The Flash is a charming show full of interesting people, but its breakout character is clearly the furtive Doctor Harrison Wells. He's part mentor to Barry Allen, part evil master mind, and like you do, Wells casually looks into the future. The biggest mystery surrounding Tom Cavanagh's character is that Harrison Wells is not in The Flash comics — but what if he was? He may reveal himself to be a familiar Flash character sooner or later, but until then let's assume he's an original character. Would the final page of each issue be like the final minute of a typical Flash episode, where Wells slinks off to do something nefarious?
Whether it's kill an old colleague or check out what the future holds on his customary reverse TimeHop app, the Doc is always up to something sneaky. We recently learned that Harrison Wells also goes to his secret lair to add entries to his diary with the help of an operating system named Gideon that's like Tony Stark's J.A.R.V.I.S. meets Windows' Cortana. (Siri would never). With the help of Bustle's Caroline Wurtzel, I imagined up what it might look like if Wells was two-dimensional instead of three or four and confined to the panels of DC comic books. Here's what I think a typical (and spoiler free) Flash interaction with Wells would look like in comic form.
Detective West asked this question of Doctor Wells and Joe was met with a lightning-y threat. It's surprising that Barry hasn't asked that question yet himself. Allen's a smart guy. Surely he's figured out that the man in the yellow lightning had to be a metahuman like himself and the ones he has been chasing. How has he not put together this glaring discrepancy in timing and asked about it? Wells, as usual, starts out charming, level, and wise — like a father figure.
Then, there's that glint in his eye, that hint of a double-entendre, and the big reveal. Is he trying to help Barry? Or is he trying to take over the world, one metahuman at a time? It's so hard to tell with Cavanagh's signature "smize" and smirk. If Wells were in the comics, that could be be achieved with a well-placed pause.
I'm thankful that Doctor Wells' hold on Barry is finally starting to crack. As we zoom towards the midseason finale, Barry is starting to see his mentor for who he truly is. Wells also got super careless in a recent episode and started standing upright in front of random metas — seriously, why is Harrison still pretending to need a wheelchair? That's one of the many questions that we already have about Wells, and I'm sure "The Man in the Yellow Suit" will only add more.
Images: Katie Yu/The CW; Caroline Wurtzel/Bustle (2)
