[Due to the major reveals in this week’s The Flash and things that have been confirmed in interviews, beware of some major spoilers. You have been warned.]
This week’s episode of The Flash dedicated more time to setting up DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, as it introduced us to the next Firestorm, while also continuing to reveal more about Francine West’s past.
“The Fury of Firestorm” reflected a lot of emotional perspectives this week as opposed to being just an action-filled episode with the new Firestorm. First of all, as much as I loved Robbie Amell as Ronnie Raymond, I think Franz Drameh’s Jax Jackson won me over more as the new half of Firestorm. He had a neat backstory, and from everything that I know about Firestorm in the comics, it’s symbolic in many ways that Jax, who in the books is one of Ronnie’s friends, becomes the new half of this hero.
However, the thing that really won me over is the fact that the reason he decided to agree on merging with Martin wasn’t mainly because he wanted to be a superhero, but because he wanted to save a man who needed another half in order to survive, by sacrificing, basically, his normal day life. Tat is a major plus in my book, although I’m not saying that Ronnie wasn’t as noble and heroic. The introduction of the Tokamak character, another Firestorm character, was also fun and made us remember once again that The Flash does act a little bit as a Firestorm TV show too, which is totally fine.
Also, in this week’s The Flash, Iris and her mom finally get to meet each other, but it goes into a completely different direction than I imagined. We learn that Francine is dying, and I like that even though she is her mother, Iris keeps digging into her history, as the great investigate reporter she is, just to make sure she is telling the truth. She discovers that Francine has been keeping another big secret: she has a son, and as I have been speculating, it’s Wally West, who will be coming to The Flash this winter. In addition, it has been confirmed that Joe is indeed the father, making Wally 100% Iris’s little brother instead of being her nephew like he is in the comics. While I was very happy with the reveal, I’m curious about how Iris is going to deal with this as she is now the one that will be keeping a major secret from Joe and Barry. Although, knowing Iris’s big heart, she will tell them sooner than some might expect, because I honestly don’t see this character making the same mistake as Joe and Barry in Season 1.
This show has a tendency to make my jaw drop more than once per episode. However, the ending with the big cameo of one Mr. King Shark was perhaps the best thing I have ever seen as a ending of an episode. Yes there was the whole “Taddaa” moment of Earth-2 Harrison Wells, but honestly, there is nothing that can beat the appearance of a giant walking, talking shark.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights, 8/7c on The CW.
[Photo credit: Cate Cameron/The CW]
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You raise some interesting points regarding the “Fury of Firestorm”. I agree there were two shows in the one. One was the Martin Family soap opera and the other was the prequel to the Legends. There were good points and good acting in both sections with some interesting side stories that popped up.
At last we got an interesting look at Iris, and this part of the show revolved around her. She had a strong character, able to judge for herself and not need either her father or Barry to lead the way. In the first meeting she portrayed a strong woman wronged by her mother and unable to forgive her for leaving them. But she was more angry at how her father was treated than a self absorbed hurt. That was a different ending than I anticipated but was understandable. At the second meeting she came across as both a strong and intelligent woman. She wasn’t going to just accept her mother’s story on her illness and death, she went and did her job as a good investigative journalist. Iris turning her mother away knowing her illness was terminal was a strong statement. Then when she told her mother about the full reason for her not accepting her mother, it was the knowledge that her mother had a baby boy 8 months after leaving the family and had not notified anyone, especially the family she abandoned. Again it was more out of concern for her father that led her to this. This is a strong family with Joe leading a very important role in both Iris’ and Barry’s lives. He has been their rock and has brought them both through some tough times. It also showed that she very much forgave her father for holding the Flash secret from her. Of all of the characters, and actors, Joe makes the biggest impression for his love and concern for his family.
The second show you rightly point out was setting up the Legends of Tomorrow. It seems these first few episodes are more concerned about that. But again, that didn’t diminish the story line. I like your interpretation of why Jax agreed to be the other half of Firestorm. Caitlin and Cisco tried to persuade him by using the superhero, and the powers with it, role as a inducement. It wasn’t really turning Jax the way they wanted. It was when he realized how bad off Dr. Stein was and that Jax was Stein’s last hope that he agreed to be the other Firestorm half. That was when Jax became a real hero with its full meaning as you pointed out so well. Firestorm and Flash taking on Hewitt at the football stadium showed Jax becoming a valued member of the group, one that Flash was ready to welcome into the “club”. Losing Stein from the Star Labs crew is something that I am going to miss, though. He had become a more humble and enjoyable person and filled the role of scientific mentor and father figure for Cisco. There was a good relationship developing there. I’m sorry we are losing that. The other that I had trouble handling was Caitlin’s initial attitude and scheming to get her way. This showed an elitist side to Caitlin that I don’t recall. Some may say this is a good thing because it indicates Caitlin taking on more of a leading role in the running of the lab. I could accept that but it was just too evident and strong to me. She did redeem herself by realizing what she had done, how it was really going to affect Stein, and then going to apologize to Jax and persuade him to come back.
Of course we had to have another indication of Barry’s feelings for Patty when he saw her working in Jitters. This is where King Shark appeared. The special effects people deserve praise for a job well done, definitely on a par with Grod, I didn’t understand it’s necessity, though. Was this just to show us that each week another character is going to emerge from the breach. If many wanted to see more of King Shark than bring it on in a separate episode. Of course, it was probably as a vehicle to introduce Harrison Wells to the season and his coming to Flash’s help and becomes his savior. When Flash confronted him and saw who it was there was a definite incredulity on Flash’s face. He had seen Eobard destroyed so what is going on? “What does this mean to me and the group?” At least they set up a hook for the next episode of the Flash. This will be something to look forward to with all its implications.
All in all I did think this was a better episode than the earlier ones even with all of its different paths. I still think Flash is one of the best of the genre and gives some lightness to the overall dark superhero undertones.