The Flash Review – S2 Ep 21: “The Runaway Dinosaur”

The Flash Review – S2 Ep 21: “The Runaway Dinosaur”

This is the “Barry’s in the Cave on Dagobah” episode. Carebear’s caught in the Speed Force and he has some lessons to learn before the Force lets him out. Directed by the one and only Kevin Smith.

John Wesley Shipp is exceptionally good and intense in this episode, as he rotates through anger and grief at the idea of losing his son.

Jesse and Wally are found knocked out, but Wally comes back almost immediately. Jesse’s alive but in some kind of coma, and needs medical attention.

So of course Vibey Viberson can detect Barry and finds him in the Speed Force, and that’s when we get introduced to the Speed Force Continuum. Seriously, it felt more like an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation with Picard facing the various forms of the Q, trying to figure out what their game was this time.

So as soon as Joe-not-Joe introduces himself to BearBear and speaks in riddles, we see that this is going to be a metaphysical, introspective “there’s-an-answer-but-we’re-not-going-to-tell-you-what-it-is” soul searching type of deal. For a minute I thought Speed Force Joe was gonna offer Barry a cookie and send him back to Morpheus. So Barry can’t leave until he catches a mysterious blur figure, who clearly has super speed. And Barry’s still moving at normal speed.

Back on Earthy Earth One the Flash Scoobies need to figure out what’s happening with Jesse. So they go into the morgue to find Thawne/Wells’ flash drive with all of the Barry’s-in-a-coma greatest hits. Oh and lo and behold, Girder (or discount DC Colossus) just happens to resurrect. Because this latest explosion made him a meta-zombie. Ish. He can still shift forms, he half-shuffles/half-struts when he walks and oh yeah he’s still in love with Iris. Until they shine a light in his face and then he sees his reflection and then decides he’s outta there. Only for them to figure out later that Iris is what he wanted, because he retraced his original when he was alive jerk steps to find her. Even though she was right there in the Star Morgue when he woke up. Don’t ask me, I just review this stuff, I don’t write it.

Yoda Iris in the SpeedForce continues the “Sit, Barry. Sit” running gag that’s riffing on the “Run, Barry! Run!” meme that permeates this show. Barry still doesn’t get what he’s supposed to get, whatever that is, and neither do we as the audience. Fake Iris of the Q uses circular logic and okay.

Cisco figures out a way to physically access the Speed Force, but if CareBear goes with him, he’ll still have no powers, because Barry hasn’t learned his lesson/caught his speed ghost yet.

Next up: Barry’s Ghost Dad. And he’s the one that finally gets Barry to focus on what he’s supposed to be learning. And he does so by pointing him to his mother’s grave.

There’s an interlude at the West crib where Joe basically asks Wally if he’s got his speed powers yet, and tests him by dropping a mug. Pretty funny. And Iris then shows us that they can jog from the West house to Star Labs. Okey doke, good to know.

Ghost Henry is trying to get Barry to see the value of allowing his mom to die in order to save people, because Barry’s never really balanced that equation in his heart. Okay. So Barry’s powers and release have to do with a perspective change and not anything scientific.

Back at Starry-Eyed Labs, they try to stop Girder. Science! Which promptly fails. And quite honestly probably should’ve worked. I sure do miss Caitlin.

So Boo Bear finally gets to his last destination, which is his childhood home. His Wraith Mom is there, and this manifestation seems to actually be a blend of the Speed Force and Nora herself. Sit, Barry. Sit.

So they read a childhood book as of course Barry is bawling the whole time, because that’s what he does. The lesson seems to be that Barry is not going to be able to stop bad things from happening to him, no matter how fast he is. So he just has to accept that. He also needs to see that what he’s become as The Flash is good enough, and he doesn’t have to be perfect. He doesn’t have to save everybody. Now that sounds like a setup for what’s going to happen in the finale, and I really hope it’s not Henry dying. We just got him back.

So while his friends are about to get their bones crushed to powder, BarryBurger is quoting the Myosaur and figuring out that his mother loves him, like, a whole bunch. And that’s what makes him ready to grab his Flashy-Flash self and get his speed back. With of course no mention of how fast he is now compared to the first time. All spiritualism, no science.

Iris volunteers this time to physically enter the Weed Force and call BooBear home. And what happens next is basically a straight rip from 1994’s Terminal Velocity where, long story short, Wally West gets trapped in the Speed Force. He shouldn’t be able to come back, or even want to, because no one ever has, but it’s his love for Linda West (Wally’s wife in the comics, a fellow reporter of Iris on this show, and also E2 Dr. Light) that brings him back. She’s his anchor, and he says as much. So they work that exact same dynamic in here, as Iris proves to be Barry’s anchor that pulls him out of the Speed Force and back to StarBucks Labs. Pretty much also cements them as a couple which we’ll see in a minute.

So Zombie Colossus pounds his way in, Barry does a little duck n’ dodge and then creates a super speed spinny-vortex around Angry Aluminum Tony that charges the electromagnets. That’s the most Barry-like thing he’s done on the show yet, figuring out how to use his speed to feed the science.

Barry then does a new thing and lends some speed, or at least an electrostatic charge to Jesse, and wakes her up. That was kind of awesome. She’ll probably be zipping around pretty soon.

Barry and Iris have a moment in front of his mother’s grave, and my prediction comes true: they kiss and officially become a couple.

Let me say here, as I’ve said repeatedly on Twitter, that I’ve always believed that Caitlin was the better love interest for Barry. They have way more in common, and Iris would be married to Eddie right now if he were alive. Barry and Caitlin never got together because Barry rejected her, but I still liked the two of them better than I do Barry and Iris. But, that doesn’t matter because this is where the show’s going. I just hope that Iris doesn’t get killed like she does in the comics. I’d rather them get together and become the stable power couple that they’re known to be.

Final scene, the lovely Caity Cait and Zoomster, and he’s giving her yet another ultimatum. Which again confuses me, but whatever. So he’s brought over a bucket-crush full of Metas and wants to take over this Earth, like he did Earth 2. And Caitlin’s got to choose a side. DUN DUN DUHN!

So, we’re gonna have a finale that includes all kinds of speed shenanigans. Should be fun to watch.

That’s it for this week. We’re speeding towards the Flashy Finale for Season 2.