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What Are Harrison Wells' "Crimes" On 'The Flash'?

by Rachel Paige

Maybe not this week, and maybe not next week, but sooner or later on The Flash , Harrison Wells' secrets are going to start coming out. We know his true identity, but Barry Allen and everyone else on The Flash are blissfully oblivious right now. There's one person who knows a little bit about Wells background, and he's stopping by Central City this week: Hartley Rathway. In the promos for this week's episode, "The Sound and the Fury," Wells mentions that, "Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes." What are these crimes Harrison Wells is talking about? What does Hartley know that we don't know yet?

Let's be real for a second: Wells is doing a very good job pretending to be a good guy, despite actually being a bad guy. We know this. But there's still way more to him, other than what we've seen in S.T.A.R. Labs. Obviously, the biggest crime that Hartley might be referring to is the particle accelerator explosion. In the promo for the episode (below) Wells even comments that the "prodigal son has returned." From the episode description, Hartley was once upon a time Wells' protege.

Hartley was one of the many affected by the explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs, and the aftermath has left him the ability to "manipulate sound waves." But, Hartley is NOT a metahuman. He's one of the show's villains with "technology-based powers," as executive producer Andrew Kreisberg explained to Entertainment Weekly. So, if he's not experiencing the usual metahuman side effects, and is using his powers for evil (like Captain Cold, as Kreisberg compares), why is Hartley so mad at Wells?

In the preview above, Wells mentions his "crimes." Plural. The particle accelerator explosion is only one of those "crimes," then, which means there might be more out there, too. If Hartley really studied and worked under the guidance of Wells, could he by chance know his actual secret? You know, that Yellow Suit secret?

Could there even be other secret crimes, too? As much as we know about Wells, it still feels like we literally know nothing. There are still lots of pieces missing from his life that are a complete mystery to us. Like his deceased wife, Tess Morgan. Wells states that she died in a car accident, but might Hartley know something else about this? Or what if Wells is like a scientific con-man, who just travels all around the DC Universe, making friends as a way to make sure he gets what he wants?

Whatever exact his crimes are, we still probably won't learn all of them yet. Hopefully Hartley will give us another little glimpse into the puzzle of Wells, so that one day everything about him will make complete sense. Though I don't think we'll see the full picture for a very long time.

Images: Diyah Pera/The CW; theflashgifs/tumblr