S09.E02: Hear No Evil

[Trini]

Barry feels guilty for what happened to Caitlin and Mark (Jon Cor) comes up with a plan which makes everyone skeptical. Meanwhile, Red Death looms in Central City and commands that failure is not an option. Joe asks Cecile to make a choice which leads Cecile to think about the greater good. Allegra and Chester take a step in a new direction. Lastly, old friends pay an unexpected visit to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Eric Wallace directed the episode written by Jonathan Butler & Kristen Kim.

Airdate: 2/15/2023

 

[scarynikki12]

The blue streaks look really bad. A wig would have looked better than those cheap looking things. The least they could have done was choose a shade of blue that compliments her hair color.

Ok Caitlin died to bring...Snow was it? (she mumbled so I'm not sure and I'm going to keep calling her Blue Streaks anyway) into this world?

I promise no one cares about the kissing so the flashback is really not necessary. I assume it was included to remind us it happened due to the aforementioned not caring.

Honestly I kind of feel Joe and Cecile should leave because that may be the only way poor Jenna spends any time with her parents.

Also I can understand Cecile's Greater Good argument if she were the only powered person in town. Central City is already in good shape and is home to The Flash and several other metas so it really doesn't need another. If she wants to be a superhero she would do more good somewhere else.

Hartley's boyfriend is hot.

Gus decided to snuggle on my chest so now I can barely see the screen. 

There's really no reason to include Mark on the team. There was also no reason to include him in the opening credits so the show clearly disagrees with me.

One thing I'm curious about is why is Team Flash so blasé about killing Blue Streaks? That's what's going to happen if they succeed in resurrecting Caitlin and Frost. They like to pat themselves on the back for their Heroes Don't Kill policy yet they're ok killing in this one circumstance? Nice hypocrisy y'all.

I still hate it when Allegra calls him Chuck.

The Fiddler and Hartley are members of the Canary Network? It's been a long time but I don't remember him doing their screech.

This Earth Mother Hippie vibe is not landing, Blue Streaks. Try something else.

If Red Sparks is not Thawne's Final Form I'll be surprised. 

[Primal Slayer]

Overall...very basic episode.

Im not sure why they have made everything to do with Caitlin so complicated yet so boring. Im surprised they havent thought of a Lazarus Pit.

We've had the Scientist, the killer sarcastic, and I guess now we are on the hippie? Hippie Snow?

Why is Allegra/Chester so complicated? They arent anything special enough to warrant all this romantic drama.

Of all the characters this show has promoted to series regulars, im still not sure why Hartley never came to mind. He's one of the more interesting characters and a better anti-hero than what they made of Frost.

If Hartley is able to literally tell Barry what he needs and its 2 steps away...why exactly would he need Caitlin and couldnt just do it himself?

How many shadowy Speedvillains do we need that do the same.exact.thing? Literally. They all get these villains to do their work. Villain fails. They threaten said villain. Villain fails. They kill said villain.

How many sonic screamers does 1 Earth need? It's the most popular power. So many have had it.

[cambridgeguy]

1 hour ago, scarynikki12 said:

If Red Sparks is not Thawne's Final Form I'll be surprised. 

Why would Thawne wear a suit with a bat symbol on it?  Plus the distorted voice (especially the laugh) sounds a lot like a woman's. 

Candice Patton is a good actress, but she could not look more disinterested whenever she was talking about Frost and Caitlin.  And doesn't Iris have a job she should be getting back to after her hiatus?  At least Barry's boss knows he's the Flash, but what do all her employees think about their editor in chief who is never around?

[Primal Slayer]

1 hour ago, cambridgeguy said:

Why would Thawne wear a suit with a bat symbol on it?  Plus the distorted voice (especially the laugh) sounds a lot like a woman's. 

Candice Patton is a good actress, but she could not look more disinterested whenever she was talking about Frost and Caitlin.  And doesn't Iris have a job she should be getting back to after her hiatus?  At least Barry's boss knows he's the Flash, but what do all her employees think about their editor in chief who is never around?

Her business thrives just because....does she really need to be there? They beat out Catco and Daily Planet (or was just it just Daily Planet) to be the most successful paper.

[Trini]

Sooooo..... Did they really just kill off Caitlin in the final season for this bland, new Snow sister?? They could have just killed her in the Deathstorm arc last season and skipped all this nonsense. (Okay, death is never permanent on these shows; and I'm sure they'll resurrect her somehow by the end of the season.) I don't know why they thought we the audience would be invested in Blank Slate/Caitlin 3.0 who just got here, and have her in all these "emotional" scenes with various characters she has no relationship with. This show had so many chances to give her a dignified exit.

And there's more to nitpick, but I refuse to give more energy to that. Anyway, joke's on me for trying to make sense of anything to do with Caitlin and her increasingly convoluted storylines.

Speaking of relationships I don't buy: Barry and Mark. The actors did their best with that heart-to-heart; but I just didn't care because the characters had no relationship prior to this. And it still irks me that Chillblaine is supposed part of The Team now. UGH.

So great to see Hartley again, though!

13 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Of all the characters this show has promoted to series regulars, im still not sure why Hartley never came to mind. He's one of the more interesting characters and a better anti-hero than what they made of Frost.

Mientus really sells the fun, frenemy vibe with Barry/Team Flash. And yeah, it sucks that he was never a regular or even semi-regular on the show.

So - a new Capt. Boomerang, and a new Fiddler -- even though, supposedly, the multiverse was merged, I'm guessing they're from a different Earth.

They're pacing this Joe/Cecile storyline so weirdly?? One emo scene then they don't come back to it again. --Unless Cecile said something? I skipped her scene with Blank Slate.

Okay, dance party was kinda fun, but it was weirdly out of place after they just lost a Team Flash member that has been here from the start.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Trini
oy, grammar

[Jediknight]

4 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Of all the characters this show has promoted to series regulars, im still not sure why Hartley never came to mind. He's one of the more interesting characters and a better anti-hero than what they made of Frost.

I could be wrong but I think for most of it's run Mientus has been doing theatre work including Broadway.  A full time gig on Broadway wouldn't allow much time to join The Flash and inject more fun into it than most of the new characters that have shown up.

Season 9 of The Flash, the final season finally features an episode where Barry learns that you have to let people go, a lesson he learned in season 3.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Jediknight

[tennisgurl]

Is Caitlin just...dead now? That's it? A main character, once who's been there since day one, is dead now, offscreen? So that we can have some new boring hippie person in her body with stupid hair streaks? That seems like a pretty terrible way to end Caitlin's story, but I guess its appropriate given the way she has been handled the last few seasons. She died as she lived, in a convoluted annoying mess of nonsense and annoyance. That is, if she and Frost are actually gone for real, I am still pretty sure they will show up again and we will just have three Caitlin's now. Maybe that's why everyone was having a dance party at the end despite one of their family just dying, not even they buy that she's gone for real. I just cannot with these stupid Caitlin plots anymore, I cant even get mad, its too stupid to use that kind of energy, and I am not looking forward to getting to know this blank eyed Caitlin that has apparently been inside of Caitlin all along as the Caitlin her dad always wanted. 

It never fails to make me laugh at how, as much as Grant and Candance are great and really try their best with most of the ridiculous stuff they get, their energy levels both go to about zero when they get pulled into Caitlin plots. Especially Candace, who just cannot even pretend that Iris would give a shit about any of this, especially her wanting to bring Frost, the women who almost killed her, back again. 

What exactly does Chilllame bring to Team Flash again? A shitty attitude and presumably a strong smell of cheap cologne? Why would they want to deal with some asshole who lies to them, engages in mad science to bring their dead girlfriend back to the point where he almost manipulated everyone into killing someone, and seems to have no skills that are even remotely helpful? Why in gods name is he in the opening credits even? Why is this guy still a thing? 

Its at least good to see Hartley again, he's always fun to have around. I have no idea why he has never become a permanent member of team flash, the actor is really good, has good chemistry with the rest of the cast, he fits that "snarky former villain with a heart of gold" archetype way more than Frost or Chilllame, he's way more likable than either of them, and he actually has skills to contribute to the team. I can only guess that Andy Mientus is too busy with theater to commit to being a regular, which really is too bad, I would love to have him around more. Especially with us being threatened with the further presence of Chilllame. 

Chester, your friend is basically dead. Its probably not the time to be hemming and hawing about a kiss with your friend who you like and who likes you back. Why aren't they just together at this point? And why are Joe and Cecile on a totally different show than everyone else? 

[Trini]

17 hours ago, Jediknight said:

I could be wrong but I think for most of it's run Mientus has been doing theatre work including Broadway.  A full time gig on Broadway wouldn't allow much time to join The Flash and inject more fun into it than most of the new characters that have shown up.

He definitely did have other commitments during the show's run; but if they had locked him down as a regular... he wouldn't have had some of those commitments, though?
 

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

It never fails to make me laugh at how, as much as Grant and Candance are great and really try their best with most of the ridiculous stuff they get, their energy levels both go to about zero when they get pulled into Caitlin plots. Especially Candace, who just cannot even pretend that Iris would give a shit about any of this, especially her wanting to bring Frost, the women who almost killed her, back again. 

I wouldn't say it's specifically Caitlin plots; but it definitely shows when Grant isn't feeling a script.

[Terrafamilia]

Calling Capt. Janeway...

Unfortunately, Blue Snow isn't nearly as interesting as Tuvix.

At least the mid-credits dance scenes were fun. "Hey everybody, this is the Flash!"

[thuganomics85]

So, first we get Richard Harmon as the new Boomerang and now Magda Apanowicz shows up as the new Fiddler.  I wonder who else from Continuum can show up for this new "Rogue" squad?  I know Roger Cross, Stephen Lobo, and Lexa Doig already got prominent roles in the Arrowverse, but maybe Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen, or even Rachel Nichols herself are up for showing up here!

One of the many mysterious of this show is why we only had Hartley for about five episodes in this series, because he is by far one of the best recurring characters to ever show up.  Granted, it sounds like Andy Mientus does a lot of theater work as well, but I imagine they still could have found a way if they wanted to.  Hopefully this won't be the last we see of him.

So, now Caitlin is also dead more or less and we are now introduce to this Snow character?  Who, I think Danielle Panabaker is aiming to play as socially stunted/awkward, but almost comes off just plainly robotic or alien instead?  Whatever: I really wish I could care more about this, but it's hard to.  Especially since this is leading to more Chilllame, who really might be the worst character to ever be on this show.  I don't even want him to end up joining the villains, because he's not worthy to be an antagonist for the final season.

Look at Chester all "Wow, my supposed friend kind of died, but let us talk more about that awkward kiss, Allegra!" here.

New Boomerang and Fiddler use Hartley's gauntlets to bring the Evil Speedster out of the Speed Force or whatever.  They keep their mask on, but considering 

Spoiler

that bat-like sigil and knowing Javica Leslie is suppose to appear, I suspect I have a general idea what is going on.

 

The club sequence at the end was fun.  Probably because the cast themselves seem to be having a ball.

 

[Diapason Untuned]

This reminds me strongly of the whole "Cisco wants to stop being a meta" plot, so it seems the showrunners must been doubting whether Panabaker would return for the final season and hedged their bets.

[Whodunnit]

DID: Am I a joke to you show?

TBH I don't know why I'm still watching.

I could care less about the kiss.

Hartley is interesting though, probably for the best that he isn't a regular.

[Whodunnit]

Our friend is dead. Let's go clubbing.

[Trini]

7 hours ago, Whodunnit said:

Our friend is dead. Let's go clubbing.

Fun scene; but definitely odd (to say the least) in the overall narrative. I'm assuming since the writers didn't bother with a goodbye/tribute/mourning (like with every other major character that has died, "died", or left) it means that Caitlin will be back sooner or later; probably later.

One has to keep in mind that these are the same writers that had Barry playing D&D whilst his wife was lost in the sands of time, so...

[bettername2come]

Iris voting for Frost with a vague "I have my reasons" made me think "well, obviously, shutting up the Snowbarry shippers is the reason."

I can't invest in Hartley as a character. We've seen three different timeline versions of him out of 6 episodes and I'd just like him to stay non-evil but still kind of a jerk without it being a real plot point. And maybe hear a little about what he's up to otherwise when he's gone. The "how'd you get in here?" "I used to work here" exchange has me screaming "Ten years ago! Change the damn locks, Barry!"

Danielle Panabaker talking about nature gives me Sky High vibes. 

"He's the Flash!" "No, I'm not!" Hahaha. 

[Lantern7]

I’m running behind.

In my head: an hour-long slog with some fun dancing at the end. Also, some evil speed dude with Flash AND Batman fetishes!

Oh, no, please don’t go, Mark. You’re so vital to this ser-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

“Keon”? Will her last name be “Kelvin”? I’m not caring, but I like alliteration.

Cecile can’t “read” Keon. That’s gonna be a plot point, isn’t it?

[Trini]

On 2/16/2023 at 2:30 PM, tennisgurl said:

What exactly does Chilllame bring to Team Flash again? A shitty attitude and presumably a strong smell of cheap cologne? Why would they want to deal with some asshole who lies to them, engages in mad science to bring their dead girlfriend back to the point where he almost manipulated everyone into killing someone, and seems to have no skills that are even remotely helpful? Why in gods name is he in the opening credits even? Why is this guy still a thing? 

Truely baffling. This season (or Season 8, honestly) would have been the time to cull some of the the cast, not add randos only related to characters who aren't even here anymore.

And most of the reactions I've seen to the 'Caitlin's dead - let's welcome Khione!' plot twist varies between confusion and being upset. Like, nobody wanted this.