With his super speed stolen by Zoom, Barry Allen is still a hero – but he’s more a police scientist in a red suit than the Flash. Still he’s going to try to stop new villain Griffin Grey, with or without his speed. Does the Flash have what it takes? Find out after the jump, in my review of “Back to Normal.”
A Regular Day
When last we left the Flash he was bereft of his speed by Zoom, who also kidnapped Caitlin. As Barry slowly and painfully adjusts to life without speed, Harry is full of rage and throwing blame around. He’s dead set on finding his daughter Jesse… before Zoom does, again. Without an ally with speed, Wells is on his own.
On the other side of the dimensional barrier, on what we’ve been calling Earth-Two, Zoom has given Caitlin free reign of his lair. Before she can do anything or even try to help the tapping man, Caitlin comes face to face with Killer Frost, who’s also a prisoner. Yep, it’s just a regular day for the folks on “The Flash.”
Griffin Grey
One of far too many times The Flash comic book was rebooted, as comics these days are wont to do, Bart Allen, formerly known as Impulse, the second Kid Flash, and Barry’s grandson, was the new Flash. Getting there is far too long a story for here, just trust me, Bart was the Flash. One of the villains he fought was named Griffin Grey, also known as the Griffin, who was created by Danny Bilson, one of the showrunners of the 1990s Flash TV series.
Bart’s friend and co-worker, Griffin Grey was involved in a plant explosion that gave him superhuman strength and agility as well as energy manipulation. After attempting and failing to become a superhero, long story short, and clashing with both Bart and Jay Garrick, he became the Flash’s enemy.
Coming of Age
Our TV version of Griffin Grey is a little bit different and coming from a whole ‘nother direction. After Wells catches up with and is rebuked by Jesse, he gets a surprise driving back to Central City. A man steps in front of his speeding can, and stops it, yeah, it’s our Griffin. He wants Wells, the other Wells, but gets this one. Griffin needs him to reverse what the particle accelerator did to him.
Initially the particle accelerator explosion granted him cool super strength, but as time went on Griffin discovered it was also aging him rapidly. He wants Wells to fix it, that’s why he kidnapped him. Griffin plays the blame game as hard as Wells himself does. Barry and Iris go to check out the van – and leave it in the street, thank goodness they take Wells’ gun – and also pick up Jesse. Conveniently Jesse is a genius like her dad, so it’s not like the team is missing a scientist.
Heroes and Villains
Jesse and Cisco rig the Flash costume with dwarf star matter they got from Felicity over on “Arrow,” which she got from Ray Palmer on “Legends of Tomorrow.” Pay attention, Zack Snyder, that’s how you do shared universes. Wearing the suit, Barry should be able to take at least one punch from Griffin. Too bad all the tension is sucked from the sitch when Griffin simply dies from old age.
Meanwhile on Earth-Two the concept of no honor among thieves is brought home in a hard way. Danielle Panabaker does a hell of a job playing both Caitlin and Killer Frost, and them in turn playing against each other. Once Caitlin frees Frost, the villainess tries to kill her, only to be killed by Zoom. No honor. And worse than that, Zoom decides it’s time to conquer Earth-One…
Reunions
In the soap opera portions of the episode, which we actually get a bit of as this is our literal and figurative slow-down-and-take-a-breath episode… Wally wants to thank the Flash for saving him last episode, and is intrigued by the idea that the Flash cares for someone who cares for Wally. Bugging his dad, finally Wally gets to thank a powerless Flash at a distance. I don’t know about you folks, but I think Wally’s got it all figured out, and knows Barry is under the mask.
Elsewhere, Wells and his daughter Jesse are making amends, and she’s returned to staying at S.T.A.R. Labs with dad. First things first, are they really staying in such a sparse bare room? I think Henry Allen’s prison cell or The Pipeline would have had better accommodations. And second, and this gets a little bit creepy, are Harry and Jesse staying in the same room? What’s up with that?
Also, there’s only two two-minute episodes online so far, but if you can’t get enough Cisco, check out The Chronicles of Cisco online right here. It’s everyone favorite villain-naming scientist alone at S.T.A.R. with Peekaboo, check it out.
Next: Rupture!
Harrison calling out Barry? … loved it!
Father and daughter sharing a bunkhouse? … not loving it either.
Barry not being able to be ‘before the Flash’ Barry? … nice character development.