The Flash S02E09 Running To Stand Still
In A Nutshell
After the OTT comic book like feast from the crossover episode last time around, were back to pure Flash story this week. Phew. Things kick off with Zoom chasing down Wells in Star Labs, capturing him and wishing him a Merry Christmas. Is this a flashback? Dream? Trick? Turns out it did actually happen, which is surprisingly that no alarm went off when all this happened. Zoom is giving Wells an ultimatum, and keeps turning up during the episode for an answer, which at the every end Wells gives.Before all that, we have the sub-plot beneath a Christmas theme episode, with Joes Exs Son that he never knew about. Iris caves in under the pressures, confides in Barry and they both confront Joe to spill the beans. Were spared seeing his boring wife, but Joe does later say it all went tremendously well having a conversation with her about his son. thats surprising somewhat, but at least we dont have too much screen-time of this.
The main story this week is that Weather Wizard Martin breaks out Snart and Trickster from jail in order to get the three of them to take out Flash. Snart lets Barry know whats going on, before then playing no further part in the episode. Guess this is lining up the other spin-off show ... anyhow, Patty gets all worked up, as its Martin that shot her dad many years ago. Shes off on a crusade it seems of revenge, which no matter how many pet talks she has, and angry expressions she shows, we all know how this is going to go down, right? Sure enough, after the Trickster cleverly and a little amusingly plants bombs into presents that he gives out to kids as Santa, he and Martin think they have Flash at their mercy. After taking quite a pounding from Martin, it looks like its mince pie time for Barry, but alas, Wells and cue use some techno-babble science to draw all the presents together into a vortex. At least I think thats what they did. Who knows. It worked anyway. Primed with this knowledge, Flash defeats Martin and Trickster in seconds. Thats normally the end of it, but Patty shows up and snares Flash with some device to stop him moving whilst she goes to take revenge on Martin. Of course Barry talks her down. No one here believed shed do it anyway. Quite how Barry couldnt have done something to blow her away from doing anything I dont know. And where did that device come from anyway?
Things all end up with the Christmas theme of course, with everyone meeting at Joes place for smiles and presents etc. Wally, Joes unknown son, and is invited in rather awkwardly as youd expect but lovingly.
The ending is between Zoom and Wells, with Wells reluctantly agreeing to help Zoom steal Flashs speed. Hes already worked out what Zoom is up to, in that he wants Barrys speed. Is Zoom really Wells once again, trying to get back to the future?
What I liked
Snart; hes a likeable rouge isnt he?Trickster; fiendishly fun villain.
Weather Wizard; actually carried some threat about this time around.
Zoom/Wells; an alliance is struck. This isnt the same Wells as in our Earth, but hes going to be acting much like his former version to help Zoom. Uncanny.
Jay/Caitlin; cute romance. Cant help but smile at those two.
What I didnt Like
Gideon; just saying.Wheres Wally; Joes unknown son turns up at end. We dont get to see much of the dialogue between Joe and his Ex, thankfully. Its all emotional stuff that we see, which is good, but Im wondering where this storyline is actually taking us.
Theres little actual action once again between Barry and his foes.
Huh?
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| I dont know where Patty got that device from, but there were still a 101 things Barry could have done to stop Patty other than talking. |
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| "Give me all your presents" ... best line in episode. |
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| The Trickster is crazy but played very well. Him wearing the Santa suit was classic plot telling. |
And Finally
A Christmas episode where the season of goodwill actually took more of a back-seat than normal for these themed episodes. As much as I like the actor, Weather Wizard doesnt usually carried much weight in terms of presence, but this time around he was better. Trickster is just class, and Snart is just too likeable to dislike. The sub-plots were fillers for the main plot of course, but they didnt diminish our concentration away. They kept up their end of the storyline quite well. Perhaps not enough mystery and intrigue created as normal this season by events, but nevertheless a solid and enjoyable episode.Rating: 6/10 (DECENT)
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