THE FLASH “The Flash and the Furious” Review

The Flash — “The Flash & The Furious” — Image Number: FLA510c_0005r.jpg — Pictured: Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash — Photo: The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved

“THE FLASH AND THE FURIOUS” REVIEW

BY JUSTIN CARTER

An episode with a title riffing on one of the most surprisingly great film franchises in recent memory really ought be more lively than this midseason premiere of The Flash. Sadly, despite “The Flash and the Furious” being by no means a bad episode, it also just happens to be one that isn’t especially flashy. Or furious.

Some of that is likely owed to the fact that Barry gets sidelined early on in the episode due to a glitch with his phasing powers. It effectively benches him so Grant Gustin could go and do Elseworlds, putting Nora and the rest of Team Flash in the spotlight as they deal with another case of Meta-tech. Specifically, an ex-soldier codenamed Silver Ghost busts Weather Witch out of prison to start a team of Young Rogues and steal a souped up ARGUS car tricked out with WayneTech (presumably things that would’ve or did go into the Batmobile). Witch is more concerned with just serving out her sentence and not ending up like her dad, but starts getting a taste for evil again when Nora is convinced it’s all an act and throws her back in jail.

The Weather Witch stuff comes hot on the heels of Nora learning that Thawne, her jailed speed tutor in 2049, was the one who killed Barry’s mother. Can bad people do good things? Is anyone able to be redeemed? These are questions the episode asks … and then doesn’t really answer. At best, Barry, stuck in the Pipeline until the phasing wears off, reminds her of Leonard Snart and his growth from villain to Legend. So Witch and Ghost escape after Nora gives a passionate speech about change, and she later goes to Thawne telling him that he needs to show her he’s changed. Thawne’s possible redemption is the most interesting since he’s very clearly on a time table until he’s likely executed.

Meanwhile, the other big story involves Cisco and Caitlin debating on making a cure to take Cicada’s meta powers, and possibly that of every other meta as well. Surprisingly, Caitlin’s the one advocating for leaving science well enough alone, given that she only recently got a part of herself back. Cisco’s reasoning of using it to give himself a normal life is strange because, well, if he wanted a normal life, his best option is to literally skip town. Being a superhero very clearly is not the family life ruiner he seems to think it is. But, he’s going to get to work on it anyway, which will no doubt lead to ethical discussions about forced experimentation.

There’s not a lot to talk about in this episode, but it’s nonetheless a fine one. At the very least, the seeds for some good stuff with Thawne and Sherloque cracking the mystery of Nora are laid here, which should help carry us ably for the rest of the season.

Additional Notes

• It came out over break that Jesse L. Martin will return to the show in February, which is good to hear!

• This show continues to make offhand references to Caitlin and Killer Frost just chatting during their off time, and I would love to watch an episode where they try and come to a consensus on movies.

• The Arrowverse keeps teasing that Mick from Legends of Tomorrow has written a book, and I very much need that to be a real thing I can buy. He’s apparently very good!