The Story
Wells finally reveals that he’s been hiding in the particle accelerator, leaving behind a futuristic device that begins to power up the dormant accelerator. He releases one of the meta-humans as a diversion and outruns Barry for his escape. The gang recaptures the meta-human and rescues Eddie from Wells’ hideout. However, they still have to deal with the increasing power of the accelerator and transporting the imprisoned meta-humans out of harm’s way. While Barry is able to arrange for air transport from the accelerator to Oliver Quinn’s black site, Joe is unable to gain the support of the District Attorney in the transportation process. Barry is desperate to save the lives of the meta-humans, so makes a deal with Leonard Snart – erasing every record of his existence for his help in transporting the meta-humans to the airfield for transfer. Of course, Snart betrays Barry, sabotaging the containment device and releasing the meta-humans, asking only that they remember they owe him a favor. Later, as the accelerator becomes fully powered, Wells returns to STAR Labs to complete his mysterious plan. Barry faces him, but not without some help from the Arrow and Firestorm. Together, they incapacitate Wells and capture him. With the particle accelerator still powered up, the episode still ends on a cliffhanger regarding Wells’ plan and what they do to stop it.
Love Triangle
As Eddie is rescued from his bonds, Iris finds the abandoned engagement ring among the debris of the room. She knows that Eddie was going to ask her to marry him, but now that Eddie is free his attitude towards her is cold, distant, and a little hostile. He is understandably upset, feeling that the future that Wells showed him is destined to happen. When he tells Iris that Wells showed him a future in which she marries Barry, Iris argues that she believes the future is shaped by their choices, and that she chooses Eddie. However, Eddie argues that regardless of the choices they make now, there has always been three people in their relationship – Iris, Eddie, and Barry – and that everyone knows it. Eddie is adamant that their relationship is over, and asks Iris to love him enough to let it end. She reluctantly agrees, but the matter seems far from settled. Meanwhile, Barry is occupied with saving the world or something and has no idea any of this is happening. While there will likely be some sort of discussion about it next week, it looks like Barry will once again be very busy and likely not have much time to do anything about it.
The Rogues
Snart continues to network and build contacts to add to his Rogues Gallery of criminals and meta-humans. He is a very – and I’m sorry for this – cold, calculating man and he knows a simple act of sabotage will benefit him more in the long run than actually helping Barry as he agreed. Of course, Barry actually benefits from this betrayal, teaching him a valuable lesson about trust and the danger of making deals with the devil in the first place. When the Rogues eventually come together against Barry, he’ll likely be much more equipped to handle Snart and his allies – or anyone else of questionable character in general.
Wells
What Wells’ plan actually is is just as mysterious as ever. Supposedly next week his nefarious plan will be revealed and instead of using the particle accelerator to send Eobard Thawne back to the future, Barry will use it to travel to the past to try to save his mother. And while Wells’ behavior and appearance is that of a typical, slightly hammy super villain, he makes an interesting point. Barry sees Wells as the villain, but Wells obviously doesn’t see himself that way. According to Wells’ point of view, he’s only done what was necessary to do what needed to be done. This is likely how Tom Cavanagh approaches his character, as a complex human being who has logical motivations behind his seemingly nefarious actions. Although, if you’re going around killing people, you should probably have a really, really good reason.
And while this was sort of a quick aside at the beginning of the episode, Cisco discovers a power source in Wells’ wheelchair that he was using to make him faster. It was mostly put aside for more important plot points, but chances are we’ll see it in use – if not next week then at least sometime in the future to help Barry go faster.
