The mystery the two were attempting to solve turned out to be similarly disappointing. The titular monster turned out to be nothing but a hologram created by a bullied teenager lashing out at the world. This revelation was frankly a little bizarre, especially given that the character had never been introduced before the last ten minutes in the episode, and nothing was really done to foreshadow the reveal. But even without a tacked on random anti-bullying message, the monster plot would have felt pretty flat; The Flash doesn’t have the budget to give a kaiju monster an interesting or unique design, and the fight scenes were pretty generic and uninspired.
With the main story magnificently fizzling out, it fell to the subplots of the episode to pick up the slack. The new Harrison (or HR for short) predictably had some trouble settling in with the rest of Team Flash. And like every Wells who has come before him, HR was not who he initially seemed to be. But as it turns out, HR’s deep, dark secret was simply that he’s not a genius, like his various other counterparts, but a rather he’s a novelist and a bit of a con man. It’s a unique re-imagining of Wells and one that could have easily seemed too out there, but the episode really sells it-- and there’s something to be said for pointing a non-scientist in a team of forensic scientists, engineers and doctors; he certainly brings a different perspective to how to approach problems.
Tom Cavanagh must once again be commended ability to play so many different versions of the same character. HR gave Cavanagh a chance to stretch his comedic muscles more than he has in the past, and he rose to the occasion wonderfully, while still making sure to give HR just enough pathos to not be a totally flat character. It’ll be fun to see how long he remains in the team now that his secret is out, and he really is nothing more than a con artist. I can’t help but be a little suspicious of the partner HR referred to and notably never named; while I doubt it’s someone as sinister as Doctor Alchemy, it’s seems likely that it’s someone we already know, though perhaps in a new incarnation or with a different personality, as tends to be the case with characters from other earths.
While HR got the most laughs this episode, the real dramatic material of the week came in the form of Caitlin’s search to find a cure for her growing meta-human powers, leading her to reunite with her estranged mother. We’ve had hints here and there about Caitlin’s past, but this episode is the closest we’ve gotten to a proper backstory for Caitlin, and it was interesting to see where her reserved personality and even some of her physical mannerisms comes from. Although Caitlin has hardly become the cruel and sadistic Killer Frost of Earth-2, she has undeniably become more dangerous and menacing, as we saw during her attempted murder of her kidnapper.
And while we’re comparing the two different versions, I would like to give a special shout out to the special effects for how much Caitlin’s ice powers have improved this season; last season’s were often goofy looking and could take you out of a scene, but so far in Season 3 her ice powers have come across as the perfect mix of eerie and otherworldly. The episode’s ending also cemented the idea that her powers will only grow more out of control as time passes, meaning it will be almost impossible for her to continue to keep them a secret from her friends. Could her absence from the team this week be a taste of things to come? A split of some sort seems almost inevitable, but only time will tell if the damage is irreparable.
Written by Kaitlin Roberts, THE FLASH Beat Writer -- Click to read Kaitlin's posts
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