That was Earth 2 Shark King, right? So there’s still an Earth 1 Shark King? Please let there be an Earth 1 Shark King.
[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]mid the reappearance of Harrison Wells, a hint at an Earth 1(!) Wally West and a new Firestorm merge, let’s not pretend that a walking, talking shark wasn’t the best thing that happened in this week’s The Flash.
Let’s start with Firestorm. Stein is still unwell after spending most of the season collapsing, so it’s up to Caitlin to figure out all the science. She says things about particles and molecular structure (I’m surprised I even spelt that right), but we get the gist. Stein needs a new Ronnie.
And there are two candidates. One is Jefferson Jackson, an all-star quarterback whose dreams of playing professional football are crushed following the particle accelerator explosion, and the other is Henry Hewitt, who we know nothing about. Wonder who it’ll be.
Turns out Hewitt is a scientist and a fan of Stein’s work, while Jax is, uh, not, so Stein attempts to merge with Hewitt. The fusion fails, but it does bring forth Hewitt’s dormant Hulk-with-fire (the angrier he gets, the stronger the flame) powers.
Caitlin goes to Jax, and tells him that’s he’s crazy for passing up this opportunity, because everyone wants to be a superhero (right, Cisco?) Immediately after he and Stein (successfully) fuse, Hewitt is causing trouble, so Firestorm and the other dude (oh, right – the Flash is still there) go beat him up.
Meanwhile, Iris is dealing with her mum and there are very few shark people. I’m honestly not sure what to think about the Iris/Joe/Francine storyline. It isn’t as interesting as what’s going on at S.T.A.R., but it’s obviously leading to something (or someone), and Candice Patton’s performances are at least keeping it watchable in the meantime.
Iris doesn’t want anything to do with her mother, but Francine reveals to Joe that she’s dying, and that she wants to reconnect with her daughter one last time. While Iris considers this, she does some seriously impressive investigative journalism, and uncovers Francine’s biggest secret.
And that secret is… as yet unconfirmed. But it’s probably Wally West. Iris finds out that Francine was pregnant with Joe’s son when she skipped town, and now she really doesn’t want anything to do with her.
Joe has no idea that he has a son. What he does know, or suspect, is that there’s a shark man in Central City. While he deals with his wife and daughter, he leaves partner Patty on the case. She runs into Barry (this is the first time I’ve mentioned his name in this thing) at the precinct, where she asks him for help. She hasn’t been able to reach him before now because she doesn’t have his number ‘yet’.
Barry and Patty are obviously going to happen at some point. I’m OK with that, but Barry isn’t so sure. He goes to Joe, who tells his son that he should forget about his daughter and date his partner. Still with me? Good. Barry agrees to help Patty, but then the whole Firestorm thing happens so he’s pretty much useless.
After the Firestorm/Hewitt fight, Stein and Jax fly off to their own CW show. I’m guessing that’s the last we’ll see of Firestorm for a while. Barry has let his guard down by now, and that’s when Shark King appears to give us the most exciting five minutes in television history.
Shark King has Barry in his hand (fin?), and he is literally about to eat him, when we are all rudely interrupted by mysterious Tom Cavanagh, who shoots Shark King with a gun that kills him instantly. Barry could really do with one of those.
‘The Fury of Firestorm’ works as a standalone episode, but its set up for next week’s episode, ‘The Darkness and the Light’, is what makes it stand above the other episodes this season. That and the 20-foot talking shark.
The Flash returns to The CW next Tuesday.