The Flash Review: Monster (Season 3 Episode 5)

It’s not very often one can think The Flash on two levels. In too many cases, the characters are shallowly approached, with each episode focused either more on action or, as I said last week, treading water while we wait for the season’s Big Bad to come along.

Written by Zack Stentz, the writer of last season’s powerful “Runaway Dinosaur,” “Monster” sees our Original Team Flash (to borrow an acronym from Arrow fans) all facing monsters, either literal or figurative, and shows an example of what a good filler episode should do.

First and foremost, Caitlin Snow faces her “Monster” mother and finally gets a little more of her background explored. We’ve met everyone’s family, but, like California last year, there’s been a noticeable lack of Snow.

Unlike the other members of OTF, Caitlin comes from a much more well-to-do family, the kind who doesn’t do hugs or kisses and has assistants send birthday cards. We meet Dr. Carla Tannhauser, biomedical engineer and the director of a large medical thinktank in an undisclosed city and suddenly we understand why Caitlin doesn’t speak much.

Like her daughter, Dr. Tannhauser buries her feelings in her work, especially after the death of her husband, Caitlin’s father, and prefers science to sappiness. Even after Caitlin reveals that she, too, lost her husband, Dr. Tannhauser doesn’t so much as offer a conciliatory or commiserative hug.

Last season, after meeting Earth-2’s Killer Frost, everyone was worried that she might turn evil after losing Jay Garrick, whom she knew for all of five minutes, but no one (and whether this is intentional or accidental on the part of the writers is unknown) had mentioned that she’s lost her actual husband. Twice.

A huge complaint I and other fans on Twitter have had is that Caitlin has not been given the opportunity to grieve like Cisco seems to be doing now or like Barry has been doing for the last 15 years. Perhaps this is the start of the writers rectifying that complaint.

Caitlin burying her emotions is more than likely the impetus for Killer Frost’s takeover. If Charmed has taught us anything, it’s that your powers are always connected to your emotions, and trying to suppress them can backfire in catastrophic ways.

Next, Barry faces his “Monster,” Julian, while The Flash battles a holographic one.

It makes sense that the “Previously on…” segment of this episode mentions that Barry and Julian have been, from everyone’s perspective, working together for more than year. Although The Flash is incredibly fast, it takes Barry a little while to catch up to things, including the notion that maybe he should try to figure out why this guy hates him.

Turns out, he doesn’t. Here, Julian is the voice of the normal person, raising the same criticisms against Barry that addresses the burning question fans have had since day one: how does Barry keep his job?

As for his hatred of metahumans, it turns out Julian simply hates the fact that they don’t use their powers to do something with their lives. As the prodigal son of a family of rich gadabouts, he has a particular need to make a name for himself, which was then abruptly taken away once the particle accelerator exploded and turned the world of crime upside-down.

Barry Allen is at his absolute best when he slows down and takes the time to listen. I’ve often said that Barry is a master of giving advice and that shows itself in a completely unselfish way (rare for Barry) in that final scene in the crime lab.

Lastly, we have Cisco facing his “Monster,” being betrayed one too many times by people he calls his friends.

Cisco’s been depressively MIA the past few weeks, scowling his way through every episode after learning that Barry changed the timeline to save his mother but refuses to perform the same courtesy to save Dante (it seems Carlos Valdez is the only one who remembers what happens from episode-to-episode).

On “Monster,” Cisco slowly steps back into his role as the wisecracking mechanical engineer-in-residence and even agrees to let Barry crash with him while he looks for a place.

Unfortunately, he does so just as a new threat enters his life. From the moment H.R. emerges from that portal, Cisco is skeptical about him.

Eventually, he discovers that, actually yes, H.R. is lying to them, but not for the nefarious reason Cisco surmised. No, no, it’s much worse than that: he’s a writer.

No one’s ever safe when there’s a writer around.

So, while Cisco’s trust issues will never truly be fixed, we do get to see the healing process begin.

Oh boy, Killer Frost is going to do a number on him.

The downside here is that the West family takes a backseat throughout much of the episode, but that’s a general consequence of television. Not every character is going to shine in every episode, but it’s about time The Flash let someone besides Barry and Cisco do so.

With the right amount of humor, heart, and character exploration, “Monster” is the standard to which all The Flash episodes should subscribe.

Bechdel Test Score: S!
Caitlin speaks to her mother’s secretary (who is on a completely different floor for some reason) as well as the interactions between she and Dr. Tannhauser.

(Again, I stress that the Bechdel Test is not the gold standard for female representation in media; in fact, I’m excited for the day this test is obsolete, but the fact that it’s taken The Flash five episodes to pass it is shameful.)

Cisco’s Pop Culture References

• Gladiator
• Inception
• Empire Strikes Back
• This scene from North By Northwest where the little kid in the background covers his ears before the gun goes off.

Exploded Transformers

• Cisco: “Sometimes a man just wants to butter his own bread.” Amen!
• No one seems to be bothered that H.R. is going through their texts/emails. Like, that really should be a much bigger deal.
• Also, who texts people about their favorite coffee? “Hey grl. cant wait to have my iced americano w/ 3 shots of espresso tmrw!”
• Captain Singh is back!
• I think this is the only episode thus far this season where Iris acknowledges that, occasionally, she has to go to work. Both Barry and Joe wonder why she’s hanging around the police station in the middle of the day.
• Julian simply saying, “cheers” after Barry saves his life is so very British.
• Why was that woman just… standing in the middle of an armed squad of police officers? Maybe it was the camera angle.
• I could watch an entire episode of Candice Patton looking annoyed while people speak.
• Incidentally, I reread that last sentence as “Candice Patton annoyed at white people” which I could also watch all day.
• Comics Killer Frost is apparently joining the Justice League very soon. What could that mean for our Dr. Caitlin Snow?

What did you think of this episode of The Flash? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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