The ending last week on The Flash left Dr.Stein practically comatose and the arrival of Harrison Wells (?) ambiguous. We also got the joy of meeting Francine, Joe’s ex and Iris’ mother. And most of that sees some resolution.
Much of the episode is spent on Dr. Stein. Ever since Ronnie died/vanished, he’s had no one to fuse with and that’s causing him to lose control and collapse. Caitlin comes up with the idea to cross reference a list of people affected by the accelerator explosion with Stein’s medical information in the hopes of finding someone that would be a good match, capable of fusing with him. She comes up with two possible matches, the only problem being that getting a tissue sample would help ensure a match. So Barry kindly asks them each for a blood sample skips that shit and takes a sample from each at super speed. Did I mention that both of them have alliterative names?
Iris decided to actually meet with her mother, and it doesn’t go over well. When parents are involved, rationality tends to go out the window, and Iris loses her cool with Francine, in such a way that it’s hard to believe that she intended to go in with a level head from the start. She pretty much tells her mother to hit the bricks.
Francine, won’t go that easily, though. She tells Joe that she’s dying from MacGregor’s syndrome, due to her drug use. She tells him that she only has a few months left, and she really wants Iris to know the real her. When Joe passes this information on to Iris, it prompts a second meeting which goes even worse. Iris, being an investigative journalist, dug up all of Francine’s secrets, like the fact that she has a son which may or may not be Joe’s.
Between the two possible Firestorm candidates, Caitlin really pushes for Henry Hewitt, due to his similar background to Dr. Stein. She even gets him to STAR Labs long before they get back from seeing former high school football star turned mechanic Jefferson Jackson (thankfully, he prefers Jax). The fusion fails, however, and Hewitt storms off in a huff. Which turns out to be a bad thing, since the attempted fusion jump-started his mutation, giving him the ability to drop some atomic fire all over the place and absorb energy. And, even worse, he has anger management issues, which Cisco finds out about by hacking his sealed police files.
Caitlin was initially pretty mean to Jax, mostly due to the fact that Ronnie was so important to her. It takes her explaining what Ronnie did for Jax to understand that being part of Firestorm is important, even if it wasn’t his dream. He realizes that even though the explosion destroyed his only chance at college, being a hero’s not just some consolation prize. He does it just in time, too, because Hewitt shows up to bake everybody’s potatoes.
Caitlin and Jax get away from Hewitt and head back to STAR Labs. The fusion goes without a hitch, and they track Hewitt to the high school football field in a nice bookend for Jax. A bit of trickery serves to bring Hewitt down. Dr. Stein is impressed with Jax’s performance; certain that they may even be capable of things he and Ronnie were unable to do. Before they head off to train with Stein’s friend up in Pittsburgh, he gives Cisco the advice that maybe he should tell his friends about his newfound powers; after all, they’re a gift, not a curse, regardless of Wells’ involvement.
Speaking of Wells, he spends most of the episode sneaking around. That includes breaking into Mercury Labs applied science division and stealing something. Joe and Patty get called in to investigate, and Joe has to explain to her why she shouldn’t get Barry involved with an investigation revolving around Wells.
Speaking of Patty, throughout the episode she and Barry flirt like crazy. right near the end of the episode, he runs to CC Jitters in costume, presumably to meet with her out of costume when an honest-to-God Street Shark attacks.
He gives the usual Zoom-related line, before being shot in the back with an energy blast. Barry catches up with his rescuer to find Earth 2’s Harrison Wells.
Final Thoughts:
- Gonna take a wild guess and say that Iris’ unknown sibling is Wally West?
- You know he’s a Street Shark, because he’s decked out like John Cena.
- I’m guessing that since this is really Harrison Wells, Tom Cavanagh can turn down the smugness that typified the fake from last season.
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