What I’m Watching: The Flash

The Flash: Season 2, Episode 12 “Fast Lane” (B+)

This show has so many characters that it could easily get rid of some of them, and I like that it’s not going that route, instead offering up challenges that suggest exits but then going in a different and altogether more exciting direction. Harry moving to steal the Flash’s speed had immediate and unfortunate consequences with Barry not being fast enough to stop the shard from injuring Iris, and he confessed very quickly to having done it. A bit of immediate anger from the team was speedily quelled by Barry’s good nature, and I’m pumped for the fact that our friends are going to Earth Two with Harry to help stop Zoom once and for all. Barry reading books at lightning speed to learn the science Harry was working on was fun, and Harry really is acting as a father figure to Barry in the intellectual way that Joe never occupied. Speaking of Joe, it’s good to see the shift in Wally’s behavior after Iris’ undercover attempt and his new acceptance of his situation and the family that wants to get to know him. Tar Pit was quite the villain, transforming and appearing like the T-1000 in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and proving to be an easily quashable villain due mainly to the fact that there was plenty else going on this hour that there just wasn’t enough time to focus on him. The connection between Wally’s racing world and the freak of the week was unexpected, and I suspect that Wally may soon be the next person to learn that Barry isn’t just as ordinary forensic scientist.