Note: There will be spoilers in the recap and review.

Recap

Iris knows Barry's secret. What she should do about it?

Singh wants to know where Eddie is. Joe and Barry tell him he took some personal time. Iris comes and tells Barry that the "Man in Yellow" took Eddie. She's pushing him to see what he'd say or do. She suggests the Flash search for him. Barry says he's probably doing everything he can. Iris says she's having a hard time trusting he Flash.

A gold reserve is getting robbed by a guy in armor and a mask. Barry was about to grab him and was overwhelmed by fear. The guy went down too. Barry refers to him as "some rainbow raider." As he's getting examined by Caitlin, Iris walks in. Busted! She tells him how she figured it out. Barry says he understands she must be angry. Iris says she's not angry, she's disappointed. She asks if Eddie knew. She asks if that's why he was kidnapped. Barry tries saying it was for her safety, especially when things got crazy. He lets it slip that Joe knows. Iris really gets upset and leaves.

Harrison has Eddie tied to a chair. Eddie tries egging him on and Wells speeds up to him and tells him to stop talking.

Joe confronts Iris. He says he was wrong and was just trying to get her safe. Joe then explains that the Reverse Flash was dangerous and killed Mason. She blames him for not telling her as well as not telling her how Barry felt. If she knew, she wouldn't be dating Eddie. Hmmm.

There's another shipment of gold coming. The gold is being transported in an ice cream truck. The masked man is there and ready. Joe is about to shoot him but Barry knocks him down. Hey unmask him and it's General Eiling. He seems to be in a trance when they bring him back to STAR Labs. He knows Barry is the Flash. He's talking weird and finally says he is Grodd. Grodd was an experiment being done by Eiling to make gorillas telepathic. When Wells found out, he shut it down. They don't know where he went. They figure the reactor explosion must have turned Grodd into a meta human. They bring in Iris to find out if she knows anything about gorillas. She mentions a report on sightings in the sewers. Joe, Barry, and Cisco venture into the sewers to look for him.

Iris and Caitlin talk while they guys are in the sewers. Caitlin says Barry does feel bad about lying. Iris then asks about her fiancé. In the sewers, they find chalk writing and crude drawings on the walls. They start to hear something and Barry's hit by something--a telepathic blast. Joe is taken. When he wakes up, he sees Grodd and is forced to turn his gun on himself. He's about to shoot himself then throws the gun. Grodd says, "Father hates guns." Joe tires giving him a banana but he hates those too. Iris is mad that they do all this stuff to help people everyday but can't save Eddie and her dad. Iris explains how hurt she is that Barry lied to her. He was supposed to tell her everything. Barry brings up the moment they had at Christmas. She must be keeping something from him.

Eddie continues to try pushing Wells. Wells mentions how Eddie had such a boring life. His career was uneventful. He even points out that Eddie doesn't even get the girl. To prove this, he shows Eddie the newspaper headline from the future with Iris' byline that says "Iris West-Allen." Cisco and Caitlin came up with something that might block the telepathy. Barry's going to try a super-sonic punch on Grodd like he used on Girder. Grodd senses him and grabs his punch. Speed punches don't work. Grodd throws him through a wall. The device is offline and Grodd is in control of Barry's mind. A train is coming. Iris tries talking to get through to Barry. She says to do it for her. It starts to work. Barry stands up to Grodd who leaps at Barry, just as a train comes and knocks him away.

Eiling is set free since his brain scan comes up normal. Barry tries explaining that not all meta humans are bad. Eiling admits he's known Barry's secret. Barry knows he thinks he might need him someday. Eiling says they have a common enemy now in Wells.

Joe is trying to recover. He has some broken ribs and stuff. He explains his life started when she was born. They agree to tell each other the truth.

Barry figures Wells must have sent Grodd since he called him father and didn't kill Wells. Wells must be trying to distract them. Barry later goes to Iris' spot where she first met Flash. Barry explains he wasn't afraid in the sewers and was able to stand up to Grodd was because of Iris. She's always been part of everything for Barry. Without her, there wouldn't be he Flash. Iris says that maybe there was something but Eddie is the man she lives with and loves. Barry promised to find him and bring him back. After that? They don't know.

Wells says he now has the "key." He has some device and plugs it in. Now it's time to go home.

Thoughts

There was a lot that went down in this episode and surprisingly, it didn't feel crammed all together. The big thing is Iris confronting Barry about being the Flash. This is something that could have easily been dragged on for a few more episodes or even until next season. The fact that Iris had no choice but to immediately bring it up makes it feel more realistic. We've joked about Iris being written as a little annoying at times but she does make a good point. Barry didn't necessarily have to tell her his secret but they were close. She points out that they always told each other everything. It's more about the betrayal and the feeling that she couldn't be trusted that caused her anger. We do see her using her expertise to help Barry along with Caitlin and Cisco. With Wells out of the picture, for now, they need the extra help.

Speaking of Wells, it felt a little odd how little he did on screen. When we see him, he's up to something and just has Eddie tied to a chair. He spouts out some information and, by the end, we realize what he's up to. As pointed out, yes, he was stalling. It almost felt like he was fine with leaving Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco running around STAR Labs when he could go back and try to do something. Wells (or Eobard) telling Eddie about Iris' future with Barry was interesting. Although Barry saw the same newspaper byline. It'll be interesting to see if anyone tells Iris about that. We'll miss good old Harrison Wells but at least now he doesn't have to pretend to be so nice.

Then there's Grodd. Even though we got some glimpses at him before, there was some concern over how they would pull him off. The great thing is, they did. Obviously some changes were made but his origin worked. They also managed to make him look good on screen. That's something I wasn't sure they'd be able to do with whatever the TV budget for the episode was. Grodd does get away. It'll be nice to see him again at some point. Will he still feel loyalty to Wells or will he have his own motives? All we know is no one better try offering him bananas. "Grodd hate banana."

It wasn't a perfect episode but pretty close. We had so much good stuff in this episode. The show continues its consistency week after week. It's going to be hard when the season ends and we're stuck waiting for the next season to start up.

It was okay...at best....this was no 5 star episode....

Grodd was amazing.

Okay I need to start watching Flash again....... I love Grodd.

Agreed, it felt like a filler for some reason.

But Grodd was fantastic, never thought he would be good on a show.

Iris calling out Joe/Barry for their bullsh*t was nice

Barry inconsistent speed is an annoyance why does he still need so much distance for a sonic punch?

So Eobard is grooming Eddie to take up the mantle.

Joe is one hardcore shipper, even in an argument he asked Iris "So your saying if you knew how Barry felt...". Lol.

Yeah, that's what it thought too. I watched last week's one tonight too, that one was awesome.

"I'm a genius where I come from... What does that make me here?"

I love that line!

I also am really happy we get the actual Eobard personality from the comics!

But I found that Eobard was a little more harsh to Eddie than he needed to be...

This was most definitely not a 5 star episode. It was extremely good though still.. Agents of Shield outshines Flash this week

I really wish they would invest in state of the art CGI because Grodd looks lame.

Yeah they need to working on the pacing next season but they are probably just buying time, for a logical reason to why Al Sah-him/Arrow would help team Flash beat Eobard when he wouldn't even help his own team. I honestly don't see reason why Arrow is needed, WTF is he going to do? Barry told Eobard he cant fight all 3 at once, lol.

@the_kidd: lol. Wtf. That's kinda insane.

@the_kidd: awesome! I didn't see the promo for next week's episode. Also Barry or Cisco/caitlin need to learn the suit in the ring tech for barry! I want to see him use it on the show like in the comics!

It was really good to me, but hell no, not a 5 star. More like a really great 3 or 4.

@sentryman555: If you slow down the video it looks like Eobard already has one.

@awesomeperson said:

I guess Eddie is the black sheep of the family as far as Eddie is concerned.

This was a 3 star episode at best for me, Grodd was amazing, but the Joe kidnapping was extremely forced, and Iris somehow managed to be annoying even with a good point behind her, the humor was also really lacking in this episode.

Also what type of security does Star labs have that Iris can just waltz into the science labs, it made sense for everybody else.

i'd give it a 5/10, but since this site don't do half stars, i'll round it up

This episode was a bit too CW for my taste.

@nightfang: Doesn't Black Sheep mean that thier the bad one in a family of good ones...

Shouldnt Eddie be the White sheep???

@nightfang: I don't often believe the villains are telling the whole truth when one mocks a tied up prisoner and is obviously trying to manipulate them. He's keeping Eddie for a reason.

@the_kidd: Don't count the Arrow out against Wells. Look at how many times Barry has been hurt or knocked around because he had to stop and say something to the badguy, giving them enough time to run away, or shoot him with fire, or bees... Wells is a talker, too.

Haven't seen the episode yet, but Grodd has looked amazing since the first time I saw him on the show. They just nailed him, on point.

Daredevil is so much better /s

I'm not sure why every Flash review needs to have at least one or two comments going "G-guys, you should watch Agents of Shield too".

@the_kidd I'm with you on this, Firestorm I can see hurting Wells but being K.O'd leaving it up to Flash to finish Wells off, but how can Arrow help? Wells is Faster than Barry who has gotten faster since their little vs.

I guess the power of popularity will save/protect him.

Great ep and I love how it ended with both Grodd and Eilling free to return to menace the Flash (and other heroes) later on.

Its just super aggro Marvel fans that are pissed that a show on CW has almost the same viewer market as a show by their precious Whedon God. It has become pretty pathetic.

It's less annoying than when they flooded the DCTV reviews with Daredevil comments.

It's actually because Comicvine "doesn't have the time" to review AOS. Reviews often get people into watching stuff. Not only that. The shows come on like within an hour of eachother. They are both the best comicbook shows on TV. It's hard not to mention one without the other

iris was great in this better then wells

@titanbreaker: You guys are missing one point: Arrow's not doing so well this season, specially compared to the Flash. What's the logical thing to do when you have two shows that exist on the same place but the first is doing way better than the seccond? Try and make the seccond relevant through the first, so really, it's a bit more than who can beat who.

@sehroyal I can understand that logic, but the thing is Flash has had Arrow characters drop by several times now. Flash really does not need Oliver hand holding him at this point, he has the experience, the drive and the power to fight Wells. (win is a matter of debate) If Arrow is doing badly then they should focus on fixing it at its source not throw Arrow into Flash eps and expect Arrow as a show to suddenly do better.

So Cisco and Caitlin knew Wellls had a gorilla that escaped (and could have possibly been affected by the particle accelerator) and never told Barry?

I guess they had trusted Wells to deal with it before they found out the truth?

I thought this episode was amazing in setting up Grodd.

The Flash vs Grodd was good, the last bit of the episode with Wells was great, but the rest, jesus it was basically Iris's episode to just whine at everyone, cannot stand her.

Cisco regrets not installing locks on the elevator. Anyone can just walk in and start complaining.

So Grodd took a speeding train to the face and really did not seem all that damaged by it at the end. Does this make him the physically strongest character in the CW verse?

@titanbreaker: Oh, but I agree with you. It's just what they are doing to try and take that majority of Flash fans to Arrow-- And I even think it's not gonna work out. If Arrow had stayed to it's source material instead of trying to "Batthreat" Green Arrow it would probably do better. I don't expect him doing anything and ending up stealing Flash's thunder (Ha), but they'll still try to make him cool enough to get people interested.

@the_kidd said:

You forgot that Eobard is from the future and thus he used a lot of future tech to make that happen. Barry doesn't have that tech level here to do that. No ring....yet??

I know what you're referring to. Black sheep of the family usually means that person has gone bad compared to the rest. In this case Eddie's the black sheep because he's a forgotten name of the Thrawn family. As Eobard stated, the Thrawns are well known businessmen, politicians and intellectuals throughout history, while Eddie was a lowly cop who didn't amount to much. He's a forgotten name in the Thrawn family. Eddie isn't a bad guy, but compared to his descendants, he's nothing.

@sehroyal I think Arrow the show needs to evolve a little, maybe push Oliver towards his comic counterpart and being a bit more lose and easy (A slow progression, an overnight change would not go over well at all) might help.

I worry Oliver will somehow be the one to take down Wells which would be terrible as this is Barry's big season bad that has been built up well over the past 21 eps. I know next week is not the finale but still Wells should not go down to Oliver in an effort to make the Emerald Archer appear "cool" or "Badass". That is not his problem.

I love the connection between Barry and Iris in episode 21.

Also, it would be better if Barry fought off Zoom by himself, and not have others with him. That ruins the whole thing.

OK, I have more time to write my thoughts, but now that I sit here... The episode was there. It was essentially filler. Grodd was reduced to a distraction. It reminds me of Arrow when they trot out Vertigo when they want a filler villain to add meat to an episode that's more about character development. The development in this case was Barry and Iris drama. So a poor use of Grodd, but I bet they do it again now that Captain Cold is going to his own show.

What is it with Barry stopping in front of villains to show himself? You have super speed! WIN! When Eiling first attacked, he should have run in and removed all that armor, tied him up, maybe taken a few selfies, run off for pizza, programmed his dvr, dropped the general off at prison, taken the surviving cops in the hospital, and maybe done a little jig in all the freaking time it took him to stand there in front of Eiling and get wammied by Grodd. Such a waste of power.

I dont want this show to get too CW. I think Iris gets one episode to be really pissed, she deserves it. By the end of next episode, I'm really hoping all is good between her and Barry. We already know that they are going to get together, so there is no point dragging it out.

This episode felt kind of filler, but the monkey was great. Definitely pulled it off better than I thought they would.

I thought the episode was so bad because of the too much focus on Iris and her relationship with her dad and Barry. Should have focused on flash fighting Grodd and trying to find reverse flash

I think this is the worst episode so far. It was just filler. Grodd was cool though. The worst part is Iris. All she does is sit there complaining, "Wheres my Dad? Wheres my boyfriend? You can save everyone else but why can't you save my Dad and boyfriend? Is Eddie and my Dad gonna die?" I was actually really close to turning off this episode because of Iris. I stopped watching Arrow because I couldn't stand Laurel, and now Iris is just as annoying. The writers really struggle with writing strong female/love interest characters. The only strong female character is Felicity.

All I could think when Iris walked in on Barry in his suit was: locks, put some locks on your doors!

One of the most high tech places in the city/country filled with all sorts of experimental technology and it's own prison with supervillains and they still leave the front door open.

Ha.

@saren: @saintwildcard: yeah like theres jot enough DC biast on this site already, god forbid that ApS or daredevil actually get proper reviews, even gotham and constantine got a weekly review, i find it more amusing how you bring up the subject

I'm getting so tired of CW's obsession with writing nagging, holier-than-thou love interests.

Episode was Meh as a whole. The Grodd Scenes were truly amazing to me, but when you basically tell the viewer that the show is giving them the run-around, I dont know how in the world it can get a Five. Well, unless the reviewer likes running around.

One thing that kind of feels off, they are all well aware of what Eobard can do right? So if you put yourself in Cisco or Caitlin shoes, wouldn't you be living in CONSTANT fear? I mean, the guy could run in star labs or your house and stab you 5 times before you even know it. He could kill you at any given moment, if Barry isn't around to save you. Plus he already exhibited his willingness to do so on Cisco in the alternate timeline. I would be an absolute wreck!

Nit pick tiiiiiime!

We literally just saw Barry searching the whole damn city in about 10 seconds. Then they decide to have him go all 'regular human' when searching the sewers. Again, he ran through the city in 10 seconds. Then it takes him 6-7 seconds to run 5.3 miles. Lastly, out of the hundreds of things Barry can do against the armed Robber (Eiling) he decides to... just stand between him and the truck. DISARM THE DAMN GUY.

Also, another thing they did with Iris was have Cisco and Caitlen use a bunch of big words, then Iris walks up and is like, "So that will make Grodd not be able to mind control Barry?" The writers think their audiance is stupid to the point where everything, even the obvious stuff, has to be dumbed down for us. I mean, Iris might as well had said, "Gorilla angry. Gorilla control brain. Helmet make gorilla not control brain". Because THAT is what it felt like. I respect your opinion Tony, but this episode was no where near a 5 to me. I would have given it a 2, just because the Grodd stuff was good. But man, this episode is the worst I've ever seen. And I love all the prior episodes, even the ones with the weak villains. But Iris' writing is so awful.

Hated this episode sorry to say. All about what Iris feels and I didn't care. The whole we are best friend's/besty's/Bff's/etc.. crap and that means your whole life has to be an open book to me scenario has always annoyed me. Hear my voice Barry and he suddenly gets over mind control.....lame.

This is why I like the Wonder Woman Superman dynamic better than with Lois which Iris seems to be modeled after. Make someone unimportant have something/anything pertinent to the situation even if you have to force it every time.