Let’s get to the good news first about this week’s episode of THE FLASH: Barry’s paralysis was most definitely not permanent and neither was his lack of speed force. The not so good news is that “Gorilla Warfare” was not nearly as amazing as last week’s episode, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because “Enter Zoom” was almost an impossible act to follow – since it set itself apart from pretty much every single FLASH episode to date.
We are only a couple of weeks away from the big ARROW/FLASH crossover event, so last night’s episode served as a sort of bridge paving the way from “Enter Zoom” to “Legends of Today”, scheduled to air on December 1. “Gorilla Warfare” dealt with the aftermath of Zoom’s attack and how Barry has been dealing with it. The speedster demon really did a number on him and it was a really close call for the Flash, so his recovery time, although still remarkably faster than the average human being, was much too slow for Barry. At the beginning of the episode, he is still walking with difficulty – which is pretty amazing, considering Zoom broke his back – and is still having trouble breathing, but Caitlin assures him that he will be okay in no time and his spine is nearly 90% aligned already.
His biggest challenge isn’t physical, however, because what he is having an even harder time dealing with is the trauma of being defeated and humiliated by Zoom in front of the entire city. The fact that he hasn’t even gotten his speed back to normal just adds to his already traumatized mind and, every time he nearly reaches his full speed power, the memory of Zoom kicking his ass makes him freeze up. No one seems to be able to comfort or help him; Iris decides to reach out to Henry, so maybe his dad’s presence will make Barry open up and deal with his PTSD once and for all. And it does work, because Henry gives him a pep talk throughout the episode and when he really needs to, Barry steps up and saves Caitlin from Grodd.
Now Grodd was another story. The super smart ape has been killing people in his quest to get some drugs that would help him create other little smart, talking gorillas like him. Turns out, the giant creature has been feeling lonely and he kidnaps Caitlin because she has always been kind to him and maybe she can help. Because of that, Cisco and Harry team up to save Dr. Snow and I have to say this was probably my very favorite aspect of the episode. Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh have always worked well together, but this season they are spectacular. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s not the same Dr. Wells, but their chemistry has been off the charts and so much fun to watch in the past few episodes. I sure hope Harry really decides to stay so they can defeat Zoom, because it would be really sad to see him go now.
Their new plan to try and defeat Zoom is to close all the breaches, except the one at Star Labs, so the speedster demon will have no choice but to go through them if he wants to get back to Earth Two. What was really interesting about this plan was that Harry reveals that the breaches on Earth One don’t have the exact same counterpart in Earth Two – meaning that they open up in different places. For instance, when they decide to send Grodd to Earth Two, the breach they use is in the middle of Central City, but it opens in a Gorilla Sanctuary in Africa in Earth Two. So I wonder how this is going to play out in future episodes and if it is going to have any importance at all.
While all this Grodd drama was happening, Cisco had a date with Kendra Saunders, the new barista at Jitters. When they were arriving at the theater to watch a movie, however, he vibed off of her and had a vision of a person with huge wings. Later in the episode, when he tries to save their date, he has another vision, and this time he sees it’s her. Since the next episode is the big crossover that will launch LEGENDS OF TOMORROW and Kendra Saunders is moving over to that show, I am guessing her transformation will happen sometime between this episode and the December 1 event.
Speaking of the characters’ love life, Patty is not an idiot. She knows something is up with Barry and – as much as I love them together and things seem to be going really well for them – I really hope she gets to find out that he is the Flash soon.
All in all, “Gorilla Warfare” was a solid episode, but it was not nearly as ridiculously amazing as “Enter Zoom” was. But worry not, the ARROW/FLASH crossover event is upon us and I am so excited about it. December 1 cannot get here soon enough.
What did you think? Are you as excited as I am for the crossover? Hit the comments below and tell me all about it, or come talk to me on Twitter.
Don’t miss the next new episode of THE FLASH on December 1 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.