‘Grodd’ is Back in a new clip for THE FLASH

After being “destroyed” by Zoom, Barry is struggling to regain what he lost. That’s the kind of episode you’re always going to need to take a breather after, even on a show that drives forward as much as The Flash does.

And that is perhaps why “Gorilla Warfare” seemed like a surprising choice for a follow-up to me at first.

As if Barry dealing with physical and emotional trauma after Zoom isn’t enough, Grodd returns in this episode. While the show doesn’t call this sanctuary Gorilla City, it’s clearly a reference to Grodd’s comic book origin, as he encounters a city clearly founded by gorillas in the end of the episode.

It’s an in-between episode, but not a filler one, which is more than what I had hoped. The first half of this season seemed intent on illustrating the ways in which Barry isn’t prepared to defeat Zoom. After all, he’s not just evil, he’s also a dick! Before doing so, however, he has to be able to fool Grodd, and that means, as he practices his Dr. Wells impression, upping the creep factor a lot more, being more honest and acting like he really loves him but has to kill him anyway, Cisco instructs Harry. Danielle Panabaker deserves a few credit for selling those scenes as well as she did. I don’t know if we’re going to see his doppelganger when we go over there.

Caitlin treats Harry, who accepts her offer of team-ship, and Team Flash regroups to deal with Grodd once and for all.

The presence of Grodd really puts the pressure on Barry, who is suffering through a serious and very understandable confidence issue.

When the episode begins, Barry is recovering from his Zoom injuries quickly, but he is still without his speed – or use of his legs at all, for that matter. The point is how easily Zoom beat him and paraded him all over town. Instead, they come up with a better solution: figure out how to close the breaches so that Zoom can only cross between worlds through the one in S.T.A.R. Labs and trap him. When she says she doesn’t know how to make more like him, he only gives her one option: “Learn”.

It can be assumed that this could be Harrison Wells from Earth-2 dressing up as his Earth-1’s counterpart.

But as per usual, this show isn’t going to let Barry stay down. Yes, welcome back Flash! John Wesley Shipp is so good as Henry; he works well with the entirety of the cast and injects a bit of grounding into the proceedings. (Yay for calling back Henry!) It’s too bad that gets changed every other episode depending on the plot. Nor should he have until now; it’s a complicated situation and Wells’ anti-social demeanor doesn’t help matters any. Basically, Grodd is lured into the rift when Caitlin arrives to stop him from killing Barry (Grant Gustin). It was one of the stronger scenes of this season, as Henry details what it was like to slowly lose the faith and support of everyone he loved over the course of the murder trial, until the only option he had to survive was to embrace the horrific opinion they all had of him.

Patty Spivot, meanwhile, can be seen inquiring to someone about the gorilla. It’s not just the obvious tell of the eternal debate between homemade chicken soup and stuff from a can, either. It feels like we’re heading down the same road as last season, with Barry continuing to hide his secret from Patty just as he did with Iris.

The other romance is that of Cisco’s with barista Kendra Saunders, aka Hawkgirl. It’s a small moment but one that once again speaks to the distrust the group built up after what Wells did to them. Will the relentless detective be able to get wind of Grodd’s information?