by Chelsea Dee, Editor-At-Large

FINALLY. Finally finally finally. Iris knows, oh happy day. To be fair, I really like that she figured it out on her own. And I love that this episode supports her anger and frustration about being kept in the dark. It also leads to some sweet and emotional moments because of it, so it was a nice mix of things. I think we’re getting close to Eobard’s final plan; we know he just wants to go home, but what is he going to do in order to accomplish that? The closer we are to the end, the sadder I am to see him go. They didn’t say whether Tom would be staying on the show. Rick who plays Eddie said the finale is very emotional, so I’m worried about the survival of his character right now. It would be pretty easy to kill Eddie and therefore Eobard, right? It might be a sacrifice he’s willing to make. Eddie’s slowly become one of my favorite characters on the show, so I only want good things for him. Previously on The Flash, Eobard Thawne is now revealed as Wells and the Reverse-Flash. He’s kidnapped Eddie. There’s a gorilla (named Grodd) hiding out in the tunnels who took General Eiling awhile back and seems to be working for Eobard.

First I’m going to start with the Thawnes, because they had a quick appearance this episode. It’s always fun to see Tom in this role, he’s enjoying it. I like that he says right off the bat that he doesn’t have to impress anyone; he doesn’t care what they think of him at this point. He wants to go home, since he’s been stuck there all this time. He taunts Eddie about being a nothing in the family history, that he never amounts to anything important. Ouch. He also tells Eddie that Iris marries Barry so there’s no future for him there. Double ouch. I’m not exactly sure where they are or what Eobard’s master plan is, but we’re about to see it. I imagine it’s going to lead to the destruction of people or the city, in order for him to return to his time. Otherwise they’d be like see you later buddy. I think it’s silly Barry thinks that getting him to confess would save his father. It wouldn’t be hard for people to point out that Harrison Wells was no where near that night, in fact they know he was in a car accident with his wife instead. But the end game here is that Barry will want to save his mother. I still worry about what that means, because wouldn’t that change everything on the show? Maybe the answer is he can’t save her, it’s a fixed point of time. Or he knows that saving her means not saving a bunch of other people. We’ll see soon enough. I do like that this show allows him to fail regularly.

The main story is of course Grodd. Grodd is in the early stages of his abilities, so don’t expect him to be a simplistic telepathic gorilla. Okay that’s downplaying it. He is very intelligent and telepathic, so that matters, but eventually he’ll get to a point where he’s downright urbane. At least he does in the comics, and considering how much he’s soaking in around him, that could easily become true here. His job is to distract them while Eobard works on his plan, and he calls Eobard “Father.” They hunt him down to the tunnels, and Joe gets captured by him. Poor Joe. Grodd is genuinely scary at times, especially since he can mentally control someone to put a gun to their own head. Yikes. Iris yells at both Barry and Joe about lying to her, but obviously her father being captured is terrifying for her. She does misplace some of that fear onto Barry, guilting him into knowing that he hasn’t saved either of the men in her life. I know some fans are hard on her for that, but I don’t fault her. This is a lot of information and fear to take in all at once. And I still maintain she is 100% justified in her anger against her loved ones. She points out what most of us have, that she’d be safer if she’s aware of what’s going on.

Barry gets soundly beaten up by Grodd and put in front of a moving car, tormented by flashes of pain and memory that Grodd gives him. Their temporary telepathic shielding doesn’t work out. It’s Iris who manages to talk to Barry and get him through the telepathic attack so he lives. And then he puts Grodd in front of the train instead. Obviously this is only temporarily going to stop Grodd; he’s very strong and durable. But Barry points out it’s a win of sorts for their team, proving they can survive without Wells/Eobard. Losing him is losing a safety net, and they all know it. Joe and Iris reconcile, and Iris and Barry reconcile. There’s some indication she’s becoming more aware of her feelings for him, but she doesn’t want to really make any decisions until Eddie’s safe and she can consider it more. I love love love that Caitlin was so supportive of Iris this episode. I’m always supportive of ladies getting along and not using tired tropes of them being catty with each other. Instead Caitlin talks to her, and then makes sure everyone remembers Iris is who saved Barry. We have a final show down coming up with Reverse-Flash. The preview showed that Oliver and Ronnie show back up to help him. I’m a little iffy on this, because why would Barry need so much help to deal with one person, it feels like it’s important for him to beat Eobard on his own. Or maybe they’re just there to help with the rest of his plan. Also Oliver’s doing all these other things in Arrow, I can’t figure out how this would sync up at all. And really what can he do compared to Reverse-Flash. C’mon. Some team ups feel like team ups for the sake of team ups. Excited to see what is coming ahead. This has been such a good season, outside of minor bumps.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives The Flash Season 1 Episode 21 4 out of 5 Telepathic Gorilla Grodd Attacks

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