TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 12: Fast Lane [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash Fast Lane TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 12: Fast Lane went into high gear as we dealt with some family drama with the Wests and an interesting dynamic between Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh). The episode pretty much set the stage for next week’s episode as Team Flash attempts to make a trip to Earth-2. Despite the great transition, the episode was still weak with it’s metahuman villain who will go down the list as the show’s least memorable villains.

The problem with metahuman Tar Pit (Marco Grazzini) was that he was treated more like a typical villain rather than just one of those unforgettable ones that the show had like Captain Cold. With Tar Pit, it was something that we’ve already seen before, and it could’ve been handled better. He had the same old story, a petty thief who was affected by the particle accelerator explosion and goes on a revenge spree to the people who left him for dead. It was more of a side plot that became really unnecessary for the episode.

Tar Pit had potential to become a threat on the show with his abilities. We saw a bit of the danger he brought when he attacked the drag racers, forcing Barry to make a quick decision when he made his speedy rescue. That sequence was the only excitement we got on the episode. The final battle between Flash and Tar Pit was brief and ended quickly. When you have a device to take down a villain and using Joe (Jesse L. Martin) to finish the job, you know something is wrong with this picture.

The only compelling plot in the episode was the family drama going on with the Wests. The episode went deep into Wally’s (Keiynan Lonsdale) background and the reason behind his dangerous profession that he does every night. Wally is becoming interesting to watch as becomes more a part of the series. Here we have a young guy who likes to take risks, but he is still sincere and cares for people even if he doesn’t show it. We learned a lot about Wally’s relationship with his mother and how that helps motivate him when he’s racing in the streets. This helps build his character as we get closer to him becoming part of the team once he experiences real speed once he gets hit by the Speed Force.

Iris West (Candice Patton) had some great screen time as well during this installment. It was rather difficult for Iris to become more a part of the show since the death of Eddie and stopping her pursuit of The Flash. We did get some action from Iris as she continues to become a sleuth and using her reporting skills that puts her in a bit of danger. She was on the brink of death when she got attacked, but she managed to survive the ordeal thanks to Barry. However, it would’ve been better if Iris was still involved in taking down the criminal activity taking place in Central City instead of being taken out of the picture for a while.

Even Wells had some of the spotlight this week as he became one of the most complicated and besieged characters on the show. He’s a person that everyone hates because he betrays everyone around him in order to serve Zoom’s purpose. However, you suddenly feel sorry for him as he was only compelled to do what he did to save his daughter. Tom Cavanagh’s performance was remarkable, making his character believable to the audience. His struggle to betray the people who only wanted to help him was shown really well on screen. We can see that Wells has grown closer to Barry and Cisco (Carlos Valdes), making it hard for him to betray their trust. He even warned Barry that he can betray him anytime before finally revealing the truth.

The relationship between Barry and Wells was one of the highlights of the episode. Thinking about his relationship with Earth-1’s Wells, Barry has accepted that even though he was evil, Wells did help him become the man and hero he needed to be. All Barry wanted was to bring that relationship back with this version of Wells. It was great watching the two of them work together and seeing Wells getting annoyed with Barry’s speed-reading skills.

It all went down in the final moments when Wells met with Zoom again and realized that he couldn’t keep lying anymore and told the truth to everyone. That all led up to the point where Joe gave him a well deserved beat down and threw him into the cell. It was later rectified when Barry decided to help Wells get his daughter back by heading into Earth-2 with him. Barry accepted Wells as part of the group despite backstabbing them to protect Jessie. Barry has truly become the hero that the other Wells wanted to become by showing kindness, one of the qualities of a hero.

‘Fast Lane’ had some great developments, but it was overshadowed by the week villain of the week. The conflict with Tar Pit was more of a necessity to bring in next week’s big Earth-2 episode. What we got out of this was some good material for Wells. We also can’t forget the West family drama that brought in some good from what we can consider a mediocre episode at best.

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