Second Chance Firestorm: The Flash Season 2, Episode 4 Review
Barry Allen/The Philosopher: sometimes we get second chances at life, at glory, at family, at love. If we don't grab onto them, they're gone.
In a flash.
Last week, Leonard Snart/Captain Cold killed his abusive father and in the Legends of Tomorrow promo says he can't picture any world where he'd be a hero. Even though defeating Vandal Savage will require legends instead, that'll be Snart's second chance.
This week, Iris West's mother Francine thought she could just sort of walk right into her second chance at family. Showing up at the precinct and surprising Joe (twice), assuming "I'm so very, very sorry" and "there's so much you don't know" could make up for 20 lost years.
(Now that we know about Iris' secret brother, please give the annoying Francine a one-way ticket off The Flash cast. I also disliked the shrill Firestorm also-ran.)
Granted, Joe told Iris her mother had died, and that's a big lie to walk back. But he'd made a fatherly decision that most likely saved Iris' life as a child and gave her the happy upbringing she deserved.
In the second-chance West family that Barry has been part of for more than half his life.
I've been saying this ever since The Flash pilot: some of the enduring love stories of this series are between father and son.
The Barry/Joe connection is one consistent goodness of The Flash, even when the plotting is uneven and the dialog not up to its usual sharpness. This episode was almost solely to set up Legends of Tomorrow, which it did.
Joe confiding in Barry his reluctance to tell Iris the truth about her mother's fatal illness. Barry admitting his reluctance to pursue Detective Patty Spivot, despite the fact that she's "adorable, funny, and we have a lot in common," was because "she wasn't Iris."
Last week, Patty, in an adorable fumble worthy of Felicity Smoak on Arrow, gave Barry her phone number. Barry fumbled back about why he was happy about getting it. Or what she meant. Or what he meant.
This week, Patty was so proud of her "arrest" of Shark-zilla - "put your...fins in the air" was hilarious - and working with Barry on a case, she couldn't stop smiling. After almost getting killed.
Oh, guys. Just ask each other out already. (This is happening in episode 5, we're pretty sure.)
Caitlin talked Jay Garrick into sticking around, too, instead of going back to his earth to fight Zoom. Sometimes with love, second time's the charm.
Caitlin was really in Star Labs sales mode this week, talking people into all kinds of stuff. Jefferson "Jax" Jackson's particle accelerator-induced injury ruined his college football prospects, but after a series of adamant hell no's, he not only agreed to save Dr. Martin Stein's life by becoming the other half of Firestorm 2.0, but also gave himself a second chance at glory bigger than anything he ever could've accomplished on the football field.
"Out of yourself and into the team." I like this guy. Please let him be the long-lost brother from the Francine/Iris West cliffhanger.
Professor Stein, before heading off with Jax for some fusion training, urged Cisco to give his powers a second chance, too. He's going to need them, with Harrison Wells lurking in the hallways of Star Labs.
Dr. Wells is back, not just as Mr. Shark - Patty wasn't seeing things in the dark alley after all - but more importantly as knower of all things Zoom. Who's surprised that he created Zoom in the first place? Harrison Wells has had a hand in everything bad that's happened on The Flash to date.
We understand from the episode 5 promo that Harrison Wells, of all people, is getting a second chance, too. So help us, he better make it count.
Coming up, episode 5 "The Darkness and the Light"
