Josh recaps Season 1 Episode 21 of The Flash, titled Grodd Lives, where Barry, Cisco, and Joe face Grodd down in the sewer! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of The Flash, Season 1 Episode 21: Grodd Lives
So instead of Barry narrating the beginning of the episode, it is Iris. We see Barry zipping around Central City, and we can tell that Iris is miffed about Barry’s secret. Meanwhile, Joe and Barry are put on a task to look into a new bank robber, who seems set on stealing gold. Barry hasn’t had any luck finding this guy though. Barry is about to head out, and Iris confronts Barry, telling him about “the man in yellow” taking Eddie, and she seems to be trying to see how far Barry will lie. You can tell she is fishing for him to slip up.
Then, we see another robbery go down. A man in full body armor, including a mask, takes down an armored vehicle and its guards. Barry heads back to STAR Labs, and Barry heads out to investigate this new robbery after it appears on Cisco’s crime monitor device thing. Barry tries to take him down, but he is hit with some weird psychic attack, and falls to the ground.
Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin says that he seems fine, and the trio at STAR Labs try to figure out what happened. Then, surprise, surprise, Iris walks in to confront Barry, while he is still wearing his Flash outfit. Barry and Iris talk alone, and Cisco and Caitlin decide to spy. Iris explains how she found out about him, the zap we saw in last week’s episode. Then other things fall in place–Eddie knows, Joe knows, Dr. Wells is the Man in Yellow, all of these things seem to really irritate Iris, and how much she is in the dark.
Speaking of Eddie and the Man in Yellow, Wells has Eddie tied up. Wells is working on some device, and Eddie asks him about being from the future, but Wells seems disinterested in talking. Eddie keeps going and Wells goes all Red Eyes and demands he stop talking. Eddie seems to get the idea.
Iris then gets a visit from Joe at her work. He tries to tell her he made a mistake in how he tried to keep her safe. Joe then tells Iris about Mason’s death and that angers her even more. Then the conversation turns to Iris talking about how if she knew about Barry’s feelings for her, everything would be different. That’s a bit of a stretch, I think, isn’t it?
Barry then gets word from Joe about some more gold being transported. Turns out they are using an ice cream truck to move the gold. Joe and some police are given the task of guarding it. This mysterious villain in body armor shows up and takes down the truck. Barry heads for the truck, and Joe takes on the armored guy. Barry shows up before things get real bad, and takes the man down. It turns out to be General Eiling. Dun, dun, dun!
Back at the Meta-Human Prison, Eiling is in a trance, staring out of the cell. Cisco did some digging and turns out he had been missing for quite a while. Joe begins talking to Eiling, who responds very robotically, and knows that Barry is the Flash. Then Eiling says, “Eiling not here, Eiling bad.” Hmm. Grodd must be behind this. Then Grodd makes his presence known through Eiling.
Cisco and Caitlin explain that Grodd is an ape that was experimented on, including trying to add psychic abilities to these apes. The accident that changed Barry then seemed to enhance this ape further. Joe then deduces that Grodd is a distraction that is trying to draw Barry and the gang away from Wells. Iris then shows up, joining the gang, and they look into news stories that might involve Grodd. They get a lead and Barry, Joe and Cisco head out to investigate. Meanwhile, Iris and Caitlin have a heart to heart about Barry as they watch the three wade through the mucky sewers.
It turns out the three are not alone. Grodd shows up and attacks the group. Barry is psychically attacked again, and knocked out. Joe is then taken by Grodd, leaving Cisco with the unconscious Barry. Joe wakes up to find himself alone, but the big ape psychically infiltrates Joe’s mind, terrorizing him.
Back at STAR Labs, Cisco comes up with a device to help block the telepathic abilities of Grodd. Cisco also had a tracker on a tranquilizing dart which was used on Grodd by Barry, so Barry is able to figure out where Grodd is. Barry heads out and confronts Grodd.
Meanwhile, with Eddie and Wells, and Wells talks about how he, Eobard Thawne, is a member of the elite in his time, as are most Thawnes. Eddie is the most unmemorable member of the Thawne lineage, and Wells even breaks the news that Barry marries Iris.
Cisco manipulates Grodd to allow for Barry to have enough distance for another supersonic punch. Grodd is able to stop it with just his hand though, leaving Barry without many options. The device seems to be blocking the psychic attacks, but it gets destroyed pretty easily. Barry winds up on some railroad tracks and he is attacked again. He is paralyzed, and only barely is able to get off the tracks when Iris talks to him remotely. Grodd then winds up getting smacked by a train himself. Barry rescues Joe, and they end up back at STAR Labs.
Back at the lab, Eiling is freed, and he is actually still aware about Barry. Turns out he has known for a while, but wants to take down Wells. Joe wound up in a hospital, and has some broken ribs. Joe and Iris have a heart to heart, and seem to make up over the secrets Joe has been keeping.
Later in the evening, Barry and Iris talk. Barry seems to lay it out there for Iris, but Iris says that she is with Eddie, and Barry says he will rescue Eddie. We then see Grodd is still alive. Then Wells professes to Eddie that he has the “Key.” It seems to be a device which will let him go home. I guess we will have to wait and see what that means…
Josh’s Thoughts: The Flash, Season 1 Episode 21: Grodd Lives
So, Grodd finally makes his villainous entrance. He is a pretty menacing villain. I am sure being a hulk 800 pound ape was a big part of it. Oddly, he seemed to use his mind over brute strength to take down his opponents, which I thought was interesting. I was wondering if that is a hallmark of Grodd from the comics, as I am not too familiar with him.
When we first saw that guy attacking the gold trucks, I thought for sure that Grodd was responsible for the attacks himself—I figured the person was masked to hide that he was an ape. It was a good misdirection by the writers. Eiling sure did well playing a creepy, mind controlled dude though. It almost seemed like Grodd was voicing over Eiling. I am curious how that all worked behind the scenes.
Iris finally knowing and confronting Barry is something I had been waiting on forever. After Eddie found out, it seemed ridiculous that Iris didn’t know. Apparently she thought the same thing though, so at least that played into the story.
But Eddie Thawne seems to be getting broken down by Wells. It almost seems like Wells wants Eddie to fulfill his unremarkable life, given how much he is revealing about Eddie’s future. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have a feeling Eddie might be going to the dark side soon, and the engagement between him and Iris will be over as well.
As far as Wells going home, I am curious to know what this means. Is he going home back to the future? Why would he be going home now? How is he able to? He had been trapped because he lacked his super speed, so what changed? It could be possible he means home to STAR Labs, or somewhere else, but I guess we will have to wait and see what that means…
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 1 Episode 21 of The Flash: Grodd Lives
FINALLY! It has been a long time coming for Iris to be in on the loop. It has been so frustrating watching her be the only one who does not know that Barry is the Flash. First of all, it was a dumb reason not to tell her, considering that she still stuck her nose into investigating the Flash regardless, and still got herself into trouble. Secondly, it was becoming way too unbelievable that she wouldn’t have figured it out herself by now! So thank you, writers, for finally letting her in on the little secret, which wasn’t really a secret because pretty much every else knew. Anyway, it also seemed like it was a little too convenient of a time to enlighten her, and then make it seem like if she hadn’t figured it out by this episode, then Barry would have gotten killed, because she wouldn’t have been there to talk him through it. Right. On the other hand, that’s even more supportive of the viewpoint that she should have been told a long time ago, because she could be useful.
In any case, I’m really curious as to what Wells is up to. Apparently, he unleashed Grodd on Barry and the others as a way to distract them from looking for him. What is he using Eddie for? Why did he kidnap him? Just to keep him out of the way and ensure that Iris and Barry have some time to themselves to solidify their romantic relationship? What is this “key” Wells is talking about, and how is he going to get home?
Definitely looking forward to the next episode, which not only is another Arrow/The Flash crossover episode, but also welcomes FIRESTORM back into the mix!
Scenes from The Flash, Episode 22: Rogue Air
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Flash, titled Rogue Air:
