“The Sound and the Fury” is episode eleven of season one of The Flash.
Barry is running through the streets and his opening narration is that it’s easy to believe in heroes but hard when our heroes stop believing in us. Barry is chasing two motorbikes but, at an intersection, the bikes head in different directions. Caitlin and Cisco advise Barry to go in two different directions, then Dr. Wells steps in and directs Barry in such a way that three bikers arrive at the same junction where Barry can take their keys.
Back at the lab, Cisco wants a picture, even though Barry says that the whole point of a secret identity is not to take a photo of in your costume with the mask of. Cisco says it’s for the future and Wells agrees. This may seem surprising behaviour from Wells, but he’s already shown himself to have some knowledge of the future. Barry says that if there’s a photo, they all should be in it. Caitlin wants to put on some makeup first, but isn’t allowed. Being able to travel at superspeed means that you can take a selfie by moving into the picture before it gets taken.
In the previous episode, “Revenge of the Rogues”, Iris moved out and Barry moved back in with Joe. So when Barry arrives home and finds Iris there he points out that moving out means that you don’t have to be there. Joe tells Iris that someone from Central City News called her, and that there’s a message. Said message causes Iris to scream; a good scream, for they have read her blog and she’s been offered a job as a reporter at Central City Picture News.
Wells arrives back at his home and, on entering, takes off his glasses (why actually does he wear them?) and gets out of his wheelchair. Given that he’s supposed to be a cripple, getting out of your wheelchair in a house that has an awful lot of windows seems a bit foolish.
Wells gets a phone call and suddenly his music turns off. The person at the other end of the phone says that they both know what he did. So Wells retrieves a gun and the man on the other end tells wells that it’s time to pay the piper. At which point the roof windows of Wells’ home shatter and he uses his superspeed to get out of the way.
Barry and Joe arrive at the scene the next day. Wells says that it was just a prank call he got and that the police didn’t need to be called. It’s pointed out that the amount of damage goes a bit beyond a prank. According to Dr. Wells, some feel that he hasn’t suffered enough for the particle accelerator explosion and act on this. Caitlin and Cisco arrive, late, because they got lost on the way. They haven’t been to Wells’ home before.
Wells has a memory of an event two years before. He is playing chess with a younger man, who he calls Hartley, when Cisco arrives. Cisco is just being hired and Wells is pleased to see him. Hartley, not so much. Hartley tells Wells that he doesn’t have to explain his hiring policies, but he’d like it if he did. Wells says that he had a good feeling about Cisco.
Back in the present, Eddie speaks to Joe. Wells was in the house when all the glass shattered around him, yet there wasn’t a scratch. Both find this odd. Barry quickly reassembles one of the glass panes and says that there is no point of impact, almost as if the glass shattered itself. Barry also says that it seems Wells doesn’t want help. That’s because h knows who did this – Hartley Rathaway, the prodigal son.
Hartley Rathaway was the heir to Rathaway Industries, until he came out to his parents. Caitlin says that Hartley had a challenging personality; according to Cisco, Hartley was mostly a jerk but, very occasionally, a dick. Hartley helped build the particle accelerator, but left about a year ago following a disagreement.
At the precinct, Barry tells Joe about vibration, and how it can be used to break anything, demonstrating using a glass (for a bigger demonstration, there’s the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, although this isn’t mentioned). Then there’s a report of an attack on Rathaway Industries, where Hartley is using some sort of sonic gloves (another individual who isn’t a meta-human) to break things. Hartley claims to know what Wells’ secret is – but it might not be the expected secret. He’s also captured surprisingly easily. Too easily?
Iris is finding her new job less than fun. She was hired because of her connection to the Flash, and that seems to be what people care about.