The Flash Review: Trajectory (Season 2 Episode 16)
The Flash returns from hiatus this week with “Trajectory,” another ho-hum episode that continues to expose The Flash’s second season weaknesses.
Team Flash finally realize Jay Garrick is Zoom. Except, maybe he’s not. There seems to be an excessive amount of Jay Garricks out there. Doppelgangers can come in triplets right? What really matters is the team’s reaction. Barry zips off to the middle of nowhere to scream his manliest of screams without anyone hearing. It is very Superman of him.
Unfortunately, I don’t buy it. Yes, Jay is close with Team Flash (side eye in Caitlin Snow’s direction), but Barry’s reaction is over the top. Perhaps Barry’s outburst isn’t one of grief, but rage. Not so long ago, Barry didn’t trust Jay Garrick. Perhaps, his scream is more or less an, “I knew it!” outburst. I’ve been there buddy. He’s kicking himself for not trusting his gut.
Barry must be faster to beat Zoom. After nearly 39 episodes of Barry needing more speed, it’s getting old. Yes, I realize he’s The Flash and “speed” is a major focus of the character, but it doesn’t make for very dynamic storytelling. Season 2 isn’t differentiating itself very much from Season 1. Barry must become faster to stop a faster bad guy. He’s betrayed by someone he trusts. We’ve hit these beats before Flash. Find a new theme.
Perhaps if Barry’s speedster development taught us new things about our superhero it would be more interesting, but so far it’s not illuminating. In “Trajectory” Barry has to jump over a canyon. Why, I’m not sure. The man can run on water and up a building. Can’t he just run down the cliff and back up? I digress. Barry fails on his first attempt, but when a bridge is about to collapse he succeeds. My husband sarcastically exclaims, “Oh look! A big hole for Barry to jump over!” and he has a point. Of course, Barry is going to succeed when lives are threatened. We’ve seen him do the same thing time and again. “Trajectory” doesn’t teach us anything new about Barry other than he can jump across big holes now. Did we really need to dedicate 42 minutes to that revelation?
The Velocity 9 is an interesting angle. Barry Allen as a drug addict is certainly a twist, but The Flash spent all of five seconds of Barry considering using the drug. Did anyone really believe Barry would use Velocity 9? No. Because that’s not heroic. Part of the problem with beating “I’m a hero” constantly against his chest is it leaves very little room for Barry Allen to make mistakes. The Flash is overly invested in Barry “the perfect hero” Allen (and tossing Oliver Queen shade whenever they get the chance). They are afraid to show his imperfections. In an origin story, that’s a big problem. We might as well fast forward to the end because there won’t be much difference between Barry Allen now and his fully realized superhero version.
When you have a hero with superpowers the interpersonal relationships become even MORE important to show his growth. This is another area The Flash is ignoring. The Flash is taking the long way around on Barry and Iris. To a certain extent that’s fine. However, The Flash is dangerously close to ignoring their main love story all together. When Barry and Iris interact together, which is rare, their conversations are essentially, “Hey remember how we were married in that other timeline?” Cue awkward laughter. That’s it. That is the only development we get.
Iris knows she and Barry are together in other timelines. To Iris, it feels like destiny and she wants to choose her own path. It’s all very noble and one of the many reasons she chose Eddie. However, if Iris is avoiding a relationship with Barry “because destiny” then she’s still letting the other timelines control her. The only way to fully explore Iris’ feelings outside of the other timelines is to examine them in the present.
That’s not what The Flash is doing. The only time Iris’ feelings about Barry are discussed are when the characters reference the other timelines. It feels like “destiny” is the dominating reason why Barry and Iris are or are not together. If this is about Iris’ free will, then let her exercise it. Stop referencing those timelines or making them a factor in any way. In other words… GIVE BARRY AND IRIS SOMETHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT!
Iris is moving onto her rebound guy, her editor Scott Evans. It’d be fine if Iris simultaneously notices Barry in a new light. However, the lack of romantic development between these two characters seems like there’s no shift in Iris’ perspective on Barry. How many men does Iris need to notice before she notices Barry? The Flash can’t turn Iris’ realization about Barry on a dime. There needs to be a progression. Otherwise, it won’t feel like Barry is Iris’ choice. It will feel like he’s just what’s left.
Perhaps it’s because I’m coming off a Daredevil binge, but my frustration over Iris’ development as a reporter is also growing. Daredevil handles the “newbie reporter” storyline with aplomb and The Flash should take notes. Iris’ reporting needs to be more than writing puff pieces on The Flash and championing him as a hero. Again, this doesn’t add to Iris’ development at all. We already know she believes in Barry. We’ve seen Iris struggle with writing a negative article on The Flash a couple of times now. It’s played out. It would be wonderful if Iris’ investigative reporting skills are interwoven into the Big Bad arc. Iris could expose some big time corruption or something else impactful to the overall story. However, it would require The Flash’s Big Bad to want something other than Barry’s speed.
What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
The Flash airs Wednesday at 8/7c on The CW.
Jennifer Knutson
Wife, mother and TV enthusiast. She has a degree in Communications, a minor in English, a background in marketing, and a deep love for all story telling mediums. The TV obsession probably started from birth, but hit saturation level with Buffy The Vampire Slayer and hasn't dissipated since. She has a weakness for dark & twisty heroes and selfless love stories. When she's not working, raising her little human, or spending time with her spouse, she's writing, analyzing, tweeting, and obsessing about all things Arrow. You can check out her blog here: http://jbuffyangel.tumblr.com/ You can also follow Jennifer on Twitter: @jbuffyangel
One thought on “The Flash Review: Trajectory (Season 2 Episode 16)”
This is so true. First let me give props to the acting. I still adore Barry, Caitlin, crazy Cisco and the girl playing trajectory was good. But the story is a retread of familiar beats. It sorta furthered the Zoom saga but only slightly. There was some cheese going on. For example, angry as he was, did Barry really need to smash the glass display case to get Jay’s helmet out for Cisco to Vibe on? We did not learn anything new from the episode, it was team flash catching up with the audience since we already knew about zoom, Wells actions and velocity 9. I really want to root for Barry and Iris but most of the season they have been put on the back burner almost to the point of forgetting about them. To say nothing of the wishy washy relationship of season 1. I believe the writers think they can flip a switch and get the fire of their relationship going. I’m not so sure they can. They’d better get on it if they expect the audience to believe in them.
Comments are closed.