S03.E13: Attack on Gorilla City

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

When Jesse Quick informs the team that her father has been abducted, Barry, Caitlin, Cisco and Julian voyage to Earth-2 on a rescue mission to save Harry from Gorilla City. As they trek through the forest, Barry and the team are immediately captured and brought to Grodd. Grodd tells them he needs their help to stop Solovar, the leader of Gorilla City, as Solovar wants to invade Earth-1. Meanwhile, back on Earth-1, Jesse and Kid Flash hit the streets to stop a metahuman that can control gravity, with H.R. and Joe guiding them from S.T.A.R. Labs.

Promo:

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm trying not to rush to judgment reading that synopsis, but it's hard. No FUCKING way should Solovar be the bad guy in this!

But it's Berlanti so of course he would be.??????

Edited February 15, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[jay741982]

It's very simple. Grodd is lying!!

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, jay741982 said:

It's very simple. Grodd is lying!!

Of course he is! But I'm sooo sure no one will figure that out until the near end because Grodd was tortured by Eiling and he would never lie to those that saved him!??

[zannej]

But what if Earth 2 Solovar is a bad guy but he's not a bad guy on other earths?

That said, I'm do think Grodd is probably lying.

[CletusMusashi]

I, for one, am very disappointed that the episode didn't air last week.  Caitlin or Frosti or whoever the hell she is this week could have worn her Fay Wray dress again for the Valentine's ep, and Grodd could have wooed her with lines such as "I'm BANANAS about ya, dollface!" And then they could have gotten together and made sweet, sweet... frozen bananas. And they could open a frozen banana stand together. And King Shark would be in charge of stealing banana boats for them.

Or, you know, we could just watch Wally alternate between bitching and moping for an hour while Grodd tries to figure out why he is supposed to give a fuck about this high maintenance second stringer. 

[bettername2come]

[pinkle6]

I thought it was pretty good. It felt like an episode of a comic book show, not a soap opera.

How many times are we going to be subjected to every episode ending with Barry and Iris sitting on the couch making out or delivering borderline wedding vows to each other (or in any conversation, rather)?

[Jediknight]

Solovar better be the big hero next week.

Julian, Caitlin is very attractive, but dude, this won't end well for you.  Speaking of Julian, thanks to him we know that Indiana Jones exists on Earth 2.

[Primal Slayer]

It was enjoyable. The CGI was good considering they had to have so many Gorillas, it was actually better then their CGI Barry lol.

But come on now writers, they will find ANY WAY to put Julian into the plot but they won't do the same for Iris? She never gets to go on the fun trips.

[Lantern7]

Does Grodd count as a love of Caitlin's? She might be the only human he likes.

Glad Solovar wasn't really the bad guy that Grodd had to outevil. That said, the Earth-1 gang really should have seen the gambit coming. They look like putzes. Wally-level putzes.

Happy Wally and Jesse are getting closer, but it's not going to last. They are sweet, though. And Harry would approve, though not about his daughter moving away.

Grodd had Gypsy this entire time. Sure. What the hell not? I'm thinking this wasn't supposed to be a two-parter, but the CW execs heard "Gorilla City," and they probably had to change their pants.

I approve of Indiana Albert. When he dies (speculation since he is close to Caitlin), maybe they'll bury him in that outfit. At least he preps for the jungle better than Cyril Figgis.

[SnoGirl]

6 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

It was enjoyable. The CGI was good considering they had to have so many Gorillas, it was actually better then their CGI Barry lol.

But come on now writers, they will find ANY WAY to put Julian into the plot but they won't do the same for Iris? She never gets to go on the fun trips.

I feeli like Iris has to be on more of an equal footing with Barry to go on a fun trip. I'm not saying Julius is, but Julius isn't the love of Barry's life. I'm kinda more bummed that Cisco hasn't tricked Julius into saying a line from Harry Potter yet. Double points if its an actual Draco line.

I thought there were some really great one-liners in this episode. I loved HR's "I'm sorry I took away your smile" line. It was hauntingly sad. I can't think of anymore, but I remember thinking, someone was on their A-Game this episode.

[bettername2come]

I don't want to ship it. I don't want to ship it...and Draco's taking my girl for a steak. Crap.

Amazing how their Africa and Earth-1's Lian Yu look so similar.

They have to stop putting Cisco's life in danger at this point in the season. Last season, he almost died in ep 11, his doppelganger died in 13. Season 1 he died in the alternate timeline in ep 15. This time he tries to get Caitlin to kill him so he can't open a breach. Get new ideas!

Barry was mature and reasonable. More of that please.

I liked it. Good CGI, believable plot, not too much idiocy, Harry is my favorite Wells, needed more Iris, but let's face it, I'm used to that. I hope next week's is as good, but I have doubts.

[Whodunnit]

--Let's be terrified over steak.(paraphrasing)-- Well, that's one way to ask a girl out.

--He's going to hate it.-- HR, you troll.

[thuganomics85]

They better be more Solovar next week, since they got Keith David and his badass voice to play him.  Do not waste Keith David, show!  That would be unforgivable!

Fun seeing Gorilla City and the CGI was pretty good for all of the gorillas.  The arena was a bit video gamey, but hey, it worked for what they were going for.  The group of Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Julian was fun, but when are they going to let Iris go on an away mission?  Especially since she didn't seem to be doing anything this episode.

I did like the brief fear you could see in Joe's eyes anytime Grodd was brought up.  He will never forget that experience!

Glad to see Jesse Quick and Harry again.  Sorry, H.R., but Harry is way cooler then you and they all know it!  Jesse and Wally was dumb, but I'm glad they already worked past it, although I guess time will tell if she'll actually stay or not.  I'm sure Violett Beane is rooting for the former because that would mean more episodes!

Yep, Caitlin and Julian are totally going to happen!  I'm just surprised that I'm finding Draco Malfoy to actually be a romantic!  Of course, if they go there, he is obviously doomed, because, duh, history isn't on his side.

Solid set up, but next week is clearly going to be the big one with Grodd and the Gorillas going to Earth One and attacking Central City.  I'm curious to see why Gypsy is helping them.  That's going to make Cisco sad... 

[RedVitC]

If I'm completely honest I expected more from this episode. I'm a little underwhelmed. They've been hyping it as an epic two-parter, but the away team spent most of their time locked in a cage and the fight in the arena was over really fast. Barry's been fighting as the Flash for a few years now, he shouldn't need people to tell him which of his powers to use. At least not ones he already knows.

It wasn't a bad episode, though. Many Fun things. I'm actually really liking Julian in the team and it was lovely to see Harry and Jesse again. I like Wally and Jesse as a couple, but I'm not sure some of the things they're saying have been 'earned' yet. I could like Caitlin and Julian as a couple, but it depends on how they handle it from here and if he stays past this season.

I didn't expect to see much of Iris this episode (from the episode description, promo and promo pictures) so maybe that's why I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of screentime she did get. I loved Barry and Iris' little convo before they left and the one on the couch. Watched that one with a big smile. I really appreciate when the writers let them tease each other. ❤️ But I agree with others that I wish they'd let Iris go on adventures, too.

When it comes to Earth 2 2-parters, so far the Welcome to Earth 2/Escape from Earth 2 combo is winning for me. Next week's episode looks good, though!

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Jediknight said:

Solovar better be the big hero next week.

FOR REALZ!!! They totally wasted Goliath Keith David!

And I knew it! I totally called it! Sort of. They could have spent more time in Barry changing Solovar's mind about the humans, but noooooo! ???

The CGI was good except why couldn't they have Grodd and Solovar actually move their lips when talking instead of talking through Harry and Cisco? So stupid.

I hope Solovar and Barry team up a la Justice League: "Brave and the Bold."?

That whole subplot with Wally and Jesse was so stupid and didn't make any sense. Was she cold because she was upset that Wally now has powers? Why would he only like her because she had powers when he didn't? That makes no sense since the feelings were there before Jesse got her powers. GAH!

And for a super intelligent ?, Grodd sure talks like he's just learning how to speak.?

They shoulda got Powers Booth, I tell ya!

[CletusMusashi]

Can we stop referring to Grodd as super intelligent? He forgets constantly to use his telepathy, and he seriously seems to believe that one city of gorillas with shields and spears are going to successfully attack a county of over 300 million humans who have guns, bombs, tanks, airplanes, riot gas, helicopters, and, in some cases, super powers.

Edited February 22, 2017 by CletusMusashi

[KirkB]

33 minutes ago, CletusMusashi said:

Can we stop referring to Grodd as super intelligent? He forgets constantly to use his telepathy, and he seriously seems to believe that one city of gorillas with shields and spears are going to successfully attack a county of over 300 million humans who have guns, bombs, tanks, airplanes, riot gas, helicopters, and, in some cases, super powers.

To be fair, he IS super intelligent...for a gorilla. That just makes him a really smart animal.

As for his plan, did he say he wanted to conquer the world? I thought he was focused on taking out Central City. And with the Flash in a cage on Earth 2 (or dead) the only thing really standing in his way would be Jesse and Wally. But even if does intend to make Earth into Gorillaworld, again, he is an animal, and he may very well think sheer force and numbers is enough.

Edited February 22, 2017 by KirkB

[CletusMusashi]

You can't just conquer Central City and expect the military not to show up.

[benteen]

Very fun episode and I enjoy when the show really embraces the full comic book experience.  Gorilla City was fun and the CGI was pretty good.  Loved seeing an arena fight between Barry and Solovar.  Very fun episode and glad that Julian was around for the trip...and that they found a way to reference the other franchise that he was in.

[BkWurm1]

I think Julian has become my favorite character this year.  

[Trini]

I was also a bit underwhelmed with this episode. Especially the parts with the team in Gorilla City. Gorilla City looked good, but story-wise that part was really weak. (Nits will be picked later...)

I was intrigued by seeing Gypsy there at the end -- what's going on? Is that the Gypsy we met before, being controlled by Grodd, or her evil Earth-2 doppelganger?

Since the away team was in cages most of the time, in hindsight I would have liked to see more of Jesse/Wally and everyone on Earth-1. Would it have killed them to have Iris and Jesse have a conversation?? ::SIGH::

So they're really going there with Caitlin and Julian? (And I guess Killer Frost?) Everyone knows this isn't going to end well -- the writers, the viewers... but it gives Felton something to do?

How did Central City survive 2 days without their only two CSIs?  ;)

I did appreciate that they found a new location to use for that Wally/Jesse talk.

So are WestAllen couch chats going to be a regular thing? I'm here for that!

The logic that if they change the news scroll events, they save Iris still doesn't make sense.

[ruby24]

Yeah, Julian's great. Tom Felton is a really good actor, he elevates whatever he's given in a huge way. It's too bad I feel pretty sure that he's going to die and be what sends Caitlin over the edge into Killer Frost permanently. I think that will be a season finale cliffhanger.

Edited February 22, 2017 by ruby24

[TDT]

Julian made a nice Nightwing reference(for you comics readers here..)

I also get the feeling that it will be him,and not Iris,who winds up on the business end of Savitar's blade..

[ruby24]

I keep thinking they will do some sort of illusion with HR's face-changing device.

[Trini]

Also, I'm disappointed we didn't see Earth-2 Barry and Iris again. I don't want to wait another year for the next Earth-2 episodes!  :(

Edited February 22, 2017 by Trini

[immortalfrieza]

Maybe I missed something, but I just saw the episode and I didn't even see any gravity controlling Metahuman that Jessie and Kid Flash had to go fight like the episode description said there should be. Harry didn't have much screentime this episode, I'm hoping he gets something to do and gets the chance to act alongside H.R. for more than 10 seconds next episode.

Grodd played everybody expertly this episode. He captured Harry to bring in Team Flash, then told them perfectly accurately exactly what Solovar was going to do to them and how they could get out of it, Solovar helped Grodd's case with his own threats, and used the fact that Flash beat down Solovar to motivate the other apes to attack the humans, the only actual lie he told was that Solovar was going to soon try to conquer the humans.

2 hours ago, CletusMusashi said:

Can we stop referring to Grodd as super intelligent? He forgets constantly to use his telepathy, and he seriously seems to believe that one city of gorillas with shields and spears are going to successfully attack a county of over 300 million humans who have guns, bombs, tanks, airplanes, riot gas, helicopters, and, in some cases, super powers.

Considering that Central City should basically be a police state under constant martial law with all the metahumans running around he's probably right on that score.

[VCRTracking]

I wonder how many times they broke out laughing during the the scenes of Tom Cavanagh as Wells speaking as Grodd?

[Trini]

3 minutes ago, immortalfrieza said:

Maybe I missed something, but I just saw the episode and I didn't even see any gravity controlling Metahuman that Jessie and Kid Flash had to go fight like the episode description said there should be.

I'd totally forgotten about that! (And I guess CW press since they didn't update the listings.) Ugh -- they totally could have cut some cage/forest/CGI gorilla scenes for that.

[Proteus]

I loved the Julian/Caitlin scenes. I'm not getting on the doom and gloom train about them. Its too predictable given Caitlin's history for everything to end bad. I also don't think Caitlin will become KF, an evil one, permanently.

I enjoyed the GC stuff. But it could have been longer and fleshed out more.

Looking forward to seeing the two Wells play off eachother.

I am glad the Caitlin/Grodd connection was mentioned.

Also loved Wally/Jesse.

Yay to Gypsy being back already.

[ruby24]

3 minutes ago, Proteus said:

I loved the Julian/Caitlin scenes. I'm not getting on the doom and gloom train about them. Its too predictable given Caitlin's history for everything to end bad. I also don't think Caitlin will become KF, an evil one, permanently.

I don't know, I could see it happening. For at least a season. Like her being a villain for Season 4 (or a lackey for the bigger villain).

I just feel like they're building up to her transformation this season. And I also don't see Tom Felton sticking around past this season, so something more important will happen with his character eventually. That seems like it could easily be the final straw.

[Proteus]

That'd reduce Danielle Panabaker to not much more than a recurring role. I don't see that happening. I think Caitlin will have her powers under some level of control by seasons end and still be on the team.

I'm not going to assume Felton is gone after this season. I think he could stay.

[ruby24]

5 minutes ago, Proteus said:

That'd reduce Danielle Panabaker to not much more than a recurring role. I don't see that happening. I think Caitlin will have her powers under some level of control by seasons end and still be on the team.

I'm not going to assume Felton is gone after this season. I think he could stay.

This has happened with some characters on the other Arrowverse shows, though. I don't think all the regulars are necessarily safe forever. Some of them, probably, but I wouldn't assume everyone will stick around for the long-term. I guess of the team I just think Caitlin's the most expendable as a character, since she's not part of Flash canon and she's not a scene-stealing sidekick for the show overall, like Cisco.

Also, I could see them bringing in another female regular, like Jesse. Or possibly Linda eventually, so she can meet Wally.

[Proteus]

I have to disagree. I think Caitlin Snow and Danielle Panabaker are just as valuable to the show and cast as any of the other supporting players to Grant Gustin. 

I am not worried about my favorite leaving the show.

You may not think that Caitlin is important to the show. But others do. Canon doesn't matter. And IMO Cisco is no more important than Caitlin.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Proteus

[themadman]

So... those prison bars prevent Barry and Cisco from using their powers but Caitlin can freeze Barry to trick Grodd? OhhhK then, show. 

[cambridgeguy]

Aside from Wally being a regular, it's not clear why Jesse has to be the one to move to Earth-1 instead of him going to Earth-2.  Hopping between Earths appears to be a piece of cake and there don't appear to be any broader consequences to going back and forth.  They can still live on separate Earths and see each other during their off hours, just like a regular couple.  Cisco designed that communicator for Supergirl so there's no reason he can't make another one if they want to chat during the day.

Also, it's not clear why Grodd dragged the "dead" Barry out of his cell .... just to dump his body a few feet away. 

Edited February 22, 2017 by cambridgeguy

[ottoDbusdriver]

12 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

Aside from Wally being a regular, it's not clear why Jesse has to be the one to move to Earth-1 instead of him going to Earth-2.  Hopping between Earths appears to be a piece of cake and there don't appear to be any broader consequences to going back and forth.  They can still live on separate Earths and see each other during their off hours, just like a regular couple.  Cisco designed that communicator for Supergirl so there's no reason he can't make another one if they want to chat during the day.

Also, it's not clear why Grodd dragged the "dead" Barry out of his cell .... just to dump his body a few feet away. 

Jesse being all butthurt that Wally didn't contact her was just plain stupid.  For starters, Wally had no way of communicating other than Cisco opening a breach and tossing a letter through, and as we discovered this episode, the egress point on Earth-2 can be anywhere so unless Jesse was going to run around Earth-2 24x7 looking for breaches that seemed pointless.  And she would have had no way to respond to Wally even if he did -- because Harry/Jesse have no way to open breaches.  But the way Jesse describes it, Wally just ignored her -- this was written like 2 immature teens who stopped texting, when really it was a LOT more complicated.

And Barry et al need to find out how the Gorillas were dampening their meta abilities -- and get that tech added the pipeline section of Star Labs so metas can't break out other metas.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Jesse being all butthurt that Wally didn't contact her was just plain stupid.  For starters, Wally had no way of communicating other than Cisco opening a breach and tossing a letter through, and as we discovered this episode, the egress point on Earth-2 can be anywhere so unless Jesse was going to run around Earth-2 24x7 looking for breaches that seemed pointless.  And she would have had no way to respond to Wally even if he did -- because Harry/Jesse have no way to open breaches.  But the way Jesse describes it, Wally just ignored her -- this was written like 2 immature teens who stopped texting, when really it was a LOT more complicated.

On top of that, was she making any effort to communicate with Wally (I'm not up to date on the latest multiverse texting/skyping/email options)? If not, then pot, kettle. How did she get to Central City to tell them that Harrison had been kidnapped at the end of the previous episode?

Loved that Cisco admitted Harrison was right about HR being a fraud and saying that HR probably couldn't remember an ATM code if he tried. But HR was very sweet when he told Jessie he was sorry to take the smile from her face. At this point, HR is just like a big dumb friendly puppy who gets excited about nothing and starts barking and slobbering whenever someone walks by. It was nice to have Harrison back, even though I know he won't be staying (OR WILL HE if Jessie stays too?).

[kitmerlot1213]

5 hours ago, Proteus said:

I have to disagree. I think Caitlin Snow and Danielle Panabaker are just as valuable to the show and cast as any of the other supporting players to Grant Gustin. 

I am not worried about my favorite leaving the show.

You may not think that Caitlin is important to the show. But others do. Canon doesn't matter. And IMO Cisco is no more important than Caitlin.

I agree with this--Caitlin is just as much an integral part of Team Flash as Cisco, Iris and Joe.  If anybody is expendable, it's Kid Flash and/or H.R.  If either one weren't in an episode, their presence wouldn't be missed, at least for me.

I'm also enjoying the beginnings of a Julian/Caitlin romance--he is being exceptionally sweet, but he's also still dropping truth bombs which makes him awesome.  I also think DP is doing a wonderful job showing her escalating worry over becoming Killer Frost and how she doesn't want to hurt people.

Re: this episode, Gorilla Grodd is a great villain and while the concept of Gorilla City is fascinating, I'm unsure as to why they want to come to Earth 1--why don't they try to take over the Central City on their Earth?

[blugirlami21]

Good episode. I think I liked the episode a lot more before they actually went to Gorilla city. I'm really loving Julian's addition to the flash team. His reaction to Barry going to "a planet of the apes" was hilarious to me. 

I also think he has tons more chemistry with Caitlin than Hunter ever did. I find their relationship very sweet. 

I actually see no reason to believe that Tom Felton wouldn't stay on the Flash if he likes it enough. 

The Wally/Jessie stuff was a little overwrought for me and I usually enjoy them together. It just seemed like drama for the sake of drama. I actually thought she was upset because Wally was such a blowhard as Kid Flash which would have made more sense than what we were given.

I'm ok with Barry and Iris having their love confession couch lol. I just enjoy how comfortable and easy their interactions are. The scene where Barry was asking Iris to keep Wally in check was a standout to me.

I thought that Gypsy was obviously being mind controlled at the end, ymmv. I'm excited to see her though. She really gelled well with the cast in her last appearance and I like her flirtation with Cisco.

As for why Grodd wants attack Central City. He wants revenge on team flash for banishing him to Gorilla city.

Edited February 22, 2017 by blugirlami21

[waving feather]

8 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Yeah, Julian's great. Tom Felton is a really good actor, he elevates whatever he's given in a huge way. It's too bad I feel pretty sure that he's going to die and be what sends Caitlin over the edge into Killer Frost permanently. I think that will be a season finale cliffhanger.

I think most of the regular actors on this show are capable but like you said, Tom elevates every scene he is in and shows that the rest have some catching up to do. Julian is such an endearing character. If HR can go a season being useless, I'm sure they can find something for Julian to do, besides being Caitlin's love interest.

Tom C's voice-overs as Grodd were hilarious and took me out of the scene. Carlos' Solovar was slightly better. But they should do away with those, unless the actor can really nail it.

I have really missed Harry, so it's nice to see him again.

Caitlin's fake acting over Barry's "death" was so fake, I am surprised Grodd was dumb enough to believe it. And how come she could use her powers in the cell but Barry and Cisco couldn't? Speaking of Caitlin, I don't want her to change into anything/anyone else other than her sweet self. Besides, Danielle's acting is good as Caitlin but bad as Killer Frost.

I am beginning to like Wally ever since he stopped being emo. He is actually enjoyable now and Keiynan Lonsdale is adorable. I actually heard his Aussie accent slip through once or twice this episode.

If Iris wants to tag along with Team Flash on their adventures, I think she should just invite herself like Julian did. No one invited him but he was shameless enough to do it and didn't give anyone the opportunity to shut him down. Iris would probably get resistance from Barry on that matter at first, but after a few times, I think Barry would get used to it. Of course, there is also the thing where she is not a "genius scientist" or has superpowers.

Out of Team Flash, Cisco actually has the best superpower, if he can learn how to use it to its full potential. He can travel between universes, get precognition, teleport, shoot sonic blasts from his hands... No wonder his evil doppelganger was over the stop.

Edited February 22, 2017 by waving feather

[kirinan]

54 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Loved that Cisco admitted Harrison was right about HR being a fraud and saying that HR probably couldn't remember an ATM code if he tried. But HR was very sweet when he told Jessie he was sorry to take the smile from her face. At this point, HR is just like a big dumb friendly puppy who gets excited about nothing and starts barking and slobbering whenever someone walks by. It was nice to have Harrison back, even though I know he won't be staying (OR WILL HE if Jessie stays too?).

I'm starting to wonder if Harry won't stay (oh, how I wish he would!) with Jessie, and HR doesn't end up being the one who's killed by Savitar. They've made a big thing of his flightiness, and how effective would it be if he sacrificed himself in the end?

The rest of the episode was okay. I don't like Grodd, never have, but I had an easier time with Solovar (probably because it was Keith David's voice. I miss Goliath). Wally and Jessie's romance is kind of boring, but I like Caitlin and Julian. I agree that he's become one of the best parts of the show. I hope they let Caitlin get a handle on her powers instead of turning her evil. 

But most of all, WELCOME BACK, HARRY! Please don't go away again. I was so impressed watching Tom Cavanagh in the two different roles (although I agree there must have been a lot of giggling with the Grodd voice). Flighty HR vs. the alpha-ish Harry. He's far and away my favorite Harrison Wells.

[rove4]

This episode only further reminded me of how much I love, and miss, Harrison. I always loved his interactions with Cisco. If Jessie stays, I hope he does too.

[ruby24]

I like HR. I think he brings a lightness to the team that Harry doesn't, which was a problem with last season. It was too dark. I prefer the lighthearted tone in more episodes.

[futurechemist]

I think the writers don' understand how multipart episodes work. It's not a 2 parter when each episode is self contained. Not a cliffhanger if at the end the heroes don't think they are dangling over a cliff. Just like a 4 part crossover isn't 4 parts if the 1st part is just a cameo in the last 30 seconds.

Otherwise I thought the episode was fun. A nice filler episode.

With all of these parallel Earths there is no way to know if Gypsy is really the same character from before.

[rubyred]

My cynical side tells me that the Iris/Barry couch scenes are a low cost, low effort attempt by the writers to create a sense of normalcy and stability about the couple, so that when the big threat comes there will be some emotional heft to it, higher stakes because the audience sees them as OTP Barry&Iris.

That said, I grin like a loon during those scenes and enjoy every second because it's about damned time this was presented as a mutual all-in commitment instead of an unrequited teen crush. It's also usually a win for the makeup and wardrobe departments, because even if the writers forget about Iris those departments don't and dayum she looks slammin' 24/7. 

[Ottis]

Anyone catch Cisco's humorous phrasing ... they did Grodd's "damn, dirty work." He didn't phrase it exactly like Heston but close... "get your paws off me, you damn dirty ape."

i don't know why any smart ape would ever beat Flash. I don't get Grodd as a  villain. 

Barry grew up with Iris as his *sister.* Just like step siblings,  or blended families. The two of them together romantically will never not be weird. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by Ottis

[zannej]

I didn't like this one as much as some people seem to have. And I probably have the unpopular opinion about the CG. The gorillas for the most part were ok, but the whole sienna type filter they put on Earth 2 just ruined Gorilla City for me. It all just looked so incredibly fake that I couldn't enjoy it. I wanted it to have beautiful clear colors but instead it seemed washed out.

Did they not remember that Grodd could mind control? Why didn't they bring their anti-mind control ear thingies? Or at least mention them?

I was sad that we got so little of Harry being Harry-- but I thought Tom did a good job at the Grodd voice. The brief moment when Harry woke up and complained about his own b.o. was funny.

For the most part, this episode was a little light on humor and fun. I was hoping that seeing Gorilla City would have been a bit more fun but they made it too serious. I was hoping to see more than 2 of the gorilla's with personality-- but that is all we got. And it was weird that Solovar went from being almost reasonable to threatening "horrible deaths" upon the rest of Barry's team.

The fight with Solovar was underwhelming as well. It is another case of the writers not having Barry be as fast as he's been written in the past just for plot convenience. He should have been able to zip in and superspeed and throw dirt in Solovar's eyes before he could even blink. I sighed in disappointment when Barry tripped because Solovar made the ground shake. Since the world would have been going slower compared to Barry, that vibration would have been so slow that it should not have affected Barry much-- if it would even have affected him at all.

And what was the thing with the "reverse flash"? RF normally shredded people's hearts. What exactly did Barry do when he vibrated his hand in to Solovar?

I'm also wondering how the hell Grodd managed to capture Gypsy. That sort of came out of nowhere. Why couldn't Grodd have just used Gypsy to defeat Solovar? Open a portal and send him somewhere else...

I'm also really not liking how they are pushing Julian to pursue Caitlin. Aside from the Killer Frost angle, they can't seem to imagine Caitlin NOT being some object of desire for some male. Either she's pining for someone or they are pining for her. It seems most female characters can't exist on a show like this without being objectified like that. I also wish they had let her try to talk to Grodd a bit more-- maybe try to explain to him that they meant well and that she thought he'd be happier with more of his own kind.

And don't even get me started on the crap with Jesse and Wally. I get that Jesse was worried and she's young so she has irrational drama, but they made her pretty useless in this episode. She just moped and / or stood around most of the time. And then, because females must be sexual objects, she had to be Wally's love interest. *sigh* I guess she's not so keen on her friends and her life on Earth 2 now.

I still like Harry much more than HR, but I did like HR a teeny bit more in this one-- even if he did stir the pot a little. I liked his interactions with Jesse, even if I didn't agree with the decision to make Jesse a love interest. I love how HR seems to enjoy unnerving Harry by always commenting about him being "handsome".

Now, I didn't totally hate the episode. I enjoyed some parts. I particularly liked how enthusiastic Julian was about going to the gorilla city. The "planet of the apes" thing cracked me up.

I also thought it was sweet near the end when Jesse was holding Harry's hand while he slept. Despite not liking the bit with Jesse and Wally, I am interested in seeing Harry's reaction when he wakes up.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 2/21/2017 at 9:44 PM, CletusMusashi said:

Can we stop referring to Grodd as super intelligent? He forgets constantly to use his telepathy, and he seriously seems to believe that one city of gorillas with shields and spears are going to successfully attack a county of over 300 million humans who have guns, bombs, tanks, airplanes, riot gas, helicopters, and, in some cases, super powers.

To be fair, constantly forgetting to use one's powers doesn't differentiate Grodd from any of the characters on the show. For instance, when they are running away from Gorilla City, everyone seems to have forgotten that Barry could have picked each of the members of Team Flash up and raced them to Morocco by the time that they'd gotten the short distance that they did. There are also about a half-dozen ways Barry could have taken down Solovar that he didn't use. It might have also been a good idea to pack some of the telepathy blockers that they used to prevent themselves from being Grodd's pawns previously. 

As for Grodd's plan, it sounded like he was planning to just have Central City razed to the ground. Sending a bunch of psychic gorillas is good enough for that task. He doesn't have to beat all Americans. He just has to get revenge on Flash by messing up his city.

On 2/21/2017 at 11:53 PM, Trini said:

So are WestAllen couch chats going to be a regular thing? I'm here for that!

The logic that if they change the news scroll events, they save Iris still doesn't make sense.

If the couch is the equivalent of the Smallville barn chats, I'm guessing they will get old at some point.

It's not very good logic, but I chalk it up to desperation by Flash.

The logic is this: the moment Flash experienced is composed of a lot of different pieces, including the news scroll. The metaphor that they used was that all those news scroll events are part of a line of dominoes, and if you remove the right dominoes or adjust them just so, they won't line up properly and have the cascade reaction that ends up with the undesired end result.

The obvious problem with this metaphor is there's no proof that we are looking at one set of dominoes, or 2, or 15. The "gorilla attack" domino or the "Flash captures Plunder" domino are not necessarily related in any way, shape or form to the "Iris dies" domino.

23 hours ago, themadman said:

So... those prison bars prevent Barry and Cisco from using their powers but Caitlin can freeze Barry to trick Grodd? OhhhK then, show. 

The show touched on this briefly with one of the characters (I think it was Barry, but it could be someone else) hypothesizing that Grodd did not have any idea that Caitlin had powers. So Grodd didn't know that he needed to counteract Caitlin's powers too. That makes sense to me.

19 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Jesse being all butthurt that Wally didn't contact her was just plain stupid.  For starters, Wally had no way of communicating other than Cisco opening a breach and tossing a letter through, and as we discovered this episode, the egress point on Earth-2 can be anywhere so unless Jesse was going to run around Earth-2 24x7 looking for breaches that seemed pointless.  And she would have had no way to respond to Wally even if he did -- because Harry/Jesse have no way to open breaches.  But the way Jesse describes it, Wally just ignored her -- this was written like 2 immature teens who stopped texting, when really it was a LOT more complicated.

And Barry et al need to find out how the Gorillas were dampening their meta abilities -- and get that tech added the pipeline section of Star Labs so metas can't break out other metas.

We know that communication is possible between the parallel worlds. The presence of HR is due to Team Flash beaming a complex set of problems throughout the multiverse. We also can figure that Harry is brilliant enough to send messages to parallel worlds. And we know from the Supergirl crossover that Cisco gave Supergirl a device to communicate with Team Flash. Can't remember if Jessie explicitly gave or got such a device. But regardless, the characters acknowledged that they could communicate with each other, and that KF chose not to communicate with her for whatever reason. 

In terms of the egress points, as far as we know, Cisco has gotten better at choosing where the breaches he creates lead. He and Team Flash didn't end up in some random place. They popped out within eyesight of Gorilla City, which actually is pretty damn good in trying to determine where on all a planet to end up.

We know that Jessie has some method of traveling from Earth 2 to Earth 1, because she did so in the first place to recruit Team Flash to help Harry.