Reverse-Flash Spared Eddie Thawne for a Reason

When Barry Allen finally came mask to mask with the man in the yellow suit on the midseason finale of The Flash , Reverse-Flash, fans got exactly the kind of fight we had been hoping for between the two metahumans. But Reverse-Flash didn't just set his sights on Barry — he wanted a piece of Harrison Wells, too. Through the whole knock down and drag 'em out mêlée that happened in S.T.A.R. Labs, Reverse-Flash also came mask to face with someone else: Eddie Thawne. But unlike everyone else who he pummeled to the ground, Reverse-Flash went easy on Eddie, and I need to know why.

Eddie himself questions it later, when he and Joe have a heart-to-heart following the events of the evening. To put it frankly, Eddie is 1,000 percent freaked out. He saw what the Reverse-Flash can do. Remember, Eddie has kind of been hell bent on taking down The Flash for the past few episodes — because of that whole Iris thing, and then that time The Flash pulled Eddie out of a moving car and beat him up — so going into S.T.A.R. Labs that day, he's freaked out. There's a part of him that still doesn't want to believe what he's seeing is real. But then the metahuman is right in front of him. Eddie is literally looking the impossible right in the eyes.

And he's staring death right in the face too. Part of him probably assumed that he was a goner. But instead of going after him, like what Reverse-Flash does with the rest of the police team inside and Wells, Reverse-Flash simply pushes Eddie away and flees the scene.

The reason as to why this happened, and how Eddie cheated death by the hands of Reverse-Flash, probably has to do with the greater story The Flash is setting up for Eddie. What is this greater story? That's still up for debate. Fans of The Flash comics will immediately recognize that Eddie's surname, Thawne, is the same as The Flash's enemy, Eobard Thawne — aka Reverse-Flash (and Professor Zoom) in the comics. It's also the same last name as Malcolm Thawne, Barry's twin brother separated from him at birth (just go with it, OK?). Let's take a huge leap of Flash faith, and guess that Reverse-Flash is from the future where the family history of the Thawnes might be widely known. Maybe Reverse-Flash doesn't kill Eddie now because he knows how important he/his relatives will be later.

Or, and this is another huge leap of faith, but the Reverse-Flash we saw in this episode, "The Man In The Yellow Suit" actually is Eddie from the future (or past, or present, or whatever timeline you want to think of it as). This thought comes solely from the conversation that Eddie and Joe have towards the end of the episode. Eddie wonders why he wasn't killed, and then Joe explains metahumans to him. Eddie's, once again, freaked out. But there's also a look on his face of sheer fascination.

So, strictly hypothetical, what happens if Eddie learns of metahumans in the present, and is so fascinated by them, he spends the rest of his life trying to become one, and then somewhere in the future, he actually becomes one. And then goes back in time (thanks, cosmic treadmill!) to the point where he first meets Barry, and our entire timeline is one giant loop. Time travel will be a part of The Flash eventually, and before I really start sanding on soap boxes and yelling about Eddie being Reverse-Flash from the future, I need to know exactly how The Flash is going to deal with time travel. That's all a big, what and how?

The ending of "The Man in the Yellow Suit" strongly implies that Wells is/will be Reverse-Flash. Which, yeah, make sense. But until I see him don the yellow suit himself, it's all still speculation. Eddie wasn't killed by Reverse-Flash for a reason, and as Eddie's story continues to grow, we're going to find out more about just how his last name might come in to play.

Images: Cate Cameron/The CW, The CW