TV Show Review

TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 1, Episode 11: The Sound and the Fury [The CW]

Grant Gustin Andy Mientuss The Flash

The CW’s The Flash The Sound and the Fury TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 1, Episode 11: The Sound and the Fury, opens a can of worms from Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) past and introduces a new powerful villain to the team…Hartley Rathaway / Pied Piper (Andy Mientus). He has a score to settle with Harrison and is armed with a new powerful weapon.

Eleven episodes in and the show just continues to evolve. There were a lot of powerful moments here to make note of. Having Wells and The Flash work so good together in the opening was a very clever way to start the episode off. It says they are powerful as a team. Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) drives that point in again when he asks for a team picture. It also shows that Wells has a habit of always starting off well with those around him, before things go sour. Keep in mind Wells is a chess player, so all of his moves are cleverly pre planned. When his home is broken into he didn’t seem to be worried at all. He knew it was Rathaway and knew he would be coming to them. What he didn’t count on was setting off new suspicions in Detective Joe West (Jesse L.Martin). That is what makes the writing clever. One track is covered and another exposed. The game moves closer to the end. When it came to the relationship between Wells and Rathaway while they worked together, he was able to get what he needed from him and after acquiring Cisco…he sent him packing. Wells is a very complicated character and happens to also be that player keeping this show moving so well. Now that we know he is the man in the yellow suit, we are left wondering when he will be exposed and when we will find out why he is doing this. He has opened a lot of questions and looks like a bad guy…but we are still rooting for him. Case in point, after he confesses to his team about being pre warned about the particle accelerator possibly exploding, he lost their trust. Even Barry was disappointed in him. The press conference and Wells taking responsibility was another of his chess moves. It works, the team falls back in line and forges ahead. Solid writing and Cavanagh’s acting is very strong.

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The rise and fall of Hartley Rathaway was well executed. Having a protégé come back with such a large ax to grind was good. It was like he was playing a game of chess with his mentor and even after acquiring strong toys…he is still losing. The weakest link in The Pied Piper’s game was his name. It was very enjoyable watching Cisco tell him who gets to give the names out. His back- story was well told and unfolded with a series of clever flashbacks. All of this really helped to build this episode and make his character feel full. I have a feeling Rathaway will be getting more screen time soon.

I think this marks the first time where the episode was not all about Barry. We do get to see the humanity in his character and moments where he gets to grow. These are good things and tell the viewers the show is not just about a red leather suit and visual fx. Barry appeared to be genuinely hurt when Wells made the confession about the particle accelerator. His smile after the episode concluded, showed he has a forgiving heart. This is a trait that will make him a very likeable character under almost any circumstance and for the long haul. The writers are doing a solid job of building Barry up and developing his layers.

I found the side story with Iris West (Candice Patton) to be very amusing. It didn’t distract away from the main story and was clever when it overlapped into the press conference. Her issues with her Newspaper mentor were handled in one stroke. I also get the feeling that Barry is going to be able to move on from his crush on Iris. Even the side story with Joe West moved with purpose and didn’t interrupt the episode. We now know Wells is on his radar again and this time, he is taking a hard look. Considering Wells threatened to hurt his daughter and him this should be interesting seeing if he will follow up on it. For now, we know The Flash cannot stop him so it would appear Joe is very vulnerable.

There were a lot of elements well played in this episode. By doing so, they have set up not only the second season, they have set up a strong foundation that can go beyond a second season. Great conflict and characters well fleshed out. This train is picking up speed.

Leave your thoughts on this review and this episode of The Flash below in the comments section. For more The Flash reviews, photos, videos, and information, visit our The Flash Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, or “like” us on Facebook.

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Brian Fire

Brian is a screenwriter and visual fx Artist who loves science fiction, drama and follows many TV shows. He is a versatile writer who is published and has written copy for: CompUsa, The California State Lottery and Princess Cruise lines. Every year he attends The Sundance Film Festival and the San Diego Comic Con filling up on his other passions…indie films, comic books and video games.
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