Jessie Robertson reviews the thirteenth episode of The Flash…
The Burning Man cometh! We get our first real in depth view into Firestorm, which is comprised of Ronnie Raymond’s body and Martin Stein’s brain. This is our first introduction to Martin Stein, an obviously gifted scientist who was heading the FIRESTORM project before the particle accelerator was turned on. It has to do with transmutation, which is simply changing the molecular makeup of something into another thing. Of course, it’s completely ironic because that’s what happened to these two men to make up this new being, whom we’ll call Firestorm to make things simple. In a great scene, a flashback, Stein actually met Barry on a passenger train the day of the Star Labs accident. Now, there’s absolutely no reason this should have happened, but I love the chance to show off goofy, uncoordinated Barry again. And you have to love the cover of Dr. Wells autobiography; a big smirking picture of himself. We meet Clarissa, Professor Steins’ wife, who claims he probably loved his theorems more than he did her, but her presence is enough to snap him out of well, whatever it was he was doing. He needed help from an old colleague, but he combusted and injured the guy. Then, he just kept to hanging out underneath bridges, while silently watching over Clarissa. None of this seems to make any rational sense, but when you’re transmutated, I guess logic is out the window. Firestorm is such a tricky character to pull off, but gives great opportunities for dramatic stories, because you have two women who love these men and both, quietly, want their man to come to the surface. They don’t really dive into any of that, and instead we’re not privy to Stein’s game plan, or even what he was doing at Star Labs, but he was holding a giant burning double helix. I’m guessing there will be more to this story as the season progresses. The show did give Caitlin some closure, as she said what she wanted to Ronnie, and got a goodbye, face to face, she had longed for.
We also got much closer to solving the mystery we all know the answer to: who killed Nora Allen? Again, stretching the limits of believability is what this show majors in now, as they found blood spatter from 15 years prior behind some wallpaper. Now, the mirror trick was cool; I give you that, and I liked the duo of Cisco and Joe together. The blood sample reveal sort of goes hand in hand with the newspaper article Wells sees from the future, and Cisco’s theory that two speedsters were there. It’s such an iconic story in the Flash history so it’s neat to see it unfold on the show. Joe also met a very hospitable local who now lives in the Allen’s house. Barry may not be the only one getting some action here soon. As far as Cisco, we get another example of him taking people at face value, but his naivety is one of his endearing qualities. Joe was on point talking about what people respond in confession when they find out someone they care for is a terrible murderer. It was enough to get Cisco to run samples and Wells first measure of killing both Ronnie and Stein was enough to plant the seeds of doubt into Cisco’s mind about Wells. Everything centering on Wells motivations and this double identity continues to be a dark and intriguing thread on the show.
DC Comics and CW hit a home run with Grant Gustin as the dude just oozes likeable charm. We get to see his first date with Linda (where he saves several citizens needing the Flash’s help in Central City.) Now, can we explore the theory Cisco laid out about when Barry gets “excited” shall we say; we even saw it come into play as he and Linda made out shirtless style in the West family living room. Barry’s natural male hormonal instincts were causing him to buzz rapidly! Where are we going with this? Haha, it’s going to be fun to see it play out. The Barry-Iris issue has to be put to bed again in this episode after Iris sort of tells Linda to give Barry some time because he’s still quietly pining for someone else. Linda is a reporter after all; and deduces quickly it was Iris. Barry has to give Iris the speech that he doesn’t feel that way, which he certainly seems to believe but a love that long and hard doesn’t go away that easily. Linda is sweet, smart and a good dichotomy with Barry but jealousy is not a good color on Iris and it’s sad that’s all we get to see of her this week. Better than Eddie, who simply tells a jumper that “he has so much to live for!” I see why he’s a detective and not a negotiator.
This was a Firestorm centric episode, but we didn’t get as much of the story as I’d hoped; still, tons of stuff crammed into this episode, with Robbie Amell getting to show off some of his chops, Barry getting tons of great moments and the beginning of the end of innocence: time travel. It’s a slippery road for any show which we’ll go into more detail next week when it’s formally introduced.
Other notes:
– Again, that mirror trick was bananas!
– I love that right before Martin Stein is about to go nuclear, he helps Barry solve his girl problem. The screen writers are so good at tying everything together but that was a stretch.
– As Wells prepares the solution to fix Firestorm, his computer Gideon mentions that this plan will mess up his timetable? I’d love to know what it’s talking about! Another tragedy in Barry’s life to further propel him into major hero status?
– “There’s always a little old lady”
– The splicer Caitlin gives to Firestorm looks an awful lot like the symbol comic book Firestorm wears on his chest. Very cool.
– General Eiling returns and takes notice of the loud boom that went off; and obviously has knowledge of Stein’s project as he references it by name.
Jessie Robertson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtW2LRPtQY&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&feature=player_embedded
