The Flash Review – S2 Ep 19: “Back to Normal”

The Flash Review – S2 Ep 19: “Back to Normal”

Yeah okay. One of the worst episodes ever. We’ve reached Star Wars prequel levels of frustration. Know why? Because the prequels were really only about 15 good minutes stretched out over three movies. This episode was about five good minutes (tops) that could’ve been tacked on to the beginning of next week’s ep. And that ep is actually the one we want to see.

Also like the prequels, this episode was mainly talking and a lot of emoting. Which we normally enjoy in the context of the Plot A action, but no one has any powers in this episode except the villains. And Vibe of course, but his powers keep helping the bad guys.

I don’t quite get why these writers don’t get that we have no interest in seeing a depowered, depressed Barry.

And this episode cements the laughable idea introduced last week that neither Barry, nor anyone on Team Flash, could think far ahead enough to plan a double-cross for Zoom. There was no backup plan. Barry really expects to still win while completely depowered. That level of story development is quite frankly beneath these characters. Every single one of them is smarter than that. Another subtle thing that’s been happening is that Team Flash seems a lot more resigned to losing to Zoom. Loss after loss.

So anyway, the gang’s all here!

Iris is back to her original function, “Hero’s Girlfriend,” because we rarely see her do any reporting or journalisting these days.

Wells is off again to find his lil’ Jesse Quick using the fact that E2 people have the power to kill cell phone waves. That would be awesome if it wasn’t so funny.

The single most important storyline this week was watching Caitlin interact with Killer Frost. That was just priceless. We could’ve used a lot more of that. It’s unclear to me now if Zoom is a psychopath or a sociopath. He began to be presented as the latter, but he seems to be channeling Joker-levels of creating his own reality in his head. He seems determined to make Caitlin his Harley.

And of course we’ve still got King Louis’ brother tapping out outdated Morse Code and I wonder how he eats?

Wally somehow can’t put it together that Barry’s The Flash, even though he instantly sees that the common thread of their interactions is Joe. But the West nobility is beginning to develop in Wallster because he’s driven to thank his hero. It’s a pretty good setup for the hero worship and sense of obligation that creates Kid Flash.

And Jesse is still creeped out by her dad and his behavior, but I guess that doesn’t always have the impact that it should. We as the audience have always known what Wells, on any earth, was capable of.

There’s really no solid Plot A, everybody’s kind of sharing this episode, which speaks volumes about what happens when you have a crippled hero.

Wells gets captured by a Superman-strong dudey dude, and of course he hates Wells for the PA explosion that gave him freakish strength and hyper-aging.

Caity and Killey have the best exchange as sisters that don’t know each other, and it’s easy to see how stylized Danielle makes Killer Frost’s mannerisms. It’s amazingly wickedly fun to watch. I could use a whole show with just those two. KF had the best lines all episode. It’s clear that Caitlin’s inner bad girl is something that she constantly suppresses. Now however, I’m thinking that she’s going to become the very thing she looked at in that cage. Especially once she finds out about her dead brother that her mother never told her about. It looks like the writers are setting Caitlin up through constant heartbreak and loss to turn as cold as her seductive dopple.

We get the revelation that Jesse Quick is a super brain, with five college majors, and the same knowledge as Caitlin. That also screams like a setup to me. Even before Jesse gets her powers, she’ll replace Caitlin after she goes frosty. I’ll miss her tho.

First fight with Griffindor Greyscale is Rocky III style as always…they have to lose as they’re learning what they’re up against. (And comic peeps will recognize Ace Chemicals as the place that Joker was born.) Barry can’t even dodge a blow that Stevie Wonder could’ve seen coming, but whatever. They are determined to make him look weak and inept at every possible turn, like Clark on Smallville. Iris patches those Bare ribs, and Jesse is officially Velma. The Scooby Flashies figure out a plan that again requires Barry to be humiliated. Barry and Iris are having more heart-to-hearts these days with Iris giving him the goo-goo eyes. They’ll probably kiss before season’s end.

In the world’s most obvious double cross, once Caitlin lets Killsy out, she instantly tries to kill her, when…Zoom shows up, phases right through Caitlin, and apparently kills Killer Frost. I really hope they didn’t actually finish her off, because she is literally the best thing that came from E2. But if they did actually kill her, I think that seals the deal on the fact that our Caitlin will become her.

Blah blah blah, Cisco/Jesse/Felicity super dwarf star up the suit, Griffy Gumdrops can’t be helped by Wells, the gang shows up with piñata Barry taking point.  I’ve looked at my watch five times at this point in the episode.

“Why is it that bad guys always insist of having the creepiest hideouts?”

“Because they crazy.” HAH LOVE JOE.

Iris is shoehorned to have a reason to be there, with her throwing switches power! They trick Griffindor into punching himself geriatric and somehow Barry survives. Old Man Griffylips dies and then reverts to young lad Grifter after death. Um…how?

So okay...Jesse is now sorry for running away, and she makes her dad promise to be a less creepy version of himself (even though he does nothing but track her movements and they sleep in the same room, so that’s not possible). Wally meets and thanks his hero, and we get reminded, yet again, of how sad Barry is to be depowered.

Junter is a crazy bones, who gets off on tormenting Caitlin while he fights his own inner demons. Somehow Caitlin’s pleas about leaving inspire him to rethink his plan…which now becomes not just his victim tally, but the worlds he conquers. So he grabs her and they’re off to Earth 1 to wreak some more patent pending havoc. Zoom makes no sense.

And we finally get to the only five minutes of this episode that mean anything: Wells deciding to recreate the particle accelerator explosion that gave Barry his powers in the first place. Which is a HUGE wink to Flashpoint for us comic readers. 

See what I mean though? Almost everything else in the episode (besides Caity and Killswitch) is instantly forgettable once we get this information. I also have to wonder…how much speed will Barry get this time around? Zoom has his original speed from the E2 particle accelerator explosion, the V9, AND Barry’s stolen speed in his system. So if Barry gets powered up again, but only to his initial level, we are right back where we started, with him against a foe he can’t possibly beat. So I hope that this new speed juice injection takes him into actually being the fastest man alive.

The reason that episodes like these are so fundamentally boring? Is because there are no real stakes. We know that there’s no way that Barry doesn’t get his speed back. So let’s hope we don’t see any more of these any time soon.
Prediction for season's end:
-This new particle accelerator explosion will transform E1 Caitlin into Killer Frost, Jesse into Jesse Quick, and Wally into Kid Flash or Impulse.
-Barry and Iris kiss.
-Thawne/Wells is revealed to still be alive somewhere. Extra wicked points if at some point he kills E2 Wells and replaces him.  

That’s it for this week…more Flashy goodness in seven days!