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Review: The Flash - "King Shark"

By: Dave Clark

Tonight's episode has been one I've been waiting for since episode four earlier this year. The return of King Shark! Not only that, we finally get to see how Team Flash recovers from their trip to Earth-2 and the loss of Jay Garrick. As expected, Caitlin is not taking it well, she lost Ronnie twice and now Jay is gone and Cisco fears that this will push her over the edge into her evil doppelgänger's shoes.

Team Flash is in desperate need of a distraction as they're still reeling from their trip to Earth-2. Luckily, Lyla and Diggle come to town to warn Barry that King Shark has escaped A.R.G.U.S.' prison. Barry is more than happy to jump into the fray and search for the escaped Earth-2 meta-human. 

In the background of this episode, Wally is dealing with Barry-envy as he tries to bond with his father and his sister who put Barry up on this pedestal...at least in Wally's eyes. There's lots of friction and animosity between Barry and Wally in this episode but we do get to see Wally's smarts on display in this episode which was nice to finally see.

The shocking conclusion of this episode revealed the identity of Zoom. He drops Jay Garrick's lifeless body and pulls off his mask in front of the man in the iron mask to reveal.....JAY FRIGGIN' GARRICK! And now we have several weeks to let this all settle in.

What I Liked:

  • The visual effects team did an amazing job with King Shark. It didn't look too hokey or distract from the action or drama of the scenes he was involved with. Each week this show manages to amaze me with what they can do on their budget.

  • Lyla and Diggle coming to town. I love a good mini-crossover. And having Diggle be the voice of reason for Barry was great, he really told him what he needed to hear in order to get back into hero mode.

  • The feels. Barry breaking down about what really happened over on Earth-2. He had to witness Joe's death, he had to see that there could've been a life where he married Iris. And now he blames himself for not being able to stop Zoom and King Shark.

  • The Promethium mention. Love a good DC Comics Easter egg.

  • The reveal of Zoom's identity! It was my original theory from the start, though it had some bugs and now we know who Zoom really is.

What I Didn't Like:

  • Not a damn thing. I loved this episode.