BWW Recap: THE FLASH Pays the Pied Piper; Guest Starring LES MIS' Andy Mientus

Barry (Grant Gustin) crosses path with the Pied Piper (Broadway's Andy Mientus), a metahuman whose weapon of choice is sound on tonight's ep, "The Sound and the Fury." Let's catch you up to speed.

Let me start off by saying The Pied Piper (aka Hartley Rathaway) is probably one of my favorite characters from THE FLASH comic books (other than the Scarlet Speedster, of course). His tragic backstory despite a privileged upbringing, his reformation from baddie to hero and, of course, the fact that he's one of DC's first out and proud gay characters has earned him a special place in my heart. I went into this episode hoping the creative team wouldn't screw it up.And for the most part, they didn't.

We start with a motorbike chase that seems like it would be more at home on ARROW. And it turns out, for good reason. The gang of bank robbers known as "The Royal Flush Gang" were previously seen in season one of that show and the Reston Family has expanded their operations from Starling City to Central City. They are easily defeated and Barry rushes back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) wants to document the epic capture of three villains. Barry agrees, but only if the entire team can be in the photo. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) wants to put on make up. Dr. Wells (Tom Cavanagh) agrees to the photo as people in the future may one day want to know how all this began (never mind the fact we know Wells is either from the future or capable of reading news from it).

Back at Det. West's home, Iris (Candice Patton) returns to collect a few things she's left at her dad's house. Barry arrives home fro dinner. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) tells Iris about a message on the fridge and, while she's out of the room, congratulates Barry on his latest bust as a super hero.

She returns from the kitchen with great news: she's been hired by a newspaper because of her blog (a newspaper report following the antics of a super hero never realizing that the hero is someone she knows...why does that sound so familiar *cough, cough* Lois Lane *cough).

We get our first look at Wells' home. He's alone, which means he can ditch the charade of being bound to a wheelchair. He puts on some opera, pours himself a drink and then answers his phone. A voice tells him "we both know what you did." Wells grabs a gun out of his safe and cocks it. A voice echoes all around him: "It's time to pay the piper." The glass skylight above Wells shatters. He uses super speed to quickly move out of harm's way (he's Reverse Flash, in case you've forgotten).

Barry and Det. West arrive the next morning to investigate the crime. Wells seems ticked that someone called the police (but if he didn't, then who did). Caitlin and Cisco arrive to make sure their boss is ok. None of the team has ever been to the house before as Wells keeps his private life private. Again, I wonder who called the police.

We flashback to Wells and Hartley Rathaway playing chess. Rathaway looks like a younger version of Wells. Rathaway speaks Latin (we get it: two geniuses playing chess). Rathaway checks and with a single move Wells checkmates. Wells introduces Cisco to his new boss. Rathaway seems to be pissed that he wasn't in on the hiring process (that and he doesn't agree with Cisco showing up for his first day at a billion dollar tech company wearing a t-shirt that says "Keep Calm and Han Shot First"). Wells tells Hartley "you're still my guy and nothing and no one is ever going to change that."

Back at the crime scene, Det. Thawne (Rick Cosnett) tells Det. West he finds it strange that the wheelchar-bound Wells was near all that shattered glass and doesn't have a scratch on him. Barry, meanwhile, assesses the fragments by using super speed to re-assemple one pane of glass. There is no point of impact (meaning the glass just shattered by itself). Wells tells Barry he knows Hartley Rathaway is the guy behind it.

The gang --including Det. West-- re-assembles back at S.T.A.R. Labs for a debrief. Rathaway was in line to inherit the mantle of Rathaway Industries, but was disowned when he came out to his family and ended up working for Wells. Wells credits him for the particle accelerator. Caitlin and Cisco didn't like him because he was a dick (their words, not mine) and Wells' favorite. He left a year ago after a "disagreement" and Wells declines to elaborate further. It would seem that Wells' past/future is catching up to him.

Flashback two: Cisco is being shown around the lab reluctantly by Harltey. Cicso meets Caitlin for the first time and hits it off with her. Hartley tells Cisco he gives him a week or less.

Back to the present and Iris' first day at the newspaper. So, of course she sits in on the morning meeting (any journalism can tell you how unlikely this would be). The editor begins the meeting by reminding everyone stories are due on his desk by the end of the day. Iris volunteers an idea for a program that helps women get back on their feet. The editor wants a piece on THE FLASH.

In Barry's lab, Barry demonstrates to Joe how sound frequencies could have been used to shatter the glass (really? Joe needed a demonstration?). Barry is convinced sonic technology was used to destory the glass. West is convinced Wells is hiding something crucial to the case.

At Hathaway Industries, we have our first look of the Pied Piper in costume. It reads a bit too Harry Potter (I'm guessing it's the glasses). Hartley is using gloves that emit sound blasts to destroy the glass building. Barry arrives and pushes Hartley to the ground. Hartley tells him he can hear the sound wave eminating from Barry's suit and name drops Wells, Cisco and Caitlin. He blasts Barry with sound, sending him flying, Barry uses his speed to throw police batons at Hartley, distracting him just long enough to speed up and remove the gloves from his hands. Hartley tells Barry he is smart enough to figure out who Wells really is and the secret he is hiding.

Rather than take him into custody, Barry escorts him in cuffs to S.T.A.R. Labs (as if all the cops on the scene would allow this). Hartly makes a bitchy comment about being scooped up by a guy clad head to toe in leather always being a fantasy of his. OK, Internet. That's your cue to let the shipping of Barry and Hartley commence. Hartley beats Cisco to the punch in naming him (The Pied Piper) and asks Caitlin what happened to the wedding invite (knowing full well that her fiance died in the explosion, but perhaps not knowing he has beeen reborn as Firestorm).

Cisco takes him to the metahuman prison they've built in the basement of the lab and tells him to remove the metalic objects he's hiding in his ears. Hartley explains that without them he suffers pain and it's all due to the explosion (partical accelerator explosions: the plot exposition that keeps on giving). He taunts Cisco in Spanish and then turns to fire off some nasty bon mots at Caitlin in French. And Wells arrives and he switches to Latin.

Barry, meanwhile, watches everything from the main lab and wishes he took a foreign language (seriously! they wrote that comical moment in).

Hartley knows Barry is listening and warns him that Wells will turn on him --in a flash. As Wells turns away from Hartley, Harley tells him he let THE FLASH in on his deep, dark secret. Wells returns to the main lab to tell the gang that he has been lying. He knew that there was a chance the accelerator would explode. The camera lingers longest on Caitlin (seeing as she suffered the most personal loss).Caitlin and Cisco feel betrayed. Team FLASH has been weakened by the revelation.

Iris has a bad day at work. The journalist who has been assigned to her is less than thrilled with her experience ("My mother writes a blog," he tells her). She meets Barry to complain. He gives her a pep talk. It makes me want her to fail even more.

At the lab, Cisco has been playing with Hartley's gloves and realizes they were set to the lowest level (meaning Hartly wanted to get caught). He runs to the metahuman prison as alarms go off. He arrives in the basement just as Hatley blows the door off his cell, sending Cisco flying across the room. He walks with some satisfaction over Cisco's body.

Wells calls Barry as Harltey approaches him (he's retrieved his sonic gloves). Barry zooms over to Wells (who is back in his wheelchair and there is no sign of Hartley). Cisco wakes up.

Flashback three: Wells asks Harltey what he was doing in his accelerator. Hartley tells him he thought it was theirs. Hartley warns Wells that it is set to blow a hole through Central City. He threatens to warn the staff. Wells fires him and has four security guards escort him immediately off the premises.

Back in the present, Wells is at a press conference to discuss the findings of a commission into the explosion at his lab. He comes clean about being warned by Hartley regarding the city. It doesn't stop Hartley from attacking the Lab again (calling Wells' press conference a bishop's sacrifice). The chess metaphores continue: Barry is the Scarlet Knight. Hartley is taking out some pawns. And by pawns he means cars that are on a bridge by a dam. He uses sound waves to toss cars over the dam. It was all a ploy to get Barry there. He has figured out the frequency of his headset and programmed the gloves to emit sound waves to cause Barry's organs to vibrate at such speeds as to rupture.

Wells counters by seizing control of a satellite radio to transmit a counter-frequency. His gloves explode and he drops to the ground in pain.

Back at the precinct Thawne approaches Det. West and asks him again if he wants to continue with his investigation of Wells. West tells him "100 percent."

Hartley is back in the Metahuman vault. He tells Cisco that Cisco is going to free him because he knows where Caitlin's fiance is, what really happened to him that night and how to save him.

Final moment: Wells is in his secret room at the lab with the chest thing strapped to him. He tells the computer to increase to maximum gideon (whatever that means). It turns out his speed ability is failing him. He tells the computer the chest thing is just a temporary fix and "the real end game is almost here."

And with that, this episode speeds to a close. What'd we think of the Pied Piper's appearance? Comment below and follow me @triggercric and follow @BWWTVWorld for all the latest updates, scoops and recaps.