TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Flash Season 02 Episode 15: King Shark

For anyone (like me) who’s been desiring a return to form in regards to Season 01, “King Shark” was that return. Not only did it answer the question of “What happened to King Shark?” after his brief appearance earlier in the season. It seemed Waller wanted to turn King Shark into a weapon!…maybe for the next version of the Suicide Squad? Alas, we’ll never know. But, it was good to see that Lyla was indeed in charge of Argus now, something that’ll hopefully mean more appearances for her on both shows. Oh, and Diggle was there too!

Just about every scene with King Shark was amazing. He looked great now that we got to see him in true form for more than a few seconds (like last time), and they made it count. Sure, it probably blew through their budget…but it’s King Shark!!!!! The final battle in particular was amazing. Easily a Top 5 fight of the season, if not the whole series! They made King Shark worth it.

The other interesting part of “King Shark” was a new conflict with the West’s. I didn’t realize it, but Wally and Barry actually haven’t been together on screen that much. This changed here, and the dynamic was actually fun and believable. Wally always wanted a father, and Barry got Joe as his father because of how his childhood went. Then, to hear Iris and Joe talk about Barry with such pride and gushing, how could that not set off Wally? That was really good. Thankfully, between Joe and Barry, it was resolved, and hopefully this will grow into a fun (and fast) friendship going forward).

Sadly, the other main storyline felt really hollow. To “protect” the others from what they saw on Earth-2, Barry, Harry, and Cisco promised not to talk about what they saw, or who they met, during their trip. This was actually a good idea…but of course two of them didn’t keep their secret, and things got messy because of it.

I don’t know about you, but Caitlin’s personality in this episode? It was the same as she was in the pilot of Flash. Cold, direct, all business…and yet Cisco acted like this was the first time he saw this side of her. He was with her all those months after Ronnie die, was he really that blind to how she was acting then? Thankfully, Caitlin brought him back to reality in a fun way, and reminded all of us (twice in fact) that at present, she has no metahuman gene. So if she WAS to become Killer Frost, it would have to be via another route.

Then there’s Barry, who did the typical “everything is because of me” thing. And on some levels, he was right, however, him dwelling about it just felt so off. And of course, he had to tell Joe and Iris about their doppleganger selves, including the fact that her and Barry were (and still are) married on Earth-2, which will no doubt affect their relationship going forward. It’s frustrating, cause Harry summed it up best, this WASN’T them. Joe is still alive on E1, which is HIS Joe. If anything, Barry should be more happy with his life rather than hating himself for “causing” things he had little to no control over.

The finale was good, Barry refocused on what needed to be done, they are going to try and find a way to get back to E2 (*cough* cosmic treadmill *cough*), and stop Zoom once and for all. And…

JAY IS ZOOM!!!!!…or Hunter Zolomon is Zoom…it’s unclear right now. BUT, I noted in my review how I thought Jay was Zoom…then I talked myself out of it…but it still counts! Now, obviously there are still questions. How does this “complicate” Zoom’s plan? Is the man in the mask another version of Jay/Hunter? Is this a true family of speedsters? We’ll find out…in a month…*sobs*.