Doesn’t Gorilla Grodd vs. King Shark sound like a short battle - it seems like Dr. Doom versus the Kingpin to me. Shark/Kingpin are dangerous people who can threaten a city; Doom/Grodd are the “take over a country on the way to taking over the world” kind of folks.
Joe West is back and walking. Hooray! He got some quality father-daughter time to boot. You can always trust Joe to say exactly the right thing. He also apparently got some quality time with Wally in Tibet.
This episode was a great return to comic-book form. The science was predictably silly, plus Barry got sucker punched by Grodd, Vibe, and Killer Frost. That was all mitigated by the fight between Grodd and King Shark, which was as awesome as it was hyped up to be. The effects artists really pulled out all the stops.
I loved this line from Caitlin " Don’t sharks have electroreceptor organs called ampullae of Lorenzini? It’s how they detect electromagnetic fields, right?" but was disappointed that no one replied “Of course. That’s one of the main things I know!”
I know they had to lampshade his return while Jesse Martin recovered, but they made it seem like he went on a walkabout leaving his wife to handle their newborn by herself. But it was OK because he had ‘her blessing’. Any man who’s ever been married knows what that really means 99% of the time.
Cecile had a line that Joe had been on crying duty all this time so it was her turn now. We’re supposed to infer that Joe took the baby with him to meet her brother.
Failure is an Orphan promo: - YouTube
THE META-CURE IS READY TO USE ON CICADA - With the meta-human cure ready to use, Barry and Team Flash must figure out a way to subdue Cicada long enough to take it. Killer Frost steps in to help with the plan. Meanwhile, Joe eases back into work, and Nora isn’t happy about the way her dad plans to stop Cicada.
The New Cicada - Grace from the future, or a mental projection of Grace from the present (a version of the mental image we already saw a few episodes back? I’m hoping for the second option.
On the bright side, she doesn’t have the power-dampening ability, so that’s good.
So no one else, not even the great detective Sherloque Wells, was able to make the connection between Dwyer, Grace, and the doctor? It took Joe coming back from Tibet for Team Flash to finally make that final link.
I think Grace is creating a mental projection of her adult self as Cicada. It doesn’t make sense for a time-traveling future Cicada to come back. Else, why wait for the moment her uncle got the cure to come back? A future Cicada could have just prevented that in the first place.
Time Bomb promo: - YouTube
NORA DECIDES TO TELL BARRY AND IRIS THE TRUTH ABOUT THAWNE - Team Flash finds out that a suburban mom named Vickie Bolen (guest star Catherine Lough Haggquist) is in danger and they race to save her. Upon meeting her, they discover she’s a meta-human who is hiding her abilities from her family. Barry encourages Vickie to share her secret with her family, which makes Nora realize she needs to come clean with her parents about Thawne.
You’re watching the wrong show.
Didn’t the time sphere require a speedster to power it? So did Thawne send her back or someone else?
Nora is a speedster; she can power it herself. Why she needs it, though, is a mystery.
I thought Grace used the timesphere, not Nora. So who sent Grace back?
Oh that’s right. Assuming it wasn’t Reverse Flash then the most likely culprit is Nora. Although Eobard seemed confused by the timeline changing. Maybe there’s another speedster in play?
Godspeed promo: - YouTube
Inside Godspeed: - YouTube
DANIELLE PANABAKER DIRECTS - After discovering that Nora is working with Thawne, Barry and Iris disagree about how to handle their daughter in the wake of this shocking news. Team Flash isn’t sure they can trust Nora, so they go through her journal to find out exactly how she came to work alongside their greatest nemesis.
What are we calling this? It mostly took place in the future, so it conventionally would be a flash forward. But it was basically Nora’s origin story, taking place in her past, so it should be a flash back.
Great episode with lots of interesting callbacks and Easter eggs. Like the first time Nora ran at speed, she ran right into a laundry truck, just as Barry did when he first got his speed. There was also Ollins Labs (Firestorm), Stagg Industries (Metamorpho), and the Tracy Brand building at Mercury Labs.
So Barry ran Nora back to the future and grounded her. But isn’t that where Thawne is incarcerated? Way to drive your daughter back into the hands of the enemy, Barry. Better to keep her close at hand, don’t you think?
Impulsive decisions are a Allen family tradition.
Did Wellobard sound a bit more like Sherloque than he should have? It seemed so to me.
Snow Pack promo: - YouTube
Inside Snow Pack: - YouTube
ICICLE RETURNS - When Icicle (guest star Kyle Secor) returns to enact the next phase of his devious plan, Caitlin and her mother, Dr. Carla Tannhauser (guest star Susan Walters), must resolve their long-combative relationship to defeat the icy monster. After Barry makes a big decision about their family without consulting her, Iris decides to take matters into her own hands.
We finally got the answer to your question. Thawne back in Season 1 just needed Barry to create a breach and the sphere could move through the time stream on its own. With an alternative means of creating a breach, which Team Flash (and presumably Grace) now has, a speedster isn’t required at all. Now the question is, how did Iris and Ralph get back from 2049? From what I could tell they didn’t bring the breach gun with them to the future.
The argument between Barry and Iris was some great writing. They both made some valid points and they knew each other well enough to push each other’s buttons. Barry was still in the wrong, though, for acting unilaterally.
After Danielle’s debut outing as a director, we get an episode centered on Killer Frost and family. Too bad they didn’t schedule her for this week, but it’s probably too much to ask a first-time director to direct herself for so many scenes. Incidentally I thought she did a good job directing the last episode. The Icicle vs Killer Frost battle was pretty cool, with the double ice slides.
Anyone surprised when the solution turned white? No? Didn’t think so.
Brian
Gone Rogue promo: - YouTube
WEATHER WITCH, QUEEN BEE AND RAG DOLL RETURN TO CENTRAL CITY - Barry continues to struggle with how he feels about Nora’s betrayal. Brie Larvan (guest star Emily Kinney), Joss Jackam (guest star Reina Hardesty) and Peter Merkel (guest star Troy James) return to Central City. Meanwhile, Cisco makes a bold decision.