Hi folks! Welcome back to our weekly recap of The Flash. This week’s episode is named “Growing Pains” and it’s gonna be a little hard to me because it heavily features that Speed Force/Nora storyline that I told you last week I didn’t like. Here we go.
1. Barry is supercharged
This episode started with the Allen-West family eating breakfast… and that includes the Speed Force, who apparently not only knows how to cook, but is also very good at it. Barry is clearly uncomfortable with her presence and he shows it both in his face and in his strength, having uncontrollable “speed bursts”.
Later he goes to work, and she appeared both in the crime scene and in the lab and Barry ends up messing a computer with evidence because of his bursts, he gets angry and tells the Speed Force to go away and let him be the hero the city needs, without her help.
As I said last week, it’s weird that everybody is so okay with the fact that a physical representation of the Speed Force (practically a God) is chilling with them like it´s normal, and I am glad that Barry is not fine with it, it shouldn’t be easy for him to be with the constant remainder that her mother is dead.
2. The crusade against Frost
Officer Kristen Kramer is determined to catch Frost, and her crimes are an assault to Savitar’s acolyte, the kidnapping of Julian Albert and Cecile, and the killing attempt of Tracy Brand, crimes so old I didn’t even remember!
Taking aside that it’s weird that she attacked three members of Team Flash, who wouldn’t press charges on a friend, it’s also very strange that she has been saving lives (and the multiverse) for years, I mean, wouldn’t her charges be dropped in gratitude? Well, there must be something hidden in Kramer’s intentions, but on the time being, Frost is not going down without a fight.
But there’s a new threat in the city and have ice-related powers, so, Kramer immediately assumes that it was Frost and issues a warrant arrest against her.
3. Chilldude Chillblaine
Despite everyone’s advice to lay low for a while, Frost is determined to clean her name, so she goes out to find out who is trying to frame her, she goes back to a bar where she used to work, and a sexy guy named Mark flirts and “helps” her.
Later he reveals that he used to be a scientist obsessed with ice, and he has spent a lot of time stalking Caitlin/Frost, he is the tip-call that Kramer uses to arrest Caitlin and he is trying to copy Frost’s powers because he thinks that she doesn’t deserve her powers and is wasting them, at the end he defeats him but decides to turn herself to the authorities.
4. “Not how law enforcement is supposed to work”
Oops I forgot to tell you; Caitlin was arrested earlier in the episode! Kramer received an anonymous call revealing Frost’s identity and the officer goes to apprehend Caitlin without any more evidence.
That infuriates Joe, because police shouldn’t do that and he goes to argue with Kramer, who tells him that she is doing the right thing and that he should think on the public good and I say to her, isn’t keeping a superhero in the streets a greater good? Damn it.
Curiously, this storyline comes at a right time, just this week we have had yet another black person killed by a cop, another cop cleared after a heinous act of brutality and even a soldier cynically bullied by officers. The Flash is a very popular show, therefore they tend to be as apolitical as possible.
But there’s a change here with this storyline, a person being unjustly prosecuted by a force more occupied with order than safety, it’s worth debating that they chose the whitest character possible to be the focus of police harassment, but she’s the character that makes sense in this world to go against and we could argue that it works as an allegory. The creative team is working on bringing what’s happening in real life to the show and I appreciate that. Let’s see how this story keeps developing.
Continued below5. From “Speed Force” to “Nora”
At the end of the episode, Iris realizes that it’s not easy for Barry to see the face of her dead mother in his own house, being maternal and worrying about him. She apologizes and Barry also does it. So, it seems that he is willing to be more accepting of Nora being there for a while, it’s still weird but at least they acknowledged that it’s a weird move to have Nora around.
And that’s it for this episode, I liked Frost set against Chillblaine and her growth, she is making herself responsible for her crimes and will let justice decide her fate. We will have a brief hiatus, so the next episode will come out until May 4th.
What did you think of this episode? Leave your comments below and join us in three weeks for our take on the next episode.
