The Flash – Grodd Friended Me

By starrymag | March 2, 2020

By: Malasha Parker

 

 

Barry (Grant Gustin) is walking under some overpasses with flowers when he gets a meta alert. He races off and finds Kamilla (Victoria Park) and Chester (Brandon McKnight), to his surprise, at S.T.A.R. Labs. He asks them what is going on. They tell him, but because he’s not familiar with them on comms and no one else is around he tells them he’ll handle things himself. He gets to the jewelry store to find Pied Piper (Andy Mientus), who isn’t happy to see him. Apparently, he and his friends did something to “Hartley” and now there’s bad blood between the two. He also had a new power. When he opens his mouth he releases waves that allow him to fly out of the store. Chester scans for the wavelengths where they can find Hartley. Barry starts towards the location, but gets stopped when he almost gets run over by a train that he has to phase through. 

 

Barry’s updating Gideon and asks for more information on what Crisis has changed. He flashes to get something just as Chester and Kamilla walk in, unknowingly revealing his identity to Chester. Chester geeks out and then Gideon starts telling him how many changes have happened. Chester asks him what he’s working on and goes to help him with his device, but Barry freaks out and tells him not to touch it. Chester leaves for Jitters and Kamilla tells Barry that he was just trying to help. He reveals that he was attempting to find his parents graves when he got the meta alert and he hasn’t been able to because of all the changes. Kamilla says she understands, but he should take it easy on Chester because he’s his hero. 

 

Iris (Candice Patton) is still asking Eva (Efrat Dor) about her night working during the particle accelerator. She reveals that she finished her machine, so Iris tells her to make another one. Eva immediately shuts down the idea, but Iris convinces her that she can do it. 

 

Allegra (Kayla Compton) is watching Nash (Tom Cavanagh) put together a particle catching device that he needs her powers to use as a charge. He makes a comment and Allegra asks him why he always talks like he’s known her forever. Sherloque (Tom Cavanagh) shows up and makes a comment. We see that his hallucinations are continuing. Allegra charges the machine, but it only backfires. When it does, Allegra gets thrown and she finds a picture of Nash with her doppleganger. She gets upset because she feels used and storms out. 

 

Barry is still working on his upgrade when it shocks him and he passes out. We then see him in a blue tinted area locked inside of a huge cage. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) comes in and he immediately starts asking her about why he’s there. He notices she’s talking to him strangely. Thawne comes in and Barry gets angry. He doesn’t understand how he got there. Thawne and Caitlin start talking about the pipeline and then leave while Barry yells and bangs on the cage.

 

Evil Iris walks into Joe’s (Jesse L. Martin) office asking for a lead on Carver. Joe says he has one but he can’t give it to her. The case has gotten bigger and is on lockdown. Iris gets frustrated and starts to wonder why he can’t trust her with this but he urged Barry to let her have the mirror gun. Joe says that was different and Iris yells at Joe about how Carver is hers and she can’t be shut out. Joe gasps and she immediately apologizes for her behavior and says that the case is just really important to her. Joe understands, but he can’t do anything about it. Before she leaves, Iris suggests they meet for lunch at noon and Joe agrees.

 

Chester wants to play pinball with Frost (Danielle Panabaker) but she isn’t up for it. Chester says he’s working his way up to talking to Barry again. When they walk into the speed lab, they see Barry on the ground and rush to him. 

 

Caitlin comes back to the cage asking Barry why he won’t talk to her. Barry is still confused but then Thawne returns saying, “Everyone has good days and bad days. Gorillas are no different.” Barry worries at that comment and rushes to a water bowl in the cage to see the reflection of Grodd (David Sobolov) staring back at him. He realizes he’s in a mindscape. Thawne confirms it as Grodd speaks through him. 

 

Barry asks Grodd why he’s doing this and is told that he’s still in the prison. Grodd says he wants Barry to see what it’s like to have nothing. He explains that all he has been through is Barry’s fault. He says Barry’s actions are pure cruelty, but Barry disagrees and lists all the things Grodd has done in the past. Grodd agrees that it took him a while to get his intelligence back and now he wants help from Flash. He tells Barry he’s sorry and has changed. He also shares the way out of the prison is to find the gatekeeper. Grodd appears in his natural form and releases Barry from the cage so that he can get help defeating the gatekeeper. He gives Barry his powers back, but Barry immediately punches Grodd and tells him that he’ll never change. He runs off leaving Grodd on the ground. 

 

Frost hooks Barry up to a machine that’ll help them see his brainwaves because she has suspected his brain has been inhabited again. She explains how all of this works to Chester and Kamilla so that they can communicate with Barry. Nash comes to demand Frost’s presence. She leaves while Chester gets another surprise at learning Wells is still alive. Nash tells Frost what Allegra discovered about her doppleganger and she tells him to just explain what happened to her.

 

Barry finds the portal to get out, but the gatekeeper appears– it’s Solovar (Keith David). He tries to tell Solovar that he isn’t there to fight, but Solovar lets him know that he is the warden of this prison and none shall escape. The two begin to battle and Barry’s body starts to react in the real world. Whatever happens in the mindscape happens there too. Barry flashes away from Solovar and Frost realizes that Barry is trapped inside of Grodd’s mind. She says that before long, the mindscape will crumble and if that happens, Barry will die. They can’t shut it off on Grodd’s end because then, Barry will stay trapped. Chester realizes that he altered Barry’s device and that’s why Grodd was able to get into his mind. Chester says this is all his fault and tries to leave, but Frost stops him in the hallway. He doesn’t want to make things worse. Frost explains everybody has put Barry’s life in danger, but they always figure out how to fix it. Chester starts to tell her a story about an incident he had as a child. He says that he failed at a science fair and the teacher told him that in the real world people like them don’t get second chances. He turns to leave but Frost stops him to say that she’s giving him a second chance now.

 

Evil Iris is sitting in Joe’s office as she tells him that she doesn’t know how she mixed up the times because she thought they agreed on 12:30PM She tells him she’ll be there soon while she finishes downloading files from his computer and takes the flash drive with her. 

 

Iris and Eva are about to attempt using her machine on the mirror. Eva gets nervous before using it and says that the machine will fail. Iris continues to encourage her to use it and then realizes there is another reason she doesn’t want to use the machine. Eva denies it, but Iris pushes to find out why. Eva eventually turns on the machine and sticks her arms through the mirror. They immediately start to burn and she pulls them back to show Iris her burned arms and hands.

 

Barry runs back to Grodd’s cage to see “Joe.” Grodd explains that he’s using a familiar face because Barry sees an enemy when he looks at Grodd. Barry asks why he put Solovar against him, but Grodd says he thought he would be able to fight him. Barry still isn’t trusting him and Grodd reveals that they will both die if the mindscape crumbles. Barry tells Grodd that nothing restore his trust in Grodd, but Grodd mentions Crisis. His mind wasn’t affected by the multiverse changes, but he can sense the changes in Gorilla City and he wants to return home. Barry thinks he’ll do the same thing he did before, but Grodd says he wants a new path and doesn’t want power but peace. Barry realizes that he’s telling the truth because Grodd let go of the past. He thinks he should do the same in his own life. They’ll have to try something new to defeat Solovar. They’ll fight together. 

 

They get to the gatekeeper’s location. They hold hands and Barry merges to Grodd, showing their cerebrum activities syncing in the real world. Grodd now has all of The Flash’s powers as he faces off against Solovar. The two battle it out as Frost gets in contact with Barry. He tells them what’s going on and then Frost explains to Barry that he can’t exit the mindscape still merged with Grodd. They’ll have to separate their minds at the right millisecond. Chester says he has a solution and he’s still feeling self-conscious about it, but Barry tells him that he believes in him and thinks he can do it. He starts to work on the device just as Grodd gets knocked down in the mindscape. Barry encourages him to fight back against Solovar and he successfully beats him. Grodd jumps through the breach and Chester connects the device at the right time. They both make it out alive. 

 

They’re in the lounge and Barry says that Grodd is now out on probation. Kamilla gets a call saying that Cisco’s coming home. Barry apologizes to Chester about the way he acted. Chester then shows Barry that he found his parent’s graves. As he’s thanking him, they get another alert and Barry asks him to man the comms. Pied Piper is back.