Talk about a Girls Night Out! While Barry and the boys enjoyed a night of chicken wings and chemically altered alcohol, the girls took down an evil villain and totally saved the day
The Flash made no effort to tone down the “girl power” vibes this week, and we love it. Felicity Smoak (Arrow’s Emily Bett Rickards) made the long journey over from Star City this week, ready to hit the town with Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Cecile for Iris’s (Candice Patton) bachelorette party. Their girls night veers off course pretty quickly when a guy shows up and drops his eyeball right into Felicity’s champagne! From there, it’s chaos. Killer Frost is back and there is a woman stealing tears and Team Mrs. Flash has to spend their night stopping this wrongdoing. In a surprising turn of events, Killer Frost takes the side of good, and we realize that Caitlin’s two identities aren’t quite as black and white as we once thought.
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While the girls get things done, the boys, well, don’t. It was an episode full of firsts for Barry (Grant Gustin) - this is the first time ever that we’ve gone an entire episode without him suiting up as The Flash. Also, in the comedic highlight of the week, Cisco (Carlos Valdez) finally nailed the chemical makeup of speedster alcohol (well, almost.) Although he made it a bit too strong, it definitely worked, and the audience was treated to drunk Barry Allen for the first time ever. An absolute delight, Barry spent the episode first telling everyone his secret identity, then crying over various aspects of life -namely, how much he loves chicken wings and the ending of Titanic. This is the stuff TV dreams are made of.
With that being said, let’s talk about it! Our expert group of Flash fans have a lot to say.
Holly (@hollyanderson30) - Social Media Addict who runs two fan pages and loves everything CW, especially The Flash
Fowsia (@iriswestallens) - Lover of all things Iris West and Westallen
Will (@willmpolk) - Blerd, Flash fan and producer of the @SceneNNerd podcast
Medina (@bisexualallen) - Fan of all things Barry and Iris
Jay (@jayruymann) - Editor-in-Chief of The TV Type.
1. How are you liking Ralph’s inclusion in Team Flash? Are you glad he was included in tonight’s festivities?
Holly (@hollyanderson30): I am happy that is now on Team Flash, I’m sure he will be a big help to take down Devoe. I am so happy he was included in tonight’s festivities even if he had to invite himself, We got to see another side of Barry because of Ralph and I absolutely loved it!
Fowsia (@iriswestallens): I can’t really say much yet since he hasn’t really joined the team in fighting crime yet — which seems we will get in the next episode — but Ralph certainly made things fun tonight’s episode! I still need time to adjust to him and his personality, but I am looking forward to see how he’s integrated into the team.
Will (@willmpolk): To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about Ralph. I feel like the show has injected another person onto the team and feel like Barry and the others felt with Ralph just invited himself over to the bachelor party. I feel like it is a retread of the story with Julian where the character is at first antagonistic but then Team Flash is all open arms.
Medina (@bisexualallen): I actually like Ralph lol so I’m glad he was a part of the festivities tonight even if he wasn’t technically invited but I don’t like that he’s basically replaced Wally on the team so I’m really excited for him to return. I miss my speedster son.
Jay (@jayruymann): I’m skeptical. It seems like they just got tired of Wally and now Ralph is there to fill the void, just as someone without a connection to the team so they can explore those differences. It feels a lot like Dinah taking Laurel’s place on Team Arrow, and it just isn’t working for me.
2. Both the bachelor and bachelorette parties were a bit of a disaster, but in completely different ways! Ignoring gender, which party would you rather have attended?
Holly: As much as my fangirl side wants to say Bachelor Party because two of my all time favorites are there, drinking and strip clubs are not my scene,so I would have to Bachelorette Party! I love that they never hesitated to go save the day with or without the boys when they didn’t answer. #feminism
Fowsia: I most definitely love to participate in Iris’ bachelorette party! Who wouldn’t want to kick some ass and take risks for a night? Hashtag feminism!
Will: Honestly, Barry’s initial bachelor party is the one where I would have liked to attended. Just a total geek out nerd fest. It looked like it was in keeping with the character.
Medina: Definitely Barry’s bachelor party. People trying to kill me isn’t my definition of a good time so Iris bachelorette party is a no from me and the guys actually got to eat their food. If I have to leave my house for anything I want food.
Jay: I would have much rather attended Barry’s! It seemed like a lot more fun than fighting Amunet, and seeing Barry wasted would have been hilarious in-person.
3. Felicity joined in the ladies night, making this episode a miniature crossover! Are you an Arrow fan? Do you enjoy when Felicity comes to town?
Holly: I love Arrow even if I did start watching it at first only because it crossed over with The Flash. I really enjoy when Felicity comes on The Flash, I love the way they write her character she always seems more relaxed on The Flash.
Fowsia: I’ve only watched the first seven episode of Arrow season 1, so I wouldn’t say at all that I’m an Arrow fan. But I do enjoy when Felicity makes a visit to Central City, especially this time since she celebrated Iris’ upcoming nuptials! I’d love to see more of their friendship, and I was so glad to see more of their dynamic tonight. Hashtag SmoakWest!
Will: I am an Arrow fan. The Flash actually introduced me to the show, but have grown to enjoy it very much and in some ways season 6 of Arrow has been more inspired than the Flash. I think Felicity’s inclusion was a good one. She has been around since season 1, so it was not a forced inclusion onto the show. Plus my buddy and host of our podcast Sarah (@sjbelmont) and I were talking about this, and we both liked how she didn’t steal the spotlight, she just brought her fans over and played the appropriate supporting role in the story.
Medina: No. In this house we have (gold) standards but I enjoy Felicity’s friendship with the characters of The Flash so I’m usually cool when she comes to town
Jay: I wish other characters would crossover, too. Felicity does it far too often, in my opinion, and it’s unbelievable to consider everyone in the Arrow-verse is supposed to have some sort of relationship, yet only appear during the mega crossovers.
4. The Flash has had a constant pattern of humor this season - what was the funniest part of tonight’s episode?
Holly: The funniest part of tonight had to be a drunk Barry, that was golden!Between him telling everyone that he’s the Flash and crying over his chicken wings I was cracking up.Even better was when Cisco figured out there must be a miscalculation in his potion he made Barry.
Fowsia: The funniest — and most adorable actually — part of tonight’s episode was definitely drunk Barry. It was hilarious getting to see him let loose, and Gustin did a really good job in making his intoxication seem realistic. I died of laughter when Barry had chicken wing sauce all over his mouth. Then he started crying and said “I just love chicken wings so much!” I truly had a great laugh. And he seriously wasn’t lying when he said that Rose had plenty of room laying on the door in the movie Titanic — she totally did.
Will: To me one of the funniest moments was how a drunk Barry was just shouting as loud as he could that he was the Flash. I found it funny because it seems like he is outing himself all the time on the show. The other funny moment was with the girls night and Felicity’s line to Amunet’s henchman to “drop you pants, not your eye.”
Medina: Honestly I’m already forgetting about this episode but Cisco’s reaction to seeing Killer Frost in star labs is constant mood so I thought it was funny.
Jay: Seeing Barry drunk. It was hilarious, and it’s funny because it’s not going to happen again.
5. We got a bit of resolution for Killer Frost. It seems that Caitlin’s alternate personalities aren’t as opposing as we’d thought. Did you enjoy seeing Killer Frost in this new light?
Holly: I was happy to finally get some answers on Killer Frost because we had little to no information her since the beginning of the episode and Caitlin reappeared.But something Iris said in the episode to Killer Frost really stuck with me. She said that Killer Frost was afraid of being Caitlin as Caitlin is of being Killer Frost.Maybe the key to having them as one is accepting that they are one. Also this was the first time I heard that Caitlin took the cure and it didn’t work, last I knew she didn’t want it.
Fowsia: I’ve always been confused about Killer Frost’s personality because the show never quite explained it. It seems tonight though, they did — but it didn’t make sense considering certain factors about her opposing personalities was never prevalent before. For example, prior to tonight when Caitlin is Killer Frost, Killer Frost never referred to Caitlin in third person until this episode — which was weird. Then suddenly, when she’s Caitlin again, she can’t remember what Killer Frost has done. It’s odd considering that Caitlin as Killer Frost decided to leave the team in the season 3 finale because of the pain that she caused, but suddenly she can’t remember Killer Frost’s actions. It seems that they tried to frame their reasoning of her personality into one episode which made it hard to understand. To be quite honest, it’s been tiring seeing Caitlin juggle with Killer Frost. Since the writers officially decided they are two separate people (I’ve always assumed she was the same person — they’ve always had the same memories and same experiences up until this episode) I hope they just stick to one.
Will: The jury is still out for me on Killer Frost. I appreciate now that they have firmly established that she is a Bruce Banner/Dr. Jekyell/Mr. Hyde character. But I’ve appreciated how Danielle Panabaker has portrayed the character and she does bring a great dynamic to the show. I like this version a lot better than her Earth-2 counterpart.
Medina: That would require me enjoing seeing Caitlin at all which eye do knot so no.
Jay: I love Killer Frost. I hope they find a way for Caitlin and Killer Frost to become one so she can join the team out in the field without the threat of evil hanging over her head, but I really do love both of Caitlin’s personalities. I wish they would wrap up the back-and-forth though. It’s tiring because this is the second season in a row that Caitlin is struggling with it and it’s like no time has passed.
6. Iris asked Caitlin to be her maid of honor! Was that expected, or did it surprise you at all?
Holly: I expected she would but I don’t understand it, as much as I love both characters I still think Iris deserves an apology and Caitlin has yet to offer one. I mean she apologized to Joe why not to Iris? But Iris seems to be able to look past it so I guess I can.
Fowsia: It definitely surprised me, though I had a feeling she would be. I like the fact that it was acknowledged that Iris and Caitlin never formed a friendship over the course of 4 years. And though I’m glad it was addressed, it’s almost like the writers tried to cram 4 years worth of friendship into one episode which made Iris asking Caitlin to be her maid of honor contrived. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth that Caitlin hasn’t apologized for aiding in Iris’ potential death last year, which especially makes her being maid of honor unbelievable. Iris asked Caitlin to be her maid of honor because of their lack of relationship, and in a way I guess that remedies that. But Felicity or even Cecile would’ve been a better, more realistic choice in my opinion. Nonetheless, I’m satisfied with the conversations that took place between the two — even though I still want Caitlin to apologize.
Will: This was one part of the show that really bothered me. Iris and Caitlin have really had no relationship at all. I even tweeted during the show that in 4 years this was probably the first meaningful conversation that they have ever had! Even the writers had to use a line in show that Caitlin and Iris were just work partners. They had to do the same with Wally just a few weeks back that, I was gone and no one missed me. It just really did not seem realistic at all to go from where they were to that honor.
Medina: I honestly thought Felicity was going to be Iris’ MOH especially after they admitted Iris and Caitlin were only work friends so I was surprised. Thinking about it I probably shouldn’t have been considering how much they forced Iris and Caitlin friendship all episode but I guess it’s a new trend for work friends who were an accomplice in your attempted murder to be maid of honor so it’s cool. A+ choice.
Jay: I was a bit surprised, but it’s expected. No one else can really do it, especially since The Flash has so few female characters.
7. It seems a little unfair that the ladies got a inter-show guest and the guys didn’t. If you could have invited any character across the Arrowverse to Barry’s bachelor party, who would it be?
Holly: It would be so amazing to have had Winn over from Supergirl, him and Barry got along amazing and I really want an episode with Cisco and Winn in together
Fowsia: Nice question! My answer won’t make any sense, but I’m going to go with James Olsen from Supergirl. First time we saw them interact, James was a bit jealous of Barry’s connection with Kara in terms of their metahuman abilities. It’d be interesting to see the two characters interact and it would also be fun to see James let loose a bit.Plus I’ve always wanted Iris and James to meet! Ace reports working together!
Will: Captain Cold!!
Medina: Wally for one. he definitely should’ve been there but if I had to pick someone from a different show I would choose Oliver. Him and Barry are actually friends on screen and have a cute bromance
Jay: Oliver! Now that he’s not the Green Arrow, it would have been fun to watch Barry and Oliver get drunk together and let go of the constant struggles hanging over them like dark clouds.
Final Verdict: Surprisingly, The Flash without The Flash is still delightfully entertaining
Barry didn’t even touch his suit tonight, and it was hardly even noticeable. The Flash’s allure lies in its characters. We watch for Barry, and Iris, and Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, and Wells. The team was in rare form tonight, and suit or no suit, we laughed harder that we have all season. Barry’s drunken ramblings were comedic genius. They weren’t overdone and didn’t dominate the episode, but his tiny little moments perfectly accented the rest of the episode. It doesn’t always work to split your male and female cast, but it was executed in a wholly entertaining way in “Girls Night.” It’s amazing how much development Caitlin and Killer Frost got in such a busy episode. With Killer Frost referring to Caitlin in the third person, we have to wonder how exactly this split personality works. If Caitlin is asleep when Frost is out, how is it that she sometimes remembers her activities? Hopefully, this is an intentional plot point, and not a slip up by the writers. The writing this season has been so phenomenal that we would lean toward the former. Each episode of The Flash’s fourth season leaves us dying for more. The show has finally struck a perfect balance of heart and humor and we can’t get enough.