The Flash faces what is probably one of his most dangerous metahumans yet: Everyman, a copycat humaniform shapeshifter. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is on a mission to discover two things: the true identity of Harrison Wells, and the depth of their loyalty to the person who's worked with them for years.
Last week's crossover left me puzzled. This week's crossover left me grinning. We not only get the Canary Cry, we get a crossover with characters who relate due to actual plot issues in their lives. The search for the identity of Wells and the Reverse-Flash leads our team to split up; Cisco and West head to Starling City while Caitlin works at distracting Wells and the Flash chases down an amazing supervillain of a metahuman whose abilities, while cool, are severely restricted by a plot deficiency.
Detective Lance and Joe West share a lot of respect for each other, and Jesse Martin and Paul Blackthorne do a phenomenal job of showing how that respect perhaps lowers walls between the characters which might otherwise have prevented some incredible conversations regarding daughters, protectiveness, and murky ethics. Meanwhile, Cisco produces a far better weapon for Laurel Lance than he did for the Golden Glider. Every moment of these scenes made total sense to me as a viewer; I wonder also if the frequency of these crossovers indicates a new type of universe coming to television, with frequent interactions between shows. We have a plethora of superheroes coming to the small screen soon; it would be an interesting shift. But I digress.
Back in Central City, Caitlin feels her loyalty to Barry struggling with her loyalty to Wells. It makes perfect sense, and I feel Barry should be a little more understanding. Didn't he just go through hell realizing the potential and depth of Wells' betrayal? He might have been distracted by Everyman; I think Everyman is one of the more intriguing metahumans we've seen so far. What was even cooler were the moments between Barry and Eddie. Everyman morphs into Eddie, framing him and getting him imprisoned; Barry busts Eddie out, worried about his friend. Barry's Superman complex is getting ridiculous, but Eddie telling Barry how much confidence he has in him–and this from a guy who punched him one timeline ago–has got to be a powerful shot of perspective for our titular hero. I bet I'm not the only one to find Eddie a lot more intriguing without Iris. (And I can't be the only fan who had a Gee, why isn't Barry dating Eddie? moment.)
No Flash episode would be complete without Iris drama however, and this episode is no exception; she continues her snubbing of Eddie. This actually seemed to lead her to do some reporter-type research, and drives a lot of the interaction between Eddie and Barry... which, again, is so good as to ameliorate the pain of watching Cranky Iris. In the end, Eddie chooses Iris. How will that change his relationship with Barry?
The Everyman plot starts out kinda cool, but then degenerates. It's not crazy for a shapeshifting thief to steal the identity of others to get the goods. I thought the ability to shift so easily into the forms of others - leaving nothing behind - potentially incredibly damaging, well, anywhere. Once Everyman realized that there was a team after him, though, he should have run; it didn't make sense for him to keep poking the STAR Labs team, to me. It felt like that whole bit was a setup on the part of the writers to get to That Minute With Caitlin and Not-Barry. This lead to some plot ridiculousness with Caitlin becoming a custody officer, Everyman escaping, and Barry finally tracking him down. In his last scene, Everyman realizes he's unable to any longer assume his natural form at the goading of Wells–but it comes across as almost hokey and Mighty Morphin Power Rangersish.
The developments around Wells, however, were vital. Joe and Cisco's investigation, with the help of Quentin Lance, uncovered his actual body, and made it possible for the team to realize the truth: it's something else wearing the face of their friend. Caitlin chooses sides, and chooses ours. And in their hunt the team stumble accidentally on the secret room, the yellow suit... and Gideon, displaying a photo of the Flash in a news article from the future, showing that he's disappeared somehow in a crisis.
Bits and Pieces
CISCO! He's so adorable, crushing on the Black Canary. And that fan photo! What was interesting was Laurel's reaction to it all. She sort of had a "Yes, I'm an international model, You may admire me" thing going on.
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| This expression. |
Quotables
Laurel: I'm the Black Canary.
Cisco: Stop playing.
Laurel: It's true.
Cisco: You stop it right now. No.
Laurel: Okay, okay. Calm down.
Cisco: I love you. I mean I love the way that you beat up criminals.
Overall
Two and a half out of four anti-morphin' yellow syringes.
My favorite part was Barry and Eddie trying to fit on that tiny old lady couch, holding pillows and trying not to touch each other. This show does those comedy bits very well.
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