On this week's episode of The Flash, Wells wants to head back to Earth-Two to stop Zoom. Caitlin wants him to stay until they defeat Zoom. Caitlin finds Wells later on in a hotel bar and Caitlin tells him they can help Wells get his daughter back. Wells says he failed and he doesn't have another plan. Wells has a lightbulb moment and says they should close all the bridges in the city to Earth-Two except the one to STAR Labs, to trap Zoom.
Cisco and Kendra go on a date together. Cisco touches Kendra and sees flashes of Hawkgirl. He leaves right away. At a lab somewhere, a doctor is working on something, then goes blank. He grabs something from a contained area and leaves the lab with it. He gets outside and sets it down and comes back to his sense. Grodd comes in and smashes him.
The next day, Patty is investigating the scene and Joe comes up. They investigate the doctor's body and the point of impact. Barry is still dealing with the emotional and physical impact Zoom had on him. He is still having trouble walk as well. Cisco asks Caitlin about the "birdman" he saw. Caitlin's face goes blank and she punches Cisco and walks away. Patty calls Joe with info about the case they were investigating and Joe is two steps ahead of her. He knows it's Grodd. Joe runs in to talk to Cisco and Barry and tells them Grodd is back. Cisco knows that Caitlin was being "mind controlled."
Meanwhile, Caitlin wakes up somewhere and Grodd needs her help. He says Caitlin has always been nice to him. He wants to know how he became Grodd. He wants to make more creatures like Grodd. Gorilla City, here we come!
Barry is running and trying to tap into the Speed Force. He's frustrated, so his dad comes to pay him a visit. Iris brought him there. Cisco thinks he found Grodd, in a bell tower somewhere in town. Barry won't be much help. Wells has on a Reverse Flash suit and Cisco says Wells will convince Grodd he's his father.
Cisco and Wells head to the last bell tower. Henry and Barry talk. Henry tries to give Barry some inspiration and get Barry back on his feat. Wells shows up to the bell tower to talk to Grodd. He says he wants to take Caitlin away. Grodd knows the gig is up and he hits Wells. Wells gets up and gets mad, grabbing some syringes. Wells stabs Grodd with them and Grodd goes out like a light.
After hanging out at STAR Labs, Caitlin heads back to the belltower to talk to Grodd. Flash shows up and says that Grodd has to catch him. Flash has something like PTSD and flashbacks to Zoom and Grodd gets ahold of him. Caitlin comes in and tells Grodd that she can give him a home. They suck Grodd into a wormhole after Henry gives Barry some inspiration.
Wells explains that Grodd got sent to a place where experimented Gorillas roam freely... Gorilla City! Back at the West household, Henry says goodbye to everyone. Barry goes to visit Patty, who is hard at work. Patty knows that Barry lied to him. Barry says that his father was in town and he needed to talk to him. They make up. Meanwhile, Cisco brings Kendra some flowers and chocolate. Cisco kisses her and sees Hawkgirl. Grodd reaches Gorilla City on Earth-Two.
AHH! Gorilla City! Ok, fanboy moment over. Frankly, this is something I never thought we'd see in this show simply because it's something too big to set-up in the series. It could take years. However, we have Earth-Two and it's apparently already there. If we never see Grodd again, which would be sad, at least we got to see Gorilla City.
Onto the actual episode and not just the 1-minute endcap.
This episode really solidifies the STAR Labs team as they work together for the common goal of beating down Grodd. Everyone here serves a purpose, one way or another, even if they're just bait (sorry Caitlin). Regardless, Caitlin does have a real purpose other than the cliched damsel in distress. She has a real connection with Grodd because she was the only person nice to him while Grodd was at STAR Labs, so he has a soft spot for her. She can be trusted.
Barry has his own trials and tribulations as the fight with Zoom did more than cripple him physically. The fight made him feel like he wasn't a hero, like he was weak, showing us that he is mortal and one of us. Personally, I would have like to see him dealing with the Zoom fallout a little bit longer, but it worked well for the one episode with the final battle between Flash and Grodd being the moment Flash comes back to the fold, full force.
Speaking of Grodd, he looked fantastic here. The CGI was pretty great, and there's something about that character I love in the television series, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the comic book version. He's a villain who the viewer can have sympathy for, since he was stuck in a lab and received all these powers and he's confused and probably frightened. He doesn't fit into that normal villain category that the other villains do.
This episode finally gave viewers a glimpse at Kendra as Hawkgirl and she looked pretty fantastic. This is a character I'm excited for. Frankly, I'll take any Justice Society of America on the show. The outfit looked great and I cannot wait to see the Flash/Arrow crossover and not just because it has Vandal Savage in it. Hawkgirl finally gets to spread her wings, pun intended.
Henry Allen coming back made sense for the story and moving Barry forward, but it did not feel like it worked. Henry left to go on his own adventures, after leaving his son behind who dedicated his life to proclaiming his father's innocence. That moment was pretty ridiculous, but it's like the show completely went back on it instead of riding with it. Now Henry is just going to pop back into the picture whenever it's convenient for the story?
This episode got extremely cheesy at the end with Patty/Barry and Cisco/Kendra. It even had Peter Gabriel's "Your Eyes" playing over the dialogue and kissing. Romance is fine and a major part of telling the majority of stories, but it comes off as a bit much.
"Gorilla Warfare" was probably the weakest episode of this season so far, but it was still a pretty great show. It was entertaining and there was a lot of character building towards a better working group dynamic for future episodes. Zoom may not have been the focus, but he's still a major part of the episode without ever appearing in it. This felt like a nice quick break from that main story to wrap up more with Grodd, which worked well. Season two of The Flash continues to be dynamite.
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