Dr. Stein is becoming unstable. He needs to be rebound to someone else. The team finds two mean who are compatible with Dr. Stein and could possibly become the new Firestorm. One is a scientist and the other is a former high school quarterback. Caitlin decides that even though the high school quarterback, Jax Jefferson, is more compatible with Dr. Stein, he is not a suitable match because he isn’t as educated. She pushes to have the Ivy League educated man without doing a thorough background check.
When they find out that the scientist is not compatible, they try with Jax. Jax turns down the offer and Caitlin snaps at him. She basically calls him a waste of space since he did not go to college. She tries to get the scientist to come back but they learn that he is on a rampage throughout the city. He also was arrested several times for various crimes dealing with uncontrollable anger. Barry has a talk with her about not purposefully blinding yourself to someone because they aren’t who you want them to be. She apologizes to Jax and he and Dr. Stein become the new Firestorm. Needless to say, they whooped the rejected scientist’s ass.
Barry is struggling with his relationship with Patty. He thinks she is a great girl but he can’t stop comparing her to Iris. Joe tells him that he will never find anyone as good as Iris because she was his first love. He also tells him that it shouldn’t stop him from seeing what else is out there. Barry takes Joe’s advice. In his Flash costume, he was about to go to Patty but is stopped by a shark man and the discovery of Dr. Wells from Earth-2.
Iris and her mother finally meet and Iris tells Francine that she doesn’t want anything to do with her. When she finds out her mother is terminally ill, she tells her that she still doesn’t want anything to do with her because she has been hiding a secret child. She tells Francine to stay out of their lives because it would hurt Joe to find out that he had a son that grew up without him.
Dr. Stein encourages Cisco to share his powers with the group. Cisco said he would think about it.
The Review:
If you guys have not figured it out yet, I am a huge Iris West fan and a WestAllen shipper so I really pay attention to any scenes with Iris and I have to say that both scenes with her mother greatly disappointed me. Firstly, Joe lied to Iris and told her that her mother was dead. She lost 20 years with her mother because of both of their decisions. Instead of blaming both parents, she blames only her mother. Iris is aware that there is more to Francine’s story but instead of trying to hear her out, she shuts the conversation down and walks away from a relationship with her mother. Then, after learning her mother is terminally ill and has a secret son, she walks away from the relationship again because she only sees her mother as the liar. I call BS on that. If you are a child from a broken home, you tend to try to cling onto family and Iris is acting like she doesn’t have a father that has lied to her multiple times for the past 20 years, and a mother who was a drug addict. If I was her mother, I wouldn’t have told Joe about the child either. He already took one away from her. Is she really going to allow two? As far as I see it, this all was a fair trade. Iris needs to grow up and if she is so concerned about her father finding out he has a secret son, she should tell him instead of hiding it. Like I said, I was thoroughly disappointed with Iris this episode. I can’t wait for her brother to come onto the scene. That family has so many secrets that it is ridiculous.
Now, I have to make mention that I am not excited about the spallen moments in this episode. Patty is a great lady but as Barry said, “She’s not Iris.” The only reason why I am tolerating this relationship as well as I am is because I know that Patty is specifically there to carry Barry along until he and Iris are ready to take that big romantic leap. I can’t see this relationship lasting more than a season. I mean come on. They don’t have any chemistry for goodness sake!
I am so excited to witness how Barry handles seeing Dr. Wells. I am also curious about Wells and Jay’s relationship. I am sure that it is not similar to Barry and Dr. Wells’ but there has to be something there. I am also curious about Wells’ plan and how The Flash plays a factor.
I am not even going to talk about Caitlin’s classism. Just know that I am oddly not surprised and I am certainly not a fan of her behavior. I will say that I was highly impressed by Barry’s response to it. Barry was the best part of this episode. I truly loved how he was reacting to everything.
Lastly, Cisco needs to take Dr. Stein’s advice and tell everyone about his powers and the sad part is, I believe he will regress because of Earth-2 Dr. Wells’ visit. I said it from the beginning, for someone who is excited about other people’s powers, it’s strange he isn’t jumping for joy over his own. I don’t care what the circumstances may be. Cisco needs to accept what he can do so he can provide better support for the team and they can help him master his power.
Even though I was not a fan of certain events, I will say that this episode was still great and crafted beautifully.
Final Score: 10/10 Power Ups.
