'The Flash' Recap: 'Grodd Lives' Season 1 Episode 21, Barry Takes On Gorilla Grodd
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At the end of last weeks episode of "The Flash" there was a huge teaser showing a new villain.
This week on "Grodd Lives," episode 21 of the first season, Gorilla Grodd finally makes his full debut and does some serious damage on his way in.
Eobard Thawne unleashes Gorilla Grodd to wreak havoc on Central City as a tactic to keep Barry and his team occupied. The Reverse Flash gains the upper hand by taking Cisco, Caitlin, Joe and Barry off his trail and on to the trail of Grodd.
Grodd is one of Barry's greatest threat yet because he mixes incredible intelligence with an immense amount of power.
When the team has to chase Grodd into the his stomping ground, the sewers, Joe winds up becoming a captive and is held hostage by the menacing gorilla.
Meanwhile, Iris looks to have found out more than she could ever bargain for about The Flash's true identity.
Flash blasts off as Iris narrates the intro. She's thinking about her best friend Barry and his secrets and she seems to be struggling with whether or not to confront him about them.
Singh approaches Joe and Barry about Eddie and they have to lie about him taking some time off.
Barry is confronted by Iris who tells him that Eddie was taken by "the man in yellow." She's trying to guilt trip him into telling her who he really is but he asks her to at least trust him if she can't trust the Flash.
An armored vehicle carrying gold is attacked by an unknown robber dressed in some pretty impressive gear. When Barry gets to the new lab without Wells aka Eobard, he is alerted by Cisco and rushes in to fight the villain. As Barry approaches him, something goes awry and he collapses with memories of being in the hospital and being operated on.
Caitlin and Cisco run a scan on Barry to try and figure out what went wrong with him and just the Iris walks in, completely exposing Barry's identity to herself. Iris now knows the real truth about Barry.
Cisco and Caitlin listen in as Barry tries to explain himself to Iris. He is completely dumbfounded as to how she figured out and she tells him that it was the jolt of electricity that gave him away.
It was the same jolt that she felt in the hospital.
Barry is so out of sorts he even accidentally tells Iris that Wells took Eddie and then has to admit that he and Joe tried to protect her all along.
Iris is upset that her father would tell him not to tell her and storms out.
Eddie is still being held captive by Eobard and the future seems pretty grim for Eddie. Eddie continues to badger him about proving that they are family. When Eobard refuses, Eddie goes on about the Flash which instantly angers Eobard who threatens him.
Joe approaches Iris about the secrets and he is basically forced to apologize. He admits that he was wrong and Iris gets angry with him for not helping her figure out how Barry felt about her either.
In the end she blames Joe for Eddie's current position but Joe is distracted by a phone call.
Joe alerts Barry that the information he received on the call was of a $3 million gold transfer that is apparently being transported in an ice cream truck. Joe is part of the transport and since Barry is aware of the area he rushes over when the truck is hit by a land mine.
Barry manages to stop the thief before Joe has to shoot the culprit who happens to be General Eiling.
Wow, how can Eiling still be alive if Wells/Eobard sent him to meet Gorilla Grodd? This is a plot twist that fans may not have seen coming at all.
Eiling is captured and held in the holding area for Meta-Humans, however, it looks like he is in a strange state. Cisco got off a call with Lyla who tells him that Eiling has been missing for quite some time but A.R.G.U.S. has been covering it up. Eiling is acting as if he is some sort of caveman. He says "Eiling hurt me, I hurt Eiling," then he says "I am Grodd, fear me." Has Grodd taken over Eiling's brain?
There was once a project led by Eiling that was focused around super soldiers but it was shut down by Wells/Eobard when he found out what was going on. Cisco and Caitlin reveal that Eiling's being telepathically controlled by Grodd. They aren't sure what Grodd wants, however, they do know that Grodd and Wells had some sort of connection.
Just then, Iris walks in and tells the team that she is going to help get Eddie back.
She pulls up all of the reports on missing persons from the sewer. The entire team decides that they are going to take part in the mission and venture into the sewers in search for Grodd.
Joe leads the way in the sewers while Cisco lights their path back. Caitlin and Iris are in the sewers but just virtually. They have a heart to heart about Barry's real intentions and how his secret was tied to Ronnie's. Iris seems to have a bit of remorse for Barry as they watch them wade through the sewers.
They find markings that say Grodd, however, they turn into complex equations and they realize he's been getting smarter. Just then, Grodd begins to show himself.
He telepathically disrupts Barry's mind and kidnaps Joe while Cisco was tending to Barry.
The team is in a world of trouble because now they have to rescue both Joe and Eddie. Will Wells and Grodd make them choose between Eddie and Joe?
Joe wakes up in an underground sewer cell dazed and confused. Something is lurking near and out of the darkness comes Gorilla Grodd who telepathically points the gun Joe was holding at himself. He doesn't actually shoot Joe and he's referring to Wells as father.
Joe apparently insults Grodd by offering a banana and simply walks away after scaring the crap out of Joe. Barry's images that knock him out are telepathic images put there by Grodd.
He's in a hurry to save Joe and when he asks Caitlin and Cisco if they can come up with tech to help they say they need Wells.
Iris gives them a stern speech about figuring things out all of the time and now they can't find one piece of tech to help Joe and Eddie. Iris is lashing out at Barry and Joe and Barry takes all of the blame for it. She agrees and is now emotional and irate about Barry not telling her his secret. Barry questions her about lying to him about not feeling the same when he told her how he felt about her.
The conversation ends as he walks out to help Cisco and Caitlin. Eobard and Eddie have a conversation about the Thawne bloodline.
Eobard tells Eddie that he was a failure as a police detective and he was the only Thawne to be forgotten.
The final bomb is revealed as Eddie does not get Iris, however, Barry marries Iris. It was revealed earlier this season that Barry and Iris will get together but not to Eddie.
Caitlin and Cisco manage built Barry some tech to scramble Grodd's ability to telepathically reach him. He immediately takes off after Iris tells him to get her dad back. Barry arrives at the sewer and Cisco and Caitlin begin to pump their steam into the tunnel.
They are channeling Grodd into a specific area in the tunnel so that Barry can hit him with a super sonic punch. The plan fails miserably as Grodd catches him in mid air.
The headset seems to be working but Barry's attacks are punching a big marshmallow. Grodd is now attacking Barry psychically paralyzing him on the tracks.
Iris transmits her voice into Barry's headset and it encourages him to break the hold.
He escapes being hit by a train and lures Grodd into jumping in front of it. Barry bought himself enough time to get Joe out of the sewer and tells Iris he is bringing him home.
Joe is extremely shaken up the events and it looks like Grodd has scared him into tears. Back at the holding cell, Eiling has been returned to his normal state and released by Barry, but not before Barry promises him that he will get what's coming to him.
Eiling tells Barry that he's not going to come after him but they have a common enemy in Wells. Joe is in the hospital and trying to find his way out all while being bombarded by Cisco and Caitlin.
Joe asks for time alone with Iris and tells her that he was afraid that he was going to die during an argument with her. His love for her blinds him from the fact that Iris is capable of making his own decisions. They regain each other's trust while Barry has the world of thoughts running through his head.
Barry realizes that Grodd was trying to distract them the whole time while Cisco feels sorry about putting Barry in danger. They have a stronger team now that also consists of Iris.
Barry sneaks up on Iris and they have yet another discussion about not knowing who he was. He tells her that he wasn't afraid anymore after hearing her voice in his head. Every time he makes a mistake, Iris is the one who makes him want to correct his mistakes.
He tells her that she was every bit a part of the good he was doing every single day. Iris admits that she's been thinking about Barry but she can't continue to do so when Eddie is still missing.
There is no telling what will come of the relationship but one this is for sure, Grodd is on the loose.
Wells has created a key but he doesn't tells Eddie what it's for. Apparently, it's the key that sends Wells back to his home.
"Grodd Lives" introduces another villain into the mix while there is still one to be dealt with in Thawne. There is no telling what Thawne will continue to use to torture Barry and his friends but it can't be good.
While Barry has faced many villains in the past, Gorilla Grodd's intelligence far exceeds the rest.
After so much time spent in captivity, Gorilla Grodd is free and he is a wrecking ball waiting to crush the city.
