The Flash S03E05 Review: Mommy Issues

The Flash, Season 3, Episode 5: Monster

Bit of a weaker episode in terms of the main plotline. The titular monster, while relatively impressive for the couple of scenes we saw it rampage through the city, ends up being nothing but a hologram ran by a little angry kid acting out... who also has access to super-realistic holographic technology. Eh, it's the DC-verse, I suppose. The big Barry/Cisco plot as they try to figure out what to do with H.R. Wells also ends up being a bit anticlimactic. While it is loads of fun to see Tom Cavanaugh ham it up as a non-surly Harrison Wells, the payoff, that H.R. is just an author-slash-conman whose only talent is to basically inspire people... though there's definitely an element of seriousness that makes me like the character as we learn that he really just wants to find a purpose, to be useful to the world for a change.

I guess the fun that H.R. brings to the episode somewhat makes up for it, I guess?

It's such a shame because the two B-plots running through the episode is a lot more interesting than trying to figure out if H.R. Wells is actually yet another evil Harrison Wells. Barry trying to figure out if Draco Malfoy Julian is honestly very bland, and while Tom Felton is a very talented actor and it is just fun for me, who grew up with Harry Potter movies, to see Tom Felton on-screen, the show started off just, well, trying to make him as cartoonishly dickish and pompous as before. Not that it's not entertaining because Tom Felton does 'British dick' so well... but I want a reason to care about the character and not just the actor. Thankfully we did get a bit of a depth to him near the end, where he genuinely thanks Flash for stopping him from making a tragic mistake of shooting a confused kid in the head, and when he tells Barry that he's wrong about the Flash.

We also get his backstory. He's... well, basically Draco Malfoy, sans magic. Born to a wealthy English family that's super posh and whatnot, and as the firstborn son he's supposed to inherit it all. Except unlike Draco, Julian wants to, well, be a scientist. And metahumans rendered him irrelevant (though seeing the huge posh labs that Ray Palmer or Caitlin's mom have, I find it hard to believe) which is something that frustrates him and fuels his hate. He's grown a nice friendship with Barry at the end, and, well, I do like Julian.

But really, the monster plot was whatever, the HR plot was procedural, and the Julian plot was only decent near the end, and it falls on the shoulders of one Caitlin Snow to really deliver the biggest meat of the episode, and boy, after being ignored and under-utilized for one and a half seasons, it's great to see her in tiptop shape as she seeks out her mother, Tannhauser, and we learn a bit more about Caitlin Snow. Her mother is clinical, professional and curt, and, well, quite cold. Tannhauser isn't quite an evil abusive mother the way Patsy's mother from Jessica Jones is. She acts and tries her best (well, maybe not her best) to be friendly to her daughter, but she's also far more practical and cold than motherly, and as much as she tries to be welcoming, to get away from her own pain, Tannhauser far prefers to try and figure out what's wrong with Caitlin and get her to work at their company instead of trying to reassure Caitlin that everything's going to be all right. And Tannhauser's coldness has clearly left a mark on Caitlin. Tannhauser might blame it on her husband's death, but Caitlin suffered the loss of both parents, and coupled on top of the recent death of Ronnie and all she's been through with Fake!Jay... she's not in a very good spot right now.

We have one of Tannhauser's scientists assaulting Caitlin and trying to take over her mother's company with the scientific breakthroughs he would've gotten by analyzing Caitlin, causing her to snap and go all Killer Frost. Tannhauser acts motherly for the first time in her life, rushing in and telling Caitlin that "I didn't raise a killer", and that word breaks through Caitlin's rage. A shitty mother Tannhauser can be, but as children we instinctively cling and yearn for parental love, and this little gesture from Tannhauser -- no doubt brought up after several scenes of Caitlin confronting her about being a shitty mother -- manages to make Caitlin wrestle back control.

It's a shame that we don't see much of it, but at the same time I'm glad they didn't drag this out longer than it should. The scene at the end, where Caitlin suddenly transforms into Killer Frost and freeze-explodes the message from her mother, is worrisome, though. Tannhauser tells Caitlin that using her powers accelerates the change in her body, but it seems that Caitlin is wrestling with multiple personalities as well as her gaining powers, which is interesting.

What else happened here? We have a sub-plot of Iris trying to convince Joe to date the D.A. which is boring as all hell and I don't think we even got a conclusion to that. Wally appears in like two scenes getting coffee from HR.

Overall it's a slightly low-key episode, in that the villain of the week ends up not even getting a name, but it certainly does well in building up Caitlin Snow as well as introducing us, finally, to the man that is Julian and H.R. Wells. Which actually makes this episode, in retrospect, a lot better than I initially give it credit for.