Entertaining as the current season of The Flash has thus far proven to be, there’s been something missing: Joe West. Played by Jesse L. Martin, this fine detective has proven to be an invaluable ally to the crew at STAR Labs, and lent countless heartwarming moments since the pilot episode aired. In other words, he’s every bit as good of a TV cop as he is a TV dad.
Unfortunately, Jesse had to take a leave of absence from the series after injuring his back. As such, his character hasn’t been seen since episode 5×04 (really, it’s been that long). But now that the veteran actor has been given ample time to heal, we’ve been guaranteed that he’ll next show up in episode 5×15. For those keeping track, the midseason premiere is 5×10, so we still have a bit of time before the air date schedule catches up.
According to executive producer and showrunner Todd Helbing, we’ll be granted an onscreen explanation as to why Joe hasn’t been around:
“There’s an explanation, and then there’s another sort of thing down the line that will give more explanation as to why [Joe] was gone for so long.”
From the sound of it, the reason will be more convoluted than simply saying he went out to get some Pop Tarts, as Helbing continued:
“I’ll just say there’s some technology that S.T.A.R. Labs has [via which] he’s gone and he’s not gone at the same time.”
No matter what the writers cooked up, I, for one, am glad to hear Martin will be back soon. I mean, not only do I like the guy, but having his granddaughter from the future around is something that one would naturally like to see his character react to.
The Flash returns with new episodes on Tuesday, January 15th on The CW.
