The Flash: Plastique (EPISODE REVIEW)


This week’s Flash takes us on a trip to explore his abilities a few steps further, while keeping the crux of the story rather close to home for Barry. It’s also not shying away from its usual menagerie of sins, so I guess it’s not entirely worth continuing to mention them week after week. But really. I HATE the narration in the beginning and end of each episode. When does Barry have the time to record his thoughts down? I wish he’d say something witty, like “STAR Lab date 11 11 14” before he began. Would be great. Also, STAR Labs really has no security. Anyone can walk in there. Literally anyone. I’d think their secret base of operation would be just a tad more secretive?

But those usual sins don’t end there. Plastique, the freak of the week, is just a poorly written character, with some spectacularly dull lines, and one killed far too early on. Although from the get go she appeared to be villainous, even blowing up the Streak’s suit with her ability to make anything she touches an incendiary object, her motives weren’t particularly evil, but misunderstood. Perhaps her introduction was more of a necessary evil in introducing General Wade Eiling, a military commander of unknown sinister intent.

But the actress who plays Bette Sans Souci/Plastique is pretty. At least Cisco thinks so. He quickly becomes attached to her character and unabashedly professes his admiration for her. Cisco seems a particularly lonely character when you dig past his humorous shell, so I hope he does get a woman he can count on at some point down the line.

Loved the bit about him not being capable of getting a buzz. This is perfect. His metabolism beats it out of his system to the point where it’s nonexistent. Later on in the episode Caitlin whips out a secret concoction – a drink with the equivalent of 500 proof alcohol (even though that’s not at all possible as that would make it 250% alcohol content).

The episode takes good strides at exploring his full potential as a speedster. It takes you through the math of how fast he needs to go to not only run on water, or on vertical surfaces, but also how fast he needs to go to sustain that speed with added weight, which was cool. Of course, it’s easy to overlook, but even if Barry were made out of marshmallow and feathers, the speeds he’s going to save individuals would be more damaging than if your were to get hit by a car. I also really enjoyed his ability to vibrate his vocal chords to the point where he creates an echo. (And Joe West really found that amusing too).

Iris needs to chill out. Yes. Blogging is fun. It’s a labor of love. But what she’s doing, by personally putting her name on the website is extraordinarily stupid and dangerous. Her subject matter isn’t all news and reviews. It’s digging into the secret that is the Streak. And although everyone tells her “look, stay out of all this,” she completely ignores all counsel. And for good reason. That reason being nobody gave her a plausible reason to quit blogging about the Streak. Even when the Streak visited her to tell her it’s a danger to herself, he forgot his purpose and decided not to bring up her safety whatsoever. Silly.

But hey. Gorilla Grodd.

4 thoughts on “The Flash: Plastique (EPISODE REVIEW)

  1. 500 proof alcohol might be possible with Gallifrean technology…

    I continue to enjoy Flash… and it speeds by (pun intended) each week, no feel of drag during the episodes… well, except I too hate those narrations.

    I’m going to call them Barryations now.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I agree that they kill everyone off… well except the misty dude… too fast… it’s like it’s hardly any of a challenge and there’s no time to get to know them… the only thing I took from this episode was to be more sure that wheelchair dude is indeed evil… which is totally ruining my theory that he’s future flash… unless something does go terribly terribly wrong with him… and of course the character will always die right before giving important information… I was also a little frustrated that when he visited her as the streak he didn’t think to tell her how dangerous it was… and really he could’ve at least told her he’d rather be called the Flash cause the streak is lame… it makes me think of naked people running about which he did for a little in this episode so… there you go… and I figured since most think Star Labs is all but shut down and no one really wants anything to do with them since the incident they probably really didn’t need much security… but it is rather bad that anyone can walk in especially since they keep that suit out where anyone can see it… and I just find Cisco irritating… he’s a bit too juvenile…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I agree with most everything you said. Except that last statement lol. Cisco is… yeah, he’s juvenile. But not so much that it ruins moments or affects the plot negatively. He’s the comedic relief. I didn’t like him in the first episode, but he’s certainly grown on me. I love that he makes it a point to name each of the metahumans one by one.

      Like

      1. I do like that he names them… it’s such a comic book thing to do… but I don’t know… there’s just something about him… maybe he’ll grow on me too though…

        Liked by 1 person

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