Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 13


The Flash
Episode Title: “The Nuclear Man”
Channel: CW
Director: Glen Winter
Writers: Andrew Kreisberg and Katherine Walczak
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 43 min
Rated: TV-PG
Original Air Date: February 10, 2015

In “The Nuclear Man” we finally get the long-teased Firestorm-centric episode, and personally I think it was worth the wait. First, Robbie Amell is doing an excellent job portraying the highly complex character he's been asked to play. The bewilderment over his current condition and the traces of insanity that result from it come across well, without being over the top. Firestorm seems like a character that could have easily become a caricature instead of a well thought out character, but so far he and the writers are pulling it off quite well. The scenes when the Martin Stein persona was most lucid were entertaining, the tastes of a refined older man trapped in a young man's body brought a touch of humor to an otherwise grave situation. The apparent failure of the plan concocted by the folks at S.T.A.R. Labs should help to keep things interesting for a while longer. Clancy Brown's return as General Eiling was a pleasant surprise at the end of the episode. If he was interested in Plastique there's no doubt Firestorm is exactly what he's been looking for.

Joe and Cisco returned to the scene of Nora Allen's murder to further investigate the matter. The divorced woman that lives there now has a clear interest in Joe, and honestly with everyone else getting some sort of romantic angle, why not Joe? I'm going to take Cisco's word for it concerning the science behind their investigation, it's no fun to think too hard on that kind of stuff. Their search eventually yields several images of what happened that night and they confirm what had been hinted at; there were two speedsters in the room that night. A little more digging turns up a blood sample that contains two samples of blood, presumably from the speedsters. Joe asked Cisco to test the blood against Harrison Wells, and after some indignation we find out that Cisco did in fact test the blood samples and that one matches up with Barry! It's an intriguing development, although not really unexpected. I find myself thinking that this does not preclude Wells from having been present. I'm starting to really believe that Wells is Barry from his own future.

Barry's new relationship with one of Iris' coworkers hits its first speed bump this week. Aside from the fact that Barry is so busy running around town doing is Flash thing, he must now also contend with Iris' involvement. These are the moments during which it becomes apparent you're still watching a show on the CW, with their prerequisite relationship quandaries. Iris revealed to Linda Park that Barry was, until recently, hung up on someone else. Linda spots the fairly obvious meaning behind Iris' words and deduces that Iris is the girl he's hung up on. When Barry confronts her she gets all teary eyed and claims to be all right with things as they are. I don't think this drama is necessary, but I guess it's really just a way to keep Iris in the picture right now.

Conclusion: Firestorm actually turned out better than I thought he would. The character's instability, conveniently for the writers, allows the character to provide lots of suspense over whether or not he's safe to be around; and to provide humor when the mood needs to be lightened. The developments regarding Nora Allen's murder, while not surprising, give the audience a clearer direction in which things are moving. There are interesting possibilities ahead.

Rating: 7.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment