"The Mask of the Red Death Part 2" wrapped up the villain arc of the Red Death rather quickly. With some help from Grodd and Batwoman, Flash was able to take her down. Aside from that, I did't find much to rave about- not even Iris's pregnancy reveal. Let's get into it.
Red Death/ Batwoman
Javicia Leslie's portrayal of The Red Death was a gem for this extended episode. She absolutely entertained as the crazed and campy comic foe of Team Flash. Taunting Flash and using Grodd to amplify her telekenesis was very cool to watch. I haven't always been a fan of the women villains on the show, but she came thru.
Giving Lesie the opportunity to don the bat suit one more time was also great. Seeing her swoop in to support Flash and then swing her cape as she left was an awesome sight. Maybe one day, in another part of the DC Universe, we will meet Leslie's Batwoman again. I'm all for it!
Grodd
Grodd has always been one of my favorite villains. Absurd in every way, he is one of the most entertaining of Flash's rogues. I had long forgotten Grodd's abilities so when he was revealed to be the one amplifying Red Death's powers, I cheered! (I was so glad it wasn't Cecile).
Grodd's reason for helping Red Death and for turning on Flash was pretty compelling as villian stories go. He tried the hero route, and it left him all alone. That was something Barry really had to gapple with. In the end, Grodd came thru for Team Flash.
Team Flash
Cecile and Joe have completely perplexed me. One minute they are leaving, then they aren't, then one of them is leaving. The show is ending, so I can't understand why they wouldn't just ride off into the sunset together. Cecile is an empath and whatever else she has morphed into. I'm sure Barry or Chester could come up with some tech that would allow her be connected to STAR Labs or Central City if her powers were that important to the team. Joe spent years as a single parent. It's hard to imagine he would volunteer to be one again.
Allegra and Chester have finally decided to be grown ups. I don't like how we got there, but I guess it's a thing now.
Khione and Mark...... just, why?
The ONE Other Thing I Was Thinking
We've all known a pregnancy reveal was coming. This has been years in the making. This season, Barry tells Iris she'll be pregnant in three months. Then Khinoe blurts out that Iris is pregnant at Joe's bon voyage party. How rude! Iris should have been able to give that news on her own terms, and it would have been nice for Barry and Iris to share that moment first and THEN reveal it to the team.
The team already knows that Nora and Bart exist in the future- they've met them. So, to remove the personal nature of the pregnancy announcment just seemed all wrong. It's a comic book show so I expect comedy, but having Khinoe blab the news and then feign innocence was far from funny.
Barry and Iris have had years of heart ache and trauma. They have also had their share of funny moments. This moment should've been theirs to cherish no matter what tone it took. The need to always shoehorn supporting characters into occasions made for our main heroes is a trend that seems to keep on trending under this show runner. Not a fan of that choice. Not one bit.
What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @_NaomiAnna.
You can catch The Flash on Wednesdays on the CW. As always, thanks for reading!
