God, that episode was SO LONG!! Thank god it's finally over!!
Guess who got bingo this week! That brings the total to 3 bingos in the 5 episodes we've gotten so far. And oh my god, do I wish that I'd put "Pointless Flashbacks" on my bingo card more and more every episode! Editors! Stop! We don't need a flashback to something from a previous season (or previous episode) every time someone says something remotely related to it! Stop it! Stop with the f--
Sorry about that. My therapist told me that getting angry about stupid things on the Flash is bad for my health.
So apparently Gorilla Grodd's a good guy now.
Firstly, I seriously doubt that Barry not being able to do the research about how the apes from Gorilla City lost their super intelligence on account of him being Grodd's mind prisoner back in "Grodd Friended Me" is truly his "greatest mistake". Not exactly sure what his greatest mistake is, but not being able to do research on account of being in a mental prison ain't it.
Secondly, I never interpreted Barry and Grodd teaming up in that episode as Grodd becoming a good guy. I always saw it as "Look, I saw Crisis on Infinite Earths and I know that Gorilla City is on this earth now. I just wanna go chill there for the rest of my life. I need your help to get out of Argus jail, and then you'll never see me again. I ain't got no beef with you anymore." I guess that's on me for misinterpreting, but you gotta admit, that's a lot more interesting than Grodd becoming a good guy.
Thirdly, I didn't think Barry and Grodd being in that mental space together was actually real. I thought it was a visual representation for the audience, and an excuse to see some CGI gorillas. So Barry giving Grodd a spark of Speed Force is total bullcrap.
Fourthly, even if all of that was real, Barry has to make contact with someone in order to give them organic Speed Force as shown during the season 7 finale "Heart of the Matter, Part 2". If they had some cables linked up between Barry and Grodd but they never made contact, you could argue that would work. But Barry can't transfer Speed Force across the globe through Argus security. That's not how the Speed Force works.
FIFTHLY, (yes, I'm still only talking about the problems involving Grodd's inclusion in the episode) Grodd needed a telepathic crown in "King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd" in order to mind control an entire city. But suddenly he's able to create mental constructs of Red Death across the entire globe without it. I get that the more you use your powers, the more they grow. But unless Grodd's been casually mind controlling/image projecting across the entire world just to see if he could do it, this plotline makes no sense! And don't even get me started on how he can make them shoot lightning from their eyes! They're not supposed to be real!
Sixthly, Barry can't instantly regenerate his Speed Force from just a spark. That's not how the Speed Force works. What happened when Barry got his speed back from just a spark in "Mother" was that Team Flash used the spark of Speed Force inside Iris (yeah, that was a real thing) to rebirth the natural Speed Force. The rebirthing of the Speed Force was what gave Barry his speed back. So even if Barry could transfer his Speed Force without contact, he couldn't instantly regenerate it the way he does in the climax of the episode.
SEVENTHLY, YES *SEVENTHLY*, WE ARE STILL ON THIS POINT, why is Red Death executing her plan this way? She can simply ask Grodd to mentally survey the entire world, and then the second somebody steps out of line she can just go kill them. She does have artificial Speed Force after all. Why does she even need the sentries? Because then the episode can't happen? Well crap, you've got me there.
I guess we're just never gonna know what happened to Ryan Wilder since, and I'm taking a quote directly from "Rogues of War" by the way, "A few weeks ago went out on patrol. She never came back." She just shows up for the final battle in the exact place Barry and Red Death are fighting AFTER a chase scene at super speed, and there's no explanation to where she was. All it would've taken was a simple "That imposter kidnapped me, but I managed to get out since all her cronies were out fighting you guys." One sentence. One sentence is all it would've taken to make her showing up make sense. But Eric Wallace and the writers couldn't even put in that miniscule amount of effort.
Please tell me this season's almost over.
So not only is Red Death able to shake off the effects of Bivolo's new fear-based powers, but she can also apparently fight off mind reader-- Sorry, empaths. How would she even know to do that? Again, this is another thing that would've taken one sentence to explain. "I figured Cecile would try to track me, so I had Rainbow Raider use his powers on me to divert your search and lead you into my trap." See? One sentence is all it takes. But because that's not the show's canon explanation, we don't have one. Thus, yet another plot hole.
Also, Red Death's trap wouldn't have worked if Hartley, the Hotness or Goldface just went to fight the Rogues and save Dollar Store Captain Cold like Barry said. And no, I can't believe I just advocated for saving Dollar Store Captain Cold either.
And I could go on, but I think you get the point. This once-great show continues to dig itself even deeper into the whole it's been digging for years! And this episode answers zero questions, fills zero plot holes, and *just keeps digging!*
But you know what? There's a small silver lining to all this. Superman and Lois season 3 starts next week. And unlike Eric Wallace who constantly proves that he has nothing but utter contempt for everyone that's ever even thought about the Flash, I trust (for now) that Todd Helbing will be willing and able to take the criticisms about season 2 to heart when making season 3.
The ball's in your court, Mr. Helbing. Don't blow it. Don't pull an Eric Wallace on us.
1 / 10.
Guess who got bingo this week! That brings the total to 3 bingos in the 5 episodes we've gotten so far. And oh my god, do I wish that I'd put "Pointless Flashbacks" on my bingo card more and more every episode! Editors! Stop! We don't need a flashback to something from a previous season (or previous episode) every time someone says something remotely related to it! Stop it! Stop with the f--
Sorry about that. My therapist told me that getting angry about stupid things on the Flash is bad for my health.
So apparently Gorilla Grodd's a good guy now.
Firstly, I seriously doubt that Barry not being able to do the research about how the apes from Gorilla City lost their super intelligence on account of him being Grodd's mind prisoner back in "Grodd Friended Me" is truly his "greatest mistake". Not exactly sure what his greatest mistake is, but not being able to do research on account of being in a mental prison ain't it.
Secondly, I never interpreted Barry and Grodd teaming up in that episode as Grodd becoming a good guy. I always saw it as "Look, I saw Crisis on Infinite Earths and I know that Gorilla City is on this earth now. I just wanna go chill there for the rest of my life. I need your help to get out of Argus jail, and then you'll never see me again. I ain't got no beef with you anymore." I guess that's on me for misinterpreting, but you gotta admit, that's a lot more interesting than Grodd becoming a good guy.
Thirdly, I didn't think Barry and Grodd being in that mental space together was actually real. I thought it was a visual representation for the audience, and an excuse to see some CGI gorillas. So Barry giving Grodd a spark of Speed Force is total bullcrap.
Fourthly, even if all of that was real, Barry has to make contact with someone in order to give them organic Speed Force as shown during the season 7 finale "Heart of the Matter, Part 2". If they had some cables linked up between Barry and Grodd but they never made contact, you could argue that would work. But Barry can't transfer Speed Force across the globe through Argus security. That's not how the Speed Force works.
FIFTHLY, (yes, I'm still only talking about the problems involving Grodd's inclusion in the episode) Grodd needed a telepathic crown in "King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd" in order to mind control an entire city. But suddenly he's able to create mental constructs of Red Death across the entire globe without it. I get that the more you use your powers, the more they grow. But unless Grodd's been casually mind controlling/image projecting across the entire world just to see if he could do it, this plotline makes no sense! And don't even get me started on how he can make them shoot lightning from their eyes! They're not supposed to be real!
Sixthly, Barry can't instantly regenerate his Speed Force from just a spark. That's not how the Speed Force works. What happened when Barry got his speed back from just a spark in "Mother" was that Team Flash used the spark of Speed Force inside Iris (yeah, that was a real thing) to rebirth the natural Speed Force. The rebirthing of the Speed Force was what gave Barry his speed back. So even if Barry could transfer his Speed Force without contact, he couldn't instantly regenerate it the way he does in the climax of the episode.
SEVENTHLY, YES *SEVENTHLY*, WE ARE STILL ON THIS POINT, why is Red Death executing her plan this way? She can simply ask Grodd to mentally survey the entire world, and then the second somebody steps out of line she can just go kill them. She does have artificial Speed Force after all. Why does she even need the sentries? Because then the episode can't happen? Well crap, you've got me there.
I guess we're just never gonna know what happened to Ryan Wilder since, and I'm taking a quote directly from "Rogues of War" by the way, "A few weeks ago went out on patrol. She never came back." She just shows up for the final battle in the exact place Barry and Red Death are fighting AFTER a chase scene at super speed, and there's no explanation to where she was. All it would've taken was a simple "That imposter kidnapped me, but I managed to get out since all her cronies were out fighting you guys." One sentence. One sentence is all it would've taken to make her showing up make sense. But Eric Wallace and the writers couldn't even put in that miniscule amount of effort.
Please tell me this season's almost over.
So not only is Red Death able to shake off the effects of Bivolo's new fear-based powers, but she can also apparently fight off mind reader-- Sorry, empaths. How would she even know to do that? Again, this is another thing that would've taken one sentence to explain. "I figured Cecile would try to track me, so I had Rainbow Raider use his powers on me to divert your search and lead you into my trap." See? One sentence is all it takes. But because that's not the show's canon explanation, we don't have one. Thus, yet another plot hole.
Also, Red Death's trap wouldn't have worked if Hartley, the Hotness or Goldface just went to fight the Rogues and save Dollar Store Captain Cold like Barry said. And no, I can't believe I just advocated for saving Dollar Store Captain Cold either.
And I could go on, but I think you get the point. This once-great show continues to dig itself even deeper into the whole it's been digging for years! And this episode answers zero questions, fills zero plot holes, and *just keeps digging!*
But you know what? There's a small silver lining to all this. Superman and Lois season 3 starts next week. And unlike Eric Wallace who constantly proves that he has nothing but utter contempt for everyone that's ever even thought about the Flash, I trust (for now) that Todd Helbing will be willing and able to take the criticisms about season 2 to heart when making season 3.
The ball's in your court, Mr. Helbing. Don't blow it. Don't pull an Eric Wallace on us.
1 / 10.