By Brady Steele / twitter: @mrbradysteele. “I am Grodd. Fear me.” We finally get our episode with everyone’s favorite mentally empowered gorilla in “Grodd Lives.” After almost an entire season of teases, we finally see how The Scarlet Speedster takes on one of his most fearsomeRogues.
Barry Allen / The Flash (Grant Gustin) is chasing a lot of different moving targets these days. You can almost feel his desperation whenever a new obstacle appears on the horizon. Missing Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) being held by arch-foe Dr. Harrison Wells / Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh). An armored gold robber on the loose. And now Iris (Candice Patton) is in on the big secret. On top of all that, now comes in a gorilla in the sewers working for Dr. Wells.
“Eiling not here. Eiling bad. Caitlin. Caitlin good. Eiling hurt me. I hurt Eiling. I am Grodd. Fear me.” Thanks to a psychically controlled General Eiling (Clancy Brown), we get a chilling introduction to one of The Flash’s deadliest enemies. His ability to induce paralyzing fear in others really works well in this episode. It cripples a terrified Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and renders a usually strong ally helpless. “Grodd hate banana” indeed.
Less is definitely more with a villain like a giant CGI gorilla looming in the shadows. This is a battle that absolutely delivers. What happens when a gorilla fights a man? They get tossed thru a brick wall. As fast and as clever as The Flash is, the fact is Grodd is still a freaking gorilla! “Human weak” indeed. Thankfully, Flash learns that a train CAN beat a gorilla. This time. The writers left plenty of room for an on-the-loose Grodd to return optimistically soon.
Barry also learns he has a lightning rod, something that centers him: it’s Iris. Both of them finally come clean to each other about everything both have been hiding from each other. It’s nice to see something of a resolution to this ongoing plotline. Nothing is certain about their future together, but it’s still possible. That is unless you have a newspaper from the future like Wells has. He truly enjoys showing Eddie this in an attempt to turn him to his family Thawne side of the Flash /
Reverse Flash family feud. Hopefully, that leaves more screen time for more ambitious battles in the coming weeks.
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Mr. Steele enjoys all things comics and imagination-based. Using his lifetime of comic-fu-dom for good, he imparts his knowledge for the universe to enjoy and for you, dear readers, to pass it on.