Welcome back to Flash Facts, everyone! I don’t know about you guys but it’s been one helluva month for me with starting a brand new job! I’m currently writing this high on painkillers so maybe that’s having an influence but I think Godspeed was a fantastic episode and a very strong directorial debut for our resident snow queen, Danielle Panabaker!

Picking up immediately after the last episode, Team Flash is still reeling from the revelation that Nora has been working with Thawne since the beginning and, naturally, pretty much everyone is more pissed with Sherloque for revealing the secret. Okay, that’s not entirely true but it was certainly true of Iris. She kinda walks that back by being the one to let Nora out of the pipeline to explain herself though.

The majority of the episode is set in 2049 via flashforwards as the team reads Nora’s diary and the setting isn’t especially fantastical. A very grounded take on the future, befitting a TV budget. Little details here and there show the advancement of technology but the architecture is largely the same as every other CW show set in the present.

The origin of Nora is pretty interesting, expanding on the details we knew but throwing in a lot of time with Nora’s best friend/girlfriend Lia (A possible nod to the Flash of Earth-9?) and how their investigation into a new speedster results in not only Lia’s death but Nora travelling back in time.

Speaking of the new speedster, having Godspeed tie back into Zoom and the Velocity 9 subplot is an effective way of manufacturing a speedster to act as a foil. I don’t know much about this guy since he’s relatively new but it’s a cool design and he’s voiced by BD Wong and that’s also pretty cool!

Nora’s interactions with Thawne are pretty cool, very The Silence of The Lambs, and really lends credence to why Nora puts her faith in him as a mentor. Because, despite objectively being a monster, Thawne is both charismatic and a damn good teacher and there’s a nice symmetry to him teaching Barry’s daughter the ropes. Hell, there’s a lot of homages to The Flash’s pilot episode that draws a lot of parallels between Barry and Nora.

Once Nora’s full origin is explained, we actually get the unexpected; Barry sticking to his guns and sending Nora back to 2049! I can’t believe he didn’t forgive her immediately and just dumped her ass back in the future and even warned her that if she tried to come back, he’d know. Properly laying down the dad law! That going to come back and bite him in the arse when Iris finds out though… Oh boy, that’s going to be the whole episode next week, isn’t it?

In the stinger, we get a confrontation between Thawne and Barry and Thawne comes across as the bigger man while Barry looks like a petulant bitch. His anger is warranted, mind you, but Thawne telling him not to be angry with Nora is just perfect. With less than ten minutes to go before Thawne’s supposed death, I wonder how much more we’ll see of him and if death will actually stick this time!

Overall, I highly recommend seeing this episode because it’s one of the best of the season and really went a long way to endearing Nora to me again. Be sure to come back next week when we’ll see the fallout of Barry’s decision and an unexpected reunion in Snow Pack!

Crazy for You is, ultimately, a pretty weak episode but is saved by the characters and the stinger.

Basic rundown of the plot involves Barry and Caitlin getting over their respective love interests, Cisco letting Pied Piper out of his cell for revelations about Ronnie and a teleporting villain of the week who is pretty weak sauce.

Peek-A-Boo (yes, that’s her real codename from the comics) frees her jailbird boyfriend from Iron Heights, garnering the attention of the CCPD and The Flash. Barry’s investigation eventually gets some help from Henry Allen, who plays cop on the inside and gets his ass beat for his trouble. Still, it’s nice to see Gustin and Shipp add some physicality to their father/son scenes and it gets pretty emotional by the end. Oh yeah, Peek-A-Boo! Her powers don’t work in darkness so she’s quickly dealt with, her boyfriend abandoning her and off into the pipeline she goes. NEVER TO BE SPOKEN OF AGAIN.

Cisco gets to deal Piper, and while he does get a pretty cool fight scene (with a shockingly obvious stunt double) he gets betrayed and Piper escapes. At least we find out more about Firestorm, and that Dr Martin Stein is in control of Robbie’s body; the two having merged due to the accelerator accident.

The big thing in this episode, for me, is the character relationship between Barry and Caitlin. They end up going to a karaoke dive bar under the pretence of a stakeout but Caitlin ends up drunk off her tits and calls Barry up to sing. Gustin gets to flex his impressive Glee pipes and Panabaker is an adorable drunk, a far cry from her usual default state as the team’s serious one. Barry and Caitlin (especially drunk Caitlin) is a delight to watch, it makes me squee on the inside and the whole affair leads to Caitlin setting her sights on Barry but unfortunately…

Linda Park enters the Love Triangle! Malese Jow (of Vampire Diaries fame, according to my watching-buddy) is now in the mix for more high school drama BS. She gets a nice enough intro and I’m sure she’ll also become a better love interest than Iris, who is left mouth agape at the revelation of Barry dating one of her co-workers.

Flash Fact: Linda Park is actually the girlfriend/wife of the second Flash, Wally West. Whatever could be the game plan with her dating Barry?

Stinger for this week is pure monkey business as we finally get our first proper look at Gorilla Grodd, making his presence felt in a straight up Jurassic Park homage. Get hyped!

All in all, a weak sauce villain of the week means more room for characters to develop and mysteries to deepen but next week seems to get back to brilliance as we finally meet The Nuclear Man.