On this week’s episode of The Flash, it’s bachelor and bachelorette parties galore! As Barry and Iris try to celebrate with their friends, everything goes wrong. Only one of these two plots wind up working though.
“Girls Night Out” should have been an easy home run for The Flash, which has already had fun with couple’s therapy, bad luck and noir-style detectives this season. But while the main plot lets us know what Caitlin did this summer and puts a focus on the often-underutilized women of the show, the story can’t hold up to any scrutiny.
A reluctant Caitlin, shaken after the message she got last week, joins Iris, Cecile and Felicity for a lovely bachelorette dinner. Unfortunately, before they get any further than the first toast, Norvock, an enforcer for Amunet, arrives and demands that Caitlin go with him. There’s a fight, where he reveals he has a creature behind his fake eyeball. But Caitlin goes cold, unleashing Killer Frost and heading to a nightclub to confront Amunet, played with relish by Katie Sackoff. Amunet picked up one of the newly-created metas, whose tears are a drug. She wants Killer Frost back as a bodyguard for a product, but she’s not interested. Before a super-powered throwdown, Iris interrupts and leaves with Frost.
While Iris wants to try and save this captured meta, The Weeper, Frost wants to breach to another universe. She’s terrified of Amunet and what she can do. What is this crime lord’s ability? She focuses small pieces of metal around her arm, turning into a shield, projectile weapons, etc. It looks pretty cool in action, but I don’t see why Frost couldn’t handle her. She defeated Black Flash last season. In their quick skirmish, it looks like the writers significantly depowered Frost, which is a shame.
So instead, the four women try strategy to save The Weeper. In a warehouse, Cecile turns on a ceiling magnet to disable Amunet’s ability. Frost embraces her Caitlin side and vice versa, sparing Amunet’s life and letting her go. But…why? Cecile is a DA. They just witnessed some significant crimes. Without her metal, Amunet is powerless. Why not call the police or put her in the pipeline or something? Again, this feels like our heroes lost their common sense just to lazily create a recurring villain.
Where is Barry and the rest of the guys in all this? Well, what starts out as a night of cigars and home movies turns into a visit to a strip club, courtesy of Ralph Dibny. Club rules? No cell phones. Even better, Cisco makes Barry some supercharged booze that gets him instantly plastered. Drunk Barry is by far the best Barry. He starts yelling about how he’s The Flash, makes a zooming noise instead of actually speeding around, and cries over Titanic and his love of chicken wings. Some of the drunken shenanigans of this storyline on Iris’ side could have made this episode a lot better.
Show Notes:
- The Weeper escapes but doesn’t get far. The Thinker shows up, capturing him again for his still mysterious plans.
- Felicity is the latest to make note of the non-existent security at S.T.A.R. Labs. They really should do something about that.
- The airline Caitlin buys her plane ticket from? Ferris Air. Nice.
- Joni, Cecil’s daughter, is a Doctor Who fan, especially since The Doctor became a lady. So The Flash must be a few months ahead of us in the timeline! Joni is also a dancer at the club Barry and the team goes to, soooo that’s awkward.
- When she finds out that Caitlin and Killer Frost share a body, Felicity exclaims “Like The Incredible Hulk!” Marvel’s existence in the Arrowverse confirmed!
The Super Cinco
- – Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost – While Caitlin starts the episode afraid of Amunet and her Killer Frost side, she makes peace with her split-personality and saves the day. She even spares the villain’s life, proving that she’s less Killer, more Frost. Let’s hope she puts her powers to good use more often going forward.
- – Barry Allen / The Flash – Barry gets a much-deserved week off, spending much of this episode super-wasted. He drinks, he laughs, he stumbles around, he cries, he gets into a bar fight, he gets immensely sick. Sounds like a good bachelor party to me!
- – Cisco Ramon / Vibe – While Cisco’s relaxing bachelor party he planned for Barry is ruined by Ralph Dibny, he does give Barry some alcohol that gets him drunk for most of the night. Plus, his exhausted reaction to seeing Killer Frost is spot-on.
- – Joe West – Watching the home movies of Barry put Joe in a bit of a panic over having a new kid at his age. Plus, he finds out that Cecile’s daughter works as a dancer at the strip club the team goes to. But at the end, he talks to Cecile about his worries and they agree to work through them together.
- – Iris West – While she does her best to take charge and save The Weeper from Amunet, Iris’ strategies leave much to be desired. Twice she puts herself in immediate danger when alternatives existed. She lucked out that Caitlin unleashed her frosty side.