As much as we want comic hero TV shows to incorporate all our favourite characters, it’s sadly not as easy as mere desire. Some are just too outright ridiculous to deliver with any shred of tangible realism or some are just too darn expensive to recreate on a moderate special effects budget. Of all the villains in The Flash’s roster, a certain killer gorilla is definitely one of those bank-breaking names on the wish list. In order to bring him on the show with a real and significant presence would require a lot of CG effects (and let’s face it, after the recent Planet of the Apes movies our standards are high). It shouldn’t be possible, but yet again, the likes of Johns and Berlanti show that the impossible is a skill on their resume. This week, The Flash has brought this character in a fun and believable manner with convincing effects. This week, Grodd lives.
Grodd Lives – While Barry and the team search for Harrison Wells and the captured Eddie Thawne, there’s a spree of gold robberies going down in Central City, robberies with someone big behind them as Barry faces off against a hulking ghost of STAR Labs past.
Our main man Cisco has never shied away from the odd movie reference but this week, with a GOUS (Gorilla of Unusual Size) in the mist, he rolls up the sleeves on his Big Bang fan shirt and dives headlong in. From the many obvious ape-related throw-ins to Jurassic Park and many beyond. His presence never feels critical but becomes crucial in balancing the episode out. Grodd Lives takes a very serious and some cases terrifying approach to its titular villain with his fear inducing mind control abilities. Moments like seeing Joe turn his own against his head are downright unnerving, and Grodd’s stern face in the steamy darkness of the sewers certainly brings on the menacing. Yet the episode never forgets that it’s asking its audience to believe in a big villainous gorilla so Cisco’s jibes successfully twist our inhibitions into an enjoyable compliance (which will be rewarded). Despite its darker moments, this still feels like a Flash episode rather than a grim detour into Starling City. Joe even goes full blown meta to hilarious effect, “I can’t believe I’m down here looking for a supernatural gorilla, I’m terrified of regular gorillas”. A huge round of applause must also go out to Armen V Kerokian for being the visual wizard behind this banana hating king of the swingers. His final climbing moments will have many on their feet and chest beating in approval. The mind control elements of the episode are also well-handled. Hearing Grodd’s slow grunting dialogue through a familiar face makes a great scene and efficiently explains many a detail. Barry’s mind attack visions are visually effective with their intercutting and jerky camera movements but also raise an interesting question. The images were of doctors operating on him. Were these memories of his coma/injury time or glimpses of something to come? The idea of using Iris as a rallying bugle (i.e. love > fear) could have been a bit cheesy but works very well. Barry’s Iris memory montage feels similar to the Voldermort/Harry possession sequence from Order of the Phoenix.
The Thawne family retreat scenes are highly enjoyable as Harrison teases Eddie’s curiosity over his own future and the Thawne family legacy. Harrison could be truthful about Eddie being the duff branch in an illustrious family tree or he could just as easily be goading Eddie into becoming a villain that Harrison knows he could be. The episode’s climax, and indeed much of the season build up, imply an ending on Harrison/Eobard time travelling back home to the future. Such a genius would need to put something in place to stop Barry Allen following him forward in vengeance; once he’s opened the door, he needs a way of shutting it again. Maybe referring to Eddie as his “insurance policy” was yet another double meaning gem? Maybe he means to leave Eddie behind as new villain (with speedster powers courtesy of firing up the accelerator again) for Barry to deal with rather than going after himself? A distraction, just like he does with Grodd this episode. Either way their scenes together now are still really enjoyable as Harrison toys with Eddie over not getting Iris.
As for Iris, this episode gives her what she’s lacked too much this season: purpose. By finally bringing her in on the secrets, and even making her a full card carrying member of Team Flash, they don’t need to keep finding excuses for her to show up everywhere or make her merely a love interest. She even says it herself, “I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner”, and neither can we Iris. Her secrecy fallout scenes are the biggest banana peel to slip the episode up but it mostly holds its footing. Her scenes with Barry feel too much of a required hoop to jump through but by contrast her conflict and subsequent forgives of Joe is far more heartfelt. We understand that Iris should feel angry and betrayed about being the only person left in the dark, but the script frequently makes this feel more argumentative than justified. It’s more like she’s creating conflict just for the sake of it.
Grodd lives may actually be looked back as key milestone for the show just like time-travel and major crossover episodes. An ambitious but entirely successful episode in expanding the show while bringing a popular comics character roaring onto the small screen. The supersonic punch block makes a fun (if unintentional) Hulkbuster parody. There’s a nice few subtle hints about the particle accelerator prison coming under threat; supporting the jail break theory (one way or another, next week’s promo confirms some inmates get out). There’s a good feel of escalation towards the finale with a clear destination marker in place. The gold robberies currently feel like a plot hole, (what happened to the gold? Did Harrison need it for something?) but could easily be explained next week. Grodd damn it Flash, you’ve done it again!