‘The Flash’ Episode 1.14 “Fallout” (9 out of 10) Starring Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Rick Cosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Kavanaugh, and Jesse L. Martin. Guest starring Robbie Amell, Victor Garber, Clancy Brown. First broadcast February 17, 2015.
Last week’s and this week’s episode of “The Flash” serve as a nice two-parter that fully explains the fate of Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein, who have been fused into a single being, the nascent superhero Firestorm. At the end of last week’s episode, they put a “splicer” on their chest to try to split them apart, resulting in a nuclear explosion that Flash and Caitlin were barely able to outrun. “Fallout” starts where that left off, with Barry and Caitlin returning to the (oddly not radioactive) crater to find that the splicer was successful in splitting Ronnie and Dr. Stein apart.
Mostly. It seems that they’re still pyschically connected, like I am with my twin brother Xamot; you punch me, he feels the pain. General Eiling blackmails Dr. Wells into giving him Dr. Stein’s location, then captures and tortures him as bait for Ronnie. Ronnie comes to the rescue, merging with Stein and forming Firestorm, kicking some ass and escaping.
I’ve seen a lot of fanboy excitement about the potential of more spinoffs from both “Arrow” and “The Flash,” asking when Atom and/or Firestorm will get their own series. While I think that’s premature, and both characters should be kept as part of ensembles, teaming up ocassionally with their titular heroes…I’m really liking Firestorm. A lot. I knew him from the comic books (hell, I knew him from “Super Friends”)(ooold so oooold), but never really cared much for him. But this guy is cool, and exactly the kind of hero I would have liked as a kid. You have not one, but two secret identities, they merge like Voltron or Devastator or something to form a larger hero, and they can fly and shoot fire and transmute properties and…I dig what they’re doing. I’m not saying they should start a “Firestorm” series, but there’s definitely potential there. Add the inevitable fall of Dr. Caitlin Snow and transition to the supervillain Killer Frost, and wow. I’m in.
I’m not saying they should start a Firestorm series
So…these two episodes are basically The Firestorm Show, and I liked them. But there are other things going on. Like Barry Allen finding out that he had somehow time traveled into his own past–that he was present as an adult superhero the night his mom was murdered, and that he had saved his ten year old self. Mind-blowing for Barry, a completely reasonable scenario for fans of Flash from the comic books. He time traveled all the frigging time. This starts them asking questions to Dr. Wells about time travel, and the wheels are turning.
As for Dr. Wells himself, we have him perpetrating some more villainy by selling out Professor Stein to General Eiling, but we also have him donning his Reverse Flash suit and carrying Eiling to the lair of Gorilla Grodd, who we see more of in the final seconds of this episode.
Looks like there’s some kind of unholy alliance between Reverse Flash and Grodd, and I got goosebumps. I’m not sure if Grodd tore Eiling to pieces or carried him off to run his own experiments on him–I’m kind of hoping the latter. Clancy Brown is a treasure to be savored. Keep him around a bit longer.
an unholy alliance between Reverse Flash and Grodd
“The Flash” won’t have another new episode until March 17th, but I’m guessing the final arc of episodes is going to include time travel, some big throwdowns between Flash and various rogues, and the unveiling of Harrison Wells as Reverse Flash. Things are gonna get shaken up. Our Scarlet Speedster will save the day, but man. It’s gonna get ugly. I can’t wait.