The Flash Episode 19 Recap, Who is Harrison Wells?

Barry runs up a busy highway to his target destination: Coast City! Home of Ferris Air and (in the comics) Green Lantern! He picks up some pizzas and takes them back home for Joe, Eddie, Cisco, Caitlin, and himself. They all conspire on their next moves to nail Dr. Wells with Joe and Cisco planning to investigate the car crash involving Wells and Tess in Starling City from 15 years ago. Caitlin doesn’t seem eager to hop on the “implicate Wells” train just yet. Meanwhile at the Gold City Bank, an employee stays late and empties out the safety deposit boxes. When Eddie interrogates her the next day, she maintains her innocence and after conferring with Barry they decide it’s a metahuman problem. Iris shows up and asks them if they’ve heard from her father, but they keep his cover up.

At a local jewelry store, a man enters with a number of high value specimen that the jeweler recognzies as stolen from the bank. He alerts the police. Barry tries to talk to Caitlin at STAR Labs who says she’s going to need substantial proof to believe their claims about Dr. Wells, right as he enters the room and asks what they’re talking about. Smooth as silk, Barry recovers and tells him they have a new metahuman. Eddie calls Barry and tells him about the jewelry thief and that he might need The Flash’s help. The thief spots Eddie and makes a run for it, and they tussle as Eddie catches up to him. By the time Barry finally gets there, he sees the meta-human’s ability – he can shape shift into anyone that he touches.

Later at STAR, Barry explains the circumstances of the meta-human’s abilities, and they caution him not to engage him lest he touch Barry and find out his secret identity. They also go through a number of cases where the accused maintained innocence and come up with a name, Hannibal Bates. Meanwhile in Starling, Captain Lance hands over all the evidence on the fatal car crash to Joe and Cisco. Laurel enters and he introduces them to her. She pulls Cisco over for a sidebar where she reveals she’s the Black Canary and asks him to modify Sara’s little canary screechy device for her. He agrees after professing his love for her. Back at STAR, Caitlin researches articles on Dr. Wells before leaving. Speaking of the devil, Dr. Wells arrives at his own home, gets out of his chair, and pours himself a drink, just in time for Caitlin to ring the doorbell. Just as he’s about to open the door, Barry wooshes in and sweeps her away. He begs her not to say anything to Dr. Wells, because it could ruin this whole thing, plus it would mean his Dad will never get out of prison.

That night, Barry accompanies Eddie to Hannibal’s grandmother’s house. Inside they speak with her and when she offers to get them coffee, we realize it’s actual Bates disguised as his grandmother and he takes off running. Eddie and Barry run in pursuit, going regular people speed, and tear through a number of alleys and porches. Two police officers approach and Eddie emerges from an alley, draws his gun, and fires at them. The real Eddie and Barry show up and call an ambulance. Later the District Attorney speaks to Barry and Captain Singh and despite their pleas says she’s not dropping the charges against Eddie. Iris comes in panicked and Barry manages to calm her, some, and promises to fix it.

In Starling, Joe, Cisco, and Lance go out to the crash site where Cisco starts to search for abornormal sound waves. As he searches, Lance and Joe have a discussion about their relationships with their daughters and we see a funny mirror image where Lance and Laurel have a fractured relationship because of a secret she kept, which Joe doesn’t want to happen with him and Iris. Cisco alerts them he’s found something, and when Captain Lance’s coffee starts to float (like the chemicals when Barry got his power or the night his mother died), he knows they’ve found some Tachyon particles.

In interrogation, Eddie won’t back down from his innocence. Barry tries to get him out of it, but the DA is a pit bull on the matter. Suffering from mild frustration, Barry rushes Eddie out of the station and tells him to go on the lamb, but Eddie says they have to do it by the book and he has faith in Barry. He takes him back to the interrogation room and heads home to change. A knock rings out on the door and surprisingly Eddie is standing at the door, but it’s not Eddie, it’s Bates, and he knocks out Barry and touches him. Not-Barry straightens himself up when Caitlin appears and reveals she might have a plan to render the “Everyman” shaped shifter’s powers inert. He accompanies her to STAR Labs.

Cisco, Joe, and Lance dig and come across remains in the ground. Though Lance is eager to call in the body, Joe convinces him not too since it could put everyone who knows about it in danger. Meanwhile at STAR, Not-Barry walks around and watches Caitlin prepare the serum to leave him powerless. He also does a very out of character move and kisses Caitlin, who resists at first but definitely kisses back after the second smooch. Iris enters too and reveals how she can prove it wasn’t Eddie that shot the cops, the person pulling the trigger in the video uses their left hand and Eddie is left handed. Fearing he’s been caught, Not-Barry pulls out his gun and is promptly tazed in the back by Dr. Wells. Not only is Eddie right-handed, but so is Barry. Wells and Caitlin convince Iris to let them help her take him in to the police. As they leave, Iris tells Caitlin about the files Mason Bridge used to have on the meta-humans including the Burning Man. Just as their talk gets good, Bates transforms into a little girl and corrals some construction workers into letting him out of the car under the pretense she has been kidnapped. It works, and he gets away.

At his home, Caitlin finds Barry bound and gagged and sets him free. In Starling, Joe thanks Lance for his help and makes an allusion to him mending his relationship with Laurel. Laurel meanwhile says bye to Cisco, who has prepared her “Canary Cry” with several augmentations and made it so she can wear it around her neck. She pays him by giving him a glossy 8×10 of her in her suit with him cheesing like a fool. He also alludes to having “practice with sound waves,” which could be a tease he’ll assume the identity of the superhero Vibe soonish. At STAR, Dr. Wells explains to Barry how Bates’ powers work and the reveal Caitlin’s serum is finished. They track Bates’ to the Central City Airport where Barry spots and chases after him. The two have a nasty brawl where Bates transforms into people close to Barry, including Caitlin, Iris, Eddie, and even Barry himself. It also goes smooth though as Barry is able to beat him down.

Barry shows a video of the shape shifter to the DA, who drops the charges against Eddie. He also hands over a list of robberies that Bates was involved in as a “gift” from The Flash, who she admits is pretty cool. Eddie and Iris reunite and he reveals to her why he’s been so distant, he’s been working with The Flash, a fact that renders Iris speechless. Bates is locked up in the Particle Accelerator Prison, in the form of Iris, and when asked by Wells what he really looks like transitions into perhaps the most startling image of the series: an eyeball free man that can’t remember who he once was. As Dr. Wells leaves, Barry pulls Caitlin aside to show her the proof she wanted: the exhumed body from Starling City which Cisco has confirmed (I thought Barry was the forensic investigator?) is in fact Dr. Wells.

Later, Joe goes downstairs to find Dr. Wells in the CCPD lobby. He asks if he enjoyed his time in Starling which Joe isn’t eager to talk about. Wells brings up another subject Joe isn’t eager to talk about, Iris’ mother, saying the two of them belong to “an exclusive club.” Wells invites Joe out to have another drink sometime – maybe it’s a topic they can talk about. That night Cisco is searching through a 3D model of STAR Labs with Barry and Caitlin and finds an anomoly. The trio roam the halls and find Dr. Wells’ hidey-hole, including not only the Reverse Flash suit, but the newspaper from ten years in the future proclaiming The Flash missing.

You can check out the promo for Episode 20 of “The Flash” in the player below. Titled “The Trap,” the episode is officially described as follows:

“Barry (Grant Gustin), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Joe (Jesse L. Martin) set a trap for Wells (Tom Cavanagh). Cisco uses himself as prey which puts him in grave danger. Meanwhile, Eddie (Rick Cosnett) makes a decision regarding Iris (Candice Patton), which leaves Joe a bit unsettled.”

“The Trap” is directed by Steve Shill and written by Alison Schapker & Brooke Eikmeier, “The Trap” is set to air April 28. “The Flash” airs Tuesdays at 8 P.M. EST on The CW.