The Flash S02E04: "The fury of Firestorm"

The Flash

S02E04: "The fury of Firestorm"

Rating: 5 out of 10 (OK)

In A Nutshell

The title sent a chill down my spine, for this was indeed the story of firestorm part 2. We'd seen all this in season one and it wasn't that interesting last time for me. Given we started with a flashback to a young American football wannabe getting zapped by the explosion from star lab 2 years ago, you knew that even when they'd said that the Professor needed another donor to save his life, and they offered two possibilities, it was obvious who the right one would be. So, it wasn't much surprise that the footballer ended up joining with the Professor after some early reluctance, and the other possibility, a scientist, turned out to be obnoxious, have anger issues and also not afraid to start using the firestorm powers he'd inadvertently had switched on. There was nothing complex here (aside from the science perhaps) and it was all pretty daft how anyone would sign up for such a life, even with the superhero powers. At least at the end, both firestorm peeps leave to go off and meet one of the professor's pals who can help them more. Seems awfully familiar ...

Aside from this, we had more on the dullness that is Joe's Ex-wife, although now we find out she's dying and has months to live. Iris does meet her before hearing this but tells her where to go, before being a little nicer later on, but still telling her where to go after finding out something that Joe doesn't know, which is that the ex has a son. It's a little twist on things, but I'm still not interested much in what feels like a storyline forced on us.

What's more fun is Patty, Joe's assistant cop, and Barry's flirting, which is amusing and cute.

However, things really jump up a level once again in the last few minutes, when Dr Wells saves Barry/Flash from a mutant sharkman (yup, you heard me) after he was checking out Patty in a café. She had tried to shoot the shark in comical fashion before Wells shoots the sharkman and reveals himself to Barry. Not sure why he did that, but I'd reckon it's all a ploy.

What I liked

Sharkman; ridiculous, but also awesome.

Barry/Patty; too cute to not progress surely?

Dr Wells sneaking about on Earth 1, and his reveal at the end.

What I Didn't Like

Firestorm; we've done all this before! And the CGI was quite rubbish on the firestorm wannabe.

Joe, ex-wife, and Iris; it's a serious distraction from all the interesting stuff. Although this week, firestorm was the other stuff. Sigh.

I'll mention this every week, but, umm, Gideon?

We want Zoom, Jay and Earth 2!

What's with everyone continually hiding things from each other based on what they think is best for them? Even Joe is at it again, hiding Doctor Wells discovery from Barry before he reveals himself at the end anyway.

Huh?



CGI disaster sadly for this guy. Every time he did anything it just looked wrong.

I'm back. And I'm glad!

"Hello. My name's Bruce"

And Finally

We've see this all before, although at least there's hope that firestorm might go away for a while this time. The Joe ex-wife story continues along like an unwanted cousin visiting at Christmas time, whereas the interesting stuff simmers in the background.

Rating: 5 out of 10