Crazy for You Plot
Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) brings Barry (Grant Gustin) out to a karaoke bar, hoping they both meet someone new. Meanwhile Cisco (Carlos Valdes) thinks about Hartley’s (Andy Mientus) dangerous proposition; Henry’s (John Wesley Shipp) snooping gets him into trouble.
Whoa Flash, are we developing themes here? I like it.
Right in time for Valentine’s day, this week on The Flash we took a look at every character’s love life, or lack thereof. Caitlin is considering dating again. Barry is getting digits. Even the villains are using the power of love (and teleportation) to rob armored cars. Here are the bits that interested me the most.
“You’re not the only one that understands vibrations.”
Who are you and what have you done with Cisco? Seriously, Cisco did some great stuff this week. While it ultimately lead to Pied Piper escaping, if there was ever a character who needed to do something interesting to not make me not completely write him off, it was Cisco. First of all, he continued to investigate Ronnie (Robbie Amell) after Caitlin told him not to. Second, he got in a fist fight with Rathaway and didn’t get completely owned. Third, and most importantly, he used some sort of vibration device to immobilize Rathaway.
Since the beginning, I feel like we have been getting hit over the head with what is going to happen to Caitlin but I am really glad the series is starting to tease Cisco’s transformation as well. Cisco also got what might be one of the show’s first apology speeches that wasn’t completely schmaltzy. I agreed with him 100% and got where he was coming from. Good on you, Cisco.
Quantum Entanglement aka Spooky Action.
Leave it to The Flash to nail a really confusing scientific concept. Quantum entanglement, and I’m gonna really mess this up, is the idea that some particles are entangled with other particles and can influence those particles over great distances at an instant. It’s faster than light and would be the practical was to teleport. No one really knows why or how and clearly, since we don’t have teleportation yet, no one has used it to rob a bank but it is a thing and I am glad Flash did a good job with it.
As for the villain Peek-a-Boo (AKA Lashawn Baez played by Britne Oldford), there wasn’t a lot of substance character-wise. While I enjoyed the whole Bonnie and Clyde angle and I hope that the next time we see her, we will get more character development from Lashawn. I did think the visualization of her powers and the fighting itself was excellent. Every week the shows tops the previous week’s CGI. And we’ll get to more of that when we cover the stinger.
Singing Flash! Aka Barryoke
Well it took you long enough Flash writers, to give Grant Gustin an excuse to sing and sing he did. Unfortunately, it was after a wasted Caitlin Snow. She was completely trashed and for whatever reason she acted like an old lady. Like an old lady in the ’20s. I’m not sure if anyone else got that vibe but it was strange. We did get out second instance of ‘Girl Overdresses to What is Clearly Now a Date.’ The first came with Felicity in episode four. I swear the person who I was watching it said, upon seeing dolled up Caitlin “She must think it’s Trivia Night.” That must be the explanation. The whole scene led to an awkward naked moment that I could have done without but whatever. It’s a show for teenagers. They love that stuff.
Linda Park: Dead Reporter
So is Linda (Malese Jow) meta-human or what? She looks like a normal character but astute fans will remember she was the reporter at the scene of the particle accelerator explosion. You can see her on Barry’s TV. She is also much older. So what gives? It seems like they just thought no one would notice and it has no plot implications but maybe there is something there. This is a reporter who may have seemed to die in the particle accelerator. I don’t remember her having powers from any books but who knows. It could be an interesting twist.
Allen and Son Crime Fighters
So Barry’s dad knows. I had a feeling. Actually I saw a thread devoted to the idea on Reddit just the other day. A parent always knows. What does this mean for the series? Since it seems unlikely that Henry Allen will ever be released from jail, it would stand to reason that this can only be a bad thing. Sure, they have their talks and those are good for Barry but it seems like a rule of comic book shows and TV that knowing the identity and not being a superhero yourself is never a good thing. Here’s holding out on my theory that he is the other Reverse Flash. That would be so great.
Grodd’s Well That Ends Well
Oh my gosh! So one of the producers tweeted right before that show that we may be seeing a certain character in the stinger. He is one of the Flash’s main antagonists. Specifically in Heroclix, a figurine game I used to love as a kid, he was the Flash’s official nemesis. I am of course talking about Gorilla Grodd, the super intelligent, mind-controlling, gorilla. I had originally been wondering where Grodd had been all this time. The sewers really should have been the only answer. It is clear that he is too big to hide in the street and Central City isn’t exactly jungle adjacent. On my podcast, I theorized he was still at Star Labs somewhere and while that is close, I admit I was wrong. Seriously though, how great did he look? I was blown away. Blown. Away. Give me more Grodd. #GroddLives
Rating: 9/10
http://youtu.be/Nek20ta4a24
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Matthew Nando Kelly is an incredibly cool and handsome staff writer for Pop-Break who was allowed to write his own bio. Aside from weekly Flash reviews, he writes about film, television, music, and video games. Matthew also has a podcast called Mad Bracket Status where he discusses pop culture related brackets with fellow Pop-Break writer DJ Chapman. He loves U2, cats, and the New Orleans Saints. He can also occasionally be found writing lists on Topless Robot and his twitter handle is @NationofNando
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