Title: The Flash: “King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd” Review
Release Date: March 5th, 2019
Network: The CW
Genre: Superhero, Drama, Action
Let’s get this out of the way. “King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd” lived up to the hype.
Actually, it didn’t just live up the hype. It exceeded my expectations. This was something I never thought I’d ever see when the show began back in 2014. The fight between the two giants was epic, from Grodd’s beatdown in round one to Barry and Nora shocking King Shark back into the battle (Grodd’s crown was awesome). The CGI looked about as great as it could have been and I’m pretty sure they just used up their CG budget for the next 5 or so episodes.
Grodd is an underrated villain that I wish The Flash would try to use more often. I know budget-wise, it is a hard thing to accomplish. But the fact that Grodd hasn’t been used yet as a big bad is criminal. I would have much rather have seen his plan unfold over the past 14 episodes than Cicada talking like a bad Christian Bale impersonator.
The story between the Lamdens was a nice side arc, which flowed along with Sherloque’s own love life. It’s good to know that The Flash hasn’t forgotten about that by the way. Sherloque has been growing as a character as of late and this was just another episode to build on that development.
What’s interesting here is the status of King Shark going forward. He’s permanently a shark now but it appears that he will no longer be a villain. Also, at least in my opinion, Barry is partially to blame for this. He gave Shay the cure without his permission, which led to the ending we got. If Barry had instead used his Flash Time abilities to save Cisco instead of giving Shay the cure, the team could have administered it to him after the Grodd fight.
I liked how this all ended though. Shay had a shot at redemption for all the terrible things he’s done as King Shark. Cisco and Caitlin, justifiably, called Barry out for his stupidity. And, Barry has another example of why he should never cross the line into killing his enemies.
Yeah, Barry never explicitly stated he wanted to kill King Shark after his escape but he had no idea what the cure would do to him. It could have easily killed Shay or given him some unforeseen side effects. Barry just didn’t care either way, as he was on the mindset of the ends justifies the means. While it is entertaining for the show to give Barry this darker edge at times, the “should I kill or not kill my enemies” dilemma is just overdone. Didn’t we already go through this with Savitar?
Despite that, I did enjoy that Barry realized his mistake on his own. Knowing how much The Flash loves their hallway scenes, I was sure that Nora would be the one to talk some sense into him. Nora had some great lines, by the way, stealing the show for me with, “Okay, The Flash Museum just straight up got a lot of stuff wrong.”. Absolutely hilarious. The apology Barry gave seemed a little sudden, but that was just to set up the cool Grodd reveal.
Jesse L. Martin made his much-needed return to The Flash this week. The show has done well in his absence over the last few episodes but now, The Flash finally feels complete again. I loved all of the scenes between Joe and Iris, especially when Iris revealed her perspective on the time-loop from “Cause and XS”. The reasoning given for Joe’s disappearance for the past few months was fine. It wasn’t anything overly special mind you, but I appreciate that the show wanted to explain why he left during the Cicada arc.
In about five minutes, Joe made a breakthrough in the Cicada case. Unfortunately, it seems that Iris had no plans to follow up on the idea. After next week’s plan to cure Cicada inevitably falls (like every other plan has so far), I’m guessing we’ll see Joe’s theory pop back up.
The final scene is the only negative for me this week. And I swear it’s not just because it involved Cicada. Here’s the thing. Cicada is a serial killer who has murdered multiple innocent people in cold blood. Why would Team Flash offer Cicada the cure instead of forcing him to take it? Also, wasn’t this the plan already? This was a weak cliffhanger for sure.
I’m interested to see how much longer The Flash will continue with Cicada as the big bad. Eobard is still waiting in the future, most likely with his endgame plan to kill Barry for good. And, with recent rumors of Godspeed heating up (man, I hope those rumors are true), The Flash may be setting up for a change of scenery. At least in terms of its main villain.
Verdict: “King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd” was everything I wanted to be and more. We had an epic battle between two behemoths, a redemption story for King Shark, the return of Joe West, and Barry finally realizing (hopefully) that he shouldn’t be an “ends justifies the means” hero. This was the remarkable start The Flash needed coming off of the month-long break.
The Flash: “King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd” Review
King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd
Just have to say this one more time, King Shark fought Gorilla Grodd
Joe is back!
The scenes between Iris and Joe
Sherloque continues to develop into a likable character
King Shark’s redemption and Grodd’s introduction
Barry realized his mistake on his own
The final scene was weak
