Friday, March 13, 2020
Starman Plays Fallout 2 - Part 30
In which, having found Vault 13 and the Holy GECK, we begin the long journey back to Arroyo and have our first encounters with the mutants known as centaurs, the mutants known as floaters, and fire-breathing geckos. We survive precisely one of these encounters.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Starman Plays Fallout 2 - Part 29
In which we finally find Valut 13 and the Holy GECK... along with another civilization (this one made of talking, peaceful Deathclaws) that needs us to step in and save it. I know we're the Chosen One, but couldn't the Gods choose someone else once in a while?
Monday, March 9, 2020
Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5, Episode 6 - Mortal Khanbat
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
As John faces a painful death from lung cancer and tries to pull every trick he can to avoid his fate (while giving Gary and Ray a hard time in the process), the rest of the Legends head to Hong Kong in 1997, where the Encore Genghis Khan is getting ready to build a new empire... with scooter-riding Triad gangsters!
Influences
1990s Hong Kong action movies (particularly the work of John Woo), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Nate's yelling "Khan!") Greek mythology and Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits.
Goofs
Performances
It's a subtle thing, but Courtney Ford and Brandon Routh manage to convey their characters' unhappiness with Nora's job keeping them apart with just two lines and one look.
Matt Ryan delivers his finest performance as John Constantine ever and it's a shame we'll probably never get a direct adaptation of the excellent Dangerous Habits. This
Artistry
Caity Lotz proves to be as skilled a director as she is an actor, dancer, stuntwoman and choreopgrapher.
The production team does a fantastic job of capturing the feeling of a Hong Kong action movie in terms of the fight choreography. stunt-work, cinematography and set design.
The scene in which Genghis Khan appears writing a motorized scooter, leading a gang of biker Triad members on the same, is utterly ridiculous and yet filmed with a perfect sense of gravity, conveyed by the music and Behrad's reaction to the new horde.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
This was the first episode directed by Sara Lance actress Caity Lotz.
Charlie is revealed to be Clotho; one of the three Fates. In the Vertigo Universe encompassing the original Hellblazer comics and The Sandman,The Fates are also known as The Furies, The Graces, The Hecatae; the Erinyes; the Three Witches; the Three-in-One; Mut; Moirai; Norns; Eumenides; Parcae; Fortuna; the Charities or The Kindly Ones. Whatever the name, they were a trio of witches who hosted the horror comic The Witching Hour and made appearances in various Wonder Woman comics. Sometimes they would tell the future. Other times, as in The Sandman: The Kindly Ones, they might act as the agents of vengeance against those who spilled the blood of their family.
Nate notes at one point that Genghis Khan was a successful general because of how quickly he adapted new technologies and developed masterful strategies using those technologies, such as developing cavalry. While this is used to explain how Genghis Khan was able to learn how to drive a motorcycle so easily or how he could adapt to using scooters instead of horses to navigate the notoriously bad traffic of Hong Kong. it is an accurate assessment of Genghis Khan's genius as a military leader.
A dove flies behind Genghis Khan in slow motion as he makes his entrance. This is a tribute to filmmaker John Woo, who used the same effect as a trademark in his films.
At one point, John angrily offers himself to the archangel Gabriel in exchange for a cure for his cancer. John did try to bargain with Gabriel directly when he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the storyline Dangerous Habits. It didn't work then either, but Gabriel was a bit more direct in telling John off.
Caity Lotz revealed the full text of John Constantine's will in a post on Twitter. There are several Easter Eggs referring to the Constantine series and other DC Comics characters. The basic gist of the will is that Gary Green is to act as the executor and gets everything in John's house except for three specific items.
John bequeaths the Sword of Night to his Papa Midnight with the stipulation that he not be told what it is and that he must open the box containing it in public. In the comics, The Sword of Night is the traditional weapon of the Nightmaster and it charges whoever takes it up with the duty to protect the mystic pocket dimension of Myrra. It seems likely John hoped to take out his worst enemy by binding him into a magical role that would require him to be a hero.
John leaves the shards of the Black Diamond to Chas Chandler and asks him to guard them well. Chas Chandler was John's best friend and driver in the Constantine series. The Black Diamond is a cursed artifact that contains Eclipso, the one-time spirit of Vengeance.
The final note in the will asks Gary to return the Sacred Kusa to Nommo and to apologize for John having stolen it in the first place. John did this in C104 but the victim of the theft was not identified in that episode. Nommo is likely a reference to Nommo Balewa, aka Doctor Mist.
Technobabble/Arcana
Charlie is revealed to be Clotho - one of the three Fates of ancient Greek myth, who determined the destiny of mankind. It was Clotho's duty to spin the threads of people's lives into existence.
Ava has created a new program for Gideon called The Prognosticator which can pinpoint Encores before they can change the timeline. It detects a mysterious gangsters stealing drugs from the Hong Kong triads in 1997, just before the city was to be returned to the Chinese government by the British.
Nate has a new mechanized scooter he calls Scoots McGoots.
John uses foxglove, serpent's tongue and the hair of an albino in conjunction with a summoning circle to determine who is using harmful magic against him. He has had Gary prepare this potion for him before and it can safely be taken with a little honey to kill the taste.
Even fairy godmother magic cannot reverse tinkering with a soul chit, as Nora can't use her magic to heal John's lung cancer. Neither can the healing magic of a Puca.
John has a book which has a spell that can add years onto a man's life. One of the ingredients requires a medieval knight who isn't circumcised.
John's cane has a bulldog's head carved into the grip. It is capable of talking, but it is possible John was hallucinating this while drunk and sick from blood loss. John addresses the cane as "Bully."
Charlie cannot reveal her true form as a Fate because no mortal can comprehend the true form of a god.
John apparently has hellhounds guarding parts of his house and they must be fed regularly.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Ava and Nate run into the medical bay. They find John, soaked in blood, as Gary, Ray and Charlie try to take care of him.)
Nate: What the hell's going on?
Gideon: As you can see from his chest X-ray, Mr. Constantine has a very aggressive form of lung cancer. I'm afraid it's terminal.
(Everyone states in disbelief at the medical monitor. The stunned silence is broken by the sound of a lighter clinking open. Everyone turns to John on the medical chair, who is lighting a cigarette.)
John: Well, there's no point in quitting now.
Genghis Khan: I have only one interest. Conquest. Surrender the Triad to me, and I will remake the globe.
(Genghis Khan, Charlie and Behrad are in a Mexican stand-off.)
Charlie: Shoot him!
Behrad: He's immortal!
Charlie: And I'm not!
(Nora enters the room with a small girl; her current charge. John smiles and leans on his cane, trying his best to look open and friendly and... well, not like a blood-soaked con-artist sorcerer.)
Nora: Okay, Pippa. Can you wish our friend, John, healthy like we discussed?
Pippa: Yes, but I want something first.
Nora: (forced cheer) Pippa's made a lot of progress, but we're still working on a few challenges.
Gary: (trying to sound commanding and failing) Hey. The Master of the Dark Arts needs your help.
Pippa: Shut up, four eyes.
John: (losing all sense of his friendly facade) Now you listen to me, you little squirt. Are you gonna make that damn wish? Because if you don't and I die, then I'm gonna come back and haunt you every waking hour of your life.
Pippa: (quickly) Fairy Godmother, I wish your scary British friend wasn't sick. .
John: There you go. Easy.
Nora: Okay.
(Nora waves her wand and blue sparkles swirl around in the air before plunging into John's chest. He smiles, looking honestly better for a moment... before he suddenly bends over and vomits blood onto the floor. Pippa backs into Nora, who tries to shield her eyes as Gary helps John from the room.)
John: No matter. I'll try something else.
Pippa: I wish I was home!
(Nora starts waving her wand as she looks to Ray, sadly.)
Nora: Bye Ray.
(Nora and Pippa disappear in a shower of blue sparks.)
Ray: (quietly) Bye, Nora.
(John is flipping through a spellbook.)
John: "How to Add Years to Your Life. " Yeah, that should do it. Although the ingredient list is a little unusual. We'll need a medieval knight.
Ray: I was once knighted "Sir Raymond of the Palms. "
John: Great. Gary, grab a knife. We're gonna perform a little back alley surgery on the Big Man.
Ray: What kind of surgery?
John: Well, first off, are you uncircumcised?
(Ray starts stammering.)
John: I'll take that as a yes. Gary, the knife!
Bully: I can't believe you stooped to trying to make a deal with an angel.
(John wakes up and looks down at his cane. The bulldog head on it is speaking to him.)
John: Mm. What the...
Bully: Gabriel would have turned you into his slave.
John: Well, at least I'd be alive.
Bully: (scoffs) There are worse fates than death.
John: Oy! I will shove you where the sun don't shine just to shut you up.
Bully: Hmmph. You'd probably enjoy that.
(John ponders this and shrugs in admission the talking cane isn't wrong.)
Bully: Hell of a way to spend your last night on earth though, you arrogant bastard. Especially when you could be with two of the only friends you have left.
John: (blearily) Yeah. Yeah. Nice one.
Ava: Behrad, what's your status?
Behrad: It's complete gridlock.
Ava: (sighs) No one's getting through on the ground. The fleet must be in the air.
Zari: Nate, did you find the shipment?
(Nate is on his motorcycle, just pulling up to a warehouse. It is full of empty packing crates.)
Nate: Oh, no! We're too late. Whatever there was, there was a lot of them.
Ava: Nate, get downtown and help Behrad.
Nate: Hold on. I think they might have left something.
(Nate moves to one of the crates that is untouched.)
(Cut To: Behrad on the streets of Hong Kong, where a whirring noise fills the air.)
Behrad: What's that noise?
(Cut To: Nate as he opens the crate. Zari and Ava are watching him remotely.)
Zari: Oh, my God.
(Cut to Behrad as he looks around, trying to identify the noise. His eyes widen as he sees it.)
(Cut to Nate as he reaches into the crate and pulls out a scooter.)
Nate: (quietly) Scoots.
(Nate lifts up the mechanized scooter as he shouts to the heavens.)
Nate: Khaaaaaaaaaaan!
(Cut To: The streets of Hong Kong, where Genghis Khan emerges from the fog majestically on a motorized scooter. The motor whirrs as his followers emerge behind him on their own scooters.)
Genghis Khan: Charge!
(Behrad watches helplessly as the horde begin to move around the cars blocking the road, popping wheelies and jumping over the obstacles easily.)
(Genghis Khan has captured Behrad and Charlie. He has just asked Charlie to marry him.)
Genghis Khan: Your power will serve my reign well. Join me as I build a new empire that will span the globe.
Charlie: Look, I'm flattered, but I've had power of immortals and gods alike. It blows. My past is complicated. And being in a relationship Trust me, that wouldn't end well for either of us.
(Charlie is looking at Behrad as she says this. He nods in understanding.)
Genghis Khan: Wait. Did you two sleep together or something?
John: Oh, of all the ways that I'd thought I'd go, decapitated by a demon, eviscerated by an elemental, I wouldn't have picked being at home with my mates.
(There is a chorus of cheers and clinking of glasses. Gary and Ray drink the wine as John takes a pull from his flask.)
John: You know, I just wish I had more time with you lovely idiots.
Ray: Well, you're not dead yet, John.
John: No, but I will be momentarily.
(There is a long pause as Ray and Gary look at each other. And realize why John was drinking from his own container.)
John: (chuckling) John Constantine: He always goes out on his own terms.
(John suddenly collapses to the ground as the poison kicks in.)
Continuity
John is taken to the Waverider sick bay by Charlie and Gary.
Charlie is revealed to be hearing voices that address her as Clotho and tell her she can't get away.
Zari has written off her vision of the pre-Crisis timeline from 505 as a hallucination brought on by eating a donut.
Ava now considers Zari part of the Legends.
Sara is still in Star City.
Mick is taking a leave from Legends business, being in "a mood" over Allie from 504.
Ava and Gideon detect an Encore at work in Hong Kong in 1997, just before the city was to be returned to China by the British.
Charlie has never been to Hong Kong before.
Ray agrees to let John leave the ship to figure out who gave him cancer, but only if he can go with him. Gary goes along with them.
Genghis Khan is revealed to be the mysterious figure who is robbing the Triads in a bid to unite them under his banner.
Khan's meeting with the triad is interrupted by a trio of plainclothes detectives with the Hong Kong PD, whom Ava fights alongside as Charlie chases after Genghis.
John determines that Astra is responsible for accelerating his death, after she brings him into a psychic landscape that resembles his house in Newcastle.
Astra has no memory of the house in Newcastle or how her mother brought her there.
John tells Astra that he has a lead on a magic artifact that can rewrite history so that her mother never died and she never went to hell and her dad never drank himself to death.
Nate figures out that Charlie and Bedard had a one night stand based on their interactions.
The hero lady cop who fought with Ava is killed by Genghis Khan, whose sword has been turned into a Hell Weapon.
Nate talks to Behrad about what happened with Charlie. He suggests talking to her directly about why she ghosted him.
Genghis Khan's plan is to capture Prince Charles and force him to give control of Hong Kong to him.
The female cop draws out the route of Prince Charles' motorcade through Hong Kong, before she is killed with Genghis Khan's sword, which was turned into a Hell weapon.
Genghis Khan confirms that he woke up his tomb when he was resurrected and it took him 700 years to dig his way out.
Yeung, the thug Charlie knocked out and impersonated, was an engineer in charge of building a fleet for Genghis' conquest of the globe after establishing Hong Kong as the seat of his new empire.
Behrad saves Charlie from being hit by a truck as she undergoes some kind of psychic attack from the people looking for her.
The Puca from 414 makes an appearance. Its magic can't heal John this time.
Ray makes reference to being knighted in 212.
Ray has a bucket list.
Charlie says the sex she had with Behrad was mediocre and tells him to get over it, before leaving with a Time Courier.
John decides to stop fighting his cancer and enjoy what time he has left with his friends.
Nate discovers the shipment Genghis Khan was waiting on was for a fleet of mechanized scooters. Utilizing these, he intends to weave through the terrible Hong Kong gridlock and ambush Prince Charles' motorcade.
Charlie decided to impersonate Prince Charles on her own.
Prince Charles is stuck on the Waverider, being babysat by a drunk Mick Rory.
Genghis Khan has 12 wives.
Behrad is able to make a shield using his bracelet to catch the bullets as Genghis Khan's men shoots at him and Charlie.
Charlie kills Genghis Khan with his own sword.
Charlie reveals her status as a Fate to the rest of the Legends. She says she quit her job and destroyed her loom because she thought people should be free to set their own destinies.
Charlie scattered the pieces of the Loom of Fate across the multiverse, leaving herself and her sisters powerless. With the Crisis having merged the multiverse into one reality, however, everything could potentially be reunited and her sisters could force her to return to her role or kill her.
The Legends agree to find the Loom before the other Fates.
Sara returns from her business in Star City.
John writes up a will and leaves his house to Gary.
Ray plans to ask Nora to marry her, but is scared because his last two engagements didn't work out well.
John poisons himself to go out on his terms.
"Scarborough Fair" was the song Natalie sang to Astra when she was young that she declared their song. John claims it was his and Natalie's song first.
Astra gives John back the time she took from him, deciding to give him a chance to see if he can rewrite her mother's fate and her fate.
Location
Hong Kong - June 30, 1997
Northumberland County, UK - 2020
Untelevised Adventures
Charlie and Behrad had a one night stand after the events of 416.
At one point, John met the ghost of Winston Churchill. (There's a fan theory that Bully, the spirit in John's cane, might be Sir Winston's ghost, as the voice sounds somewhat like him and they have a similar dry wit.)
The Fridge Factor
The "hero lady" cop is unceremoniously killed off and isn't even given a name. All we know about her is that she's a mother with one son. We know even less about her two partners.
The Bottom Line
A solid episode that achieves the perfect balance of comedy and drama while giving all of the cast a chance to shine. The only sour spot, strangely enough, is one cool supporting character getting fridged in a pretty permanent way. Hopefully that will be resolved later this season because it just seems so odd they'd introduce this female cop with a kid and have nothing come of it.
Plot
As John faces a painful death from lung cancer and tries to pull every trick he can to avoid his fate (while giving Gary and Ray a hard time in the process), the rest of the Legends head to Hong Kong in 1997, where the Encore Genghis Khan is getting ready to build a new empire... with scooter-riding Triad gangsters!
Influences
1990s Hong Kong action movies (particularly the work of John Woo), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Nate's yelling "Khan!") Greek mythology and Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits.
Goofs
Performances
It's a subtle thing, but Courtney Ford and Brandon Routh manage to convey their characters' unhappiness with Nora's job keeping them apart with just two lines and one look.
Matt Ryan delivers his finest performance as John Constantine ever and it's a shame we'll probably never get a direct adaptation of the excellent Dangerous Habits. This
Artistry
Caity Lotz proves to be as skilled a director as she is an actor, dancer, stuntwoman and choreopgrapher.
The production team does a fantastic job of capturing the feeling of a Hong Kong action movie in terms of the fight choreography. stunt-work, cinematography and set design.
The scene in which Genghis Khan appears writing a motorized scooter, leading a gang of biker Triad members on the same, is utterly ridiculous and yet filmed with a perfect sense of gravity, conveyed by the music and Behrad's reaction to the new horde.
Trivia Of Tomorrow
This was the first episode directed by Sara Lance actress Caity Lotz.
Charlie is revealed to be Clotho; one of the three Fates. In the Vertigo Universe encompassing the original Hellblazer comics and The Sandman,The Fates are also known as The Furies, The Graces, The Hecatae; the Erinyes; the Three Witches; the Three-in-One; Mut; Moirai; Norns; Eumenides; Parcae; Fortuna; the Charities or The Kindly Ones. Whatever the name, they were a trio of witches who hosted the horror comic The Witching Hour and made appearances in various Wonder Woman comics. Sometimes they would tell the future. Other times, as in The Sandman: The Kindly Ones, they might act as the agents of vengeance against those who spilled the blood of their family.
Nate notes at one point that Genghis Khan was a successful general because of how quickly he adapted new technologies and developed masterful strategies using those technologies, such as developing cavalry. While this is used to explain how Genghis Khan was able to learn how to drive a motorcycle so easily or how he could adapt to using scooters instead of horses to navigate the notoriously bad traffic of Hong Kong. it is an accurate assessment of Genghis Khan's genius as a military leader.
A dove flies behind Genghis Khan in slow motion as he makes his entrance. This is a tribute to filmmaker John Woo, who used the same effect as a trademark in his films.
At one point, John angrily offers himself to the archangel Gabriel in exchange for a cure for his cancer. John did try to bargain with Gabriel directly when he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the storyline Dangerous Habits. It didn't work then either, but Gabriel was a bit more direct in telling John off.
Caity Lotz revealed the full text of John Constantine's will in a post on Twitter. There are several Easter Eggs referring to the Constantine series and other DC Comics characters. The basic gist of the will is that Gary Green is to act as the executor and gets everything in John's house except for three specific items.
John bequeaths the Sword of Night to his Papa Midnight with the stipulation that he not be told what it is and that he must open the box containing it in public. In the comics, The Sword of Night is the traditional weapon of the Nightmaster and it charges whoever takes it up with the duty to protect the mystic pocket dimension of Myrra. It seems likely John hoped to take out his worst enemy by binding him into a magical role that would require him to be a hero.
John leaves the shards of the Black Diamond to Chas Chandler and asks him to guard them well. Chas Chandler was John's best friend and driver in the Constantine series. The Black Diamond is a cursed artifact that contains Eclipso, the one-time spirit of Vengeance.
The final note in the will asks Gary to return the Sacred Kusa to Nommo and to apologize for John having stolen it in the first place. John did this in C104 but the victim of the theft was not identified in that episode. Nommo is likely a reference to Nommo Balewa, aka Doctor Mist.
Technobabble/Arcana
Charlie is revealed to be Clotho - one of the three Fates of ancient Greek myth, who determined the destiny of mankind. It was Clotho's duty to spin the threads of people's lives into existence.
Ava has created a new program for Gideon called The Prognosticator which can pinpoint Encores before they can change the timeline. It detects a mysterious gangsters stealing drugs from the Hong Kong triads in 1997, just before the city was to be returned to the Chinese government by the British.
Nate has a new mechanized scooter he calls Scoots McGoots.
John uses foxglove, serpent's tongue and the hair of an albino in conjunction with a summoning circle to determine who is using harmful magic against him. He has had Gary prepare this potion for him before and it can safely be taken with a little honey to kill the taste.
Even fairy godmother magic cannot reverse tinkering with a soul chit, as Nora can't use her magic to heal John's lung cancer. Neither can the healing magic of a Puca.
John has a book which has a spell that can add years onto a man's life. One of the ingredients requires a medieval knight who isn't circumcised.
John's cane has a bulldog's head carved into the grip. It is capable of talking, but it is possible John was hallucinating this while drunk and sick from blood loss. John addresses the cane as "Bully."
Charlie cannot reveal her true form as a Fate because no mortal can comprehend the true form of a god.
John apparently has hellhounds guarding parts of his house and they must be fed regularly.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Ava and Nate run into the medical bay. They find John, soaked in blood, as Gary, Ray and Charlie try to take care of him.)
Nate: What the hell's going on?
Gideon: As you can see from his chest X-ray, Mr. Constantine has a very aggressive form of lung cancer. I'm afraid it's terminal.
(Everyone states in disbelief at the medical monitor. The stunned silence is broken by the sound of a lighter clinking open. Everyone turns to John on the medical chair, who is lighting a cigarette.)
John: Well, there's no point in quitting now.
Genghis Khan: I have only one interest. Conquest. Surrender the Triad to me, and I will remake the globe.
(Genghis Khan, Charlie and Behrad are in a Mexican stand-off.)
Charlie: Shoot him!
Behrad: He's immortal!
Charlie: And I'm not!
(Nora enters the room with a small girl; her current charge. John smiles and leans on his cane, trying his best to look open and friendly and... well, not like a blood-soaked con-artist sorcerer.)
Nora: Okay, Pippa. Can you wish our friend, John, healthy like we discussed?
Pippa: Yes, but I want something first.
Nora: (forced cheer) Pippa's made a lot of progress, but we're still working on a few challenges.
Gary: (trying to sound commanding and failing) Hey. The Master of the Dark Arts needs your help.
Pippa: Shut up, four eyes.
John: (losing all sense of his friendly facade) Now you listen to me, you little squirt. Are you gonna make that damn wish? Because if you don't and I die, then I'm gonna come back and haunt you every waking hour of your life.
Pippa: (quickly) Fairy Godmother, I wish your scary British friend wasn't sick. .
John: There you go. Easy.
Nora: Okay.
(Nora waves her wand and blue sparkles swirl around in the air before plunging into John's chest. He smiles, looking honestly better for a moment... before he suddenly bends over and vomits blood onto the floor. Pippa backs into Nora, who tries to shield her eyes as Gary helps John from the room.)
John: No matter. I'll try something else.
Pippa: I wish I was home!
(Nora starts waving her wand as she looks to Ray, sadly.)
Nora: Bye Ray.
(Nora and Pippa disappear in a shower of blue sparks.)
Ray: (quietly) Bye, Nora.
(John is flipping through a spellbook.)
John: "How to Add Years to Your Life. " Yeah, that should do it. Although the ingredient list is a little unusual. We'll need a medieval knight.
Ray: I was once knighted "Sir Raymond of the Palms. "
John: Great. Gary, grab a knife. We're gonna perform a little back alley surgery on the Big Man.
Ray: What kind of surgery?
John: Well, first off, are you uncircumcised?
(Ray starts stammering.)
John: I'll take that as a yes. Gary, the knife!
Bully: I can't believe you stooped to trying to make a deal with an angel.
(John wakes up and looks down at his cane. The bulldog head on it is speaking to him.)
John: Mm. What the...
Bully: Gabriel would have turned you into his slave.
John: Well, at least I'd be alive.
Bully: (scoffs) There are worse fates than death.
John: Oy! I will shove you where the sun don't shine just to shut you up.
Bully: Hmmph. You'd probably enjoy that.
(John ponders this and shrugs in admission the talking cane isn't wrong.)
Bully: Hell of a way to spend your last night on earth though, you arrogant bastard. Especially when you could be with two of the only friends you have left.
John: (blearily) Yeah. Yeah. Nice one.
Ava: Behrad, what's your status?
Behrad: It's complete gridlock.
Ava: (sighs) No one's getting through on the ground. The fleet must be in the air.
Zari: Nate, did you find the shipment?
(Nate is on his motorcycle, just pulling up to a warehouse. It is full of empty packing crates.)
Nate: Oh, no! We're too late. Whatever there was, there was a lot of them.
Ava: Nate, get downtown and help Behrad.
Nate: Hold on. I think they might have left something.
(Nate moves to one of the crates that is untouched.)
(Cut To: Behrad on the streets of Hong Kong, where a whirring noise fills the air.)
Behrad: What's that noise?
(Cut To: Nate as he opens the crate. Zari and Ava are watching him remotely.)
Zari: Oh, my God.
(Cut to Behrad as he looks around, trying to identify the noise. His eyes widen as he sees it.)
(Cut to Nate as he reaches into the crate and pulls out a scooter.)
Nate: (quietly) Scoots.
(Nate lifts up the mechanized scooter as he shouts to the heavens.)
Nate: Khaaaaaaaaaaan!
(Cut To: The streets of Hong Kong, where Genghis Khan emerges from the fog majestically on a motorized scooter. The motor whirrs as his followers emerge behind him on their own scooters.)
Genghis Khan: Charge!
(Behrad watches helplessly as the horde begin to move around the cars blocking the road, popping wheelies and jumping over the obstacles easily.)
(Genghis Khan has captured Behrad and Charlie. He has just asked Charlie to marry him.)
Genghis Khan: Your power will serve my reign well. Join me as I build a new empire that will span the globe.
Charlie: Look, I'm flattered, but I've had power of immortals and gods alike. It blows. My past is complicated. And being in a relationship Trust me, that wouldn't end well for either of us.
(Charlie is looking at Behrad as she says this. He nods in understanding.)
Genghis Khan: Wait. Did you two sleep together or something?
John: Oh, of all the ways that I'd thought I'd go, decapitated by a demon, eviscerated by an elemental, I wouldn't have picked being at home with my mates.
(There is a chorus of cheers and clinking of glasses. Gary and Ray drink the wine as John takes a pull from his flask.)
John: You know, I just wish I had more time with you lovely idiots.
Ray: Well, you're not dead yet, John.
John: No, but I will be momentarily.
(There is a long pause as Ray and Gary look at each other. And realize why John was drinking from his own container.)
John: (chuckling) John Constantine: He always goes out on his own terms.
(John suddenly collapses to the ground as the poison kicks in.)
Continuity
John is taken to the Waverider sick bay by Charlie and Gary.
Charlie is revealed to be hearing voices that address her as Clotho and tell her she can't get away.
Zari has written off her vision of the pre-Crisis timeline from 505 as a hallucination brought on by eating a donut.
Ava now considers Zari part of the Legends.
Sara is still in Star City.
Mick is taking a leave from Legends business, being in "a mood" over Allie from 504.
Ava and Gideon detect an Encore at work in Hong Kong in 1997, just before the city was to be returned to China by the British.
Charlie has never been to Hong Kong before.
Ray agrees to let John leave the ship to figure out who gave him cancer, but only if he can go with him. Gary goes along with them.
Genghis Khan is revealed to be the mysterious figure who is robbing the Triads in a bid to unite them under his banner.
Khan's meeting with the triad is interrupted by a trio of plainclothes detectives with the Hong Kong PD, whom Ava fights alongside as Charlie chases after Genghis.
John determines that Astra is responsible for accelerating his death, after she brings him into a psychic landscape that resembles his house in Newcastle.
Astra has no memory of the house in Newcastle or how her mother brought her there.
John tells Astra that he has a lead on a magic artifact that can rewrite history so that her mother never died and she never went to hell and her dad never drank himself to death.
Nate figures out that Charlie and Bedard had a one night stand based on their interactions.
The hero lady cop who fought with Ava is killed by Genghis Khan, whose sword has been turned into a Hell Weapon.
Nate talks to Behrad about what happened with Charlie. He suggests talking to her directly about why she ghosted him.
Genghis Khan's plan is to capture Prince Charles and force him to give control of Hong Kong to him.
The female cop draws out the route of Prince Charles' motorcade through Hong Kong, before she is killed with Genghis Khan's sword, which was turned into a Hell weapon.
Genghis Khan confirms that he woke up his tomb when he was resurrected and it took him 700 years to dig his way out.
Yeung, the thug Charlie knocked out and impersonated, was an engineer in charge of building a fleet for Genghis' conquest of the globe after establishing Hong Kong as the seat of his new empire.
Behrad saves Charlie from being hit by a truck as she undergoes some kind of psychic attack from the people looking for her.
The Puca from 414 makes an appearance. Its magic can't heal John this time.
Ray makes reference to being knighted in 212.
Ray has a bucket list.
Charlie says the sex she had with Behrad was mediocre and tells him to get over it, before leaving with a Time Courier.
John decides to stop fighting his cancer and enjoy what time he has left with his friends.
Nate discovers the shipment Genghis Khan was waiting on was for a fleet of mechanized scooters. Utilizing these, he intends to weave through the terrible Hong Kong gridlock and ambush Prince Charles' motorcade.
Charlie decided to impersonate Prince Charles on her own.
Prince Charles is stuck on the Waverider, being babysat by a drunk Mick Rory.
Genghis Khan has 12 wives.
Behrad is able to make a shield using his bracelet to catch the bullets as Genghis Khan's men shoots at him and Charlie.
Charlie kills Genghis Khan with his own sword.
Charlie reveals her status as a Fate to the rest of the Legends. She says she quit her job and destroyed her loom because she thought people should be free to set their own destinies.
Charlie scattered the pieces of the Loom of Fate across the multiverse, leaving herself and her sisters powerless. With the Crisis having merged the multiverse into one reality, however, everything could potentially be reunited and her sisters could force her to return to her role or kill her.
The Legends agree to find the Loom before the other Fates.
Sara returns from her business in Star City.
John writes up a will and leaves his house to Gary.
Ray plans to ask Nora to marry her, but is scared because his last two engagements didn't work out well.
John poisons himself to go out on his terms.
"Scarborough Fair" was the song Natalie sang to Astra when she was young that she declared their song. John claims it was his and Natalie's song first.
Astra gives John back the time she took from him, deciding to give him a chance to see if he can rewrite her mother's fate and her fate.
Location
Hong Kong - June 30, 1997
Northumberland County, UK - 2020
Untelevised Adventures
Charlie and Behrad had a one night stand after the events of 416.
At one point, John met the ghost of Winston Churchill. (There's a fan theory that Bully, the spirit in John's cane, might be Sir Winston's ghost, as the voice sounds somewhat like him and they have a similar dry wit.)
The Fridge Factor
The "hero lady" cop is unceremoniously killed off and isn't even given a name. All we know about her is that she's a mother with one son. We know even less about her two partners.
The Bottom Line
A solid episode that achieves the perfect balance of comedy and drama while giving all of the cast a chance to shine. The only sour spot, strangely enough, is one cool supporting character getting fridged in a pretty permanent way. Hopefully that will be resolved later this season because it just seems so odd they'd introduce this female cop with a kid and have nothing come of it.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Starman Plays Fallout 2 - Part 28
In which we continue exploring the NCR and return to Vault 15 to finish clearing it out. And to find Vault 13, which we should have done earlier but completely forgot about in the middle of fighting the impossible fight. Oh well.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
The Flash Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 13 - Grodd Friended Me
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
As Iris and Eva McCullouch continue to find a way to escape Mirror World, Barry turns his attention to trying to rebuild Giden. Unfortunately, STAR Labs' newest employee, Chester P. Runk, gets in the way trying to impress Barry and winds up setting the stage for Grodd to force himself into The Flash's mind. But Grodd isn't out for revenge... he needs help!
Influences
The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (Grodd with super-speed and a lightning bolt emblem in his first), God Friended Me (the title is the pun on another series produced by Greg Berlanti) and The Fly (Camilla makes reference to the movie)
Performances
After being a non-entity in most of her appearances, Victoria Park gives her best performance as Kamilla Hwang in this episode - probably because this is the first episode to give her anything to do beyond being a hostage or the supportive girlfriend.
Goofs
Once again, The Flash contradicts itself as to what the heroes remember about the pre-Crisis universe, with Barry having no idea where his parents are buried now and not remembering that Pied Piper is a metahuman rather than a tech-based criminal.(Presumably, even as a Paragon, Barry has trouble keeping two contradictory sets of information straight in his head as the human brain can only recall so much and his brain has shut down his memory to protect him from the trauma.)
Why can't The Flash run around or phase through the train?
Artistry
The CGI for the gorillas is quite good.
Flash Facts
The address Chester tracks Pied Piper to is the corner of 52nd and Palm. This is yet another nod to the number 52 and its significance in DC Comics.
The idea of Grodd gaining super-speed and the design where he gets a lightning bolt in his fur while merged with Barry - is taken from the most recent run of The Flash comics written by Joshua Williamson.
Technobabble
The Metahuman-Detectors developed by Harry Wells apparently still exist on Earth-Prime, as Barry is wearing one, which alerts him to Pied Piper being close by.
Chester is able to track the Pied Piper by scanning for the same wavelength of the frequency generated by the sonic boom he generates while flying.
Gideon determines that there have been 3.725 trillion changes between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.
Barry describes Gideon as a mobile interactive artificial intelligence unit.
Chester attempts to alter Gideon by flipping the positronic solenoid.
Eva was running R-CEM tests when she became trapped in the mirror dimension.
Nash assembles a residual particle catcher, which can detect and detain the molecular afterglow of things.
Frost determines that Barry is in telepathic contact with someone based on his pulse, his rapid eye movement, his vitals and two distinct brainwaves patterns.
In a mindscape, the host transmits neural signals to the guest's primary motor cortex. It the Memory Machine can be made to synch up with those neural transmitters, it can be used as a communicator to reach the host and guest.
The neural-inhibiting capabilities of Grodd's telepathic crown can only handle the strain of two minds for so long. Eventually the mindscape created by Barry and Grodd's minds will collapse. This will kill both of them.
If you die in a mindscape, you die in the real world.
Removing the crown from Grodd would leave Barry trapped inside Grodd's head.
Sedatives have no effect on speedsters.
Grodd is the only being Frost has encountered whose neurons fire at hyper-neural speeds comparable to Barry's.
It is determined that Chester is responsible for enabling Grodd to take over Barry's mind. When he tweaked the positronic solenoid, he adjusted its hypothalamic connection by a factor of 900%. This was more than enough to boost the signal to allow it to be piggy-backed by Grodd's telepathy.
The subatomic particles emitted by Eva McCulloch's machine can penetrate the mirror's surface, but it won't pierce the barrier between the worlds.
Eva burns her arms and hands trying to reach through the mirror after Iris asks why she's so sure the machine won't work.
For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality.
Barry describes the process by which he and Grodd merge their minds as the mindscape version of the Firestorm Matrix.
Exiting the mindscape while merge would ultimately kill Grodd and Barry, as their bodies would forcibly merge despite being separated in the real world. Kamilla compares this to the process that created the monster in the movie The Fly.
Chester figures out that he can sync Gideon's quantum intelligence network to Barry and Grodd's bio-analytics and let her perfectly time the neural de-splicing as they exit the mindscape
ARGUS injects Grodd with a tracking polymer and agree to release him on probation so long as he can be tracked.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Barry has just lost it with Chester and kicked him out of his lab.)
Kamilla: He's just trying to help.
Barry: Oh, I know. I know. It's... So much has changed after Crisis, and... You know, this morning, when I got the meta alert, I was trying to find my parents' graves. There's not even a cemetery there anymore. I...I searched every graveyard in Central City. I still can't find them. Just feel like a piece of me is missing. And friends like Hartley Rathaway are enemies now. Just everything is so different.
Kamilla: I'll bet hearing different voices on comms doesn't help, either. You want something familiar. That's not us.
Barry: Hey, I didn't mean it like that.
Kamilla: It's okay, Barry. I understand. Just maybe take it easy on Chester.
Barry: So, what, the cage is payback? What, you want vengeance?
Grodd: Not vengeance. Understanding. Grodd wants Barry Allen to see what it's like to have nothing. No powers, no freedom. Only captivity. Caitlin used a neural inhibitor to shut down Grodd's cerebrum. Caitlin betrayed Grodd. But you gave her the authority. This is your doing, Flash.
Barry: I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Your mind is a weapon.
Grodd: You take a weapon from a man, he's still a man. You took Grodd's mind. Grodd's greatest gift. That is not punishment. That is cruelty.
Chester: I am so sorry. I- I never should've came here. This is all my fault.
(Chester leaves the lab. Frost goes chasing after him.)
Frost: Hey. How's you running away gonna help us get Barry out of Grodd's mind?
Chester: Because if I'm not around, at least I can't make things worse.
Frost: Look, I hate to break it to you, but accidentally putting Barry's life in danger is kind of a rite of passage around here. We've all done it: Cisco, me, Ralph, even the janitor. He put too much wax on the floor. But then, after we put his life in danger, we figure out a plan to get him out of it. So now it's your turn.
Chester: You know, in the sixth grade, I got into the science fair with a Millennium Falcon that I built out of used vacuum parts. I mean, it it flew and everything, like a drone. But on the day of the fair, it didn't fly. Uh, rust in the intake manifold was preventing air from getting into the combustion, which was then causing it to...
(Frost looks impatient and gives Chester a "get to the point" look.)
Chester: Sorry. Anyway, I had begged my teacher to let me fix it and then fly again the next day. He said no. You know why? He was an old school brother. And he said that in the real world, people like us we don't get a second chance.
(Chester turns around again and starts to walk to the elevator.)
Frost: Hold on.
(Chester stops and looks back at her.)
Frost: I'm not gonna pretend like I have any idea what your life has been like, and I know that some of the stuff we do in here has nothing to do with the real world. But I'm offering you a second chance. Because you deserve one. 'Cause we all do.
Continuity
As this episode opens, the only people at STAR Labs to help Barry are Chester P. Runk and Kamilla.
Isis is away working on astory.
Frost is said to be at ARGUS checking on Bloodwork.
Cisco is said to be off the grid charting differences between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.
Ralph is still searching for Sue Dearbon.
Pied Piper has not been seen since 217.
In the Post-Crisis reality, Pied-Piper is a metahuman criminal with sonic control powers, who backs his powers up with technology that enhances his natural abilities.
Pied Piper is able to fly using his sonic blasts as a means of propulsion.
Chester tracks Pied Piper to 52nd and Palm Street. However, he is able to get away because the route Barry too to try to get to him was blocked by a train.
Chester learns that Barry Allen is The Flash.
Barry is trying to upgrade Gideon.
Barry is unable to remember where his parents are buried. He can't even remember the cemetery.
Eva and Iris decide to try and rebuild the machine Eva was working on when she was trapped in Mirror World.
Nash and Allegra assemble a residual particle catcher.
Nash is now hallucinating Sherloque Wells talking to him.
Allegra finds the picture of Nash and her doppelganger from his world. She is creeped out.
Barry suddenly finds himself in a cage, where he is talked to by Eobard Thawne in Harrison Wells' body and Caitlin Snow. Eventually he figures out that he is in one of Gorilla Grodd's memories.
Fake Iris gets into a fight with Joe over accessing a police file on Joseph Carver. She apologizes and makes lunch plans with him for later that day.
When Chester was 11, he drowned his grandmother's car while trying to convert it into a hovercraft.
Grodd is still locked in a coma in a cell in ARGUS, as he was when he was last seen in 515.
Grodd says he wanted Barry to understand what his life was like and that he truly has changed.
Frost uses Sherloque Wells' memory machine from 512 to make contact with Barry inside Grodd's mindscape.
Nash denies that the Allegra Garcia of his Earth was his daughter, describing her as an ex-employee who made a bad call.
Fake Iris misses her lunch appointment with Joe, because she snuck into his office and is stealing the file she asked for earlier.
Eva burns her arms trying to reach through the mirror in her office.
For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality. He was also able to sense that Gorilla City now exists on Earth-Prime and wishes to go there and live out his life in peace there.
ARGUS agrees to release Grodd on probation after injecting him with a tracking polymer.
Cisco calls Kamilla and tells her he is coming home.
Chester finds the cemetery where Barry's parents are burried.
Barry apologizes for losing his cool with Chester because of everything in his life that is changing.
As the episode closes, STAR Labs satellites detect Pied Piper attempting another robbery.
Nash is once again confronted by a hallucination of Sherloque Wells, whose eyes glow red and features begin to vibrate like the Reverse Flash.
In the final scene, Eva is revealed to be controlling the Fake Iris, who received the same wounds Eva developed after being burned. Eva is able to heal the wounds on the Fake Iris with a wave of her hand, however.
Untelevised Adventures
It is said that Team Flash did something to Pied Piper in the past, but Barry has no memory of what.
STAR Labs employs a never before seen janitor, who nearly killed Barry by over-waxing the floors.
The episode ends before we can see Barry and Chester catch the Pied Piper.
The Boomerang Factor
Barry acts like a judgemental jackass, which is not entirely out of character for him. Its just amusing that for as much store as Barry puts in the idea of people like Leonard Snart being basically good deep down and as much as he preaches the idea that people can be redeemed like his friend Oliver Queen, Barry is totally unwilling to believe that Grodd has changed in the face of everything else in the world that is different.
The Bottom Line
A bit of a mixed bag, overall. On the one hand, the episode does give some much-needed definition to the new supporting cast members that haven't gotten much, like Kamilla and Chester. On the other hand, this episode underscores how much the show has been suffering without supporting cast members like Cisco and Ralph around and how utterly crowded the show has become.
It doesn't help that Barry is unusually pig-headed to justify his grudge with Grodd and Iris spends her limited screen-time once again trying to tell a traumatized genius how to do her job. It's a good thing that Eva has an agenda and has been faking being crazy because otherwise Iris would just look horrible.
At any rate, the effects for Grodd are improved and we get to see the gorilla fight in broad daylight which would have been unthinkable years ago. Ultimately this episode is filler but we get a few good character moments out of it.
Plot
As Iris and Eva McCullouch continue to find a way to escape Mirror World, Barry turns his attention to trying to rebuild Giden. Unfortunately, STAR Labs' newest employee, Chester P. Runk, gets in the way trying to impress Barry and winds up setting the stage for Grodd to force himself into The Flash's mind. But Grodd isn't out for revenge... he needs help!
Influences
The Flash comics of Joshua Williamson (Grodd with super-speed and a lightning bolt emblem in his first), God Friended Me (the title is the pun on another series produced by Greg Berlanti) and The Fly (Camilla makes reference to the movie)
Performances
After being a non-entity in most of her appearances, Victoria Park gives her best performance as Kamilla Hwang in this episode - probably because this is the first episode to give her anything to do beyond being a hostage or the supportive girlfriend.
Goofs
Once again, The Flash contradicts itself as to what the heroes remember about the pre-Crisis universe, with Barry having no idea where his parents are buried now and not remembering that Pied Piper is a metahuman rather than a tech-based criminal.(Presumably, even as a Paragon, Barry has trouble keeping two contradictory sets of information straight in his head as the human brain can only recall so much and his brain has shut down his memory to protect him from the trauma.)
Why can't The Flash run around or phase through the train?
Artistry
The CGI for the gorillas is quite good.
Flash Facts
The address Chester tracks Pied Piper to is the corner of 52nd and Palm. This is yet another nod to the number 52 and its significance in DC Comics.
The idea of Grodd gaining super-speed and the design where he gets a lightning bolt in his fur while merged with Barry - is taken from the most recent run of The Flash comics written by Joshua Williamson.
Technobabble
The Metahuman-Detectors developed by Harry Wells apparently still exist on Earth-Prime, as Barry is wearing one, which alerts him to Pied Piper being close by.
Chester is able to track the Pied Piper by scanning for the same wavelength of the frequency generated by the sonic boom he generates while flying.
Gideon determines that there have been 3.725 trillion changes between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.
Barry describes Gideon as a mobile interactive artificial intelligence unit.
Chester attempts to alter Gideon by flipping the positronic solenoid.
Eva was running R-CEM tests when she became trapped in the mirror dimension.
Nash assembles a residual particle catcher, which can detect and detain the molecular afterglow of things.
Frost determines that Barry is in telepathic contact with someone based on his pulse, his rapid eye movement, his vitals and two distinct brainwaves patterns.
In a mindscape, the host transmits neural signals to the guest's primary motor cortex. It the Memory Machine can be made to synch up with those neural transmitters, it can be used as a communicator to reach the host and guest.
The neural-inhibiting capabilities of Grodd's telepathic crown can only handle the strain of two minds for so long. Eventually the mindscape created by Barry and Grodd's minds will collapse. This will kill both of them.
If you die in a mindscape, you die in the real world.
Removing the crown from Grodd would leave Barry trapped inside Grodd's head.
Sedatives have no effect on speedsters.
Grodd is the only being Frost has encountered whose neurons fire at hyper-neural speeds comparable to Barry's.
It is determined that Chester is responsible for enabling Grodd to take over Barry's mind. When he tweaked the positronic solenoid, he adjusted its hypothalamic connection by a factor of 900%. This was more than enough to boost the signal to allow it to be piggy-backed by Grodd's telepathy.
The subatomic particles emitted by Eva McCulloch's machine can penetrate the mirror's surface, but it won't pierce the barrier between the worlds.
Eva burns her arms and hands trying to reach through the mirror after Iris asks why she's so sure the machine won't work.
For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality.
Barry describes the process by which he and Grodd merge their minds as the mindscape version of the Firestorm Matrix.
Exiting the mindscape while merge would ultimately kill Grodd and Barry, as their bodies would forcibly merge despite being separated in the real world. Kamilla compares this to the process that created the monster in the movie The Fly.
Chester figures out that he can sync Gideon's quantum intelligence network to Barry and Grodd's bio-analytics and let her perfectly time the neural de-splicing as they exit the mindscape
ARGUS injects Grodd with a tracking polymer and agree to release him on probation so long as he can be tracked.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Barry has just lost it with Chester and kicked him out of his lab.)
Kamilla: He's just trying to help.
Barry: Oh, I know. I know. It's... So much has changed after Crisis, and... You know, this morning, when I got the meta alert, I was trying to find my parents' graves. There's not even a cemetery there anymore. I...I searched every graveyard in Central City. I still can't find them. Just feel like a piece of me is missing. And friends like Hartley Rathaway are enemies now. Just everything is so different.
Kamilla: I'll bet hearing different voices on comms doesn't help, either. You want something familiar. That's not us.
Barry: Hey, I didn't mean it like that.
Kamilla: It's okay, Barry. I understand. Just maybe take it easy on Chester.
Barry: So, what, the cage is payback? What, you want vengeance?
Grodd: Not vengeance. Understanding. Grodd wants Barry Allen to see what it's like to have nothing. No powers, no freedom. Only captivity. Caitlin used a neural inhibitor to shut down Grodd's cerebrum. Caitlin betrayed Grodd. But you gave her the authority. This is your doing, Flash.
Barry: I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Your mind is a weapon.
Grodd: You take a weapon from a man, he's still a man. You took Grodd's mind. Grodd's greatest gift. That is not punishment. That is cruelty.
Chester: I am so sorry. I- I never should've came here. This is all my fault.
(Chester leaves the lab. Frost goes chasing after him.)
Frost: Hey. How's you running away gonna help us get Barry out of Grodd's mind?
Chester: Because if I'm not around, at least I can't make things worse.
Frost: Look, I hate to break it to you, but accidentally putting Barry's life in danger is kind of a rite of passage around here. We've all done it: Cisco, me, Ralph, even the janitor. He put too much wax on the floor. But then, after we put his life in danger, we figure out a plan to get him out of it. So now it's your turn.
Chester: You know, in the sixth grade, I got into the science fair with a Millennium Falcon that I built out of used vacuum parts. I mean, it it flew and everything, like a drone. But on the day of the fair, it didn't fly. Uh, rust in the intake manifold was preventing air from getting into the combustion, which was then causing it to...
(Frost looks impatient and gives Chester a "get to the point" look.)
Chester: Sorry. Anyway, I had begged my teacher to let me fix it and then fly again the next day. He said no. You know why? He was an old school brother. And he said that in the real world, people like us we don't get a second chance.
(Chester turns around again and starts to walk to the elevator.)
Frost: Hold on.
(Chester stops and looks back at her.)
Frost: I'm not gonna pretend like I have any idea what your life has been like, and I know that some of the stuff we do in here has nothing to do with the real world. But I'm offering you a second chance. Because you deserve one. 'Cause we all do.
Continuity
As this episode opens, the only people at STAR Labs to help Barry are Chester P. Runk and Kamilla.
Isis is away working on astory.
Frost is said to be at ARGUS checking on Bloodwork.
Cisco is said to be off the grid charting differences between the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis realities.
Ralph is still searching for Sue Dearbon.
Pied Piper has not been seen since 217.
In the Post-Crisis reality, Pied-Piper is a metahuman criminal with sonic control powers, who backs his powers up with technology that enhances his natural abilities.
Pied Piper is able to fly using his sonic blasts as a means of propulsion.
Chester tracks Pied Piper to 52nd and Palm Street. However, he is able to get away because the route Barry too to try to get to him was blocked by a train.
Chester learns that Barry Allen is The Flash.
Barry is trying to upgrade Gideon.
Barry is unable to remember where his parents are buried. He can't even remember the cemetery.
Eva and Iris decide to try and rebuild the machine Eva was working on when she was trapped in Mirror World.
Nash and Allegra assemble a residual particle catcher.
Nash is now hallucinating Sherloque Wells talking to him.
Allegra finds the picture of Nash and her doppelganger from his world. She is creeped out.
Barry suddenly finds himself in a cage, where he is talked to by Eobard Thawne in Harrison Wells' body and Caitlin Snow. Eventually he figures out that he is in one of Gorilla Grodd's memories.
Fake Iris gets into a fight with Joe over accessing a police file on Joseph Carver. She apologizes and makes lunch plans with him for later that day.
When Chester was 11, he drowned his grandmother's car while trying to convert it into a hovercraft.
Grodd is still locked in a coma in a cell in ARGUS, as he was when he was last seen in 515.
Grodd says he wanted Barry to understand what his life was like and that he truly has changed.
Frost uses Sherloque Wells' memory machine from 512 to make contact with Barry inside Grodd's mindscape.
Nash denies that the Allegra Garcia of his Earth was his daughter, describing her as an ex-employee who made a bad call.
Fake Iris misses her lunch appointment with Joe, because she snuck into his office and is stealing the file she asked for earlier.
Eva burns her arms trying to reach through the mirror in her office.
For some reason, Grodd's mind was not effected by the merging of the multiverse and he still recalls the Pre-Crisis reality. He was also able to sense that Gorilla City now exists on Earth-Prime and wishes to go there and live out his life in peace there.
ARGUS agrees to release Grodd on probation after injecting him with a tracking polymer.
Cisco calls Kamilla and tells her he is coming home.
Chester finds the cemetery where Barry's parents are burried.
Barry apologizes for losing his cool with Chester because of everything in his life that is changing.
As the episode closes, STAR Labs satellites detect Pied Piper attempting another robbery.
Nash is once again confronted by a hallucination of Sherloque Wells, whose eyes glow red and features begin to vibrate like the Reverse Flash.
In the final scene, Eva is revealed to be controlling the Fake Iris, who received the same wounds Eva developed after being burned. Eva is able to heal the wounds on the Fake Iris with a wave of her hand, however.
Untelevised Adventures
It is said that Team Flash did something to Pied Piper in the past, but Barry has no memory of what.
STAR Labs employs a never before seen janitor, who nearly killed Barry by over-waxing the floors.
The episode ends before we can see Barry and Chester catch the Pied Piper.
The Boomerang Factor
Barry acts like a judgemental jackass, which is not entirely out of character for him. Its just amusing that for as much store as Barry puts in the idea of people like Leonard Snart being basically good deep down and as much as he preaches the idea that people can be redeemed like his friend Oliver Queen, Barry is totally unwilling to believe that Grodd has changed in the face of everything else in the world that is different.
The Bottom Line
A bit of a mixed bag, overall. On the one hand, the episode does give some much-needed definition to the new supporting cast members that haven't gotten much, like Kamilla and Chester. On the other hand, this episode underscores how much the show has been suffering without supporting cast members like Cisco and Ralph around and how utterly crowded the show has become.
It doesn't help that Barry is unusually pig-headed to justify his grudge with Grodd and Iris spends her limited screen-time once again trying to tell a traumatized genius how to do her job. It's a good thing that Eva has an agenda and has been faking being crazy because otherwise Iris would just look horrible.
At any rate, the effects for Grodd are improved and we get to see the gorilla fight in broad daylight which would have been unthinkable years ago. Ultimately this episode is filler but we get a few good character moments out of it.
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