When an episode ends on such a shocking cliffhanger, it’s tempting to spend the whole time discussing last few minutes. I’m going to do my best to avoid that here, but that said I definitely want to start engaging in the speculation, so I’ll try to keep things brief. While this episode lacked the energy of last week and suffered from some clunky dialogue, it still had the special Earth-2 shine that made the slower moments enjoyable to watch, simply because they were happening in such a unique 40s-esque world.
We saw a lot more of Earth-2 Barry this week, giving Grant Gustin a chance to flex his comedic muscles. His performance was a little over-the-top, but it worked for the campy retro atmosphere of Earth-2. It was great watching him and Iris work together as a married couple; hopefully, giving us a sneak peak of the kind of honesty and teamwork we’ll see when the drawn out romantic drama reaches its conclusion and Barry and Iris finally become an item.
Seeing Killer Frost form a sort of bond with Cisco during their reluctant rescue trip was also fun. It was a nice way of showing that, for all that Earth-2 seems to be the opposite of Earth-1, some relationships are so strong they transcend both time and dimensions. While I still hope we’ll be seeing an Earth-1 Killer Frost, I wouldn’t mind seeing this version pop up again. Granted, it seems a little unlikely Zoom left her alive after he escaped, but hey. It’s a comic book show. They’re good at finding loopholes.
Earth-1 Barry’s team up was a little less dynamic, due in large part to the fact that both he and Jesse were stuck in giant glass boxes for most of the episode. Still, my inner fangirl got very excited upon seeing these two iconic members of the Flash family on screen together for the first time. Jesse’s a very interesting character in her own right, and with any luck now that she’s indefinitely stuck on Earth-1 we can see her be something more than a damsel in distress. It also gives Wells a chance to use his considerable brain-power to start thinking about things other than saving his daughter. Hopefully Team Flash will come out of this with a renewed sense of focus on their main mission; it would be a nice way to kick the second half of the season into high gear.
Sadly, Zoom continues to be underwhelming as a villain and as a threat. The Reverse-Flash was always going to be tough to top as a big bad, simply because his conflict with Barry was so intensely personal, but even so, Zoom has been a pretty poor successor. Beside speaking in a gravelly voice and liking to spout off clichés like 'heroes die,' we really don’t know anything about him as a character. It’s hard to find a villain either scary or compelling when they’re pretty much a blank slate. It doesn’t help that it’s usually his henchmen out there doing the all the dirty work. The only really villainous thing we’ve seen him do is break Barry’s back, which got magically fixed in precisely one episode. There haven’t been any lasting effects to his actions… with the possible exception of this episode’s ending.
Which brings us to Jay. There’s been something off with his character for a while; at first it seemed though the writers were simply unsure how to use his character, leaving him standing on the sidelines more often then not. But his absence during Geomancer’s attack on STAR Labs feels pretty pointed after Jay went out of his way to mention he’d be just in the other room. Between the Hunter Zolomon connection and his confession that Zoom never actually stole his speed, it’s starting to look more and more like Jay isn’t actually who he says he is. The fact that the only thing we ever see the man in the mask sign is 'Jay' definitely seems to indicate that there’s some revelation (probably connecting him to Zoom) regarding his character to come — meaning hand or no hand the through is chest, this definitely isn’t the last we’ve seen of Jay.
While it’s exciting to see a fan-favorite character like King Shark take the spotlight next week, especially after the tease earlier in the season, I hope they keep the main storyline moving forward. The show has a bad habit of ending on a twist and then not give us any of the characters’ reactions. Most of the time it’s just mildly annoying, but in not seeing the rest of the team’s response to seeing on of their own stabbed in front of them would just distract everyone from what’s going on. Even when what’s going is as entertaining as giant humanoid shark going on a killer rampage.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer -- Click to read Kaitlin's posts.
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