2.19 Back To Normal My main problem with Back To Normal, predictably, was Caitlin. I’m obviously not thrilled that she’s been kidnapped yet again, but I went over that last week, and the outcome of that cliffhanger not only takes an entire episode to become apparent but also means Zoom is an absolute idiot. We knew he was mad, but isn’t he also supposed to be an evil genius? He has to be both if he’s going to be a formidable big bad. Why would he take Caitlin back to a world in which her friends can rescue her, if his goal is to keep her with him forever? But then again, neither the characters nor the show seem too concerned about getting her back, if Back To Normal is anything to go by. Heck, we open on Barry waking up, getting dressed, getting coffee and doing paperwork, when the ‘previously on’ just recapped a major development. It’s like Barry’s in power saving-mode, his heroism and need for action apparently lost along with his speed. We’ve had entire episodes dedicated to this particular trait of season two Barry, but here it just comes across as boredom. I’d rather see him distressed than melancholy, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. Am I alone in hating Killer Frost? I imagine there are fans of the show actually using the character for something more interesting than delivering exposition and loving terminally-ill men, and I agree with that to an extent, but it’s the execution I can’t get behind. The delivery is just too big and too obvious, and her characterisation doesn’t go much beyond being a more sexualised version of the Caitlin we know. I enjoy any storyline involving Wells, and I like what we’ve seen from Jessie so far, but the show needs to fast-forward to its endgame with her if they’re going to retain any interest. This is the perfect time for a female speedster to complicate things, preferably before Barry gets his own powers back, but I fear that she’s simply what she appears to be and any easter egg moments are merely to please the comic book fans. She is useful to the team this week, though, and it’s always good to get some new blood in the lab. But Wells’ kidnapping by an aggrieved metahuman did bring up a lot of smaller moments to enjoy. I like that Earth-2 Harrison doesn’t really care at all about what his Earth-1 counterpart might have done, and how Iris has seemingly become part of the STAR Labs team while we’re not looking. It’s also fun to see Barry have to do actual CSI work to solve a case without his powers. And somehow, against all odds, I loved Wally’s storyline a lot this week. He’s becoming a nice, sweet, unassuming presence now that we’ve exhausted the speed racer nonsense, and his bond with Joe has been allowed to become quite established in the background. I’d like for him to have more interaction with Barry, but I guess his admiration of The Flash this week counts as adjacent to that. So, the man in the iron mask reveal is going to be the biggest disappointment of the television season, yes? There’s no way it can live up to the hype, and the only way I’ll leave a satisfied viewer is if it’s Barry’s father and that’s where he’d been all year. Is it really going to blow our minds, in an internet culture that’s already picked apart the mystery from every conceivable angle? Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Versus Zoom, here.
