The Flash is rapidly (pun intended) becoming my favorite comic related TV show and Tuesday night’s “King Shark” episode only further those feelings. Warning, spoilers ahead…
Barry and the others may have left Earth-2 behind and there may be no hope at the present time of going back. The experience they had, Barry watching Joe’s doppelganger die and then the “death” Jay Garrick by Zoom before returning back to Earth-2 has had and will continue to weigh heavily on Barry. It became abundantly clear during this episode just how much the ordeal of that trip has affected Barry and to some extent Cisco in regards to Caitlyn.
I mentioned in my review of the latest Supergirl that as good as the production value is for that show, it falls a tad short when compared to Arrow and The Flash. Well that production value was on full display with a very realistic looking King Shark. After getting a nice tease of the character in an earlier episode, this could have been a major miss by the special effects team. As it turns out, King Shark looked outstanding. So much so it puts some big budget movie creations to shame. King Shark’s escape from A.R.G.U.S. allows Diggle and Lila to break away from Star City and head to Central City to warn Barry that he’s coming after him. I love how inclusive these shows have become. It really does feel like a shared universe. The final battle between King Shark and The Flash was some of the series best scenes. The JAWS references were also quite fun.
The heart of the episode however wasn’t dealing with King Shark but it was more about how Barry is coping with the aftermath of his mission to Earth-2. This episode does so much to further Barry’s personal development not only in his superhero persona but perhaps more importantly, Barry Allen himself. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He finally breaks down and tells Joe and Iris about what happened on Earth-2 regarding Joe’s doppelganger. Barry feels responsible not only for Joe but what happened to Jay when they returned. We also see a “rivalry” of sorts between Barry and Wally West, which should only get more interesting as the series move along. Grant Gustin showed so much range as an actor here that it’s a delight to see how much he has grown and continue to grow.
Then we have Cisco who can’t quite shake off the image of Caitlin’s Killer Frost of Earth-2 and he worries that Earth-1 Caitlin will evolve into such a supervillain. Caitlin to her credit challenges Cisco into telling her what exactly happened and why he fears for her well-being. Much like we saw with Barry, Cisco’s emotional issues are put to rest by Caitlin’s reassurance that who he sees in front of him now is who she’ll always be. This spoke so well to their unbreakable bond.
The episode ended with two important elements, one was Barry’s determination that Team Flash will avenge Jay’s death and defeat Zoom. The other element and the most surprising was the big reveal in the end when Zoom returned to his lair with the body of Jay and unmasked himself as Jay. Is he really Jay? Who’s the guy in the iron mask who seemed distraught when Zoom returned with Jay’s lifeless body. I’m not sure where they are going with this but I have a lot of faith in the showrunners. There is so much more to be revealed that it’s all very exciting to see week to week.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
