Flash Producer Spills on Reverse-Flash Secrets Time Travel Speed Force and More!
The Flash producer spills on what's ahead, the fallout of the big reveal, and what hidden gems from the comic that you can expect ahead.
27 JAN 2015 BY ROTH CORNET
Warning: Spoilers through The Flash episode "The Sound and the Fury" follow...
The Flash's "The Sound and The Fury" saw the introduction of another Flash villain, Pied Piper/Hartley Rathaway (Andy Mientus). Rathaway's arrival also afforded us another glimpse at the dark side of what Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg calls "the devil" in Team Flash's midst, Dr. Harrison Wells.
To Reveal Reverse-Flash or Not to Reveal
IGN attended a screening of the episode and Q&A with a small group or reporters where Kreisberg spoke about the decision to reveal Wells as the most insidious of Flash's foes. The devilish demon with a friendly face. There are some of us -
myself included - who have continued to imagine and believe that there must be more to Wells' connection to Reverse-Flash, and indeed Kreisberg did disclose that
Eddie Thawne's connection to Reverse-Flash will pay off later on this season beginning with a big hint in episode 15 when we spoke to him at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour earlier this month.
As far as the idea that Wells may be doing it all for the greater good, though, it looks like we can count that out - maybe...probably (I refuse to believe it!).
"With Arrow, I think we learned not to jerk the audience around too much," Kreisberg reflected in thinking about the decision to come clean on Wells sooner rather than later. "I think sometimes people withhold secrets at their peril. We felt like, if we hadn't revealed it, then it wouldn't be a satisfying conclusion to those first nine episodes. The only debate we had amongst ourselves was, how long will the audience accept knowing that he's the villain and having the rest of our characters not know? That's something we've been dealing with in the back half of the season. Are people going to feel like [Team Flash] is dumb for not realizing this?"
"I think part of what's keeping this next stream of episodes going is how good at hiding his villainy Wells is and how strong Tom's performance is," Kreiserg continued. "And having an episode like "The Sound and the Fury" where he really is being incredibly selfless, and yet part of you knows it's all a show; it's all fake -- but just how effective it really is. Even more so than that, how much you want it not to be true. I think that's the biggest thing we've discovered as writers. When you watch those episodes, you watch Tom in those scenes, and you see how kind he is, and supportive.
Even though we know we're the ones who made him evil, we sometimes sit there and go, 'God, why? Just please be Harrison Wells! Please don't be this nightmarish demon.' But hopefully we've plotted it so that not being sure of what he was and then knowing he's Reverse-Flash but still not knowing what his full agenda is, people will continue to invest in it without feeling like they're too far ahead of the characters."
The Flash producers want to put even more emphasis on creating a sense of family, so that when the S.T.A.R. Labs team does wise-up, it'll be that much more painful.
"I think at this point in the storyline, obviously, the audience wasn't quite sure where Wells stood," Kreisberg explained. "I think now they have more information about who he is and what he's up to. Now that the audience knows that, watching the camaraderie amongst everybody, it's almost more heartbreaking now. We just love that dynamic. There's something about the fun, especially at the beginning of this episode, with the Keystone Cops, and Wells comes in and he's being this hero, but we all know he's the Reverse-Flash. How do you square that circle? That's one of the things that keeps changing over the course of the season, as secrets start to come out. How do you reconcile the Harrison Wells that we see in this episode, who's a friend and selfless and kind, with this demon-like monster? I think that's why Tom loves playing the part; it's why we love writing the part."
What Will Eddie and Joe's Investigation Into Wells Reveal?
As mentioned, Eddie's comic connection to Reverse-Flash will not be abandoned. Currently, on the series, Joe and Eddie are looking into Wells. During our
chat with him at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour, Kreisberg said that we'd also be getting a more in-depth look at what happened the night that Barry's mother died.
"In an upcoming episode, Joe and Cisco -- without letting Cisco know what he's really thinking -- launch a pretty spectacular investigation into what happened the night Barry's mother died," Kreisberg reiterated at the recent Q&A session. "Which plays out in a really cool way. It was actually one of our writers Brooke Eikmeier who came up with the very interesting piece of evidence, which you'll see in episode 13. But again, that was the very interesting thing about this scene; Joe's being all 'Aw, shucks,' but you see that there's something about it and something in his cop gut that tells him that this guy is wrong, and he can't let that go. And every time a piece of evidence comes his way, it gets dismissed, but Joe's Joe, and he smells something. That's definitely going to be causing problems for everyone as the episodes progress."
"You know,
we have this mystery where one of our characters is essentially the Devil, and he's mixed in with everyone else," the producer continued. "If and when people find out and what their reactions are to it, that's sort of the fun of the back half of the season."
Barry's now got two father figures, with each one hiding things from him. We shouldn't expect a seismic fallout with Joe, however. "Joe and Barry, they're the rocks," Kreisberg assured. "It's more about what they're going to, as opposed to creating a schism between them."
Time Travel is Coming
During the TCA press tour, Kreisberg revealed that the
Weather Wizard would introduce time travel to the show via an accident. He elaborated a bit at the recent screening about how that may play out.
"If you've seen the pilot and some subsequent episodes, you know that certain individuals have certain knowledge of certain events that they wouldn't have if they didn't have access to the future," Kreisberg said, being rather coy. "If you're a fan of the comics, you know.
The Flash is ultimately all about time travel. You'll start getting some more hints of that. Like I always say, we have to satisfy the comic book fans and the regular fans. For the regular fans, it's all brand new to them, so they're just kind of going with it. For the fans of the comics, trying to create and layer surprises that will have their expectations met but also have them subverted in a way that they enjoy and they're not angry at."
Speed Force
"The Sound and The Fury" introduced the first reference to Speed Force on the series, which will leave many fans wondering how that will continue to be explored.
"Obviously the Speed Force is very important to the Flash lore," Kreisberg said. "
Right now, the Speed Force in a way is kind of like the Force in Star Wars -- before Midichlorians came along. It is this amorphous thing. Obviously Wells...Again, for comic book fans, will hopefully make them feel a little bit more like we're heading in certain directions. For right now, it's a catch-all phrase that sort of speaks to a grander universe and a grander power and, ultimately, grander abilities -- because if you know the comics, you know what having access to the Speed Force gives you the ability to do..."
Just How Many Metahumans Will Attack Wells?
"We don't want to play that card too often," Kreisberg laughed when asked if we can expect several repeats of the Pied Piper's attack.
"We're sort of conscious of it," he continued. "The truth is, every metahuman could wake up one day and go, "Hey, wait a minute it was that guy!" What was interesting about this one and what made it different from "Power Outage" and "Blackout" was that
Hartley hates him from before the accident. Tom especially loves playing those pre-accident flashback days, because he was playing this part and living a normal life, but you really saw a glimpse of that darkness when he lets Hartley go. So that was an interesting thing where it was somebody who was targeting Harrison for what he had done beforehand and then consequently targeting the Flash, because he felt replaced."
Hartley, Firestorm and More Pied Piper
Hartley's introduction episode also left the door fairly open for a return, given what he said about having information about Firestorm.
"He's in the next episode," Kreisberg confirmed. "So
his threat that Cisco might let him out very soon, the repercussions of that will play out in the next episode."
The producer says that Caitlin's reaction to Hartley's claims and the knowledge that Cisco closed the door on Ronnie in the Accelerator may surprise viewers. "We're far more interested in these people getting closer and tighter than we are wanting to blow up all their relationships," Kreisberg said.
Warning: Some Arrow/Huntress spoilers follow:
Kreisberg also teased
the character's continued role on the series, particularly given that in the comics, Pied Piper has a redemptive arc.
"That was actually why we went to great lengths that he doesn't actually kill anybody," Kreisberg laughed. "He tries to kill people, but there are no actual deaths. It's funny, because we talk about that a lot with Helena on Arrow, because we're slowly staging her, but she killed a lot of people and innocent cops. When we made some of those decisions early on, we weren't exactly counting on the longevity that we had. But with Hartley, definitely, especially with Andy, who is so appealing. We booked him for two episodes, and we're hopeful that he'll come back. In the comics, he's actually in a relationship with Singh, so, you know, hope springs eternal."
End Arrow Spoilers!
The Endgame Approaches
At the close of the episode, a very maniacal looking Dr. Wells said that his "endgame" was approaching. Now of course that's a chess term and was utilized as a tie-in to the overall theme of the episode, but it also indicates that we're getting close to the reveal of Wells' ultimate goal.
"The endgame will happen this season," Kreisberg confirmed when asked if we'd see Wells' Reverse-Flash arc play itself out in fairly short order. "Wells has a definitive plan, and when you look back you'll see he's had a definitive reason for doing all the things that he's done throughout the course of the season. We think it makes sense. Hopefully you all will too."
Yes That Voice You Heard is Morena Baccarin
When Wells was talking about his end game, he was of course speaking to his computer, Gideon. The voice behind the machine was none other than Firefly, V, Homeland, and now Gotham actress Morena Baccarin.
"By the way, we cast her before Gotham," Kreisberg laughed when we asked about the voice. "She is an old, old friend of mine from years and years back. We asked her to do this, and she was so gracious."
Perhaps well be hearing (and eventually seeing?) more of her...
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01...lash-secrets-time-travel-speed-force-and-more
so this is all apart of his plan 
