How The Flash Is Finally Exploring Sherloque's Past

The Flash has cycled through a number of different versions of Harrison Wells over the years, and Season 5’s Sherloque is by far the biggest departure from the norm when it comes to the annual Wells of Team Flash. Speaking with a French accent and bringing the POV of a detective from another Earth, Sherloque is actually still fairly mysterious due to the absence of other people from his life. Well, that is going to change, as next week’s episode will bring in somebody from his past: his ex-wife.


Well, one of Sherloque’s ex-wives anyway. As he reminded viewers in the latest episode, he has no fewer than four exes to his name. Kimberly Williams-Paisley of How to Eat Fried Worms (with Tom Cavanagh) and According to Jim is on board to play a character by the name of Renee Adler, who was married to Sherloque and whose name is yet another play on the whole Sherlock Holmes theme of Sherloque. Honestly, I’m surprised The Flash just didn’t embrace the madness and name her “Irene.”


Kimberly Williams-Paisley will actually play multiple versions of Renee Adler in the next episode. Does this mean multiple Renees from different Earths in the multiverse? Renee from different times? A real Renee and a holographic Renee? We’ll have to wait and see.


The official description for next week’s episode, called “Goldfaced,” focuses on Barry and Ralph’s undercover trip to the criminal underworld and Iris’ continued investigation into Cicada, so we may not want to count on the hour spending a whole lot of time delving into Sherloque’s past via his relationship with his ex. Still, fans have only heard stories of Sherloque’s life that he’s been willing to tell. Renee’s appearance could give a whole new perspective on him.


I’ll admit to Sherloque being toward the bottom of my ranking of favorite versions of Wells at the beginning of the season, but he’s really grown on me since he proved to be the one member of Team Flash looking objectively at Nora. While nobody else seems to suspect her of any shadiness, Sherloque is slowly gathering evidence that she’s not being entirely truthful. There’s more to Sherloque than his bragging and bravado. What side of him will be brought out by Renee?


In the latest episode, Sherloque revealed that his fourth ex-wife had been sleeping with his partner, who of course was named Watson. We’ll presumably find out next week if Renee was the former wife who fell into bed with Watson. It may not have been a coincidence that the cheating ex-wife was brought up just one episode before Renee debuts.


In a fun twist, Kimberly Williams-Paisley has actually worked with Tom Cavanagh in multiple projects in the past. On top of How to Eat Fried Worms, they both appeared on Royal Pains and the Darrow & Darrow TV movies. This will be the first time they play former spouses from an alternate Earth, though!


“Goldfaced” will air on Tuesday, February 5 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. That week will also see the airing of Arrow’s 150th episode and Supernatural’s emotional 300th episode, so be sure to keep an eye on the network!