TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 1, Episode 9: The Man in the Yellow Suit [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash The Man in the Yellow Suit TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 1, Episode 9: The Man in the Yellow Suit brings Barry (Grant Gustin) face to face with his mother’s killer and we also find out that Barry isn’t the only one gifted with blinding speed.

 The last two episodes were reaching a pretty critical point in the show. The format began to feel a little too formulaic and predictable. I know it’s a comic based show but things still need to be grounded and not always so perfectly on point. Episode 9 delivered not only one of the most dangerous characters Barry has faced…it reunited Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) with her dead hubby Ronnie Raymond / Firestorm (Robbie Amell). Lets deal with Reverse-Flash or the other name he goes by…Professor Zoom. Up to this point, Barry has faced a number of meta-humans with powers. The one thing they all had in common is they were all fairly one-dimensional and went as quickly as the arrived. Basically Barry solved the potential threats too easy and left a gap in the details department. From the moment Reverse-Flash appeared watching Barry, we finally had something that was missing from the show…real danger. This character is physically stronger than The Flash and he is faster. The two major things that make him a real threat is Barry knows he cannot beat him and we know by his own words, this is the man who killed Barry’s mother. The two confrontations were very well played out. Watching Barry taste defeat so effortlessly really took the bar up. I have to admit, it was good to see a gritty fight where Barry was beaten up and bloody after each battle. Now he has real battle scars and knows he will need to seriously work hard if he is going to survive this gig. The comic deals with Reverse-Flash in ways I’m not sure the TV series will follow. This also adds to the mystery of where things are headed. I guess the only disappointing part was when the team was able to capture Reverse-Flash. Everyone got a good look at him then he laid a serious beat down on Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). Not sure why he needed to do that but he was beaten off a bit too easy and I get the feeling we will be seeing him again soon.

When Caitlin runs into Ronnie she behaved like she saw a ghost. I get the man ignited himself from head to toe, but she did recognize him. With all the grief she has been displaying, I’m surprised she didn’t run to him. Even though Reverse-Flash dominated this episode, this version of Ronnie engulfed in flame was pretty cool. He popped up just long enough to raise questions and save Barry’s life. I would like to know why he didn’t finish off Reverse-Flash when he had a chance but I’m sure that question will be answered when he makes another appearance. In the meantime, he appeared to be a very tortured soul with no interest in Caitlin. The best part of him coming on the show was his explosive exit!

On a much lighter note, Barry finally confronted Iris (Candice Patton) and let her know how he feels. I have to admit with the way they were dragging this along I thought they were going to wait a whole season or more. As smart as Iris is it’s hard to believe she couldn’t see it in his eyes. At least now we don’t have to suspend our belief anymore, the cat is out the bag. Two things still strike me as being odd. Eddie (Rick Cosnett) after having suspicions that Barry may care for Iris in the end he seemed to move on from that topic quick. It would have been more believable to see him sit on that for a while. We see how determined his character is when he is pursuing The Flash…I would expect that same level of determination when trying to figure out where Barry’s head is. He has time to bring it up again…especially since Iris is moving in with him.

When Harrison Wells visits one of his secret rooms and we see the Reverse-Flash’s costume…my head began to spin. If my memory serves me right Wells was getting busted up pretty good by Reverse Flash. So why are they hinting that he could be Reverse Flash? To fill in a few blanks, Tina McGee (Amanda Pays), from the old Flash show, makes an appearance. During the episode we find out she is working with tachyon particles. I won’t spoil what the significance of these particles is because we are not sure how much the show is going to bring in from the comic. For now Harrison is just full of surprises and I can’t wait to see how this is all going to develop.

Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) suggested to Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) there was more than one speedster present while Barry’s mother was murdered. Joe tries to absorb this information but didn’t seem able to process it. Which means we will more than likely see them in a discussion about it in the next episode. If this is true the show could be headed into some heavy material, which is good. Barry needs more time invested if he is going to be a great super hero for more than one season.

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