The Flash Season 5 Episode 10 "The Flash & The Furious" - Recap and Review

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), Iris West (Candice Patton) and Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy) are in court involving the case against Joss Mardon/Weather Witch (Reina Hardesty). The DA Cecille Horton (Danielle Nicolet) feels that Joss is feeling repentant for her crimes.

In the meantime, cops are having a hard time catching a stolen Lambhorgini. Barry decides to intervene and Nora volunteers to testify on his behalf. Nora refuses to share Cecille's belief about Joss and asks that she be put away. 




The Flash is about to stop the car and get the driver out. But when he touches the car, he realizes that he cannot stop phasing through. With the help of XS and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes), Barry is safely placed in a holding cell.

The person responsible for Flash's present condition is Raya Van Zandt (Gabrielle Walsh), better known as Silver Ghost. Raya with the help of the Dark Matter can control cars.

Raya helps the Weather Witch maker her escape as she is being transported by the cops.

Joss is done with her life as a criminal and parts ways with Silver Ghost. She tries to work out things with XS, but the latter is so deadset in her refusal to accept that people can turn over a new leaf, that she immediately hands over Joss to the authorities.

Once again, Silver Ghost comes to the rescue and this time Joss gladly reclaims her Weather Witch persona. XS takes the help of Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) to counter the combined might of her opponents.

A secondary plot involves Cisco and Caitlin Snow debating the ethical implications of developing a cure for the meta-human gene. Cisco wants to enjoy the life of a normal human being but Caitlin wants to keep her superpowers. This kind of reminded me of the plot of X-Men: The Last Stand in which mutants were offered the choice of repressing their X-gene. Rogue (Anna Paquin) wanted to give up her powers by taking the so-called cure, while other mutants like Storm (Halle Berry) argued that there is nothing wrong with having such powers.

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Another interesting aspect of the episode was the character of Sherloque Wells, played by the excellent Tom Cavanagh. I have not watched the show since the end of Season 2 and this episode was my introduction to the character.

Right from the first scene, I could make out that the character was a tribute to Sherlock Holmes. Sherloque is physically modeled after RDJ Holmes (the hat and the hairdo), while sharing the snarky and irritable behavior of Dr Gregory House (Hugh Laurie). Plus, he is French - the Canonical Holmes' grandmother was the sister of Vernet, the French artist.


I also enjoyed the “Wayne Tech” reference.

This was a great episode, primarily because the titular superhero himself was absent for the most part. The way he spends his time was another source of humor (thanks to Sherloque).

The acting was consistently good across the board. Especially from Carlos and Danielle as they discussed back and forth about the pros and cons of finding a cure.

The rest of the cast delivers as well. Jessica Parker Kennedy and Reina Hardesty are good as Nora and the Weather Witch respectively. Gabrielle Walsh is a bit one-dimensional as the Silver Ghost.

But overall, a recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

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Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Network

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The Flash Season 2 Episode 15 "King Shark" - Recap and Review

After returning from Earth-2, Dr Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) advises Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) not to discuss with Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) or Iris West (Candice Patton) or Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) about what happened to their doppelgangers.

Torn between his desire to be honest with the Wests and his guilt over the murder of Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) at the hands of Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd), Barry yearns for a meta-human to vent out his anger upon.

Barry's wishes come true when King Shark (voiced by David Hayter) escapes from his holding cell at the A.R.G.U.S. Lyla Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson) is  the new head of A.R.G.U.S. and witnesses this escape along with her husband, John Diggle (David Ramsey).

Diggle warns Barry about the impending danger. Barry learns from Dr Wells that on Earth-2, King Shark was actually Shay Lamden, a marine biologist before he mutated into the half human-half shark monster. Dr Wells advises Cisco and Caitlin to approach Dr. Tanya Lamden (Haley Beauchamp), wife of the deceased doppelganger on our Earth. Tanya also happens to be studying sharks.

A secondary plot involves Barry trying to make amends with Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale). Wally is insecure about his place in the family vis-a-vis the well-established Barry, whom both Joe and Iris dote on.

After the superior two parter episode set around Earth-2, it was a tough task for any episode to maintain the status quo. To the credit of all the talents involved, they succeed for the most part.

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King Shark has been executed very well. Though we know that the meta human is a walking talking group of computer generated pixels, still the villain was enjoyable. His encounters with the Flash were entertaining. It is interesting that a TV show made at a fraction of the budget that Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder, can give us such engrossing villains like Reverse Flash, Zoom and King Shark.

This only goes to shows what great difference people with passion for the source material can make. It is quite obvious that both Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder have absolutely no respect or passion for the comic books on which they are basing their DC Extended Universe upon. The special effects for Man of Steel and the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice pale in comparison. I highly doubt that Doomsday and/or whatever other villains we will be seeing in the upcoming movie can have 1% of the impact that Zoom or King Shark have been able to produce.

Cisco acting afraid around Caitlin and her retaliatory prank was hilarious. Cisco again proved his geek credentials by wearing a Godzilla themed T-Shirt this time around.

In the previous episode, Cisco made a reference to the crime thriller movie: Heat. This one contains a ton of references to (drumroll please).... Jaws:

1. The aquarium employee referring to King Shark as “Bruce”.

2. Cisco's response to the fact that King Shark is coming to Central City to seek revenge against The Flash: “We are gonna need a bigger Flash”.

3. Cisco's comment: “Cue the Jaws Soundtrack”.

4. Cisco and Caitlin arguing who should be “Quint”

5. Cisco's comment: “Just when you thought it was go back in the suburb, King Shark shows up at your house”.

6. Wally West explicitly refers to “Jaws” after the King Shark attack.

Joe West also refers to “Sharknado” attack.

The final and crucial aspect was the revelation regarding Zoom. In the final scene, we see that Zoom is in fact Jay Garrick himself. Now it makes sense that the masked hostage was trying to communicate the name “JAY” to Barry on Earth-2.

This is an interesting plot development and promises more interesting episodes in the future.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network

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The Flash Season 2 Episode 14 "Escape from Earth-2" - Recap and Review

In the previous episode, Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd) had taken Barry Allen/Flash (Grant Gustin) as his hostage. Zoom had also killed his minions, Deathstorm (Robbie Amell) and Reverb (Carlos Valdes).

Zoom now goes after his next target: Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). Harrison, Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Bartholomew Allen (Grant Gustin) just about make their escape from the unstoppable villain.

Explaining how things stand to Bartholomew and subsequently to Detective Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton), they decide to track down Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker). The team hopes to use the death of her lover to turn her against Zoom.

Bartholomew zeroes in on Frost's location using his algorithm. Interesting thing was the passing mention of Patty Spivot, the CSI Tech who worked on Killer Frost's cases and is supposed to be “thorough”.

Frost is not co-operative initially, but the team overpower her and “convince” her to take them to Zoom's lair.

Back on our Earth, Adam Wells/Geomancer (Adam Stafford) is back after his first round of confrontation with Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears). He challenges the newer version of Flash by putting people in peril.

Jay manages to save the people, but trouble is not yet over. Geomancer turns up at STAR Labs. Jay is exhausted and is dozing, oblivious to the danger right next to him. It is up to Caitlin and Iris to confront the villain. Caitlin subdues him using a weapon. Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) has him arrested and taken to Iron Heights Penitentiary.

A secondary plot on Earth-2 involves Flash trying to decode what the as-yet unidentified masked hostage is trying to convey by tapping his fingers on the cage door. With the help of Jesse Wells (Violett Beane), Barry deduces that the man is trying to pronounce the word “JAY”.

Help arrives shortly as Frost leads Dr Wells, Cisco, Iris and Bartholomew to the place where he is being hostage. So does Zoom. It is revealed that Frost deliberately led them there as part of Zoom's plans.

Cisco again reminds Frost about the fact that Zoom killed Deathstorm and that Frost knows better than to just follow Zoom blindly. Frost finally sees the wisdom and turns against her boss.

This gives the team just enough time to make their way back to our Earth. But Zoom has the last laugh, as he whisks Jay back to Earth 2 with him before the portal can be closed.

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This was a good episode - not on the level of the first parter, but nonetheless better than most others. Once again, the humor is one of the main aspects.

Everyone from Grant Gustin to Candice Patton get to flex their acting chops. Grant is hilarious as the nerdy Bartholomew and works well in the scenes with Wells and Cisco, as he threatens to have a word with Barry's Flash. He also proved his geek credentials with his talk about the sci fi series: “Commander Carl, Space Marshal of the Galaxy”.

Cisco gets his share of the laughs with “Zoom's Lair”.

Danielle Panabaker gets the best bits in this episode. As Frost on Earth-2, she is the one who helps our team escape from a certain death at the hands of Zoom. As Caitlin Snow, she not only puts Geomancer out of commission (temporarily), but also devises a solution to cure Jay's illness via Velocity-9. In the end, she becomes the tragic figure (again) as she loses her loved ones on both Earths.

There are a number of references to DC Universe. Some of the easter eggs I caught are:

1. Cisco asking Frost to give up by warning her that she would not be able to make another icicle - Icicle is the name of a supervillain who also has the abilities of cold manipulation and generation.

2. Iris West-Allen mentions having friends in Atlantis with whom she can stay to maintain a low profile - In the DC Universe, Atlantis is the kingdom ruled by Aquaman.

3. The message written by Zoom out of fire on the side of a building: “Bring Me Wells” - This reminded me of the similar message sent out by Batman by burning the Bat signal in fire on a building in the movie: The Dark Knight Rises.

Finally, we come to Zoom, the clear cut winner and stand out in this episode. The look he gives the security guards when they order him not to move was just chilling and masterful. All the scenes featuring him were just electric like the villain himself.

Hats off to the producers for creating such an amazing and heart-stopping character and making all the right decisions, including the character design, the special effects and the casting of Tony Todd to voice him.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network

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The Flash Season 2 Episode 13 "Welcome to Earth-2" - Recap and Review

This has to got to be one of the best episodes in this show so far.

As seen by the end of the last episode, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) had volunteered to go to Earth-2 in an attempt to rescue Jesse Wells (Violett Beane), the daughter of  Dr Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh).

True to his word, Barry along with Dr Wells and Cisco Ramon/Vibe (Carlos Valdes) arrive in Earth-2. DC Adaptations featuring alternate universe/versions tend to be my favorites and this episode is no exception.

We see news flash on television mentioning Mayor Snart (Leonard Snart or his father Lewis Snart). Iris West (Candice Patton) is a cop and  her father Joseph West is a singer. Even more hilarious is Floyd Lawton (Michael Rowe), the cop with the worst record for shooting. No points for guessing his nickname....

As comic book fans are aware, in alternate realities/universe, good guys tend to be the reverse of what they are in our world. In this case, Caitlin Snow, Ronnie Raymond and Cisco's doppelgangers are the bad apples.

Caitlin is “Killer Frost” and Ronnie is “Deathstorm”, with the powers of ice and fire respectively. Cisco is “Reverb” and all three of them work for Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd).

To set things in motion, Barry kidnaps his Earth-2 version, Bartholomew Allen and takes his place. He is surprised to learn that he is married to Iris. To complicate things further, Iris has a Meta human warning app that is set off constantly, whenever our Barry is in close vicinity to her.

In yet another twist, Joseph West hates his son-in-law and as per Iris, the feeling is mutual. Just as Barry and Iris finish watching Joseph's latest performance, Killer Frost and Deathstorm gatecrash the club. Barry tries to stop them but Deathstorm ends up severely injuring Joe. Joe dies shortly in the hospital.

Back on our own Earth, Adam Wells/Geomancer (Adam Stafford) is the latest meta-human to menace Central City and Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) has to stop him in Barry's absence. Jay also reveals that he has been using Velocity-6 (V-6) and that it is the main reason for his declining health.

Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) develops an upgraded version: Velocity -7. This works to a certain extent, but still needs work.

On Earth-2, Iris is determined to catch her father's murderer. Cisco helps her locate Deathstorm and Killer Frost. Flash intervenes but is quickly overpowered by the combination of Deathstorm and Reverb.

Deathstorm and Reverb keep attacking Flash, despite Zoom's strict instructions not to do so. He appears and promptly kills Deathstorm and Reverb for harming our hero. Only Killer Frost is left alive.

Zoom takes the Flash as hostage and imprisons him.

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This was a stunner of an episode and deserves to be seen by all fans of DC Comics in general and the Flash in particular.

There are tons of references to the DC Universe. In addition to the alternate versions of our favorite characters, my personal favorite is the scene featuring Bartholomew's phone listing the following individuals: Bruce, Hal and Diana - references to Bruce Wayne (Batman), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman).

Another nice touch was the brief cameos of Gorilla Grodd and Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) as our trio travel to Earth-2.

There are two main reasons why this episode was so spectacular: the humor and the acting. As consistent as the show has been so far on both these counts, this episode is on a whole different level.

The actors are in top form in this episode. Grant Gustin is terrific as the mild-mannered Bartholomew Allen. But he is out of action for a majority of the episode.

Candice Patton is equally good as Detective Iris West-Allen. This Iris is very different from the one on our Earth. Kudos to the actress for clearly differentiating between the two versions. The reason for her being a cop is that she became one to support Bartholomew's pursuit of his PhD.

I also enjoyed the alternate version of Deadshot. His comment about improving his accuracy by 2% was a nice touch. Another hilarious aspect was Police Captain David Singh (Patrick Sabongui) himself being in handcuffs.

The actors were clearly enjoying themselves. Last but not the least, are the performances by Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker as Reverb and Killer Frost respectively. Danielle gets to show off her acting chops and not do the usual serious stuff as Caitlin Snow. Even better is Carlos. He is a hoot as Reverb and relishes delivering each word of his dialogue. Reverb's introduction scene is one for the ages. Even as Cisco, he manages to elicit laughter (as is his wont). A standout scene was his using the device to track Zoom on Earth-2 shortly after they arrive.

The action scenes were very well done. Zoom was spellbinding as always. The Flash vs Deathstorm sequences were far better than what the trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS) are promising us. Better special effects and execution at a budget that should be only a fraction of what Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder must be spending for BvS.

There is a new mystery factor surrounding the unnamed prisoner being held captive by Zoom.

This is a classic Alternate Earth episode, that ranks among the best along with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Must watch for fans of DC Universe/Comic Books.

Trivia

The song “My Funny Valentine” is performed by Jesse L. Martin himself in the club scene on Earth-2.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

Image Source: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network

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The Flash Season 2 Episode 6 "Enter Zoom" - Recap and Review

Barry Allen/Flash (Grant Gustin) decides to take on Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd) to prevent further civilian casualties. The other Flash, Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) strongly advises against this. He believes that Barry (like Jay) is no match for Zoom. When Flash refuses to take his advice, Jay takes leave from S.T.A.R. Labs.

If there is one person who whole-heartedly supports Flash's plan, it is the alternate Earth's Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). The other members, including Iris West (Candice Patton) hatch up a plan to have Linda Park (Malese Jow) pose as the villainous (and currently subdued) Dr Light. The endgame is to trick Zoom and have Flash capture him.


Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) has reservations and is of the opinion that Flash wants to kill this alternate version of Reverse Flash, since it was Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) who took care of this Earth's version of Reverse Flash.

A subplot involves Cisco Ramon/Vibe(Carlos Valdes) using his newly found superpowers to find out if Harrison Wells is hiding any secrets from the team. After failing initially, Vibe's persistence finally pays off. He reads Wells' thoughts and sees his daughter, Jesse Wells (Violett Beane) being held as hostage by Zoom.

In the mean time, Flash and the the gang train Linda Park to act as Dr Light. She uses a gadget (developed by Cisco) to simulate the supervillain's superpowers. This training montage came off as a bit childish.

When they finally act out their encounter, Zoom does not turn up. Joe advises the disappointed Barry to focus on things that make him happy. Barry knows exactly what that means and heads right away to meet Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten).

Zoom is no slouch either. He kidnaps Linda and arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry suits up and saves Linda. But Zoom proves to be way too fast even for the Flash (just as Jay had predicted). Despite being outmatched, Barry tries to outwit Zoom, but fails.

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Zoom beats up Barry good and then parades the beaten hero before the local cops and the media. Finally, he takes Barry to S.T.A.R. Labs and is about to finish him off. Cisco manages to land a hit at the distracted Zoom, who still takes off and escapes.

As Barry regains his consciousness, he realizes that he cannot feel his legs any more.

This was an OK episode. As I had mentioned earlier, the scenes featuring Malese Jow's Linda Park were boring. On the other hand, Zoom completely stole each scene he was in. Voiced by Tony Todd, he is a very compelling villain. Kudos to the casting director for this inspired choice. Tony Todd brings his full weight and experience to the role and what a difference it makes. A very inspired casting choice...

The rest of the cast are adequate in their performances. Carlos Valdes gets a lot of screen time as he gets to practice his powers on Dr Wells. But they could have avoided having Cisco and Caitlin discussing about Wells well within his earshot. That was pretty amateurish.

In the review of the previous episode, I had remarked that Cisco Ramon had become the equivalent of Professor Charles Xavier's Cerebro due to his ability to locate meta-humans. This episode brings that comparison even more relevant by making Barry himself the equivalent of Charles Xavier due to his current physical predicament.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

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Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network

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