‘The Flash’ 1.12 Recap: “Curiosity’s a Maddening Thing”

Two lessons learned in the latest episode of ‘The Flash’: 1) Cisco is a dumbass, and 2) Caitlin is seriously cute when she has a little to drink, but absolutely cannot carry a tune.

I See You!

Episode ‘Crazy for You’ has quite a lot going on. In the primary storyline, the newest meta-human baddie of the week is a girl named Shawna (a.k.a. “Peek-a-Boo,” but we won’t mention that again) who has the power of teleportation, which is visualized pretty much exactly like Nightcrawler in the early ‘X-Men’ movies. The major limitation to her power, however, is that she needs to be able to see where she’s going.

Shauna uses her power to break her douchebag boyfriend Clay out of prison. They can’t skip town just yet, unfortunately, because Clay owes a lot of money to a gangster named Marcus and needs to pay it back first. In order to do that, they use Shawna’s power to steal a load of cash. Marcus is impressed by this. So impressed, in fact, that he insists the two must continue to work for him… or else.

For as fast as he is, Barry can’t catch Shawna. In a very fun and playful scene, he chases her all through a construction site, zipping around furiously as she hops from one spot to another. Clay ends the confrontation by very nearly shooting Barry in the back of the neck. Luckily, Barry proves that he’s faster than a speeding bullet and gets out with just a nick.

Later, Marcus makes Shawna rob an armored car, which seems to violate our earlier rule. How does Shawna get into the truck if she can’t see inside? Anyway, as Shawna and Clay try to get away in a car, Barry chases them into a tunnel. He then races ahead and knocks out all the lights so that Shawna can’t see where to teleport. Clay crashes the car and, nice guy that he is, ditches his girlfriend and leaves her behind to get captured. Barry and Cisco lock her up in the reactor prison, in a cell installed with one-way glass so that she can’t see out. Clay apparently gets away, but he’s not much of a threat on his own.

I’ll Show You Where It’s At

Just we thought we were done with the Pied Piper, he returns already this episode – fortunately without the dorky costume. From his reactor core cell, Hartley continues to taunt Cisco by claiming to have knowledge about where Ronnie is and how to save him. Even though Caitlin insists that she has given up on Ronnie and wants to move on, Cisco becomes obsessed with finding and helping him. Of course, Hartley says that he can’t just tell Cisco what he knows; he needs to show him… outside.

Cisco stupidly lets Hartley out of his cell. He thinks he’s clever because he’s rigged Hartley’s new hearing implants with a remote control that can trigger a painful high-pitched sound if Hartley tries to escape. Obviously, this can’t go well. Hartley removes the hearing implants and gets the jump on Cisco.

Didn’t Hartley have a condition that caused him pain without the implants? What happened to that?

So now, thanks to Cisco, we have another super-villain on the loose again. Before he fled, however, Hartley explained to Cisco that Ronnie’s body and personality fused with scientist Martin Stein (Victor Garber, seen in another photo) to form a new combined entity.

Get a Room Already

While on Shawna’s trail, Barry pays a visit to a bar she used to frequent. Teased that she has no personal life, Caitlin joins him. She has several too many drinks and drags him up on stage for a karaoke performance of “Summer Lovin.” Barry actually has a pretty good voice (Grant Gustin was on ‘Glee’ after all), but Caitlin not so much. She’s totally adorable, though.

Still, Barry insists that he’s not romantically interested in Caitlin. Instead, he meets a new girl named Linda who flirts heavily with him at the bar and gives him her number. He’ll eventually ask her on a date, and show up at her office, which happens to be the same Central City Picture News where Iris works. Awkward.

Poppa, Can You Hear Me?

The prison that Clay broke out of is naturally the same prison where Barry’s father Henry (John Wesley Shipp) is locked up. They have a quick reunion early on, then dad attempts to help his son by poking around asking the other inmates lots of questions about gangster Marcus. This gets him stabbed.

When Barry visits his dad in the prison infirmary, Henry not-so-subtlety implies (without coming out and saying it) that he knows Barry is The Flash. He very tearfully tells his son how proud of him he is.

Kneel Before Grodd

In a non-sequitur at the end of the episode, some sewer workers discover a tunnel with the word “Grodd” scrawled over and over again on a wall. Barely visible in the shadows, a big gorilla attacks them.

As annoyed as I am by the Cisco storyline, the set-pieces with Barry chasing Shawna are cleverly staged and a lot of fun. The prison hospital reunion is also hugely emotional. This episode gets my seal of approval.

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