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FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 2×19- “Back to Normal”

The Flash
(2×19) –
“Back to Normal”
Written by: Brooke Roberts
& Katherine Walczak
Directed by: John
F Showalter
It’s just an
ordinary day in Central City now that Barry has rejoined the world of the
ordinary people and the world has to move on. 
Meanwhile, Cisco has found Caitlin. 
Zoom has her in his hideout and while Joe is playing comforting parent,
Wells has decided to find Jesse and put as much distance between them and Zoom
as possible but he’s doing Barry the favor of playing honest parent for Barry
one more time.
Back on Earth-2
Caitlin is getting all the comforts a creepy serial killer with super-powers
could provide.  Five-star cuisine on a
dirty cafeteria tray, dark, dank accommodations and a promise from the host that
he’ll force her to love him.  Zoom leaves
Caitlin to explore her new home and she tries to talk to Taps On Glass
unsuccessfully but gets to talk to someone else.  Caitlin Snow meet Killer Frost.
Back on Earth
One, Joe gets a visit from Wally at the station.  It seems Wally has starting to notice just
how buddy-buddy his dad and sister are with the Flash and wants to meet the guy
who gave up his powers in exchange for Wally’s safety.  Unfortunately, Joe’s not sure he can do that
but he doesn’t have to decide now thanks to Captain Singh providing the
convenient cover for an exit and delay.
Wells finds Jesse
in Opal City and it seems Jesse still hasn’t forgiven her father for going off
the deep end by murdering Turtle and decided it’s pretty convenient to blame
him.  Loudly.  In an echo-y apartment.  Where her roommate could hear.
I’m just going to
put this here:
Anyway, Wells
leaves to return to Central City and has a run-in with a metahuman.  Literally. 
The guy steps in front of his van and wrecks it then rips the door off
and kidnaps him.
At STAR Labs,
Barry is brooding and Cisco is trying to break him out of it but the bad news
keeps coming since Cisco has some creepy version of OnStar on all his
vehicles.  (Seriously, Cisco why do you
always go the extra mile to get to creepy town?)  Barry heads off to find Wells while he has
Cisco try to contact Jesse.
Back on Earth-2,
Caitlin, Frost and TOG are having a pow-wow since Frost knows her days are
numbered with Caitlin here so she offers an exchange.  Her freedom for Caitlin’s.
Barry and Iris
are checking out the wrecked van and Barry’s found some clues, including
blood.  They all add up to “Not Good” so
Iris grabs Wells’ BFG and the two head off in search of Jesse and Cisco.  Meanwhile, Wells wakes up in an abandoned
carnival warehouse and meets his kidnapper. 
Now don’t let the “forty-year-old trying to look hip and failing” thing
fool you, Griffin Grey is actually only eighteen.  See, he got a real mixed bag from the
Accelerator Explosion.  He got
super-strength but it came with some super strength progeria and he wants Wells
to fix it.
Or he’ll make
sure to “fix” Wells before he grows old and dies.
Back at STAR
Labs, Cisco has managed to ID Griffin but can’t do much more since DAMMIT Jim,
he’s an engineer! Not a doctor! Fortunately, Jesse apparently had a half a dozen
majors in college and Bio-Chem was one. 
She can figure out what’s happening to our freak of the week.
Caitlin is
trying to break Frost out and the pair compare notes while she waves some
technobabble over Frost’s cell and they get ready to escape.
At the
Police Station, Wally visits Joe to try and meet the Flash.  Joe is resistant, probably because he knows
it will just remind Barry that he’s lost his powers but Wally has a
counter-argument.  The Flash saving him
has inspired him to be more than he thought he was and he needs to thank him
for it.
At STAR
Labs, Barry has found Grey at Ace Chemical stealing supplies and he and Cisco
race off to find him. They meet up with Joe at Ace and…
This is some
bullshit, Barry!  You call this Ace
Chemicals?!  It’s clean!  There’s no giant vats of noxious
chemicals!  How’s someone supposed to
become a super-villain in a place like this?  
Go to your room!  No Supper!
They find
Grey and ask for him to let Wells go, Grey responds by going all Donkey Kong on
them.  At one point hitting Barry with a
barrel, that should have killed him. 
Barry does get to see Grey age but he still escapes.
At STAR
Labs, Jesse explains what’s going on with Grey and unfortunately the only plan
they have is let Grey punch himself to death. 
So while Cisco and Jesse go to work on that terrible plan.  Iris gives Barry a pep talk to keep his chin
up.
Back to
Earth-2, Caitlin and Frost try their science-y break out plan and it works but
there’s a problem.  See, Frost knows she’s
dead with Caitlin so she has a plan for that. 
That plan is kill Caitlin. 
Unfortunately, Zoom arrives and follows the plan.  He kills a Caitlin… Earth-2’s Caitlin.  He tells our Caitlin if she tries that again
he’ll kill TOG then he leaves.
At STAR
Labs, frustration has set in as they try to track Grey or Wells and nothing
seems to work until Jesse remember that her dad’s watch would be trying to send
a signal to a server that isn’t there. 
She tracks that signal and bing, bang, boom! They find him.  Time to put “Operation: Human Piñata” into
action.  Thanks to some suit upgrades
courtesy of Felicity, Barry’s suit can take one solid punch before Grey will
make his insides resemble yogurt.
Wells has
finish his “cure” but unfortunately there isn’t a cure for massive genetic
damage so Grey is out of luck.  Which
means so is Wells.  However, team Flash
shows up before he can kill the man so Grey goes out to deal with them.
Barry’s plan
is basically smoke and mirrors to make it like he still has his powers.  In the end, Barry’s pretty lucky that Grey
wasn’t much of a planner.  He plays right
into their plan and grows old then dies. 
The day is “saved.”
Wells and
Jesse return to STAR Labs and Wells apologizes to Jesse and he promises not to
go completely off the deep end anymore. 
No more murders. Cross my heart.
Joe takes
Wally to the roof of Jitters to meet the Flash and Wally thanks him for saving his
life.  Especially considering the
cost.  Unsurprisingly, gratitude
sincerely expressed can mend a lot of wounded spirits and Barry is no
different.
Back on
Earth-2, Zoom visits Caitlin and he’s trying to end this “silly fight” they’re
having.  If she wants to go home so
badly, he’ll oblige her.  They’ll go back
to Earth-One… Then he’ll conquer it, and eventually the whole Multi-Verse will
kneel before Zod- ZOOM! I meant Zoom.
For the
coda, Wells finds Barry brooding in the Lab and the two talk.  Barry knows in his heart that the only way to
save Caitlin is to get his powers back. 
Meanwhile, Wells knows in his heart that the only way to make up for
what he’s done is to stop Zoom and to do that requires really drastic action…
Really drastic.
They need to
blow up the Accelerator again.
Bit of a letdown
this week.  That’s the real problem of
doing Zoom immediately after Reverse Flash. 
The story is going to feel the same and the show kind of feels repetitive
and stunt-y. 
This is the second
time Barry has lost his powers, third if you count his broken back and the
thing is it doesn’t work.  I don’t
believe he’s lost his powers so there’s no threat, even if they didn’t bring
his powers back this week I know without seeing the preview that he’ll have
them back next week.  If there’s no drama
we’re not left with much.  To say nothing
of the problem of them doing this storyline too much.
But, I don’t
want to be hard on them, despite taking on a storyline that they knew would
feel a lot of like season one, they playing it out well and that is
admirable.  Also, the side stories are
still compelling.  Wally’s was the stand
out this week, despite him having the shortest amount of screen-time.  He’s come a long way from his “CW Presents
the Fast and the Furious” routine earlier this season and I really believe his
character growth. 
The
Caitlin/Frost scenes were interesting, and that could not have been easy acting
opposite yourself so good work Danielle Panabaker.  (I am sure they spawned a lot of fan-fiction
too, don’t play coy internet. If someone can coin the term self-cest, you know
it’s a thing that happens.)
But in the
end, the results are mixed.
Three Things We
Learned This Week:
1)     
Jesse has at least five degrees.
2)     
Zoom has returned to Earth One.
3)     
Killer Frost had survived “Escape From Earth-2.”
Three Questions:
1)     
Will Wally continue to work his way onto Team
Flash?
2)     
If the meta-watch is constantly around two metas
and constantly trying to send signals how much does Wells spend on watch
batteries?
3)     
Will Darkseid be pissed that Zoom is copying his
schtick?

Just another guy on the internet.