Amunet Black on a Valentine’s Day crusade. Photo take via direct screenshot of the episode.
Please Keep In Mind That This Article Contains Potential Spoilers For “A Flash Of Lightning” and Events That Occurred Prior
Hot off of last week’s cliffhanger, this episode seeks to do absolutely nothing about it and succeeds in keeping the overall story at a complete stand still.
The worst crime of the episode was how it worked so hard at building Iris’ character post Crisis. It even did a good job with that as well, fueled with an emotionally powerful performance by Candice Patton as she and Barry butted heads. The kicker though? This is, and never was, the real Iris. It’s the faux mirror version (potentially a new mirror master?). This makes all of that character development—most of it being pretty good work—mean absolutely nothing, and amount to nothing more than a waste of time for the viewers. If it all had any positive results, at least Barry got some development thanks to it all.
With Valentine’s Day, came our incredibly cringey Villains. Look, Amunet Black can be fun. In doses. But when you add Goldface to the mix, and everything else wrong with the episode, nothing blends well. It all just falls apart. Not even Kate Sackhoff’s incredibly passionate and hammy performance can save it. A performance that also just doesn’t gel with Goldface’s. That extremely silly climax with the two of them professing truths could have worked—if surrounded by a better balance of content that wasn’t already falling apart.
Frost offering up her matchmaking skills. Photo take via direct screenshot of the episode.
Then there was the Allegra storyline. A plot which was so mediocre and unnoteworthy that it only succeeded in adding to an already bland outing. Her reaction to Frost taking her out the first time, and making her discovery, was silly and forced. It felt like a ridiculous way to react to it—like it was somehow Frost’s fault. It was a contrived way of also trying to loop some development into Frost’s role in Allegra’s plot. On top of all that, I simply didn’t really care. None of it did much to add to Allegra, or give me any reasons to care about her more.
The plot line that could easily do that, is one that the show seems to be holding close to their chest. That storyline being Nash’s secret. The not so subtle secret? It would seem that Allegra is now (or has always been) Nash’s daughter. See, now that’s more interesting. However, with Nash, came another example of how this episode fell flat. Nash had just got an upgraded role on the team—and we not only don’t see any of this, but not even a trace of this new position being utilized. Nash is just being the same Nash we’ve been seeing.
Iris screaming helplessly after witnessing someone else claim her character development. Photo take via direct screenshot of the episode.
“Love Is A Battlefield” was a complete misfire of an episode. One that did nothing with the strong ending of last week, gave character development that resulted in nothing, and focused on two extremely weak and cringe worthy villains. With everything they have going for them, I don’t see why the writers felt the need to waste an episode with an unimportant plot line. You have Black Hole, this new Mirror threat, possible God Speed connections, and plenty of Crisis changes—yet we got a ridiculous love plot with Goldface. The best part of episode though, was above and beyond, that mysterious Harry tease! What does it mean? Also, where in the world is Ralph Dipney?
Bonus Notes:
- The amount of terrible dialogue this week was staggering. Example: Amunet steals the device, and Iris proceeds to say that she thinks that whatever Amunet is planning, it has to do with the suitcase. You think?!
- Another example: Barry and Iris peak out over the crates to see Amunet. They both duck. Iris, for whatever reason, feels the need to say: “She’s here.”
- It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Frost and/or Caitlyn. But Frost is actually growing on me, so hopefully that’s a trend that continues.
Special Note: We’ve had to resort to taking direct screenshots of the episode ourselves and/or using repeated and unrelated Flash images due to the CW Network failing to provide adequate photos for proper coverage.
You can catch The Flash as it airs on The CW on Tuesdays at 9pm EST!
