If anything could revitalize an interest in CW’s The Flash, it’s a giant, evil, telepathic gorilla. After last week’s battle with Zoom, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is wheelchair-bound after a spinal injury that would have permanently crippled any regular human being. Eerily reminiscent of his season one mentor, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), Barry finds himself in a state of helplessness and self-loathing after being publicly defeated by the earth-jumping Zoom. Going into this week’s episode, I was skeptical of the show’s direction until I saw big bad Grodd grace the TV screen.
Grodd the gorilla is back and badder than ever. He psychically controls several Central City scientists to steal chemicals from their lab and bring them to the sewer, where Grodd has set up his hideout. His plan is force Dr. Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) to create more hyper-intelligent apes for him to live with. It seems Grodd is growing more intelligent and self-aware and desires nothing more than a home to live with his own kind. But killing dozens of innocent people to attain this goal doesn’t sit well with Team Flash, and they resolve to stop the evil ape’s plans.
Meanwhile, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) goes on a date with barista Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee), and after his “vibing” powers activate after touching her hand, a winged figure is revealed that comic book fans would recognize as the iconic golden age superhero Hawkgirl. Barry also blows off a date with his new love interest Patty Spivit (Shantel VanSanten), so we get to see some of The Flash‘s romantic storylines being fleshed out a bit.
Harrison Wells from Earth-2 is convinced by Caitlin to stay on Earth-1 and help capture Zoom as part of Team Flash instead of on his own. They elect to use one of the 52 dimensional fissures scattered across Central City to send Grodd through to a place where Harrison says Grodd will be sent to a place “as close to home as he’ll ever get.” My comic book senses started to tingle when he explained that on Earth-2 there was a refuge for apes who had been experimented on. Barry’s father (John Wesley Shipp) lifts Barry’s spirits, and The Flash speeds into action to push Grodd through the rift. My wildest fantasies came true as we see Grodd moving through a jungle and come across the legendary comic book city of hyper-intelligent apes: Gorilla City.