The Flash: Crazy For You
February 6, 2015 6:58 AM - Season 1, Episode 12 - Subscribe
Let's sing Grease! Barry and Caitlin take a night off, where Barry is hit upon by someone other than a super powered villain and Caitlin reveals a propensity for Vodka. While not as dangerous as a hang over, the Flash and the team are faced with a woman with the power to teleport a la Nightcrawler and an imprisoned love interest with a debt to a local crime boss. Also, Cisco finds himself unable to ignore the arrogant overtures of last week's villain, Hartley, who promises the truth of what happened to Caitlin's fiance. Also, GROOD.
Indeed they set up Grodd in the first episode with a cage and a nameplate implying that he escaped from StarLabs after the accelerator explosion. That's more than they did for anyone else. I mean they obviously were laying pipe for Firestorm from the beginning as well, but they didn't do a wink and nod to the audience.
I'm also kind of amazed that they're really going to do Grodd, of all things. This is an issue DC has, more so than Marvel IMO. There's just SO much Silver Age ridiculous shit floating around the DC universe, and in general their heroes don't always feel like they're operating in one coherent world. They're set at such different levels of reality.
Of course they've never shied away from this. Superman/Batman teamups have been a DC staple for decades, even though they're at vastly different power levels, and Superman's reality isn't remotely as grimdark as Batman's. It's already a little odd having Arrow and Flash cross over because Arrow is all gritty vigilante, fighting badass martial artists and killing people and surviving for five years on Christopher Nolan's private island of death and all that, while Flash is much more light and fun, and he fights superpowered metahumans with goofy names. In one direction they team up Flash with Green Arrow. In the other, Flash is apparently going to have Grodd.
You can only take this so far. I mean just try to picture Oliver Queen facing a sentient talking Gorilla.
Agree w Bulgaroktonos that the jail in the basement is kind of creepy - especially since the cells appear to be utterly featureless and unfurnished spaces the size of a largish closet. And particularly since some of Flash's enemies that have ended up there to date don't even seem all that bad. Peekaboo in particular seems like she should be eminently rehabilitatable. (is that a word?) All she wanted was to save her boyfriend and go off and live somewhere with him. He wasn't the greatest influence, but now he's gone.
(And where did he go, by the way? Barry turns his back for 10 seconds and he just... left? In the middle of a long tunnel. Pretty sure Barry could have caught him. How far did he get on foot at normal human speed? And okay, she can't teleport in the dark, but did she break her leg too? If boyfriend can just run off, why does she just sit in the car moping instead of running off with him? Not the show's smartest moment, but I guess they were running out of time.)
posted by Naberius at 7:55 AM on February 6, 2015
I'm also kind of amazed that they're really going to do Grodd, of all things. This is an issue DC has, more so than Marvel IMO. There's just SO much Silver Age ridiculous shit floating around the DC universe, and in general their heroes don't always feel like they're operating in one coherent world. They're set at such different levels of reality.
Of course they've never shied away from this. Superman/Batman teamups have been a DC staple for decades, even though they're at vastly different power levels, and Superman's reality isn't remotely as grimdark as Batman's. It's already a little odd having Arrow and Flash cross over because Arrow is all gritty vigilante, fighting badass martial artists and killing people and surviving for five years on Christopher Nolan's private island of death and all that, while Flash is much more light and fun, and he fights superpowered metahumans with goofy names. In one direction they team up Flash with Green Arrow. In the other, Flash is apparently going to have Grodd.
You can only take this so far. I mean just try to picture Oliver Queen facing a sentient talking Gorilla.
Agree w Bulgaroktonos that the jail in the basement is kind of creepy - especially since the cells appear to be utterly featureless and unfurnished spaces the size of a largish closet. And particularly since some of Flash's enemies that have ended up there to date don't even seem all that bad. Peekaboo in particular seems like she should be eminently rehabilitatable. (is that a word?) All she wanted was to save her boyfriend and go off and live somewhere with him. He wasn't the greatest influence, but now he's gone.
(And where did he go, by the way? Barry turns his back for 10 seconds and he just... left? In the middle of a long tunnel. Pretty sure Barry could have caught him. How far did he get on foot at normal human speed? And okay, she can't teleport in the dark, but did she break her leg too? If boyfriend can just run off, why does she just sit in the car moping instead of running off with him? Not the show's smartest moment, but I guess they were running out of time.)
posted by Naberius at 7:55 AM on February 6, 2015
I thought for sure they were setting the boyfriend up to "catch" teleporting but perhaps I misunderstood their intention with the line about what happened when her cells interacted with his. Just meant to indicate she can teleport others along with, I guess.
posted by phearlez at 8:48 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by phearlez at 8:48 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Parts of the DC universe are light and fun and goofy, and parts of it are grim and bleak and depressing, and occasionally those come together with bizarre results... so, kind of like the real world?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:55 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:55 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
My biggest question, re: the jail, is who feeds these metahumans? If you open a slot in the door to give Peekaboo a tray of food, what stops her from peeking out and teleporting into the hallway? Or are all these metahumans just slowly being starved to death down there? It's not just that it's inhumane (particularly with folks like Peekaboo who could definitely be rehabilitated) but it's not even well-thought-out.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:59 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by mstokes650 at 8:59 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
And after they get fed, how do they go to the bathroom? Why haven't their muscles atrophied, or their brains turned to mush when they're locked alone in a broom closet 24/7?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:27 AM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:27 AM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have to admit it's the bathroom thing that is bugging me the most. Pretty sure Shepherd is tired of me screaming "BUT WHERE ARE THEY POOPING" at the screen every time they lock away another metahuman.
(but seriously where are they pooping)
posted by Kitteh at 10:37 AM on February 6, 2015 [10 favorites]
(but seriously where are they pooping)
posted by Kitteh at 10:37 AM on February 6, 2015 [10 favorites]
The only possible answer is "Flash shenanigans," but the thought of what those shenanigans might be is so horrifying that I don't want them to address it at all.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:39 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:39 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Barry getting that final barb in against Peek-A-Boo as she's being imprisoned seemed needlessly cruel. I can't quite remember what it was, but that was pretty dickish.
Let Iris do her job, Barry. I'm sure she'll prove to be capable without you literally handing her stories.
posted by ODiV at 11:42 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Let Iris do her job, Barry. I'm sure she'll prove to be capable without you literally handing her stories.
posted by ODiV at 11:42 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Mostly I'm sure she'll prove capable because it looks like some money was spent on the Newspaper set. If it was just a rented boardroom somewhere then, yeah, maybe don't get too comfortable.
Speaking of sets, I'm guessing we'll see Wells' house in future episodes too now that it exists.
posted by ODiV at 11:45 AM on February 6, 2015
Speaking of sets, I'm guessing we'll see Wells' house in future episodes too now that it exists.
posted by ODiV at 11:45 AM on February 6, 2015
I have to admit it's the bathroom thing that is bugging me the most.
Yeah. I mean, in a case or two, this was probably not an issue: I don't know that the guy who can turn into poison gas even has a functioning set of organs anymore... but we know that most of them do. Barry eats. Peek-A-Boo is almost certainly a regular human apart from the teleportation.
It's a shame they have this particular glaring problem too, because I mostly really liked this episode. The stuff with Caitlin and Barry was beyond adorable, I'm looking forward to seeing Grodd, I liked Barry making a date with someone not Iris. Peek-A-Boo's power set was chumped a little easily, it all made sense within the logic of the show universe... but the ending, with them *triumphantly* putting her in a box to rot forever without a toilet or a book or anything was jarring enough to really put me off.
posted by mordax at 12:14 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah. I mean, in a case or two, this was probably not an issue: I don't know that the guy who can turn into poison gas even has a functioning set of organs anymore... but we know that most of them do. Barry eats. Peek-A-Boo is almost certainly a regular human apart from the teleportation.
It's a shame they have this particular glaring problem too, because I mostly really liked this episode. The stuff with Caitlin and Barry was beyond adorable, I'm looking forward to seeing Grodd, I liked Barry making a date with someone not Iris. Peek-A-Boo's power set was chumped a little easily, it all made sense within the logic of the show universe... but the ending, with them *triumphantly* putting her in a box to rot forever without a toilet or a book or anything was jarring enough to really put me off.
posted by mordax at 12:14 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Mostly I'm sure she'll prove capable because it looks like some money was spent on the Newspaper set
If it's supposed to be a newsroom then I can't think of anything that would make it look less believable than spending money on it.
I liked Barry making a date with someone not Iris.
Me too, though it's going to take a while before I stop thinking "ewww dating your nephew's future wife is inappropriate." Wally + Linda 4eva!
More seriously, I'm not sure why they felt like they needed to reuse a Flash universe name here. This is to let us nerds know she'll be around again? I guess there's a certain balancing act to writing stuff that mines the old comic plots, but unearthing characters and using them in ways that's so divorced from their comic origins seems pointless to me.
posted by phearlez at 12:43 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
If it's supposed to be a newsroom then I can't think of anything that would make it look less believable than spending money on it.
I liked Barry making a date with someone not Iris.
Me too, though it's going to take a while before I stop thinking "ewww dating your nephew's future wife is inappropriate." Wally + Linda 4eva!
More seriously, I'm not sure why they felt like they needed to reuse a Flash universe name here. This is to let us nerds know she'll be around again? I guess there's a certain balancing act to writing stuff that mines the old comic plots, but unearthing characters and using them in ways that's so divorced from their comic origins seems pointless to me.
posted by phearlez at 12:43 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
More seriously, I'm not sure why they felt like they needed to reuse a Flash universe name here. I guess there's a certain balancing act to writing stuff that mines the old comic plots, but unearthing characters and using them in ways that's so divorced from their comic origins seems pointless to me.
... wow, I totally missed that. Not a big comics reader - most of what I know about the DC universe was cleaned via pop culture osmosis and Dini/Timm cartoons. That is a really weird choice, and I agree that this sort of thing should be avoided. I'd rather they just make up some new characters - it's one of the few things Gotham's doing right.
Up side, it's still not as bad and wrong as what Smallville did with various classic characters. "Doomsday, the paramedic with a dark secret" is never going to fail to crack me up.
If it's supposed to be a newsroom then I can't think of anything that would make it look less believable than spending money on it.
... also, I believe you win the thread.
posted by mordax at 1:03 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
... wow, I totally missed that. Not a big comics reader - most of what I know about the DC universe was cleaned via pop culture osmosis and Dini/Timm cartoons. That is a really weird choice, and I agree that this sort of thing should be avoided. I'd rather they just make up some new characters - it's one of the few things Gotham's doing right.
Up side, it's still not as bad and wrong as what Smallville did with various classic characters. "Doomsday, the paramedic with a dark secret" is never going to fail to crack me up.
If it's supposed to be a newsroom then I can't think of anything that would make it look less believable than spending money on it.
... also, I believe you win the thread.
posted by mordax at 1:03 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like that it's Linda Park because if it was Jane Q. Originalcharacter I'd expect her to be a girl-of-the-week or one-arc character at most; by bringing in a canonical Flash romantic interest they create a more credible triangle.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:13 PM on February 6, 2015
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:13 PM on February 6, 2015
I like that it's Linda Park because if it was Jane Q. Originalcharacter I'd expect her to be a girl-of-the-week or one-arc character at most; by bringing in a canonical Flash romantic interest they create a more credible triangle.
I mean, sort of maybe? That sort of cue is the only reason I can come up with for them to do it. But that means they're just surfacing this name to let the in-the-know know this is more than a one-off appearance. Since it's a lift from a very different Flash - both in identity and how he occupied the role - I don't know that it really tells us anything. Other than that presumably the writers wouldn't "waste" a classic (if the 90s are classic) reference on a character who wouldn't keep showing up.
I guess it just seems sort of lazy to me. They communicate to the nerds "out of band" - without earning it in any way through storytelling - that this is a Person To Watch. But they're not riffing on any classic interesting stuff like they are with the Rogues. Her identity is "reporter who dates the Flash." I guess if you'll make Iris his childhood stepish-sister maybe you'll make Linda his wife instead of Wally's. If they're really willing to abandon the Iris romance thing OMG I would so love that. But since that concerned look on Iris' face leads me to believe this is meant to create Realizations... bah.
posted by phearlez at 2:28 PM on February 6, 2015
I mean, sort of maybe? That sort of cue is the only reason I can come up with for them to do it. But that means they're just surfacing this name to let the in-the-know know this is more than a one-off appearance. Since it's a lift from a very different Flash - both in identity and how he occupied the role - I don't know that it really tells us anything. Other than that presumably the writers wouldn't "waste" a classic (if the 90s are classic) reference on a character who wouldn't keep showing up.
I guess it just seems sort of lazy to me. They communicate to the nerds "out of band" - without earning it in any way through storytelling - that this is a Person To Watch. But they're not riffing on any classic interesting stuff like they are with the Rogues. Her identity is "reporter who dates the Flash." I guess if you'll make Iris his childhood stepish-sister maybe you'll make Linda his wife instead of Wally's. If they're really willing to abandon the Iris romance thing OMG I would so love that. But since that concerned look on Iris' face leads me to believe this is meant to create Realizations... bah.
posted by phearlez at 2:28 PM on February 6, 2015
I just want to say how much I enjoyed Grodd's cameo in last week's ep of The 100.
But also that we finally get to see wtf he is up to out of that cage, because if you know anything about Grodd, he's bound to have at least one co-conspirator. I've long thought he was telepathically manipulating someone on the show (since they showed that empty cage, basically) but am still unsure of his target(s?).
Maybe he'll end up joining forces with the Royal Flush Gang - they keep popping up on Flash and I'd love to see more of those guys.
I will be super-annoyed if he's in cahoots with Wells. That almost seems too obvious.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 2:38 PM on February 6, 2015
But also that we finally get to see wtf he is up to out of that cage, because if you know anything about Grodd, he's bound to have at least one co-conspirator. I've long thought he was telepathically manipulating someone on the show (since they showed that empty cage, basically) but am still unsure of his target(s?).
Maybe he'll end up joining forces with the Royal Flush Gang - they keep popping up on Flash and I'd love to see more of those guys.
I will be super-annoyed if he's in cahoots with Wells. That almost seems too obvious.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 2:38 PM on February 6, 2015
If they're really willing to abandon the Iris romance thing OMG I would so love that. But since that concerned look on Iris' face leads me to believe this is meant to create Realizations... bah.
Yeah, that's my complaint about it as well - if I believed Barry was angled to end up with Linda instead of Iris, I'd be in favor of it because of the skeevy nature of a Barry/Iris pairing on this show. Unfortunately, it really doesn't look that way.
I will be super-annoyed if he's in cahoots with Wells. That almost seems too obvious.
I'd be annoyed for the opposite reason: I can't imagine Wells letting anyone else have a say in his plans at this point. He's such a control freak he was poised to intervene during Cisco's drone test, and there's almost no chance Barry would've died in there. Plus, there was the matter of what happened when Simon Stagg took an interest in Barry.
Wells has gotta be flying solo, apart from his magic talking time computer.
(Also, I know this Grodd is gonna make me miss the DCAU version. His conflict with Luthor throughout the final season of JLU was hilarious.)
posted by mordax at 3:15 PM on February 6, 2015
Yeah, that's my complaint about it as well - if I believed Barry was angled to end up with Linda instead of Iris, I'd be in favor of it because of the skeevy nature of a Barry/Iris pairing on this show. Unfortunately, it really doesn't look that way.
I will be super-annoyed if he's in cahoots with Wells. That almost seems too obvious.
I'd be annoyed for the opposite reason: I can't imagine Wells letting anyone else have a say in his plans at this point. He's such a control freak he was poised to intervene during Cisco's drone test, and there's almost no chance Barry would've died in there. Plus, there was the matter of what happened when Simon Stagg took an interest in Barry.
Wells has gotta be flying solo, apart from his magic talking time computer.
(Also, I know this Grodd is gonna make me miss the DCAU version. His conflict with Luthor throughout the final season of JLU was hilarious.)
posted by mordax at 3:15 PM on February 6, 2015
Yes, mordax - I'm hoping for a Wells-vs-Grodd showdown over Barry in the future. Season finale, maybe? That's why I'll be upset if they're secret EvilBros together!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 5:37 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 5:37 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yes, mordax - I'm hoping for a Wells-vs-Grodd showdown over Barry in the future. Season finale, maybe? That's why I'll be upset if they're secret EvilBros together!
That would be *so* awesome. :)
posted by mordax at 6:09 PM on February 6, 2015
That would be *so* awesome. :)
posted by mordax at 6:09 PM on February 6, 2015
Shepherd was pleased by the Linda Park development, because despite having Barry Allen's name, he strongly feels that this Flash is pretty much more Wally West.
posted by Kitteh at 6:23 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 6:23 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Shepherd was pleased by the Linda Park development, because despite having Barry Allen's name, he strongly feels that this Flash is pretty much more Wally West.
Wally is my favorite flash (probably in no small part because I've read nearly his entire run as the flash and only snippets of Barry's or Jay's), and so the question of how much of TV!Barry is really Wally is one I spend probably too much thought on. The occupation and the pure-hero-without-reward personality seem a little more Barry, but the increased appetite, the relatively low top speed, the sort of brash approach to combat, and the sometimes playful personality feel more Wally.
Anyway, that was a really long way to say that I was happy Linda showed up too -- there was a one-off easter egg Linda Park appearance played by a different actress in Arrow or the Flash pilot and I figured that was going to be it for her.
posted by jdherg at 10:17 PM on February 6, 2015
Wally is my favorite flash (probably in no small part because I've read nearly his entire run as the flash and only snippets of Barry's or Jay's), and so the question of how much of TV!Barry is really Wally is one I spend probably too much thought on. The occupation and the pure-hero-without-reward personality seem a little more Barry, but the increased appetite, the relatively low top speed, the sort of brash approach to combat, and the sometimes playful personality feel more Wally.
Anyway, that was a really long way to say that I was happy Linda showed up too -- there was a one-off easter egg Linda Park appearance played by a different actress in Arrow or the Flash pilot and I figured that was going to be it for her.
posted by jdherg at 10:17 PM on February 6, 2015
Barry getting that final barb in against Peek-A-Boo as she's being imprisoned seemed needlessly cruel. I can't quite remember what it was, but that was pretty dickish.
I went back and found it in case anyone cares:
"Shauna, Clay left you. He's out there and you're in here."
posted by ODiV at 2:58 PM on February 7, 2015
I went back and found it in case anyone cares:
"Shauna, Clay left you. He's out there and you're in here."
posted by ODiV at 2:58 PM on February 7, 2015
Somebody needs to take the show staff and CW executives out for a night on the town in order to demonstrate that "dive bars" frequented by low-level criminals don't tend to have cute lamps on every table.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:55 PM on February 10, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by soundguy99 at 6:55 PM on February 10, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'm increasingly of the opinion that the whole moral quandary of secret private incarceration for MetaHumans is just a blind spot for the writers & creators. They haven't addressed it because they haven't really thought about it. This episode was a perfect opportunity to begin to examine it if they were going to, but they didn't. At this point about the best I'm hoping for is that it's brought up in the last few shows of the season as the Wells reveal happens.
It feels like the creators are maybe a little too caught up in the idea of introducing as many Flash villains as they possibly can in one season, which didn't really leave them time to consider what to do with all these baddies who can't go into regular prison, besides "Lock 'em up in the repurposed remains of the accelerator." Once they came up with that solution, nobody thought much about it again.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:00 PM on February 10, 2015
It feels like the creators are maybe a little too caught up in the idea of introducing as many Flash villains as they possibly can in one season, which didn't really leave them time to consider what to do with all these baddies who can't go into regular prison, besides "Lock 'em up in the repurposed remains of the accelerator." Once they came up with that solution, nobody thought much about it again.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:00 PM on February 10, 2015
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The episode as a whole I liked, but it really seems like they need to deal with the incarceration of Metahumans. It's a weird dark underbelly to a very a light show. Similarly, I didn't like Cisco starting down the path of torturing Pied Piper. I hope that was a one-time thing.
What to do with people who are actually so powerful that they can't be confined to a normal prison is a recurring problem in comic books, and the answer is always pretty much some version of a hellish jail, but I wish we didn't have to see our heroes running it. The idea that Barry, upstanding noble hero Barry, is totally fine with these people being locked in a tiny room (in Peek-A-Boo's case, she can't even see out) with no prospect of escape feels wrong. I think the solution to this probably involves Amanda Waller (although I don't see Barry wanting to work with her, even though he's fine with doing it in house), and having the confinement take place largely off-screen, but it needs not to be what they're doing now. Hell, even the A.R.G.U.S. jails are marginally better than what they're doing now, plus they offer Suicide Squad work release!
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:15 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]