This week, most of our heroes were still on a winter hiatus — but, in a move that feels a bit on the nose, The Flash sped into 2019, with the first new episode of the year from the superhero lineup. Staff writer Matt Gilbert is here to write about “The Flash & the Furious”:
The Flash returns from its hiatus with a moderately passable episode that lays the groundwork for important revelations to come in the impending weeks. I was relieved the show took a break from Cicada, as the less it has to use its menacing villain the stronger his presence can continue to be.
The two primary plots, in which Weather Witch is co-opted by a new villain carrying meta tech into robbing A.R.G.U.S. and Nora learning about the benefit to be gained in seeing the good in corrupt people were satisfying enough and wisely fell back on the show’s biggest strengths. Namely, the marriage between character development and superhero action. It was funny to see Barry be trapped in the pipeline to keep his powers temporarily dampened (I laughed out loud when he asked for food to be sent down), but a significant aspect of this episode would easily have been solved in minutes if he were present. While Joss Jackum (Weather Witch just sounds mean, doesn’t it?) and Silver Ghost escaped with little resolution, freezing the road in front of an invisible car to save Nora’s life provided the minimal closure the episode and the character needed to make her dad’s words ring true.
This episode was expectantly mum on any of the questions posed by the stinger of the winter finale. We have no idea how Eobard Thawne is alive in 2049 (although he may not be much longer), why he looks like Tom Cavanagh instead of Matt Letscher and what his relationship with Nora is and how long it has lasted. We especially don’t know what his endgame is, because I doubt the Arrowverse is about to kill Thawne off again, this soon after bringing him back.
Second chances were the big theme of the episode, between Joss, Eobard Thawne and Cisco. Unfortunately, the addition of a possible “meta cure” plot thread was both contrived and bizarrely out of character. It comes out of nowhere and Cisco’s desire for it is an absolute 90º left turn from everything we know about Cisco thus far. The show attempted to justify it with a newfound desire for a family of his own, clearly still reeling from his breakup with Gypsy, then with the excuse to give involuntary meta-humans a second chance at a normal life.
But no matter how they attempted to spin it this episode and subplot takes one of the most reliably entertaining and useful characters in the show’s ensemble and stuffs him into an ill-fitting motivation that removes all the most interesting things about him. Such an idea was always going to carry big implications for the show’s overall direction, but I had hoped Caitlin would have been able to talk Cisco out of it, albeit temporarily, rather than assist him in making it. This is the kind of thing that can only end badly, and not just for our central cast of characters.
Finally, Sherloque is picking up Nora’s scent, quickly learning there are secrets she does not want anyone to know, in the present or future. I imagine something of what she told Barry and Iris was a lie, but this is around the time of the season where Arrowverse characters’ relationships are tested and broken, and I don’t doubt that is what The Flash is moving towards.
Overall rating: 6/10
Next week: Arrow and Supergirl will return, along with a new episode of The Flash — stay tuned.
