The Flash "Tricksters" Review/Thoughts

Throwback Thursday came early this week on The Flash as the man, the myth, the legend himself, Mark Hamill, descended from his DC voice acting throne to reprise his original live-action role as the Trickster from the 1990s Flash television series.

Episode Description: When a criminal starts antagonizing Central City under the name "The Trickster", Barry and Joe seek out James Jesse, a.k.a. the original Trickster, in hopes of using his help to stop the copycat. Meanwhile, Harrison Wells senses Barry's growing suspicions and reflects back on how he got to where he is today.

High Points:

• A very exciting opening to this episode! We start off with a look at the fight that happened in Barry's house the night his mother was murdered AND we get the explanation for why Eobard Thawne got stuck in the past. Plus Gideon mentioned the Speed Force! 
• When The Reverse Flash pulled off his hood in the street after learning he couldn't access the speed force and it wasn't Harrison Wells...

Eobard Thawne is going to drive me to drink...

• Much like the Spidey picture from last week's post, Barry and Joe have their own conspiracy board going on Dr. Wells
• Mark Hamill, the voice behind the animated versions of The Joker and The Trickster, and the original Trickster from the 1990s Flash, was amazing as always! And the performance was absolutely an homage to both characters he is known for. Well done sir
• The original Trickster's cell was some Hannibal Lecter level shit
• Mark Hamill told Axel Walker "I am your father". Darth Vader would be so proud
• The Tricksters' scheme was a fun change of pace this week. Usually the villains are doing something pretty straightforward like straight-up shooting a place up, or straight-up kidnapping somebody. You gotta love a good old-fashioned convoluted plan every once in awhile
• The Lesson of the Week from Professor Zoom: Phasing through solid objects! Plus his explanation of the utilizing the speed force was intense
• Eddie Thawne, distant relative of Eobard Thawne, knows Barry is The Flash. Will this decision to reveal himself to Eddie come back to haunt him later on?
• Everything about the "Harrison Wells" flashbacks! RIP Actual Harrison Wells. I feel bad for not saying it sooner because it turns out you were dead the entire show. Mind sufficiently blown.

Low Points:

• Henry you literally just watched half of those parachute presents explode upon hitting the ground and you are still going to go for it? The balls on you kid..

In honor of Henry: The Kid from that One Scene in the Park Who Gave 0 Fucks

•  The Chicago Cubs do not need to be reminded that they haven't won a World Series in 106 years. They literally have 106 years worth of not winning a World Series to do that for them.
• Wasn't really feeling the "New Trickster". He pretty much spent the whole episode standing in the "Old Trickster's" shadow. But then again when you put a rookie like that next to a savvy veteran like Mark Hamill, what can you honestly expect to take away from the rookie? Maybe next time we will get some more out of the new guy

Verdict: Mark Fucking Hamill ladies and gentlemen. We first see him in his Hannibal Lecter-style glass cell with his face shadowed but we know who it is. That villainous voice rings into our ears and instantly reminds us of the childhood we spent watching Batman thwart the Joker's plans time and time again on Batman: The Animated Series. Hamill has accrued quite a resume of villainous voice acting over the years, dabbling in everything from comic book villains like The Joker and The Trickster, to villains in other animated universes like Firelord Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender and that sly bastard Turtle from My Friends Tigger and Pooh. 

Behold the vilest creature to ever crawl out of the 7th ring of hell

Mark Hamill also played The Trickster in the original live-action The Flash that aired in the early 1990s. Tonight's episode was a fun homage to that and even came complete with little joke references to the original show like when Joe said his lair hadn't looked like it had been touched since the 90s. However, Mark Hamill's performance was also very much a nod to The Joker in my opinion. The convoluted schemes that had multiple thought-out layers were classic Joker-style schemes and even the small little quips that Hamill would make like calling Axel a "rank amateur" and his comical response of "Well that wasn't very sanitary" in response to Barry giving everyone the antidote were reminiscent of Hamill's quick-witted Joker. And if the flower on the lapel of his suit wasn't a blatant nod to the animated character design of the Joker then I don't know what else it could have possibly been. All that was missing was the laugh. Hamill's Trickster chuckled a handful of times throughout the episode and every time he did I just wanted him to break into that full-on Joker laugh. I understand why he didn't though. His laugh is the trademark "Joker laugh" and at the end of the day Hamill was playing The Trickster, not the Clown Prince of Crime. However, Hamill's reprise of The Trickster made for an incredibly fun-to-watch episode on the villain-of-the-week front, and the episode didn't stop there.

Segway into the weekly Harrison Wells Report where we got a mind-blowing look into Eobard Thawne's past this week. The episode opened up with Barry and The Reverse Flash duking it out in Barry's living room the night of the murder. We then learn Eobard drained his powers jumping back in time and can no longer harness the speed force to get him back to his own time. And when the Reverse Flash removes his hood in defeat, we see no Harrison Wells, but instead a man who actually resembles Eddie Thawne. I know we have all been saying "Harrison Wells isn't the man we think is" and boy has that been an understatement! He isn't even Harrison Wells! We thought the Reverse Flash's true identity was exposed until this episode slapped us around with the fact that he had an even truer identity that still needed to be discovered all along. I mean Jesus Christ is there another person hiding beneath this new identity? How many layers do we have to peel back to get the god's honest truth around here??

But in the best possible way

And now that Eddie knows Barry's identity are we going to see some sort evil story arc evolve around him? Eobard Thawne is from 100s of years in the future but that doesn't mean we couldn't see a present day Thawne/Allen rivalry begin to grow. And what about the already present tension growing between Barry and Eobard? The mind games that are being played between the two right now is palpable and only one of two things can come of it: An intense, season-finale worthy, clash of titans, or a mind-blowing sexual encounter. I'm more inclined to believe the first one is going to happen but I am in no way about to go on record as saying I don't want the second one to happen either. Simply put this was a great episode all around. 9.5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading the review! What is your favorite voice acting role that Mark Hamill has done? Who else should know about Barry's identity before Iris? Let us know what you think in the comments or on twitter @Caped_Informers. Check back here regularly for news, articles and reviews of other shows and movies. The Flash is taking a week break, but will return on April 14th with friends from the cast of Arrow in an "All Star Team Up" episode.