Continuing from last weeks episode, we have the second part of the Firestorm arc. The duality of Firestorm gives us a fascinating look at a character that hasn't ever been properly realized outside of the comics until now. Not only did we get to learn more about the individuals that form Firestorm but we got to see some heartwarming scenes all around along with Barry making a big discovery and Iris slowly taking those all important steps.
Caitlin finally got her Ronnie back but not everything was as perfect as she would have hoped. Despite how she has appeared at times, she has moved on. With her new purpose in life, she hasn't got room for that romance she once had. Emotions played a big part in this as Caitlin struggled with potentially losing her Ronnie once again.
Eiling was a mixed bag though. He was the traditional military man who wanted to exploit metahumans for his own military needs. Clancy Brown played his character very well with the material given but I would have liked to see more from the General. Unfortunately since he may not survive his encounter with Grodd we possibly wont get to see what makes this military man tick. Hopefully he wasn't killed though. I really want to see more of the General, and go deeper into who he is.
At the very least, the military made for some fun scenes. Watching The Flash and Firestorm team-up together was an amazing sight to behold. And can we talk about the effects used to bring Firestorm to life? They're pushing the budget just by including the character but I'm so thankful they did. It hit all the right notes!
Barry, Iris and the other characters took a backseat this episode but they were also given small but powerful and important material. Namely, Barry has learnt that his adult self was in the room when his mother died. This appears to be setting up Barry's final arc for the season, using this new knowledge Barry is going to prepare himself for what happened. However if he succeeds in saving his mother, how much will things actually change?
Iris has potentially been given a good storyline too. The character deserves to get something and now it seems she is being built up as an almost antagonist to the STAR Labs crew. Could her search for the truth do more harm then good? Especially if it puts her more onto Harrison's radar. That said...where was Eddie?
The final scene is also something I must touch on. Was anyone else both scared and excited by this scene? The effects on Grodd (heck the effects throughout the entire episode) were amazing, and really brought it together. The Reverse Flash reveal was unexpected at this point in the series and brings up so many more questions. I personally expected the reveal to come in the season final. If this is the kind of bombshell they're going to drop on us in episode 16, what kind of bombshell will the season final leave us with? March 17 needs to be here already!
Overall thoughts:
Oh Flash, you never fail to deliver. That final teaser is going to make this 1 month break so hard to get through. That said, Firestorm was all that I wanted and so much more. Iris is slowly moving in the right direction and Barry is taking further steps towards his goal. So much happened in this episode that I could go on and on, but this episode was well worth it.