There's another metahuman menace for Barry to battle in this week's edition of The Flash - but while the criminal exploits of Peek-a-Boo helped serve up the usual lashings of action and eye-catching visual effects, 'Crazy For You' is more concerned with delivering significant character moments for its core cast.
The STAR Labs team are very much in the spotlight, with Cisco going against Caitlin's wishes by continuing to investigate the mystery of Firestorm. His criminal consultant? Hartley Rathaway - now coming off like Hannibal Lecter in the body of Harry Potter.
This sub-plot does more than simply set up future Pied Piper appearances by allowing the villain to escape - it also affords Carlos Valdes another opportunity to do more than make quips and spout scientific gobbledegook.
He's an actor capable of handling weightier material when it's handed to him - see the scene in which he confesses to his part in Ronnie's 'demise' - and proves to be surprisingly physically capable as well, which may bode well for fans hoping we'll witness Cisco's evolution into the superhero Vibe.
So what did happen to Ronnie Raymond, and to Martin Stein? Another victim of the particle accelerator accident, Stein was somehow spliced together with Ronnie - but does that make Firestorm a fusion of the two men, or is Stein now inhabiting Ronnie's form?
If you know your comic books, you might have an inkling as to the answer - but who's to say that The Flash will remain wholly faithful to the source material? Both this show and Arrow have shown a willingness to stray if it makes for better television, as is only right and good.
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Caitlin certainly seems satisfied that Ronnie is gone for good, with 'Crazy For You' allowing Daniella Panabaker the opportunity to play a little lighter just as her co-star Valdes gets to dig deep.
A 'strictly business' trip to a dive bar for Caitlin and Barry results in a night that involves drowning of sorrows, bonding over shared romantic misfortunes, some awkward drunken undressing and more adorable moments between the pair than I could practically list here (Alright, special mention of "Will you stay with me 'til I fall asleep?").
Both optimistic sorts plagued by tragedy, Mr Allen and Dr Snow are by their own admission "quite the pair" and clearly kindred spirits - but could their friendship ever become something more?
Iris might not be making Barry's dreams come true any time soon, but there's now a new lady in his life - and Linda Park is both interested in our hero (which Iris is ostensibly not) and emotionally available (which Caitlin is clearly not).
She might think she's ready to move on, but Caitlin is possibly pushing herself too far, too fast - a recurring theme in 'Crazy For You', whether it's Barry's ongoing determination to boost his abilities or Henry's determination to help his son which lands him in a hospital bed.
"Everybody has limits," Wells warns Barry, and Henry learns the risks of "playing cop" in prison when he angers a mobster and is badly beaten and stabbed. The Flash has been rather Henry-lite of late, but John Wesley Shipp has more to do here than he's had in months.
The final scene of the episode (bar end teaser) has Barry and Henry dancing around the latter's discovery that his son is The Flash - Barry never actually confirms it, but Henry knows - and it's utterly wonderful.
With only a few scenes together, Shipp and Grant Gustin have created an utterly convincing father-and-son dynamic - you can feel the affection radiating off of both men before they even begin to speak.
The Flash continues its run of strong episodes with another winner this week. It's true that there's no development on the Reverse Flash front, but by putting that plot on pause, 'Crazy For You' allocates more room for its characters to breathe and the end result is one of the show's most personal and most charming episodes yet.
FlashPoints!
- 'Crazy For You' isn't actually the first time Linda Park has appeared in the DC TV universe: Linda (then played by Olivia Cheng) was the Central City news reporter seen reporting on the particle accelerator catastrophe in Arrow episode 'Three Ghosts' - and that footage was later replayed in the pilot of The Flash.
- So Linda has an app that transfers your contact details onto somebody else's phone - even if they don't have the app? That's not a real thing, right? How would it even work?
- Iris's journalistic ambitions look set to cause trouble for Barry as she snaps a photo of The Flash's face - and after he'd gone out of his way to help her!
- It was great to see Caitlin lighten up - but will we ever get to see more of her dark side? In the comics, she becomes the super-villain Killer Frost.
- Peek-a-boo (aka Lashawn Baez) made her own comic debut in 2002's The Flash vol. 2 #180 - originally she was a grad student at Central City Medical School who committed crimes to help out her sick father.
- While we're on the topic of comic book villains… Gorilla Grodd. GORILLA. GRODD.
