TV Review: THE FLASH: Season 2, Episode 11: The Reverse-Flash Returns [The CW]

The CW’s The Flash The Reverse-Flash Returns TV Show Review. The Flash: Season 2, Episode 11: The Reverse-Flash Returns had someone who we all thought was dead make his return to the show. We are of course talking about Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash (Matt Letscher), who met his demise during last year’s season finale. So how is he alive? Well apparently, this is the version who made his first time travel before going after Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin), hence it being called a time revenant. The return of a major villain certainly changed the game a bit as the team is still going after Zoom, but it was a unforgettable hour filled with powerful moments.

With the return of Reverse-Flash, this would bring up a lot of painful memories for the characters as their lives were ruined by his arrival the first time around. This week’s installment gave a chance for us to see the mental damage caused by Reverse-Flash and let those who survived his wrath to confront him once again. Matt Letscher was also given a lot more screen time than season one where he was shown in a few scenes before he changed his appearance to look like Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh) and became him for the past 15 years. Matt may have a different take on the character than Tom, but Matt brought in what was an Eobard Thawne who was juvenile and vicious. Matt did a brilliant job playing the type of bad buy who you just want to loathe.

The fun part of this show is messing with time travel in situations where characters you never thought you’d see would come back from a different point in their life. The episode recalled so much on Eobard’s first appearance, while also showing how his trip to 2016 will help structure his future plans. It was ironic that letting Thawne go helped seal Barry, Wells, and Cisco’s (Carlos Valdes) fates to keep the timeline in tact without causing any changes. The good thing about his return was that it offered some closure for Team Flash, especially Barry since he never stopped hating Thawne for ruining his life. We even got a bit of some backstory on how Eobard Thawne ended up becoming the Reverse-Flash and why he hated Barry so much.

We also got hit with a lot of drama for some of our characters. As Barry tries to process the return of his archenemy, he is still reeling over losing Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten). Their brief romance came to an end as Barry decides to let Patty go since he doesn’t want to put her in danger by revealing that he is The Flash. Barry and Patty had some great chemistry, but these past few episodes have put them through an emotional rollercoaster ride. It was truly heartbreaking to see Barry break Patty’s heart in order to keep her safe from his crime fighting life. Their last goodbye on the train ended their relationship on a high note. This just proved Thawne’s words to be true, in that Barry will never be truly happy as long as he is The Flash. Maybe Barry can prove him wrong, but for now, Barry can’t keep a relationship stable with him constantly busy and always looking over his shoulder.

Carlos Valdes also did an incredible job playing Cisco this week. Cisco had some really great moments on this episode, whether it was his victory of stopping Reverse-Flash or shaking in his boots when Wells tried to scare him to get him to vibe. With the new high-tech shades, Cisco is just getting closer to becoming the superhero that he was meant to be. It was scary for us to see Cisco about to die from using his abilities after capturing Reverse-Flash. At least he managed to get out of that alive. His reaction to what just happened to him was just priceless.

The only downside from this episode was the West family dilemma and the subplot with Caitlin Show (Danielle Panabaker) and Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears). Their stories were good, but the episode couldn’t properly concentrate on these two side stories. It would’ve been best to keep Caitlin and Jay’s story for another episode so we can see more of the family drama with the Wests as they deal with the looming death of Francine. However, it was nice to see both siblings Iris West (Candice Patton) and Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) bond over the affection for their mother.

The biggest reveal in the Jay Garrick plotline was that his Earth-1 doppelganger just so happens to be Hunter Zolomon, the alias for Zoom. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he will become Zoom down the line. The show has already given us a different version of the speed demon from the comics. Whatever connection possibly exists between Zolomon and Zoom, we did get a big hint as to who Zoom really is and what his motives are. With Reverse-Flash out of the picture again, Zoom is back in full swing.

‘The Reverse-Flash Returns’ brought back last season’s Big Bad and it paid off. The episode managed to start the rivalry between Barry and Eobard while also giving some dramatic moments for the other characters. Barry had to deal with both facing off against his old enemy and ending his romance with Patty. This just shows that our favorite speedster still is far off from having his own happy ending.

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