also giggled when Harrison tells them he looks forward to working with all of them. Um? Where? Not at S.T.A.R. Labs because talk about a hostile work environment.
Cons:
Crappy friends: When Cisco is dreaming, he starts to panic when Wells is about to kill him. Why didn’t they stop the dream at this point? They found out everything they needed to know. It’s kind of messed up. Also, when they are testing the speedster trap, they let Barry run full force into it. They are pretty good scientists, so you would think that setting up a crash pad would have been a good idea. But nope! Let’s let Barry fly into a metal cart and get hurt. It’s fine though because he heals real fast!
The Speedster Trap: Does the speedster trap work if say, a speedster just walks into it? I guess we will never find out.
Hannibal Bates insane memory: Harrison didn’t have much time to hatch is plan of bringing in Hannibal Bates as his likeness. He had from the time he found out Cisco was in the bunker to maybe 5 minutes later. It’s hard to believe that Hannibal was released from his cell, promised freedom, and had time to memorize Harrison’s life story in order to repeat it to Cisco. Unless he has a crazy good memory, this seems unlikely. I debated whether Harrison knew what was happening much earlier, but two things deterred me from this belief. Harrison only knew that they were creating a lucid dreaming device. He did not know how quickly they would figure out what was happening. Also, Cisco had a tracking device on him, so they knew he was at a lecture, not inside S.T.A.R. Labs.
Easter Eggs:
The Newspaper: When the gang find Harrison’s secret room, complete with a newspaper from the future, we get A LOT of Easter Eggs in that publication.
-The date is April 25th, 2024, almost exactly 9 years from the airdate of this episode.
-The article refers to The Flash as “The Scarlet Speedster,” a nickname mostly attributed to Barry Allen in the comics.
-Green Arrow (who is now only known as Arrow in Arrow), The Atom, and Hawkgirl are all fighting at the seen from which Barry disappeared.
-It’s very brief, but if you look closely at the article, it mentions a Police Chief “Jo…” We can’t see the rest of the name, but I assume that it is Joe West.
-As noted by Caitlin, the by line is Iris West-Allen, who will become Barry’s wife. Aw!
-The event being written about is more than likely the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, in which Barry Allen dies and Wally West takes over the post of The Flash.
Also during this scene, Barry says that The Reverse-Flash told him they would be fighting for centuries. Considering that Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom/ Harrison Wells is from the 25th century, this makes sense.
Gideon’s Talk: In the same scene, Gideon is activated. In this conversation, Barry finds out he is promoted to Director of the CSI Division of the CCPD. Additionally, Gideon begins to mention that Barry is the founding member of… something before she is cut off. Barry is the founding member of the Justice Society of America, which happened in The Flash #129 (1962). This gets tricky because Jay Garrick was the founding member of the JSA in 1940. Just know The Flash created JSA.
She also tells Barry that he created her, so she will take any of his commands. Gideon is not in the comic books. There is a god named Commander Gideon, but this computer from the future seems to have no connection to him. I don’t know what this could refer to, or if it brand new to the TV series, but I will keep my eyes peeled.
Vacuum arms: The Flash is known to create vacuums in order to put out fires. It wasn’t great CGI, but a pretty good Easter Egg.
Predictions:
Harrison will keep Eddie as long as possible: Harrison told Eddie that he is insurance. I don’t know exactly what will come about, but Harrison will use this kidnapping to his advantage for as long as he can.
Line of the Week:
When Eobard kidnaps Eddie and reveals the family connection Eddie, in true Eddie form says, “This whole thing was about me?” Eobard says, “Not a chance.” Bahahaha.
Hush Comics gives “The Trap” an A- for zeroing in on the most important story of the season, clearing things up for audience and characters, lots of suspense, and so many Easter Eggs!
All images belong to The CW and DC Entertainment. The are credited to Cate Cameron and Dean Buscher.
Hush Comics 
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