After all the speculation and theories from his poster absence, now finally, we have the answers. You want to know where Luke is? He’s been on The Flash, of course, or at least Mark Hamill has. A week before The Force Awakens blows us away like a Death Star turned up to 11, we’re being given a Christmas, anticipation easing treat of a reprisal performance to his magnificent Trickster from last season.... and in a mid-season finale, no less. The speed force is definitely with this one!
Running To Stand Still – As Christmas approaches in Central City, Mark Mardon, AKA Weather Wizard, breaks Captain Cold and The Trickster out of Iron Heights prison to team up and take down The Flash. Meanwhile, Iris decides to finally tell Joe about her brother and his son, Wally West.
We’ve had several Rogue team up episodes from The Flash to date, and they’ve never disappointed. This episode is no exception and really stands out from the rest, with its more irregular character combination. In some ways it’s a little sad that Captain Cold/Snart bows out of the fight early in keeping with his forthcoming Legends of Tomorrow character position. It feels the required move but the pledge of this villainous trio is so wonderful that part of you will wish they’d just screw the continuity for one week and let Snart get his villain on with the others. That said, showrunner Andrew Kreisberg (on writing duties) makes their opening act together count with some great exchanges of the trio butting heads. Plus, even with Snart’s departure, the Wizard/Trickster duo more than satisfies. Mark Mardon’s presence allows Patty Spivot to have a good meaningful arc in the episode as it ties into her back story (Mardon killed her father, which made her join the police). Shantel
VanSanten does a great job as Patty’s typical logic and composure goes out the window as she’s driven for revenge culminating in a good point of character development in ultimately putting such things aside. It feels reminiscent to Merlyn on last season’s Arrow, sparing Danny Brickwell but with a different spin on it. The episode also uses Patty’s story well to reinforce the connection of the Barry/Patty relationship as they unknowingly discuss their similar drives to get the man who killed their parent.
Then of course you have Mark Hamill’s Trickster. With his character and madness firmly established last season, the episode just lets him off the leash like a mad dog, and the results are everything you could ask for this Christmas. Someone needs to compile his dialogue into a book of twisted poetry because his are nothing short of dreadfully beautiful; “Deck the halls with body parts from a girl named Holly tra la la la lah”. He’s evil fun personified from start to finish. He gets much less screen time than his previous feature episode but every moment he's on camera gives you something to treasure. From his Trickster TV broadcast to his sinister Santa Claus, he owns every scene he's in. He even ensures the Hanukkah contingent gets represented.
Although Patty’s journey has some dramatic muscles on it, the really emotional power of the episode comes from Joe & Iris’s story of dropping the “you have a son” Wally West bombshell (in the comics Wally becomes the sidekick Kid Flash and succeeds Barry Allen as The Flash following his death during Crisis On Infinite Earths). This really impresses with the positive approach it takes with Joe’s character. Rather than taking the obvious route of creating conflict between he and Iris over keeping the secret, he quickly focuses his anger and frustration internally over contributing to Wally growing up without a father. It’s a nice holiday season message that love trumps anger as Joe blames himself for letting Francine go and not discovering about Wally sooner. Jesse Martin has some great moments as he’s coming to terms with all of this, especially his scene in the accelerator with Barry. Barry becomes a good visual comparison for Joe’s feelings. Joe took the young Barry in because he couldn’t stand the idea of Barry growing up without a father figure only to learn that he unintentionally forced that fate upon his own son. The only slight frustration here is over what we don’t see as Joe’s reconciliation with Francine, and the upbeat mood U-turn takes place off camera. While there’s a very reasonable argument about episode overcrowding, after making us so heavily invested in Joe during the earlier scenes, it feels like some of the pay off has been snatched away from us. Although the “surprise” (his first appearance was confirmed for this episode) in the final minutes makes up for that slightly and positions this story to progress when the show returns in January (the 19th, mark your calendars).
For the most part, this episode acts in an anti-mid season finale capacity by not being focused on the season big bad. However, Zoom is still a presence in the episode with rewarding results, we see him interact with Harrison Wells. Their opening action sequence is a thrilling little appetizer with its barrel-rolling camera shot and almost '80's sci-fi techno music. As their small exchanges play out into the final moments, it answers some good questions about Zoom’s motivation and intent. The episode 6 Flash/Zoom showdown implied that Zoom could destroy Barry whenever he feels like it, so why is he just throwing in metahumans to fight him? Now, we understand why. The idea of Wells being manipulated by Zoom gives Tom Cavanagh the kind of complex material we know he can create wonders with. The hostage position of his daughter makes his position relatable and really compounds what’s becoming the biggest theme of this season: family.
This episode is The Flash doing what it does best. It’s a glorious fun and entertaining spectacle with solid characters behind it. The visual effects produce a few money shot delights, especially Barry speed running across a the helicopter rota blades (a shot right out of the comics). It would have been a good episode without Mark Hamill but his presence is the hyperdrive that sends it shooting for the stars. Even the odd little niggle can’t stop this being such an enjoyable episode as The Flash proves that there’s more than red guy in a red suit brining joy this December.