The Flash S1 E5 - 'Plastique' Review
Interesting Company.
Barry meets his first non-evil meta-human in this episode as Plastique makes her live action debut.
The core plot in this episode revolved around the character and her difficult journey. I wasn't entirely fond of Kelly Frye's performance, which felt quite wooden at times despite the harrowing circumstances surrounding the character, but she did bring out the best in Team Flash as they dealt with their failure to help reverse her powers. To be honest, this entire episode was a particualrly emotional journey and the series benefits from it, as Barry learned to deal with failure and friendship.
The major subplot saw Barry and Joe attempt to convince Iris to give up her blog. I thought that the reasons behind this were flimsy at best and at this point I am counting down the days until Barry finally tells Iris the truth - after all, Arrow has overused the theme of secrecy far too much by this point! Despite this, Candice Patton delivered a brilliant all round performance as Iris as she stood her ground despite the men in her life attempting to rob her of her passion. The chat between Iris and the Flash on the roof of Jitters was a strong point, as we learned much about both characters in this slick encounter.
General Eiling was revealed as the main antagonist this week and after having seen him fulfil a similar role on Marvel's The Punisher I already knew how perfect Clancy Brown was for the role. Brown brought the usual amount of swagger and menace to his performance and I am certainyl looking forward to revisiting the character later in the season. A nefarious gorilla was also teased at the end of the episode, setting up one of the Flash's greatest villains.
Overall, 'Plastique' was one of the strongest episodes of The Flash yet. With some powerful, emotionally driven story-lines accompanied by stand-out performances from the ensemble cast, season one of the Scarlet Speedster's journey continues to grow better with every outing.
STARRING: Plastique, The General, Gorilla Grodd
AWESOME MOMENTS:
- That bar scene at the start was so much fun! Highlights included Barry downing multiple shots and Cisco and Caitlin making hilarious comments about Eddie
- Barry runs up the side of a building for the first time! He ends up doing this so frequently after this that it's often easy to forget how freakin' AWESOME the move is!
- Poor Cisco and his beloved suit :((
- Loved the standoff between Eiling and Wells - so much intensity!
- I found the gag where Cisco offered up a boomerang for Bette to blow up way funnier than it really was I admit
- The rooftop chat between Iris and the Flash felt like classic comic book material and was a great conversation too
- WELLS BEING EVIL!! The cracks are growing larger in Wells' facade...
- Of course, I have to shout out the huge finale involving Bette detonating across the bay and the Flash running on water - the whole thing was AWESOME!! Even though I must admit that the physics behind that wave were dubious at best, the show is really doing its best to emphasise scope and it is truly appreciated!
EASTER EGGS:
- This week's antagonist is General Wade Eiling. In the comics, Eiling was a military general who blackmailed Nathaniel Adam into participating in an atomic experiment after Adam was convicted of murder. After the experiment backfired and Adam was presumed dead, Eiling married Adam's wife and adopted his two children. After Adam was discovered to be alive, Eiling blackmailed him again and forces him to become the government controlled superhero, Captain Atom.
After Eiling was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, the general stole the dead body of the DC villain the Shaggy Man and transferred his brain patterns into the body. Now virtually invulnerable, Eiling fought the Justice League in his new body several times before getting recruited into the Suicide Squad.
In DC's New 52 continuity, an unpowered Eiling came into conflict with Captain Atom, Firestorm and Killer Frost.
Eiling was created by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick.
Eiling appeared in the Justice League animated series as a Cadmus agent who blackmails Captain Atom into acting as a mole for the US government against the Justice League. Eiling later transformed himself into a grotesque monster using the Captain Nazi movie and fought several non-powered Justice League members in an episode inspired by the Seven Soldiers of Victory superhero team.
Eiling is portrayed by Clancy Brown, whom DC fans may recognize as the voice of Lex Luthor from the Superman and Justice League cartoons. Brown has voiced a number of comic book characters in various cartoons and video games, including Taskmaster (Ultimate Spider-Man), Gorilla Grodd (Robot Chicken DC Special), the Red Hulk (Hulk: Agent of SMASH), Mister Freeze (The Batman), Negative Man (Doom Patrol DC Nation short), Parallax (the Green Lantern live action movie), and Odin (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes).
- Plastique first appeared in the comics in The Fury of Firestorm #7 as a Quebecois separatist trying to force Quebec into breaking away from the rest of Canada. She later fought against Captain Atom several times before reforming and falling in love with him. After serving on the Suicide Squad for several missions, Plastique was granted a pardon and briefly married Captain Atom. Their marriage collapsed due to political disagreements and Plastique eventually returned to a life of crime. Plastique has also appeared several times in the New 52 as a villain. Plastique was created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick.
In the comics, Plastique can't transform objects into explosives, but instead has the ability to project explosive force from her hands. She was originally portrayed as having no powers, but gained her abilities through unknown means.
This isn't the first time that Plastique has appeared on live action television. A modified version of Plastique appeared on Smallville. In that show, Plastique gained her powers via kryptonite exposure and could cause objects to explode via a special type of beam shot from her eyes. Plastique also appeared in a Justice League Unlimited cartoon episode as a member of Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad).
- While trying to track down Plastique, Cisco mentioned that one of Plastique's emergency contacts was named Cameron Scott. In the comics, Cameron Scott was Captain Atom's alias for a time.
- Plastique was referred to as a human bomb several times in last night's episode. In the comics, the Human Bomb was the name of several superheroes with powers similar to Plastique's.
- Plastique briefly confronted Dr. Harold Hadley, whom she believed was responsible for giving her powers. In the comics, Hadley was a member of the research team that gave Captain Atom his powers, and assisted Captain Atom during his superhero activities. He was later revealed to be a mole planted by the Manhunters to keep an eye on Captain Atom and was destroyed.
- Officer Vukavich makes his second appearance on the show. The elderly police officer made his first appearance in the pilot episode. No comic link here, but it's always great to see a background character reappear in the Arrowverse!
- While testing Plastique's powers, Cisco had a boomerang for Bette to throw. This was probably a nod to Captain Boomerang, a Flash villain who'll be appearing in the upcoming Arrow/Flash crossover.
- Channel 52 made another appearance on the show at the end of the episode, when Eiling explained to reporters that the explosion in Central City bay was an underwater explosives test.
- Gorilla Grodd makes his first appearance in the show. Grodd's mental powers were hinted at when Harrison Wells indirectly mentioned that he was a test subject for a military experiment to develop mind readers.
- Detective Joe West says "So, human bomb. Must be Tuesday in Central City" referring to the fact that the show airs on Tuesdays
- Plastique has to wear gloves because her touch can cause things to explode in the same way that Rogue of the X-men has to wear gloves because she can't touch people without harming them
- The cast named the prop of Barry's suit at Star Labs "Hubert."
- Clancy Brown also played General Schoonover in Daredevil (2015) and The Punisher (2017), portraying similar characters in both a DC based TV series and a Marvel based one.
- Consider the character Bette Sans Souci. Bette is pronounced exactly like the French word "bête" (English "beast") while Sans Souci is French for "carefree". So a francophone hearing "bête sans souci" would think "carefree beast", a true misnomer for this character.
- In season five, Barry and Iris' daughter Nora is played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, who played Plastique on Smallville (2001).
RATING: 8.2/10
After Eiling was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, the general stole the dead body of the DC villain the Shaggy Man and transferred his brain patterns into the body. Now virtually invulnerable, Eiling fought the Justice League in his new body several times before getting recruited into the Suicide Squad.
In DC's New 52 continuity, an unpowered Eiling came into conflict with Captain Atom, Firestorm and Killer Frost.
Eiling was created by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick.
Eiling appeared in the Justice League animated series as a Cadmus agent who blackmails Captain Atom into acting as a mole for the US government against the Justice League. Eiling later transformed himself into a grotesque monster using the Captain Nazi movie and fought several non-powered Justice League members in an episode inspired by the Seven Soldiers of Victory superhero team.
Eiling is portrayed by Clancy Brown, whom DC fans may recognize as the voice of Lex Luthor from the Superman and Justice League cartoons. Brown has voiced a number of comic book characters in various cartoons and video games, including Taskmaster (Ultimate Spider-Man), Gorilla Grodd (Robot Chicken DC Special), the Red Hulk (Hulk: Agent of SMASH), Mister Freeze (The Batman), Negative Man (Doom Patrol DC Nation short), Parallax (the Green Lantern live action movie), and Odin (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes).
- Plastique first appeared in the comics in The Fury of Firestorm #7 as a Quebecois separatist trying to force Quebec into breaking away from the rest of Canada. She later fought against Captain Atom several times before reforming and falling in love with him. After serving on the Suicide Squad for several missions, Plastique was granted a pardon and briefly married Captain Atom. Their marriage collapsed due to political disagreements and Plastique eventually returned to a life of crime. Plastique has also appeared several times in the New 52 as a villain. Plastique was created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick.
In the comics, Plastique can't transform objects into explosives, but instead has the ability to project explosive force from her hands. She was originally portrayed as having no powers, but gained her abilities through unknown means.
This isn't the first time that Plastique has appeared on live action television. A modified version of Plastique appeared on Smallville. In that show, Plastique gained her powers via kryptonite exposure and could cause objects to explode via a special type of beam shot from her eyes. Plastique also appeared in a Justice League Unlimited cartoon episode as a member of Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad).
- While trying to track down Plastique, Cisco mentioned that one of Plastique's emergency contacts was named Cameron Scott. In the comics, Cameron Scott was Captain Atom's alias for a time.
- Plastique was referred to as a human bomb several times in last night's episode. In the comics, the Human Bomb was the name of several superheroes with powers similar to Plastique's.
- Plastique briefly confronted Dr. Harold Hadley, whom she believed was responsible for giving her powers. In the comics, Hadley was a member of the research team that gave Captain Atom his powers, and assisted Captain Atom during his superhero activities. He was later revealed to be a mole planted by the Manhunters to keep an eye on Captain Atom and was destroyed.
- Officer Vukavich makes his second appearance on the show. The elderly police officer made his first appearance in the pilot episode. No comic link here, but it's always great to see a background character reappear in the Arrowverse!
- While testing Plastique's powers, Cisco had a boomerang for Bette to throw. This was probably a nod to Captain Boomerang, a Flash villain who'll be appearing in the upcoming Arrow/Flash crossover.
- Channel 52 made another appearance on the show at the end of the episode, when Eiling explained to reporters that the explosion in Central City bay was an underwater explosives test.
- Gorilla Grodd makes his first appearance in the show. Grodd's mental powers were hinted at when Harrison Wells indirectly mentioned that he was a test subject for a military experiment to develop mind readers.
- Detective Joe West says "So, human bomb. Must be Tuesday in Central City" referring to the fact that the show airs on Tuesdays
- Plastique has to wear gloves because her touch can cause things to explode in the same way that Rogue of the X-men has to wear gloves because she can't touch people without harming them
- The cast named the prop of Barry's suit at Star Labs "Hubert."
- Clancy Brown also played General Schoonover in Daredevil (2015) and The Punisher (2017), portraying similar characters in both a DC based TV series and a Marvel based one.
- Consider the character Bette Sans Souci. Bette is pronounced exactly like the French word "bête" (English "beast") while Sans Souci is French for "carefree". So a francophone hearing "bête sans souci" would think "carefree beast", a true misnomer for this character.
- In season five, Barry and Iris' daughter Nora is played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, who played Plastique on Smallville (2001).
RATING: 8.2/10
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