THE FLASH - SEASON 6.13

REVIEW:  THE FLASH - SEASON 6.13:  "Grodd Friended Me"


Ever since Crisis ended, Barry Allen has had a tough time readjusting to this new "Earth Prime".  Things don't quite operate as they used to.  With that in mind, we now see how this new, current time and world is effecting him on a personal level.  We also have Cisco out there, mapping the new world, so-to-speak, Ralph is embroiled in his Sue Dearbon case, which took a crazy turn last week, and the Iris that's been hell bent to get her story....is NOT the Iris West-Allen we know.  SHE is trapped in a mirror universe with the long missing Eva McCulloch---who we learned had some superpowers last week.  Will they escape?  What's gonna happen in the life of our Scarlet Speedster THIS week?  Let's find out, shall we?



______________________________________________________________________________


We take a peek in on Central City of this new Earth-Prime, where we come upon what seems like a sullen Barry Allen, with flowers in his hand.  He's in a location that has a bunch of streets and a highway, but looks either lost or confused.  Just as he's about to move on, he get's a ring on his phone that there's a meta alert in the area.  He quick races out, dropping the flowers and leaving them behind.  As he's racing to his quarry, He hears Camilla on the com, and she's there with Chester.  There's no one else there, because Iris is on her story, Ralph is chasing Sue, Cisco still hasn't returned yet, and Frost is at ARGUS, checking in on Bloodwork.  So, Flash is working with the newbies, as he races to a jewelry store whereas he comes upon Hartley Rathaway---the Pied Piper is back!  But HE is not the good guy that Flash remembers.  In this new earth, Hartley is back to being a supervillain.  He steals Piper's gloves which tend to control his sound abilities.  Flash asks what happened to him, and Piper says he should know...but honestly, Flash doesn't.  Piper then says that the gloves are only PART of his repetoire', and flies off through the roof...which is a new one for Flash.  Racing out to find him, Camilla and Chester try to direct him as to where his next location is.  They spot him, and Flash decides to take a shortcut, but Chester tries to warn him.  However, it's too late, and Flash arrives near the train, and phases through it, as to avoid getting hit.  Piper gets away.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry is working on refining his communicator with Gideon, trying to trace all the new changes to this Earth since Crisis.  Chester and Camilla walk in, and sees Barry speed between to stations, and he figures out that Barry is the Flash (blew your secret ID again, bub---nice going, Barry!).  Chester is SUPER excited to meet him.  They ask what he's doing, and he replies that he's trying to track all the new changes that have happened since Crisis.  Gideon then responds that she's found over 3 trillion changes, and asks if he wants to start cataloguing them.  Barry is trying to boost the signal for his earpiece, and Chester offers to help, and does a little tweak, but Barry doesn't want him touching it, so he backs off.  Chester gets the hint, and takes off.  Camilla asks what's wrong, and Barry says that he went to go visit his parents' graves today, but they're not where they were at.  There's not even a cemetary there like there was before.  He's searched all over town, but can't seem to find them.  He's come back from Crisis, but it feels like there's a part of him missing.  He's so used to things being a certain way, that he's not been ready for the changes---like having Camilla and Chester on coms, as she comments to him.  Camilla understands, she just wants him to go easy on Chester...he idolizes the Flash.  

We check in with Iris and Eva, still stuck in the mirror universe.  They discuss the problem with getting out of there, and Eva's powers.  Iris wants her to recount everything that happened to her the night of the particle explosion.  She had been working on her prototype for her project, and had it completed.  But she never tried it.  Iris wonders if she could build it there, and Eva says she can't.  Iris wonders why, and asks the reason as to what she's so fearful about.  She's a brilliant engineer, and Iris has read her work.  Iris says that there is no reason to fear, and that they will be brave together.  

Nash is trying to build a machine in the Citizen office, and Allegra is watching him.  He's trying to apparently catch residual particles, and needs her help activating it, so he can track any anomalies from Crisis, from what Allegra states.  Iris had filled her in.  Nash says he just needs her to zap it, to see if it works.  She feels he's acting strange around her, and she's wondering what's up with that.  She feels like he knows her differently, and he feigns to not know what she's talking about.  Just then, the image of Sherloque Wells pops up, and calls him a liar.  Sherloque tells him it won't work, and Allegra fires it up.  It shines bright, but then shorts out, and both Nash and Allegra get knocked down.  As they get up after the mini blast, Allegra spots the picture of her doppleganger and Nash that he's been holding on to.  Sherloque has disappeared from Nash, but now Allegra grills Nash about the picture, and wants answers.  She's creeped out, and wants to know if her doppleganger there is his daughter, but he refuses to answer.  She's ticked off and weirded out, so she bolts.

Barry is continuing to tinker with his ear piece communicator with Gideon.  Then then feels he has it ready.  As he goes to test it, he gets some massive feedback, and he's out on the floor.  Everything gets fuzzy, and when he awakens, he's in a tiny cage.  Caitlin walks in, and asks how he is.  He's talking to her, asking her to get him out, and find out what's going on, but she just looks at him with a weird look on her face, like she can't understand him.  Then, Harrison Wells comes in, and sees that Barry is upset, and calls him cranky.  They talk about giving him the "B" thing, but she hadn't done that yet.  Caitlin excuses herself, so she could check in on Ronnie...who's working on something called the "Pipeline".  Wells likes that name, so he takes off behind her, while Barry is shouting out to her NOT to trust him, believe it to be Eobard Thawne.

"Iris" meets up with Joe the precinct.  She has come to a roadblock in her investigation into Black Hole and Carver.  She is looking to Joe to see if he has any solid leads he can share with her, but Joe says he can't.  She's in disbelief.  He says that everything goes through Chief Singh, so he has to play it by the book.  If he were to share any info to her, Carver might get off on a collusion charge, and then they'd have nothing.  She snaps at Joe, saying that this story means EVERYTHING to her.  He's in shock at her yelling at him.  She quickly apologizes, saying that they both have jobs to do, and---as a token of apology---offers to take him to lunch.  He's up for that, and she says she'll met him around noon.  She takes off, and he still looks at the whole incident as weird.  

Frost finally returns to the lab after her trip to ARGUS.  Chester is looking to stay occupied, and looks to Frost to play a game, which she has no interest in.  She just got back from seeing Bloodwork, and has very little interst in games.  They walk into another part of the lab, and find Barry unconscious on the floor.  

We get back to Barry---still in the cage---when Caitlin returns. He tries once again to talk to her, but she says she can't help him if he doesn't use his sign language.  Wells comes back in, and says that gorillas can be very stubborn.  Barry is confused, but starts putting it together, and realizes, as he sees the reflection in the water bowl, that he's in Grodd's mind.

Barry then talks to Grodd, who says that he wanted the Flash to learn how to live with no escape, no powers, no freedom.  Barry's speed isn't working.  Grodd says he remembers Caitlin betraying him, but she did it on Flash's orders.  Barry has no intention of apologizing.  He reminds Grodd of all his past transgressions against Central City, and how he made him battle Solovar and try to kill him.  Grodd agrees.  He said it took him a year to learn how to think again.  During this time, he was forced to confront his past deeds.  He wants Flash's help in understanding.  And if Flash wants to be free, he needs to defeat the Gatekeeper who guards the only way out.  Grodd says he has changed, Barry doesn't believe him, and he lays Grodd out with a superpowered speed punch (since Grodd had released his telepathic hold on Barry's powers), saying that he doesn't believe him.  Barry then speeds off to escape.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Frost is trying to track Barry's neural patterns in order to find out who his mind is communicating with.  Nash then bursts in, needing a one-on-one with Frost.  They take a walk, and Nash says he screwed up with Allegra.  Frost calls him out, and says that he wasn't honest with her that her doppleganger is his daughter.  She tells him that he needs to step up and tell her the truth.  She goes back to trying to help Barry.

Flash has been racing around Grodd's mindscape, looking for the exit, and eventually finds it...and the Gatekeeper:  Solovar.  Flash tries to reason with Solovar, telling him who he is, and to let him pass.  Solovar, however, is not going to let him, and tosses him aside.  At the same time back in the lab, Frost and Camilla discover that Barry is in Grodd's mind.  Which they feel is impossible, since Grodd is back at ARGUS with an inhibitor on his head.  They discuss calling Lyla, and seeing if they can shut it off.  However, Frost says that IF they shut it off, it can cause Grodd's mind to be shut down...thus killing Barry.  Chester then realizes that the tweaks he made to Barry's earpiece for Gideon were too high, which was enough to allow Grodd to enter his head.  Chester feels guilty, and goes to leave.  Frost catches up to him and says that while he did screw up, he is no different than any of them.  They need his help to get Barry back.  Chester talks about his science project as a kid, and how he got it to work until the day of the science fair. it didn't work.  He wanted to fix it, but he wasn't allowed to.  Because of his color, he wasn't allowed a second chance.  Frost says that now he has one.

"Iris" talks to Joe, and it appears there was miscommunication between them for lunch.  Joe says he will get her the usual, and she says she will meet him there.  The call ends, and we pull back to see that she is at Joe's desk, downloading the entire file he has on Carver.  She then takes off.  

In the mirror universe, Iris watches Eva finish building her machine.  but Eva won't start it, because she knows it won't work.  She thinks that she should try using her powers again, and Iris feels she's fearful of something.  She wants to know the answer as to WHY the machine won't work.  Eva turns it on and puts her arms through the mirror...and they start to burn.  She screams in pain, and Iris pulls her back, seeing the damage.  

Grodd and Barry talk, and Barry says he tried to defeat Solovar like he did before, and it didn't work.  Grodd says the mindscape is changing, and it can't support two minds.  Barry doesn't believe him.  Grodd tells him the longer they stay, they will die.  Grodd tells him he's aware about the Crisis.  While he was not effected, his mind felt the world shift.  He remembers Gorilla City being elsewhere, but now it is here.  Grodd wants to go home to Gorilla City, and recalls that he was most happy when he was in Gorilla City.  He says that while he had power, he wasn't happy.  In Gorilla City, he felt at home.  Barry believes him.  Grodd wants to know why he believes him now.  Barry says that he's been living in the past, and it's time to let go.  It's time for him to move forward, and trying to keep things the same. The only way to beat Solovar is to work together.  

Flash and Grodd end up merging with their powers, and on the other end, Frost notices that their brainwaves have merged.  They manage to get ahold of her, and let her know what's going on.  However, she reminds them that if they come out of the mindscape together, there's a chance they'll come out merged, and could both die.  They have to separate their minds at an exact precise moment.  It requires a exact calculation, which Chester offers a solution:  boost the signal more, like he did that last time, but he also reminds himself that this is how things got started to begin with.  Barry reaches out to Chester, and says that what Chester did to fix his earpiece was more than what he did in two hours.  Barry says he believes in him.  Chester then gets to work.  Meanwhile, Flash/Grodd battle Solovar, and has not fared well.  Solovar is winning the battle, and Barry is starting to fade.  So is Grodd on his end.  Flash urges Grodd to get up and fight...now is the time.  Grodd, using Barry's knowledge of speed, begins to fight back, and win the fight against Solovar.  Chester fixes the amplification, and Barry says it's now or never.  Grodd and Barry get through the portal, and their minds separate, saving the both of them.  Grodd's inhibitor at ARGUS shorts out.

Chester wonders if Grodd truly has turned over a new leaf, and Barry says he talked to Lyla, and they had put a tracking chip inside Grodd, so that if he goes rogue, they'll be able to find out. Frost wants to learn more about the ARGUS protocols, and goes to make sure they give Grodd a decent chance.  Camilla gets a phone call, and it's Cisco...he's coming home.  Barry then takes the time to apologize to Chester.  He says that he was trying to find the cemetary where his parents were buried.  Chester says he actually did some research, and found his parents' graves.  Barry thanks him.  The meta alert goes off, and they discover that the Pied Piper is at it again.  Barry tells him that he needs to man the cons, and if he is ready for this.  Chester says he is, and Barry races off.  

Iris is bandaging up Eva, and asks why it is she didn't tell her the truth about the machine.  Eva says she needed to prove to Iris that the machine didn't work.  She recalls building the machine, but she never used it, and she said they wanted proof that it worked.  No scientific journal would ever publish her research or projects, because she didn't show that her machine worked.  She wanted Iris to believe her, and Iris does.  She then asks Iris to go seek more bandages, and Iris leaves.  The shaking Eva then drops the act, and and moves towards the mirror, waves at it, and it clears away, showing "Iris" on the other side, wondering what she did to her.  Eva says both of them should not suffer, and uses her powers to "heal" the fake Mrs. West-Allen.  She then says they're running out of time, and closes the mirror and walks back.  

We close out with Nash, coming back to the Citizen office looking for Allegra, and mustering up the strength to tell her the truth.  He takes one last look at the polaroid, and goes to head into the office, but he is stopped by Sherloque Wells...who pushes him up against the wall, and warns him that HE is coming...as his eyes glow red, and his face vibrates.


******************************************************************************************************************


Alirghty!!  THAT was a DAMN GOOD episode!!  We got a Three-fer tonight!  Grodd, the LONG AWAITED return of the Pied Piper, the signs of the Reverse Flash coming back, and we KNOW who the Mirror Master is---and, dammit!  I was RIGHT the whole damn time!!  From the moment Iris went into that office, I had a feeling Eva had something to do with it.  Last week, I admit to being thrown off, as Eva played the terrified woman trapped in the mirror world, but we NOW know this to NOT be the case!  SHE is the one who created the Iris running around gathering the mirror gun, and information on Carver, and fooling Barry.  And for NOW, the REAL Iris hasn't caught on---yet.  But for sure, she's going to remain suspicious.

Having an episode where Grodd and Barry bond is....interesting.  It was awfully WEIRD to see them interact, much less work together for a common cause.  And can Grodd REALLY be sincere in his willingness to turn over a new leaf?  This will be curious to see what transpires down the road as we see Grodd appear next time.  But for now..it was pretty cool to have Grodd back.

Seeing Hartley back as the Pied Piper was also fun, even though it was more of a bit part.  But to have him back in the villain role is more suited for him.  It gives someone else to give the Flash fits, and there's also the back story between him and Cisco as well.  So, enjoying THAT.

How many of you caught on to Joe looking weirded out by "Iris" and her outburst?  Along with how she snapped at Barry a couple of episodes back, I wonder how long Eva can keep the ruse going, until someone finds out, and the jig is up?  And just what is Eva's plan for her now ex-husband anyway?  She planning to kill him?  What's the score here?  

Happy to have Chester back!!  As things change for Team Flash, having Chester aboard is awesome!  We now have that scientific mind to work alongside Cisco, PLUS provide some comical moments.  I can't WAIT to see THOSE two interact!

I give such major props for Danielle Panabaker for working as her pregnancy moves along.  They did a great job of keeping her movements limited, and no use of Frost's powers.  But did everyone catch the fact that Frost was doling out scientific info during this episode?  She sounded more and more like Caitlin.  I'm wondering that---if at some point---Cait and Frost are going to actually MERGE personalities, and be one whole complete person?  I am thinking that the seeds might've been planted with this episode.  And I like the fact that...no matter WHAT clothes they got Frost to wear for this episode...you just couldn't hide Danielle's pregant tummy.  But hey...we're all too happy for her!

Barry accepting the change is going to help elevate him even moreso.  While it's nice that he remembers his parents, he is all about moving forward.  It will make for a better Flash.

That'll do for this week.  Please make sure you subscribe and tell everyone about our little spot on the web.  Leave some comments too...this page doesn't happen without you!

Until next time...Keep On Running!