Plot
A week has passed since Zoom's attack and Barry has almost healed all of his physical injuries. But his confidence is still in critical condition and he's not sure he's the hero Central City needs any more. But ready or not, Grodd has returned and Barry will need to prove himself once more after Caitlin is kidnapped. Meanwhile, Patty begins to grow more suspicious about Barry's sick-leave and Joe's covering for him...
Influences
Influences
Countless The Flash comics where an injury sidelines Barry Allen, King Kong (giant gorilla abducts a woman who was nice to him, Caitlin is wearing all white like Fay Wray when she is abducted), the recent Planet of the Apes movies (a super-intelligent ape plots to make more of his own kind) and the original Planet of the Apes movies (the appearance of Gorilla City)
Performances
John Wesley Shipp steals the show as Henry Allen and makes us wish once again he was a series regular.
Artistry
As before, the CGI for Grodd, is of amazing quality for a TV show.
Flash Facts
Barry's accelerated healing is confirmed to be strong enough to heal a broken spine in just over a week. It should be noted, however, that The Flash's accelerated healing is not the same as the regeneration other comic heroes possess. While most speedsters are depicted as being able to recover from injuries faster than a normal human (say a broken arm healing in weeks rather than months), they can do nothing to grow back severed limbs or torn cells.
Although not identified by title, it's clear from the description - "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles" - that the movie Cisco took Kendra to see was The Princess Bride.
Patty identifies Encephalopathy as "a blood disease in the brain". Actually encephalopathy is used as a broad term to identify any kind of brain disorder. Hypersensitive encephalopathy, for instance, refers to conditions brought about through acute high blood pressure.
Cisco refers to the creature he saw in his latest vibe as "a bird man". Birdman is both the name of both an award-winning film staring Michael Keaton and a Hanna-Barbera superhero.
Cisco stands outside C.C. Jitters holding a basket over his head as Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes plays. This is a nod to the movie Say Anything.
The place Harry Wells sends Grodd appears to be Gorilla City. In the comics, Gorilla City was a society founded by super-intelligent, telepathic gorillas, who were enhanced by a meteorite. Grodd was originally a rogue member of this society in the comics.
Technobabble
The initial MRI Caitlin took one week before this episode showed a complete dislocation of the T12-L1 interspace of the thoracolumbar junction.
Having problems breathing is totally normal following a spinal injury.
Cortexin is a serum used to treat encephalopathy - a blood disease in the brain.
Racetam drugs are typically used to treat vertigo.
Both Cortexin and Racetaim are nootropic drugs, used to enhance intelligence.
Barry did not have any spinal cord edema or subacute hemorrhaging and the bone fused fine.
One of the main differences between ape and human brains is the white matter and connectivity in the brain cells. The chemicals Grodd was treated with as an infant were meant to overcome those differences and cause an explosive growth of both, similar to what humans experience in their first few years of life. Caitlin theorizes that those chemicals can be used to duplicate that growth without a particle accelerator explosion.
Once the speed cannon is activated, the quark matter stabilizes, stretching the nearest breach.
The Reverse Flash suit fitting inside a ring is apparently a product of micro-technology.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Barry has just blown off Patty's invitation to bring him some homemade soup.)
Patty: Okay, well... try and stay off your feet.
Barry: (shifting uncomfortably in his wheelchair) Oh yeah, believe me, I am.
Grodd: Foolish human... I am Grodd!
Cisco: Oh, hey, I know I keep asking but have you read any reports or anything recently about a Birdman attacking anywhere?
Caitlin: There's no such thing as a bird-man, Cisco.
Cisco: Okay, like that's a stretch in this city?
Harry: I'm continually amazed by the similarities between our two worlds.
Joe: You've got talking gorillas on your Earth too?
Harry: Oh yeah.
Joe: Remind me never to go there.
Barry: He showed everyone in Central City that their hero wasn't good enough to stop him.
Henry: Well, that's certainly what it looked like. Was he right? (scoffs) Your body's healed Barry, and yet here you are - feeling the shame of loosing.
Barry: I can't stop him. I know it. He knows it. And now everyone in the city knows it too. They don't believe in me anymore, Dad.
Henry: At my trial for your mother's death, a lot of our family and friends were in the courtroom. They heard awful things about what I had done to your mother. It didn't matter that it wasn't true. Every day, I could see it on their faces, the moment when I lost them, until everybody had stopped believing in me. Well, that was my reality. I was going to serve a life sentence for a crime I didn't commit, but worse than that, every time I looked someone in the eye, from that moment forward, they were going to believe that I killed the woman I loved in front of our son. So yeah, I do know what it's like being destroyed.
Barry: How did you get past that?
Henry: I embraced it. Accepting it was the only way I could move forward. But I knew that if I could survive that, and learn to believe in myself again, then I could survive anything. You know what lit that belief in me, Barry? You. 11-year old you running around, believing in me, gave me that hope. And now I'm giving it back to you, son. No more monsters can take that from us.
Cisco: I didn't know if you like flowers or chocolate, so I got you both.
Kendra: Well, I'm allergic to chocolate and I think flowers are a waste of money.
Cisco: Um... I have lollipops in my car?
Continuity
At the start of the episode, Cisco hasn't vibed since he touched Wells last week.
Cisco vibes when taking Kendra's hand on their date. He has a winged figure in armor.
Grodd is seen for the first time since 121.
Barry hates canned chicken noodle soup.
Henry Allen has been camping in Granite Peak National Park.
Cisco explains how Grodd had his intelligence enhanced to Harry.
Cisco has Harry practice Wells' speech from 115 about him being like a son.
Cisco's has a second vibe vision when he kisses Kendra. Here, he clearly sees her in the Hawkgirl armor.
Harry sends Grodd to a nature preserve for gorillas experimented on by other scientists on Earth 2. It turns out the gorillas have built a city of some kind...
Untelevised Adventures
Harry Wells apparently has experience dealing with talking gorillas.
The Bottom Line
A solid episode, through and through. Lots of good character development for everyone, though you'd think everyone involved would have learned the dangers of keeping secrets at this point. And it's weird that Barry is comfortable telling his ex-girlfriend he is The Flash but not the woman who has been consistently smart enough to see through every lie he's tried telling her. But hey - Gorilla City is now part of the DCTVU!
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