Another week, another Flash episode. Unfortunately for all of us fans, today’s episode, instead of being very good, was just good.
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Yeah, sure, Franz Dameh, playing Jefferson “Jax” Jackson (do all Firestorm partners need to have alliterating names?) put in a brilliant performance as the new half of Firestorm; Cisco was hilarious as usual (seriously, how do these people keep a straight face?); but the first two-thirds of the episode was simply all over the place.
There seemed to be at least three sub plots going on at any given time, resulting in none of them being fleshed out as well as they deserved to be and plagued with cheesy dialogue. Where is Teddy Sears’ beautiful jawline… I mean: where’s Jay Garrick?! And shark teeth with human DNA getting brushed off? Stealing blood? Wow.
And if you thought the villains in the past few episodes were underdeveloped, wait till you watch this episode. With The Flash trying to introduce all the characters needed in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, they are simply glossing through the Freaks of the Week, making this essentially the Iron Man 2 of the DC TV-verse.
Hopefully, this gets better, because I can’t bring myself to like/dislike the villain after knowing him for about two whole minutes. And also, not cool locking him up until he decides not to breathe a word about Team Flash’s operation. Not cool.
Despite all this, thank god for the ending of the episode. The writers really upped the ante for the last act, and without that, this episode is barely memorable.
One more thing, serious props to Candice Patton. She pulled off her scenes with solid acting and strong dialogue, proving that the writers actually know how goddamn badass Iris West actually is.
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[divider]Easter Eggs/Theories[/divider]
My Heart Will Go On
When Barry and Professor Stein first meets Jax, he mentions putting on the Titanic soundtrack. Victor Garber played Thomas Andrews, the builder of the ship in the movie Titanic.
MacGregor’s Syndrome
Introduced in Batman & Robin as the disease killing Mr Freeze’s wife, and also Alfred Pennyworth, MacGregor’s syndrome was introduced to the DC television universe way back in the second season of Arrow as the disease afflicting William Tockman.
Here’s to one of the best comic book shows referencing one of the worst comic book movies–The Flash, ladies and gentlemen.
Cosmic Treadmill
HE SAID IT. CISCO SAID IT!
For those who didn’t get the reference, in the comics, the Cosmic Treadmill was a tool that Barry Allen created in order to help him travel through time. So, there could be some really interesting applications here…
Wally West
Francine’s son and Iris’ long-lost brother is definitely Wally West! Wonder how long before he gets hit by lightning…
Killer Frost Coming in Hot
Massive foreshadowing for Caitlyn Snow as Killer Frost, both in the “be open to new things” line and the slight freezing sound after she hugs Jax in the ending.
King Shark
“You caught me monologuing!
King Shark looked FABULOUS, much better than Grodd—which, in my opinion, was one of the more disappointing episodes in the first season of The Flash.
In the comics, King Shark is son of the Shark God (you read that right) and a Hawaiian woman, making him essentially the shark version of the Minotaur. He was originally a Superboy villain and often tangled with Aquaman, given his proximity to the Boy of Steel’s home base, Hawaii, and to Aquaman’s hangout… the, y’know, ocean.
King Shark’s also been affiliated with the Suicide Squad in the mainstream continuity of DC’s comics and the Earth-1 version has already joined the team as it appears in (kinda in-continuity) The Flash: Season Zero comics.
Zooming Ahead
Speaking of Earth-2 and Zoom, here’s what’s happening next week on The Flash:
Watched it? Great. ‘Cause OH MY SPEED FORCE—ZOOM!!
And of course, Harrison Wells saying he created Zoom makes the “Barry is Zoom” theory even more plausible. And taking down King Shark with a stolen gun. Could King Shark be a Grodd-like experiment gone wrong on Earth-2? Or will we see characters with their more mystical origins intact à la Damien Darhk over at Arrow?
Just ‘Cause
