After what feels like an eternity, Barry and the rest of the Central City crew are back with the first new episode of 2016.
1. The Turtle
Despite the disappointment that Jerry Ferrara wasn’t going to playing the Turtle (aka Turtle Man to all of us old school DC fans), this episode did the typical thing The Flash does with their villains: they introduce someone that seems ridiculous, make us realize why he’s a threat, give us an exciting battle, and then kill them off unceremoniously. Not that the Turtle was going to have a Captain Cold or a Grodd impact, but the show needs to stop with these one and done villains, or they’ll really be scraping the bottom of the barrel soon.
Granted, he died with a purpose (to help Harry steal Barry’s speed for Zoom), which is more than can be said for many of the villains the show has axed, but that doesn’t change the fact that the show has an itchy trigger finger.
2.More like Wally Worst, amirite?
I understand that the show needs to give us a reason to care about Wally West aside from the fact that comic fans have loved him for years an that he’s Joe’s son. They need to give him a hook and a personality of his own. I get that, and I respect the decision to not just drop a lovable, fully formed hero in our lap. I also like the relationship he has to speed, and the dedication he has to his mother – those are all interesting traits.
But there’s something about the show digging a deeper hole for Wally to climb out of that seems unnecessary. The guy’s clearly had a tough life, and is angry at Joe for not being there – all of that makes sense. But making him a dick on top of someone in pain is going to take a lot more than just some Kung Pao chicken to fix. I don’t doubt that the show can do it, but it is going to take longer.
3. What’s wrong with Jay?
I know the show doesn’t need to give us a full read out of Jay’s illness, but it seems a bit vague doesn’t it? When Caitlin said “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” I honestly didn’t know if she meant he had strep throat or a terminal illness. I get that it is advantageous for the show to give Jay his speed back for about ten reasons, but this seems like a weird way to get us there. Now there’s almost no doubt that he will get better, whereas before there was actual doubt. I don’t think the show will kill of Jay instead of make him the Flash again – so why even tease that?
4. See ya, Spivot
If you listened carefully at around 8:55 in every time zone last night, you could hear thousands of hearts breaking at once. Patty is leaving Central City to become a CSI (and bring her closer to her comics character), and leaving Barry in the dust. I have to say, as sad as this is, there’s something refreshing about this. The CW shows have had such a tenuous hold on what a secret identity is supposed to be, it is nice to see a love interest totally kept in the dark, and – justifiably – saying “fuck this” when the person they are dating is totally unavailable.
I hope Patty comes back, because I love the chemistry the show has created between these two, but I also understand why she had to go. ‘Til we meet again, Ms. Spivot.
5. Thawne returns
So, I don’t quite know how this happened – wasn’t Eddie killing himself the end of Eobard Thawne? Well, he’s back, and he’s back before he put on the face of Harrison Wells.
This does give credence to my “Zoom is Eddie” theory, because if Eddie is alive, Thawne could still exist. We’ll see.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments!
