This week’s episode of The Flash is all about repercussions… and it looks as though Firestorm is under threat from a familiar face.
It’s an apt title for this week’s episode – Fallout. In a lot of ways, it felt like an epilogue to the explosive final scenes from last week. And I suppose that’s the point.
After Barry and Caitlin clear the blast left by Firestorm, they return to see if their attempts to separate Ronnie and Dr Stein were a success. They were. However, General Eiling is back on the scene, with intent to contain Firestorm for use as a military weapon. Joe reveals to Barry what he and Cisco discovered last time, with Barry vowing to find a way to go back and prevent his mother from being murdered.
This whole Firestorm thing is getting a bit nuts. The very idea that these two men can fuse/unfuse as and when with an equal amount of control in the final product is mind-boggling. In a lot of ways, that makes them more interesting than Barry.
Of course the whacky side is they both still have partners whom they love dearly, and desperately want to be with. Obviously the show should not deprive itself of such a character, and the two exit at the end with promises to return late. Suffice to say, we can probably add them to the list of those returning for Season 2 and candidates for a spin-off.
General Eiling is a very by the book villain. Guys have super powers so naturally he simply wants to use them in the war on terror. There’s not much more to say on him than that. He provides a base need for conflict in this week’s episode. The emotional weight of the story, while interesting in of itself, would feel somewhat stilted if we didn’t get to see Firestorm’s powers, or Barry doing some running. At least, it might. Who knows, but it’s unlikely the show will ever have the guts to do an episode where powers aren’t at the forefront of things.
Iris is likely to pick up a few more scenes in the coming weeks as her boss puts her up to spying on S.T.A.R labs to find out more about Ronnie. Other than setting that up, the most interesting thing about her scenes this week is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to Game of Thrones.
Barry’s personal revelations from this week are my favourite part. The fact that this series has reached a point where the characters can openly discuss time travel without it being incredibly silly is a major plus point. The question is, what logic will the time-travel cover? Is it even possible for Barry to save his mother or will it generate an alternate timeline. It’s pretty hefty stuff to have in season 1, so it remains to be seen if this will be the season’s climax or whether it will be the focus of next year’s season.
Ironically once again the best scene appears at the end. Dr Wells is without a doubt the Reverse Flash now. We see him suited up, dispatching General Eiling with the help of Grodd. While we’re there, Grodd appears to have developed telepathic communication powers. That is treading a thin line that proves surprisingly effective here. Doubtless Grodd is hiding out in the sewers to make him less visible and therefore more intimidating. Seeing him out on the streets would probably provoke a lot of Bigfoot jokes.
If the writers can tweek a few things for next season, Flash has the potential to rival Arrow. I say this with some degree of confidence as Arrow truly began hitting its stride second time around due to the ground-work provided in its first season. The Flash is doing something similar, but the abundance of filler is proving detrimental. With no sign of whether the apparent main arc will be resolved in the finale, we can only wonder.
Do you think Barry will be able to save his mother when the time comes? Are Dr Wells and Grodd officially working together? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
