I will admit, I made dinner plans rather than watching The Flash live Tuesday night. Season 2 thus far has been an overall disappointment, and lost its live viewing status. That being said, last night’s episode was solid, but the standards are low. Take it for what it is worth. Iris gains some agency, Patty’s out the door, Barry has learned nothing, Harry and Cisco are the bright lights of the show, Reverse Flash is back, and the time continuum only makes sense to The Flash writers. Here we go:
This show has not inspired me lately, so please forgive me for my rudimentary English and grammar. No GIF’s today either and this will be shorter than usual.
Barry Allen and Patty Spivot
I was under the impression that Patty bid adieu last week. I was wrong. In a realistic turn of events, it seems Patty actually put 2 weeks notice in and wrapped things up. I was rooting for Patty’s character. The Flash is a light show as is, but her character brought a different freshness to the show and provided Barry the light he needed. I was hoping she would stay longer in Central City and full fledged relationship with Barry could be explored. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Patty isn’t a fool ( she did accepted to CSI school after all). She finally puts the puzzle pieces together that her soon to be ex boyfriend, Barry Allen, is in fact The Flash. Barry drops the “love” word, but I don’t buy it. It is apparent that Patty and Barry have feelings for each other, however, love? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Patty so desperately wants Barry to confess his secret identity to her and ask her to stay. Barry, par for the superhero course, doesn’t want Patty in harms way by mere association with him or The Flash. This would be a great explanation, but two points: 1.) Oliver Queen told you 3 episodes ago, that he was wrong, and you can get the girl. 2.) Patty is a cop, and was in harms way just last week with the Turtle. The whole brooding superhero, I can’t be with anyone story line is redundant. I would rather that Barry had no love interest and spent his time becoming a superhero. Or pick a girl and build the slow burn.
Patty’s on a midnight train to Midtown City. It was nice knowing you Patty, and I’m glad you know you deserve better. Hopefully we can see you again soon.
The Reverse Flash Returns
Eobard Thawne aka The Reverse Flash is back in town everyone and he has no idea what time period he is in. His existence in this time period only becomes Team Flash knowledge because Cisco vibed it.
Side note: Harrison Wells and Cisco Ramon carried this episode. If any two characters deserve a spin off, it is these two. Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanaugh play off each other so well. My favorite scene was when Harry snuck up on Cisco in the Reverse Flash costume to triggers Cisco’s vibe. The high pitched scream elicited from Cisco had me laughing so hard. I want to believe that Tom Cavanuagh snuck up on Carlos before his cue and legitimately freaked him out.
Harry attempts to explain how it is possible that Eobard Thawne still exists despite Eddie Thawne sacrificing himself last season. I will be honest, I still don’t understand the explanation. That was a lot of science babble over my head, and I understand science. What I got from his explanation, and correct me if I am wrong, is Eobard earliest point of time jump is in the current time period. He has not traveled back to murder Nora Allen, therefore he is a time remnant of the future. Makes sense? No, that’s okay. I tried. Harry states, that Nora’s murder is a fixed point in time that cannot be altered, but it is important that Barry does not divulge more information to Reverse Flash. The Reverse Flash at this point does not realize that Barry Allen is The Flash, but he does know the time period. I am still confused. Harry also points out that any drastic change to the time continuum can have ramifications which no one will be aware of until it happens. Does your head hurt? I am surprised I understood this much.
Harry enhances Cisco’s vibing visor allowing his adrenaline levels to spike and placing him in a deep slumber state. Cisco taps into the future(Newly discovered Vibing power) and witnesses The reverse Flash murder Dr. Christina McGee of Mercury Labs. The reverse Flash also time jumps via some tachyon power. Barry rescues Dr. McGee and destroys the tachyon power source, and captures the Reverse Flash. In a typical meta human villian of the week this would be the end, but lets not forget every time alteration has a consequence. And that consequence is Cisco being eliminated from the timeline. Honestly, the day something happens to Cisco, I am done with Flash because he is my favorite character after Felicity Smoak. They leave, so do I.
The only way to save Cisco is to return The Reverse Flash to his timeline by combining their super speed energies and opening a time wormhole. This is all so exhausting. I can’t believe Barry hesitated for a moment about this. It is fricking Cisco!! How many times has he saved Barry Allen. Barry Allen once again saves the day, and my viewership is retained along with Cisco’s existence.
The rest of the show:
- Iris was finally given some agency this episode. Iris’s mother is in her last days and issues have yet to be resolved between mother and daughter. Candice Patton has been killin the family scenes. Her scene with her mother was emotional and honest. I can only imagine how difficult it must feel to discover your mother left you, and then to discover you won’t ever get the time to actually reconnect. Iris was never allowed the time to process her anger, but she forgave her mother anyways. It was a beautiful scene.
- Another kudos for the scene between Iris and Wally. I appreciate the fact that Iris rarely referred to Francine as “our” mother. She understood that Wally has a deeper connection with his mom, and bravo that she tapped into that part of him. Iris reached Wally in a way no one could, and it was sweet for Wally to ask Iris to accompany him to the hospital. He needs his big sister after all.
- Caitlin and Jay bore me. Sorry. I feel no chemistry or connection between the two. I tried empathizing with Caitlin as relayed her fathers battle with MS. I just couldn’t . I can’t get past the fact, that Danielle Panabaker has the same sad expression for every event. She is on the hunt for Jay’s Earth 1 doppelganger. Her theory is, if they mix his cells with Jay’s cells, he can be cured. If she is able to do this, I hope to see this extrapolated to the rest of the human population.
- Jay knows who is doppelganger is, and in odd scene, he points him out to Caitlin in the park. His name is Hunter Zolomon, and how this guy doesn’t notice Jay is beyond me. Jay states that hunter was adopted and that Jay’s genome is spliced so it wouldn’t help anyways.
- From what I read some places, Hunter Zolomon is Zoom’s real name, so is the answer right in front of him? Who knows?
Overall it was a decent episode. However when your protagonist is not the reason viewers are staying with the show, there is a problem. Cisco and Harrison are the stars right now. For now Barry’s love life needs to be put on hold until he figures his stuff out. The West family feels are real and I am curious to see how Wally will fit into this all. Thanks again for reading, and sorry this isn’t great. Hopefully this show will motivate me again soon.
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