TV: The Flash “Back To Normal” Review

The focus of this episode goes back to the age old question of do superpowers make a man a hero or is it the sacrifices he makes that makes him a hero?  With Barry giving up his speed force last week to Zoom and Caitlyn being taken with Zoom to Earth 2 it looks pretty bleak for the near future.  This trouble with this season of the Flash is the inconsistency of strong episodes that has plagued Arrow the past two years.  For every episode that carries a lot of depth and heart it seems to be followed by two to three weeks on episodes with weak villains and inconsistent story telling.

Has anyone else noticed how much Earth-2 exercises his 2nd amendment right in this show?  Every time he leaves STAR Labs he is carrying a massive gun that doesn’t seem to bother anyone.  As he finds his daughter Jesse her roommate seems so nonchalant with a strange man at the door strapped with a futuristic gun.  I guess with all the Meta-Humans that have popped up people in Star City are not as concerned with gun control laws.  As for this episode Earth-2 Harrison Wells had to confront his past mistakes as well as the actions of Harrison Wells from Earth-1. 

Harrison Wells for President of the NRA

Harrison Wells for President of the NRA

Caitlyn confronting her doppelganger Killer Frost was a nice twist to this episodebut didn’t last long.  With the reveal that Zoom didn’t kill Frost earlier showed that he does have a fascination with Caitlyn.  I didn’t agree with Zoom killing Frost in order to save Caitlyn though.  Unless the writers have a plan for Earth-1 Caitlyn to become Killer Frost in her own right I think they wasted a valuable character to the Flash/DC Universe.  The only other thing I can think of is people in charge of the DC Film Universe wants to use the character for the upcoming Flash movie.  With so many major villains in the DC Universe being off limits for the TV show someone like Killer Frost is a villain that needs to be a mainstay in the TV series. 

The transformation of Wally West began last night with his acknowledgement of the Flash sacrificing his speed force for Wally’s life.  This episode did not give a lot of time for Wally but it was the most character development we have seen since he was first introduced to the series.  With the team creating another particle accelerator to get Barry his powers back, I wouldn’t be surprised if that is how Wally gets his speed force.

Another weak villain “Griffin Grey” but some pretty interesting Easter Eggs.  It seems that this show continues to go through minor villains at a blistering pace.  With so many fans up in arms that Ben Affleck’s Batman kills I am kind of surprised no one makes a big deal about the number of villains that Barry has let died in the show.  The biggest Easter Egg for the episode for me was the Ace Chemicals reference.  A nod to the creation of Joker and Harley Quinn.  

Overall this episode brought Barry and the team into a new dynamic of finding out how to live without a super powered hero.  This episode wasn’t as strong as last week’s episode but I put the blame mainly on the weak character of Griffen Grey that brought nothing to the show.  If the writers and show runners could incorporate stronger and deeper villains this show could last a long time.   

 

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