The Flash
Episode Title: “Crazy For You”
Channel: CW
Director: Rob Hardy
Writers: Aaron Helbing and Todd
Helbing
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 43
min
Rated: TV-PG
Original Air Date: February 3,
2015
This
was a villain of the week episode, only because it seems like they
felt like it had to have a villain. The meta-human this week was
Peek-a-Boo, a woman who has the ability to teleport herself to
anywhere she can see. She broke her boyfriend out of prison and
robbed a few armored cars to buy his freedom from the crime boss he
had worked for and in the process drew the attention of the Flash and
his team. The fights she had with Barry were fairly entertaining,
but the method by which he finally stops her felt like a let down.
The fact that her boyfriend got away under the same circumstances
just made it feel that much cheaper.
None
of that was as important as everything else going on in “Crazy For
You.” Hartley finally convinced Cisco to let him out of his cell.
In return he revealed Ronnie's fate, and then made a couple of escape
attempts. The first wasn't successful, but it did give the audience
a chance to see Cisco get into a fight and he handled himself much
better than expected. I see crime fighting in Cisco's future. The
second attempt succeeded and Hartley is now a free man. Since they
focused on how manipulative he could be instead of how whiny I'm
actually looking forward to him popping up again. The revelations
surrounding Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Stein were an added bonus to the
quality of the scenes between these two.
Caitlin
and Barry seem to have finally come to grips with the notion that the
people they're longing after don't need them in the same way. While
investigating the whereabouts of Peek-a-Boo and her boyfriend they
hit a bar, and we're finally shown that Caitlin has more of a
personality than we see at S.T.A.R. Labs. Up until this point she
was by far the most static character on the show, adding to the depth
of the character can only help in the long run. As a side effect of
this excursion Barry also has a possible new love interest in Linda
Park. My only concern here is that between the look Caitlin gave
Barry when he mentioned calling Linda, and Iris' reaction to his date
the writers seem to be warming up to the relationship drama that the
CW is so well known for. I know that the interpersonal relationships
are what make a show like this work, I just hope that it doesn't go
in such a predictable direction.
Barry's
relationship with his father is growing as well. Near the end of the
episode Henry Allen reveals to his son that he knows he's the Flash.
What followed was a touching bit of dialogue concerning what the
Flash's father would want to tell him given the opportunity. I'm
glad this moment happened, and happened so early in the show; it
makes it unnecessary for me to suspend disbelief as the elder Allen
ignores all of the evidence pointing to his son's identity in order
to maintain the possibility of a silly reveal down the road. I'm
starting to wish that they would take this same approach to Iris, as
it's becoming hard to believe that she doesn't recognize Barry's
voice, even with the trick he does, and his face. After all she took
a picture of him this week, and somehow still doesn't recognize the
lower half of a face she spent a childhood looking at.
The
end of the episode took a turn towards the horror genre as a big
upcoming villain was revealed. I've been nervous about Gorilla Grodd
since he was hinted at early on. How does one take a telepathic,
super intelligent gorilla seriously. His introduction was more
mindless than I had been anticipating, so we'll see how close he is
to his comic counterpart in coming episodes. The CGI looked
serviceable for a television show with this kind of budget, but that
was only in a couple of brief glimpses. I think it's best to
withhold judgment until we get more screen time with Grodd.
Conclusion:
“Crazy For You” might have been better without a villain at all,
since the pursuit of Peek-a-Boo was the weakest part of the episode.
The individual character moments, and the way they interacted with
each other were the high points. It was also good to see that
Firestorm angle finally gaining some momentum, with the added bonus
of an escaped villain to pop back in when we least expect it.
Rating:
7.5/10
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