“Who the hell is this?” asks Harry (Tom Cavanagh) after he’s just blasted Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) with his energy gun, stopping her from attacking Cisco and Barry in The CW’s comic-book inspired fantasy action series, The Flash.
Season three episode 14 begins on Valentine’s Day with H.R. busy decorating S.T.A.R. Labs, even though on his Earth it’s called “Friends Day.” He’s made cards for everyone and encourages Team Flash to celebrate since they prevented the gorilla attack by Grodd. Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) are being sweet and affectionate towards each other, as are Jesse (Violett Beane) and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) who’ve decided to tell Harry that Jesse is staying on Earth-1.
Cisco (Carlos Valdes) tells Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) he wishes he would find his “love donut” and Caitlin, as always, comforts him, advising that love is complicated but she’s sure there’s a great girl just around the corner. The timing’s perfect as a breach opens and Gypsy comes through, using her powers to hit Cisco and knocking him across the room. She then turns her energy vibe powers against Barry who at first avoids getting hit by using his speed but ultimately gets pinned down. Fortunately, Harry blasts her with his energy gun, knocking her out.
Gypsy wakes up in the pipeline and has no memory of how or why she’s on Earth-1. She tells Team Flash she remembers going to Earth-2 Africa. The gang realize she’s been mind-controlled by Grodd who must have used her to open a breach so he could invade Central City with his gorilla army. Barry wants to try to get ahead of Grodd and figure out what he’s planning, so Caitlin suggests they try to widen Cisco’s vibe powers which Harry thinks he knows how to do.
Iris brings Joe up to speed and gets the police ready for battle, and Cisco tries to talk Gypsy into helping them fight Grodd. “No,” says Gypsy, telling Cisco this is his fight, not hers. Cisco attempts to convince her to change her mind, but she only wants to go back to Earth-2 after her bounty. Disappointed, Cisco frees her and as she leaves, she tells Cisco to take care of himself.
Wally assists Harry with the device to help Cisco vibe, and Harry leads him to believe he doesn’t have long to live in hopes of killing the idea of Jesse moving to Earth-1. Wally’s upset but agrees to keep the talk between he and Harry.
Using the device, Cisco vibes and sees the intersection where Grodd will be entering and invading the city. Joe, the SWAT team, and the three speedsters – The Flash, Kid Flash, and Jesse Quick – head out to that location to put up a defense. The attack doesn’t happen and Jesse and Wally are wondering why when Joe begins to talk for Grodd. Yes, Grodd has once again used mind-control to take over poor Joe. Grodd tells The Flash he remembers Joe is important to him and has Joe raise his pistol to his head and pull the trigger. The Flash is faster than a speeding bullet and moves Joe enough so that the bullet only grazes his forehead. Wally asks why Grodd would attack Joe and The Flash tells him it was a distraction from what he’s really up to.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin takes care of Joe’s wound while the team tries to figure out what Grodd is planning. Harry realizes with Cisco’s help they can make an energy helmet covered with magnets to recover the memory of what Joe saw while under Grodd’s control. It works, and Joe sketches a man’s face. “Great, now all we have to do is find out who this is,” says Barry, obviously frustrated. He walks off and Iris follows telling him everything will be okay and that they’ll stop Grodd. Barry points out he’ll just come back and thinks now the only way to stop Grodd is to kill him. This bothers Iris and she reminds Barry he’s not a killer. It’s his goodness and ideals that make him the hero they all look up to.
Meanwhile, Jesse sees Wally brooding and she thinks it’s because he’s worried about Joe. But, that’s not the problem. Wally tells her she should stay on Earth-2 and spend time with her father, letting it slip that he doesn’t have much time left. She realizes what Harry has done and confronts him, more determined than ever to stay Earth-1.
Harry finds Barry working out on the punching bag (and accidentally hitting it too hard) and asks if he’s okay. Barry confesses he told Iris about killing Grodd and reveals she doesn’t want him to do it, but he doesn’t see any other way. Harry tells Barry that’s the dumbest thing he’s ever heard him say and he definitely shouldn’t kill Grodd. Harry tells Barry how much he admires him for always fighting the darkness by not becoming like those he fights and instead remaining true to who he is. “There’s always another way. Find it,” says Harry. The two men are interrupted by Cisco on the speaker saying they’re needed in the main cortex.
Team Flash has identified the man Joe sketched and it turns out he’s a military general who has access to nuclear missiles. Feeling sick, Barry asks if the satellites are working and is told if a missile becomes active it will trigger an alarm. And, sure enough, an alarm sounds. Seems Grodd has used the general to activate a few missiles…six to be exact. Barry speeds off to try to stop them, telling Jesse and Wally to stay put because if he fails he wants them to speed the gang to safety.
The Flash arrives at the missile site as they’re counting down to launch and his team tells him the only way to stop it is to figure out the abort code. Since they don’t know it, he’ll have to try every numerical combination of the 5-digit number until he finds the right one. In one of the most suspenseful scenes in the series (and the best one in this episode), The Flash keeps super speed-dialing the numbers while saying out loud, “Please this time! C’mon, please!” With only 2.12 seconds to spare, The Flash dials in the correct code and aborts the missile strike…WHEW!
Realizing The Flash has stopped the attack, Grodd prepares to invade the city with his army. Jesse, Kid Flash, and The Flash make a stand on the street leading into the city while waiting for Cisco to show up with backup. Before leaving to slow down Grodd and his army, Barry talked to Cisco and then told the team he found another way to stop Grodd.
Over on Earth-19, Cisco breaches and once again asks Gypsy to help him bring something he needs to defeat Grodd from Earth-2. Cisco tells Gypsy he knows she’s into him, but he can also feel that she wants to help and be a hero. Gypsy, realizing Cisco knows her better than she thought, agrees to help.
Back on Earth-1, Kid Flash asks Barry, “So, got any pointers on how three of us save everyone and stop an army of gorillas?” “Go for the legs and don’t get caught because they won’t let go,” answers The Flash. The battle doesn’t go well and the gorilla army knocks the three speedsters off their feet only a few minutes into the fight. Grodd taunts The Flash telling him his city will fall. Grodd says the only way to stop him is to kill him, but he knows The Flash won’t because he’s only interested in mercy. The Flash tells Grodd he’s not the only one he’s going to fight and almost on cue Cisco and Gypsy arrive through a breach along with Solovar from Earth-2. It’s giant telepathic ape vs giant telepathic ape!
After destroying a few cars and part of a skyscraper, Solovar is triumphant and is about to kill Grodd when The Flash tells him not to. He asks Solovar to spare Grodd as he spared his life when they fought. Solovar is hesitant but agrees, telling The Flash to send him and HIS army back to Earth-2, leaving Grodd on Earth-1 to be imprisoned at ARGUS.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry says goodbye to Jesse and Wally, making Wally promise to take care of and protect his daughter. Harry reminds Barry there’s always another way that gives Barry an idea about something. Gypsy prepares to leave and Cisco, smiling, tells her he knows she’s into him. “Even if that’s true,” says the bounty hunter, kissing him hard, “You couldn’t handle me.” She breaches and Cisco declares, “I’m going to marry that woman.”
Iris arrives home after writing an article on the almost deadly gorilla attack on Central City to find Barry has covered their apartment with lit candles and roses. He explains he’s been too focused on the future and that he’s not living in the present. He gets down on one knee and asks Iris to marry him.
At the West home, Jesse and Wally are watching his favorite film (Casablanca) when she has a craving for a Big Belly Burger. Wally speeds off to grab it for her and then pulls to a sudden stop when he sees Savitar on a street corner.
The Flash Season 3 Episode 14 Review:
Suspenseful, funny, and surprisingly romantic, episode 14 titled “Attack on Central City” ends the two-parter with Grodd – hopefully – stopped and imprisoned for good, Cisco having a very long-distance love interest, and Barry once again trying to change the future and embracing living for the now by asking Iris to marry him. It also sets up the horrifying return of the evil speedster, Savitar.
The stand-out performance in this episode goes to Tom Cavanagh as both Earth-2 Harry and H.R. The scenes in which Harry picks on and insults H.R. are hilarious, plus these scenes also demonstrate the true talent Cavanagh has as an actor. It’s really entertaining to watch Cavanagh play opposite himself. Another stand-out scene finds Harry, not Iris, as the one who’s able to reach Barry and convince him that becoming a killer is not the answer. The chemistry between Grant Gustin and Cavanagh as these two characters has always been one of the biggest strengths of the show.
The only drawback to season three’s 14th episode was the weak and unimpressive fight between the speedsters and the gorilla army, followed by the fight between Solovar and Grodd. With all the build-up over the two-parter, both fights were way too short and seemed more like skirmishes. The fights were a bit of a letdown.
With Savitar either free from the speed force or appearing to Wally in his mind, it seems Team Flash needs to get ready and come up with a plan to stop the evil speedster from killing Iris and making Caitlin into his second-in-command, Killer Frost.
GRADE: B-
