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The Flash: Trajectory

"Villains gonna vill."

A new speedster's in town and painting everything red tonight, and the Flash can barely keep up–and winds up taking the blame from the city at large; meanwhile, Barry discovers the existence of Velocity-9, despite the best efforts of Caitlin and Wells.

OMG finally. I couldn't handle another week of waiting; thank Fox this episode was worth it.

Barry's getting desperate to match Zoom's speed; while he's trapped Zoom on the other side of the breaches, he has a strong feeling this is a temporary measure. The opening cliff-hanger had the perfect ending: no matter what Barry tries, the team is going to be there to save him. (With some grumbling. "Why did you have to bring those drones along, Cisco? Oh, I don't know...")

The disappointment of the cliff crash demands the team relax–so we get some funny dance scenes in a club and semi-embarrassment from our drunken group (and a semi-intimate marriage discussion between Iris and Barry.) I'm loving these group moments, to be honest; they remind me of Buffy and Firefly and even Supernatural at their best. When yet another speedster arrives, who's once again faster than the Flash, it's got to be humbling for our Scarlet Swoosh. The new woman on the fast lane turns out to be a former colleague of Caitlin, who managed to retro-engineer Velocity-9. I kept calling her Chaos at first, because she seemed initially to be just that: out to cause as much chaos as possible, with no discernible end in mind, in true and tried comic book fashion. The development for Trajectory (why DO all the crazy ones have to name themselves? I don't know, Cisco!) feels rushed, but at least it's there, which is an improvement over some of the one-off heroes we've seen this season and last season. Eliza's just overwhelmed with getting passed over, with working so hard for Mercury Labs and getting nothing for it. Rushed, maybe, but I think anyone who's ever had a horrific office job feels the pain. Her solution is speed; once she tries Velocity-9, she's hooked, and when she runs out, she attacks STAR Labs for more. Her antics are generally blamed on the Flash.


Barry, of course, now has to be told Velocity-9 is a thing. He goes through a should-I-take-it phase, and it takes a while to sink in that Trajectory is more powerful because of medical means. Once he sees Trajectory dissolve into blue lightning at the end, and once Barry makes that so-casual connection to Jay and creates a solid triangle... the entire team realizes Jay is really Zoomjay. Got to wonder how much of Jay's antagonism with Wells has to do with Jay being Zoom. I need to go back and rewatch episodes - see if there's any hint to anything in how Jay and Barry and Jay and Wells interacted. Of course, the question remains: can Barry achieve naturally what Zoomjay and Trajectory did with a couple of injections? (And I guess I liked Jay more than I realized, because I'm still hoping there's a third Jay or something.)

Poor Wells. Jesse reminded me somewhat of the more innocent Iris from last season here, unable to accept her father's duality and ruthlessness. After an entire season fighting to rescue his daughter, even giving her tons of blood after a Trajectory attack, Wells has to let her go. She can't deal with his willingness to descend to the depths for the people he loves. Iris doesn't have things easy either; under pressure from her editor to create an expose on the Flash, unwilling to compromise her ideals, she winds up going out on a date instead. (I guess another theme for this episode would be: Pressure? Party!)

Where do all these events leave us? We know Iris is in a more solid state with her editor. The Flash team now have an idea that Zoomjay may be using Velocity-9 or some sort of variant. Could this give them a strategy to take Zoom down? I still feel we have a lot to discover about Zoom's motivations. And who the heck is the Man in the Iron Mask? Here's to next week.

Flashpoints

I don't get Cisco's visions of Zoomjay in this episode; are they visions of the past or the present? If the present, Zoom is basically standing around in the dark taking his hood off and putting it back on. The other Cisco could see the past and future; maybe ours is beginning to expand his skills?

I felt bad for Trajectory at the end, speeding into nothing. Think she'll be back? Or will that stunt she pulled with Jesse, turn Jesse into a speedster? In the comics the character's been known as Jesse Quick; this show is developing its own mythology, however, and it'll be cool to see whether and how they give Jesse speed powers.

PZ negative is a blood type in Earth-2.

And did I catch that Beyonce works in the government? Must rewatch!

This episode had so many plots and subplots! It's a testament to this team that they were able to pull off each and every one. Kudos.

Flashcards

Cisco: Well, you want to get faster. Maybe plummeting to your death is the motivation you need.

Caitlin: You know how there's a speedster wreaking havoc on the city?
Eliza: Yeah, I heard the Flash went nuts. Fame will do it to you. I guess some people can't handle the limelight, right?

Wells: Remember this. You lose a chunk of your humanity every time you compromise your values. (Kinda ironic, considering what happened between him and Jesse.

Overall

I loved Trajectory, and the team on this show just keeps getting better and better.

Four out of five mysteriously retro-engineered Velocities.

5 comments:

  1. The PZ negative thing was weird, not because they have different blood types, but because everybody just assumed that PZ negative was a different blood type, as opposed to being what we call AB negative or O positive.

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  2. Me me me! I've had an horrific office job!

    Come on, Jesse! How hard is a little "thanks for saving my life twice, Dad"?

    Jesse referred to "Senator Knowles", so I guess Beyonce went into politics. :)

    I enjoyed this one and like you, Joseph, I'm glad the Zoomjay is finally out of the bag.

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  3. I am also going to go back and rewatch starting from when Jay first appeared. I always thought something was up with him in that he was always missing. It is almost like the Clark Kent/Superman thing. I don't remember him and Zoom ever being in the same space at the same time. And I kind of never fully bought that he lost his speed. And his reasons for being sick either. I am definitely going back to watch again.

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  4. I interpreted Wells' "Remember this" comment not as ironic, but as him expressing recognition of the cost to himself after the conversation between him and Jesse, and the anguish I heard in Wells' voice was from that.

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  5. And I guess I liked Jay more than I realized, because I'm still hoping there's a third Jay or something.

    Ditto!

    I don't get Cisco's visions of Zoomjay in this episode; are they visions of the past or the present? If the present, Zoom is basically standing around in the dark taking his hood off and putting it back on.

    This made me laugh! Maybe Zoom is having a bad hair day and can't decide what to do.

    Seriously, though: my best guess is that Cisco's vibes are a full-sensory experience, including just pure knowledge (sort of like how the "visions" worked on Angel), but that all we get is the visual to represent what Cisco is in the process of learning. I hope that makes sense! And that it's correct.

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