I know, right? Me? Liking a Flash episode? That hasn't happened in a long time. Maybe this show's whittled down my standards to almost nothing, but this episode wasn't nearly as bad as some reviewers are saying it is.
No bingo this week. This makes my current record 2 and 5.
What immediately jumped out about this episode to me was the talk about how the Flash makes the police's jobs a lot harder. Of course, this turns out to just be a front for Kristen Kramer's real problem, but it did get me thinking about this. None of the Arrowverse shows have ever touched on how the resident vigilante stopping criminals makes the cops job harder, at least not from what I can remember, so it's actually kinda refreshing to consider it as a concept. Plus, the Flash is probably the most well renowned and high profile hero left to consider a storyline like this with, and if Barry just speeds the criminals into the precinct without any evidence, the cops are gonna have to work overtime trying to pick up the pieces. On the other shows, and even on this show in the past, the cops really only exist to arrest the people that the heroes stop, but if they don't have the evidence then the hero can be more of a hinderance than a help. Barry and Joe even have a conversation about this early on in the episode, and the reason that Joe got away with Barry helping as the Flash for so long was because Joe was family and Barry told him everything. It's a great proposition that I wish actually went somewhere, but I'm glad that the episode made me think about it. The sad part of it is that the Flash is the only show that can explore this concept because Superman and Lois and Stargirl take place in small towns without a dedicated police force, Naomi isn't a superhero yet, the Legends are time travelers, and I haven't watched Batwoman since season 2 (is that show still on?), so none of the other shows can tackle this concept in any meaningful way, and I don't think this show will anymore. I mean, yeah, now the CCPD has a direct line to the Flash, but I guess that's the last we'll be hearing about this concept.
Outside of some pretty good food for thought, we have the episode's main plot with Barry and Kramer being trapped in the CCPD with Goldface. I'm not gonna lie, Goldface was pretty fun this week. Not necessarily intimidating, but definitely fun. Damion Poitier stole the show whenever he was on screen, and his character Goldface had some genuinely pretty great moments. For example, I was shocked at how the writers allowed Goldface to remember that Barry invaded his criminal underground during the season 5 episode "Goldfaced", something even I'd forgotten about until watching this episode. Plus, his ringtone for Amunet Black is "Love is a Battlefield", and that is just hilarious! Plus, it's a pretty clear callback to the season 6 episode "Love is a Battlefield", which has some very... Shall we say, "Mixed" reviews. It's the little things that make the episodes better sometimes.
I will say however that Barry getting knocked unconscious by gas shouldn't be possible. If you remember back to season 1's "Flash v. Arrow", Oliver hit Barry with, and I'm quoting that episode here, "2,000 Miligrams of Horse Tranquilizer". And Barry was able to vibrate his body fast enough to wear it off almost instantly.
I read somewhere that Eric Wallace was trying to make the show seem more like a comic book, and seeing Goldface reappear here actually does fulfill that idea. I'm not much of a comic reader, but from what I have read, random villains show up all the time, like how Papercut can try to start a new version of the Rogues in the same issue that The Shade shows up to help Barry save Iris from the Shadowlands, and it still seems totally believable. I definitely see this episode as a step in that direction.
Kramer's powers seem to have been changed this episode. In both "Heart of the Matter, Part 2" and "Armageddon, Part 1", Kramer says that her powers activate in times of stress. However, her powers can just spontaneously activate here, and for some reason they can work even when she's wearing a power dampening collar. Firstly, that's dumb. Secondly, if you're going to make a change mid season, here's a great idea: Don't. I know we've had a few months in between Armageddon and now, but they're both still part of season 8, so let's call it like it is. It's a retcon. However, I'm willing to accept this because it makes Kramer inexperienced in some way, which makes her a more real character. So it's a retcon, but it makes the character more interesting, so I'm pretty mixed on it.
Also, there's no way that the bracelet would be able to cause an explosin that big, and still be there for Kramer to find later. Like, I'm sorry, what? How? That explosion destroyed the entire storage room, and it was still there? How?
Then there's the stuff with Caitlin and her new boyfriend that's not gonna last very long since Ronnie's coming back somehow, and Frost and Chillblaine. First, why is Chillblaine still a character? Second, if we're gonna pretend that him growing up in a broken home excuses him being a criminal, then I'd like to remind everyone that I have "Forgiving Known Murderers" on my bingo card for a reason. He may not be a known murderer, but he is a known criminal that committed crimes less than a season ago. Redemption arcs in this show used to take time and mean something, kinda like what they're doing on Superman and Lois with Tal-Rho, and with Cindy on Stargirl. Bottom line, the developments we get with Chillblaine explain his turn to crime, but they don't excuse it, so this man should be in jail. Then again, Frost should also still be in jail, but there I go using actual brainpower to think about Frost's "living her life" subplot again!
Look, the episode wasn't the best, but it wasn't horrible. It was pretty fun in some places, mostly with Goldface, but the Frost and Chillblaine stuff wasn't great. Since the episode was half and half, I'll split the difference this week.
6 / 10
What? Not all my reviews have to be super in-depth and rant-y. I think I'm gonna review this show less overall, even though I'm playing bingo. I'll just update my record at the beginning of an episode I actually do decide to review. You know? When one of them is actually good? This episode was alright, but it didn't have much of substance outside of making me think about the CCPD's situation with the Flash at the beginning. Still alright though.
No bingo this week. This makes my current record 2 and 5.
What immediately jumped out about this episode to me was the talk about how the Flash makes the police's jobs a lot harder. Of course, this turns out to just be a front for Kristen Kramer's real problem, but it did get me thinking about this. None of the Arrowverse shows have ever touched on how the resident vigilante stopping criminals makes the cops job harder, at least not from what I can remember, so it's actually kinda refreshing to consider it as a concept. Plus, the Flash is probably the most well renowned and high profile hero left to consider a storyline like this with, and if Barry just speeds the criminals into the precinct without any evidence, the cops are gonna have to work overtime trying to pick up the pieces. On the other shows, and even on this show in the past, the cops really only exist to arrest the people that the heroes stop, but if they don't have the evidence then the hero can be more of a hinderance than a help. Barry and Joe even have a conversation about this early on in the episode, and the reason that Joe got away with Barry helping as the Flash for so long was because Joe was family and Barry told him everything. It's a great proposition that I wish actually went somewhere, but I'm glad that the episode made me think about it. The sad part of it is that the Flash is the only show that can explore this concept because Superman and Lois and Stargirl take place in small towns without a dedicated police force, Naomi isn't a superhero yet, the Legends are time travelers, and I haven't watched Batwoman since season 2 (is that show still on?), so none of the other shows can tackle this concept in any meaningful way, and I don't think this show will anymore. I mean, yeah, now the CCPD has a direct line to the Flash, but I guess that's the last we'll be hearing about this concept.
Outside of some pretty good food for thought, we have the episode's main plot with Barry and Kramer being trapped in the CCPD with Goldface. I'm not gonna lie, Goldface was pretty fun this week. Not necessarily intimidating, but definitely fun. Damion Poitier stole the show whenever he was on screen, and his character Goldface had some genuinely pretty great moments. For example, I was shocked at how the writers allowed Goldface to remember that Barry invaded his criminal underground during the season 5 episode "Goldfaced", something even I'd forgotten about until watching this episode. Plus, his ringtone for Amunet Black is "Love is a Battlefield", and that is just hilarious! Plus, it's a pretty clear callback to the season 6 episode "Love is a Battlefield", which has some very... Shall we say, "Mixed" reviews. It's the little things that make the episodes better sometimes.
I will say however that Barry getting knocked unconscious by gas shouldn't be possible. If you remember back to season 1's "Flash v. Arrow", Oliver hit Barry with, and I'm quoting that episode here, "2,000 Miligrams of Horse Tranquilizer". And Barry was able to vibrate his body fast enough to wear it off almost instantly.
I read somewhere that Eric Wallace was trying to make the show seem more like a comic book, and seeing Goldface reappear here actually does fulfill that idea. I'm not much of a comic reader, but from what I have read, random villains show up all the time, like how Papercut can try to start a new version of the Rogues in the same issue that The Shade shows up to help Barry save Iris from the Shadowlands, and it still seems totally believable. I definitely see this episode as a step in that direction.
Kramer's powers seem to have been changed this episode. In both "Heart of the Matter, Part 2" and "Armageddon, Part 1", Kramer says that her powers activate in times of stress. However, her powers can just spontaneously activate here, and for some reason they can work even when she's wearing a power dampening collar. Firstly, that's dumb. Secondly, if you're going to make a change mid season, here's a great idea: Don't. I know we've had a few months in between Armageddon and now, but they're both still part of season 8, so let's call it like it is. It's a retcon. However, I'm willing to accept this because it makes Kramer inexperienced in some way, which makes her a more real character. So it's a retcon, but it makes the character more interesting, so I'm pretty mixed on it.
Also, there's no way that the bracelet would be able to cause an explosin that big, and still be there for Kramer to find later. Like, I'm sorry, what? How? That explosion destroyed the entire storage room, and it was still there? How?
Then there's the stuff with Caitlin and her new boyfriend that's not gonna last very long since Ronnie's coming back somehow, and Frost and Chillblaine. First, why is Chillblaine still a character? Second, if we're gonna pretend that him growing up in a broken home excuses him being a criminal, then I'd like to remind everyone that I have "Forgiving Known Murderers" on my bingo card for a reason. He may not be a known murderer, but he is a known criminal that committed crimes less than a season ago. Redemption arcs in this show used to take time and mean something, kinda like what they're doing on Superman and Lois with Tal-Rho, and with Cindy on Stargirl. Bottom line, the developments we get with Chillblaine explain his turn to crime, but they don't excuse it, so this man should be in jail. Then again, Frost should also still be in jail, but there I go using actual brainpower to think about Frost's "living her life" subplot again!
Look, the episode wasn't the best, but it wasn't horrible. It was pretty fun in some places, mostly with Goldface, but the Frost and Chillblaine stuff wasn't great. Since the episode was half and half, I'll split the difference this week.
6 / 10
What? Not all my reviews have to be super in-depth and rant-y. I think I'm gonna review this show less overall, even though I'm playing bingo. I'll just update my record at the beginning of an episode I actually do decide to review. You know? When one of them is actually good? This episode was alright, but it didn't have much of substance outside of making me think about the CCPD's situation with the Flash at the beginning. Still alright though.