Episodes of The Flash have been getting more and more dense as we approach the season finale, and I mean that in the best way. I get the feeling that they won’t be disappointing us any time soon, either. And yes, this is the only show on television right now that features a telepathic, hyper intelligent super-gorilla.
Things change in this episode. The first noticeable difference is that the monologue that is usually given by Barry is instead given by Iris. After all, last episode she figured out that Barry is The Flash. Joe and Barry cover for Eddie at work. Captain Singh puts them on a gold robbery case.
Apparently, someone has been hitting armored cars carrying gold bars. Barry is talking with Cisco about the cameras Wells had put up to spy on everyone when they find out that the robber has hit one of the transports. Barry rushes off to stop the guy, but when he gets there he gets whammied by some sort of vision. The masked robber runs off, and Barry returns to STAR labs for a checkup. And then Iris walks in.
Barry and Iris go into the Treadmill room to talk, while Caitlin and Cisco eavesdrop using one of the cameras wells installed there. Iris is disappointed by both him and, once she finds out, her father. She asks him if all of this had anything to do with Eddie’s capture. Barry tells her that he doesn’t know why Wells kidnapped him, and promises once again to find him.
We get a couple of scenes of Wells (well, Eobard) and Eddie this episode. They basically boil down to Eobard being a condescending dick to Eddie… right up until he totally crushes Eddie by showing him the future paper written by Iris West-Allen. He pretty much tells Eddie that out of the entire Thawne family, Eddie is an all but forgotten failure in the future. What sort of kills me about the latter scene is that it’s been shown that Eobard doesn’t give a flying rat’s ass about how badly he mutilates the timeline, so long as the specific things he needs to avoid changing remain the same. It really makes me wonder what Eddie is, specifically, to him.
Anyway, the reserve decides that this time, they’ll transport the gold in an ice cream truck. The robber hobbles the truck with a land mine, and takes down several cops in tactical gear before Joe shoots him. The robber barely reacts to being shot, and Barry shows up to slam him into the side of the truck before Joe has to shoot him again. They peel back the mask on the unconscious robber to find… the missing General Eiling.
Eiling is not well. He just stands there in the containment pod the put him in. He doesn’t react to anything until Barry asks him if he remembers him, To which the General responds by calling him Flash. Clancy Brown really drops his voice into the range of the Kurgan here, and it is awesome. Turns out that Grodd is controlling him, talking to them through Eiling. The only people Grodd has a soft spot for are Wells and Caitlin, with him calling the former “Father” throughout the episode.
Caitlin fills Barry and Joe in on what Eiling did to Grodd. Cisco theorizes that when Grodd was hit by the energy from the accelerator explosion, it activated all of the drugs and serums that he’d been pumped full of, turning him into a metagorilla. Cisco also mentions that we know what happens when a superintelligent ape that’s pissed off at humans escapes.
Joe thinks that it’s not a coincidence that Grodd shows up now, while they’re looking for Wells. Iris shows up, and tells them about reports of some sort of monster in the sewers. Joe, Barry and Cisco decide to go into the sewers to find Grodd’s lair. Joe takes a banana from Cisco. Joe mentions that he’s terrified of regular gorillas, and they see that Grodd has been scrawling on the walls, with the writing becoming more refined and intelligent over time.
Grodd shows up, and Barry manages to hit him with a tracker before getting whammied again. Joe gets abducted by Grodd. The whole scene is like something out of a creature feature, with Grodd striking from just out of frame.
Joe wakes in Grodd’s lair and pulls his gun on Grodd. Unfortunately, Grodd uses his telepathy to force Joe to turn the gun on himself. The tension rises before Grodd makes him throw the gun away, telling him that “Father” doesn’t like guns. Joe remembers that he has a banana on him, and tries to give it to Grodd.
I suppose I should mention that they made a good choice in having Grodd communicate telepathically, since the alternative would’ve looked extremely goofy in live action. Overall, the effects on the shows in the DC family have been fairly good overall, and you can tell that they spent a fair amount of their budget on Grodd. There are really only a few times where something tips you off that there is not, in fact, a telepathic gorilla in the scene, which is something a lot of moves don’t even bother to get right anymore.
Cisco and Caitlin build a headset to keep Grodd out of Barry’s mind. Barry goes a good five miles away from Grodd, while Cisco breaks into the utilities system to use steam from the pipes to lure him right where they want him. When he’s in position, Barry runs full tilt in an attempt to lay a supersonic punch on Grodd. Grodd fucking catches it bare handed.
Absolutely nothing Barry is able to do can hurt Grodd. The headset gets broken when Grodd picks him up by the neck and throws him through a wall. Barry, suddenly assaulted by Grodd’s telepathy, collapses to his knees on the train tracks. Iris, however, manages to get him to focus on her voice over the headset, and Barry tricks Grodd into taking a ride on the F-train to pain town.
Barry brings Joe back, and Joe gets treated for his three broken ribs. They release Eiling, who lets Barry know that he’s know about him being The Flash for months. Eiling lets him know that if he wanted Barry, he would have gotten him. But the fact that Grodd used him as a puppet for three months gives them a common enemy.
The episode ends with Iris and Barry talking on the rooftop where she first met The Flash. Barry admits to her that even though she didn’t know everything, that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t a part of his life. Barry promises once again to get Eddie back, and a slow pan over his shoulder towards a building in the background reveals a shadowy form. Cue King Kong reference.
This was a good one. Grodd was one of those things I’m pretty sure everyone was worried about them being able to pull off. They did it with flying colors; I honestly can’t imagine them doing a better job than they did. They’ve been kicking ass the entire season, and I can’t wait to see what they do with the next episode. If the preview is anything to go by, it’s gonna rock.
Final Thoughts:
- Grodd HATE BANANA!
- What does Wells have the “key” to, exactly?
- Big ol’ Reverse Flash showdown next week.
- Spell check hates everything about Eobard Thawne’s name.
About Author
