The Flash Attack on Gorilla City Television 

Five Thoughts on The Flash‘s “Attack on Gorilla City”

By | February 22nd, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

The first half of a two-part episode that sees the return of Grood, a trip to Earth 2, a double shot of romance, and Tom Cavanaugh, again, playing more roles than he’s getting paid for.

1. Pretty cavalier about bringing the new guy to Earth 2, eh?

I appreciate the position that the show is in: they brought Julian to the show and have been trying their best to make him relevant. Giving he and Caitlin some romantic tension is a first step, but bringing Julian to Earth 2 just seems like a really poor idea. Here’s what they known: he’s been compromised before by a powerful villain, he’s sort of a dick, and he has no discernible skill in a fight. So yeah, bring a brilliant CSI to a city literally over run by telepathic gorillas.

The budding Caitlin/Julian romance is moving slowly, which is a good thing for both the show and the fictional characters on it. Caitlin’s life has been a roller coaster – losing her fiance, getting him back, losing him again, gaining powers, losing friends, etc. She needs some stability, and Julian seems like he may be the person for that.

If, you know, he’s not still secretly Alchemy.

2. The Gorillas looked…good?

I was impressed by the Gorilla CGI, specifically in the battle arena. I mean, no one is going to mistake this for a Guillermo del Toro film, but it was not the abject embarrassment that Legends of Tomorrow is on a regular basis. Solovar wasn’t exactly Kong, but he was imposing, and wasn’t laughably bad. Overall, the show has been smart to limit the times that gorillas show up, and then use them in such a way that they don’t look terrible when they do show up. I’m sure that because the show tends to use the same CGI week in and week out (specifically, speedster stuff), the budget for that is either far less, or at least steady, so when they have to bump up the budget it’s not a big deal. With the Legends literally going all over the timeline, it can be a little less predictable.

It would have been really easy for the show to make Grodd less interesting – drop the mind control elements, make him either super strong or super smart, but not both, etc. But no, we are getting fucking Grodd. He uses Barry to kill his captor, has back up plans for everything, and is out to get what he wants, no matter what.

I know that Mr. Mzyzptlk wasn’t exactly a home run on Supergirl this week, but can you imagine telling someone ten years ago that both Mr. Mzyzptlk and Gorilla Grodd (let alone Solovar and Gorilla City, and Vibe, and Kid Flash, and Jesse Quick and Mon-El, and Martian Manhunter) would all be on TV in one week? And that’s not even counting Legends and Arrow. As I’ve said a dozen or more times here: these shows may not be perfect, but they are literal dreams come true for many fans.

3. Tom Cavanaugh plays yet another role

I know that TV shows don’t give out MVP awards, but Tom Cavanaugh really needs to win something for his job on The Flash. This week, he played Earth-2 Harrison Wells (Harry), Earth-19 Harrison Wells (H.R.), and Harry controlled by Grodd. Yes, his Grodd voice was a little silly, but how couldn’t it be? Cavanaugh did so much heavy lifting on this episode to differentiate the three different people inside the same (looking) body, and he did it perfectly. I wish I had thought to take screen grabs of each of the roles and show you exactly what I mean; as Grodd, he stood stiffer and more intensely, as H.R., he ambles and uses his arms constantly, as Harry, he is the most reserved.

And yet, to me he’ll always be Ed from Stuckeyville.

4. Couldn’t Cisco open a breach elsewhere?

So, maybe I’m forgetting Cisco’s specific powers, but we’ve seen him open breaches to a few Earths – at least Supergirl’s Earth and Earth-2 – so couldn’t he tell Grodd, “Sure, here’s Central City on Earth-1…” and then open them up elsewhere? I mean, yes, that is sort of pawning the problem off on someone else, and that’s not quite heroic, but couldn’t he open a breach to Supergirl’s Earth, and have them have a trap set up? Or, remember when he and Gypsy traveled to that planet I thought may be Apokolips? Dump them there!

Continued below

The reveal of Grodd having Gypsy was somewhat undercut by having the ‘Previously on The Flash‘ focused on her for a good half of the time. But this is another fun development – if Grodd knows of Gypsy then a) he has knowledge of other Earths, which would be dope, or b) he’s the luckiest gorilla on the block. I guess that is another possibility.

5. Speed dating

Jesse is one of my favorite characters on the show, mainly because of how observant she is, and how she is no-nonsense. She sees that Wally craves speed, and (probably correctly) guesses that his speed will be more important to him than she will be. He denies it, of course, but watch him out there in the field – he’s loving every second of this. I hope that their relationship works out, but you can’t say that Jesse was being foolish to fear for Wally’s attention. If she stays on Earth-1, that will also be an interesting development for the show – are three speedsters a crowd?

Oh well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

What did you think of Grodd’s return? Let us know in the comments!


//TAGS | The Flash

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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