Last night’s episode of The Flash was one of the best of the whole series thus far, having far reaching implications, lots of heart, and some great action.
1. Mrs. West
The emotional core of this episode – as so many episodes tend to be on this show – is about parent/child relationships. Joe and Iris were made a duo by Francine, Leonard and Lisa had to be a unit because of their father, and Barry’s two father figures continue to loom large in his life. At the end of the episode, the most stable relationship is the Barry and Joe relationship, the only one of these parental relationships that is really based on trust.
All things considered, Iris takes the news about her mother being alive remarkably well – sure, there will be residual issues popping up for some time, but I think I’d have reacted far worse in that case. Giving Iris a drug addicted/irresponsible mother is an interesting choice for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it explains why Joe was so apt to take in Barry as well – he was always looking to give Iris more of a family, because the family she had wasn’t there for her. This isn’t a sad story of a young mother dying; this is a sad story of a young mother choosing to abandon her child. And that sort of changes everything.
2. He Has No Head
Decapitation by explosive is a new gimmick for the show, and it looked about as cheesy as you’d expect it to. While we are talking cheesy, Lewis Snart was about as old-school criminal cliche as you could get. But that’s what is so great about The Flash – they make this stuff work so, so well. It helps explain why the other Snarts are such detached douchebags – because they had to live in a house where their dad was too busy chewing the scenery to provide them any sort of familial comfort.
This episode, almost as much as any other, was also a bit of a backdoor pilot for Legends of Tomorrow, as it showed that Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, has more good in him than originally thought. Speaking of Snart…
3. A Rogue Done Right
One of the complaints I had last season about Captain Cold, and all the Rogues, was that they were missing the ethical guidelines that made the Rogues in the comics so special. This episode is the closest the show has ever gotten to that tone, and it worked exceptionally. I still think that the Rogues, in general, need more congeniality among thieves, but they’ll get there – this is early enough in the show’s life that there is still plenty of room to grow.
4. The supporting cast continues to shine
Each week, I have to think about both The Flash and Arrow, and the more I do that, the more I realize that there is one huge difference between the two shows, and that is in the supporting cast. Over in Star City, whenever an episode shifts away from Ollie or Felicity, I spend the whole time thinking “Can we please get back to Ollie?” Here in Central City, I never have that – Joe, Caitlin, and especially Cisco are just as entertaining and important to the show as Barry is. This show has truly built a world that I want to spend time in, regardless of whether or not the Flash is doing superheroics or not – and that’s a really incredible accomplishment.
5. Is every episode going to end with Stein passing out?
Seriously, the finish to the past two weeks’ episodes were almost identical, and last week’s was totally inconsequential. Literally, the only thing that last week’s little attack did was give him a blood pressure machine for him to throw to Earth 2 (or some other alternate Earth). This show is full of such drama already that they didn’t need to go back to the well twice for this, especially because this week’s was far more interesting. Imagine how surprising it would have been if not teased with last week’s non-event?
So, fellow Flash-heads, what stood out from last night? Let me know in the comments!
Also, Qwark matter? Where there is Qwark, Sinestro is never far, and where there’s Sinestro, Hal Jordan is never far.
