The Flash Episode 15 Recap, Out of Time

We start out the episode one year ago, the night the particle accelerator exploded. The Mardon brothers get in their airplane and take off just as it erupts, ripping their plane apart and sending them to the ground. In the present, Barry and Linda go to the bowling alley on a date where they run into Eddie and Iris who are also on a date. Both couples agree to make it a double date and Linda, with her hightened senses of observation as a journalist, notices the subtle acts of flirtation between Barry and Iris. Meanwhile at the Central City Coroner’s office, an autopsy is taking place until one Mark Mardon appears asking who killed his brother. He uses his weather powers and fires some tiny clouds at the Coroner which would be cute if they didn’t appear so painful.

Simultaneously at STAR Labs, Wells and Cisco are watching the Buster Keaton movie “The Cameraman.” Wells makes a sly reference to the movie being “before his time,” and then asks Cisco about his family situation. He relays that their relationship isn’t so hot anymore. Back at the bowling alley, Eddie gets the call about an alert at the City Morgue and bails. Barry follows suit, leaving Linda and Iris to soak in the awkwardness. On the way there, Barry is running as per usual but sees a strange figure running next to him, a blurry visage of himself. At the morgue they find the coroner dead, and Barry posits to Joe that he was killed by hail. Eddie plays the recording of the dictation system where sure enough, Mark Mardon is heard threatening the Coroner in addition to learning that Joe killed his brother.

Barry and Joe return to STAR Labs where everyone comes to the conclusion that the Mardon brothers both managed to get the same meta-human abilities from the explosion. Cisco, in addition to throwing out the “Weather Wizard” nickname, reveals that he made a grounding mechanism the first time around that they can use on Mark. Joe leaves, but Barry sticks behind to tell Dr. Wells about what he saw while running, but he tells him to focus on Mardon and they’ll handle it later. Back at CCPD, Captain Singh sidelines Joe on the Marden case after the threats he made. Iris enters and is greeted with a rather standoffish tone by Eddie, who also noticed her flirty attitude with Barry at the bowling alley. Joe and Barry drive around eating lunch, where he tries to ask Joe for some relationship advice regarding Iris, which Joe laughs off. As they talk the rain begins to come down hard, until they finally realize Marden is behind them causing it to storm just over them. He sends a bolt of lightning down into the car, and Barry manages to get them both out before it strikes and explodes.

None the wiser to the events, Iris goes about her day at CCPN where Mason Bridge brings up Harrison Wells once again. Bridge notes that Wells was the last person to see Simon Stag (way back in Episode 2 fair readers!) which is rather suspcious. He asks her once again to talk to her friends about Wells. Iris goes to the coffee table where she runs into Linda, who is also standoffish and confronts her about the feelings she very clearly has for Barry. Speaking of the devil, Iris goes to meet Barry at Jitters where she brings up Bridge’s suspicions about Wells, whom Barry defends naturally. Later at STAR Labs, Cisco shows off his “Wizard’s Wand,” which will suck up all the energy out of the area and put a damper on Mardon’s powers. Wells congratulates him and heads off, making a joke about stretching his legs (get it?), leaving Barry a chance to tell the two of them about Iris and her suspicions. Caitlin seemingly shrugs it off, but it gets Cisco thinking once again.

At CCPD, Cisco presents the wand to Joe and tries to ask him about his suspicions of Wells, but Joe tells him now isn’t the best time. Come on Cisco, there’s a weather wizard out there. As Cisco leaves, who else shows up but Mark Madron. He and Joe have a “sad-off” by trying to quantifty the tragedy they’ve both suffered at each other’s hands until Madron gets so huffy he fires some wind at Joe and sends him flying through a door. Only then does the entire CCPD realize that the guy they’ve been looking for is in front of them. He pulls in some lightning and prepares to fire it at Joe, but Captain Singh pushes him out of the way and takes the full force of the attack. Barry races in, grabbing the “wand,” depowering Mardon, then picking up Singh and racing to the hospital. He is The Flash, in case you forgot.

Caitlin prepares to leave STAR Labs for the day but Cisco is clearly in a funk, still thinking about Dr. Wells and everyone’s suspicions about him. He tells her what Joe has told him previously, but she writes it off. Cisco persists because some things just don’t add up, like how the containtment field gave out in the mid-season finale. In order to perform an experiment, Cisco asks Caitlin to stall Wells from coming to the lab the next morning. At the hospital, Barry brings coffee to Joe and Captain Singh’s fiancé. The doctor comes out and reveals that it’s possible Singh may never walk again. Joe, hellbent on revenge, asks Barry to look after Iris because he has to take down Mardon.

Barry goes to CCPN looking for Iris and finds none other than Mason Bridge. They talk about Wells and Bridge reveals that he has proof about Wells but won’t specify what it is. At STAR, Cisco brings the containtment field online to find out went wrong, and in an alley somewhere Joe goes hunting for Mardon in tenement, but ends up finding Eddie instead. Back home, Barry finds Iris and asks her if she knows anything about Bridge’s evidence, but she’s unaware of it too. She shifts the subject to Linda and how she thinks she isn’t right for Barry, which elicits the perfect response “Then who is?” Cisco tests the containment field and finds no problems with it, but then the Reverse Flash appears inside the field (dun dun duuuuun).

Eddie and Joe continue to inspect the dank building and come across a recently-used empty room, featuring a relevant newspaper. The wind begins to pick up and Joe is sucked out of a nearby window leaving Eddie to hoot and holler. Joe wakes up on a ship, beaten and handcuffed by Marden who taunts and tortures him before securing a piece of tape to his mouth. Caitlin and Dr. Wells sit at Jitters, drinking coffee and being awkward together, Caitlin not hiding her intent all that well either. Eddie psyches up the CCPD about finding Joe, and notices Barry reassuring Iris which prompts a death glare. About then, Iris gets a phone call form none other than Marden, who tells her he has Joe and she should come to the waterfront alone if she wants to see him alive again. She tells Barry who offers to accompany her, and as they prepare to leave Linda shows up. Great timing Linda.

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Dr. Wells continue to talk. He presents a plan for tracking Marden and asks Caitlin to get their coffee to go so they can get right on it. Caitlin approaches the counter and when she turns around Wells is gone from his wheelchair. Cisco stands watching the Reverse Flash in the containment field, and it appears to be none other than a recording, which Wells knows by heart as he enters and starts reciting his lines. Down at the Waterfront, Mardon sees Iris approach with Barry and tells Joe that he gets to watch the death of everyone before forming a massive storm cloud.

Dr. Wells claps for Cisco and introduces himself as Eobard Thawne, a distant relative of Eddie. He shows off his ability to produce a speed mirage, wherein he can move so fast that two of him appear. Cisco asks him about that night 15 years ago where Wells reveals he never meant to kill Nora but instead Barry, and he’s been stuck in their time period ever since. Barry’s abilities are the key to getting him back to his world and his time, that’s why he’s been helping Barry all this time, and no one is going to prevent that. Tears streaming down his face, Cisco offers to help him. Wells begins to vibrate his hand and confesses it was hard keeping all of this a secret from Cisco whom he has grown quite fond of. He thrusts his hand into Cisco’s chest and laments, “To me you’ve been dead for centuries.” His body tumbles to the floor.

Iris and Barry walk along the waterfront looking for Joe and Mardon but decide to have a heart to heart talk where they both reveal their feelings for each other and decide now is the best opportunity for a smooch. They then notice the storm approaching, which has transitioned into a full-on tsunami. Barry calls Caitlin to ask what to do and she tries to bring up Dr. Wells but Barry brushes it off. Caitlin tells him if he can create a wall of wind on the shore he can repel the wave. Though he didn’t want Iris to find out this way, Barry changes into his Flash outfit in front of her, game changer bro. He runs along the beach, picking up speed and creating the wall, but then Barry moves so fast that he travels back in time, becoming the figure he saw previously and finding himself at the start of the episode again.

You can check out the promo for the next episode of “The Flash” in the player below Titled “Rogue Time,” the episode is officially described as folllows:

“The Flash learns that Captain Cold (guest star Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave (guest star Dominic Purcell) have returned to Central City. This time Snart has brought along his baby sister Lisa (guest star Peyton List) to help wreak havoc on the city.”

Directed by John Behring with story by Grainne Godfree and teleplay by Brooke Eikmeier & Kai Yu Wu, “Rogue Time” is set to air March 24. “The Flash” airs Tuesdays at 8 P.M. EST on The CW.