Finally, after 6 long weeks of seeing Star Wars several times, The Flash and DC are back. On a pretty big night for DC television and film, The Flash kicked off the festivities with an okay entry for season 2. This season has been very good (perhaps even better than season 1) but with all the build up to Zoom and the relationship Barry has formed with Patty, there's a lot to deliver on. While there wasn't much progress with the Zoom story line, this was supposed to be the episode where the 'Patty-not-knowing-Barry's-the- Flash' was resolved.
Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Patty character has been the biggest bright spot to this season, in my opinion. The dynamic between her and Barry far surpasses anything that Iris and Barry shared last season. This episode had plenty of great material for them, but it once again put off the one thing that it needed, honesty. I'm getting pretty tired of the CW shows holding off secrets for really no reason whatsoever. Patty has every reason to be upset at Barry. Remember, Barry gave up his secret to Linda within the blink of an eye a few weeks ago. So story wise, the secret keeping just seems like yet another ploy for more filler episodes in the coming weeks. That is until the chaos goes down in the final 6 episodes or so. I'm not buying that she will indeed move away either. She just told Barry she wants to be closer to him.
Besides the illogical decisions from Barry with Patty, I was glad to see that Iris was actually helping Patty instead of destroying another one of Barry's relationships. Iris has been much better this season. Her brother, Wally, is now in the fold for better or worse, as he was one of the side plots this episode. When Wally wasn't trying to be Dominic Toretto he half attempted to make things work with his father. While I don't expect this to be the last time they have their issues, I was glad to see a pleasant ending for this episode. I just worry their issues will be another side story that goes on for far too long.
The villain of the week was none other than the classic DC villain, Turtle. To be honest, I had no idea who he was before the episode, nor do I really know who he is now. The character has potentially cool abilities, pun intended, but the character development and writing just wasn't there. It was nice to see Barry take on someone with unique powers, especially because they turned out to be pretty threatening, but the motives for why Turtle was doing what he was doing weren't all that clear. Even when they attempted to explain them, it just made it sound more illogical and goofy to go after Patty. A much better approach to the character would have been to take him down a similar path to the Arrow villain, Dollmaker.
Harry had a pretty big week as he took a step forward with his plans to steal Barry's powers by using Turtles abilities against him. While it was utterly convenient that Turtle just showed up as he was trying to devise a plan/formula, I don't think it will be as easy as it seems to take Barry's speed and give them to Zoom in exchange for his daughter. On a side note, it was pretty haunting hearing about what Zoom is capable of, described by Harry's accounts from Earth 2. It also helped that they included some nightmare sequences with Zoom killing Patty. Seriously we have 13 more episodes till the finale??
I guess it's also worth mentioning that Reverse Flash made an appearance and Jay revealed he's sick. Everything with Jay tonight seemed strange and off, so I'm not sure what to think about that. Seeing Reverse Flash on the other hand was pretty cool, but also just raises way more questions than it answers.
+Iris helping Patty
+Turtle had interesting and unique abilities
+Harry on a mission
+Ominous Zoom moments
-Tell Patty already
-No character development for Turtle
7.6/10
Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Patty character has been the biggest bright spot to this season, in my opinion. The dynamic between her and Barry far surpasses anything that Iris and Barry shared last season. This episode had plenty of great material for them, but it once again put off the one thing that it needed, honesty. I'm getting pretty tired of the CW shows holding off secrets for really no reason whatsoever. Patty has every reason to be upset at Barry. Remember, Barry gave up his secret to Linda within the blink of an eye a few weeks ago. So story wise, the secret keeping just seems like yet another ploy for more filler episodes in the coming weeks. That is until the chaos goes down in the final 6 episodes or so. I'm not buying that she will indeed move away either. She just told Barry she wants to be closer to him.
Besides the illogical decisions from Barry with Patty, I was glad to see that Iris was actually helping Patty instead of destroying another one of Barry's relationships. Iris has been much better this season. Her brother, Wally, is now in the fold for better or worse, as he was one of the side plots this episode. When Wally wasn't trying to be Dominic Toretto he half attempted to make things work with his father. While I don't expect this to be the last time they have their issues, I was glad to see a pleasant ending for this episode. I just worry their issues will be another side story that goes on for far too long.
The villain of the week was none other than the classic DC villain, Turtle. To be honest, I had no idea who he was before the episode, nor do I really know who he is now. The character has potentially cool abilities, pun intended, but the character development and writing just wasn't there. It was nice to see Barry take on someone with unique powers, especially because they turned out to be pretty threatening, but the motives for why Turtle was doing what he was doing weren't all that clear. Even when they attempted to explain them, it just made it sound more illogical and goofy to go after Patty. A much better approach to the character would have been to take him down a similar path to the Arrow villain, Dollmaker.
Harry had a pretty big week as he took a step forward with his plans to steal Barry's powers by using Turtles abilities against him. While it was utterly convenient that Turtle just showed up as he was trying to devise a plan/formula, I don't think it will be as easy as it seems to take Barry's speed and give them to Zoom in exchange for his daughter. On a side note, it was pretty haunting hearing about what Zoom is capable of, described by Harry's accounts from Earth 2. It also helped that they included some nightmare sequences with Zoom killing Patty. Seriously we have 13 more episodes till the finale??
I guess it's also worth mentioning that Reverse Flash made an appearance and Jay revealed he's sick. Everything with Jay tonight seemed strange and off, so I'm not sure what to think about that. Seeing Reverse Flash on the other hand was pretty cool, but also just raises way more questions than it answers.
+Iris helping Patty
+Turtle had interesting and unique abilities
+Harry on a mission
+Ominous Zoom moments
-Tell Patty already
-No character development for Turtle
7.6/10