THE FLASH 7.7

 

RECAP - THE FLASH  7.7:  "Growing Pains"  

The title of this week's installment of our Scarlet Speedster definitely hits it on the nose.  There have been MANY growing pains for Team Flash since the end of CRISIS, as well as the aftermath of Mirror Monarch's reign of terror on Central City.  With the Speed Force back, but in trouble, Team Flash has now new threats to deal with:  namely, new "Forces"....offshoots of the Speed Force, that are vying for control:  Sage Force, Strength Force, and the Still Force.  Meanwhile, Kristin Kramer, head of the Governor's Logistics Division, is in town to capture ONE outlaw:  Frost.

Barry's relationship with the revived and renewed Speed Force is...well...different.  And while he is happy to have his powers back, and be able to have "her" around to feed his powers, he's been....shall we say...distant.  Now before, when the Speed Force had taken the form of his mother Nora Allen, he had grown to accept it.  But in the wake of CRISIS...the Force's original demise, and now revival...having the Force continue to take the form of Nora Allen has started to unnerve him, and make him hesitatnt to want to engage with her.  Iris has done her best to try and buffer the situation, but now that she's in their home, she's all in Barry's space, and it makes him uncomfortable.  From trying to make breakfast to actually showing up at the crime scene to offer help....because she sensed he needed her...she seems as if she's smothering him unintentionally.  She wants to help, and be useful, but during this investigation that Barry has this week into who killed the driver of an Ivo Labs van, and having tech stolen, with the guard frozen and broken.  She tries to help Barry further in the lab, when he and Chester were trying to figure out who killed the guard, stole the tech, and framed Frost.  She managed to go fast enough that it destroyed part of the evidence.  Barry snaps at her about not needing her help, and she disappears.  Later on, Barry and Iris talk about her, and Iris reminds him of when she came back home after her first year of college.  She and Joe had fought a lot, because both had changed.  She was an adult, as was he, and she wasn't his baby girl anymore.  She reminds him that she's changed.  Eventually, her and Barry talk, and Barry would like to get to know THIS version of the Speed Force together.  Which is good...because he will need her DESPERATELY down the road after protecting her.

Our main story was on Frost this week, as Barry and the team investigate the disappearance of some tech from Ivo Labs.  With the driver of a delivery van frozen to death and shattered into pieces.  Kramer instantly blames Frost, and she's got Joe and Barry painted into a corner, as she pulls rank with them, and she wants Joe's Metahuman Taskforce assembled, as she gets a warrant for Frost's arrest.  Frost herself wants to face Kramer on her own, but Cecile begs her to lay low until she can prove that Kramer has no case against her.  But we KNOW Frost better than this, and she decides to use her underworld contacts to get to the bottom of this matter by finding the real killer and thief.  Allegra offers her help, but Frost tells her to cover for her....this is HER fight.  She heads back to Shaughnessy's, the bar she used to work at, to get answers.  She meets up with the bartender, who's very vague at giving answers, but seems like he's flirting with her.  Just then, the tv in the bar has a news brief where wet  see Kramer put out a reward for information leading to the capture of Frost.  This leads some of the bar patrons to turn on Frost, who promptly disposes of them (the last guy with the help of the bartender).  He then tells her that he heard of this new bad guy having a stash of weapons  at a warehouse.  Frost goes to investigate, but she finds nothing.  And she knows she's been set up.  

Eventually, Barry and Chester managed to salvage SOME of their information they obtained from the crime scene. At first, they thought that it was a metahuman that had killed the driver, but it turns out that this person was able to use tech to make it LOOK like it was Frost was guilty.  Allegra fessed up to Barry that Frost is out to clear her name, and he takes her to go help her out.  Back at the bar, we see that Frost figured out who set her up:  the bartender, Mark.  Mark explains that he used to be a cryogenecist who worked for Ivo Labs, and was fired for conducting illegal experiments on people.  He tells of how he almost died of hypothermia, and became obsessed with the cold.  So, he began to follow and observe her, find a way to adapt her powers.  He then takes out these power gloves, and says that his name is Chillblaine.  Both of them battle each other, and he manages to give Frost everything she can handle.  He's got Frost blind when he freezes her eyes, making it hard for her to fight.  As he has ahold of her, ready to kill her, she uses her powers to drive a giant ice dagger through herself and through him.  She let's him know that HE cannot heal from the wound, but she can.  Flash arrives with Allegra, and they save Chillblaine, but he's out of commission. With Frost getting Chillblaine's admission on a recording, she's cleared of the murder and theft, but then Kramer shows up with the taskforce, and she decides to give herself up and pay for her crimes.  Allegra warns her that Iron Heights will be hell, but Frost is ready to accept her fate.  She walks out, and promptly gives herself up.  She is arrested, and Cecile and Caitlin are working on her bail (Caitlin had been arrested earlier for her connection with Frost, but was released).  

This episode gave us the long awaited appearance of Chillblaine, and we see that he had a mad obsession with Frost.  Though I can honestly tell you...I KNEW it was Chillblaine when I saw the crime scene, and had predicted that Mark the Bartender was Chillblaine...so for ME, anyway, there was instant predictability in the story, but it DID the job to push Frost's story further, and got her to the point to where she realized that she has to pay for her past crimes, and thus turned herself in.  What happens with Frost next week and going forward.  We KNOW Kramer is out for blood, and she wants to nail Frost to the wall.  I think there might be some personal little vendetta with Kramer in regards to Frost, but we shall see.  

Speaking of Kramer...she may be by-the-book, but from what it appears, she's also got a lot of respect for Barry and his work....at least according to The Speed Force.  However, she does come off as condenscending.  And I think we ALL feel that wave of joy will be glorious when she's finally put in her place and Frost is exonerated.  But I DID personally enjoy more of Frost's growth as a character, and the maturity she showed at the end of it.  Plus...I LOVED the interaction between her and Allega---Allegra needed a best friend, and Frost fits that bill nicely.  

Barry has kept the Speed Force at a distance since her return.  Continuing to take the form of Nora Allen is offsetting to him, and is a constant reminder of a huge part of him that's been long gone.  Barry losing Nora Allen is a painful memory, and having a spiritual reminder of sorts of her is hard on him.  Iris doesn't quite grasp it until Barry had shoo'd the Force off after the incident at the police lab.  They've both changed, and it's going to take communication and time to get used to each other again.  So, leave it to Iris to save the day on that one.  Also, they have to work together to ensure Barry's powers don't get wonky, and he can control them better.

No Cisco this week, and STILL no Kamilla.  I think there HAS to be some budget issues or it's COVID related regulations that prevent the entire team to be on set all the time.  And while I"m okay with not EVERYONE being used week to week, NOT having them on at all for long periods of time make us lose interest in the character.  And another thing----think we can get back to seeing Iris, Kamilla, and Allegra doing ACTUAL news reporting?  

So, how did everyone enjoy this week's episode?  Your thoughts on Chillblaine?  What do YOU see in Frost's future?  Subscribe and drop me a line...lemme know what you think.  

Until next time....Keep on running!