The Flash S05 EP15 spoiler review

(He's back! Finally back! Though it was more of a King Shark episode)

It's finally back! The Flash is finally back! It's been a long wait, but the season came back strong with one of the most entertaining episodes of the show as well as an episode that showed off the capabilities of a tv show budget; even if the show's budget might not be blown for a couple episodes, lol. The episode was aptly named, "King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd", and I'm still gushing over the pure awesomeness of such a comic book event. So here is my review of the episode that marked Flash's return from break!

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I'll start off with the secondary story of the episode that I understood was used to strengthen Iris' character, but it really just paled when compared to the rest of the episode. Her storyline gave us the long awaited return of Joe whose absence was explained as him wanting to heal his mind and body after being tortured by Cicada, which makes total sense. After herself hearing about how Cicada had come to her office to kill her in the alternate timelines that Nora had avoided, Iris was terrified of returning to her office where she felt vulnerable and weak. Joe helped her to feel powerful again by having her beat up on the punching bag in Barry's work place that Eddie use to do himself to blow off steam. I did like the end of the storyline though when Iris got the text from Barry telling her that she had missed the fight between the two monster metas, I would've been as disappointed as her to have missed something like that.

The main storyline itself was full of awesome monster mayhem with the return of two intimidating villains. Looking for someone to test the meta cure on, they sought out King Shark who as of recent has been trying to regain the human side of his brain with the help of the scientist who had been married to the earth 1 version of King Shark. Her Shay/King Shark died, and she and the earth 2 version of her husband eventually ended up together at the end of the episode, which was sweet. Though, I also feel like that was the show's way of pushing King Shark out of the realm of returning as a later villain now that he is effectively a hero (spoiler alert), similar to how Peek-A-Boo left a few episodes ago to start a new life. Though King Shark's exit was handled much better than hers.

Cisco and Caitlin were a bit annoying to me in this episode though. After Barry injected King Shark with the cure to keep him from eating Cisco, after King Shark was obviously happy to be a human again instead of a shark man, Cisco and Caitlin began to berate Barry on not asking for King Shark's approval for doing so. Barry continuously pointed out that King Shark was about to eat Cisco, but it was a question that the two avoided answering which further makes me frustrated with them. Obviously, King Shark wouldn't want to be a monster anymore, he even came up to talk to them when they arrived with the cure, so he wasn't opposed. People were in danger, when the meta poses a danger I think the cure can be used. Every meta criminal should be given the cure since they just use their powers for evil, I don't get the argument Cisco and Caitlin are giving. Regular people, yes, they can make a choice, but not metas who are trying to use their powers for evil, or folks like King Shark who are literally about to eat someone. Thankfully, the argument was stopped by the end of the episode, and I hope it never resurfaces again.

Grodd ended up coming into the show because he wanted the mental tech that King Shark wore to communicate with everyone, and he would use it so that he could mind control everyone in the city after amplifying his mental powers. His part in the episode ended up being much smaller than I thought it would be, with King Shark getting several scenes of actual development while Grodd only got a few where he was shown being evil. Turns out he had escaped his cell during the night of the Enlightenment when the power had gone out for a moment, long enough for him to mind control the guard to let him out. Since then he had been waiting for the right moment to make himself known. He did so when he employed his plan to mind control the city, and took out Barry and Nora who had tried to stop him. This lead King Shark to choosing to be reverted back into a shark again even though the effects would be permanent, and going after Grodd since the gorilla's telepathy couldn't control the animal portion of the shark man's brain. 

The fight that followed between the two was very grand, entertaining, and I loved every minute of it. The CGI held up very well too, even though I thought that it would lack at points; however, the whole fight scene looked great. There was variety in the fight as the two changed scenery, used the environment to their advantage, and it was very violent too! Both characters ended up a bit bloody! Grodd got the upper hand when he knocked out King Shark before hanging him upside down from a crane while he continued his evil plot. Team Flash turned the fight around though when Barry and Nora electrocuted King Shark to give him a jolt of energy to break free. The fight then came to an end as King Shark delivered a massive punch to the gorilla and knocked him out, ending what is one of my personal favorite fights in the Flash series.

The episode had a few points that wrapped everything up. Grodd was locked up again, this time under a medically induced coma due to his rapidly growing powers (sounds like he'll be an even bigger threat when he breaks out again), King Shark and the doctor who had been helping him resigned to still love one another even with him trapped as a monster, and Barry came up with a grand new plan: to offer the meta cure to Cicada.

So, I honestly thought that they had already thought of this plan, I'm surprised they hadn't because I thought of it as soon as they came up with a meta cure. Secondly, why on earth will they OFFER Cicada the cure? I honestly don't care about Cisco and Caitlin's ethics at this point because they're making Barry a bit daft, they should not OFFER the cure to Cicada, they should use it on him and defeat him once and for all. This man uses his powers to do nothing but slaughter people, which he has done a lot of already, so there should be nothing stopping them from stripping him of his powers and throwing him in jail! I can't wait to see when them OFFERING Cicada the cure doesn't go at all like they plan, maybe Cisco and Caitlin will decide they should just use it the next time Cicada kills someone? Likely not.

Aside from the whole ethics debate, which is extending further than it should, I really enjoyed the episode. King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd definitely was something that was worth the wait, and I hope there's someone like this again in the show's run. Maybe when Grodd breaks out he will want a rematch? One can hope!