The Flash has introduced yet another iconic villain. This time around, we’ve got Pied Piper, AKA Harley Rathaway. Harley’s not a metahuman – but he has weaponized gloves that use sonic technology to destroy. But let’s start at the beginning.
The Sound and the Fury begins with Barry chasing the Royal Flush Gang, an Arrow invention that seems odd to crossover. After easily defeating them, Barry returns to STAR Labs, where Cisco insists on taking a photograph of the team for posterity. We wonder if this might be dangerous later, since Barry’s in it with his suit and mask on. Still, it’s worth it to each as Barry holds the cell phone, flashing in and out of the photo to take the picture.
Later, Barry returns to the house he now lives in with Detective West. Iris shows up to pick up some boxes, then learns she’s been offered a job at Central City Picture News. While Barry is thrilled, Joe mutters “Oh God,” in the background. We’re with Joe – there’s no way Iris can’t find out about Barry’s alter ego now! But we’re excited, since learning about the Flash would make Iris a far more interesting (and relevant) character in the show.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wells is back at his house, creepily listening to Nessun Dorma and drinking. That’s when Harley shows up, threatening Wells and shattering the glass above him. Wells flashes away to avoid getting hit, which raises suspicion when the cops show up. Eddie points out to Joe that Wells should have been injured if he’s as close as he says he was, but isn’t. Wells also tries to insist to the cops that the glass breaking is a teenage prank, who don’t buy it. But Wells doesn’t care, because he knows who did it.
Wells reveals Harley’s identity at STAR Labs to Barry and Detective West. Caitlin and Cisco already know him, because Harley used to work at STAR Labs. He’s the heir to Rathaway Industries, but was disowned after coming out to his parents and came to work at STAR Labs instead. But don’t feel sorry for him – Andy Mientus does a brilliant job of presenting him as a pretentious d*ck. Case in point? In our first flashback, he speaks to Wells in Latin as they play chess, and judges Cisco by his T-shirt. We do get to see Cisco and Caitlin’s first days at the lab and how the two met, a taste of their background we loved.
Harley’s back for revenge, or as Wells says, the prodigal son has returned. Harley left STAR Labs before the particle accelerator was turned on due to a disagreement with Wells. But Wells won’t say why.
Meanwhile, it’s Iris’ first day at her new job. She’s eager to start working on stories, but the editor-in-chief just wants her working the Flash beat. She’s also assigned a “momma bear” – Mason Bridge (Roger Howarth). He’s a 2-time Pulitzer winner but kind of a jerk, reluctant to help Iris become a reporter.
At his own lab, Barry explains to Detective West how the roof on Wells’ home shattered without a point of impact. Every object on earth has a natural resonant frequency. If that object is disturbed by a sound wave at that exact frequency, the air molecules around the object vibrate, causing the object itself to vibrate and break. They’re having fun breaking glass when Joe interrupts Barry for his fatherly talk of the week. He warns Barry that Wells is hiding something, but they can’t get into it when they’re both called away. Rathaway Industries is under attack.
Barry and Harley fight, but the Flash defeats him easily. A little too easily, perhaps? When Barry gloats over his victory and tells Harley he’s not that smart, Harley responds:
“Smart enough to have figured out who Harrison Wells really is. You see, I know his secret.”
Harley is even more pretentious in his cell at STAR Labs, speaking to Cisco and Caitlin in Spanish and French, respectively. The two throw him in his cell, but won’t take out the device in his inner ear because it apparently leaves Harley in agonizing pain. Bad move, guys
>When Wells goes to talk to him, Harley is angry as ever. As Cisco, Caitlin and Barr listen above, Harley rails about Wells’ secret. When Wells returns upstairs, he reveals that Harley knew the particle accelerator could explode, but Wells didn’t listen and fired him instead. Caitlin and Cisco are understandably furious, and Barry tells Wells that these two - who stood by him when the rest of STAR Labs left – deserve more than an apology. We’re with Barry, but this seems like not much of a secret. Perhaps Harley knows a little bit more about Dr. Wells?
Barry disappears to have coffee with Iris, who wants to complain about her day. But he disappears in the middle to return to STAR Labs, which is under attack by Harley. Seriously, when are the writers going to let Iris figure out Barry’s identity? She’s too smart not to know it yet.
As for the attack, Cisco has learned that Harley used a weaker version of his sonic technology to purposefully get caught. He’s too late to stop Harley from removing his inner-ear chip and blowing up the cell, knocking Cisco out in the process. He knocks out Caitlin too, then steals some data from STAR Lab’s computer. When Wells finds out, he uses his super-speed to try and make it but can’t run as fast, saying “Not now.” We wonder what’s wrong with him? Instead, he calls Barry at the coffee shop.
Both Barry and Wells are too late. Harley gets away, prompting Cisco to desperately find out what exactly Harley stole from STAR Labs. As he does so, Wells decides to throw a press conference admitting his fault in the particle accelerator accident. Both Mason and Iris are there, and Mason asks whether Wells plans to create a new particle accelerator. Wells ignores him and asks Iris for a question, but she just asks him the same one Mason did.
His response? Of course not – an answer of which we’re pretty doubtful. But props to Iris, who’s gained a little respect from Mason, it seems.
Wells’ mea culpa doesn’t impress Harley, who calls and threatens the city. Cisco uses seismic faults to pinpoint his location and Barry dashes away. Harley’s on a highway, throwing cars into the water – which seems rather pointless, if you ask us. But we soon learn Harley’s true motives. He stole Barry’s molecular data to find the frequency to defeat him.
Harley might be brilliant, but Dr. Wells is more so. As Barry writhes on the ground, Wells uses satellite technology to send out a frequency through the car radios on the highway. In doing so, he destroys Harley’s gloves and gains Barry’s trust back. The end of the episode sees Barry give Dr. Wells a present: the photo they took at the beginning of the episode.
Barry might trust Dr. Wells, but Joe West isn’t so sure. In a sweet ‘father-son’ moment, Barry tells Joe he knows how hard it must have been to raise him, and how Joe shouldn’t worry that Wells is replacing him. But after Barry disappears, we learn that Detective West will investigate Wells – despite a lack of any evidence in his house.
The Sound and the Fury is rather lacking in its special effects, especially after last week’s spectacular fight with Captain Cold. Frankly, the fights between Barry and Harley are a little short and boring. But the episode more than makes up for it with the character development, especially Cisco and Wells. It’s fascinating watching Cisco struggle to live up to Harley, and we love the interplay between him and Caitlin. The double-whammy stinger has Harley reveal to Cisco that he knows where Ronnie is and how to fix him, which he’ll reveal if Cisco lets him out of his new cell. Cisco’s anguished face makes us wonder – perhaps he has feelings for Dr. Snow.
As for Dr. Wells? Tom Cavanagh brilliantly plays him as creepy and sympathetic, all at the same time. This is no truer than the episode’s final scenes. With his weird future-computer Gideon, we have no doubt that Wells is Reverse Flash. But he also has a strange light-up tachyon device which apparently doesn’t let him run fast enough. What’s that all about?
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Written by Sasha Graffagna
Image Courtesy of the CW
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