What I’m Watching: The Flash

The Flash: Season 2, Episode 21 “The Runaway Dinosaur” (B-)

I’m not a huge fan of hokey episodes, and that is completely what this was. I don’t really buy the notion of the speed force existing as a physical entity with the ability to personify itself and take the form of people from Barry’s life, and that was an extraordinarily manipulative device that I didn’t find effective. It’s interesting to see what’s happening now and the role that people have in Barry’s life. Henry returning all of a sudden and now claiming to have some interest in an active role in his son’s life is awfully presumptuous, especially because other people, like Harry, have been around and watching over him while his real father was away following his release from prison. Iris sort of declared her love, or rather her desire for love, to Barry, and now they seem to be moving closer together, with an emphatic hug rather than a kiss after she managed to lure him back from permanently staying in the speed force – whatever that means. The simultaneous resurgence of Tony was worthwhile only for Cisco’s “iZombie” reference and the fact that he was played by Greg Finley, who was Drake on that show, which happens to air right after this show on the CW. Zoom’s metahuman gathering at the end of the episode and his threat to Caitlin were foreboding, and it’s hard to see how the returned Barry and his friends will be able to think of a plan that will be able to defeat them.