The Flash: Season 1, Episode 21:Grodd Lives

     “I can’t believe I’m down here looking for a supernatural gorilla. I’m terrified of regular gorillas.” That’s the kind of gold this show is consistently delivering on a weekly basis. This show is the one live action DC comics property that’s acting like a comic book property and not taking itself too seriously. Unless you count iZombie, which is a Vertigo property, which means it’s technically DC. Don’t get me wrong, I love Gotham and Arrow, but this is where the fun is. I’ve read comics all my life and it’s always been more about an escape to a more fantastic world than the one I live in as opposed to jumping into an even darker one. It is and always will be about story first to me though.

Iris finally figures out the big mystery and instead of just opening her mouth, she has to be as dramatic as humanly possible about it. She has always been a decent character, but her whining is kind of annoying here. She’s smarter than this. Why can’t she just with the program? Eddie hated the Flash and he got onboard much easier than her. At least she got it together at the end of the episode and we don’t have to deal with this anymore. The funny part is her just strutting into S.T.A.R. Labs the way she did. This is the Flash’s headquarter’s that was built by a super genius super villain from the future. They even have a prison full of metahumans in the basement. The security should probably be a bit better.

I love what they did here with Grodd. Clancy Brown’s awesome voice was perfect for the introduction of this highly anticipated villain. It was even better for Grodd to communicate solely through telepathy. A talking gorilla wouldn’t have worked well in live action no matter how good CG has gotten or how comic book like you want this show to be. Having him talk with his mouth would have just seemed silly. Besides, if apes could speak (anatomically speaking) they probably would. Him walking upright and talking was perfect though. We didn’t even have to involve Gorilla City or Solovar.

Grodd was great to show here. It shows the beginning of his development and his relationship with Harrison Wells. He could be the big bad for a later season, but this was the best way to show him. He’s been mentioned before, but in his full glory he was perfect. I’m not one hundred percent sure how Barry stopped him, because it was a weird shot, but I liked that Barry wasn’t strong enough to just beat him up. He couldn’t even beat him with the supersonic punch he used on Girder.

I doubt Team Flash will back off any time soon, but Joe and Cisco might want to stay out of the field from now on. Barry should be learning to take on these threats alone if he wants to remain a good superhero. I’ve heard the rumors that Cisco and Caitlin will be getting their powers before this season is over so we’ll see where that goes. I’m pretty pumped at what’s coming next. Maybe General Eiling really will be an ally after all.

Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.