The Flash “Trajectory” Review

<p>I didn&&num;8217&semi;t realize that this was the <em>Flash<&sol;em> episode I needed until I had it&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t realize that we needed a light-hearted opening with a crazy club scene&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t realize that we needed yet another speedster in a show that has too many already&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t realize that we needed to give so much weight to Jay being Zoom until that final scene really took off&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But this season of <em>The Flash<&sol;em>&comma; and I as a viewer&comma; needed this episode to prepare for the end&period; And it succeeded in doing so&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first 15 minutes were a joy as <em>The Flash<&sol;em> took an extended period of time to give us that trademark lighthearted flavor it does so well&period; Barry continually wants to get faster&comma; especially as Jay&&num;8217&semi;s death weighs on him&comma; and trains by trying to jump over a canyon and waterfall&period; This entire event is enhanced with some of the funniest and fastest wit we&&num;8217&semi;ve seen from the characters on the show yet &lpar;Wells quoting Kanye West&comma; for example&excl;&rpar;&period; But&comma; of course&comma; Barry fails&comma; and the entire team decides they need a fun break&period; Barry&comma; with the help of Yelp&comma; chooses a dance club that no one is quite ready for&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a strong directorial choice to show us these characters in a fun&comma; colorful&comma; new element that offers us some necessary levity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;102601" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-102601" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-102601 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03212744&sol;FLA216b&lowbar;0109b&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"534" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-102601" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">It was certainly more light-hearted than this&excl; &lpar;<em>The Flash<&sol;em>&comma; CW&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Things turn&comma; however&comma; when a new speedster appears and robs everyone&period; Not only is she faster than Barry&comma; but the citizens of Central City think that the new speedster is the Flash turned evil&period; This concept never really lands with any sort of weight outside of directly influencing Iris&&num;8217&semi;s B-plot&period; It had the potential to be something more&comma; and it would be fun at some point to have Central City turn against Barry in a more fully realized capacity&comma; but this season of <em>The Flash<&sol;em> already has a trajectory to follow &lpar;see what I did there&quest;&excl;&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking of Iris and her B-plot&comma; it ended up falling flat as so many of Iris&&num;8217&semi; plots do&period; The show has displayed to us that Candice Patton can give some solid performances and that she excels when given something new or unique to do&period; However&comma; this plot simply gave her yet another love interest &lpar;because that <em>never<&sol;em> gets old&rpar;&comma; and gave a bit more clarity to her new editor and his distrust of the Flash&comma; though that&&num;8217&semi;s never been given enough weight either&period; The levity in the beginning is important to the formula of <em>The Flash&comma;<&sol;em> but sometimes this levity can seep into the foundation of the week&&num;8217&semi;s plots&comma; and things that should matter more sometimes lose their importance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;102602" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-102602" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-102602 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03212728&sol;FLA216a&lowbar;0117b&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"533" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-102602" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">I just think this is a cool picture&period; Come on&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m not wrong&period; &lpar;<em>The Flash&comma;<&sol;em> CW&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>That being said&comma; there are always a lot of things that <em>The Flash<&sol;em> gets right&period; Allison Paige offered up a solid performance as Trajectory this week&period; Her sassy quips with Caitlyn in the lab landed well&comma; and her portrayal of drug addiction was resonant with something deep and serious&period; In her final scene&comma; as she held the V-9 over her leg&comma; it was obvious that the only way her drug addiction&comma; and the importance of V-9&comma; would be felt would be if she followed through and injected herself again&period; Which she did&comma; to negative effect&period; Not only is this a powerful statement to addiction&comma; but it finally gave serious weight to V-9 as an object of importance this season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Which was all the more timely as the team finally discovered that Jay was Zoom&period; The final scene in the lab was well done by the directorial team and the cast members&period; The music was spot on as they all dealt with the realization of what was truly going on&comma; and the moment when Barry smashed the glass around Jay&&num;8217&semi;s helmet built nicely to his waterfall-side scream in the end&period; While I&&num;8217&semi;ve commented in the past that Jay&&num;8217&semi;s character was underutilized &lpar;and perhaps suffered from a bit too much plot levity as well&rpar;&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s nice to see the core cast earn their anguish over the truth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;102604" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-102604" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-102604 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03212710&sol;FLA216a&lowbar;0007b&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"534" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-102604" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Why so serious&quest; &lpar;<em>The Flash<&sol;em>&comma; CW&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>So the stage has finally been set for <em>The Flash<&sol;em> to speed towards its final episodes of the season&period; They not only know Jay is Zoom&comma; but they also know his weakness&period; Wells has been given a reality check from his daughter&comma; Barry is getting faster&comma; and Iris has a new thing going with her boss&period; Sounds like a solid finale set-up to me&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now if only Jesse would bring Starman back with her from Opal City&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Have thoughts&quest; Tweet at me&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;LoganASchultz">&commat;LoganASchultz <&sol;a>or <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;BagoGames">&commat;BagoGames<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>The Flash Airs Tuesdays at 8&sol;7c on The CW<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;