S01.E13: The Nuclear Man

[Tara Ariano]

Barry goes after Ronnie when he realizes Caitlin's fiancé is a dangerous meta-human who attacked a physicist. To track him, Barry visits Dr. Martin Stein who is working on a project called F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. Meanwhile, Barry struggles to balance his duties as the Flash with the relationship he has with Linda Park; and Joe enlists Cisco's help to reinvestigate the murder of Nora Allen.

[Maverick]

 I wish they'd quit referring to it as F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. because it the dumbest. acronym. EVER.  Also, I'm annoyed because when Caitlin was Googling firestorm to try and find out what Ronnie was talking about but was coming empty until Barry tries F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. it shouldn't have made a difference; Google will ignore the punctuation.   I guess the Internet works different in the DCverse. 

[MarkHB]

Maybe they were using Altavista?

[ottoDbusdriver]

Maybe they were using Altavista?

 

Is this Central City or Pawnee, Indiana ?

[CabotCove]

As a big Firestorm, this is the episode I have been waiting for!

[ottoDbusdriver]

D'oh !! We have to wait until next week to see if it worked.

 

How does Gen. Eiling know about Firestorm ?

 

 

Sidenote: Chase Masterson has only gotten sexier with time -- she was playing the hot divorcee living in Barry's old house.  Grrrr.

[Fabricationary]

Central City must be in its own weird weather ecosphere - snow on the ground in one scene, summer in the next, a tree turning fall colors in another, etc.  Blame it on the particle accelerator, I guess.

 

Also the workplace is apparently the perfect setting to settle romantic affairs in Flashworld.

 

In other news, when someone's literally going to go nuclear in a few hours, it's the perfect opportunity to take a breather, redo one's hair, change clothes, and go proposition your love interest. 

[Jediknight]

And yep, Barry went full Flashpoint.  Just please don't do a full Flashpoint storyline, because the show won't be able to do the consequences of Barry saving Nora justice.

[Shriekingeel]

Ridiculous ending. If Stein wanted to protect people, travelling 30-odd miles away to detonate on the surface is still going to kill thousands. He should have found a deep tunnel or abandoned mineshaft. An underground nuclear detonation kills no one.

[Enero]

I was really excited about the Firestorm storyline but was surprisingly bored by it. I did however, think that Caitlyn and Ronnie/Martin Stein had wonderful chemistry.

I like Linda Park and enjoyed her interactions with Barry. The pepper eating scene was cute but over the top. I could understand Barry’s point. However, it seemed like a bit much for a girl he’d only gone out on one date with and hardly knows.

I'm not sure what they're attempting to do with Iris but it was strange. I'm glad Barry confronted her about what she said to Linda. She's made it very clear that she has no romantic interest in him. And even if she did she has no right to block his chance at finding someone of his own. I'm again disappointed with what they’re not doing with her.

On another note, just weeks ago she was writing about the “burning man” on her blog, a story comes up on the news about him being involved in a crime and she shows no interest it. How is she still working at the paper when last week she thought she'd lose her job any day because of her lack of Flash stories?

I was most interested in Cisco and Joe’s investigation into Nora’s murder. Though predictable, I still enjoyed the beats of the investigation and Cisco/Joe's interactions.

This was an okay, but mostly forgettable episode.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Enero

[Tangerine]

I've never seen Robbie Amell in anything but I thought he did a great job as Stein in Ronnie's body.

Caitlin/Ronnie was sad and I thought they had great chemistry. And I'm still digging Linda even if I didn't care for Barry's 'Go out with me or I'll physically hurt myself' a la The Notebook stunt.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Tangerine

[Lantern7]

Dang . . . forgot about Clancy Brown's name in the credits. Nice to see him, even if gorillas aren't involved.

 

Good episode, even with the cringe stuff between Barry and Linda. Great that he's getting past Iris (and Felicity), but he's so goofy at it. And he vibrates when he's nervous. Suddenly, I want to make jokes about AA batteries and "riding the lightning."

 

Apparently, Wisteria Lane was located in Central City the whole time. Damn, Cisco couldn't be any more enthused to be there without a lady to ogle.

[phoenics]

#IrisWestDeservesBetter than this kind of blatant marginalization.

I think I'm done.

I love comics but it's hard for me to ignore how badly they are writing Iris as a character and as a WoC I just cannot ignore it. It's grating. I don't care how much I love comics. They haven't given her any kind of PoV - we don't get to see what she's thinking - all we are getting from her are reaction scenes but no dialogue with a confidante so we can see what she's thinking. Just horrible writing. With Caitlin we at least get to see her talk about her feelings about Ronnie and what she's thinking - with Iris we get - nothing at all.

It's like they don't WANT Iris to have a voice.

The optics of this suck.

Edited February 11, 2015 by phoenics

[bluebonnet]

Damn, why do they have to take what started as a perfectly good character and turn her into something we are going to despise?  That left a bad taste in the mouth. 

[bettername2come]

Huge improvement over last week. I love adorkable Barry. He and Linda are really good together. I want her dress so bad, along with Cisco's "entropy happens" t-shirt. I continue to like SnowStorm. Robbie Amell and Danielle Panabaker have surprisingly good chemistry. That was a pretty epic kiss at the end. I was happy to see Barry call Iris out on what she said to Linda, although I don't believe she was intentionally trying to sabotage anything. Cisco and Joe were good together. I liked that Joe revealed his suspicions to Cisco and that he trusted Cisco not to tell Wells or Barry. I'm ready for some Cisco backstory after the hints they've dropped the last few episodes. Eddie was only in the episode for 10 seconds, but he made good use of them. 

 

I really like that we didn't have a villain this episode. I think it really helped them advance their ongoing plots better. They found Firestorm, Caitlyn's totally not ready to move on, the time travel idea came up, Cisco's in on Joe's suspicions (and aw, he called him a friend), Linda/Barry romance, Iris maybe kinda sorta being jealous, Wells is willing to throw off his timeline to separate Firestorm for whatever reason.

[Oscirus]

Did this episode even do anything?

I guess that the good doctor went to Ellis for funding for Firestorm and they tried to make it look like  Wells and that's the big reveal.

Was anybody else surprised by the fact that grown up Barry was at his mother's murder?  I'm pretty sure that everybody suspected that.

The writers aren't going to be happy until they have everybody hate Iris. I'm not even going into their mishandling anymore.

And of course Joe won't stop hunting Dr. Wells, it's not like Reverse Flash threatened anybody important to him or anything.

 

[bmoore4026]

Well congrats, Barry - you probably fucked up your family.

[Lord Kira]

The Laurel-ification of Iris begins. I never hated Iris until this episode. I never loved her, but she was never Laurel levels of annoying so I didn't have that much of a problem with her. But now? You had your chance, Iris. Let Barry move on. Besides, don't you have a boyfriend/fiance? 

 

I'm really liking Barry and Linda, even if it is a little rushed. And it being rushed is mentioned and played for laughs. They lay well off of each other.

 

If anything, this episode confirmed to me that I'll take any pairing over Barry/Iris. Barry/Caitlyn and Barry/Linda interactions are always fun, I'd be fine if either of those pairings are chosen over Barry/Iris.

 

I liked the plot with Detective West and Cisco. Flashpoint is going to be fun. They can have it play out over multiple episodes and even include Arrow in on the fun.

 

The Firestorm stuff is pretty cool. I'm not sure I care about Caitlyn/Ronnie, though. We've only ever seen normal Ronnie once in flashback so I'm not that invested in the pairing at the moment. I'll need to see more of him.

The writers aren't going to be happy until they have everybody hate Iris. I'm not even going into their mishandling anymore.

 

 

The whole triangle (or is it now a square?) reminds me of Oliver/Laurel/Tommy on Arrow. The triangle didn't do Laurel any favors, and it looks like they aim to repeat the same thing with Iris. On Arrow, I just ended up feeling bad for Tommy. If Iris continues to behave this way, I'll probably end up disliking her more and feeling bad for Eddie.

[Shanna]

Iris, what are ya doing babe? One, that skirt was a bit short and leather for work. Two, you've got a boyfriend you are living with. I am not down with this stupid 'oh now that he's dating someone else I'm into it'. Ugh.

Ok onto better things! Malese! Love her. Barry changing clothes with joe commenting was fun. Liked their date.

I'm apparently not impressed with Robbie Amell at all, although it's weird seeing how much he looks like Stephen. And his movie ad is irritating me. So not looking forward to increased screen time. I hope we get more of garber instead.

Hmmm. I guess that's it. Except that this episode felt very comic booky to me.

[venusnv80]

I don't even understand why Iris would be hated after this episode. Linda asked her a question and she answered, it wasn't the best answer...but she thought she was helping. Linda was the one who took it to mean that Barry and Iris had something going on. However, what pissed me off is Barry and him coming to Iris talking to her the way he did. I mean, it's not like she dressed up in a costume and had rooftop chats with him gaging him and flirting with him undercover like someone else we know.

 

The only thing that interested me in this episode was the fact that Joe and Cisco were working together. The rest? Don't care. Oh and Victor Garber, I liked him. 

 

The CW is showing it's true color as always. 

Edited February 11, 2015 by venusnv80

[Writing Wrongs]

Barry said "Flame on". Ha.

 

Nuclear Man makes me think of Superman IV.

 

The Amells really get stuck wearing the bad wigs, don't they?

[Shanna]

I think Barry thought iris told Linda he liked her, which Linda obviously just intuited. But I think he also thought iris overstepped her BFF role by giving his date too much information - enough to scare her off. Which she kind of did, although i believe she meant well she kind of got distracted and overshared. What I didn't like were all the 'I might like him now and want to keep other girls away from him' vibes I was getting. I hate this type of story and I'm thinking now the writers are pretty much doing their brilliant first season arrow laurel tommy story, minus the grosser elements of sister swapping and best friend girlfriend swapping. But I liked tommy/laurel best and although Eddie is no tommy, I like him with iris so I basically hate where this seems to be going.

I wasn't bothered by the pepper eating because it's not actually going to hurt Barry because if his superpower nonsense, so it was really just silly fun not at all dangerous.

[Lord Kira]

Speaking of silly fun, I loved the opening scene with Barry and Linda on the date and Barry making saves every time she wasn't looking. Grant Gustin is brilliant at doing the fun stuff.

[phoenics]

I wasn't bothered by the pepper eating because it's not actually going to hurt Barry because if his superpower nonsense, so it was really just silly fun not at all dangerous.

Yeah - but Linda didn't know that, so in actuality it was kinda manipulative.

That fits in with the "nice guy" trope the writers have now forced Barry into.

[Actionmage]

Well, it was a mixed bag of an hour.

 

Liked:

*Cisco and Joe doing their cop thing. They both want to help Barry out.

*Caitlin/Firestorm/ Clarissa! I was so happy to see Isabella Hoffman; I yelled out "Megan!" (Homicide:LotS character)

*Caitlin telling Wells where the line she won't cross is.

*Cisco figuring out that blindly following someone isn't good for anyone.

*I thought of Kromm at the blood reveal.

*RonnieStein's haircut!

 

Mostly Liked:

*Older guest ladies! Ms. Masterson and Ms. Hoffman were  fun to have on my TV. Two older (for the CW) actresses that are enjoyed. Sadly, though, we had one character and one sad trope - the hoary Randy Divorcee. Don't get me wrong--Joe's hot, but really? It took Joe until evening to shoo the lady out of the house? How wasteful (of his and Cisco's time) and just dumb. Apparently it is "Nature's Law" on TV that if you are a female over 40 and divorced, you gotta throw yourself at the handsome series regular(s) regardless of how they feel. You also cannot be put off or read the room and back off. ::rme::

 

Disliked:

*Barry being a tool to Iris. Dude, just because other people are more mentally "fast", don't take it out on Iris. At least Iris wasn't keeping secrets and wasn't intending to sabotage, in my opinion. I read the Iris/Linda scene as Iris- who just i.d.'d herself as Barry's Best BFF-- not wanting to open an awkward conversational can of worms with the woman Barry wants to date. Going into how they were friends, then he grew up in the same house and he had a crush that she either ignored/couldn't see? That's awkward and pulls apart the "Best BFF" claim Iris just made. So while neither Iris nor Barry covered themselves in glory, Linda is the winner, seeing there is a mess and not wanting to get caught up in others' drama.  Until Barry at the stupid pepper. Whatev, writers.

 

*Joe, making people promise to keep more secrets! Dude! You have to be near critical with secret overload, right?

 

Probably more, but that's it for now.

[venusnv80]

I don't understand why they decided they even needed a triangle or quadrangle. Why is it they could not develop the Iris/Barry relationship and have him also being the Flash? Why throw in all these other unneeded and wasteful people? 

[Sakura12]

I definitely knew they were going to go with Iris discovering she liked Barry once he tries to move on and find someone else. Why must you be so cliche writers. That doesn't help Iris in any way. 

 

I know she didn't mean exactly the way she said it, but she kind of did. In a not so subtle way she was telling Linda to break it off with Barry. Linda was just smart enough to figure out Iris's true meaning. Which made me like Linda more. She may not be science smart but she is intelligent and I'm sure Barry sees that and likes her because of that. That is how they should've been writing Iris. 

 

Linda is not sticking around so that's too bad. I really like Malese and think she's doing a great job. And lets not forget she is also a woman of color. 

 

The Firestorm part (sorry F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M) wasn't that exciting. The Ronnie/Caitlin story was also not given enough time for me to buy it. That and DP and RA are not the greatest actors. However Victor Garber was great, I hope they do separate soon so we can see more of him. 

 

I did love Cisco and Joe investigating Barry's mother's death. And Cisco telling Joe he would not judge him if he went out with the divorcee. And Barry from the future, everyone guessed that in the first episode show, so it wasn't that shocking.  

[Hook75]

I'm apparently not impressed with Robbie Amell at all, although it's weird seeing how much he looks like Stephen.

 

 

Me too. I actually thought that he was REALLY bad. Stephen is the better looking and the more talented one in that family.

 

Iris is so boring. If TIIC need to kill someone, let it be her and not her father.

[wayne67]

It sounds like an episode to skip. Anything meaningful happen in this episode to further the overall plot or just a filler episode ? I'm trying to decide whether to watch the episode or not.

Edited February 11, 2015 by wayne67

[Shanna]

Yeah - but Linda didn't know that, so in actuality it was kinda manipulative.

That fits in with the "nice guy" trope the writers have now forced Barry into.

It was a pepper, though, not cyanide! I don't think Linda would do anything she didn't want to do, she just wanted to make sure he wasn't still hung up on iris.

[wingster55]

Anything meaningful happen in this episode to further the overall plot or just a filler episode ?

 

Knowing who was (and wasn't) in the room the night Barry's mom got married is a big deal.

I don't hate Iris, I don't hate Barry, I think the show is great, the build for Iris POV on Barry's confession is coming and that exercising patience instead of reacting impulsively isn't a bad thing. 

[phoenics]

It was a pepper, though, not cyanide! I don't think Linda would do anything she didn't want to do, she just wanted to make sure he wasn't still hung up on iris.

I get that - but really - does a pepper really prove that?

And does anyone really believe he's NOT still hung up on Iris? Not that it helps - but he's totally still hung up on Iris. Linda is what we call a rebound. Obviously. This is classic soapy trope mess. And frustrating.

[wayne67]

Knowing who was (and wasn't) in the room the night Barry's mom got married is a big deal.

I don't hate Iris, I don't hate Barry, I think the show is great, the build for Iris POV on Barry's confession is coming and that exercising patience instead of reacting impulsively isn't a bad thing. 

Does Barry's mom get a name ?

[Lord Kira]

Nora Allen. 

[wingster55]

Does Barry's mom get a name ?

 

Nora. But we already knew that.

[bluebonnet]

I know everyone is hung up on the relationship angle.  But that's not actually the major problem with Iris this episode.  She still hasn't been able to say one word in response to Barry's confession.   The problem with Iris is that they completely unwrote some of her most recent development.  The write her to act as though Caitlin just mentioned the burning man in passing and have her not doing any actual journalism work.  Seriously, writers, wtf?  A really great, charismatic actress starts with a decentish storyline and now you're turning her into a Laurel, aka a female character who is useless at everything she does and only exists so that other characters can advance their own plot.  Not cool, not cool at all.  

[wayne67]

 

Does Barry's mom get a name ?

    

Nora. But we already knew that.

 

Which episode was that mentioned ? I probably blanked on it . I don't even remember Barry's father's name. I'm bad with secondary characters, they all kind of blur into insignificance in my mind very quickly.

 

[benteen]

Very good episode.  Robbie Amell talking caveman was bad but did great as Stein-in-Ronnie's-body.  Victor Garber has been a favorite actor of mine since Jack Bristow on Alias (still one of my favorite characters) and was great in his scene with Barry.  Nice to see Chase Masterson, remember her from DS9.  Liked Cisco working with Joe a lot.  Barry and Linda together are fun.

 

One problem though is that the fact the women on this show are defined completely by their relationships to the men on this show.  Caitlyn with Ronnie, Iris with Barry and now Linda with Barry.  Caitlyn at least works great with Team Flash but Iris's role is becoming completely thankless and keeping her in the dark about the Flash does nothing but hurt the character.  The writers have done a great job with this show but they really need to step it up with the female character and stop defining them only by the men they're with.

Edited February 11, 2015 by benteen

[thuganomics85]

Hey, they finally got Victor Garber to show up for actual scenes, instead of just pictures and found footage stuff.  About time!  They had fun with the "older" casting this episode with him, Isabelle Hoffman (Homicide!) as Stein's wife, and Chase Masterson as the divorcee.

 

I know I'm repeating myself, but, man: they really don't know how to make Iris work, do they?  They have the what it takes: I think Candice Patton is very winning.  But, when she's not being ignored all together, she is stuck in stupid stuff like this one tonight.  Personally, I thought neither she or Barry came off looking good.  In Iris' defense, I do think she was sincere in trying to help Linda understand Barry, but the way it was played (how certain words were delivered, the looks Candice gave), Iris really was kind of obvious that she was referring to herself as the "unrequited love", and it did come off like she was sabotaging the relationship.  At the same time though, Barry just came off immature, and him rushing over to whine at Iris about it did him no favors.  I usually don't mind the Barry/Iris concept, but they did themselves no favors.

 

And, it certainly isn't helping that I think Malese Jow is a welcome presence as Linda.  I'm not going to say that she and Grant Gustin set the screen on fire, but I find their rapport at least fun, so I'd rather Barry just get over Iris, and act like a normal guy.  Instead, I suspect Linda is just a placeholder, until Iris finally decides she has feelings back.  Lame.  Unless it ends with Linda and Eddie rebounding, which would be kind of funny.

 

Besides all that, I actually liked the rest of it.  I'll admit that part of it could be that I keep comparing him to his performance in The Tomorrow People, but I still think Robbie Amell is way better as Ronnie then I thought he would be.  I'll take what I can get.  And, unlike last week, I actually really enjoyed Caitlin this time.  Her firmly telling Wells to suck it up and at least try and find a way to save Ronnie/Stein, was probably one of my favorite moments from her.  I loved the Joe/Cisco pairing and hope we get more of it.  And, of course, Victor Garber.  Man is never not awesome.

 

So, as some suspected, it seems like there were two "speedsters" during Nora's death, and one of them was an Older Barry, so we've totally got time traveling going on here.  Then again, after Grodd, nothing is off the table.

 

I do wish the credits didn't have Clancy Brown's name in it, because the Eiling appearance at the end would have been a fun surprise.

 

Seriously, show.  I like you a lot, but fix this Iris shit.  I almost more annoyed with this then Arrow/Laurel, because I at least think Iris has potential, and Candice is likable.

Edited February 11, 2015 by thuganomics85

[statsgirl]

And does anyone really believe he's NOT still hung up on Iris? Not that it helps - but he's totally still hung up on Iris. Linda is what we call a rebound. Obviously. This is classic soapy trope mess. And frustrating.

I believed he was ready to move, and he seemed really into Linda.  It's a stupid old trope that he was distracted by his Secret so everyone assumed he wasn't ready to date -- I think I've seen that in old I Love Lucy episodes.

 

I wonder if they're just so distracted by all the shiny new superheroes that they forget to write for Iris, or if they really don't know what to do with her.

 

Victor Garber makes anything better.

[benteen]

Garber definitely does.

 

While I enjoyed the Cisco/Joe storyline greatly, I do have to admit to being sad that the first seeds were planted for the eventual destruction of Team Flash as we know it.  I like the dynamic between Barry, Cisco, Caitlyn, and Wells so much that I will be sorry when Wells is revealed as the villain.  That will change things in a way that they can't come back from.

[In2You]

I don't even know why they brought Linda onto this show. This is a waste of time and terrible build up to putting Iris and Barry together. And again why Wally's love interest? Why not Patty Spivot? 

 

I don't care for the Firestorm story and I'm not a fan of Ronnie or Caitlin

 

 

[quarks]

The Cisco/Joe stuff was great, especially the scene where Joe explained how he has to approach the families of people he arrests.  Victor Garber was also great, despite being stuck in a questionable scene - like seriously, nice coincidence that Barry just happened to have a conversation with him on the train on the day Star Labs blew up where Barry just happened to mention a girlfriend who wasn't really a girlfriend (not to mention this conversation happened as he was returning from Starling City, right after meeting Felicity, and right before calling her to say that he'd still be interested if she ever got over Oliver).   And though Garber mostly seemed like his character from Titanic. I like Linda, and I liked Victor Garber's wife.  And Clancy Brown is back, which is always a good thing.

 

Everything else...eh.  A nuclear detonation is about to go off, but sure, life's short, head off to try to win a girl that you've been on a total of one and a half dates with. That will work out great. (And why were they calling dinner their first date? I thought they had a lunch thing last week?) Divorcee is desperate for sex, sigh.  Robbie Amell trying to channel Victor Garber, sigh. Barry/Iris, eh. I don't think that storyline did either of them any favors.

 

And "Even you can't outrun a nuclear explosion," immediately followed by Barry outrunning a nuclear explosion while carrying Caitlin....sigh.

 

But Clancy Brown! That's a positive.

[Lord Kira]

I wonder if they're just so distracted by all the shiny new superheroes that they forget to write for Iris, or if they really don't know what to do with her.

 

 

They don't know what to do with her. The writers experience the same problem with Laurel on Arrow.

 

The truth is, they are only on these shows for one reason. They are the heroes' destined canon love-interests in the comics. The writers included them in these shows because they are well-liked and important characters in the comics and assume that will carry over into the tv shows. The problem is, the writers put zero effort into these two characters. They forget that they have to actually work to makes them important and likable.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Lord Kira

[Actionmage]

Which episode was that mentioned ? I probably blanked on it . I don't even remember Barry's father's name

 

Nora was named in the pilot, along with Henry Allen, Barry's dad, who showed up to help last week.

 

Victor Garber makes anything better.

 

Yes, SpyDaddy and bacon make pretty much anything better.

[Xander]

I liked this episode and thought it was fun. Barry and the pepper is not really manipulative. It's not like he could really force Linda to date him. He was just trying to be cute. And Iris yeah. not cool, but no big deal. Barry getting mad at Iris, also no big deal. 

 

I liked the Firestorm story and like other people, am hoping that Iris serves a larger purpose than love interest. But I think she was better integrated this week since Barry's story with Linda was the B/C plot. 

 

I feel like Ronnie and Caitlin's current arc will not last for long but I hope we see more of him later. 

 

I liked that it wasn't the usual freak-of-the-week episode and looking forward to learning about time travel next week. 

[dirtypop90]

:shrugs: I still like Iris. I just hate that she doesn't get any POV and the writers don't care about her at all, which I don't get because CP is talented and charismatic. But maybe if Iris was played by another actress, I would find her annoying like I do Laurel.

 

I also liked Firestorm and was pleasantly surprised he had chemistry with Caitlin. 

Edited February 11, 2015 by dirtypop90

[Trini]

First off, poor Eddie: he's the real one who's getting shafted.

 

I thought Robbie did a good job as Stein within Ronnie. I wanted to see more Victor Garber, though. And they never explained what Stein was transporting. Next episode?

 

Oh Cisco, you're so adorable with your Fringe science. He and Joe actually made a good onscreen team. However, I think Joe should have realized that Cisco would be loyal to Wells.

 

People are overreacting to Iris. She didn't even say anything wrong to Linda. She was trying to help. I liked that Linda was smart enough to figure it out. But at least now both Barry and Iris can move on. (Since apparently these BFFs never had a discussion about the Confession, or Linda.)

 

Wells' shadiness is becoming more apparent to the team. I wonder how soon he'll go full Evil?

 

Nitpicks:

- I love that Barry can just walk into the newspaper offices off the street.

- The "middle of nowhere" is just 30 miles outside the city? Ha! No.

- Barry can't outrun a nuclear explosion? Except that this is the second time he's done exactly that.

 

Cute Things:

- Barry getting dressed for his date.

- The sex talk with Cisco and Caitlyn.

- "Flame on"

[cynic]

Barry was little too goofy for me this episode. If I was Linda, I'd probably be looking for an exit. She seems too together for him. Also, as much as I liked Malese Jow on TVD and was looking forward to her appearance, I wasn't really feeling any connection between them. I think the cutesy writing might have been throwing things off though.

Danielle Panabaker has no gravitas. I don't buy her at all in dramatic scenes. Plus, her little girl voice and expressions make it difficult to take her seriously.

Robbie Ammell just made me laugh before they cleaned him up, but I thought he did a lot better when he was being Victor Garber.

I enjoyed Joe and Cisco working together (except for the desperate housewife thing).

[thuganomics85]

Forgot to mention earlier that I noticed Glen Winter directed this one, and I did think he did a good job.  But, I'm starting to think that between this and the recent Arrow episode he did ("Left Behind"), that they're just deliberately having him direct episodes with the weaker scripts, in order to hide out weak they are.  Which... I guess works in the sense that he saves them from being disasters, but I would like him to actually get some good episodes again, please.