I can see now that Eric Wallace must've taken a poorly timed vacation ahead of Season 7's production resuming. He's back, and it shows. This season's struggled in his absence, what with episodes like "All's Wells That Ends Wells" and "Mother" somehow being greenlit for filming. I can see now that the season's regaining its footing with Eric back at the helm.
For starters, Psych is awesome! All of the effects on him are incredible! I especially love the way that they shot him walking several times and put them over each other! It gave him this really creepy effect that they were able to execute on really well. Also, all of the visions that we got to see were super cool! The biggest standouts were Savitar stabbing Barry and saying the "You lose, Barry" line directly from season 3, Frost getting arrested, and Iris saying "When you let me die, you killed our children too", which clearly hinted at the Tornado Twins finally making an appearance this season. Also, that final scene gave Candice some real room to act, which I'm all about!
Speaking of Iris, her scene with Joe had to be the weakest part of the episode. Joe in general was pretty weak this week. Come on, Kristen Kramer was more suspicious than Ramsey Rosso not one season ago. Of course, he eventually comes to his senses, but this man used to be a police detective. Shouldn't he have noticed something was off?
Everything with Frost and Caitlin was also really good this week. I like the writers deciding to expand upon this storyline Frost was on last season where she wanted to have a life, especially with Kristen Kramer on her tail. And on the flipside, Caitlin actually misses hearing Frost's voice in her head and wants them to get back together. You're really able to understand both sides here, and it's great! Plus, with Frost's fear being that Caitlin will turn her in, that's another layer that can be added to their relationship, possibly having to build up trust on Frost's side. I just hope Caitlin doesn't leave the show in favor of Frost staying. I'd honestly rather they both be there permanently, even though it would require a lot more work from Danielle Panabaker behind the scenes.
One more minor gripe with the episode would be Cecile saving the city. Nothing against her, and I like Danielle Nicolet in the role, but overall the scene was just ever so slightly on the campy and ridiculous side. It served its purpose though, and didn't really take away from Psych's phenominal first appearance. Plus, it was cool seeing them dust off DeVoe's high chair. Though I'm not a huge fan of DeVoe's storyline, or season 4 as a whole, easter eggs and references like this are the kind of things that prove Eric Wallace is back at the helm. (Although I recall "Thinker Barry" disassembling it for his super speed thinking in episode 2, but nobody's perfect, alright?)
And then, we have to talk about Michelle Harrison and the return of the Speed Force Avatar. When she first showed up, I immediately thought that Barry was gonna have to watch her die again, which just made me feel bad again, but she's never been a hinderance for the show, and has always stood her ground really well in the role of Nora Allen and the Speed Force Avatar before. I'm intrigued about where this season's going.
Overall, a really solid episode. A few gripes, but nothing that takes away from the experience. Psych is a cool force to see later down the line, and all the stuff with his powers make for some really nice set pieces later on. All the stuff with the "Force Quest" is going pretty nicely so far in general, and Barry's vision of everyone dying is very Avengers Age Of Ultron, and I love it! Welcome back, Eric Wallace! We've missed you!
7/10.
For starters, Psych is awesome! All of the effects on him are incredible! I especially love the way that they shot him walking several times and put them over each other! It gave him this really creepy effect that they were able to execute on really well. Also, all of the visions that we got to see were super cool! The biggest standouts were Savitar stabbing Barry and saying the "You lose, Barry" line directly from season 3, Frost getting arrested, and Iris saying "When you let me die, you killed our children too", which clearly hinted at the Tornado Twins finally making an appearance this season. Also, that final scene gave Candice some real room to act, which I'm all about!
Speaking of Iris, her scene with Joe had to be the weakest part of the episode. Joe in general was pretty weak this week. Come on, Kristen Kramer was more suspicious than Ramsey Rosso not one season ago. Of course, he eventually comes to his senses, but this man used to be a police detective. Shouldn't he have noticed something was off?
Everything with Frost and Caitlin was also really good this week. I like the writers deciding to expand upon this storyline Frost was on last season where she wanted to have a life, especially with Kristen Kramer on her tail. And on the flipside, Caitlin actually misses hearing Frost's voice in her head and wants them to get back together. You're really able to understand both sides here, and it's great! Plus, with Frost's fear being that Caitlin will turn her in, that's another layer that can be added to their relationship, possibly having to build up trust on Frost's side. I just hope Caitlin doesn't leave the show in favor of Frost staying. I'd honestly rather they both be there permanently, even though it would require a lot more work from Danielle Panabaker behind the scenes.
One more minor gripe with the episode would be Cecile saving the city. Nothing against her, and I like Danielle Nicolet in the role, but overall the scene was just ever so slightly on the campy and ridiculous side. It served its purpose though, and didn't really take away from Psych's phenominal first appearance. Plus, it was cool seeing them dust off DeVoe's high chair. Though I'm not a huge fan of DeVoe's storyline, or season 4 as a whole, easter eggs and references like this are the kind of things that prove Eric Wallace is back at the helm. (Although I recall "Thinker Barry" disassembling it for his super speed thinking in episode 2, but nobody's perfect, alright?)
And then, we have to talk about Michelle Harrison and the return of the Speed Force Avatar. When she first showed up, I immediately thought that Barry was gonna have to watch her die again, which just made me feel bad again, but she's never been a hinderance for the show, and has always stood her ground really well in the role of Nora Allen and the Speed Force Avatar before. I'm intrigued about where this season's going.
Overall, a really solid episode. A few gripes, but nothing that takes away from the experience. Psych is a cool force to see later down the line, and all the stuff with his powers make for some really nice set pieces later on. All the stuff with the "Force Quest" is going pretty nicely so far in general, and Barry's vision of everyone dying is very Avengers Age Of Ultron, and I love it! Welcome back, Eric Wallace! We've missed you!
7/10.