FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 5×15- “King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd”
The Flash (5×15)- “King Shark vs Gorilla Grodd”
Written by: Eric Wallace & Lauren Certo
Directed by: Stefan Pleszczynski
Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: This was another filler episode. However, we should all be aware of that by now considering the cost prohibitive nature of Gorilla Grodd episodes. A CGI Gorilla just can’t be a big part of this series with the budget restraints of having this show on the CW, no matter how much I’d like him to be.
But I have to give credit to the producers; every time they bring Grodd in it’s as a big deal. They also do a great of leaving the door open for his eventual return but I’m getting ahead of myself. Especially considering this episode was really more about King Shark.
King Shark has received good treatment in the CW series, it would be so easy to just use the character as just a brute. After all, that’s what he’s been used as many times in the comics but the producers have instead concentrated on the tragic nature of the character and when it came time to show that the meta-human cure worked it made sense that King Shark was involved.
Sure, they gave it a heaping dose of CW by centering King Shark’s final chance at being an ordinary man with a romance but Dan Payne made you feel what Shay Lamden was going through and his sacrifice.
As for the titular fight between Grodd and King Shark it was kinda tucked away in the background and there was little more Flash and XS than I would have liked but it was fun.
Cicada had a part to play in this week’s episode as well, despite not appearing. It seems he’s living in most of the Team’s heads rent free. Iris is afraid to go to the office because of the events of last week, Barry’s clearly thinking of using the cure as a weapon whether Cisco and Caitlin with him or not. For the record: They’re not.
Fortunately for Team Flash, and for me, a missing piece of the team is returning to the fold. Joe is back and I can already feel things returning to normal. He started with Iris and her fear of Cicada but we all know that soon enough Joe will reclaim his position of moral core with some long overdue dad moments and it helps that he’s just in time for the final third of the season.
In the end, I have to revisit what I finished last week’s review with “this is a filler episode and they can only really be so much.”
Things We Learned:
- Joe has returned from rehabbing a back injury visiting Wally in Tibet.
- The Meta-Human Cure Works however King Shark returned to his meta form to save the Flash and may not be cured ever.
- ARGUS has put Gorilla Grodd into a coma to prevent future escape.
- However his using of the device King Shark had been using to prevent his mental deterioration has enhanced his telepathy. (See you in Season Six, Grodd!)
Questions:
- Will they ever be able to cure King Shark?
- Does Barry actually believe that Cicada is going to accept a meta-human cure when he’s been using his powers to kill them?
- Why not use the cure on Grodd?
- Will Wally return to help the team defeat Cicada?
- FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 8×12- “Death Rises” - May 1, 2022
- FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 8×11- “Resurrection” - April 17, 2022
- FLASH SPOILER Review: Episode 8×10- “Reckless” - April 10, 2022