Flash 1.21

Grodd Lives

Iris confronts Barry. She tries to do it at police HQ but he runs off once again. Instead she shows up at STAR Labs when Barry is still in uniform, after he has removed his cowl. She is hurt. She is angry that everyone else seems to know Barry's secret, except her. Maybe there was just a little too much dwelling on this part of the episode. It is perfectly understandable that she would be angry, very angry but some of these scenes fell a bit flat. It felt as though they were filling time.

Some new masked villain attempts to rob the Central City Gold Reserve. The Flash tries to stop him but is incapacitated by a mental blast. It seems to affect the would be robber as well. Flash runs off before he can get hit with another blast. The police set a trap for the would be robber and with some help from the Flash they catch him. When they pull off the mask he is wearing the face beneath is that of General Eiling.

They whisk Eiling back to STAR Labs and lock him in one of the cells. He is talking but he doesn't sound like himself. He hasn't been seen on the show since 1.14 (Fallout) which ended with the Reverse Flash delivering him to Grodd. It looks like Grodd is the one behind Eiling. He is mentally controlling the General. He talks through the General to Barry and reveals his identity.

Joe West, knowing that Grodd is super-dangerous and has mental powers leads Barry and Cisco on a trip into the sewers to try and find Grodd's hideout. This was one twist that didn't make sense to me. This whole part of the story was kind of dumb. Joe gets captured by Grodd. He gets smacked around and loses his usual cool demeanor very quickly when he come face to face with Grodd.

Barry and Cisco rush back to STAR Labs. At first they act like they don't know what to do. Then they do the obvious and create a headpiece for Barry to wear which will block the mental signals Grodd is sending from reaching Barry's brain. Barry goes into the sewers to retrieve Joe. Before he can get his adoptive father out of there he is forced to fight Grodd. Barry tries attacking him but even using the super-punch which was last seen in 1.06 (The Flash is Born) he is unable to stop him. Grodd gets the upper hand and almost kills Barry by making him step in front of a moving train. It is only Iris' voice and his memories of her, including the kiss that they shared in 1.15 (Out of Time), that enable him to break through Grodd's mental assault and avoid getting killed by the train.

There isn't another showdown with Grodd in this episode. Flash grabs Joe and whisks him out of there after Grodd steps into a moving train, which was really strange. Maybe he isn't the super-intelligent being that he is on JLU but still that seemed a little too convenient. Grodd isn't dead and doesn't seem to be injured. Grodd doesn't add anything to this show as far as I am concerned. I hope that if the character keeps showing up on the show that he will evolve and become more intelligent. I don't want to see him if all he is going to be is a gorilla with mental abilities.

Barry releases General Eiling from his holding cell after confirming that Grodd no longer has control over him. Eiling knows that Barry is the Flash but he's got other concerns, namely Grodd. He wants revenge. I checked and this is the final episode for Eiling so I guess he isn't going to get his revenge.

Eddie Thawne is still the prisoner of his descendant, Eobard Thawne, the man who has been pretending to be Harrison Wells. Eobard visits him a few times but isn't receptive to Eddie's suggestion that he should let him go. At the end of the episode in the final scene Eobard seems very satisfied. It seems that he has the "key" as he puts it. The key to what isn't clear. Can this key be what he needs to return to the future?

Not my favorite episode. I think I already outlined a number of things that I didn't like about it. I missed having Eobard interact with Barry. I hope that the last two episodes of this season are better than this one. I don't think that is a very high bar to clear.