In Review: The Flash – Grodd Friended Me

Synopsis: Feeling overwhelmed with all the changes since Crisis, Barry conducts an experiment that goes awry and puts him directly in Gorilla Grodd’s path; Iris works with Eva to escape the Mirrorverse.

Review: Grodd returns in perhaps one of the most mind-bending episodes we have had to date.

The Story

Barry is still struggling to adapt to a post-crisis world in which everything that he knew about his city seems to have changed and is also hindering his abilities to be the Flash. When he fails to capture Pied Piper due to a part of the city being different from what it was before. Barry tries to figure out all the changes via some super computerized gizmo, but when Chester P. Runk enhances the gizmo by 900% it traps Barry’s mind inside the mindscape of Gorilla Grodd, who seeks Barry’s help to escape.

Elsewhere Harrison “Nash” Wells is still being haunted by the other Wells’s from pre-crisis earth, but he has also put his friendship with Allegra in jeopardy by not telling her about his relationship with her doppelganger.

We also learn that Eva is not the person she is pretending to be when she deliberately sabotages her and Iris’s efforts to escape the Mirrorverse.

The Acting

Brandon McKnight puts in an exuberant performance as Chester P. Runk who will do just about anything to earn the respect of Barry Allen and a place on Team Flash. In many ways, Chester seems very much like a younger Cisco Ramone in that he mirrored Cisco’s enthusiasm for working with the fastest man alive. I loved the scene where Chester is blaming himself for Barry’s troubles but gets a pep talk from Frost who tells him he deserves a second chance.

Overall

This felt very much like a placeholder in that it doesn’t really advance the overall story arc that much, but as placeholders go. It was entertaining and fun to watch and sets up a potential new dynamic for future adventures should the writers use Grodd in future episodes. Will he go back to the villain her was or will he side with Barry Allen and team flash? I guess we’ll find out sooner or later.

Overall. A fun episode with some great Gorilla Grodd action.