Tonight's Flash began with a moment that I think has been missing of late, the subtly heroic moments. I always love seeing the small things that our superheroes do. Sometimes it's just as emotionally impactful as saving the world. This week it seemed had a bit of a Valentine's day twist on the usual story. It had a few different "crazy for you" segments. It also seems as if we are getting introduced to a few more worthy love interests for Barry. I have been hard on the Iris character, so it was nice to see Caitlin take the lead this time.
We also left out where last week ended with Cisco helping Hartley out of prison in hopes of finding Ronnie. It makes sense that Cisco wants to contribute to finding Ronnie, but I think just telling everyone else up front that Hartley can help would have been smarter. That was just a little bit frustrating. Barry and Caitlin went on a sort of date. I think it's pretty obvious that Caitlin has a small crush on Barry. I'm all for it. It's much like the Oliver-Felicity romantic situation. Nobody really wants to see Iris or Laurel take that part of Barry and Oliver's life respectively. Panabaker was once again a bright spot this week. She has surprised myself and hopefully all of the previous doubters of her acting ability.
With that being said the episode did have it's fair share of goofy moments. Caitlin's drunkenness with her "did you peak?" comment felt a little out of place with her character, even if she's hammered. Praise goes to the villain this week. The writers successfully made a formidable opponent for Barry for once, and one I would gladly welcome back. The actress was decent, but props primarily goes to the special effects. It was almost as cool as Nightcrawler's was in X2.
But I had to mention the final 10 minutes or so. Barry's scene in jail with his father was a highlight of the season so far. It was bittersweet watching them openly talk about The Flash, even though they both know it wont help him get out of jail. And even though I doubt the show will directly address it this season, it's pretty cool seeing Gorilla Grodd on screen. The villain is difficult to pull off, especially on TV, but i'm very interested to see what they have in store.
+Panabaker
+Father-son scene
+Grodd
+Formidable villain
-Cisco's decisions
-Goofy at times
8.6/10