The Flash Review: Episode 1×05 - “Plastique”

Explosive Battles, Vibrating Vocal Chords, and Heart-Breaking Interactions On This Week’s “The Flash”

Team Flash, meet Betty Sans Souci: a former military explosives expert, turned metahuman, after the particle accelerator fused bomb shrapnel to her body at a cellular level. Not only must they try to help her learn how to cope with her explosive abilities, they must do so while keeping her hidden from General Wade Eiling, a man who wants his favorite lab rat back. Eiling and Dr. Wells have history, though the darkest details are only hinted at. After Wells works his manipulative ming-magic, Barry will have one hell of a bomb to diffuse. How will he cope when he’s got Iris on the brain? All his attempts to talk her down from covering “The Streak” have proved futile, and Joe is concerned that this is putting Iris at risk. But will sparks fly when Iris finally comes face-to-(blurred)-face with The Streak? Let’s discuss.

Cisco Ramon Serves Up Pep and Tech

After Barry’s first encounter with Betty Sans Souci, he runs back to S.T.A.R. Labs in nothing but his underwear, as Bette had accidentally blown up Barry’s suit. When Cisco learns of this, the sheer horror in his reaction, his affection for the technology he developed, and his immediate reversal to become smitten with Betty proved to be terrific fun to watch. Though on paper, these actions may not seem like the way to win viewers over, it is actor Carlos Valdes’ performance that endeared Cisco to us to such a strong extent. His infectious energy, charm, and spot-on comedic timing had us laughing throughout. In the midst of a team of brilliant scientists, Cisco stands out because of his excitement and passion for the work he does.

“She blew up my suit.” ~ Cisco
“You have like three more.” ~ Caitlin
“Okay, I have two, and I loved that one.” ~ Cisco
“Alright, what else do we know about her?” ~ Barry
“Oh, I don’t know, she’s pure evil. We’re gonna find this girl and send her butt into the pipeline. No one blows my tech to smithereens and gets away with it… unless she looks like that.” ~ Cisco

Though we love all of these happy moments from Cisco, it is also nice to see Carlos Valdes’ range with the more quiet and serious parts too. Following up the dramatic content he had surrounding Ronnie Raymond’s (not really) death, tonight we saw Cisco’s sadness at hearing the news of Bette’s death. Cisco’s high energy and knack for naming meta-humans is terrific fun to watch (he was the one to give Bette the name “Plastique). However, we really hope that the writers will develop Cisco and give him room to grow and develop as a character following in the footsteps of the others, from Barry to Caitlin and Iris. The Flash has kept busy laying the groundwork with all its characters and mythology, and done quite well with it. We would simply like for Cisco to be next on the list.

Dr. Wells: Master Manipulator

Dr. Wells is clearly a villain, at least to viewers, but he has mostly kept his villainy to the shadows. Tonight, we saw him start to make more waves. First, when General Wade Eiling came searching for Bette, thanks to a handy tracker shot into her shoulder, Wells and Eiling face off with one another. There is history between these two, having previously worked together, and there is no love lost in this relationship. When they meet again, it is after Bette has died and Eiling has witnessed Bette’s abilities as well as the Streak/Flash’s. Eiling wants to team up and work together again to apprehend these meta-humans together. Wells turns him down, Eiling tries to threaten him, and Wells threatens him right back with hints that Eiling has engaged in crimes against humanity. We were delighted to see Clancy Brown guest star as General Eiling, as he brought an unwavering strength and commanding presence to the role. Though Wells seems to have run Eiling off for now, we’d reckon he’ll be back again. Seeing these two square off could prove quite exciting to watch. Even if Eiling doesn’t return in a present capacity, we just might get some more of him in flashbacks, the first being seen tonight.

“You soldiers, you call yourself ‘sheep dogs’. Am I right?” ~ Dr. Harrison Wells
“Happy and normal unless someone attacks our flock.” ~ Bette Sans Souci
“Every good person who was changed that night, people like you, people like Barry Allen, those people are your flock now Bette, and General Eiling will never stop attacking that flock and he always gets his target, unless you stop him. You know your duty, sergeant. Kill Eiling. One last mission, and then you go home.” ~ Dr. Harrison Wells

The scene that stood out for Wells was that of him manipulating Bette into going after General Eiling to try to kill him. Right from when the score kicked in, we knew that trouble was coming. Though it started off innocently enough, those minor chords further enhanced the villainy of Wells’ actions. Wells had only just met Bette yet he had no difficulty in getting her to do what he wanted. We’re not entirely sure if the ease with which his manipulation flowed stemmed from a strength in reading people, or from his precognitive abilities, or perhaps both. Either way, the writers are building one hell of a super villain in Wells. The fact that he appeared to have risked exposing himself (indeed Bette would have exposed Wells’ role in her actions to Barry if she hadn’t died first) makes us think that he is pushing ahead with his master plan(s) and the writers have paced this very well.

Iris Meets ‘The Streak’ And It’s More Than We Ever Could Have Hoped For

We’ve been waiting (im)patiently for Iris to get her turn to have more material and play super-sleuth-journalist, which had been pushed aside while writers were tending to other parts of the show’s mythology, and finally we got more of just this. Joe wants Barry to talk Iris down from her pursuit of The Streak, but the conversation backfires and Iris instead opts to be more public with her work, publishing a post with her name on it as opposed to doing it anonymously. Having an accidental run-in with The Streak certainly didn’t help to push her in that direction either. Barry decides to pay Iris another visit as The Streak and the ensuing conversation was beyond any expectations we had. We had assumed that Iris’ interest in The Streak was a way to bring Iris and Barry together romantically (which it still very well may be) and something that stemmed from her desire to pursue the most exciting story in Central City that could further advance her career. This was no less admirable to us, as we quite liked the idea of Iris being a relentless journalist hungry for the truth. But what we got instead was the revelation that Iris is doing all of this for Barry. Candice Patton was exquisite as she brought such heartfelt emotion in conveying the depths of her affections for her best friend, endearing us to the character all the more. We also loved the playfulness in the interaction between the two, through the direction of Barry’s zipping about while coyly evading answering any of her probing questions.

“Look, I have this friend and he had something terrible happen to him when he was a kid, and his whole life he’s been telling stories about this impossible thing and people laughed at him and shrinks analysed him, and he’s been searching for an explanation ever since, and now suddenly it’s like he’s lost his faith. But you, you are proof that he wasn’t crazy. Help me save my friend.” ~ Iris

When Barry relays this discovery of Iris’ true motivation to Joe, we were treated to another top quality father/son scene between the two, which are fast becoming some of our favourite scenes in the show. There was such charm in Joe’s giggling reaction to Barry’s vibrating vocal chord trick and then when Joe revealed his knowledge of Barry’s having been in love with Iris since forever, Grant Gustin delivered a phenomenal range in physicality and expression before even arriving at his next line. Gustin seems to do some of his finest work when acting opposite Jesse L. Martin and when you add the chemistry between these two, plus their mutual chemistries with Candice Patton, it becomes entirely evident that the casting of these three roles is spot on. This all led to the devastating (yes, devastating) fallout in which Barry once again implores Iris to give up her search for The Streak, and consequent decision that they should spend time apart when she refuses to do so. The emotions provoked from this are due in large part to the potency of their performances, which keep us gripped whenever they are in the presence of one another.

FINAL VERDICT

This was another strong episode for an already strong series. Director Dermott Downs made great use of the space on the rooftop scene between Barry and Iris, and did strong work with the action sequences too, which continued to maintain their high calibre when coupled with the special effects team. That final sequence where Barry had to outrun the explosion induced by Bette’s dead body was particularly impressive. The scope and scale of the action continued to feel more on parr with those of a studio film but most importantly, the writing and performances give the show substance to back up all of the other pizzazz. Writers Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing, and Brooke Eikmeier crafted strong dialogue for Wells in his manipulation of Bette and for Iris in her speech to The Streak to save Barry. Composer Blake Neely also delivered once again with his score that continued to assert its important position as part of the narrative. We were also excited by the tease at the character of Gorilla Grodd, as we’d love to see how he would be worked into the show’s ever-expanding mythology and see how the special effects team would go about bringing him to life. Motion capture, perhaps? We can’t wait to find out!

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• Poor Barry wants to get drunk. ‘A’ for effort, Barry! You gave it your best shot! #SeeWhatIDidThere
• Look at Iris’ gorgeously tousled hair! #SexHair #ButNotReally #BarryWishes
• SHERIFF CORBIN! Oh no wait, wrong show. MR. KRABS! Nope, still the wrong show. #HelloClancyBrown
• Joe West trying to be all nonchalant like he isn’t entirely in on this secret. xD
• Cisco is in luhrrrrv! <3
• Iris is too smart for you to pull a fast one on her, Barry. #OopsIDidItAgain
• Cisco! More adorable than a basket of kittens!
• Bad-guy-verbal-smack-down. I’m sensing some history between these two…
• Cisco should be responsible for naming everything. New discovered planets, stars, animals, bacteria, anything and everything! x)
• Barry doesn’t have his baggage to keep him from flirting with the woman he loves.
• IRIS IS DOING ALL OF THIS FOR BARRY DON’T TOUCH ME #IWillGoDownWithThisShip
• Joe’s laugh is now in a fight with Cisco for cutest part of this episode #AllTheCuteness \(^o^)/
• YES, Barry, it is obvious! I hereby dub Joe the captain of the WestAllen ship.
• Dr. Wells is so shady… #TrustNoWells #LestYouDrownInIt
• Well thanks, Barry. Why don’t you just tear all out hearts out and run them into the ground. *_* </3
• Caitlin brewing up booze for Barry = ultimate bro status. #IApprove
• BARRY, YOU MADE IRIS CRY! GO APOLOGISE AND KISS IT BETTER. #NotCool