Barry broke his freaking spine. We are talking full on paralysis break. And by the opening of this episode, Barry was already taking steps six days later. Sure, they were just a few steps, but as Caitlin kindly pointed out anyone else would have suffered permenant damage. Barry is down on himself and everything. It is understandable, considering that he was just paraded around the city like a ragdoll and was crippled. It’s not just a physical blow, but an emotional one as well.
As Barry fell down his well of self-pity I really enjoyed that Joe kept pushing him. First he pushed him to run, now that he was healed. Then he pushed him to not just give up just because he didn’t have his speed. He forced Barry to remember that he isn’t just fast, but that he’s incredibly smart too. He may not be on Caitlin, Cisco, or Wells level, but he’s no slouch. He didn’t exactly go the route of using his smarts, but he did get back on the treadmill. (It wasn’t until Iris brought in Henry, that he got the second push he needed.)
Wells is ready to cut and run. His one plan was to have The Flash confront Zoom and that didn’t just not work, but it almost blew up in his face. Wells feels hopeless and the team is ready to just let him go. All except Caitlin, who sees that he’s the one person with the most information about Zoom. Losing him would be a huge blow to the team. So she approached him alone and triggered an epiphany while he tried to figure out a way home. The result was that Wells finally came up with a plan.
To complicate things, Gorilla Grodd decided to make a reappearance using his telepathic control to get scientists to steal neuropathic drugs. Of course this ended up leaving a body trail, but things got bad when Caitlin was taken. He wanted her to help him advance even more. The plan was to have Harrison Wells pretend to be the other Harrison Wells. However, Grodd saw through the trick rather easily. He called him on his crap and beat him. To Wells’s credit he didn’t just give up, but gave the others enough of a chance to get out. The real trick was getting Grodd to go through the Singularity to go back to Earth-2 where he belonged.
Cisco’s going on a date with Kendra Saunders. He’s quite excited about it and it is adorable even if he thinks that he might be able to score with her. However, he didn’t even make it properly on the date when he accidently vibed on her. That was how he saw that she was in fact Hawkgirl. Once Cisco got over the shock and went back to her it was actually really cute seeing them together. They don’t have the tension that He and Golden Glider do, but they do have chemistry.
I am extremely attached to the relationship between Barry and Joe. When I see Joe shaken by their relationship when things like Barry’s actual father making an appearance happens I get inexplicably upset. In this case, he was reflecting on how he wondered what it would have been like if he’d truly had a son that was biologically his own. Which no doubt set off all sorts of triggers for Iris who now knows that he does have a son. My one hope is that the Barry and Joe bond is never broken because it is truly amazing and touching.
Moments
-The look of pure fear when Joe realized Grodd was back
-Wells stepping up to help the team… and in that suit. Gah
-Caitlin sympathized with Grodd and his increasing intelligence and desire not to be the only one
-How did Barry not get sucked into the singularity when he was clearly inside the circle. I’m guess since he didn’t enter until after it had a hold on Grodd?
What did you think of the episode?
So, I pondered... 